Renamo official murdered in northern Mozambique

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Renamo official murdered in northern Mozambique

7:51 CAT | 29 Dec 2016

A Renamo official was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the northern city of Nampula on the second day of the temporary ceasefire declared by the largest opposition party, the movement’s spokesman told Lusa today.

António Muchanga reported that José Naitela, a member of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) provincial political commission and head of external affairs section in Nampula, was killed early in the afternoon in his car on a fuel black market.

Contacted by Lusa, the police spokesman for the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Nampula, Zacarias Nacute, confirmed the murder, which occurred between 12:00 and 13:00 local time, in a busy area of the city.

The PRM spokesman was unaware of any further details of the case, saying that ballistic analysis are under way and that police will investigate.

According to Muchanga, the crime was committed in “the same modus operandi” of the death squads that Renamo claims are operating in central and northern Mozambique, aiming at eliminating opposition party officials.

“Information coming from the field indicates this, unless the police bring the people who did the crime,” Renamo’s spokesman said on the possibility of political motivations for the killing.

Muchanga did not want to establish a relationship between the case and the one-week truce declared by Renamo’s president, Afonso Dhlakama, after a telephone conversation held with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, which came into effect at 0:00 on Wednesday .

“Yesterday was a good day and everything was going well until 12:00 today,” was all he said.

Before becoming aware of this assassination, the PRM’s General Command spokesperson had told Lusa that the situation was calm.

“We did not register any disturbances and, so far, people are travelling normally on these points,” said Inácio Dina, referring to the main roads in central Mozambique and which have been the hardest hit by the conflict.

However, Inacio Dina said that, despite the registered calm, mandatory military escorts will go on in the sections of the most threatened routes, to guarantee the security of the populations.

“This process is part of our work. We will continue to do what has been done,” said the PRM’s spokesman.

On Tuesday, the Renamo leader announced a one-week truce as a “gesture of goodwill.”

Meanwhile, the Mozambican president said on Wednesday that the one-week cease-fire should serve to encourage dialogue aimed at lasting peace.

Mozambique is going through a political and military crisis, marked by clashes in the centre and north of the country between the armed wing of the main opposition party and the Defence and Security Forces, as well as mutual denunciations of abductions and assassinations of political leaders of both parties .

Renamo accuses the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) of having rigged the 2014 elections and demands to govern in six provinces where it claims victory in the polls.

The work of the joint commission of the delegations of the Government and Renamo stopped in mid-December without an agreement on the decentralisation package, one of the essential themes of the peace negotiations, and the mediators left Maputo, saying that they will only return if summoned by the parties.

The Mozambican president has proposed to Renamo that a specialised working group, “without political distinction” nor the presence of the current group of mediators, be created to discuss the decentralisation package, but Dhlakama has already said that he will not concede in regard to international mediation.

In addition to the decentralisation package and the cessation of clashes, the agenda of the negotiation process integrates the separation between parties and the Defence and Security Forces and the disarmament of the armed wing of the opposition and their reintegration into civilian life.

Source: Lusa