Renamo accuses government forces of breach of truce, police deny

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Renamo accuses government forces of breach of truce, police deny

10:54 CAT | 31 May 2017

File photo / Renamo's spokesman, Antonio Muchanga

Renamo has accused the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces (FDS) of violating the truce between the two sides, but police reject the allegations and say the situation is calm.

Speaking to Lusa in Maputo, Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) spokesman António Muchanga said the FDS forced members of the party’s leadership to leave the Tsangano district in the central province of Tete under threat of death.

“Members of the Renamo leadership in Tsangano district were forced to leave the district and are being held in Tete, Moatize district and in Malawi,” Muchanga said.

In Gorongosa district, a Renamo stronghold in the central province of Sofala, a man called Zarco Tonde Fombe was found dead and displaying signs of having been tortured on May 24, having been seized the night before on a public highway by FDS personnel from a military position known as Lourenço, the Renamo spokesman said.

Two weeks ago, Muchanga continued, another citizen was killed by members of the FDS in Tazaronda, Gorongosa district. Government forces demanded money from the victims, he added.

“These actions are causing unrest in the population, who want to enjoy the benefits of the truce,” said the Renamo spokesman.

Muchanga said that the situation shows the urgency of the FDS withdrawing from the positions they occupied during the clashes with the armed wing of Renamo and their return to barracks.

Speaking to Lusa, the police spokeswoman in Tete, Lurdes Ferreira, rejected the allegations, saying that the corporation did not persecute members of political parties.

“It is not for us to address threats to members of legalised parties. We have no complaint that this has occurred,” said Lurdes Ferreira.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for police provincial command in Sofala, Daniel Macuácuá, said he was unaware of the occurrence of the killings allegedly committed by the FDS, and that the truce was being respected.

“I am not aware [of the killings]. The truce is in place and the situation is calm and controlled, not only in Gorongosa, but also in the areas where there were confrontations,” he said.

Mozambique has been enjoying an indefinite truce since the beginning of the month following contacts between Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.

Parallel to the current truce, the government and Renamo are holding negotiations around the decentralisation of the state, depoliticisation of the FDS and the disarmament of the military wing of the main opposition party.

Between 2015 and December last year, the country again became the scene of confrontations following the main opposition party’s refusal to accept defeat in the 2014general elections.

The wave of violence included attacks on civilian targets that the government attributed to Renamo and political assassinations of members of the main opposition party and the ruling Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo).

Source: Lusa