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Renamo says Dhlakama only to leave the bush after agreement with government – Mozambique
12:42 CAT | 17 Aug 2017
Lusa (File photo)
Renamo said on Wednesday that its leader will only get out of the bush if there is an agreement on decentralisation and the integration of the armed men of the main Mozambican opposition party into the Defence and Security Forces.
“As long as there are no conclusions from the ongoing negotiations and it is unclear what kind of governance we want and which Defence and Security Forces (FDS) model we want or will have, it becomes very complicated for President Afonso Dhlakama to get out of the woods because a fatality can occur, “said Ivone Soares, the head of the Renamo (National Resistance Mozambican) parliamentary group.
According to O País, Ivone Soares enunciated the conditions necessary for Afonso Dhlakama to leave his refuge in the Gorongosa mountain range, central Mozambique’s Sofala province, speaking to reporters in Beira city, the capital of that province, at the end of a working visit to the region.
“We want to celebrate an exit (Afonso Dhlakama’s) that will be a victory for the entire Mozambican people.” The recent meeting between the President of the Republic and the Renamo leader opens some expectations, creates hope and encouragement,” said Ivone Soares.
Renamo, she continued, wants contacts with the Government to be translated into actios, through the adoption of a legal package that establishes for the creation of provincial authorities and the approval of a model of integration of Renamo’s armed men in the FDS.
Afonso Dhlakama is a refugee somewhere in the Gorongosa mountain range, since the FDS invaded his residence in Beira in October 2015 to disarm his guard.
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The invasion of Dhlakama’s residence was followed by two ambushes on Afonso Dhlakama and his entourage, in September last year, in Manica province, central Mozambique, which Renamo accusingthe FDS.
After taking refuge in the Gorongosa forests, military violence returned to the country, opposing armed Renamo men and FDS, with attacks on vehicles circulating on the country’s main road as well as civilian and military targets.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and the Renamo leader met last Thursday at an undisclosed location in Gorongosa in a non-announced face-to-face.
A statement issued by the Presidency of the Republic after the meeting said that the two leaders pledged to conclude negotiations between the Government and Renamo for restoration of peace by December.
Although the Government and Renamo signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 1992, Mozambique has been experiencing cyclical outbursts of post-election violence due to the main opposition party’s refusal to accept defeat in the elections.
In May, Renamo leader announced a permanent truce in the clashes with the FDS, after contacts with the Mozambican head of State.
Source: Lusa
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