Renamo accuses police of arbitrary arrests in the centre of the country

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Renamo accuses police of arbitrary arrests in the centre of the country

4:55 CAT | 07 Mar 2016

Renamo claimed on Saturday that police had made four “arbitrary arrests” of its members in Chimoio, in the centre of the country.

Renamo spokesman António Muchanga told Lusa that the police arrested the four party members in the Block 9 neighbourhood of Chimoio on Friday night and detained them at the provincial police command in Manica.

“Police raided the Chimoio home of Elias Tomas Vinte at 8.00 p.m. where they found the owner, Dom Luis Maganzange, Filipe Mapossa and a fourth member of the party. They all lived near where the president (of Renamo, Afonso) Dhlakama lived when he was in Chimoio,” Muchanga said, adding that the party members were harming no-one.

Manica police commander Armando Mude said that the arrested Renamo members “were spreading disinformation,” which led the police to take measures to “calm the situation”.

Mude said the group had announced that “tomorrow there will be an attack here, tomorrow there will be attack there, tomorrow we take the head of that guy”, and argued that such “[disinformation] is another kind of war” and leads to “the intimidation of the government and state members”.

The Renamo complaint comes on the same day an attack attributed by the police to opposition gunmen killed the driver of a bus and a passenger in Honde, in Manica province, which also saw clashes on Friday between Renamo and defence and security forces, with several wounded.

On Friday, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi again invited the leader of Renamo to resume dialogue, asking the largest opposition party to exercise the “utmost urgency” in designating representatives for high-level meetings.

Renamo accused the Government of having mobilized 4,500 defence and security force members for a large-scale offensive in Manica and Sofala provinces, where the movement has its strongest support.

The political and military situation in Mozambique has been deteriorating for many weeks now, with mutual accusations of armed attacks, kidnappings and assassinations of political leaders. Police have attributed attacks on civilian vehicles in military convoys on sections of the country’s main road in central Mozambique in recent weeks to Renamo.

Although both the head of state and the Renamo leader have reaffirmed their willingness to talk, negotiations between the government and the main opposition party have been stalled for several months.

Source: Lusa