Renamo denies responsibility for road attacks in Central Mozambique

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Renamo denies responsibility for road attacks in Central Mozambique

1:11 CAT | 09 Mar 2016

Renamo on Tuesday denied responsibility for the armed attacks on the roads of central Mozambique, while simultaneously denouncing the killing and arrests of opposition party members.

Speaking yesterday at a press conference, Renamo spokesman Antonio Muchanga said: “I do not know. It is up to the police to clarify this. I am here, I am not on the road. It is up to those responsible to explain things, with evidence.”

Muchanga said he was limited in the scope of his answers, and was not to be confused with a military commander or made the defendant, as had happened in the past.

The police attribute the recent weeks’ firearm attacks on main roads in Sofala, Manica and Zambezia provinces to the armed wing of Renamo, an accusation that the largest opposition party has so far not denied.

On Saturday, an attack on a ‘Nagi Investimentos’ bus killed two people in Honde, Manica province, and on Monday another of their buses was attacked in Zero, Zambezia province, leaving an unknown number wounded.

In Sofala, security forces have implemented mandatory escorts for civilian vehicles on the Save and Muxungué and Nhamapadza and Caia sections of the N1.

On Monday, the Attorney General told Lusa in Luanda that cases in all instances of attacks on the roads attributed to Renamo have been opened.

Instability in Mozambique has been escalating recently, with mutual accusations of armed attacks, kidnappings and assassinations of political leaders, and thousands fleeing Tete province into neighbouring Malawi.

At yesterday’s press conference, Antonio Muchanga condemned the alleged murder of a member of the party, Aly Jany Ussene Calu, who, he said, was “kidnapped in the town of Maxixe [Inhambane province], shot dead and dumped in the Nhangombe river”.

Muchanga also reiterated Renamo’s complaint about the “arbitrary arrests” of four party members in Chimoio, Manica province.

Describing the case, Manica Police Commissioner Armando Change said on Saturday that the Renamo members were spreading “exaggerated misinformation”, and the police took measures to “calm the situation”.

The four, Change said, has announced that “tomorrow there will be an attack here, tomorrow there will be attack there, tomorrow we take off the head of that guy,” and argued that “[disinformation] is another kind of warfare” and leads to ” intimidation of members of the government”. He did not however specify what, if any, criminal charges had been brought.

Meanwhile, in Maputo, the Mozambican police have announced the discovery of Renamo uniforms and military equipment and in a house in the capital’s Luis Cabral neighbourhood.

Addressing that matter, Muchanga accused the police of lack of professionalism and bad faith, claiming that the equipment belongs to private security companies.

“Simply joining Renamo’s name to any criminal matter is bad faith and merely seeks to justify the failure of the police to tackle crime,” Muchanga said.

The worsening of the political and military situation has led President Filipe Nyusi to address an invitation to the leader of Renamo for the resumption of dialogue, but Dhlakama has made talks conditional upon mediation by South Africa, the Catholic church and the European Union.

Source: Lusa