Permanent peace not likely this year: ‘Political Dialogue’ allocated 100 Mln meticais in 2018 – Mozambique

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Permanent peace not likely this year: ‘Political Dialogue’ allocated 100 Mln meticais in 2018 – Mozambique

1:15 CAT | 30 Nov 2017

Definitive peace in Mozambique seems not to be about to happen by the end of 2017. With just 15 days to go before the end of the parliamentary session, no legal provisions resulting from the “political dialogue” have yet been deposited for the representatives of the people to scrutinise.

Indeed, judging by the State Budget for next year, the “political dialogue” is set to continue sine die: several million meticais are allocated to it.

To date, no legal mechanism resulting from the “political dialogue” between President Nyusi and the leader of the largest opposition party, Afonso Dhlakama, has entered the so-called “People’s House” – Mozambique’s parliament.

Even if they were handed to parliament today, legal provisions for the definitive peace, which starts with legislation on decentralisation, will entail the revision of the constitution and the disarmament of the military wing of the Renamo party and the demobilisation of its members and integration into the defence and security forces, and it would be unlikely that there would be time for consideration and approval of all these in the 15 days before parliament closes.

Although it has happened before – in 2014, the submission and approval of legal provisions by the Assembly of the Republic led to the signing of a peace agreement between Armando Guebuza and Afonso Dhlakama – now, besides being clear that the rush will not allow the solution of the problems of the belligerent parties, the Nyusi government has given clear signs that definitive peace will not be agreed upon this year.

One such sign is the allocation in the 2018 State Budget proposal of 100 million meticais for “Political Dialogue”[around US$1.6 million at current exchange rates].

No explanation or detail is given of the items on which that amount will be spent, and none of the four actions foreseen in the Economic and Social Plan on Peace are directly related to the dialogue between President Nyusi and the Renamo leader.

Source: A Verdade