About 250 Renamo men reintegrated in recent months, says Mozambican government

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About 250 Renamo men reintegrated in recent months, says Mozambican government

1:41 CAT | 03 Dec 2015

Lusa (File) / A photograph from the October 9 siege on Dhlakama's house in Beira, capital of Sofala central province, by special forces of the Mozambican police.

About 250 men from Renamo, the largest opposition party in Mozambique, were placed in social programs in the country in recent months, a Ministry of Combatants spokesman revealed yesterday in a government publication.

A dozen of these, including a major and two lieutenants, was reinstated in the army and police, with the rest eligible for social assistance such as subsidies for various activities, according to Horacio Massangaie, quoted yesterday in the Jornal de Moçambique.

“If there are former Renamo guerrillas who want to join this group, we are amenable,” Massangaie said.

A year after the signing of the Cessation of Military Hostilities Agreement between the then head of state Armando Guebuza and the leader of Renamo, the parties still have not reached an agreement on the demilitarization of the opposition, and long-term discussions were suspended without an understanding being reached.

Police began a Renamo weapons-collection operation on October 9, when special forces surrounded and raided the house of the leader, Afonso Dhlakama, in Beira, and disarmed and detained members of his personal guard.

The siege ended only when Afonso Dhlakama delivered 16 weapons of his bodyguards to the group of mediators of dialogue between Renamo and the Government. Since then, the opposition leader has not been seen in public.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi cautioned restraint in the compulsory disarmament of Renamo in order to give room for dialogue and the voluntary surrender of weapons, only days after the Interior Minister Basilio Monteiro said that the defence and security forces would take weapons out of “illegitimate hands”.

Mozambique is experiencing unrest as a result of Renamo refusal to accept the results of the general elections of October 2014 and its demand to govern in the provinces where it claims victory, by force if necessary. The Frelimo-led government rejects the principal Renamo demand for the creation of autonomous Renamo-governed provinces.

Source: Lusa