Announcement of constitutional revision in Mozambique “is a great victory” – Mia Couto

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Announcement of constitutional revision in Mozambique “is a great victory” – Mia Couto

1:32 CAT | 09 Feb 2018

File photo / Mia Couto

Mozambican writer Mia Couto said yesterday in Lisbon that “the simple fact” of a process of constitutional revision in the country had been announced was “a great victory, because there was a great resistance” to the change.

“The mere fact that it was announced is a great victory because there was great internal resistance to any change that could accommodate this decentralisation. There was an idea that decentralisation was bad in itself, and although the change that will be introduced has not been announced, it will allow for peace,” the writer told Lusa news agency on the sidelines of a session of the ‘Camões dá Para Falar’ cycle held yesterday afternoon at the Camões Institute in Lisbon.

The author of the novel “Poisons of God, Medicine of the Devil” said the announcement was “good news for those who have suffered 16 years of war and the possibility of it continuing”.

The president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, announced last Wednesday that he would send a proposal to revise the constitution to the Assembly of the Republic after reaching consensus in peace negotiations with opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama (Renamo).

The proposed revision will establish that provincial governors and district administrators will be proposed by the winners of elections to provincial and district assemblies and no longer appointed by central authorities.

Speaking yesterday in Lisbon, Couto said: “It is already a guarantee that we have, that it will happen, certainly.”

Asked about the reported presence of alleged Islamist radicals in the north of the country, the writer said there were no certainties in the matter, but acknowledged that he was concerned.

On 10 October, Mozambique police announced that they had detained 52 suspects in connection with an Islamist-inspired armed group of local youths who attacked the Mocímboa da Praia station in the northern province of Cabo Delgado on October 5, and two other police stations in the vicinity.

The town of Mocímboa da Praia was practically closed down for two days by shooting between the police and the armed group, which resulted in the deaths of two policemen and a community leader, allegedly killed by the group, plus 14 of the attackers, and with an undetermined number of people injured.

“As for this kind of phenomenon, Islamic radicalism, we are very worried, we have to do something and I only hope that that something is really efficient,” the writer said.

Source: Lusa