British Minister spoke with Dhlakama before leaving Mozambique

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British Minister spoke with Dhlakama before leaving Mozambique

5:31 CAT | 10 Feb 2016

Nicholas Hurd (L) ; Afonso Dahlakama (R).

The British Minister for International Development, Nicholas Hurd, on Tuesday confirmed that the previous day he contacted by phone Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of Renamo, Mozambique’s main opposition party.

Hurd was speaking in Maputo at an airport press conference at the end of a two day working visit to Mozambique. President Filipe Nyusi had granted him an audience on Monday, during which the President had asked Hurd to speak with Dhlakama.

Nyusi had once again made clear his willingness to meet face to face with the Renamo leader, and hoped that Hurd could persuade him to accept this longstanding invitation, in order for the two men to discuss achieving a lasting peace.

Hurd gave few details of his discussions with either Nyusi or Dhlakama. He said he told both men that Mozambique “needs political stability and reconciliation rather than a return to violence and war”.

In his audience with Nyusi, he understood that the President was insisting “on the question of a dialogue with the Renamo leader in order to reach a consensus”, but he had noted “tensions and complications between the parties involved”, and “a lack of trust”.

He believed that the Mozambican public would play an important role in peace and reconciliation. “The solution is now in the hands of civil society and community leaders”, he claimed.

Source: AIM