Cabo Delgado: Analysts divided over dialogue with insurgents

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Cabo Delgado: Analysts divided over dialogue with insurgents

9:24 CAT | 28 Sep 2020

File photo: Voa Portugues

The Personal Envoy for Mozambique of the United Nations Secretary-General , Mirko Manzoni, says that the solution to the military conflict in Cabo Delgado must involve dialogue. But Manzoni’s suggestion, presented at a lecture to politicians, academics and representatives of civil society in Maputo on Wednesday, has divided Mozambican analysts.

Borges Nhamirre agrees that the conflict in Cabo Delgado will necessarily involve dialogue, as will the conflict with Mariano Nhongo, leader of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta.

Nhamirre rejects the theory that dialogue is hindered by the fact that the insurgents have not yet introduced their leaders to government authorities, and say the State Information and Security Services (SISE) and the Military Intelligence Services will “certainly already know where to go if [they] want to talk”.

Islamic leaders warned

Nhamirre also recalls that before the beginning of the conflict, “the Islamic leaders in Cabo Delgado and Nampula warned about these radicalisation movements, which means that these leaders knew the people who were in charge of the attacks”.

It would furthermore be quite possible to request mediation from religious officials, who normally stand aloof from the conflict.

Analyst Tomás Rondinho however thinks that the government should not be pressured into dialogue with insurgents, but should rather “investigate the origin of the conflict in Cabo Delgado”.

Director of the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) Edson Cortez, posits that, in the absence of an interlocutor, a mixture of solutions will be necessary.

“One solution would be through the military, but it seems that the Mozambican state does not have the muscle for this. The other would be to create opportunities for young people, especially in terms of employment and other income-generating activities,” he offers.

The government, in the person of President Filipe Nyusi, says it is open to dialogue with the insurgents, but demands that they show their faces, and only then will it be possible to hear their concerns.

Source: Voa Portugues