Chissano raises possibility of dialogue in Cabo Delgado -AIM report

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Chissano raises possibility of dialogue in Cabo Delgado -AIM report

9:22 CAT | 06 Aug 2021

File photo: O País

Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has urged the current government to consider the possibility of entering into a dialogue with the terrorist groups operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

In a Wednesday interview with Radio Mozambique, Chissano said that historically there have been “certain types of terrorism” which ended through negotiations.

“It may be that a leader of this group appears who offers us the opportunity of a dialogue”, he added.

There were cases, Chissano said, in which extremists had been convinced to negotiate and end their violence. He did not give examples, but it is not unreasonable to assume that he may have been thinking of an earlier war in Mozambique.

In the 1980s, the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels were often referred to as terrorists and initially the position of the Mozambican government was that negotiations should be held with the South African regime and not with its puppets.

Nonetheless, in the late 1980s channels of communication were opened between Chissano’s government and Renamo, and in October 1992 Chissano signed the general peace agreement with Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.

The islamist terrorists in Cabo Delgado, however, are much more shadowy than Renamo ever was. The leadership of the group is unnamed and faceless. They do not even have an agreed name – locally they are known as Al-Shabaab or as Ansa al-Sunna, but since 2019 they have operated as loosely affiliated to the terrorist network calling itself Islamic State.

Chissano stressed the importance of studying the causes of the armed violence in Cabo Delgado in order to solve the crisis in the province.

Occasionally the current President, Filipe Nyusi, has said he is willing to speak with the Cabo Delgado terrorists – but this is impossible for as long as their leadership remains unknown.

The terrorists themselves have never made any proposal for negotiations or dialogue.

Source: AIM