Convoy system in Manica only ended on Wednesday – AIM report

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Convoy system in Manica only ended on Wednesday – AIM report

8:04 CAT | 05 Jan 2017

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Contrary to the claims made on Tuesday by Inacio Dina, spokesperson for the general command of the Mozambican police, the obligatory armed escort for vehicles travelling between the central provinces of Manica and Tete was not suspended last week, but only on Wednesday morning.

Dina had told reporters that all restrictions on road transport were lifted on 28 December, the day after Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the rebel movement Renamo, announced a truce in Renamo’s insurrection against the government.

Possibly the system of convoys under escort was relaxed, since some truck drivers told reporters they drove through Tete without an escort, but, according to the spokesperson of the Manica Provincial Police Command, Elsidia Filipe, the convoys were not formally suspended until Wednesday morning – the day after Dhlakama had extended his truce, initally only a week long, for a further two months.

The convoy covered over 200 kilometres of the main road from the port of Beira to Malawi, on the stretch between Vanduzi in Manca and Changara in Tete province. Since the middle of 2016 it had been obligatory for vehicles to dive along this stretch in convoys under armed escort because of the repeated ambushes by Renamo gunmen.

Contradicting Dina, Elsidia Filipe said that when Renamo first announced its truce “we remained active. The escorts happened normally seeking to guarantee the security of people and goods along the roads of Manica province. Yesterday, after the official communication that the truce was being prolonged for a further sixty days, we received orders to suspend the escort”.

“So we can state that as from today (Wednesday) people can circulate freely along the roads without needing a convoy under military escort”, added Filipe, while the defence and security forces would revert to their normal activities.

“There will be no convoys”, she said. “People can move as they like, at whatever time they like. But since the defence and security forces have the mission of guaranteeing the security of citizens and their property, we must be present on the ground, carrying out normal duties, as we did before we introduced the convoys”.

“We shall be stationed at strategic points along the main roads of Manica province”, she added. “We shall stop citizens and ask to see their identification and, when necessary, we shall search vehicles. We shall do this because we want to ensure that people circulate freely and in safety”.

Filipe urged members of the public to remain vigilant and to denounce to the authorities any criminal act or possible violations of the truce, particularly along the main highway.

The suspension of the convoys will make it much easier for vehicles to travel between Manica and Tete, and on to the borders with Malawi and Zambia. The time taken by journeys will be greatly shrtened, since motorists will no longer have to queue up to join the convoys, and will drive at their own speed, rather than the speed impose dby the escorts.

Source: AIM