DDR: The last Renamo military base closes – Carta

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DDR: The last Renamo military base closes – Carta

1:35 CAT | 19 Dec 2022

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Carta de Moçambique]

Three hundred and fifty Renamo fighters, some of them women, will be demobilised today (19-12) in the Gorongosa region, as part of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration process, the Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Mozambique and President of the Contact Group, Mirko Manzoni, has announced.

The demobilisation of this group marks the closure of the last of 16 Renamo military bases in the country, and the final demobilisation of 5,221 former combatants from that political party.

Mirko Manzoni has been in Gorongosa, Sofala province, for several days, monitoring the closure of the last base.

President of Renamo, Ossufo Momade, will also be present to witness the closure, in an official ceremony in Panga-Panga, in the Gorongosa region, where the first contacts with the late Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, took place.

For Manzoni, the deactivation of the last base is fulfilment of the commitment that all combatants spend Christmas at home with their families.

Manzoni also reacted to the dissatisfaction voiced by DDR beneficiaries demanding their integration into the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, arguing that it is “a groundless controversy, because people who are 60 years old cannot be integrated into the police, and many Renamo fighters do not satisfy the age criterion”.

It will be recalled that Renamo leader Ossufo Momade has accused the government of continuing to violate the terms of the DDR agreement, noting that the first ten demobilised officers are still waiting to be integrated into the Police General Command. In addition, “the already demobilised combatants continue to await the fixing of pensions, despite our permanent demand from the government, which maintains a Machiavellian silence”, he said.

The statements were made on 12 December, at the fourth ordinary session of the National Council of Mozambique’s largest opposition party. In his opening speech, Momade reaffirmed Renamo’s commitment to maintaining peace, through the DDR process, as agreed on 6 August, 2019.

However, of the total number demobilised, only 46 fighters were assigned to the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, something which the president of Renamo considers shows a “manifest unwillingness of the government to proceed with the peace process”.

“We know that all these tricks and dilatory manoeuvres are intended to distract us and make us lose our patience and then blame the government’s failures on us. Aware of this, we will not embark on this trajectory, nor will we demonstrate muscle and a position of strength, although we do not lack it, out of respect for Mozambicans and our word of honour,” Momade laid out.

Mirko Manzoni however makes a positive assessment of the process, stressing that all the weapons are being delivered up.

“The balance is positive, because there is a will to seek a definitive peace. It is not an easy process. The process has many complex aspects and both parties must be heard, but after three years of demobilisation we are happy and the people who work in this process are proud of the result,” he said.

READ: Mozambique lacks resources to pay pensions to demobilised guerrillas

The Maputo Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement was signed in August, 2019, by the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, and the President of Renamo, Ossufo Momade, providing, among other aspects, for the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of the of the main opposition party combatants.

The agreement was the third between the Government and Renamo, all three having been signed after cycles of armed violence, mainly in the centre of the country. Under the DDR agreement, the Savane, Muxúnguè, Inhaminga, Chemba, Marínguè bases in Sofala were deactivated; along with Mabote in Inhambane; Tambara, Mossurize and Báruè in Manica; Zóbuè in Tete; and Murrupula in Nampula, among others.

Source: Carta de Moçambique