Decentralisation continues to divide Government and Renamo

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Decentralisation continues to divide Government and Renamo

7:38 CAT | 06 Dec 2016

File photo / The government (L) and Renamo (R) delegations in the Joint Commission

Government and Renamo delegations remain divided over the decentralisation proposal put forward by the mediators at the end of the fourth phase of the negotiations. The two delegations met international mediators separately last Friday in Maputo to try to reach an understanding.

The first meeting took place in the morning and brought together the international mediators and the Government team. The proposed law on the decentralisation of power and the cessation of military hostilities were the topics discussed in the nearly hour-long closed-door negotiations.

According to Mario Raffaelli, coordinator of the international mediators, consensus has not yet been reached on these matters. “We have come together to hear the Government’s proposal on the agenda items and then we will introduce them to the Renamo party,” Raffaelli said, adding that “there are some significant advances in the talks at the moment”.

According to Raffaelli, talks are more productive when they take place separately. In fact, mediators have only met the Government and Renamo delegations separately since the end of the third phase of the political dialogue last September.

In the afternoon, it was Renamo’s turn to meet international mediators. The meeting was chaired by Father Angelo Romano, Mario Raffaelli having had to make a trip to Italy.

This meeting was shorter than the first, Romano simply stating that the points were still on the table, without advancing any date for further meetings.

Having failed to meet the first, November deadline, the Joint Committee now has 15 days to submit the draft law on the decentralisation of power to parliament. The current parliamentary session runs until December 20, and if the negotiating team does not submit the draft law on decentralisation by then, it will have to wait for the next session of the Assembly of the Republic, in 2017.

Source: O País