Dhlakama believes a “Savimbi solution” is in progress against him – DW

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Dhlakama believes a “Savimbi solution” is in progress against him – DW

8:45 CAT | 02 Jun 2016

DW / Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Renamo, the largest opposition party in Mozambique

The leader of Renamo is certain that his death is being planned, and, unlike the president of Mozambique, Afonso Dhlakama admits that the country is at war. He further admits Renamo is the author of the ambushes on the N1, which he claims are in self-defence.

DW Africa: In recent weeks there have been reports about the existence of mass graves and bodies scattered in the forests of the central region of Mozambique. Does Renamo know what these deaths are connected with?

Afonso Dhlakama (DA): No. What I can confirm and am aware of is that there were many kidnappings of people mainly between February and April, not only in the region of Gorongosa, though here it has been very intense, as a way for Frelimo to hunt down and demoralize Renamo members. We lost many members, supporters, young people from the town of Gorongosa. The mass grave discovered a month ago was here in Gorongosa, in the administrative post of Ncanda, which borders the Macosa district, where they found dismembered people in plastic bags. First Frelimo denied it, as usual, and only after journalists moved in and took pictures without asking the government, and the images were published, did the government began to believe.

DW Africa: Does Mr. Afonso Dhlakama believe the Frelimo government is preparing a “Savimbi solution” for your case?

AD: Yes, I believe it. I have no doubt. Only its different. Savimbi was born in Angola, he was Angolan, it happened in the forests. Afonso Dhlakama is Mozambican, he was born here and things are totally different. But that there are plans, yes, there are plans. Now I’m talking about them thinking that the death of Dhlakama is the end of democracy in Mozambique and that is the end of Renamo.

DW Africa: And do you think that the government of Frelimo has the support of the MPLA and the participation of Israeli mercenaries as some people suspect?

AD: It would be a false statement, I cannot [say]. But the Frelimo government has a plan, even as we speak, to kill Dhlakama as a way of ending all the confusion. As for having plans to ask for MPLA and Israeli experts, I cannot confirm it. But the plan is very much alive, it is not forgotten.

DW Africa: The Mozambican press and people on social networks have reported constant attacks against civilian vehicles and buses, and some have accused Renamo of these attacks. Do you deny this?

AD: There is a military conflict here. For example, I’m here in the Gorongosa region. Mozambique is a very long country, and Frelimo’s strategy is planned in Maputo, [I mean] training commandos, mercenaries, guns, BTRs, etcetera. Now, from Maputo to the centre we have a single road known as National Road Number One (N1), along which pass the military contingents sent to enslave and crush the people of Central and Northern Mozambique. Because it isn’t possible for the military to crush Renamo – we have seen this in the past. But those who suffer most from this are the population of these regions, who are accused of providing support to Renamo. So, we have our own defence, we have the right to defence, and in fact, have mounted ambushes on these roads to foil the enemy’s logistics. The thing is that Frelimo, and everybody knows this, uses [civilians] vehicles [for its logistics]. It’s difficult to see the FADEMOS military using [their own] military cars, perhaps going round Maputo. [But] when travelling from province to province, they use the ‘machimbombos’ (big buses) to blend in with civilians, to make us think civillians are going to and fro.

But we’re not aliens, we are Mozambicans and know that the machimbombos are full of Frelimo [people] and we attack them in order to stop the enemy getting here to kill us. We are not attacking the machimbombo as civilian vehicles – we are not attacking any civilian vehicles.

DW Africa: Not long ago, in Brussels, when asked about the military clashes in Mozambique, President Nyusi said he preferred to describe them as disturbances. Do you see the situation the same way?

AD: No, I think it’s a war. When there is an army led by Frelimo, it is war. Disorder is when a crook reaches a village and wants to rape a woman or a drunkard arrives at a party and fires into the air and is caught by the police. This is a war because Frelimo continues to receive weapons from communist countries, and much of the debt which is called external debt is not public debt but is the debt of Frelimo elements, and some of that money [was used] to buy guns, food, and paying mercenaries to kill Renamo [members]. So it is not disorder; it is a war declared by Frelimo. As Renamo, as human beings, we cannot sit back because we want to be good boys, because we want Europe to say that Dhlakama is the best leader, no. I have life, family, children, I have to defend myself. If someone comes to attack me at home and I defend myself, I cannot be called a villain and guilty of warmongering. Warmongering would be sending [forces] to attack places and people. All the military confrontation on our side is only in defence against Frelimo attacks. For example, now, everyone is waiting for a result of contacts between the two [negotiating] teams, but they are shooting here in Gorongosa, they say they want to take Dhlakama and force him to go to Maputo.

Vehicle column on the N1 in the center of the country, scene of ongoing attacks

DW Africa: Public debt is an issue troubling Mozambique. What is your opinion about the debt and the way it is being managed by the authorities?

AD: This is not public debt, let us correct this. Because if we say public debt, it means that the Mozambican government went to the Assembly of the Republic before contracting this debt. We want to believe that sovereign institutions are aware of it, but it cannot be that it is a Frelimo group, along with his business friends who were asking the European banks [for credit], and these, also without checking, delivered millions and millions of dollars, money that was not applied for the good of the people of Mozambique. I, as a leader [Renamo], do not want to pull sardines out of my fire. I’m sorry for cuts in support of the World Bank, the American and European Union because I know the situation in Mozambique. Many public employees receive their salaries through the state budget supported by the money being cut. But one must indeed investigate and find those responsible for this debt and hold them accountable, because I, as a citizen, and my children, my family and my neighbours cannot contribute to rates and taxes to pay this debt, whose value has not been applied to our well-being. It was [used] to buy things for someone’s family.

So my position is this. Many are attacking Guebuza, but not only he himself. Nyusi is also guilty because when he took office in 2015 with ministers and cabinets, he [would have] had to check what was in the vaults and in the papers, because it was a new executive. But he said nothing, because he agreed with those thefts. I have learned too, or I believe that the election campaign was the most expensive of all Frelimo leaders. Millions and millions were spent, and where did Frelimo get this money from? I want to believe that Nyusi also knows: he was also defence minister. If money was diverted for the purchase of material, he knows very well. We know that on Wednesday (June 1) the government will explain in Parliament, and will try to deceive again, because my party’s parliamentary group tried for a long time to send letters to the government demanding it explain the foreign debt, but the government said that it didn’t want to because it was afraid of Renamo. But with the pressure of the European Union, the international community, we already know that there will be a special session.

What worries me is how to hold accountable the culprits who used the excuse of buying boats for tuna fishing. There is no tuna. It was [used] to organize security. So all these companies that were funded and said they did not die, let them come out and show the papers, where it is written in the minutes that these Mozambican companies with Frelimo leaders assume the debt as private rather than public debt. That will strengthen the general state budget. Mozambique is a poor country: taxes are not enough to pay the state budget.

Source: Deutsche Welle