Dhlakama: Military chiefs oppose deal – By Joseph Hanlon

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Dhlakama: Military chiefs oppose deal – By Joseph Hanlon

9:13 CAT | 08 Jan 2018

VOA (File photo)

The reason he is still in the base on the Gorongosa mountain is the slowness of negotiations on military and security, Dhlakama said, telling Savana (29 Dec): “There is slowness on the government side. I wait one month, two months, 90 days without a response from government.”

“The slowness of the involvement of the military chiefs is linked to a lack of will on the part of some people around the President,” Dhlakama said to STV. “Although he is President of the country and of Frelimo, he does not dominate some very influential comrades. … He can make promises to me personally about decentralization and peace, but when he arrives inside his party, he meets barriers. … Inside Frelimo and the government there are interests that do not want to see this process completed. … The ‘ball’ is in Frelimo’s court.”

He also says that a Philippine general and a Swiss official are working on the security document. Dhlakama continues to demand parity in the leadership of the military and security. “If there are 8 coronels, then 4 must be Frelimo and the other 4 Renamo.”

To explain this, he goes back to the attacks on his motorcade on 12 and 26 September 2015 in Manica in which at least 23 people were killed, and then the raid on his house on 8 October 2015. This was done in secret by people inside the military with “obscure intentions”. He continued: “we have officers inside the defence and security forces, but they have no role, so they know nothing about what is being planned.” Thus he wanted “the Renamo guerrillas to be integrated as military chiefs and for Frelimo to stop using the defence and security forces to kidnap and kill its political opponents.”

Close but not face-to-face: On 13 December President Filipe Nyusi went to the Chitengo camp in Gorongosa National Park and Afonso Dhlakama was in his Satungira base on the Gorongosa mountain. Each expected the other to arrive for talks. Eventually the two talked on the telephone. It is not clear what happened. Both agree that the General Commander of the Police, Bernadino Rafael, went to Satungira. Dhlakama said it was to arrange the arrival of Nyusi, who in turn said he had invited Dhlakama to Chitengo for lunch and Rafeal was in Satungira to bring Dhlakama to Chitengo. (AIM En 18 Dec, O Pais 28 Dec)

“I never lost any elections. I was always robbed and Renamo knows this. I consider myself president since 1994,” Dhlakama said in his interview. “Without wanting to boast, I consider myself above the President of the Republic.” (O Pais 28 Dec)

By Joseph Hanlon

Source: News reports & clippings