International observers for Mozambique’s ceasefire? -Deutsche Welle

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International observers for Mozambique’s ceasefire? -Deutsche Welle

4:52 CAT | 26 Aug 2016

DW / Road cut by gunmen in Tete Province (April 2016)

Mediators of peace talks in Mozambique have proposed that international observers be invited to observe and monitor any ceasefire in Mozambique.

“Once agreed in the Joint Commission, we will invite neighbouring and friendly countries to mobilise and dispatch, as soon as possible, personnel for an international verification mission” a document from the mediators dated Wednesday and distributed yesterday (August 25) to journalists in Maputo says.

The proposal provides for the suspension of hostilities to take effect from the arrival of observers in locations where military actions are ongoing, including Gorongosa, where the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Afonso Dhlakama, is presumed to be living.

The document was presented on Wednesday (August 24) to the government and Renamo delegations, who again failed to agree on a ceasefire. Talks have been suspended until September 12.

According to a joint statement read at the end of the meeting on Wednesday, Renamo would accept a temporary truce to facilitate a visit to Gorongosa by international mediators, but conditions it on the departure of security forces from the region.

For its part, the government delegation has said that the Defence and Security Forces “enforce a constitutionally enshrined state mission throughout the territory”, and argues that “it is the immediate suspension of military hostilities that will ensure the safety of the corridor” established for the movement of the mediators.

“Demilitarised corridor”

Military escort of civilian vehicles column on the N7 (June 2016)

The mediators’ proposal suggest that the parties accept a “demilitarised corridor or other safer and more effective way” so they can talk to Afonso Dhlakama in person “as soon as the suspension of hostilities is agreed”.

Under the terms of the document, the organisation of this corridor would be assigned to a specific working group, with mediators present, which could also further establish the conditions for a permanent ceasefire.

“Once the suspension of hostilities and of all kind of violence is respected by both parties, the working group may submit to the Joint Commission a timeline for subsequent stages to create the terms and the conditions of a permanent ceasefire,” the text reads.

The works of the Joint Commission have been suspended until September 12, but the subcommittee set up to prepare a new legislative package on decentralisation will continue to work.

Among the points to be evaluated by the subcommission are the revision of the Constitution, the laws of the provincial assemblies and the bases of the organisation and functioning of public administration, as well as a new law on provincial finances.

Situation remains tense in the centre of the country

Meanwhile in central Mozambique, reports of clashes between the armed wing of Renamo and defence and security forces persist, with mutual allegations of abductions and assassinations of political leaders on both sides.

The Mozambican authorities have accused Renamo of mounting ambushes on the roads in central and northern Mozambique, and of targeting stations police and civilian facilities such as health centres and economic targets such as the trains of Brazilian mining company Vale.

Responsibility for some of the attacks were admitted by opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama, who justified them on the grounds of dispersing the Defence and Security Forces responsible for shelling his supposed location in Gorongosa.

Source: Deutsche Welle