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LISTEN: There is a plan to send Renamo guerrillas to fight insurgents in Cabo Delgado, Mariano Nhongo says
3:37 CAT | 03 Apr 2020
Members of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta
The leader of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, Mariano Nhongo, said on Wednesday, April 1, that there was a plan to recruit Renamo guerrillas from their cantonment bases and send them to fight the insurgents in Cabo Delgado province.
“Ossufo (Momade) has already sat down with Frelimo, [in a plan] to take Renamo men to Cabo Delgado” to fight the insurgents, Mariano Nhongo alleged in a telephone interview with VOA.
The former military strategist of historic Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama said that the plan to send the guerrillas currently stationed at bases in central Mozambique to Cabo Delgado was drawn up in a meeting between the government and the Renamo leadership.
A group of deputies, Nhongo said, had gone to some of the bases where the guerrillas are stationed as part of the demobilisation, disarmament and social reintegration (DDR) process to enlist them.
“Men have already been organised, but I forbade it. They had organised three groups to go to Cabo Delegado ” Nhongo said.
“What are these Cabo Delegado men [insurgents] demanding? Their demands are the same. We have no responsibility to go to Cabo Delgado. These are our friends, because what they are demanding is what we are demanding too. Why should we fight among ourselves?” he asked.
Nhongo accused Renamo Secretary General André Magibire and deputies José Manteigas, Alfredo Magumisse, Domingos Ngundana and Enhumua Gomes of spearheading the plan to deploy the guerrillas.
Renamo refutes the accusation
“I no longer want to hear Ossufo’s (Momade) messages at the bases, or I will speed up the attacks,” Nhongo threatened.
Contacted by VOA, Renamo’s secretary general, André Magibire, neither confirmed nor denied any plan to send guerrillas to Cabo Delgado, calling the military junta leader’s statement “unfounded”.
“What he is saying is his responsibility, the responsibility of the (self-proclaimed) military junta. We at Renamo distance ourselves from this pronouncement,” Magibire said.
The self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, under parallel leadership since August, disputes the leadership of the party and wants to renegotiate the peace agreements and the disarmament and social reintegration process with the government.
By André Baptista
Source: Voa Portugues
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