Mozambican parliament closed yesterday with calls for peace

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Mozambican parliament closed yesterday with calls for peace

10:45 CAT | 22 Dec 2017

In file CoM

The Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique (RA) closed for year yesterday, with all three parliamentary benches agreeing on appeals for peace and a commitment to decentralization.

In closing speeches, the ruling Frelimo party, the main Renamo opposition party and MDM, the country’s third-largest political force, agreed on the need for the definitive peace vital for the country’s social and economic development.

“Only an effective peace and true reconciliation will make a strong and cohesive Mozambican nation possible,” said Margarida Talapa, head of the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo) parliamentary bench.

Talapa said that the ruling party was ready to receive and debate, with due respect for the nation’s paramount interests, the instruments necessary for the viability of the understandings to be reached in the negotiations between the government and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), as soon as they were submitted to the Assembly.

The head of the Frelimo bench congratulated President Nyusi and the Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, on opening channels of direct contact between them, which allowed the cessation of armed confrontations in the country in December 2016 .

“President Nyusi has allowed bridges to be built that allowed us to understand that we have more reasons to promote peace than to return to war. It is also fair to acknowledge the involvement and cooperation of Afonso Dhlakama in progress towards the pacification of the country,” she said.

Renamo’s parliamentary committee chief, Ivone Soares, said that Mozambican people’s highest aspiration was peace, emphasizing the need for approval on decentralization.

“Mozambicans are expecting the package on decentralization to be brought here to the Assembly of the Republic, which will strengthen democracy,” Soares said.

For Renamo, it was fundamental to establish a timetable for the steps that would be followed in the implementation and execution of the decentralization process, as that would best help ease the apprehension of Mozambicans surrounding peace in the country

The leader of the MDM (Democratic Movement of Mozambique) parliamentary group, Lutero Simango, said that the absence of an agreement for a definitive peace this year had disappointed the Mozambican people.

“The country needs a more constructive dialogue, which will allow it to move in the direction of greater national convergence,” he declared.

The Mozambican parliament closed today this year without having received a proposal for a legislative package on decentralization, which will imposes the election of provincial governors rather than their appointment, and is seen as fundamental to the maintenance of peace in the country.

The Renamo leader has said on several occasions that the legislative package on decentralization would be submitted to the Assembly in 2017 as a result of negotiations with the government and the contacts that Afonso Dhlakama has been maintaining with Filipe Nyusi.

Source: Notícias