Mozambican police says it did not know peace mediators were going to Gorongosa

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Mozambican police says it did not know peace mediators were going to Gorongosa

12:36 CAT | 02 Nov 2016

Lusa (File photo) / Afonso Dhlakama

The Mozambican police said yesterday that they were unaware of any peace dialogue mediators’ visit to Gorongosa to meet the Renamo leader, and insisted that the defence and security forces have the right to freely move throughout the country.

“This information [about the meeting of international mediators with the leader of the largest opposition party] was not in our possession,” police spokesman Inacio Dina said at the weekly press conference.

The coordinator of the international mediation team in peace talks in Mozambique, Mario Raffaeli, went to Gorongosa last week to try to talk to the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Afonso Dhlakama, but the meeting was called off due to alleged movements by government troops in the place where the meeting was to occur.

“There was a strong exchange of fire. They took a beating. I started to hear rumblings from here at about 8:00am. I called [Mario] Raffaelli and said that the Defense and Security Forces were preparing an ambush,” Dhlakama told weekly Canal de Moçambique.

European Union-appointed mediator Raffaeli initially denied that he had attempted to meet the Renamo leader, but later confirmed the story, although he said had not witnessed the military movements cited by Dhlakama as cause for the failure of the meeting in Gorongosa, Sofala province, on 22 October.

In yesterday’s press conference, the PRM spokesman reiterated that the Defence and Security Forces “have a mandate to move throughout the national territory”, and that its movements cannot be interpreted as ambush attempts.

The last few days have been marked by increased violence against political leaders, with the murder of the head of Renamo’s bench in the Sofala Provincial Assembly and two Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) secretaries in Dondo district, also in Sofala.

Dina said investigation of these cases was underway, as with other recent episodes, but without results as yet.

“We condemn episodes of this kind and we are working to capture the perpetrators,” he said.

Mozambique’s central region has been the scene of clashes between the armed wing of the main opposition party and the Defence and Security Forces, as well as mutual allegations of abductions and assassination of Renamo and Frelimo political leaders.

The Mozambican authorities have accused Renamo of a series of ambushes on the roads of central and northern Mozambique and attacks targeting police stations as well as civilian facilities such as health centres and economic targets.

Renamo in turn accuses the Defence and Security Forces of conducting military assaults on party positions.

The country’s largest opposition party demands to govern in the six provinces where it claims victory in the 2014 general elections, accusing Frelimo of committing electoral fraud.

Despite the political violence, the parties have been in peace talks with international mediation, currently suspended until November 10.

Source: Lusa