Mozambique: Almost a third of former Renamo guerrillas have handed in their weapons – PM

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Almost a third of former Renamo guerrillas have handed in their weapons – PM

7:12 CAT | 12 Mar 2021

File photo: Lusa

About a third of former Renamo guerrillas have already handed in their weapons as part of the demilitarisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process underway in the country, the Prime Minister announced on Wednesday.

“Through this process, 1,490 former Renamo guerrillas have so far been demobilised and reintegrated, which represents 29 percent of a total of 5,221 men to be demobilised,” Carlos Agostinho do Rosário said in parliament.

In addition to this number there are another 700 whose demobilisation began this week.

“We note with optimism that the DDR is making remarkable progress, which is witnessed by the beginning of the second phase of the process,” the Prime Minister said.

In addition to the demobilisation of former guerrillas who remain aligned with the main opposition party, Carlos Agostinho do Rosário highlighted the surrender of eight members of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, an armed splinter group, “who decided to leave the bush and join this process.

“These developments make us believe that we are on the right path towards the definitive silencing of arms and national reconciliation,” he stressed, launching an appeal to the remaining members.

“We call on the members of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta and its leader [Mariano Nhongo] to join this irreversible process of DDR now underway,” he concluded.

The peace agreement in Mozambique was signed in August 2019 by the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, and the Renamo president, Ossufo Momade, providing, among other things, for the DDR process.

Since its inception, the process has always been conducted in Sofala province, and this week, for the first time, covered members of the former Renamo guerrillas in Manica, also in central Mozambique.

The dissidents of the military junta are accused of carrying out armed attacks in central Mozambique since the peace agreement was signed, incursions which have led to the death of 30 people and several wounded.

The movement led by Mariano Nhongo, a former Renamo guerrilla leader who remains in the bush with an uncertain number of men, contests the party leadership and the conditions for DDR stemming from the 2019 agreement.

Source: Lusa