Mozambique: Another 800 former Renamo guerillas to be demobbed in Zambezia

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Mozambique: Another 800 former Renamo guerillas to be demobbed in Zambezia

5:21 CAT | 12 Oct 2022

File photo: Lusa

Another 800 Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo opposition party) guerrillas in Zambezia province will be demobilised under the 2019 peace agreement, an official source said on Wednesday.

“This is another decisive step on our roadmap for effective and lasting peace in the country, particularly in our province,” said the secretary of state of Zambezia province, Judith Mussácula, during the ceremony marking the start of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process of Renamo forces in that province.

The guerrillas that will be covered by the DDR in Zambezia in the coming days are from the Renamo bases in Murotone, in Mocuba district, and Sabe, in Murrumbala district, places considered to be the main Renamo strongholds during the 16-year civil war in the central Mozambican province.

“The government will remain committed to the commissions created under the DDR implementation, providing basic conditions for the integration of these people into society,” stressed Judith Mussácula.

The Renamo representative for military affairs in the DDR process commission stressed the need for the government to streamline the payment of subsidies to former guerrillas.

“We want to appeal to the government to make the process of fixing pensions more flexible, as well as the integration of some of the demobilised soldiers into the Mozambican Republic Police,” said André Magibire.

The Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement was signed on 6 August 2019 between the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade.

The understanding was the third between the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government and Renamo, with all three having been signed following cycles of armed violence between the two sides.

On Friday, the Mozambican head of state and the president of Renamo met and reaffirmed the commitment to conclude by the end of the year the disarmament of former guerrillas of the main opposition party.

Under the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement, of the total of 5,221 individuals to be covered, over 4,000 have already handed in their weapons, some of whom have been incorporated into the Mozambican defence and security forces.

Source: Lusa