Mozambique: Chissano suggests dialogue with Cabo Delgado terrorists

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Mozambique: Chissano suggests dialogue with Cabo Delgado terrorists

5:50 CAT | 04 Aug 2021

File photo: DW

Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano understands that there are “certain types of terrorism” that ended through negotiations and, therefore, calls on the Government to consider the possibility of dialogue with the armed groups operating in Cabo Delgado.

Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has called on the government to consider the possibility of dialogue with the armed groups operating in Cabo Delgado pointing out that there are “certain types of terrorism” that have ended through negotiations.

“It may be that a leader of that group appears and offers us the opportunity for a dialogue that leads to an end” to armed violence in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

Joaquim Chissano was speaking in an interview to state-owned Radio Mozambique, excerpts of which were broadcast this Wednesday.

Chissano pointed out that there are cases, around the world, in which extremism has been convinced to negotiate and to end the violence.

The former Mozambican president said that the causes of the armed violence in Cabo Delgado must be studied as a way of solving the military and social crisis in the province.

Joaquim Chissano was president of Mozambique between 1986 and 2005. The 16-year civil war ended through negotiations with the former Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) guerrillas, the main opposition party during his mandate.

They do not present faces

The current Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi, has expressed willingness to negotiate with the armed groups that have been terrorising Cabo Delgado for over three years but has complained that the insurgents do not present “faces” that allow for dialogue.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado province since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

There are more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

Source: Deutsche Welle / Lusa