Mozambique: Competing Renamo factions clash in Tete – AIM report

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Mozambique: Competing Renamo factions clash in Tete – AIM report

10:13 CAT | 25 Nov 2020

Photo: DW

A group of members of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, demonstrated on the streets of the western city of Tete on Monday, demanding the removal of Ossufo Momade as leader of the party – but the march soon degenerated into a clash with Momade loyalists.

Momade was elected president of Renamo at a Renamo congress in January 2019. He received 410 votes against 238 for the runner-up, Elias Dhlakama, younger brother of the previous leader, Afonso Dhlakama, who died of diabetes in May 2018.

Opponents of Momade who claim, without any evidence, that the Congress election was rigged, set up the “Renamo Military Junta” in mid-2019, led by Mariano Nhongo, who promoted himself to the rank of general, and claimed that he is the true leader of Renamo.

The Junta describes Momade as “a traitor” and does not recognise the peace agreement he signed with President Filipe Nyusi in August 2019.

According to the correspondent of the German agency, DW Africa, the spokesperson for the demonstrators, Hernani da Silva, who is also a member of the Tete Municipal Assembly, told a press conference at the start of the march that Momade’s behaviour inside Renamo is marked by “divisionism, clientelism and exclusion”.

“We are convinced that the surest and quickest way to strengthen the internal unity of Renamo would be, with all respect to the figure of General Ossufo Momade, his voluntary and unconditional resignation from the presidency of the party”, said Da Silva.

The dissident group believed a way out would be to call an extraordinary meeting of the Renamo National Council “so that the cadres can debate this theme openly and frankly, for the good of the party and of Mozambicans”.

Silva also blamed Momade for the violent attacks launched by the Military Junta in the central provinces of Manica and Sofala.

“We ask the Council of State to call on Ossufo Momade to explain what role he thinks he can play to end the politico-military conflict in the centre of the country”, added Silva. The Council of State is a body that advises the President of the Republic. Momade has a seat on it as the runner-up in the 2019 presidential election.

The Renamo Tete provincial delegate, Evaristo Tatamo, dismissed the dissidents as “clowns”. He insisted that Momade is the legitimately elected president of the party, and suggested that the opposition to Momade “is a product of our adversary”, the ruling Frelimo Party.

The groups led by Silva and Tatamo came to blows. Justifying the violence, Tatamo said “We in Renamo, at provincial level, cannot be happy when another group appears, saying they’re from Renamo, but attacking our President. That’s why our members and sympathisers became furious”.

Silva said he had received death threats. Tatamo denied this, but warned “if he continues to insult the President, I believe our members will not stand idly by. Patience has its limits. Hernani, who says he’s in Renamo, should step back”.

Silva said he has no intention of retreating, and the attack by the pro-Momade camp “shows we’re on the right path”.

Source: AIM