Mozambique: Demobilized guerrillas seize office of Renamo leader – AIM report

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Mozambique: Demobilized guerrillas seize office of Renamo leader – AIM report

6:55 CAT | 29 May 2025

Screen grab: TV Sucesso

A group of men claiming to be demobilised guerrillas of the Mozambican former rebel movement Renamo on Tuesday morning seized control of the Maputo office of the Renamo leader, Ossufo Momade.

Members of the police were on hand, but made no attempt to stop the occupation.

The demobilised fighters had already occupied the nearby Renamo headquarters. They told reporters that Momade’s office was the last functioning Renamo building in the country. The dissidents have managed to shut down all Renamo provincial and district delegations.

A spokesperson for the demobilised men told reporters that they had seized the office in order to force Momade to resign. They blame him for Renamo’s poor results in last year’s general elections, in which Renamo slipped from second to third position, beaten not only by the ruling Frelimo Party but also by the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), which is now the largest opposition force in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

The dissidents, cited by the independent television station “TV Sucesso”, say that Renamo “belongs to us”. They claim to represent the great majority of the demobilised fighters.

But in reality this group of former fighters has no democratic legitimacy. Whether they like it or not, Momade was twice elected President of Renamo, at Party congresses held in 2019 and 2024.

The nationwide operation to cripple Renamo, by closing down offices, must be expensive. Somebody has paid to transport the dissidents to Renamo offices, and has provided them with food.

None of the reporters who have shown such enthusiasm about the collapse of Renamo have bothered to ask who is financing the demobilised.

During this crisis inside his party, Momade has not shown his face in public. Reports, so far unconfirmed, have circulated that he is in poor health and has sought medical assistance outside the country.