Mozambique: Denying will of voters threatens peace, Renamo warns – Watch

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Mozambique: Denying will of voters threatens peace, Renamo warns – Watch

3:18 CAT | 05 Oct 2023

Screen grab: Ossufo Momade/Facebook

The leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) opposition party, Ossufo Momade, said on Wednesday that the “imposition” of appointed administrators after the postponement of district elections was “unacceptable”, and that the “denial of the will expressed at the ballot box” threatens peace.

“The peace that we have been celebrating in these 31 years cannot be called into question by denying the will expressed at the polls. As Mozambicans, we are all called upon to accept the will expressed at the polls and government alternation, because there are no eternal governments, nor eternal rulers,” Momade said regarding the local elections scheduled for October 11th.

At a press conference in Nacala, Nampula province, to mark the 31st anniversary of the General Peace Agreement signed in Rome between Renamo and the Mozambican authorities, Momade complained of hostile acts against the party during the current electoral campaign, accusing the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) of wanting to drive his party “back into the woods” [into armed opposition].

“Although they try to push us into war, we are not going to war (…) We are not going to war, we are going to stay here. We are going to wage the war in the city,” the Renamo leader said.

The 1992 General Peace Agreement, signed in Rome by then President Joaquim Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama, historic leader of Renamo, who died in May 2018, put an end to the 16-year war between the government army and the Renamo guerrillas/.

In 2013, there were further clashes between the parties, which only stopped with the signing, on September 5, 2014, of the Agreement on the Cessation of Military Hostilities, between Dhlakama and former head of state Armando Guebuza.

On August 6, 2019, the third Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement was signed by the current president, Filipe Nyusi, and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade, providing, among other aspects, for the complete and final demilitarisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) of the armed wing of the main opposition party.

“Despite attempts to push us towards war, we remain firm and committed to peace, social stability and the well-being of our populations. Because peace in Mozambique is our first priority, we continue the DDR process with determination,” Momade insisted.

The DDR, which began in 2018, covers 5,221 former guerrillas from Renamo, the largest Mozambican opposition party, of which 257 were women, and ended last June with the closure of the Vunduzi base, Renamo’s last, in Gorongosa, Sofala province.

“It is our expectation that the payment of pensions for our demobilised personnel will be made quickly in order to maintain peace and tranquillity among them,” the Renamo president warned.

The indefinite postponement of the first district elections, approved by parliament through an amendment to the Constitution of the Republic, was also addressed by the leader of Renamo.

“We reiterate our repudiation of the violation of the Constitution of the Republic to deny the district elections scheduled for 2024, a unilateral and undemocratic attitude by the party in power,” he said.

“It has been a national consensus since the General Peace Agreement that rulers must be elected. The imposition of appointed administrators is unacceptable in the 21st century. We recognize that, although we have already taken significant steps towards democracy, there is still much to be done to ensure that decisions that affect communities are made by the communities themselves,” Momade concluded.

The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, in August enacted a law for the specific revision of the Constitution of the Republic indefinitely postponing the election of administrations in 154 districts, which therefore continue to be appointed directly by the government.

The constitutional amendment was approved in parliament on Frelimo votes alone, on the basis of the process being currently “unaffordable”.

Source: Lusa