Mozambique: Occupation of Renamo HQ ‘gross affront’ to party – Ossufo Momade

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Mozambique: Occupation of Renamo HQ ‘gross affront’ to party – Ossufo Momade

3:27 CAT | 04 Jun 2025

File photo: Lusa

Renamo president Ossufo Momade said on Wednesday that the closure of delegations and occupation of headquarters by former guerrilla fighters is a “gross affront” to the principles of the Mozambican party, in his first public appearance in more than three months.

“The most recent events within the party involving alleged demobilised fighters are not only worrying for the party leadership, members and supporters, and Mozambicans in general, but also represent a gross affront to the most basic principles of democracy and Renamo,” said Ossufo Momade, leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), during the national conference of combatants in Maputo.

The national conference of Renamo’s Association of Combatants in the Struggle for Democracy (Acolde) was convened “as a matter of urgency” on 23 May by the party’s political committee after more than 50 former guerrilla fighters camped at the headquarters to “force” the resignation of Ossufo Momade for alleged “mismanagement,” non-payment of pensions and subsidies, and lack of operating funds for the political party.

The group set up camp at Renamo headquarters in the Mozambican capital Maputo on 15 May, but was removed on 28 May with the use of gunfire and tear gas by the Mozambican Rapid Intervention Unit, a few hours after also occupying the office of the leader of what is now the third largest parliamentary force.

Today, in his first appearance and public statement since before the invasion of the headquarters of those bodies, Ossufo Momade said that the payment of pensions to demobilised combatants is one of the challenges facing the party, which is making every effort to ensure that demobilised combatants have “income projects to maintain their economic sustainability”.

“It is worth mentioning that Ossufo Momade has never received any money intended for demobilised combatants, so we challenge the accusers to bring evidence for the benefit of the entire Mozambican society,” said the politician, regretting that the party has been in the news recently for “the worst reasons”.

The Renamo leader also pointed to “inclusion” as one of the tenets of his leadership, noting that former guerrilla fighters have held positions in the party’s organs, but “paradoxically, district and provincial political delegation headquarters, the national headquarters and the president’s office are being attacked for reasons that cannot be disclosed.”

Momade hopes that the national conference of Renamo combatants will carry out a “thorough assessment” and take measures to help the political formation continue to be a “national reference”.

O Presidente da Renamo disse que cabe ao Estado, através do Governo, fazer o pagamento de pensões aos desmobilizados. #renamo #ossufomodade #crisenarenamo #mocambique #stvnoticias #gruposoico
veja com detalhes o programa na https://t.co/3GxkwFtECZ pic.twitter.com/LOULidCS7E

— stvnoticias (@stvnoticias_mz) June 4, 2025

Ossufo Momade, whose leadership had already been questioned, assumed the presidency of Renamo in January 2019 following the death of Afonso Dhlakama (1953-2018) and was re-elected to the post in May 2024, a process that was strongly contested internally.

Renamo lost its status as the second most voted political force in the general elections of 9 October, falling from 60 seats in the 2019 legislative elections to 28 seats in parliament.

Momade was a presidential candidate in the general elections of 9 October 2024, obtaining 6% of the votes, the worst result for a candidate supported by the party, which had been the main opposition force in Mozambique since the first elections in 1994.

For 16 years, Mozambique was embroiled in a civil war between the government army and Renamo, which ended with the signing of the General Peace Agreement in Rome in 1992. This agreement, brokered between then-President Joaquim Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama, the historic leader of Renamo, paved the way for the country’s first elections two years later.

Source: Lusa