Mozambique: Parliament resolution calls for strengthening of Defence and Security Forces

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Mozambique: Parliament resolution calls for strengthening of Defence and Security Forces

6:47 CAT | 12 Nov 2020

File photo: TVM

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic (AR), approved a resolution condemning the armed violence in the north and centre of the country and asking the Government to strengthen the logistical and material capacity of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS).

The resolution was approved this Thursday by the benches of the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo), the party in power and with the majority in parliament, and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), third party, with six seats in the AR.

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, left the plenary session at the very beginning of the presentation of the report which gave way to the resolution.

“The Assembly of the Republic strongly condemns the attacks carried out by the terrorists in the province of Cabo Delgado and repudiates the macabre crimes and murders of defenceless citizens”, reads the position read by Telmina Pereira, Frelimo deputy and member of the Standing Commission .

The deputy pointed out that the actions of armed groups in Cabo Delgado forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their areas of origin in search of security elsewhere in the province and the country.

In the same resolution, the deputies of the Mozambican parliament condemned the armed actions of the Renamo Military Junta, a splinter group from the armed wing of the main opposition party, in the central provinces of Manica and Sofala.

In the chapter of recommendations, the MPs ask the Mozambican government to strengthen the logistical and material capacity of the Defence and Security Forces so that they may “continue to fulfil their noble mission of defending the homeland and sovereignty”.

The deputies further warn of the risk of infiltration of members of armed groups in the accommodation centres for internally displaced persons (IDPs), calling for increased surveillance in these places.

The Government, the resolution continues, must ensure basic conditions for the population in the reception and resettlement centres, as well as psycho-social support.

The combination of efforts between government institutions, national, international humanitarian agencies and civil society must be reinforced for effective action in support of internally displaced persons, they add.

On the other hand, according to the document, it is necessary to guarantee the identification register of the families displaced by the war who have lost their civil identification documents.

Telmina Pereira said that the resolution will be sent to the Government and the Attorney General’s Office for the due effects.

The position was based on a report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission on Constitutional Affairs, Human Rights and Legality.

The approval comes at a time when the conflict in Cabo Delgado has been the subject of international attention due to reports of massacres committed by rebels, victimising hundreds of people in the past week, part of which allegedly beheaded.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday expressed ” shock over the reports of massacres by non-State armed groups in several villages, including reported mass-beheadings, and kidnapping of women and children”.

The UN Secretary-General also urged Mozambique’s authorities “to conduct an investigation into these incidents, and to hold those responsible to account,” while calling “on all parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.”

Armed violence is causing a humanitarian crisis with about 2,000 deaths and 435,000 people displaced to neighbouring provinces, without enough housing or food – mainly concentrated in the provincial capital, Pemba.

In the central region, the Renamo Military Junta is the main suspect in the death of about 30 people in attacks on buses, villages and elements of the FDS.

The dissident guerrilla movement of the main opposition opposition party in Mozambique which opposes the leader elected at the 2019 congress, Ossufo Momade, emerged in June 2019.

Source: Lusa