Mozambique: Police working to locate dissident Renamo junta leader

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Mozambique: Police working to locate dissident Renamo junta leader

8:56 CAT | 27 Aug 2021

Photo: O País

Mozambican police said on Thursday that they are working to locate Mariano Nhongo, leader of the Renamo dissident group, blamed for armed attacks that have killed 30 people in central Mozambique.

“The defence and security forces are working to locate Mariano Nhongo,” Orlando Modumane, spokesman for the police (PRM), said during a press conference in Maputo.

The self-proclaimed Renamo military junta is blamed by authorities for armed attacks that have led to the deaths of at least 30 people since 2019 on roads and in villages in Manica and Sofala provinces, central Mozambique.

The PRM spokesman advanced that the defence and security forces have been intensifying intelligence operations in the region, aimed at combating and pursuing the Renamo military junta.

“We want to take this opportunity to appeal to citizen Mariano Nhongo to consciously and responsibly also join the process of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of Renamo guerrillas, aiming at the pacification of the country,” Orlando Modumane added.

The junta challenges the leadership of Renamo’s current president, Ossufo Momade, and the conditions for the demobilisation of the guerrillas arising from the peace agreement signed in 2019.

The Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, signed in August 2019 by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade, provides, among other things, for the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of Renamo guerrillas, involving some 5,000 members.

Although there are developments in the process, with almost half of the guerrillas already demobilised, Mariano Nhongo’s group remains a challenge for the parties, and all attempts to come closer to a dialogue with the group have failed.

Source: O País