Mozambique: Renamo announces demilitarisation of 11 members of dissident group – Watch

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Mozambique: Renamo announces demilitarisation of 11 members of dissident group – Watch

4:03 CAT | 03 Jul 2020

Renamo's Andre Magibire in Muxungue. [Photo: Miramar]

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) announced on Thursday that 11 members of the splinter group accused of carrying out attacks in the centre of the country will hand over their weapons as part of the ongoing demilitarisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process.

“We are in contact with them and they have shown themselves to be very repentant” Renamo secretary general André Magibire, said, speaking in Muxungue, Chibabava district, Sofala province, during the second stage of the DDR process set in motion under the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement signed in August last year.

According to Magibire, three of the 11 handed over their weapons yesterday, and the rest will be covered in the subsequent phases of the DDR.

Magibire sees the group’s decision as “a good sign”, and says the party will support them in a “spirit of forgiveness and solidarity”.

“We think that everyone should benefit from this process,” Magibire says, adding that he believes that more members of the splinter group embedded in the central part of the country will eventually cease launching armed incursions there.

The self-proclaimed Military Junta is led by Mariano Nhongo, a former guerrilla leader, and is accused of carrying out attacks targeting security and civilian forces in villages and on roads in the central region, causing at least 24 deaths.

Nhongo demands, among other things, the resignation of the current Renamo president, Ossufo Momade, accusing him of having failed to adhere to the ideals of Afonso Dhlakama, the historic leader of the party who died in May 2018, in the peace negotiations.

The demilitarisation, disarmament and reintegration process, which involves about 5,000 members of the armed wing of the largest opposition party, started on June 4.

Since then, the DDR process has covered 38 ex-guerrillas in Savane, 251 ex-guerrillas in Chibabava, and 303 in Dondo, in Sofala province.