Mozambique: Renamo leadership condemns attack on Capirizanje – AIM report

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Mozambique: Renamo leadership condemns attack on Capirizanje – AIM report

7:00 CAT | 04 May 2021

Photo: TVM

Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has strongly condemned the latest attack by unknown gunmen on the administrative post of Capirizanje, in Moatize district, in the central Mozambican province of Tete.

Capirizanje came under attack on the night of 26 April when shots were fired at the official residence of the head of the post, Americo Nfumane. Nobody was injured, and the attackers dropped off a handwritten letter which denounced, not the government, but the current Renamo leader Ossufo Momade,

This makes it virtually certain that the attack was carried out by supporters of the dissident “Renamo Military Junta”, which regards Momade as “a traitor”, and rejects the peace agreement he signed with President Filipe Nyusi in August 2019.

Speaking on Saturday in the central port city of Beira, where he was launching celebrations to mark the third anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Afonso Dhlakama, Momade declared “The destruction of public and private infrastructures is sabotage and we hope the criminals who staged such foolish acts will be identified and held accountable,”

Interviewed by Radio Mozambique, Momade claimed that Renamo is opposed to all acts that jeopardise peace and development.

“When such situations do occur, we definitely get concerned because there is no room for anyone to start shooting just because he does not agree with Antonio or Francisco,”

Renamo, Momade pointed out, is an officially recognised political party, and anyone inside its ranks with a problem should seek a solution internally and not by randomly firing rifles.

Local officials, in Caparizanje or anywhere else, had nothing to do with Momade becoming President of Renamo. He won a contested election at a Renamo congress held in January 2019, giving him the democratic credentials that his opponents in the Junta lack.

Momade called on Junta supporters, including its leader, Mariano Nhongo, to join the current demobilization of the Renamo militia.

Nhongo, however, still insists that he is the genuine leader of Renamo, and demands fresh negotiations with the government.

Watch the TVM report below.