Mozambique: Renamo party agent in Sofala leaves and joins Frelimo

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Mozambique: Renamo party agent in Sofala leaves and joins Frelimo

5:01 CAT | 29 Apr 2020

The Renamo representative in Sofala has announced that, along with 52 other members, he is leaving the party to join Frelimo, citing a “lack of democracy” in the main opposition force.

“This has got worse under the current president, Ossufo Momade, who has instigated a climate of dictatorship within the party, and I saw that there was no hope,” Ernesto Angelino, Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) party agent [mandatário] in Sofala province, central Mozambique, said.

That official was speaking on the sidelines of a presentation of new Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) members in Gorongosa, along with the 52 other former Renamo members.

“Lack of internal democracy”

The group also includes Isaque Zeca, Renamo’s district political delegate in Gorongosa, one of the strongholds of the main opposition party.

“Lack of political will and internal democracy has taken the party to rock bottom. I was once a district delegate, the leader’s private secretary, among other things, but nothing changes, so we decided to leave the ranks and join another party,” Zeca said.

Lusa tried unsuccessfully to contact the Renamo spokesman in Maputo, but Ricardo Gerente the current Frelimo provincial delegate in Sofala, promised a comment within the next few days.

The group’s action is the latest evidence of internal divisions under Ossufo Momade, who took over leadership of Renamo in 2018 following the death of Afonso Dhlakama.

The loudest dissenting voice has been that of former guerrilla leader Mariano Nhongo, who still commands men in the field in the centre of Mozambique, and who takes issue with the peace and disarmament agreement signed by Momade and Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi last August.

Source: Deutsche Welle