Mozambique: Risk of retreat in peace talks?

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Mozambique: Risk of retreat in peace talks?

1:45 CAT | 27 Jun 2018

Ossufo Momade (In file CoM)

Slow progress on the demobilization package for Renamo men could put the peace talks at risk. Analysts and journalists do not believe there will be any major breakthrough in the coming months.

After the Frelimo parliamentary party boycotted the special session of the Assembly of the Republic last week, Renamo deputy and provincial delegate in Inhambane, Carlos Maela, called the press to describe what he considers political interference by Frelimo, and talk about the negotiation process between the two political parties.

Maela calls the required disarmament of Renamo men before the approval of the legislative package blackmail, because this request does not make sense.

“We think it’s blackmail, but we do not know if they want Renamo to be disarmed before the electoral process, because we know that this process is being treated at the highest level,” he says.

The provincial delegate also requested that the decision be withdrawn.

“We are calling on Frelimo to withdraw from this position because there have already been four municipal elections with Renamo’s military wing fully in existence and nobody has complained. What will be next is the maximum direction to guide the provinces,” he added.

Reintegration of guerrillas takes time

Manuel Bulafo, analyst and provincial delegate of the Association of Disabled People of Mozambique (ADEMIMO), says there are pressures at work within both political formations, which is why the Renamo leader continues to live in the Gorongosa mountain range. Bulafo believes that this is a way of forcing a decision on the part of the government on the social reintegration of the guerrillas, an issue that was not satisfactorily resolved in 1992.

According to Bulafo, the head of state should solve the problem, and the solution be accepted by parliament without any kind of interference.

“The fact (of Ossufo Momade being in Gorongosa) is to pressure the authorities to take a stand. He does not say that Renamo is feeling bad about seeing the process of demobilization taking place at a very slow pace. The guerrillas should enjoy a full life outside the bush, and if the head of state announced this, it is because he has every ability to decide.”

Andaqui Albino, a journalist in Inhambane, told DW that the president’s speech on Monday suggested the demilitarization of Renamo might not happen until October. Albino hopes, however, that there will be an understanding as soon as possible, to avoid a resumption of armed hostilities.

“This is a process that is part of the decentralization package, and the political situation has to come to an understanding on the part of both Renamo and Frelimo in order to avoid military hostilities, because the Mozambican people want peace,” the journalist said.

1992 Peace Agreement still to be enforced

José Manteiga, Renamo deputy in the Assembly of the Republic and a member of the Political Commission, told DW that before Afonso Dhlakama died, everything was already guaranteed for the placing of his party’s armed men in the various branches of Mozambique’s armed forces and security services, based on the general peace agreement signed in Rome in 1992, but then there was a setback.

He hopes that President Nyusi will now move forward with this process, something that should have already happened.

“These men should already have been positioned. In fact, the president should have taken more concrete steps to complete this military matters process,” Manteiga says.

Source: DW