Mozambique: Two years of Ossufo Momade at the helm of Renamo – DW

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Mozambique: Two years of Ossufo Momade at the helm of Renamo – DW

10:01 CAT | 19 Jan 2021

FILE PHOTO - Ossufo Momade has been president of Renamo since January 17, 2019. [File photo: DW]

Ossufo Momade was chosen president of Mozambique’s largest opposition party on January 17, 2019. But critics of Afonso Dhlakama’s successor say the current leader lacks charisma and the ability to unify Renamo.

Ossufo Momade, a former guerrilla of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the country’s largest opposition party, joined the Popular Forces for the Liberation of Mozambique (FPLM) in Nampula in 1974, following the signing of the Lusaka agreements.

In 1978, he joined the ranks of Renamo, where in 1983, he was promoted to major general, and to lieutenant general in 1992.

In 1999, he was first elected deputy of the Assembly of the Republic, where he still currently serves. In 2007, he was elected secretary general of Renamo, a post he held until 2013, when he was appointed head of Renamo’s Department of Defence and Security.

With the death of party leader Afonso Dhlakama in 2018, Momade temporarily assumed command of the party and, on January 17, 2019, he was made president of Renamo at the party congress.

Critics of the current leader of the country’s largest opposition party however say that Ossufo Momade does not have the charisma necessary to unify that political organisation.

“Casting mistake”

In an interview with DW Africa last November, Mozambican analyst Lourenço do Rosário said that Momade’s choice as a successor for Afonso Dhlakama had been a “casting mistake” that had sunk the party into deep crisis.

“Ossufo Momade is not charismatic enough to dominate both the military wing and the political wing of the party, as Afonso Dhlkama did,” he said.

“From what I know of Afonso Dhlakama’s speeches, from the little contact I had with Mariano Nhongo, and from what I know of some leaders who are not in the woods but who contest Ossufo Momade’s leadership, this does not seem to me to be a leader who at this moment is able to manufacture unanimity within Renamo,” do Rosário adds.
caption – The peace agreement between Renamo and the Government was signed on August 6, 2019

Peace agreement

On August 6, 2019, Ossufo Momade signed the definitive peace and national reconciliation agreement with the Mozambican government. The act marked the end of the political and military instability that the country experienced between 2014 and 2016 as a result of Renamo’s refusal to recognise the results of the last general elections.

Ppeaceagrem — *The peace agreement was signed on August 6, 2019. [File photo: DW]*

“We are all called to do things which protect the values that are so important for maintaining unity among Mozambicans,” Momade said at the time.

The agreement also provided for the demilitarization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process of members of the party’s armed wing, which is still in progress. However, the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta led by Mariano Nhongo considers the peace agreement null and void, and accuses Ossufo Momade of serving the interests of the ruling party, the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo).

The armed wing of the party has refused to hand over its weapons, and attempts at truce and dialogue with the government have not been successful. In December, in an attempt to unify Renamo in Zambezia, the leader of the opposition party appealed to young people not to get involved in the armed attacks carried out by the Military Junta in the centre of the country.

“My young friends, the country is facing armed conflicts in Cabo Delgado and in the provinces of Manica and Sofala that have sown destruction, regardless of the reasons,” he said.

“We, Renamo, repudiate these barbaric acts, because nothing justifies the murder of civilians and defenceless citizens. We call on our young people not to participate in acts which jeopardise the lives of our people,” he added.

Source: Deutsche Welle