Mozambique: UN envoy confirms contact with head of Renamo Military Junta – AIM report

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Mozambique: UN envoy confirms contact with head of Renamo Military Junta – AIM report

10:34 CAT | 21 Dec 2020

in file CoM

Mirko Manzoni, the Personal Envoy to Mozambique of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, announced on Saturday that he has met with the leader of the dissident “Renamo Military Junta”, Mariano Nhongo, and told Nhongo to stop all the Junta’s military activities as a pre-condition for any talks with the government of President Filipe Nyusi.

“Despite the difficulties in a physical meeting”, said Manzoni, “I can confirm the contact with him and I thank him for his willingness to enter a dialogue, and his proposal to send representatives to start this dialogue”. He did not say exactly when or where he met with Nhongo.

Manzoni’s brief note stressed his commitment to the Agreement on Peace and National Reconciliation signed in August 2019 between President Filipe Nyusi and the leader of Renamo, Ossufo Momade. That agreement was “a landmark gain for peace and we shall continue on the path for its implementation”.

Manzoni was thus politely rejecting Nhongo’s demand that the existing agreement be scrapped and the government negotiate a new agreement with him. Nhongo has repeatedly called Momade “a traitor”, and claims that he is the true leader of Renamo.

“Guns are not the solution and cannot be the official language of a nation that deserves peace”, said Manzoni. “Dialogue is the only path to follow, and I encourage all parties to avoid the use of violence to express their complaints”.

But there could be no dialogue while Nhongo’s men are continuing to stage ambushes in the central provinces of Manica and Sofala. “The Junta must stop all attacks before any dialogue”, said Manzoni, “and all the stakeholders should act in the exclusive interest of peace”.

Nhongo’s interest in talking to the government may well have come too late. In late October, Nyusi offered the Junta a seven day truce, and temporarily ordered the defence and security forces not to pursue Junta units. But Nhongo spurned the truce, and the Junta’s attacks continued.

In his annual State of the Nation address, given on Wednesday to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Nyusi made it clear that he has lost patience with Nhongo. In the face of continuing Junta ambushes, he said, “there is nothing we can do but launch vigorous operations against this enemy”, he said.

He said the dialogue he had begun with the late leader of Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, and continued with Momade “does not give anybody room to use guns to claim they need this or that”.

On Thursday, Nhongo, cited by the German agency DW Africa, said he would be willing to start a dialogue with the government next week, but demanded guarantees that his representatives would not be “kidnapped”.

Nhongo said he would appoint representatives next Monday to speak with the government – but only if the Assembly of the Republic passed a resolution guaranteeing the safety of his men. However, by the time Nhongo spoke, the Assembly was on the last day of its final sitting of 2020.

He accused both the government and Ossufo Momade of abducting his supporters. There is no evidence to support these claims.

Source: AIM