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Mozambique: Without reconciliation, country may face more conflict – mayor
7:25 CAT | 24 Mar 2021
File photo: Lusa
The mayor of the Mozambican city of Quelimane Manuel de Araújo on Tuesday said that the country could have more armed conflicts if it does not promote national reconciliation pointing out that there are forces that are against peace.
“If we fail in this mission [of promoting national reconciliation], we will return to have other conflicts,” Manuel de Araújo, a graduate in International Relations and former researcher for the non-governmental organisation Amnesty International (AI), told Lusa.
A genuine process of national reconciliation should involve adopting inclusion policies for all Mozambicans, including members of the opposition in the spheres of political, economic and social power and should also involve fighting exclusion, Araújo said.
He considered the success of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement signed in 2019 by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, Ossufo Momade, essential because there are blocking forces that want to halt the understandings, although he did not mention who they were.
“I think that we, as Mozambicans, have no other option. It is not a question of choice. We have to believe in a roadmap for peace. It is important that what was enshrined in the peace agreements is fully complied with,” he said.
The mayor of Quelimane said that it was important to commit to the path of stability so that the Frelimo government and Renamo do not return to another cycle of violence.
He also said it was necessary to listen to and understand the demands of Mariano Nhongo, leader of the military junta, an armed Renamo dissident, to involve him in the peace process.
“It is a contentious issue that must be resolved. First, we have to understand the nature of his demands and draw up an agenda,” he said.
Peacekeeping in the country, he continued, has failed in the past because there was a lack of commitment to the various agreements signed by the government and Renamo.
There were people or groups of people who tried to score points outside what was established in the agreements. Since there was no military victory for one side or the other, people tried to engineer a kind of victory offside. He pointed out.
He considered that the Frelimo government investment in a strategy of repression and political exclusion to strengthen its political power after signing the General Peace Agreement in 1992 violated the spirit of the understanding.
Manuel de Araújo is a member of Renamo and has been mayor of Quelimane since 2011.
In 2018, he was the Lusophone Personality of the Year Award of the International Lusophone Movement (MIL).
The latest peace agreement in Mozambique was signed in August 2019, providing, among other things, the conditions for the Demilitarisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) process of the armed arm of the main opposition party.
The junta led by Mariano Nhongo, a former Renamo guerrilla leader, is contesting the party’s leadership and the conditions for demobilisation.
In recent months, several influential group members have left the bush and joined the peace process, but their leader maintains his demands.
Source: Lusa
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