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The President of Mozambique was speaking at a press conference in Cairo, at the end of a three day visit to Egypt. [Photo: TVM]
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said on Sunday that the current crisis inside the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, is not affecting the demobilisation and disarming of the Renamo militia, in line with the agreement he reached last year with Renamo leader Ossufo Momade.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo, at the end of a three day visit to Egypt, Nyusi said he had spoken by phone with Momade last Thursday, and he had not felt that there was anything holding back the demobilisation.
Furthermore, on Friday the various teams dealing with the demobilisation and disarmament, and with the reintegration of Renamo fighters into the state defence and security forces, and back into civilian society, met and that meeting is scheduled to continue on Monday.
According to the independent television station STV, Nyusi said he received guarantees from Momade that the Renamo crisis is being solved internally. He believed this was entirely an internal party affair, which would have no impact on the negotiations between Renamo and the government over demobilisation.
This was not the first crisis to erupt inside Renamo, he noted. Immediately after the death of Momade’s predecessor, Afonso Dhlakama, in May 2018, there had been a climate of uncertainty, but the process soon returned to its normal course.
For Nyusi, the important aspect is to find a way of solving the current crisis, without endangering the greater good – which is the desire of Mozambicans for peace.
Frictions within Renamo broke into the open earlier this month with a group of Renamo militiamen claiming that they are being excluded from the demobilisation and reintegration. They accused Momade of executing senor Renamo officers – but one of those mentioned, Brig Jossefa de Sousa, was paraded alive before journalists last week.
The dissident group demanded the resignation of Momade as leader of the party, and threatened to kill him, if he refused to leave.
Nyusi also urged Mozambicans to remain vigilant so that the development of the liquefied natural gas projects in the far north does not lead to further misunderstandings.
He warned that during projects of this sort, people may emerge who try to obtain individual advantages – but he insisted that collective benefits must always take priority over individual ones.
He promised to work so that the gains from the gas industry will benefit all Mozambicans. The government was therefore putting pressure on the multinational companies involved to step up the training of young Mozambicans, so that they do not miss out on the job opportunities that the gas should provide.
Nyusi added that the companies have now increased the number of Mozambicans they expect to employ in the gas projects from 5,000 to 7,000.
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