Renamo demands thorough clarification on alleged compulsory recruitment of young people

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Renamo demands thorough clarification on alleged compulsory recruitment of young people

12:42 CAT | 10 Feb 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Mozambique’s main opposition party, on Friday demanded “more exhaustive” clarifications from the government regarding rumours of alleged compulsory recruitment of young people to carry out military service in the north of the country.

“The point is not to say that the information is false, but to guarantee the security of the population,” Venâncio Mondlane, political adviser to Renamo president Ossufo Momade, told a press conference in Maputo.

The issue involves footage circulating on social media on Friday morning of young people allegedly fleeing from military personnel who wanted to forcibly conscript them into the army to fight insurgents in northern Mozambique.

The same day, the Ministry of Defence denied any such recruitment, promising to investigate the case and “discover the origin, motivations and the authors” of the allegation, which triggered alarm in several neighbourhoods.

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Renamo considered the ministry’s communiqué “void of content” and betraying a “lack of institutional coordination”, since alerts of alleged compulsory recruitment had been circulating on social networks for more than four days.

“The communications from the Ministries of Interior and Defence were very superficial and do not respond to what the population wants,” Mondlane said.

The alleged recruitment coincides with the military registration period, which started on January 10 and is scheduled to end on February 28.

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The General Command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) announced on Friday that it had intensified patrols in areas identified as prone to the dissemination of information on the said recruitment.

“[We have already] detained individuals at a police station for identification, with the aim of neutralising the masterminds [behind the rumours]”, spokesman for PRM Command-General Orlando Mudumane said in Maputo on Friday.

Armed groups In the north of Mozambique have been terrorising districts in Cabo Delgado province since 2017, causing between 350 and 400 deaths among attackers, residents and Mozambican military personnel combined, in addition to leaving around 60,000 people affected or forced to abandon their land and homes, according to the United Nations.

The Mozambican Armed Defense Forces (FADM) are deployed locally, but President Nyusi recently admitted that external support might be needed to deal with the problem.