The tolerance of Mozambicans towards armed groups is coming to an end – Nyusi

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The tolerance of Mozambicans towards armed groups is coming to an end – Nyusi

8:26 CAT | 11 Feb 2016

Lusa / Filipe NYusi

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said yesterday that the population’s tolerance towards firearms was coming to an end and that the country must cease to be seen as a “strange place with strange people”.

“In this country, with this level of tolerance, there is no reason for people to walk around armed. No! the fact that we have only said ‘Turn in your weapons yourselves’ is already tolerance enough,” the head of state told Frelimo members in Maputo, adding that “people are tolerant but their patience is running out”.

Speaking to Frelimo members at his 57th birthday celebrations on Tuesday, President Nyusi warned that his government will not continue to tolerate “things that are harmful to people”, without referring directly to the opposition Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo).

Talking about political violence in general, the head of state drew an analogy with a lion escaping from a park and starting to eat people.

“It is true that the lion has to be protected in the park, but when people are being eaten, that lion is no longer a lion to be protected,” the president said, adding that he would not allow lions to walk about on the loose.

“There is no country in the region that allows a person with a gun walking on the road,” the president said, adding that Mozambique had to stop being “a strange place with strange people” and reiterating his call for the voluntary surrender of arms and the resumption of dialogue.

“I have always felt optimistic. Someday, someone will in fact say, ‘let’s go have coffee together, let’s even discuss’, because when we start discussing without suspicion, without weapons, without fear, solutions for this country will be coming out,” he said.

The president insisted however that, while weapons abound, there can be no trust.

“The problem of trust starts from the moment that you are armed. No one is sure what you will do with that weapon,” the president said, noting that Maputo is an example of how people can establish routines without the fears that justify the possession of weapons.

In recent months, Mozambique has seen an escalation of political violence, with reports of clashes between the military arm of Renamo and the defence and security forces, as well as mutual accusations of abductions and assassinations of militants on both sides.

The Renamo president has not been seen in public since October 9, when police surrounded his residence in Beira, allegedly in a weapons collection operation, the third serious incident in less than a month involving the delegation of the opposition leader.

The Renamo president has not been seen in public since October 9, when police surrounded his residence in Beira in an alleged weapons collection operation, the third serious incident in less than a month involving the opposition leader.

On January 20, the Secretary-General of Renamo, Manuel Bissopo, was shot by unknown persons in the Ponta Gea neighbourhood of Beira, Sofala province. His bodyguard died on the spot, but the incident remains unsolved.

Source: Lusa