Two local leaders die in attack attributed to Renamo in Samoa, Tete province

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Two local leaders die in attack attributed to Renamo in Samoa, Tete province

4:04 CAT | 19 May 2016

Lusa (File photo)

The administrator of Samoa and the head of the secretariat of the same village died in the early hours of yesterday in an attack authorities attribute to Renamo in Tete province’s Zóbuè administrative post.

The attack, reported to Radio Mozambique by the administrator of Moatize district, occurred just hours after the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Afonso Dhlakama, announced that he would name a team to resume peace talks with the government.

José Maria Torcida described how gunmen killed the village chief at his home and set fire to the house of the head of the secretariat, who burnt to death. The attackers also burnt the village headquarters down.

Tete Police Commander Fabião Nhancololo told the pubic broadcaster that he had tightened security in the village, adding that the authorities would ensure there was “appropriate follow-up” on a case he described as “a crime”.

The governor of Tete, Paulo Auade, expressed concern over “gunman attacks against civilian and military targets” and said that everything would be done so that “the perpetrators of this barbaric murder are brought to court”.

The leader of Renamo said yesterday that he would name a team for the resumption of peace talks to address the deteriorating political and military situation in the country.

Afonso Dhlakama told Mozambique’s main private television channel, STV, that he would release the names of the three Renamo members on Thursday who would discuss the agenda with the Jacinto Veloso group.

The president of Renamo (Mozambique National Resistance) has responded to an invitation from head of state Filipe Nyusi to indicate a team for the resumption of dialogue on the current political and military crisis.

Dhlakama has made the resumption of talks conditional on the involvement of the international community, saying he wants “serious negotiations” so that, referring to renewed instability since 2013, “this is over once and for all”.

“We are already old. We have children and we are too old to be walking in the woods killing each other,” the leader of the opposition told STV.

Negotiations between the Mozambican government and Renamo have been stalled for several months after Renamo withdrew from talks citing a lack of progress and absence of sincerity on the government side.

Mozambique has experienced a worsening of political violence in recent months, with clashes between Renamo and defence and security forces and with mutual accusations of abduction and assassination of party members, and attacks on military and civilian targets in the centre of the country attributed by the authorities to the opposition’s armed wing.

In the same interview, Dhlakama demanded that a committee of parliamentarians and civil society members investigate human rights abuses in Mozambique and the alleged death and disappearance of Renamo members and supporters.

Source: Lusa