UN Secretary General commends Mozambique for disarmament and demobilisation process

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UN Secretary General commends Mozambique for disarmament and demobilisation process

12:58 CAT | 19 Sep 2023

Photo: Twitter / @UN_Spokesperson

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has commended the “successful completion” of the disarmament and demobilisation phase of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process in Mozambique, after a meeting with the Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi.

“The Secretary-General commended the Government and the people of Mozambique for the successful completion of the disarmament and demobilisation phase under the 2019 Maputo Accord for Peace and National Reconciliation,” reads a statement issued by the UN Secretary General’s office after Guterres’ meeting with the Mozambican head of state on the sidelines of the 78th annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York.

“The Secretary-General and the President discussed peace and development challenges in the country,” it adds.

Secretary-General @antonioguterres met with Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique, and discussed peace & development challenges in the country.#UNGA

Read more: https://t.co/AasLwTBTYI pic.twitter.com/EuGc9tB1C7

— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) September 19, 2023

The DDR process, which began in 2018, covers 5,221 former guerrillas of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the largest Mozambican opposition party, of which 257 were women, and ended last June, with the closure of the Vunduzi base, the last of Renamo, located in the district of Gorongosa, central province of Sofala.

That base closed 30 years and eight months after the end of the Mozambican civil war and the ceremony represented the end of the demobilisation process of the guerrillas who remained at bases in remote areas and who began to hand over their weapons in 2019.

The reintegration phase follows, which includes the beginning of the payment of pensions to demobilised personnel, which is also in the final phase of implementation, according to the Government.

The closure of the last base is part of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement signed between the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government and Renamo in August 2019, the third signed between the parties, the first two having been violated, resulting in armed confrontation following the contestation of electoral results by the main opposition party.

Source: Lusa