“The war cannot end, people talk about dialogue, but send more military” to shell Gorongosa – A Verdade

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“The war cannot end, people talk about dialogue, but send more military” to shell Gorongosa – A Verdade

9:11 CAT | 11 Aug 2016

The political dialogue between the government and Renamo, suspended since the last week of July due to alleged logistical issues with foreign mediators, resumed on Monday August 8, but without any significant breakthrough.

On Monday, Afonso Dhlakama’s party reputedly went back to sending everyone out for a stroll, and showed its muscle by intensifying during the night in Niassa province the attacks and plunder routinely attributed to them.

While the warring parties fail to reach an understanding, the military confrontations go on. A member of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) revealed to A Verdade that the shelling in Gorongosa (Sofala) is far from ceasing, nor are there any signs of it doing so, since, while in the metropolis they are talking about dialogue, more military armed with heavy artillery are being sent to war.

“The war here cannot end now. People talk about dialogue, but put more military into a mixed force for the shelling. The artillery which is in Gorongosa, it’s not worth it, you cannot even think that this is Mozambique,” one of the FDS combatants reportedly told A Verdade.

“I assure you that there will be no peace. Last month, we went to Tete, Manica and Gorongosa,” said the source, who since 2014 has taken part in operations in several Mozambican provinces where former Renamo guerrillas are believed to have been amassing.

“Last month we went to Tete, Goronosa and Manica. The mission is just door-to-door visits,” said the source who explained that consists in going to houses indicated by community / traditional leaders where they knock on the door and shoot the people who open them at point blank range.

“And they are no longer military (Renamo) that we capture; they are people who are part of Renamo”.

The FDS soldier also says that the hunt for the Renamo president has been relentless since he returned to the bush and reveals that heavy artillery of Russian manufacture has been used in an attempt to destroy the mountains where it is believed that Dhlakama is in hiding.

“There are AZP S-60 57 mm cannons, BM 24 multiple rocket launchers, those big howitzers. We are trying to destroy that mountain, but we see that it is not possible.”

“We have already tried to get in (on the mountain), but the group that went in did not come out. We do not know what’s there – no-one ever returns. That area can be reached by day but it is always dark, there are clouds on the mountain. When people go there they do not come back. From there, you do not hear the sound of bullets,” he told us.

“Tractor-like weapon. Chinese operated”

According to our interviewee, attacks on the mountain are repeated. “Another time, new material from China was ordered, and made launchings and fired shots from 6 to 11 p.m. but without seeing anyone.”

“We also used guided missiles used to shoot down planes. They come from anti-aircraft artillery, and have a type of wings,” but still without the desired effect, our interlocutor tells us. He adds that some of the equipment comes from neighbouring Zimbabwe, but is originally from China.

“There is a tractor-type weapon, Chinese operate it. There are several, more than 50. They work in groups and have radar in their vehicles.”

Our source revealed yet another device the FDS uses to capture or kill Renamo guerrillas. “We now are using vehicles with MISAU (the Ministry of Health abbreviation) written on them. Commander (name withheld) ordered up ambulances to be able to get into those treks and even masks. Schools are also destroyed, and blamed on Renamo.”

“You know Renamo already has heavy weapons now – they collect the abandoned ones. When the crews (the FDS) run off, they are recovered [by Renamo],” says our source. He doesn’t see how the war, which has long spread beyond the provinces of Sofala, Manica and Tete, can come to an end.

Political dialogue remains deadlocked

Since 2013, the Mozambican government has strengthened its armed forces, with some of the money from the debts incurred by companies Proindicus, MAM and EMATUM believed to have been used to cover military expenses.

Although President Filipe Nyusi reiterates his desire for peace, the increase in funds for military spending and paramilitary forces in the state budget have been plain to see.

Meanwhile, the Joint Commission established to prepare the meeting between the presidents of Mozambique and Renamo resumed its meetings in Maputo under the gaze of the international mediators who departed the country on the 27th of July, leaving as “homework” for the ruling Frelimo party and Renamo opposition a review of their intransigent positions on the points to be negotiated.

The Nyusi government, which keeps the FDS hunting Dhlakama and his men, demands an immediate ceasefire and the disarmament of the old (new) guerrillas of Renamo.

In turn, the largest opposition party wants to govern, by the end this year, the six provinces where it says it obtained the highest vote in the general elections of 2014, and demands the restructuring of the various branches of government forces (from the army to the state security and intelligence services, from the Rapid Intervention Unit Police to the Public Protection Police).

The Monday (August 8) dialogue session, without the full complement of international mediators did not produce results, and mediators professed themselves somewhat disappointed by the fact that the government and Renamo delegations have not yet reached any sort of understanding .

The parties met for an hour and a half behind closed doors and the mediators left the meeting room with nothing to declare, apparently annoyed by the stagnation of the process during the period they were absent.

After the intermission, only the Joiint Commission [government and Renamo delegations] returned to the room and met again behind closed doors. On leaving, again no-one spoke to reporters.

Quett Masire, former president of Botswana and one of the mediators, said the meeting would continue on Tuesday (August 9).

Renamo has appointed mediators from the European Union, the Catholic church and South Africa, while the government has appointed former President of Botswana Quett Masire, the Global Leadership Foundation (led by the former US Undersecretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker), the Faith Foundation (led by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair) and former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete.