Writer Mia Couto calls Filipe Nyusi “great hope” for Mozambique “to be happy”

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Writer Mia Couto calls Filipe Nyusi “great hope” for Mozambique “to be happy”

12:12 CAT | 02 Nov 2017

Lusa/Fim

Mozambican writer Mia Couto said yesterday that the country’s president, Filipe Nyusi, represented a “great hope” for Mozambique to “be happy”.

“Here is a great hope that Mozambique can find its own time and be happy,” the writer said during the presentation of his new book “O Bebedor de Horizontes”, in a session attended by the head of state.

“You know my critical position when it comes to social, political issues, so no one can accuse me of flattery or pamphleteering,” he said before alluding to Nyusi.

Mia Couto praised the president’s commitment to dialogue, “building bridges, showing that those who are raised as enemies are people like us and that we must overcome prejudice and go out to meet such other people”.

Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama have started talks to establish a peace agreement for the country.

Dhlakama announced an indefinite ceasefire in May and a rapprochement between the pair was sealed with a handshake in August when Nyusi went to meet the opposition leader in the Serra da Gorongosa, in the centre of the country.

Nyusi left for Gorongosa without warning, to prevent the security forces or other members of the party attempting to dissuade him.

In response to Mia Couto, Nyusi recommended moderation in hopes regarding how soon an agreement could be reached.

“It all depends on us and meetings like these,” he said, and discussion of ideas that would “solve these problems”.

The book presentation was made at the headquarters of the Fundação Fernando Leite Couto, the father of the author, a space the President consideres as an example to families.

“I wanted to encourage more families to set up spaces like this, because I believe that if all families did so, there would be no barriers to anything. We would use these spaces to talk and find solutions for everything as needed”, he concluded.

Source: Lusa