RENAMO PUTS CONDITIONS FOR NEGOTIATIONS Maputo — Mozambique’s former rebel movement Renamo has claimed that its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, is willing to meet with President Armando Guebuza – but is also demanding a range of pre-conditions, including a formal ceasefire, and the cancellation of the municipal elections scheduled for next Wednesday. According to the electronic newssheet “Canalmoz” these demands, purporting to come from Dhlakama, are contained in a letter sent to the government. But the letter, dated 12 November, is signed, not by Dhlakama, but by the head of his office, Augusto Mateus. Whether Dhlakama approved of the letter is far from clear. He has not been seen in public since the Mozambican armed forces (FADM) occupied his bush headquarters at Satunjira, in the central province of Sofala, on 21 October. Just two days ago, the Renamo national spokesperson, Fernando Mazanga, said the Renamo office in Maputo does not know where Dhlakama is and has no way of contacting him. The letter makes some very familiar demands. It says that dialogue with the government (which Renamo insists on calling “negotiations”) can only resume in the presence of “national and international mediators and observers”. This was a demand the government firmly rejected in August. Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco, the head of the government’s team for the dialogue which has been underway, with no results whatever, since March, pointed out at the time that the dialogue is being held at Renamo’s request, and with an agenda suggested by Renamo. Its original request for talks with the government said nothing about “facilitators and observers”. In October, Renamo hardened its position and said it would not go to any further talks with the government unless “facilitators and observers” were also at the table. This boycott position is repeated in the letter from Mateus. The local “facilitators” suggested by Renamo are Anglican Bishop Dinis Sengulane and respected academic Lourenco do Rosario, Vice- Chancellor of Maputo’s Polytechnic University, who earlier in the year carried messages between Dhlakama and Guebuza. But the letter also demands international observers from SADC (Southern African Development community), the African Union, the European Union and the United States. Renamo declared that “to guarantee a genuine, serious and productive dialogue”, the proposed “mediators and observers” should be “officialised, similar to what happened at the time of the General Peace Agreement”. The government, however, has made it very clear that it has no intention of turning the clock back to the signing of the peace accord in 1992. The letter also declares “it is imperative to postpone the municipal elections”. Those elections are just five days away, and all the ballot papers and other electoral materials have already been printed and distributed. The elections are no walkover for the ruling Frelimo Party, since they are being strongly contested by the second opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic movement (MDM). Renamo’s tactic of boycotting the local elections simply means that the hundreds of Renamo members currently in the municipal assemblies will all lose their seats. The MDM will certainly win a large number of seats in the assemblies, and could possibly elect mayors in several municipalities in addition to the two cities it already runs (Beira and Quelimane). After these elections, the MDM will have a strong claim to being considered the country’s main opposition. Some prominent Renamo members have broken with Dhlakama’s boycott. Thus one senior Renamo parliamentarian, Luis Gouveia, is openly campaigning for the re-election of the MDM mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araujo. The letter also calls for the negotiation of a ceasefire. When the dialogue resumes, it demands that the two sides “should establish the guarantees and mechanisms of a ceasefire and its respective supervision”. This sounds like renegotiating the 1992 peace accord, and the government will certainly reject it. The government argues that the current clashes between the defence and security forces and Renamo gunmen in the central province of Sofala were started by Renamo, and the government forces have merely reacted to them. The government insists that the key question is the disarming of Renamo. Former Renamo deputy Jeremias Pondeca, cited by “CanalMoz” added another pre-condition for talks – the government forces must withdraw from the Satunjira area. Pondeca wanted them pulled back “to the positions they were in before Dhlakama moved to Satunjira” (which was in October 2012). The government has responded to the letter, but without mentioning any of Renamo’s specific demands. Instead the government simply said it was willing to continue the dialogue next Monday at Maputo’s Joaquim Chissano Conference Centre. There seems little chance that Renamo will be there. Pondeca declared flatly “without facilitators and international observers, Renamo will not come back to the table”.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:14:56 +0000
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