Frelimo, Renamo talks bear little fruit
MAPUTO: The fourth round in the current dialogue between the Mozambican government and the Renamo rebels have ended with no visible results.
And there is no sign of an end to the low-level Renamo insurrection, mainly affecting the central provinces.
A brief statement read out by the co-ordinator of the international mediating team, European Union representative Mario Raffaelli, said the mediators have proposed to the government and Renamo delegations that “a package of principles on decentralisation be sent to the Assembly of the Republic (the Mozambican parliament), as well as a road map for dealing with the other points on the agenda”.
Both sides, Raffaelli added, have agreed to present a formal response to this proposal when the next round of talks starts, probably on November 10.
The “decentralisation” demanded by Renamo is that it should be allowed to govern the six provinces where it claims to have won in the October 2014 general elections. But under the current constitution, governors are not elected, but appointed by the president. So Renamo is demanding constitutional amendments, even though its parliamentary group unanimously supported the current constitutional arrangements when they were passed in 2004.
The declared purpose of the talks is to prepare a face-to-face meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, who is refusing to leave his military base in the central district of Gorongosa, on the grounds that he fears assassination.
Raffaelli confirmed that last Saturday he attempted to visit Dhlakama in Gorongosa. But this attempt to break the deadlock was snubbed – Raffaelli said he received a phone call from Dhlakama telling him not to come, because there were no adequate security arrangements.
Raffaelli categorically denied reports that the mediating team had come under attack from government forces when it tried to visit Dhlakama.
The likelihood of the Mozambican parliament agreeing to the constitutional changes Renamo wants seems remote. This week MPs from Renamo and the ruling Frelimo Party angrily swapped accusations of murder.
Renamo claimed that the government has set up “death squads” to eliminate Renamo members. Frelimo retorted that the real death squads are the illicit Renamo militia, and gave lists of local officials and Frelimo members assassinated by Renamo gunmen.
Frelimo pointed out that the Mozambican constitution does not permit political parties to set up parallel armed forces, and some took this to its logical conclusion, demanding that Renamo be outlawed.