Nyusi in further phone contact with Dhlakama

Mocuba (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi told reporters on Friday that he has once again been in telephone contact with the leader of the Renamo rebels, Afonso Dhlakama, this time in order to clarify an incident which had supposedly taken place in Murrupula district, in the northern province of Nampula.

Last week some of the Mozambican media had reported the kidnapping of a teacher in Morrupula by Renamo gunmen, and claimed that this was a violation of the truce that Dhlakama had declared in late December, and subsequently extended until May.

So Nyusi decided to look into the matter on Tuesday by asking Dhlakama for his version of events.

Speaking to reporters who were attending the National Forum on Agricultural Marketing, held on Friday in Mocuba, in the central province of Zambezia, Nyusi said he had ascertained that the teacher had simply removed tree trunks on a path that led to a Renamo military base.

The teacher was merely seeking to ensure normal freedom of movement in that part of Murrupula. But he had not informed the local Renamo commander, and so members of the Renamo militia imagined that he was working for the government defence and security forces.

The teacher, who is a local village headman, was released after the Renamo gunmen concluded that his motive was indeed to ensure freedom of movement.

“He has now left captivity, and the people who had fled from their homes have returned to their normal lives”, said Nyusi.

By and large the truce, arranged in the earlier phone contacts between Nyusi and Dhlakama, is holding. Since it took effect, on 27 December, no further Renamo ambushes of vehicles on the country’s roads have been reported, and there have been no clashes between Renamo and the defence and security forces.

Post published in: Africa News

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