The threat came at a press conference given by the head of the Renamo information department, Jeronimo Malagueta. The Save marks the conventional boundary between southern and central Mozambique, while Muxungue is the small town where Renamo attacked a police post in early April, and murdered four members of the riot police.
Malagueta declared that in this area “the Renamo forces will position themselves to prevent the circulation of vehicles transporting people and goods, because the government uses these vehicles to transport weaponry and soldiers in plain clothes, who will be concentrated near Satunjira for the attack against the President of Renamo”.
Satunjira is a part of Gorongosa district where Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama has been living, in an old Renamo base, since October. Since then, Renamo has frequently claimed that the government is about to attack Satunjira: nine months have passed, and there has been no attack.
Malagueta, who held the rank of Brigadier in the Renamo army, also threatened that Renamo would halt all traffic along the Sena railway line, from Beira to the Moatize coal basin, and its spur that goes to the sugar town of Marromeu. Clearly this threat is intended to prevent the mining companies Vale and Rio Tinto from exporting their coal via Beira.
Renamo justified this Renamo blockade on the ground that it intends to prevent all movements by the riot police (FIR) near Dhlakama’s Satunjira residence. But the Sena line does not pass through Gorongosa, and nobody has reported seeing contingents of riot police on coal or sugar trains.
Malagueta said the Renamo road and rail blockades will start on Thursday. “They will be actions to weaken the logistics of those who make Mozambicans suffer, and subject them to slavery”, he claimed.
He called on all motorists to refrain from using the Save-Muxungue stretch of road. One of his companions at the press conference, Rahil Khan, who is a political advisor to Dhlakama urged all foreigners living in or with interest in the areas mentioned by Renamo to leave.
Malagueta also denied that Renamo had carried out the Monday attack on an arsenal belonging to the Mozambican armed forces (FADM) at Savane, also in Sofala, in which at least five soldiers were killed. He blamed the government itself for the attack.
“The attack on the Savane arsenal clearly mirrors the contradictions inside the Frelimo Party, which are becoming more visible by the day”, he alleged.
On Tuesday, the government blamed Renamo for the attack, noting that it fitted into a pattern of threats and incitement to violence, and earlier raids, such as the April assault on the Muxungue police post.
It is not clear whether Renamo can carry out its threats to blockade simultaneously the Save-Muxungue road and the Sena railway. But the psychological effect of the threats could lead to temporary halts in both road and rail traffic.
Post published in: Africa News