Instead on Thursday a special mobile registration brigade, accompanied by members of the Mozambican police and by journalists, went to a site indicated by Renamo, in the dense bush of Gorongosa district, for the sole purpose of issuing a voter card to Dhlakama.
Although the spokesperson for the National Elections Commission (CNE), Paulo Cuinica, had said the registration took place in the Vanduzi administrative place, in fact the brigade went to the settlement of Nhadue, in the adjacent administrative post of Casa Banana.
Doubtless Dhlakama felt at home here. Casa Banana, in the shadow of the Gorongosa mountain range, housed the Renamo headquarters during the first half of the 1980s. Casa Banana fell to Mozambican and Zimbabwean forces in 1985. Dhlakama narrowly escaped capture, fleeing on a motorbike. He was able to establish a new headquarters further north, at Maringue, where he was based until the end of the war of destabilisation in 1992.
The reporters accompanying the brigade said they had to drive for 60 kilometres, and then walk the final three kilometres. There were six vehicles involved, and as they were reaching their destination they were stopped by a large group of Renamo gunmen.
According to the report in Friday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Mediafax”, there were about 100 Renamo members, thus vastly outnumbering the 12 policemen accompanying the STAE brigade. The Renamo unit took control, with the apparent approval of the police, who seemed to be under orders not to react.
The Renamo men demanded to know who was in the STAE convoy. Brigade members, other STAE officials (including those appointed by Renamo), and the journalists all had to identify themselves one by one. They were then told to leave the vehicles, and enter the bush, following the Renamo group.
The “Mediafax” reporter noted that almost half the Renamo group were wearing uniforms of the Mozambican armed forces (FADM), rather than the standard green uniform normally worn by Renamo’s self-styled “Presidential Guard”.
“Mediafax” also found it curious that the members of the police contingent did not behave towards the Renamo group with any hostility, but embraced them.
The brigade members and the journalists marched on through the bush, until Renamo guards told them to stop. Ten minutes later Dhlakama appeared, surrounded by ten armed and uniformed women bodyguards. Other Renamo fighters appeared, also wearing FADM uniforms.
This was the first time Dhlakama had appeared in public since the FADM had occupied the nearby Renamo military headquarters of Satunjira on 21 October last year.
The brigade set up their equipment and attempted to register Dhlakama. The STAE machines, however, refused to cooperate. The brigade’s computer simply stopped functioning. Fortunately there was a back-up computer – but it had been left with the cars. It took another hour and a half for officials to go back to the cars, pick up the second computer, and return.
This time the machine worked, registered Dhlakama and printed out his voter card. To identify himself, Dhlakama used his diplomatic passport. One other person was also registered, a woman named Lucia who “Mediafax” suggested was a wife of Dhlakama. (But the woman to whom Dhlakama is officially married is named Rosalia, and is believed to be living in Maputo).
Speaking briefly to the reporters, Dhlakama thanked the electoral bodies for sending a brigade to register him, and pledged that his men would not resume their armed attacks. He said that he had personally ordered the cessation of hostilities announced on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Antonio Muchanga.
As long as the agreements reached in the long-running dialogue between the government and Renamo were respected, Renamo would not resort to any further military activity.
“In the case of this registration, we reached an agreement”, said Dhlakama. “If there is an agreement about the current military tension, then it will end. An effective ceasefire could happen tomorrow. It demands on the other side. We are both leaders, me on the right and (President Armando) Guebuza on the left, but we can overcome our differences”.
Asked if he will now stand as a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 15 October, Dhlakama said that was up to the Renamo National Council “which will shortly meet to decide on this matter”.
Dhlakama then returned to his bush hideout, while the brigade and its companions returned to their vehicles, where they found policemen and Renamo fighters chatting amicably. The vehicles dropped the brigade at the Casa Banana primary school, where it was to mount a registration post for the final day of voter registration, while everyone else in the group returned to Gorongosa town.
Post published in: Africa News