PM urges RENAMO to disarm voluntarily

Carlos Agostinho do Rosario

Speaking in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, at the end of a question and answer session between the deputies and the government, Rosario praised the “pragmatism” shown by President Filipe Nyusi last week when he ordered the defence and security forces to show restraint in disarming Renamo, and to act “in a more moderate manner, so as to give space to dialogue, seeking to attain effective peace”.

Rosario urged all political and social forces to respond positively to this signal from the President, and “to hand over voluntarily guns which are in illegitimate hands”.

The construction of peace and stability, the Prime Minister declared, is “the fundamental condition for attracting investment” and for sustainable development.

Rosario had made a similar appeal on Wednesday, at the start of the two day debate, but it fell on deaf ears. Repeatedly, Renamo deputies who intervened in the debate made it clear that their party has no intention of disarming. One of them, Carlos Manuel, even demanded that the ruling Frelimo Party disarm the police before Renamo would disarm, and Joao Lopes echoed this attempt to equate the defence and security forces of the Mozambican state with Renamo’s private army.

Francisco Maingue accused the government of importing new military equipment “to assassinate political leaders”, while Carlos Maela claimed that Frelimo is “a party of criminals”.

For Frelimo, Francisco Mucanheia urged Renamo deputies to accept “that the strength of their party does not lie in a resort to weapons to change the constitutional order”.

“We understand the difficulties Renamo faces in transforming itself from an armed rebel movement into a genuinely political civilian party, participating on a footing of equality in political competition with other parties”, he added. “We encourage Renamo to organize itself better and believe in itself so that it can occupy its space in the national political panorama without needing to violate the constitution and the laws”.

From the Renamo deputies there came strings of insults, perhaps none more startling than the claim by Vasco Manuel that Frelimo “is committing atrocities and heinous crimes, which have been its way of life since it was founded in 1964”. Apart from getting the date wrong (Frelimo was founded in 1962), this deputy was claiming that the entire war for independence, waged by Frelimo form 1964 to 1974, was “a heinous crime”.

There were the standard Renamo claims that Frelimo electoral victories were all fraudulent and that the government was therefore “illegal”. Frelimo deputy Caifurdine Manasse retorted that, when the electoral law had been overhauled (in February 2014) the Frelimo majority in the Assembly had given Renamo everything it demanded. Renamo was thus represented in every electoral body at all levels and all stages in the elections.

“We all know that Renamo had election delegates and polling station monitors who confirmed its defeat”, declared Helena Musica.