For the head of the Frelimo parliamentary group, Margarida Talapa, peace was a precious gain that must be consolidated. But her opposite number in Renamo, Angelina Enoque, claimed that “despite the silencing of the guns, we are not at peace”.
“Peace is fundamental for the stability of our country”, said Talapa. “We should preserve, cultivate and celebrate it every day and under all circumstances. In peace we are rebuilding the country and restoring the human fabric that was profoundly lacerated by a war which held the country back”.
It was because the country was at peace that roads and bridges that had been destroyed were being rebuilt, and that the national electricity grid has been extended to almost all of the 128 districts. “With peace the economy is being put back on its feet”, she said. “Our country is a new and attractive form of destination for multiple forms of investment”
Talapa said a special responsibility fell of those who signed the peace agreement (the then President, Joaquim Chissano, and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama) to speak and act in such a way “as to preserve peace, a common good for each and every one of us”,
“Intolerance and systematic threats against peace are unworthy of someone whom history granted the role of signatory to the peace agreement”, she added. Talapa was clearly referring to Dhlakama’s recent threats to install “a new political order” in Mozambique, and to call back once demobilised Renamo soldiers to his old military base in the central district of Gorongosa.
“We in Frelimo remain unshakeable in the defence of peace, tranquility, harmony and the unity of all Mozambicans, and in respect for the legally constituted institutions”, she declared.
But Enoque claimed there had been a retreat from the principles of the peace agreement and that the population is living “in terror”. She claimed there could be no peace without “reconciliation, tolerance, dialogue and inclusion”.
She added that “dialogue is not a sum of meetings and handshakes, without producing anything” – thus for Enoque, the only dialogue worth having, is one where Renamo’s positions emerge victorious.
Enoque claimed that Dhlakama had gone to Gorongosa under pressure from the Renamo demobilised soldiers “and from the entire population who want to see respected the main rights they fought for during 16 years”.
“Mozambicans love Afonso Dhlakama”, she declared (although the election results tell a different story, with Dhlakama taking only 16.4 per cent of the vote in the 2009 presidential election).
He would remain in the Gorongosa bush, Enoque claimed, “until the conditions have been created so that Mozambique can really belong to the Mozambicans”.
These conditions, she said, included recruiting Renamo members into the police force, and either abolishing the riot police or reforming it with “50 per cent of its members from each side”.
As for the armed forces, she called for “the effective integration of Renamo soldiers into all military units on a footing of equality with those from Frelimo”.
Enoque has thus forgotten that the reason why the Mozambican armed forces (FADM) are relatively small is that in 1994, when the FADM was formed, the vast bulk of both the old government army, the FAM/FPLM, and of Renamo refused to join.
Under the peace agreement, the FADM was to be 30,000 strong, 15,000 from the FAM/FPLM and 15,000 from Renamo. But the agreement also stipulated that they must all be volunteers – and most of the soldiers, on both sides, just wanted to go home. When attempts were made to pressgang them, a wave of mutinies spread across the assembly points set up for both the government and the Renamo forces.
As a result the FADM began life with less than 12,000 troops. Since 1997, the FADM has been built up on a basis of conscription. All Mozambicans, on reaching the age of 18, are supposed to register for military services – and they are not asked which political party they support.
If the Renamo fighters did not want to join the FADM in 1994, it is hard to see why they should want to join now, 20 years later. Many of them will be unfit to join the army anyway, simply on grounds of age.
As for the police, in the late 1990s the Ministry of the Interior offered police training to those Renamo fighters who formed Dhlakama’s “Presidential Guard”. He rejected the offer.
One of the main items on the agenda for this parliamentary sitting is the adoption of amended electoral laws. During lengthy negotiations in the parliamentary commission on public administration, Frelimo made a string of concessions to Renamo demands, but Renamo is insisting on wielding a veto in the National Elections Commission (CNE).
Frelimo was prepared to continue seeking for consensus, said Talapa, “seeking the approval of laws that are in line with the reality and needs of elections in our country. We expect from the other parliamentary groups, the same level of responsibility, and that their behaviour should be guided by good sense”.
But Enoque insisted on a CNE that is not only entirely politicised, but would also have an opposition majority. Renamo wants a 17 member CNE with four members appointed by Frelimo, four by Renamo, four by the second opposition group in parliament, the Mozambique Democratic Movment (MDM), two by extra-parliamentary opposition groups, and three from civil society. This she called “parity”.
As for the demands that the organisation of elections should be taken out of the hands of political parties, and entrusted to an independent body formed by civil society, Enoque simply declared “there is no civil society in Mozambique”, though one might be formed in the future.
This will come as surprising news to the large number of Mozambicans involved in churches, trade unions, professional associations or NGOs.
“This civil society of which so much is said is just a fallacy”, claimed Enoque. It was just Frelimo in disguise, since “much of this so-called civil society consists of active paid-up members of Frelimo who obey its commands during elections”.
Post published in: Africa News