He was reacting to the clashes earlier in the day between armed members of the former rebel movement Renamo, and a unit of the riot police, in the small town of Muxunngue in the central province of Sofala.
The known death toll from the shoot-out, according to Chibabava district administrator Arnaldo Machoe, is five – four policemen and the local Renamo commander, Rasta Mazembe.
Machoe said that the clashes began when armed Renamo members attacked a riot police position at about 03.00 on Thursday morning. The shooting went on until about 04.30. The population of Muxungue fled from their homes, and the only establishment in the town that continued functioning was Muxungue Rural Hospital.
The Chibabava Director of Health, Women’s Affairs and Social Welfare, David Guitimela, cited in the Maputo daily “Noticias”, said that a further 11 people had been injured. Two with minor injuries are being cared for in the Muxungue hospital, the other nine were evacuated, first to the Nhamatanda Rural Hospital and then to Beira Central Hospital for surgery.
The train of events began on Wednesday when the riot police dispersed a group of around 200 men who had been gathered at the Renamo Muxungue office since 20 March, allegedly for military training as part of Renamo’s promised attempts to sabotage the November municipal elections.
Guebuza, speaking to the Mozambican journalists accompanying hm on his state visit to Malawi, stressed that, ever since the signing of the peace agreement in 1992, the government has done everything in its power to avoid confrontation with Renamo – but these efforts have never met with any corresponding gesture from the other side.
“At some moment we have to put an end to fear, because it is not correct that the people should always live in a state of fright”, he said.
Nothing could justify keeping the population in a permanent state of fear, “not knowing what might happen to them tomorrow”
“In fact that is what’s been happening in at least some regions of our country”, he continued. “Their residents are always scared and don’t know what could happen at any moment”.
This fear has been particularly acute in those parts of Sofala where, in violation of the demobilisation clauses of the peace agreement, Renamo has kept groups of armed men, on the grounds that they are a security forced protecting Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.
“Every effort has been made to reach a peaceful solution, avoiding bloodshed”, Guebuza stressed, but now “we must find a solution”. Renamo, he said, had continually hardened its position, despite the government’s attempts at dialogue.
Guebuza admitted that he had always found it difficult to hold a dialogue with Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama. He recalled that he had met with Dhlakama about a year ago in the northern city of Nampula, in an attempt to persuade him not to opt for violence. But the Renamo leader always slipped back into making bellicose threats.
But Guebuza declined to commit the government to continued use of force in order to disband Renamo’s ilegal “Presidential Guard”. When AIM asked him if he had drawn the conclusion that only force could end the problems, he simply replied “that may be your conclusion”.
Post published in: Africa News