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Former combatants in Mozambique urge main opposition to disarm and embrace peace

Xinhua, October 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Former combatants in Mozambique on Thursday urged the leader of the country's main opposition Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, to disarm his men and embrace peace.

"... Dhlakama knows very well that a political party should not have arms," said Fernando Faustino, chairperson of the Mozambican Association of Former Combatants of the Armed Struggle for Mozambique's Independence (ACLIM).

Speaking on the state-owned Radio Mozambique, Faustino said the country and the people need peace, tranquility and stability.

At the beginning of this month, riot police and the army disarmed Renamo guards in Dhlakama's home in the central port city.

Sixteen AK-47 assault rifles and three pistols were seized from the Renamo men, who accompanied Dhlakama from his bush home in the Gorongosa mountain in Sofala. Sofala used to be Renamo's stronghold during its civil war against the Mozambican Frelimo-led government.

The government and the former rebel movement signed an agreement last September aiming at disarming the Renamo men. The accord was signed by former head of state, Armando Guebuza and the Renamo leader in the capital, Maputo.

Apart from disarming the Renamo men, the document was also aimed at halting hostilities between the two sides.

For Faustino, the disarming of the Renamo men who have been looming in central Mozambique was an urgent matter.

Dhlakama is still in the second largest city and said he was ready to travel to Maputo to meet the President, Filipe Nyusi, to resolve the country's political conflict. Nyusi says he is waiting for him for the purpose.

Since Dhlakama left the Gorongosa bush, eight Renamo officers have surrendered to the armed forces. They told the media that many Renamo men are willing to do the same, but they are misled by Renamo.

Nyusi was quoted by Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily paper Noticias as saying that he was open to talk to Dhlakama. And Dhlakama said last week that contacts between his party and the government have been going on for the talks and for the resumption of dialogue between the two sides.

The talks in Maputo collapsed in August on the orders of Dhlakama, who told his delegation to pull out of the dialogue.

Renamo and the government fought for 16 years of civil war which ended in 1992. Enditem