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Mozambique main opposition says to continue possession of arms

Xinhua, November 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

The General Secretary of Mozambique's main opposition, the former rebel movement Renamo, Manuel Bissopo, told Xinhua on Thursday that Renamo will continue to possess arms to defend itself from what he termed as "our enemies."

"We will continue to hold arms, under the peace agreement we signed in Rome with the government in 1992," he said.

At the end of the parliament session on Thursday, Bissopo said "Renamo will not allow the government to disarm our men, because we deserve to have weapons as the accord envisages."

Bissopo was reacting to an address in the legislative body by Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos do Rosario, who said "the defence and security forces will continue to collect weapons that are in illegitimate hands."

"This is essential for the consolidation of peace and security," he said.

For the Frelimo-led government, under the 1992 agreement mediated by the Catholic Church, Renamo was supposed to disarm its men and provide 150,000 fighters into the country's new armed forces. The government was also supposed to do the same. So, the new armed forces would have 30,000 men.

The Prime Minister was repeating the statement made by Interior Minister Jaime Monteiro on Wednesday that the government will disarm the illegal militia of the former rebel movement Renamo.

Monteiro pledged that, if the Renamo gunmen do not accept to hand over their weapons voluntarily, they will be disarmed coercively.

But according to Bissopo, the government violated the peace agreement by hunting Renamo officials, members and sympathizers throughout the country, an accusation rejected by the Maputo administration.

He even accused the army and the police of plotting to murder the Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, in September. The army and the police rejected the accusation.

This is the first time Renamo is telling the government publicly that not a single Renamo weapon will be collected by force.

There had been two assassination attempts against Dhlakama in September in the central province of Manica, but the army and the police denied their involvement in it. Endit