Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama will resume dialogue with President Nyusi if mediators from South African, the Catholic church and the European Union also take part.
In a written reply to the invitation sent to him on Friday, the leader of Renamo (Mozambique National Resistance) agrees to the resumption of dialogue, but “as a way of preventing the events of the past”, says talks must involve mediation by the three entities named.
“Renamo proposes that the Government publicly accept the accreditation of mediators in order to show the Mozambican people and the world at large its commitment to peace and national reconciliation,” the main opposition party says in the letter dated today and signed by the head of Dhlakama’s office.
In the letter, Renamo recalls that it will only name a preparatory team for a meeting with the head of state “once the accreditation of the proposed mediators is accepted”.
The Mozambican president invited the Renamo leader on Friday to resume dialogue and asked the main opposition party to designate representatives to prepare a meeting at the highest level.
A statement from the president’s office sent to Lusa read: “The President, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, in compliance with the decisions of the National Defense and Security Council, addressed an invitation to the president of Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, for the resumption of the high-level dialogue, aimed at finding the best ways to restore peace and the continuation of the path of development.”
According to the note from the presidency, the letter to Dhlakama follows a meeting on 24 February of the National Defense and Security Council which recommended the continuation of the head of state’s efforts for the resumption of dialogue with the leader of the largest opposition party.
In the invitation, the head of state calls for the “maximum possible urgency” in the designation of the Renamo dialogue representatives.
From his part, Filipe Nyusi has appointed Jacinto Veloso, member of the National Defense and Security Council, presidential advisor Maria Benvinda Levi, and Alves Muteque, official in the presidency, to prepare the meeting with Dhlakama.
In response, Renamo welcomed the National Defense and Security Council initiative, says that, “as a protagonist in the temporarily interrupted dialogue, (the party) agrees that it be resumed in order to find the best way to restore peace and pursue national development”.
Justifying the need for mediation by South Africa, the Catholic church and the European Union, Renamo said talks in the past, “featured the holding of high level meetings without any agenda, handshakes without any real sense of reconciliation and talks going unrecorded”.
The largest opposition party also cites what it sees as a “lack of seriousness” in the government’s compliance with agreements reached in the long-term dialogue sessions at the Joaquim Chissano Conference Centre in Maputo.
Stability in Mozambique has been deteriorating in recent months, with mutual accusations of armed attacks, kidnappings and assassinations of political leaders. In recent weeks, attacks on columns of civilian vehicle escorted by the military attributed to Renamo have been recorded in two sections of the country’s principal highway in Sofala province.
Lusa/Club of Mozambique
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