Renamo – praag.org

Mozambique’s main opposition party Renamo Tuesday claimed its fighters killed 36 soldiers and police in a fresh outbreak of violence at the weekend between the government and its former civil war foes.

Renamo said the killings occurred in two separate clashes in the central province of Sofala, a region where violence erupted earlier this year more than two decades after the end of a brutal civil war in the southern African country.

National police spokesman Pedro Cossa confirmed the presence of armed men in the region, but did not comment on the reported casualties.

Local media reported two deaths.

In a statement emailed to AFP, rebel group-turned-opposition party Renamo said it had first clashed with Frelimo government forces on Saturday.

“Renamo security forces responded promptly to fire from FADM (Armed Forces of Mozambique) and FIR (Police Rapid Intervention Force) causing 29 deaths,” it said.

“The next day… there was a new onslaught by the forces of the Frelimo government and it was again answered promptly and killed seven,” Renamo said, claiming the deadly exchange of fire was in self defence.

It was not clear what had prompted the clashes.

Tension had been simmering between the former warring parties which signed a peace deal in 1992 after 16 years of civil war which broke out shortly after independence from Portugal.

Support for Renamo has waned in recent elections, and its leader Afonso Dhlakama in October last year began retraining ageing veterans demanding “a new political order”.

The party is demanding more representation in the armed forces, an overhaul of the electoral system and a cut of revenues from Mozambiques fast-growing coal and gas mines.

Armed clashes broke out in April with a Renamo attack on a police station in Muxungue, near the latest outbreak of violence.

In July police burnt down 50 huts belonging to suspected armed members of Renamo in an a bid to flush out those it suspected were behind a spate of ambushing civilian vehicles in the area.

A latest round of peace talks ended without a deal on Monday, despite a partial agreement reached last month to change the electoral laws.

Without changes to existing electoral legislation the opposition has vowed to boycott the local government elections due in November. – Sapa/AFP

Mozambique’s army broke up the base of about 50 huts close to the country’s main north-south highway early on Saturday, according to state-run Radio Mozambique on Sunday.

“We evicted some bandits camped in the area,” provincial police commander Joaquim Nido told the radio station.

Official opposition and ex-rebel movement Renamo earlier claimed it repelled government attacks on its camp near the town Muxungue late on Friday and early on Saturday.

Authorities claimed there were no casualties, but Renamo said it had killed government soldiers and independent newspaper A Verdade also reported an unknown number of deaths citing unnamed sources.

Provincial commander Nido said gunmen from the camp killed two civilians in attacks on vehicles travelling along the highway on June 21.

At the time of those attacks Renamo denied responsibility, though it warned two days earlier it would block the road.

Clashes
Simmering tensions between Renamo and the Frelimo-led government erupted in violent clashes again in April – over two decades after a bloody civil war ended.

Even though Renamo is in no position to initiate a widespread guerrilla campaign, it is estimated to have 1,000 men under arms and analysts say it could cause enough trouble to upset a foreign mining investment boom.

Renamo demands more representation in the armed forces and changes to the electoral law. Several rounds of talks between the two parties have failed.

Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama said this week he was willing to meet with President Armando Guebuza if government forces withdrew from the former rebels’ base.

Soldiers had surrounded the camp in Sofala province’s remote Gorongosa mountains after the June 21 attacks.

Renamo has periodically threatened a return to violence after the end of the civil war, but only began acting on its threats since Dhlakama reopened his base in October 2012.

Commentators doubt the movement, previously supported by the apartheid government of neighbouring South Africa, has the resources to relaunch full-scale hostilities. – AFP

Tag: Renamo

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