It is a historic peace agreement signed by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) Chief Ossufo Momade on Thursday, August 1, to end decades of conflict between power and ex-rebellion, which has become the main opposition party.
The ceremony took place in Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique, twenty-seven years after the end of the first civil war. The two leaders gave each other a hug after signing the agreement on a platform. A white tablecloth was inscribed "Peace: final agreement on the cessation of hostilities", according to the images of the ceremony broadcast live by the national television channel.
"We want to assure our people and the world that we are no longer in the state of mind to use violence to resolve our differences," said the successor of Renamo's historic leader, Alfonso Dhlakama, who died in May. 2018, Ossufo Momade, after the signing ceremony.
"New era"
"This agreement opens a new era in the history of our country in which no Mozambican should use weapons to resolve conflicts," said President Nyusi.
This peace agreement comes just months before the general elections scheduled for October. It was signed while President Nyusi's regime is fighting a jihadist insurgency in the north of the country, which has claimed more than 250 lives since October 2017.
Shortly after the independence of Mozambique, the former Portuguese colony, in 1975, the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) fought the government led by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) for sixteen years. This civil war, which killed one million people, ended in 1992.
Renamo had turned into a political party at the end of the war but had resumed arms in 2013 against the government, led by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo). A ceasefire was declared in 2016, but two previous peace agreements failed, as Renamo never totally disarmed and kept some of its fighters in the mountains of central Mozambique. The party accused the government of not meeting its commitments.
On Tuesday, the former rebellion began the disarmament of its armed members. In total, some 5,221 fighters from Renamo have to surrender their arms to the government.
With AFP