MOZAMBIQUE: DISARMAMENT/RM/28/6/18 SABANews 1
MAPUTO – The opposition RENAMO Party in MOZAMBIQUE says it needs some THREE months to disarm and demobilise its armed terrorists.
The group says the 90 days will be sufficient to allow it gather the militia and reintegrate them into the MOZAMBICAN society or incorporate them into the defence forces.
RENAMO Secretary General MANUEL BISSOPO has made the announcement during a media briefing today (THURSDAY) in the northern province of NAMPULA.
RADIO MOZAMBIQUE says his pledge comes barely FOUR days after President FILIPE NYUSI challenged the former rebel movement to disarm its militants and denounce violence.
It quotes Mr BISSOPO as saying THREE months will be long enough for rules and principles set up under the current agreements with the government to be followed.
He says RENAMO wants peace to last forever, and it wants the country to have only a single armed force to ensure people do not kill each other tomorrow.
Mr BISSOPO has also told journalists his group wants the whole procedure to take place in a healthy environment.
He says such a development will ensure the integration of RENAMO occurs within the spirit of harmony that President NYUSI and the late rebel commander AFONSO DHLAKAMA had achieved.
Mr BISSOPO says the demilitarisation is proceeding normally under the accords between the State and RENAMO, and the group is greatly committed to keep the peace.
The late DHLAKAMA and his members have clashed with government forces since he lost a disputed election FOUR years ago, although he had been set to run again against President NYUSI in 2019.
RENAMO had re-launched a low-intensity guerrilla campaign in late 2012 that forced tens of thousands of MOZAMBICANS to flee across the border into neighbouring MALAWI and ZIMBABWE.
The organisation, which was trained by RHODESIANS and SOUTH AFRICANS to destabilise the country as far back as 1975 and waged a campaign in which about ONE-MILLION people were killed.
The MOZAMBICAN terror group fought the government up to 1992 after a peace deal that gave combatants a blanket amnesty and allowed RENAMO to regroup as an opposition party./Sabanews/cam