Africa-Press – Mozambique. Former guerrilla fighters from the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) announced on Monday the reopening of the party’s offices and headquarters, which had been closed in protest against the leadership of Ossufo Momade, giving the leadership 20 days to move forward with a National Council..
“We will give the party leadership 20 days to position itself and create conditions so that this event can take place on the scheduled dates. If the process is not moving forward by 20 days, we will backtrack,” said Edgar da Silva, spokesperson for the demobilized Renamo members, at a press conference in Maputo, guaranteeing that this guidance, for reopening the headquarters, will now be passed on to the party’s “bases.”
Renamo had previously announced that it would hold its first National Council in 2025 – according to its bylaws, it must hold two per year – on 7 and 8 March, but this was later postponed, with no new date set.
This group is demanding that it be held in a format that is “extended to combatants and other members” of the party, as “a demanding party in this process”.
“We want a comprehensive [National] Council to decide”, added the group’s spokesperson.
Edgar da Silva assured that several of the party’s district and provincial delegations remain closed throughout the country.
The national headquarters and Momade’s office were also closed and occupied by protesting former guerrillas between 15 and 28 May, until they were removed with gunfire and tear gas by the Rapid Intervention Unit, with more than 50 demobilised fighters being taken away by the Mozambican police.
The target of criticism from former guerrillas, Ossufo Momade took over as president of Renamo in January 2019, after the death of Afonso Dhlakama (1953-2018), and was reelected to the position in May 2024, in a process that was strongly contested internally.
“We will give up so that the delegations can be opened, but with a single purpose, which is to safeguard the preparation of the Renamo National Council”, said Edgar da Silva.
The issue at hand is the crisis that is currently being experienced in Renamo, led by former guerrillas who are demanding the resignation of Ossufo Momade due to alleged “mismanagement”, failure to pay pensions and allowances, and lack of a fund for the functioning of the political formation.
This group of former guerrillas claims that the party leadership will receive the official letter opening the delegations today, despite the “arm wrestling” between the parties.
Edgar Silva assures that the idea that Ossufo Momade should step down as leader “prevails”: “Because he is ineffective and he has to let someone take charge of the party and he is not the right person”.
Renamo lost its status as the second most voted political force in the general elections of October 9, going from 60 deputies, which it obtained in the 2019 legislative elections, to 28 parliamentarians.
Momade was a presidential candidate in the general elections of October 9, 2024, obtaining 6% of the votes, the worst result for a candidate supported by the party, which was the main opposition force in Mozambique since the first elections in 1994.
For 16 years, Mozambique experienced a civil war, which pitted the government army against Renamo, which ended with the signing of the General Peace Agreement in Rome in 1992 between the then President, Joaquim Chissano, and Afonso Dhlakama, historic leader of Renamo, thus paving the way for the first elections, two years later.
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