Africa-Press – Mozambique. The “Renamo Military Junta”, a breakaway faction from Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, appears to have ceased to exist, with its last few members accepting the demobilisation package offered by the government.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mirko Manzoni, the personal envoy of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and head of the international contact group facilitating dialogue between the government and Renamo, said that the last group of 24 members of the Military Junta have joined the “Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration” (DDR) of the Renamo militia.
Manzoni said they were demobilised in Murrupula, in the northern province of Nampula. “This group has completed its demobilization and has joined the other participants in the DDR”, he said.
This comes as something of a surprise, since there was no record of any activity by members of the Military Junta anywhere in Nampula.
Manzoni said that, in total, “more than 85” members of the Military Junta have laid down their weapons and joined the DDR.
“This is a significant development”, said Manzoni. “It closes the chapter on the Renamo Military Junta, thus continuing to strengthen Mozambique’s efforts to consolidate a definitive peace”.
The Junta was formed in 2019 by a group of Renamo fighters, who opposed the leadership of Ossufo Momade, even though Momade was elected president of Renamo at a party congress in January 2019.
Junta leader Mariano Nhongo said he was the true successor to the late Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, and appointed himself a general. He denounced Momade as “a traitor”, and did not recognize the peace agreement he had signed with President Filipe Nyusi in August 2019.
Throughout 2020, the Junta staged murderous ambushes against vehicles travelling on the main roads in the central provinces of Manica and Sofala, killing several dozen people.
But in 2021, the Junta only mounted a couple of attacks, and on 11 October, Nhongo, who had rejected repeated appeals, both by the government and by the Renamo leadership, to join the DDR, died in an exchange of fire with a unit of the Mozambican defence and security forces in Cheringoma district, in Sofala.
Even before his death, Nhongo was an isolated figure, with several of his key lieutenants drifting away and accepting the government demobilisation offer.
Manzoni said that the registration and demobilization of members of the Renamo militia will continue in Murrupula until mid-December. That should complete the demobilization of the few militia members living in the northern provinces.
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