Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation (NGO), believes that elections in the country must cease constituting a threat to stability.
“We know that the conflicts that culminated in the signing of the last two peace accords had electoral demands behind them,” the IMD notes in a statement issued on the occasion of the Peace Day, marked on Monday (04-10).
“We must learn” and “in time” make the “necessary legislation reforms, strengthen the capacities of institutions directly involved in electoral processes, including political parties, so that electoral processes take place without becoming a threat to peace itself and to political stability,” the NGO advocates.
The Day of Peace holiday alluded to the signing of the General Peace Agreement in 1992 between the government of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).
Peace, however, did not prevail, and the latest agreement between both parties was signed in 2019, and its implementation is underway.
The NGO also highlights poverty and regional inequalities as other threats to stability .
The IMD highlights “poor access to essential services (health, water, energy and education) in areas most affected by conflict”, which makes communities susceptible to “destabilization movements, due to the fact that they do not see the benefits of peace in their day-to-day lives”.
Cabo Delgado is one of the regions that has suffered from destabilization by rebel forces since 2017.
Twenty-nine years since the signing of the General Peace Agreement, the IMD concludes that “vulnerability that can be used to threaten peace and political stability in Mozambique still prevails”.
