Africa-Press – Mozambique. Renamo, the largest Mozambican opposition party, denounced on Monday the alleged murder of a party delegate who had been demobilised under the peace agreements, considering it a “severe blow” to the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process.
According to the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Rafael Miguel, a political delegate in central Mozambique, was taken “by force into a vehicle” on 30 January by “three masked people” allegedly “dressed in uniforms of the Mozambican Rapid Intervention Force”, party spokesman Jose Manteigas told a press conference.
The party said the delegate had been killed and his body burned “with three tyres” by alleged “death squads”, like others at the service of the “power of the day” and to which it has attributed similar crimes in the past with the aim of silencing its members or “those who think differently”.
The death of Rafael Miguel “seriously” affected the other demobilised guerrillas, he added, noting that the crime had generated suspicion about the “genuine will” of the government of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) to “continue with the demobilisation process” in the country.
“This barbaric murder represents a heavy blow to the DDR process and the collective effort to constitute an effective peace and a true national reconciliation,” the Renamo spokesman said.
The party filed a complaint with the police, calling for “a rapid clarification of the crime and accountability of the perpetrators” and launched an appeal to President Filipe Nyusi to “order the immediate cessation of these criminal acts perpetrated by agents of the state who should guarantee the security of citizens.”
“We call on Mozambican society and the international community to unreservedly condemn the maintenance in the country of death squads that represent a strong threat to plural coexistence,” he concluded.
The DDR process, in which the closure of the last base was postponed in December, is part of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement, signed on 06 August 2019 between the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade.
The understanding was the third between the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) government and the main opposition force, all signed following cycles of armed violence between the two parties.
Under the agreement, of the total of 5,221 guerillas to be covered, around 4,700 (90%) have handed in their weapons, some of whom have been incorporated into the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces.
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