Africa-Press – Mozambique. Several dozen former Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) guerrillas took over the party president’s office in Maputo today, accusing Ossufo Momade of being ” incapable” to continue as leader, and demanding his resignation.
“We want the party to stop its activities because if we continue like this, we are heading towards the abyss. We will not get anywhere under the leadership of President Ossufo Momade. And this is why we, the former Renamo warriors, want him to resign,” the group’s spokesperson, Edgar Silva, told Lusa shortly after taking over the building that houses Momade’s office in the centre of the capital.
Police reinforcements were visible at the scene, but there was no movement during the morning, given the arrival of more former Renamo guerrillas, who had already occupied the national headquarters this month, located just a few dozen metres away from Momade’s office, and where they have remained ever since, spreading photographs and posters of the historic founding leader Afonso Dhlakama (1953-2018) on the outside, with the same demand.
“We simply believe that the president is incapable to lead the party. If he is incapable, he should give in and allow other members to take the helm of this party. Because we will not get anywhere like this,” insisted Edgar Silva, a former Renamo guerrilla in the northern province of Nampula.
Today’s action, which follows the takeover of party headquarters s across the country by former guerrillas in recent weeks, comes just hours after parliament approved, on Tuesday, the seven individuals who will be members of the Council of State for the current legislature, from 2025 to 2029, following a recommendation from the Assembly of the Republic, including Ossufo Momade.
“This is an irrelevant body. The Council of State says nothing. It does not advise the head of state on anything. We have past experience, even though President Dhlakama never took a seat on this Council of State. It is irrelevant to us. That body is irrelevant to the lives of the people,” added the spokesperson for this group, which is now threatening to occupy the house of the party president.
Edgar Silva guarantees that the opposition is widespread in the Renamo party structures and that only a few resist occasionally: “Some resist because there are death squads and the military is afraid to confront them. This party has death squads.”
“What follows is that wherever he goes to work, we will go. Wherever he goes to work, we will go. If necessary, we will go to his house, as a way of putting pressure on him. He has to give up,” Silva concluded.
On May 23, Renamo’s leadership asked its demobilized guerrillas to call, “as a matter of urgency”, a national conference of former combatants, even as some of these members demand the departure of the party leader, who has not participated in public events in the country for several months.
Momade was also a presidential candidate in the general elections on October 9, coming in third place among four candidates. In the same election, Renamo also lost its historic title of largest opposition party to Podemos, dropping from 60 to 28 seats in parliament.
Renamo’s leadership has called for respect for the party’s bodies, asking that the differences leading former guerrillas to take over facilities throughout the country be resolved internally.
Ossufo Momade, whose leadership had previously been questioned, took over as president of Renamo in January 2019 after the death of Afonso Dhlakama, and was re-elected to the position in May 2024, in a process that was strongly contested internally.
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