
Presidente da Renamo, Ossufo Momade, exerce o voto na escola secundaria Josina Machel na Cidade de Maputo, Foto de Santos Vilanculos
Maputo, 29 Oct (AIM) – Ossudo Momade, the leader of what used to be Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has tendered his resignation, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the elections bulletin, published by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP).
Momade offered to resign during a meeting last Saturday in Maputo of the Renamo National Political Commission.
CIP cites Momade as telling the meeting “Right now, I am the problem of this organisation”. Most members of the Commission accepted Momade’s offer to resign, but a minority of six or seven disagreed. No public announcement of the resignation was made.
Matters were made more complicated on Monday when a group of demobilized Renamo guerrillas invaded the Renamo Maputo headquarters. They did not know about Momade’s resignation, and wanted to pressure him to return to war.
A senior (but unnamed) Renamo source told CIP that the former guerrillas are willing to go back to the bush to resume their fight against the government.
Some skepticism is in order. Most of the Renamo demobilized are far too old to fight yet another bush war. Furthermore, most of them are now receiving a pension from the government, which they would clearly lose, if they took up arms again.
After negotiations, the former fighters left the Renamo headquarters. It is not yet clear what was agreed.
The next steps should be for Momade to call a meeting of the Renamo National Council, which will decide the steps to be followed before Renamo holds a congress at which a new Renamo President can be elected.
At the end of the Saturday meeting, the Renamo Political Commission advised that matters should only go forward once the current disputes arising from the general elections of 9 October had been solved.
The meeting, CIP said, proposed that Momade should establish conditions for a transition that does not increase divisions within Renamo. His successor should be a consensual figure who can attract back into Renamo people who have left the party in recent years.
Momade is still leader of the opposition, because Renamo is the largest opposition party in the outgoing parliament. But when the new parliament is sworn in, early next year Renamo will be displaced by the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), the party which provided the main organizational backing for the independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, who is himself a defector from Renamo.
(AIM)
Pf/ (409)