Presidente moçambicano, Filipe Nyusi, discursa na sessão solene de investidura da X legislatura da Assembleia da República
Maputo, 15 Jan (AIM) – In his final speech as head of state, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday claimed that the defence and security forces have won significant victories over the Islamist terrorists operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Speaking in Maputo’s Independence Square, at the investiture of his successor, Daniel Chapo, Nyusi said that, earlier in the morning, at his final meeting with senior officers of the defence forces, he had been informed that the terrorist groups “are being broken up”, and some are fleeing into neighbouring countries.
But he gave no details, and this is far from the first time that victory over the jihadists has been claimed.
Only two heads of state attended the investiture – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and the little-known Umaro Sissoco Embalo, President of Guinea-Bissau.
Other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were represented at a lower level – Malawi by its Deputy President, Tanzania and Eswatini by their prime ministers, Zimbabwe by its defence minister and Zambia by its foreign minister.
Of the Mozambican politicians, the most notable absentee was Venancio Mondlane, who was officially the runner-up in the presidential election held on 9 October, although he claims that, in reality, he won the election.
When a government representative was asked on Tuesday why Mondlane had not been invited, she replied that, if he turned up, he would be welcome, since the ceremony was public and any citizen can attend.
But Mondlane is not “any citizen” and the failure to invite him looks like a deliberate snub.
The ceremony coincided with the third day of a three day general strike called by Mondlane. The strike call could not have made much difference, since the government announced a public holiday for Wednesday so that citizens could watch the investiture on television. Outside of essential services, few people would have gone to work on Wednesday anyway.
Mondlane’s latest live broadcast, transmitted on his Facebook page, declared that demonstrations against the election results could continue for the rest of the year. But most of his broadcast was an attack against Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel for attending the investiture.
He praised Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro for not going to Maputo, but denounced Rangel as “biased” in favour of Frelimo.
(AIM)
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