Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi today called on the country to have “resilience” in maintaining peace and promoting national reconciliation, noting that the “bloodshed among Mozambicans must be passed”.
“With the same conviction of resilience,” peace and national reconciliation “is a path that must be continued by every Mozambican, Nyusi said.
The Mozambican head of state was speaking in Maputo during a speech at the official ceremony to close the disarmament and demobilisation phase of the armed arm of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party, following the closure on the 15th of the movement’s last base.
“We know that we still have a long road of reconciliation ahead of us, perhaps more difficult, which will require everyone’s understanding. We Mozambicans will continue to follow this path,” stressed Mr Nyusi.
Calling the closure of the last Renamo base in the Gorongosa Mountains in Sofala province an “epic” moment, Nyusi stressed that dialogue between the country’s leaders must continue, because “peace and national reconciliation are not a finished product.
“In the coming months and years, our attention will focus on reconciliation and the full reintegration of the beneficiaries of DDR [Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration],” he stressed.
The head of state urged communities not to harass former Renamo guerrillas, aiming for national reconciliation and the contribution of former combatants in the country’s economic development process.
Filipe Nyusi pointed to the fixing of survivor pensions for former guerrillas as part of the Government’s commitment to national reconciliation.
He pointed out that the decision marks a rare situation in which people who have never paid social security contributions will benefit from pensions.
He went on to say that Mozambicans are showing that they want to leave military hostilities in the past and rely on dialogue to resolve their differences.
“We can disagree, as happens in any family, but we have to engage in dialogue in order to overcome our differences,” he said.
In this sense, he argued that the country should invest in “mechanisms of national reconciliation”, so that Mozambicans do not turn against each other in the future.
Today’s act is part of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement signed between the Government and Renamo in August 2019.
The understanding was the third between the two parties, the first two having been violated and resulted in armed confrontation following the main opposition party’s contestation of the election results.
Under the DDR, 5,221 Renamo guerrillas returned home.
Today’s ceremony was attended by heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and representatives of the United Nations and the diplomatic corps accredited in Maputo.
