END OF RENAMO

Not only will Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, boycott the municipal elections scheduled for 20 November, it is also instructing its members not even to register as voters.According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Renamo held a meetings of members and supporters in Beira at the weekend at which they were instructed not to register,The Renamo Beira City head of mobilization, Horacio Calavete told reporters “we are not saying that we are not going to stand in the elections this year. We are saying that we will not allow the voter registration, much less the municipal elections, to take place”.Renamo is angered because its proposed amendments to the country’s electoral laws were not accepted. In the vote in December in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, the new electoral legislation was passed with the votes of the ruling Frelimo Party and the second opposition force, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).“Frelimo and the CNE (National Elections Commission) are playing with us”, exclaimed Calavete. “For us, the law passed by the Assembly of the Republic is no more than a document that seeks to make the theft of votes official”.He threatened that, if the police try to prevent any Renamo demonstration, the party would call on its former guerrillas to intervene. “If the police use force, we shall react in the same way”, Calavete said. “Our soldiers will not forgive”.The Renamo boycott clears the way for the MDM, dismissed by Renamo as “traitors”, to become the main opposition force in the country. The MDM is already preparing for the November elections, and it too held a meeting in Beira at the weekend. The purpose of the MDM was the opposite of that of the Renamo gathering – it was to urge MDM members and sympathizers to take a full part in the elections, starting with the voter registration.There will be a complete re-registration of the electorate in all 43 municipalities from 25 May to 23 July. Registration is a pre-requisite for voting in November.The MDM Beira delegate, Flora Impula, said “we are starting a series of contacts with our members and supporters and with the public at large, to convince them to participate in the elections”.She dismissed the Renamo boycott as “childish” and as evidence that Renamo never really wanted to govern Mozambique.“Clearly Renamo doesn’t want the democracy it claims to defend”, she said. “It doesn’t make sense for a party such as Renamo to boycott a political process and think only about demonstrations. What we want is to go forward”.The US embassy in Maputo is also unimpressed by Renamo’s promised boycott. Cited in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, US ambassador Douglas Griffiths said that US diplomats have met with the Renamo parliamentary group, in an attempt to persuade Renamo to change its mind. “The people deserve transparent, free and inclusive elections and more alternatives”, said Griffiths. “The non-participation of Renamo limits the alternatives”.Griffiths did not reveal what response, if any, he received from the Renamo parliamentarians.