GOVERNMENT-RENAMO AGREEMENT POSTPONED

Contrary to expectations, no agreement was reached on Wednesday on a cessation of hostilities between the Mozambican government and the rebel movement Renamo, thanks to a new demand raised by Renamo.The 67th round in the dialogue between the government and Renamo should have led to full agreement on a final document. But instead, at the last minute Renamo demanded “clarification” of the guarantees of how the agreement will be implemented. Speaking to reporters, the head of the government delegation, Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco, said that, although there had been “advances” in the latest talks, and although the two sides were ever nearer a consensus on the role of international observers in monitoring a cessation of hostilities, Renamo had demanded “an additional element, namely clarification of the guarantee mechanisms”.Pacheco said there was consensus on the importance of a cessation of hostilities, on the disarming and social reintegration of Renamo gunmen, so that after the entire process is concluded there will no longer be any political party in possession of military equipment. But now Renamo wanted “clarification” and Pacheco said the government would look at this question to see how it fitted into the terms of reference for the international observers.Pacheco seemed to accept that there will be an amnesty for the Renamo members who have committed murder and other crimes in their year long campaign of ambushes against civilian and military targets in the central province of Sofala. “The consensus on cessation of hostilities presupposes that the people who committed acts condemned by law during the time the dispute lasted will not answer in court for their acts”, said the Minister.The government will now analyse the additional points raised by Renamo, and bring its answer to the next round in the dialogue scheduled for Monday.The head of the Renamo delegation, Saimone Macuiana, claimed there was no new point, but merely a request for “clarification” about the guarantees which had already been agreed upon in principle. He said this call for “clarification” did not clash with any of the matters previously debated.“There is nothing new”, he said. “What we proposed merely helps clarify aspects of the guarantees, because we need things to be as clear as possible. These are clarifications that will help everyone in that they will guarantee a lasting and definitive agreement”.The original idea was that the “final document” would be signed on Wednesday by Pacheco and Macuiane, and then at some future date also by President Armando Guebuza and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.But Dhlakama is still living in a Renamo base somewhere in the Gorongosa mountain range, in Sofala. Claims in the Maputo daily “Noticias” that Dhlakama is about to abandon Gorongosa seem to have no basis in fact. Meanwhile, preparations for the 15 October general elections move inexorably onwards. The lists of parliamentary candidates from the three main parties (the ruling Frelimo Party, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement, MDM) have been approved and fixed at the entrance to the National Elections Commission (CNE).As for the presidential election, the Constitutional Council, the highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, has found no irregularities in the nomination papers from the three serious candidates – the Frelimo candidate, former defence minister Filipe Nyusi, and the Renamo and MDM leaders, Afonso Dhlakama and Daviz Simango.But the eight other candidates (two independents and six from minor parties) have not provided the requisite 10,000 valid supporting signatures from registered voters. The Council has given them until Monday to find sufficient valid signatures, all of which must be authenticated by a notary.