NYUSI URGES FRELIMO SUPPORTERS TO SHOW TOLERANCE

The presidential candidate of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party, Filipe Nyusi, on Friday urged his supporters not to react to “provocation”.Speaking at a campaign rally in Muanza, in the central province of Sofala, Nyusi called for tolerance so that the campaign and the elections themselves, scheduled for 15 October, take place peacefully.Nyusi advised Frelimo supporters to behave in an orderly fashion – and even if “those who cause confusion cross your paths and try to engage you in confrontation, what you should do is just look at them and let them pass. Only then should you continue your own march heading to the victory that awaits us on 15 October”.In a message clearly inspired by the violent clashes in Gaza province when Frelimo supporters besieged the motorcade of Daviz Simango, the leader and presidential candidate of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Nyusi said “only those who know that they are weak opt for violence to try and impose themselves against those who would impose themselves by the use of reason”. During his brief stop in Muanza, Nyusi restated that what led him to accept his party’s nomination for the presidency was his desire to help the country maintain peace and the unity of Mozambicans and, above all, to help his felow-countrymen overcome poverty through accelerating the country’s development.“The mission I have received from the founders of our country, who are the people who elected me as a candidate for the presidency is to continue what they have been doing since they overthrew colonialism”, he said. One of the missions the current President, Armando Guebuza, had given him was to expand the electricity grid based on the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi.Cahora Bassa power had now reached the Muanza district capital, and Nyusi intended to ensure that the grid now reached downwards to the administrative posts and localities of the district. Earlier Nyusi had visited Inhaminga, capital of Cherimgoma district, and again urged calm and tolerance in the face of provocation. The strength of Frelimo, he stressed, should always be based on reason, not force.