GOVERNMENT-RENAMO COMMISSION HOLDS SECOND MEETING

The joint commission formed between the Mozambican government and the rebel movement Renamo on Monday agreed an agenda for a dialogue between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.After the three hour meeting, held on the promises of the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, both sides claimed that consensus had been reached but gave no details.

“We have succeeded in reaching a consensual draft agenda, which we shall send to our leaderships”, Renamo parliamentarian Jose Manteigas told reporters. Only after Nyusi and Dhlakama have approved it will the agenda become definitive.The meeting also agreed “general lines of the terms of reference” for the dialogue, but these too were not made public. However, the Joint Commission promised to give more details at its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Manteigas claimed that the Monday meeting was “cordial” with an attitude of “openness and exchange of ideas”.

The government delegation consists of former security minister Jacinto Veloso, former justice minister Benvinda Levy (who is now an advisor to Nyusi), and an official in the President’s office, Alves Mutuque.The other two members of the Renamo delegation are Eduardo Namburete and Andre Magibire, who are also parliamentarians.It is not clear how many more meetings the Joint Commission will hold. Nyusi has made it clear that the Commission only exists to prepare the ground for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Dhlakama.Nyusi does not want a repeat of the last dialogue between the government and Renamo, which ran from April 2013 to August 2015, with 114 meetings achieving very little.