CONGRATULATIONS TO RADIO MOZAMBIQUE

We will always be the best when we are able to make a difference. This is a motto that I have been advocating for many years here in this newspaper. For the country to leave definitively on the podium of poverty statistics, every Mozambican must make a difference in indifference. It is not the problem of money that puts us in these situations of poverty, it is the lack of wide views to make the difference of this "dog world."

I think that Radio Moçambique's top management has read the signs of time and is giving a new impetus to the way people communicate. After all, "the people are the ones who order the most." Through www.rm.co.mz, it is already possible to listen, in addition to the National Antenna, to the provincial issuer of Gaza, the provincial issuer of Sofala, RM-sport, and much more. Soon will join the provincial issuer of Nampula.

Here is an answer to what it is to be a public service. Note: a public service entirely devoted to the interests of the citizen. That deserves applause. This is what must be done in favor of National Unity: to enable Mozambicans to communicate in their local languages. The public service is exactly this: to allow the people to exercise their sovereignty and their citizenship, in particular. With these transformations, the RM is being a very powerful engine of communication to pull by the culture.

Those who are abroad now have the opportunity to be closer to their cultural roots. As is my case, these roots nourish me. I am Tetanus and am glad when I hear the news, the programs in languages ​​Xindau and Xisena, which are close relatives of cinyungue. You always better listen, for example, "I love you" in mother tongues than in Portuguese. That is why it is worth promoting the national languages, because they are born of the "womb" of our being. That is, they are born of our mother nature. Portuguese is for us, an exotic language.

Radio Mozambique should act as a kind of "hinge" or "knee" between "we" and "our" culture. Nature speaks and sends out important messages, but we ignore it because we are possessed by other habits and cultures. To reinforce the aspects already mentioned, Radio Moçambique must make us drunk with the grace of our culture, not with political and ideological vaccines.

For a long time, there was a deterioration in the quality of public services in Radio Moçambique, mediocrity was a sign of the house, cultural programs ceased to exist, the history of the country (even with its mythologies) was no longer counted, the reflection was Forbidden, dogmatism was defended, mutilating free thinking. Fortunately there are strong signs of reversal. I feel on the present board of directors a great enthusiasm to make a difference. Just do not see who does not want. Let us not forget that the levels of escangalhamentos were so evident that the syringes were useless for the calloused buttocks.

I hope these services work without patches. It is our country's culture, we rarely manage to keep the people's benefit working for a long time, we always bet on mediocrity, always and always.

Zicomo and a nhúngue embrace to Father Manuel Maria Madureira da Silva with whom I was recently in Évora and from whom I won another literary work "Fracturing Questions" (and a beautiful dedication "To Viriato Dias with a taste for reading"). To Fr. Aniceto Dangala, my spiritual protector, there is a Nungo embrace and my cordial greetings. And the children, by the first of June, a nun-kiss in the heart.

(Spark by Viriato Caetano Dias)

Caia/Nacala transmission line

Construction work on the Caia/Nacala power transmission line in Mozambique begins in 2018, a project intended to increase the reliability of the electricity consumed in the provinces of Zambézia, Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado, state-owned electricity company Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM) reported in a statement issued in Maputo.Split into two phases, this project will start with the construction of the link between Caia in the province of Sofala and Mocuba, in Zambézia. Financing of US$200 million has already been secured under an agreement signed in 2015 with the Islamic Development Bank.Electricidade de Moçambique reported that it is currently involved in raising an additional US$420 million to finance the second phase of the project, with potential partners being the African Development Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Export-Import Bank of China.

A part of Tete province and the whole of the provinces of Zambézia, Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa are supplied with electricity by the Centre/North line, with just a small disturbance affecting thousands of consumers located in those provinces.One of the most serious incidents occurred in January 2015 when 12 pylons fell, causing a disruption in power supply throughout the northern region of the country for about a month.Electricidade de Moçambique said in the statement that the Caia/Nacala power transmission line is of “extreme importance”, since it will ensure redundancy in the power system for the northern region of the country.

Malawi accuses Mozambique

Malawi Government has accused Mozambique of standing on the way of former president Bingu wa Mutharika’s signature dream project of Nsanje Inland Port now adopted by President Peter Mutharika.Spokesperson for the ministry of Transport and Public Works James Chakwera said a Sadc feasibility study cleared the government to start the waterway project.“The Sadc feasibility study is in support of the project but it is Mozambique that is rejecting it,” he said.He said Mozambique continues to describe the Nsanje World Inland Port as non viable.Chakweta said Malawi is failing to proceed with its own feasibility study because of the resistance from Mozambique.“The onus is now on the political leadership from the two countries, President Mutharika and his Mozambican counterpart,” he said.The issue came into limelight recently when Mutharika told the IMF deputy managing director that the project stands to benefit Mozambique and Zambia as well.The President marketed the project ahead of the 2019 campaign as he promised to complete the project once voted into power in 2014.Finance minister Goodall Gondwe also said the government has set aside some funds for the project in this year’s K1.3 trillion budget.However, he has not said how much the government has factored in.

Dhlakama criticises but “understands” slow progress

The president of Renamo complained yesterday of slowness in the work of the two negotiating commissions formed with the government and in the withdrawal of the armed forces from the centre of the country, but said he understood the situation.Talking about the peace process in a telephone statement to journalists and Renamo supporters, Dhlakama said: “I have been talking to Brother Nyusi: there is slowness, it is not what I expected.”Dhlakama was speaking from his base in the central Gorongosa mountain range to Renamo supporters and members at a party meeting in Matola outside Maputo.

Answering a question from Lusa, the Renamo leader said he had hoped to see “the work of the two commissions already finished and entering the Assembly of the Republic before 11 May,” the last day of the legislative session, but “it did not happen”.

One commission is negotiating a review of state decentralisation laws, with Renamo calling for the election rather than appointment of provincial governors as early as 2019.Military matters such as the reintegration of Renamo armed men into Mozambican troops and the separation between political parties and the armed forces are being discussed in another commission.No proposal has yet come to parliament and although he considers the pace slow, Dhlakama also says he understands the reasons.“Renamo is demanding democratization, to change the law, and naturally there is resistance,” he said.

Dhlakama pointed out, however, that even foreign investors have realized “that the end of war is not enough, institutions must be reformed”, and insists that the two commissions must produce bills by the end of the year.The indefinite truce declared by Renamo earlier this month depends on the understanding reached and for a peace agreement to be signed, he reaffirmed. In his statement yesterday, Dhlakama also reaffirmed his party’s argument that there is no point in having government-appointed governors in provinces where Renamo often wins elections, meaning most of the northern and central regions of the country.The Renamo leader also noted that Mozambican troops are still occupying positions in the Serra da Gorongosa, the main theatre of conflict between Renamo and the military, which he described as the “armed wing of Frelimo”.Dhlakama would like to see the withdrawal proceed more quickly but he claimed to “understand” the logistical issues involved and stressed that there is still time before the agreed 30 June deadline for full withdrawal.In the frame are 26 positions occupied by the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces, he said.

“Calmness” – IMF

The IMF permanent representative in Mozambique, Ari Aisen, told Lusa yesterday that the results of the audit of the country’s hidden debts, to be made known Friday, should be received with “calmness”.

“We have to be very calm right now. The Attorney General’s Office is leading this process in a sovereign way and we [the IMF] are helping and are waiting calmly for the report,” Aisen said.According to Aisen, the Mozambican government has already shown that it is concerned about regaining the confidence of the international partners and, at this moment, the most important thing is to ensure that the process moves forward.

“Obviously we still have some work to do and we hope that in the coming months we can move forward with this process that we have already started with the government,” he said. Aisen said that an IMF program would be welcome at a time when the country is going through an economic crisis.

“We want to help the country achieve its goals,” he said, reiterating his call for calm. “After the audit results, we will continue to follow up, always as good partners,” he concluded.

Kroll Associates UK is preparing an independent audit of Proindicus, Ematum (Mozambican Tuna Company) and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management), three companies owned mainly by the State Information and Security Services (SISE) and created during the government of former president Armando Guebuza. Between 2013 and 2014, ProIndicus contracted a loan of US$622 million (EUR 586 million) with Credit Suisse and Russian VTB bank with guarantees from the Mozambican government, given without the knowledge of the Mozambican parliament and international donor institutions.

The Mozambican government also endorsed a US$535 million loan in favour of MAM, an enterprise set up ostensibly for maritime safety activities, also without the knowledge of the Mozambican parliament or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). To this sum was added more than US$727.5 million (EUR 684.8 million) in sovereign debt securities resulting from the conversion of the corporate bonds issued by Ematum. An independent international audit of these hidden debts was a precondition of the IMF resuming support to Mozambique following the suspension of its funding in April 2016, along with that of 14 other state budget donors.

3 containers seized in Nacala port

Three containers of iron-wood about to be exported illegally to China have been confiscated in Nacala-Porto in Nampula province. The product was cut in a special closed season and had arrived at the port with false documentation declaring it cashew nuts.The three containers were part of a total of five, two of which were exported last January. The three remained on Mozambican soil because it was not possible to load them at the time.A Verdade speculates that the ease with which the wood in question passed through checkpoints on the basis of false documents leads to the presumption that the inspectors were somehow persuaded to turn a blind eye.A source from the Customs in Nacala-Porto told @Verdade that the owners of the merchandise tried to deceive the authorities that it was cashew nuts, but an inspection team detected an anomaly and ordered the containers to be opened.Surprisingly, the alleged cashew nuts turned out to be iron-wood, a species which, according to government officials, is rare in Nampula province and could only have been obtained fraudulently in Zambezia.

 

The Mozambican government has banned the cutting and export of ironwood for five years because it is in danger of extinction, for ignoring which the owners of the seized wood will incur a fine of one million meticals ( around US$16,367.00 at current exchange rates), to which will be added a further 500,000 meticais (US$8,183.00) because the wood was cut during the closed season.The wood will revert to the state and a criminal case will be opened, our source reveals. As a result of the documents and containers being confiscated, the owners of the merchandise are known, although at the time of going to press no-one had been arrested or charged for a crime that would have cost the Mozambican state millions of meticais.This is not the first time that large consignments of wood have been seized in Nacala-Porto. Four months ago, another two containers of illicitly trafficked wood were discovered there, this time masquerading as cotton fibre.

Machava wins first gold for Mozambique

Creve Armando Machava won the men’s 400-metre hurdles final on Friday to seal Mozambique’s first-ever Islamic Solidarity Games gold medal.The 21-year-old remained calm throughout a tight race at Baku’s Olympic Stadium to edge to victory in a time of 50.73 seconds, ahead of Senegalese silver medallist Amadou Ndiaye by 0.21 seconds.Ndiaye came on strongly near the end to power past another Mozambique athlete Kurt Couto, who faded badly.The 32-year-old Couto clung on in 50.97s to take bronze.

Moroccan middle-distance star Rababe Arafi successfully defended her women’s 1 500-metre title after pulling away from Turkey’s Meryem Akdag to secure victory.The 26-year-old finished ninth in the world championship final two years ago and also made the Olympic final, and she cruised to gold despite not troubling her personal best.Arafi won in four minutes and 18.82 seconds, over a whole second clear of Akdag, who clinched silver in 4:19:91.Algeria’s Amina Bettiche (4:21:29) threw herself forward to snatch bronze on the line from Bahrain’s Tigist Gashaw, who missed out on the podium by just 0.02s.Arafi’s gold is Morocco’s fifth athletics title of the Games in Baku.Azerbaijan clinched yet another track and field gold on Friday as Elena Chebanu clocked 24.69 seconds to win the women’s 200-metre T12 disability final.Chebanu won comfortably from Indonesia’s Endang Sitorus, who sealed silver, while Morocco’s Meryem En-Nourhi grabbed bronze.

Mozambique and Brazil sign agreements

The Mozambican and Brazilian Foreign Ministers, Oldemiro Baloi and Aloysio Ferreira, on Thursday signed in Maputo legal instruments, notably on social security, to promote and strengthen cooperation relations between the two countries.Baloi explained that the social security agreement will allow citizens of both countries to enjoy the same rights in such matters as old age pensions and sickness benefits. “This agreement will make Brazilians feel less foreign in Mozambique, and Mozambicans less foreign in Brazil”, he said.The two ministers also signed memoranda of understanding on political consultations and on the environment.

Baloi said the agreement on political consultations “is a mere formalisation, since the practice is already consolidated between the two countries”.For his part, Ferreira said the Brazilian government has a vast range of projects in which it is cooperating with Mozambique, notably in agriculture, the environment, mineral resource management and rural development.Later in the day, Ferreira decorated Baloi with the National Order of the Southern Cross, the highest honour awarded by Brazil to foreigners.Baloi said that this honour represents for him the commitment of the teams who have accompanied him in his career as a public servant. He stressed that the Mozambican and Brazilian governments have made great efforts to guarantee progress in bilateral cooperation.

“The seeds sown by Brazilian and Mozambican leaders, more than four decades ago, have germinated and flowered in fertile ground”, he declared. “We can note, with great satisfaction, the undoubted evolution in relations between our two governments, the cooperation between our countries, and the ever greater closeness between our peoples”.

Ferreira praised the “vast experience” of Baloi in promoting peace, concord and cooperation between African countries and the members of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Counties (CPLP). He stressed that Baloi had used diplomacy as an instrument at the service of the development and well-being of Mozambicans.Ferreira also decorated one of Mozambique’s top writers, Paulina Chiziane, with the same honour.

Shell and Heineken in Mozambique

Investments by the Dutch companies Shell and Heineken in Mozambique are at an advanced stage of implementation, according to the director of the government’s Investment Promotion Centre (CPI), Lourenco Sambo.Speaking in the Hague to Mozambican reporters who are accompanying President Filipe Nyusi’s official visit to Holland, Sambo said that the investment by Shell is to set up a “gas to liquid” (GTL) plant, that will transform natural gas from the Rovuma Basin, in the far north of Mozambique, into liquid fuels

“We shall visit Shell and we will have a business meeting to check exactly what the company has done and is doing in this regard”, said Sambo.

In January, Shell was one of the three winners of the tender for the use of Rovuma Basin gas for the Mozambican domestic market. Shell’s proposal was to use 310 to 330 million cubic feet of gas a day to produce 38,000 barrels of liquid fuels, and 50 to 80 megawatts of electricity. The other successful bidders were the Norwegian company Yara International, which requested 80 to 90 million cubic feet of gas a day to produce fertilizer and to generate 50 to 80 megawatts of power, and GTL Energy of Australia which plans to use 41.8 million cubic feet of gas a day to generate 250 megawatts of electricity. Sambo said that Shell’s investment in this project will be at least 500 million US dollars. The investments by Shell, Yara and GTL will make use of 20 per cent of the Rovuma Basin gas.

As for Heineken, this company wants to build a brewery in Manhica district, about 80 kilometres north of Maputo, in which it is prepared to invest 100 million dollars.But it is pushing for lower taxes on alcoholic drinks. “The great dilemma is that it wants taxes like the ones it enjoyed in Ethiopia, for example”, said Sambo. “We also think the tax is too high, because there are even drinks producers that are closing in Mozambique”.Sambo said that a factory that used to produce spirits closed its doors because of the supposedly high level of tax. CDM (Beers of Mozambique), which produces the major brands of Mozambican beer, also decided not to branch out into spirits, because of the tax problem.Sambo said the government intends to submit to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, a bill to revise the tax “because it is a barrier to investment”.

PRICES OF LIQUID FUELS FALL

The Mozambican Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy has announced a reduction in the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene, taking effect as from Wednesday.The price of a litre of petrol falls from 56.06 meticais (about 90 US cents, at current exchange rates) to 53.57 meticais, a decline of 4.4 per cent. For diesel the price drop is negligible, at just 0.2 per cent – a litre now costs 51.79 rather than 51.89 meticais.The sharpest fall is in the price of kerosene, often regarded as the fuel of the poor. Kerosene now costs 37.88 rather than 41.62 meticais a litre, a reduction of nine per cent.But the price of cooking gas (butane, or LPG) rises sharply, from 61.08 to 70.32 meticais per kilo, an increase of 15.1 per cent. The price of compressed natural gas rises by 2.9 per cent, from 25.59 to 26.34 meticais a kilo.The Ministry statement announcing the new prices said they result from the implementation of a government decree of 2012, which requires monthly reviews of fuel prices. The prices at the pumps will be raised or lowered if, since the last review, the import prices of liquid fuels have moved by more than three per cent in either direction.The previous government, under President Armando Guebuza, had disregarded this mechanism, and opted instead for an extremely expensive policy of generalised fuel subsidies. Those subsidies have now been scrapped and, according to the deputy national director of fuel and hydrocarbons, Almirante Dima, interviewed by the independent television station STV, the prices at Mozambican filling stations are now market prices.Dima said it had been possible to reduce petrol, diesel and kerosene prices, partly because of a fall in world market prices, and partly because of the steady recovery of the Mozambican currency, the metical, against the US dollar, the currency in which fuel imports are denominated.The metical depreciated sharply last year, and by September had fallen to around 80 meticais to the dollar. Central bank intervention, notably through a sharp increase in interest rates, halted and then reversed the depreciation. On Wednesday, the metical was quoted at 62.2 to the dollar.

President and leader of the opposition together in the Netherlands

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning to start a three day official visit to Holland, at the invitation of Dutch King Willem Alexander.His initial activities are scheduled to include a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, and a visit to the technology centre of the Dutch multinational oil company, Shell. Nyusi’s agenda also includes a visit to the Hague on Thursday, where he will be received by the speakers of the two chambers of the Dutch parliament. He will also tour the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship in Rotterdam, and the port of Rotterdam.That day, the President will also take part in a round table with academics and Dutch NGOs that operate in Mozambique. He will attend a Holland-Mozambique business forum, organized by the Netherlands-Africa Business Council. According to the general manager of the council, Irene Visser, around 80 Dutch companies have so far confirmed their participation at the Forum.On Friday, the last day of the visit, Nyusi will hold official talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and will meet with the Mozambican community resident in Holland.

The composition of Nyusi’s delegation is noteworthy because it includes a leader of the opposition, namely the Mayor of Beira and head of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Daviz Simango, who is expected to attend several of the meetings of an economic nature.

Mozambique and Holland cooperate in areas such as food and nutritional security, water and sanitation, education, and sexual and reproductive health.The balance of trade between the two countries is in Mozambique’s favour, largely because Holland is a major importer of the aluminium ingots made at the Mozal smelter on the outskirts of Maputo.Mozambican exports to Holland (mostly aluminium, fruit and tobacco) in 2016 amounted to 114 million euros (about 126 million US dollars), while imports from Holland (including fossil fuels, and transport equipment) were valued at 33 million euros.

New sugar factory

A new sugar production plant will start operating in the Chemba district next October, raising the number of sugar factories operating in Sofala province, in central Mozambique, to three, the district administrator said.João Geral Patrício said the factory, a South African investment, will have an installed capacity to produce 50 tonnes of sugar per day,and its raw material will be sugarcane produced in an irrigated area of about 2,500 hectares .Of this area, about 1,000 hectares will be explored directly by the investors and the remaining 1,500 hectares by two agricultural cooperatives with 250 members each, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias.The district administrator said that the launch of this plant, the third after the Companhia de Sena in Marromeu, and the Mafambisse sugar mill in Dondo, is expected to have a direct impact on the lives of the district’s 93,000 inhabitants.Patrício mentioned the initial benefits of job creation, drinking water supply, construction of classrooms and training of young people, as well as training activities directly related to the planting and treatment of sugarcane.The district of Chemba is 565 kilometres from the city of Beira, the provincial capital of Sofala.

Ranked 22nd most attractive African

Mozambique is the 22nd most attractive African country for investors and second among Portuguese-speaking countries, behind Cape Verde, which ranked 18th in this year’s edition of EY consultancy’s Foreign Investment Attractiveness Programme.The list is led by Morocco, Kenya and South Africa. With Cape Verde improving six places compared to last year’s ranking and Mozambique dropping two, the list does not include any other Portuguese-speaking country in the top 25 places.“Investor sentiment about Africa should remain less buoyant in the coming years, which has less to do with Africa’s fundamental conditions than with a world characterised by increased geopolitical uncertainty and increased risk aversion,” EY Africa executive director Ajen Sita commented.

“Investors who are not present in Africa remain positive about long-term investment attractiveness in the continent but are cautious and attentive to the difficulties,” he added.The EY study is based on an analysis of 46 African countries and covers six aspects that are considered fundamental for investors choosing locations for their investment: macroeconomic resilience, market size, ease of business, infrastructure and logistics investment, economic diversification and governance and human development, with the first two accounting for 20 percent and the remainder 15 percent each.The largest foreign investor in the continent in terms of number of projects continues to be the United States, with 91 new investments, followed by France with 81, and China with 66 projects, representing a 106 percent increase over the previous year.In terms of the amount of investment, China is by far the heaviest investor, having channelled US$36.1 billion last year, more than a third of the total invested in the continent, and almost three times as much as the second largest investor, the United Arab Emirates, which spent US$11 billion on 35 projects on the continent.

800 Kg

A total of 763 kg of ivory obtained from poaching and held by Mozambican authorities has disappeared from northern Mozambique, the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) announced yesterday.The ivory comprised 85 pairs tusks held by the Niassa Provincial Forest and Wildlife Services, the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM) reports.The authorities attribute the disappearance to a succession of unsolved robberies that have occurred since April 2016. Thieves hacked through the ceiling of the storage room in the “latest foray”, AIM adds.A team comprising members of the Criminal Investigation Services (SERNIC) and ANAC technicians was created to investigate the case.Elephant and rhinoceros horn, lion and leopard teeth, pelts and claws are among the trophies sought by the international traffic in animal parts in Mozambique.Elephants have been worst affected. AIM says that, in the last five years, the population in the country’s conservation areas has shrunk from about 20,000 to half that number.

Appoint governors not a priority

Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama said today that the demand of the main opposition party in Mozambique to appoint provincial governors is no longer a priority, defending the election of these leaders in the general elections of 2019.

“It is not discarded, it is no longer a priority, I can not say it is discarded, or it is forgotten, because it would disturb the heads of the members and sympathizers and even of the people,” said Afonso Dhlakama, Speaking from the central district of Gorongosa, where he has been a refugee since 2015.Renamo’s demand to govern in the six provinces where the party claims victory in the general elections of 2014 and the consequent refusal of the government of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) was the main reason for the country’s return to armed conflict, opposing the two parties.Afonso Dhlakama today extended the indefinite truce in the military conflict with the Government, as a result of the contacts he has been holding with the Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi.Speaking on a teleconference attended by journalists at the Maputo headquarters of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Afonso Dhlakama suggested that the party’s demand to rule in the six provinces where it claims victory in the 2014 general elections is unfeasible, expressing an option for a legislative change that imposes the election of governors in the general elections of 2019.

“[For the 2019 elections], it is almost two years away, the priority now is for us to have governors elected in Mozambique,” said Afonso Dhlakama.Populations, he continued, must be governed by elected officials, because it is undemocratic that a province be run by a governor appointed by the head of state of another party.“It is outdated that political parties compete, win elections in the provinces and that there is another party which lost in those provinces and sends someone as if he /she were a commander to impose, this is undemocratic,” he emphasised.

In this perspective, the working group formed by the Government and Renamo to propose a law on decentralisation will draft a law on the election of provincial governors in the 2019 ballot.“As for the decentralisation chapter, it’s very complicated, it’s very complex, it’s very slow, but we’re trying to get things moving,” the Renamo leader said.

The group that discusses military affairs, he continued, will have to submit by the end of this year a proposal on the integration model of Renamo armed men in the Defence and Security Forces.“I am motivated, I know that things will change, they will not be as they have always been since 1992, there is a huge effort that we are trying to make, there is no secret whatsoever,” added Afonso Dhlakama.The Renamo leader said the extension of the suspension of the confrontations with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces (FDS) results from the telephone conversations he has been holding with Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi.“I was always saying that if everything went well, if the Government, the President of the Republic, my brother [Filipe] Nyusi, corresponded, I could give the truce without a deadline,” stressed the president of the main opposition party.Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and the armed wing of the main opposition party were engaged in clashes in the centre and north of the country in 2016 until the first truce announced by Dhlakama in December.The war has killed an unknown number of people, with attacks on buses, trains and other civilian targets, sank the economy and sparked a refugee crisis.Renamo and Frelimo, the ruling party, exchanged mutual accusations of political persecution and assassination.The clashes erupted after Renamo refused to accept the results of the 2014 general election, demanding to rule in six provinces where it claims victory in the ballot.It is in this sequence that the decentralisation of the State is now at the negotiating table between Dhlakama and President Nyusi – along with the depoliticisation of the FDS and the disarmament of the armed wing of the opposition and their reintegration into civilian life or integration into the army, police and information services of State.