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August 17th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Inacio Reis, adviser to Renamo leader Alfonso Dhlakama for the northern region of Mozambique, said Renamo wants to sign a definitive peace agreement by December 2017.
Felipe Nyusi and Alfonso Dhlakama during a meeting earlier this month.
The statement was made while Reis visited the country’s Cabo Delgado province. Inacio Reis is also a member of the Council of State. During his visit he acknowledged that there was progress in the military and political dialog between Renamo and the ruling Frelimo government, even though, Reis also stressed that Renamo was more than disappointed by the slow speed of the peace process.
Reis said December is near and recommended that both Renamo and the Frelimo government delegations, along with Renamo leader Alfonso Dhlakama and President Felipe Nyusi, take steps to speed up the peace process.
Reis visited eight districts in Cabo Delgado province where he was engaged in restructuring Renamo’s party machinery with the aim to streamline it before the upcoming local and general elections.
In early August Nyusi and Dhlakama met on Sunday for the fist time since 2015. Both leaders, their respective parties, Frelimo and Renamo, as well as the European Union agree that the direct meeting is a major step toward stability, peace and peaceful and transparent elections in 2019.
Nyusi and Dhlakama met in the remote Gorongosa mountains where Renamo leader Alfornso Dhlakama retreated in October 2015, along with some 800 members of Renamo’s armed wing, demanding a greater share of power.
Renamo began rebuilding its armed wing after the discovery of major natural gas reserves in 2012. The Mozambican Presidency released a statement saying “The two leaders discussed and agreed on the next steps in the peace process, which they hope to be completed by the end of the year.”
The two leaders last got together in 2015, before Dhlakama fled into the mountains where he is awaiting the elections set for 2019. Dhlakama’s Renamo is both a legal political party as well as an illegal armed insurgent group that led a 16-year rebellion and an opposition political party that took up arms again in 2013.
Clashes between the ruling Frelimo party government and Renamo last year revived the specter of Mozambique’s civil war that ended more than 20 years ago. Renamo members, who hold seats in parliament, have called for greater decentralisation of the state and better integration of their people into the police and military. Dhlakama declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2016, which he prolonged indefinitely in May.
Mozambique is still recovering from its bloody 1976-1992 civil war when one million people died during years of sporadic fighting between Frelimo and Renamo. The more recent fighting has often focused on Mozambique’s main roads, with Renamo attacking government convoys and civilian vehicles, and soldiers ruthlessly targeting suspected Renamo rebels in nearby villagers.
The death toll is unknown but scores of people are reported to have been killed in 2016, with both the Frelimo and Renamo parties also suffering assassinations of local politicians.
European countries played crucial roles in brokering the 1992 ceasefire that resulted in the end of the 16-year-long civil war in 1993. Following the meeting between Nyusi and Dhlakama the European Union (EU) issued a statement saying that the meeting was another important step in building mutual confidence.
The EU congratulated the leaders and encouraged both parties to work towards an agreement by the end of the year so that the elections in 2018 and 2019 can take place in a climate of trust and peace. The EU noted that it continues to stand ready to support the Mozambican people and the peace process.
CH/L & F/AK – nsnbc 16.08.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/16/renamo-and-frelimo-should-sign-definitive-peace-agreement-by-december-2017-inacio-reis/
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