Trouble in Mozambique

[Richprins]

Got some info today...same old same old as above, but Renamo and Moz.gov have been having talks!

Tourists fine from and includingTransfrontier Park down!

[dup]

On the news this morning (AfrikaansRadio).
Attack on a convoy in central Mozam. There were a bus also in the convoy ,1 person dead and 9 wounded.Shots were fire from bushes next to the road.

[Richprins]

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-10-26-moza ... ed-in-raid

Following a raid on a military base by government troops, Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo says its leader's right-hand man has been killed.
A picture taken on October 17 2013 shows prisoners of former Mozambican rebel movement Renamo in Gorongosa. (AFP)

Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo said on Friday its leader's right-hand man was killed in a raid on its military base by government troops earlier in the week.

Armindo Milaco, a former child soldier who became one of the movement's most powerful men and a parliamentarian, was hit by a shell when the army took the base in central Mozambique.

"Our colleague Armindo Milaco died as a result of government forces' attack on our leader's base on 21 October," Renamo spokesperson Fernando Mazanga said. "He was hit by a howitzer."

The ex-guerillas, who fought a bloody civil war against the ruling Frelimo before transforming into a political party, declared that a 1992 peace deal was over as a result of Monday's attack.

The assault on the Gorongosa base amounted to an attack by the government on multiparty democracy, it said.

The party only learnt of Milaco's death on Friday because communication had been difficult, it said.

Militants reportedly from the former rebel movement attacked a nearby police station the day after the attack, which kicked off a spate of tit-for-tat violence.

Milaco was forcibly conscripted as a 17-year-old boy into Renamo when war broke out in 1977.

Rekindle hostilities with Frelimo
In an interview last November he appeared eager to rekindle hostilities with Frelimo.

"All of us miss it. We have to wait a little but we are waiting for the moment we can finish what we started," he said when Agence France-Presse visited the Gorongosa camp.

At the time, he was in charge of recruiting new soldiers nationwide, and doing refresher courses along with some Renamo veterans, aged well into their 40s.

Although the party had supposedly disarmed when peace was signed, it still had hidden bazookas, mortars and even landmines left.

"As soon as the shooting starts, everyone knows where to grab them," Milaco had said.

But their base fell, amid reports Renamo fled ahead of the government troops.

Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama escaped and is hiding at an undisclosed location, according to his party.

The unrest has been confined to the central region, but this week's attacks have sparked fears of renewed war, prompting worried international reactions.

A return to civil war
But Renamo's spokesperson Mazanga said the movement did not want to return to civil war, following the devastation of the previous 16-year conflict.

"We know the consequences of conflict. If we respond with violence we might plunge the country back in war," he said.

"We are open for talks, but demand that the head of state and commander of the armed forces withdraw his troops from our base."

Dhlakama returned to the bush camp last November and started retraining soldiers for a "revolution", without making clear his intentions.

Over the last six months Renamo militants have clashed sporadically with government forces and attacked civilian vehicles on the main north-south highway.

Renamo took up arms against the then-communist government of Frelimo – the Mozambique Liberation Front – after independence from Portugal in 1975.

It became the official opposition party after the 1992 peace agreement, but has lost every national election ever since.

Renamo's demands
Officially Renamo is demanding a bigger role in electoral bodies and its fighters' integration into the government forces.

But more than 20 rounds of talks with Frelimo over the past 10 months have stalled with little progress.

The party is boycotting upcoming local polls on November 20 after refusing to register until electoral reforms are passed.

It failed to table its suggestions in Parliament, saying Frelimo's overwhelming majority meant they would probably be voted down.

It has been highly critical of the Frelimo government, which it accuses of politicising the state and stealing the impoverished, yet coal-and-gas rich country's resources. – AFP

[Richprins]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... e41d04dcf3


Mozambique government blames fresh attack on former rebels

By Orfeu de Sa Lisboa (AFP) – 12 hours ago

Maputo — Mozambique's presidency on Saturday blamed former rebel movement Renamo for an attack on a minibus that killed the driver and injured 10 passengers, after a week of tit-for-tat violence.

Armed gunmen attacked the bus and two cars in central Mozambique in the early morning on the main north-south highway, in the second assault this week since Renamo tore up a 1992-peace deal.

"This attack by Renamo once again resulted in the loss of a human life," said presidential spokesman Edson Macuacua in the central city of Beira.

"A minibus was set alight and 10 civilians injured, four of them seriously. Two of the injured were children," Macuacua said in comments sent to media. Other sources said three vehicles had been attacked.

Renamo spokesmen declined to comment on the attacks.

The assailants were also accused of stealing the belongings of victims during the incident, which took place between the Save River and the town of Muxungue, where Renamo militants attacked a police station in April.

"Armed men came out of the woods, opened fire and hit the driver in the forehead or the face," said Felisberta Moutinho, a survivor of the attack.

She also attributed the assault to Renamo, whose militants have been attacking civilian vehicles travelling along this stretch of the road over the past six months.

Since then vehicles have often travelled in military convoys, but Saturday's group had risked the road without escort.

"They kept shooting at the passengers. We left the bus and fled. Some fled through the windows, others were hit by bullets," Moutinho told AFP.

She said she ran into the woods with her two children until she spotted a group of police vehicles.

"A while later we heard explosions," she added.

Saturday's attack came a day after Renamo announced its leader's right-hand man and member of parliament Armindo Milaco had been killed by a howitzer in an assault on the group's base on Monday.

[dup]

Thanks RP .Eldest son already turn a Dec holiday offer down due to this . The next thing is that gangsters use this situation for their own purpose. Hope that this lead to higher policing on our eastern border.

[Lisbeth]

Sounds bad

[okie]

Hmmmm... so who is using Rhino horn to finance operations-- Renamo or Frelimo

[dup]

Hmmmm... so who is using Rhino horn to finance operations-- Renamo or Frelimo

Renamo and their paid runners.

[iNdlovu]

Frelimo take their fair share as well. Neither party is innocent in this thing

[Sprocky]

2013-10-28 08:47

Maputo - The French embassy in Maputo last week advised against travelling to the troubled central Mozambican province of Sofala, the centre of the unrest between the Renamo rebel group and government forces.

The advice follows renewed hostilities after the army seized a Renamo base during a raid on Monday, prompting the group to declare the end of a two-decade peace deal that ended the country's civil war in 1992.

Renamo claimed the attack was aimed at killing their leader, Afonso Dhlakama.

"We advise against any road travel in the province of Sofala, except Beira, unless necessary," said an embassy statement.

The French embassy said it was working closely with other EU member states and the US embassy to monitor political and security developments in Mozambique.

No foreign nationals have so far been caught up in the violence, according to the statement.

Hours after the Monday attack, Renamo responded by staging a pre-dawn attack on a police station near the base, forcing officers to flee. They demand that the army withdraw from its bush base.

Tensions have been escalating between Renamo, the rebel group-turned-opposition party and the government of ruling party Frelimo since last year, and Renamo set up camp in the central Gorongosa mountains.

They have been threatening to take up arms against Frelimo, accusing it of seizing the country's riches.

The unrest which is currently confined to the central region has sparked fears of renewed fighting between the old war time foes.

Renamo is demanding a bigger role in the affairs of the country and has staged numerous deadly attacks since returning to the bush.


- AFP