WINDHOEK – President Hage Geingob yesterday left for Maputo, Mozambique to witness the signing of a peace deal by his counterpart Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade.
The deal is aimed at ending military hostilities with the former rebel movement-turned-opposition party.
Press secretary in the presidency Alfredo Hengari said as Sadc chairperson, Geingob has accepted an invitation by Nyusi to participate in the signing ceremony of the Election Peace Pledge Agreement between the Frelimo-led government and Renamo, plus other stakeholders, to be held today in Maputo, Mozambique.
Hengari said the Election Peace Pledge Agreement follows the Peace Accord, marking an official end to the conflict between Renamo-armed men and the defence and security forces that was signed on August 1 in Gorongosa, Beira by Nyusi and Momade.
The signing ceremony, according to Mozambican media reports, will take place at Renamo’s remote military base in the Gorongosa mountains in the central region of the southern African country.
The objective of the Election Peace Pledge Agreement is to hold peaceful elections in October this year.
On accepting the invitation to participate in the election peace pledge and deliver remarks at the ceremony, President Geingob said: “I wish to commend President Nyusi and the Frelimo-led government for having concluded this watershed agreement with the opposition, Renamo. This historic moment is an indication to the world that Africa is fully committed to turn a new leaf. Africans on their own accord, as brothers and sisters in Mozambique, are willing to put to rest hostility and embrace the spirit of peace and harmony. It is an epoch-making event in the history of Mozambique and worthy of celebration in Sadc and the African Union (AU).”
Geingob is expected back in the country today. In the mid-1970s, Renamo fought a brutal 16-year civil war against the Frelimo government that left one million people dead before the fighting stopped in 1992.
Despite the end of the civil war and the group transforming into a political party, it retained an armed wing. Fresh clashes then erupted again between government forces and Renamo soldiers from 2013 to 2016.
Last week, Renamo began disarming its armed members as part of a prospective peace deal that will see the fighters re-integrated into the country’s army and police. More than 5,200 Renamo fighters are expected to surrender their weapons to the government, a condition for the peace deal that is planned to be signed. That would bring an end to a long peace negotiation process initiated by Renamo’s historic leader, Afonso Dhlakama, who died in May last year.