Maputo — Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo, has now elevated marching naked through the streets to the status of a human right.

Commenting on last Wednesday's scenes, in which about 90 Renamo members and supporters marched naked in the northern town of Mocimboa da Praia, Dhlakama told reporters they were merely exercising their constitutional rights.

The Renamo march was one in a series of protests against the results of the 21 May by-election for mayor of Mocimboa da Praia, won by Amadeu Pedro, candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party.

Renamo claims that the election was fraudulent, and has threatened to make it impossible for Pedro to govern the town.

Renamo's previous demonstrations in Mocimboa da Praia had taken place without incident, and the party had even won some praise for its peaceful behaviour. But on Wednesday, the decision to march naked led to public outrage and widespread condemnation.

But not from Dhlakama. "What is more serious", he asked, "a woman marching with her breasts hanging out, or the massacres of those fighting for rights and legality in this country ?" There have been no massacres in Mocimboa da Praia.

Presumably Dhlakama was thinking of events in the town of Montepuez, five years ago, when at least 83 detainees died of asphyxiation in a grotesquely overcrowded police cell.

Montepuez was indeed a massacre - but it has nothing to do with the Mocimboa da Praia by-election, and two police officers are currently serving long prison sentences for their part in the cell deaths.

Dhlakama claimed that the Wednesday demonstration did not constitute indecent exposure, and in any case had nothing to do with the Renamo leadership, since it was organised locally.

"Renamo does not guide the actions of its members by remote control", he said, "because we are an organisation where decisions are decentralised. We support the initiatives of our delegations and we don't condemn anything".

However, the Renamo Cabo Delgado provincial delegate, Armindo Milaco, also avoided responsibility for the demonstration. He claimed that there was no coordination - it was a spontaneous decision of the demonstrators to remove their clothing, and it was not possible to prevent them.

"It was an unplanned situation that sprang up in the middle of the march, and nobody was able to stop it", he said.

Milaco promised that Renamo will continue demonstrating against the election result.

They would only end "when there is a solution", he said. But since the result has been validated by the Constitutional Council, there are no further avenues of appeal.

Unless Pedro decides to resign (which seems extremely unlikely), the only "solution" will be in 2008, when there will be new municipal elections.

Milaco threatened that there might come a moment "when things get out of hand, because Frelimo is challenging us".