Maputo — Mozambique's third largest political party, the PDD (Party for Peace Democracy and Development), has suffered a serious blow with the defection of the head of its political commission in Sofala, Conceicao Frechaut, to the ruling Frelimo Party.

The PDD was formed by Raul Domingos, once the number two figure in the former rebel movement Renamo, but who was expelled from that party in 2000. The PDD took two per cent of the national vote in the 2004 general election, and Frechaut was prominent in the PDD's campaign.

According to a report in Monday's issue of the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", the Frelimo first secretary in Sofala province, Lourenco Bulha, presented Frechaut publicly on Friday.

She had once been a Frelimo member, switched her loyalty to the PDD, becaming a member of the PDD National Political Commission, but has now returned to Frelimo, a party she referred to as "my father".

"I felt, and analysed and saw that the country has a huge agenda, which is the struggle against absolute poverty", said Frechaut. "I saw that it is Frelimo, my father, that can carry out this agenda. So I came home".

"I was lost in the PDD", she said. "because earlier I had been in Frelimo since 1978".

Bulha also presented two Renamo members, Antonio Mouzinho and Tomas Abrao, who had also defected to Frelimo.

Mouzinho claimed that he had joined Frelimo in 1966, during the war for Mozambican independence, but had later gone over to Renamo. Now he was returning.

He too used family metaphors. "I was away from my father, and now I've come back", he said. "I am happy and pleased that I've been well received by Frelimo".

He handed over publicly his Renamo party card (number 013873/44), a photo of which appears in "Diario de Mocambique".

Renamo has often said that people defecting to Frelimo were never really members of Renamo at all - but it will have some difficulty explaining away Mouzinho's membership card.

Abrao was a Renamo fighter recruited in 1982, who fought for ten years during the war of destabilisation. At the end of the war, he hoped that he might receive some reward from Renamo for his years of service. Instead, he felt marginalised, and eventually decided to apply for Frelimo membership.

He was honest enough to admit that he hoped to advance himself this way. "Renamo is swindling people", Abrao said. "I was suffering. I've come to Frelimo because it will help me".

Bulha said that Frelimo is growing rapidly in Sofala province (often regarded as a Renamo stronghold). He gave the example of Nhamatanda district, where Frelimo membership has risen from 5,000 in the year 2000 to 13,000 now.