2 November 2009
Maputo — Fernando Mbararano, the political delegate of the former rebel movement Renamo in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, has threatened that Renamo will seize control of the province, following its defeat in Wednesday's general election.
Last Thursday, Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama was declaring "Mozambique will burn", and now his faithful lieutenant Mbararano claims that Renamo can hive Sofala off from the rest of the country. Neither man, however, has indicated how they can possibly implement their threats.
Mbararano was speaking in Beira on Sunday. According to a report in Monday's issue of the independent newsheet "Mediafax", Mbararano told reporters that Renamo militants were already prepared "to divide Sofala at the Save river". The Save is the boundary between Sofala and Inhambane provinces, and it is also conventionally regarded as the dividing line between southern and central Mozambique.
He said Renamo would go ahead with the secession of Sofala, if it confirmed that the election results were fraudulent. He claimed that Renamo won the election in Sofala, and that the results announced by STAE (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat) are the product of ballot box stuffing.
He also claimed that the police had prevented many people from voting but did not tell the reporters how the police could distinguish between Frelimo and Renamo voters. He added that many others were deprived of the right to vote because their names did not appear on the electoral register.
Asked to present proof for these allegations, Mbararano was unable to do so. He merely said he had "clear information" from the districts, and Renamo was currently drawing up a list of alleged irregularities.
Mbararano has an uphill struggle. For Renamo did not come second in Sofala - it came third, beaten not only by the ruling Frelimo Party but also by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), headed by the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango.
The distance between Frelimo and Renamo in Sofala is enormous. With over 99 per cent of the Sofala polling stations counted, Frelimo had 162,922 votes (51.2 per cent), the MDM had 74,257 (23.3 per cent), and Renamo had 72,753 (22.8 per cent).
Renamo and its presidential candidate, Afonso Dhlakama, won in only two districts in Sofala - Caia and Dhlakama's home district of Chibabava. The MDM and Simango won in Beira. Frelimo and President Armando Guebuza won in the other ten Sofala districts.
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