Maputo — A dispute over a vehicle has led to the arrest of Joaquim Greva, political delegate of the former rebel movement Renamo in the central Mozambican town of Dondo, reports the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique".

The vehicle in question is claimed both by Greva and by IPADE (Institute for Peace and Democracy), the NGO set up by Raul Domingos, the former head of the Renamo parliamentary group, who was expelled from Renamo in 2000.

The police ordered that the car be left in the Dondo police car park while the dispute was resolved. Far from obeying this instruction, Greva took the car to the Renamo district office, where its wheels and fuel pump were removed.

His refusal to hand over the car led the police to arrest Greva for disobedience, and he spent Xmas behind bars.

On Thursday, Greva was obliged to put the wheels back on the car, and accompany the police as they towed it to the police car park.

Greva was once a member of IPADE, and, according to Raul Domingos, IPADE allowed him to use the car for his IPADE work.

"We have documents proving this, and which state that he could work with the car while he was with IPADE", said Domingos. "Now that his link with IPADE is over, the vehicle must be returned".

Fernando Carrelo, a member of the Renamo National Council, claimed that Domingos had ordered the arrest of Greva. "He is retaliating, because he sees that IPADE is no longer active and has disappeared from the map of the district", said Carrelo. "Raul Domingos enjoys popularity only in the media, and not among the public".

Domingos retorted that he did not give orders to the police, and that "if Greva was detained, then certainly he must have infringed some legal norm, and it's the responsibility of the authorities".

As for his popularity or lack of it, Domingos remarked "I'd like to ask Carrelo when and where this opinion poll about me was held.".

"There's a lack of knowledge, and to justify their malicious intentions, they speak in the name of the public", he added.