Maputo — The five independent deputies in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, have vowed that they will continue working as deputies, despite all the attempts by the Renamo-Electoral Union opposition coalition to have them expelled.

The five - Raul Domingos, Rashid Tayob, Almeida Tambara, Chico Francisco and Jose Lopes - have all either left or been thrown out of Renamo. In December, when a Renamo motion to expel the five from parliament was rejected, the Renamo deputies resorted to sabotage. They damaged the Assembly sound system, banged on the tables, chanted, and blew whistles and hooters, in an unsuccessful attempt to make it impossible for the plenary session to carry out any business.

According to a report in Thursday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias", the five independents have decided that they will work as a group, coordinating their activities, in order to make the best use of the time made available to them during debates.

"We want to take our places and contribute to solving the country's problems", said Domingos. "That is the way to honour the undertakings we gave to the citizens who elected us".

"We want to reassure our voters that we will remain messengers of peace, justice, freedom, democracy and respect for human dignity", stressed Domingos, speaking for all five independents.

"As representatives of the people, and not of political parties, we shall be tireless in promoting development initiatives that help our people overcome misery, backwardness and underdevelopment", he added.

He praised the parliamentary majority (formed by the ruling Frelimo Party) for throwing out the "illegal and unconstitutional" proposals of Renamo that would have deprived the independents of their seats.

"The decision of the Assembly plenary was the victory of legality against illegality, of justice against injustice, of freedom against oppression, of democracy against dictatorship and demagogy", declared Domingos.

He said that Renamo's noisy disruption was intended to create "an institutional crisis" which would then be used as the pretext for demanding early general elections.

What happened during Renamo's near riots in the Assembly chamber "was the destruction of equipment bought at the cost of the taxes and sweat of the people", said Domingos, "and a refusal to respect the constitution and the law".

"Is this the democracy the people want ?", he asked. "Or is somebody betraying the people, in the pursuit of hidden projects that have nothing to do with the life of the people ?"