President Filipe Nyusi on 15 January told reporters that efforts to bring peace to the country were among the main highlights of his government's performance during his second five-year term of office as President of the Republic.

The President was speaking at a Maputo press conference, marking the start of the third year of his second term. He recalled that when he first took office, in 2015, armed attacks by militiamen of the main opposition party Renamo were continuing in the central provinces.

Peace with Renamo was always a priority, he said. "We had to work to reach where we are today, where our brothers in Renamo are no longer living in the mountains", Nyusi added.

The President signed a peace agreement with Renamo leader Ossufo Momade in August 2019, under which former Renamo fighters are being demobilised, disarmed, and reintegrated into society.

President Nyusi said his second term of office has also been marked by terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which he regarded as a new challenge for Mozambique. Although terrorism was "a universal phenomenon", Mozambique had not experienced it previously. "We are containing and managing it to guarantee that the country remains stable", said the President.

President Nyusi was speaking shortly before flying to the United Arab Emirates, where he will attend the opening of the "Week of Sustainability", discussing the Energy Transition.

According to a press release from President Nyusi's office "the Week of Sustainability is an international business event, organised by the UAE, through a body dedicated to the development of clean energies in the context of the international agenda for zero carbon emissions and containing climate change".

This will be President Nyusi's second visit to the UAE in less than three months. The previous visit was in October 2022, and Nyusi described it as "very productive".