Maputo — Ossufo Momade, leader of Mozambique's main opposition party, Renamo, on Monday claimed that demobilised Renamo guerrillas are being harassed, threatened and even murdered in the western province of Tete.

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of the Renamo Political Commission, he claimed this persecution was the work of a "death squad' set up in order to destabilise the party.

By way of example, Momade cited the case of Rafael Diquissone, the Renamo political delegate in the Ncondezi locality, in Moatize district, who was allegedly kidnapped on 30 January. Diquissone was a former colonel in the Renamo militia who was demobilised under the current demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) process.

Momade claimed that a Renamo locality delegate, named Frederico Ernesto, also demobilised under the DDR, was murdered in Chifunde district on 12 March, and that "our members were beaten up on 2 March in Chitima administrative post, in Cahora Bassa district'.

The Renamo leader alleged that these crimes were all sponsored by the Government.

"The country is in a very serious stage of its security', he said, citing in particular the wave of kidnappings of business people. The kidnap gangs were operating with apparent impunity, "and the Frelimo government is watching as if nothing were happening, which leads us to believe that these barbaric acts are carried out by individuals who are protected by the nomenclatura in power'.

He once again insisted that the elections to district assemblies must be held in 2024, as stipulated by the Mozambican constitution. Failure to hold the district elections, he claimed, would be "a real violation of the Constitution', comparable with the police attacks last Saturday on marches held to honour the memory of the country's foremost rap artist, Edson da Luz (better known by his stage name, Azagaia), who died on 9 March.