Maputo — Ossufo Momade, the leader of Mozambique's main opposition party, Renamo, has threatened that the country could go back to war, if the ruling Frelimo Party continues to "provoke' Renamo, and resorts to fraud to win the municipal election scheduled for 11 October.
Interviewed in Tuesday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais', Momade urged Frelimo and President Filipe Nyusi "to conform with democracy'.
He said he could not bear the "humiliations' through which Renamo members are supposedly passing, particularly after the demobilization and disarmament of the Renamo militia.
Under the peace agreement signed between Nyusi and Momade in August 2019, all the remaining Renamo military bases were closed down, and around 5,000 former guerrillas were demobilised. Assuming that Renamo has obeyed the terms of the peace agreement, it no longer has an armed force it can call upon to destabilise the country.
Momade said he will not respond to all "Frelimo provocations', but he demanded an end to the harassment and assassination of Renamo members. He was particularly concerned at the alleged threat to assassinate the mayor of Nampula, Renamo member Paulo Vahanle.
Vanhanle claimed that the would-be assassins, who were seized by Renamo's own security, are members of the police. One of them, he said, alleged that he was acting on the orders of the Minister of Labour, Margarida Talapa, an accusation now echoed by Momade.
Talapa has dismissed the claim as "a provocation', and has called on the Public Prosecutor's Office to sue Vahanle for defamation.
Subsequently, a second senior Renamo official, Manuel de Araujo, mayor of the central city of Quelimane, has also claimed to have uncovered a police assassination plot.
Momade warned that, if Vahanle were indeed to be assassinated, Renamo "will shut the country down'.
When the reporter asked how Renamo would do this, Momade declined to answer. He insisted that "we do not want war, but we are not afraid of war'.
Keeping the peace, he added, depends on Frelimo "which should end political harassment, and avoid any attempt to govern the country through electoral fraud'.
