Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi declared on Wednesday that he feels a sense of "mission accomplished' as he hands "a reconciled country' over to his successor.
He was presenting his state of the nation address for the last time to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, and gave a snapshot of his governance over the past ten years.
Nyusi was particularly proud of the peace agreement he had reached with Ossufo Momade, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo, which is now the country's main opposition party.
"Anyone who has known the horror of war could not remain indifferent', he said. So he had met with Momade to find a way of ending the armed attacks made by the Renamo militia.
These contacts led to the signing of the peace agreement between the government and Renamo on 6 August 2019. He had complied with a promise he made when he took office in 2015, "that in Mozambique, a brother will never again turn against his brother'.
Following the peace agreement came the "Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration' (DDR) of the Renamo militia. This had taken a long time, he admitted, and required a lot of patience, leading to the closure of all Renamo military bases, and the demobilization of 5,200 Renamo fighters.
As for the kidnappings of businessmen in Mozambican cities, Nyusi said this "cannot be solved through simple comment, but requires deep reflection and vigorous measures'.
The kidnappings posed a challenge to all Mozambicans, he added, admitting "this is a problem that is far from being solved'.
Nyusi said the government has created special anti-kidnapping and intelligence police units, and a considerable number of police agents were undergoing training for these units.
Since January, he said, there had been 22 kidnappings, mostly of citizens of Asian origin. Eight of these cases had been aborted, and 57 people had been arrested in connection with these crimes. The police had dismantled four hideouts where the kidnap gangs held their victims captive.
In the last three weeks, said Nyusi, the police had detained three individuals involved in the latest kidnappings. They had revealed the name of one of those who ordered the kidnappings. Nyusi said "he is a well-known businessman', but did not reveal his identity.
"This businessman is not in Mozambique', he added. "We have contacted Interpol to help us detain the man. He must be brought back to Mozambique to answer for his crimes'.
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Nyusi criticized the failure of the victims to collaborate with the authorities after they have been rescued or ransomed. He said they were reluctant to provide information for fear of suffering reprisals.
"We have to study this phenomenon to see what is really going on', he said. "The victims speak of fear. How are we going to solve this problem without their collaboration?'
Nyusi stressed the gains made in the health and education services in the last decade, claiming that the health network had grown by 21 per cent since 2015.
He noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had praised Mozambique's "exemplary management' of the Covid-19 pandemic. He noted that there have been thousands of cases of cholera in the country, but the lethality rate has been kept to below one per cent.
As for education 99 per cent of all children begin their primary education at the correct age, and more girls than boys are enrolled in the country's primary schools.
Summarising the state of the nation, Nyusi said "the country is growing economically and the nation is marching in resilient fashion towards sustainable development'.
