Mozambique Opposition Alleges Harassment Days After Peace Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Members of Mozambique’s opposition Renamo party say police officers burned their property just days after their leader and President Filipe Nyusi signed an accord to end decades of fighting.

The agreement with Renamo leader Ossufo Momade is the third that the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front has reached with the opposition party and is meant to pave the way for elections later this year.

“Unfortunately, contrary to the common desire for peace, national reconciliation, tolerance for different thinking and peaceful political cohabitation, two days after the signing of the Maputo Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, acts of violence and political intolerance were perpetrated by members of the Frelimo party and police in various parts of the country,” Renamo spokesman Jose Manteigas told reporters in the capital, Maputo.

In the northwestern Tete province, security officials and members of the ruling party torched homes, motorcycles and corn belonging to Renamo followers on Aug. 8. Three other cases of violence took place in Zambezia, Inhambane and Gaza provinces, Manteigas said.

Police spokesman Claudio Langa couldn’t immediately comment on the issue.

Mozambique is still recovering from a 16-year civil war fought between Renamo and the government. The conflict ended in 1992, but Renamo took up arms again in 2013. Already, there has been a split within party ranks, with a group claiming to represent fighters threatening a return to war if Momade doesn’t resign as its leader.

To contact the reporter on this story: Borges Nhamire in Maputo at bnhamire@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, Pauline Bax

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