Political skirmishes, a concern ahead of polls

Recent reports of political skirmishes between the ruling FRELIMO party and the main opposition, RENAMO, ahead of Mozambique's general elections in December, are a cause for concern, say analysts with the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA). RENAMO this week accused the government of moving police units to Maringue in the central province of Sofala, a RENAMO stronghold where its leader Afonso Dhlakama is based, after clashes between the political rivals in the neighbouring town of Inhaminga. Last month the Mozambican daily newspaper, Noticias, reported that beatings, housebreaking and random shootings had allegedly been committed by former RENAMO guerrillas in Maringue. "The cause for concern is that the reported incidents of violence serve to highlight both the ongoing distrust between the two main political parties and the need for continuing efforts to establish a culture of political tolerance in Mozambique," EISA's Heidi Brooks and Sydney Letsholo noted in a paper on the unrest in Sofala. The analysts said the official news agency, AIM, had reported that RENAMO's "illegal security force" in Maringue was allegedly involved in the unrest. Despite the demobilisation of RENAMO troops after the 1992 peace agreement, the party has retained a force of 150 men in Maringue, 150 km northwest of the port city of Beira, on the grounds that it guards Dhlakama's houses. Letsholo told IRIN that EISA had reports showing that members of the "Maringue force" were employed by the provincial government of Sofala. The presence of the former soldiers "could threaten not only the prospects of a peaceful run-up to the election, but also the possibilities of cooperation between the two parties, to ensure a stable political environment in the province," the EISA paper said. Eduard Namburete, RENAMO's election manager, alleged that RENAMO officials had been targets of political intimidation in Inhaminga, and said Dhlakama had announced that he would only demobilise his security force when he was elected president. Analyst David Monyae at the University of the Witwatersrand said incidents of political intimidation were likely to continue in the run-up to the elections but he did not expect full-blown violence, as the Southern African Development Community's new charter on conducting free and fair elections should ensure that the Mozambican polls went relatively smoothly. FRELIMO and RENAMO were locked in a bitter civil war for 16 years until the 1992 peace agreement.