Polls "not endangered" by political rivalry

Political skirmishes in Mozambique between the ruling FRELIMO party and the main opposition, RENAMO, "are not endangering the electoral process yet," FRELIMO's presidential candidate, Armando Guebuza, told IRIN on Wednesday. "We are hoping for a peaceful election," said Guebuza, who is currently FRELIMO's secretary-general. Mozambique will hold its third democratic election on 1 and 2 December this year. President Joaquim Chissano has announced that he will not run for a third term. Last month skirmishes broke out between the police and an estimated 150 ex-rebel soldiers guarding RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama's residence in the central province of Sofala. Sydney Letsholo, an analyst with the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, told IRIN that the existence of the RENAMO bodyguards could threaten the "prospects of a peaceful run-up to the election." The Mozambican police subsequently called for the bodyguards to disarm and be absorbed into the army and police force, in accordance with the 1992 peace agreement. Guebuza said the government was still awaiting a response from RENAMO. The two parties were locked in a bitter civil war for 16 years until the 1992 peace agreement but, despite 12 years of peace, friction has continued between FRELIMO and RENAMO in the areas held by the former rebel movement. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, Guebuza, a veteran politician, denied a development spending bias towards the FRELIMO-held provinces in the south. He said, "Mozambican voters do not vote along ethnic or tribal lines, they voted for FRELIMO."