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MOZAMBIQUE UPDATE (30 SEPTEMBER 1989) THE MOZAMBIQUE UPDATE is a review of news from and about Mozambique, published each month by the Communications Department of the Embassy of the People's Republic of Mozambique. Technical assistance in the computerized production and distribution of the UPDATE is provided by members of the TECNICA SOUTHERN AFRICA VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM and THE MOZAMBIQUE SUPPORT NETWORK. Please direct all inquiries and requests for inclusion on a "hard-copy" mailing list to: Mr. Antonio Matonse, Press Attache Tel. (202) 293-7146 ABOUT TECNICA SOUTHERN AFRICA VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM (S.A.V.P.) The S.A.V.P. recruits and matches volunteers with skills in informatics, health care, and education to requests for technical assistance by the governments and liberation movements of Southern Africa. For detailed descriptions of current requests, contact: Mackie McLeod, S.A.V.P. National Rep. Tel. (202) 882-0770 PeaceNet address: cdp!mmcleod ABOUT THE MOZAMBIQUE SUPPORT NETWORK (MSN) MSN is a national organization of former volunteers in Mozambique; anti-apartheid activists; and Southern Africa scholars who organize public education events and material aid campaigns; disseminate new research and news publications; and coordinate tours to Mozambique. For more information, contact: Lisa January, MSN National Coordinator Tel. (312) 922-3286 .pa PeaceNet address: cdp!mozsupport NR. 28 SEPTEMBER 30, 1989 SUMMARY * The Mozambican Government has announced a twelve-point platform of principles for peace in Mozambique. Preliminary contacts between Mozambican clergy and Renamo representatives took place in Nairobi with Presidents Robert Mugabe and Daniel Arap Moi acting as mediators. (More...p. 3 & 4) * President Chissano has pledged that Frelimo will become "a party of all the Mozambican people". Delegates to the Fifth Party Congress voted to continue Frelimo's vanguard role, but also decided to promote key economic and social reforms. (More...p. 5) * In an amnesty declared on August by the People's Assembly, 1888 Mozambicans and several foreigners, including Ian Grey, the Australian missionary convicted of aiding Renamo, were released from prison in Maputo. (More...p. 6) * Nine officials of the national relief agency have been detained after a government inquiry revealed their responsability for the theft of emergency supplies donated to Mozambique for those affected by the national emergency. (More...p. 6) .pa NEWSBRIEF Nairobi, September - President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya and President Robert Mugabe met in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to discuss developments of the peace process in Mozambique, initiated last July by the Mozambican Government. With the same purpose, President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique held tete-a- tete talks with Robert Mugabe in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. The Mozambican Minister of Transport and Communications attended the Nairobi Summit. (Vide p. 3). Paris, September - The European Economic Community (EEC) meeting in the French capital commended the current talks aimed at the achievement of peace in Mozambique. The twelve EEC countries expressed their support for the efforts being made by the church, Zimbabwe, and Kenya for the Mozambican process of national reconciliation. (Vide p. 3). Madrid, September - President Joaquim Chissano has been invited to visit Spain, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Fernandez Ordonez, informed Mozambican Foreign Minister, Pascoal Mocumbi. Mocumbi and Ordonez reviewed relations between Mozambique and Spain on airlines links, health, training, and rehabilitation of the Beira railway. Maputo, September - The Government of United States has contributed $44 million to Mozambique for private sector agricultural projects. This financial aid will be used by Mozambicans to import agricultural equipment, seeds, spare parts, fertilizer and trucks. The central and northern provinces of Sofala, Zambezia, Nampula, and Cabo Delgado will benefit from this aid. Previously, US aid to the private sector was concentrated in the south of Mozambique. Current American humanitarian and economic aid is $104 million. Maputo, September - One hundred and sixty Mozambican soldiers who have been training in Spain in anti-terrorism and protection will finish their course this October. This counter-insurgency unit of the country's armed forces will protect a 1300-hectare Spanish farm project in Sabie-Incomati, about 66 miles north of Maputo. New York, August - The new Ambassador of Mozambique to the United Nations, Pedro Comissario, presented his credentials to the UN Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar. Comissario previously held the posts of director of the Africa and Middle East division and, most recently, director of the International Organizations and Conferences division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Maputo. He holds a law degree, is married and is father of three children. NEWSBRIEF 30 Sept. 1989 (cont'd.) Maputo, September - The Mozambican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pascoal Mocumbi announced that Morocco will open its Embassy this fall in Maputo. Mocumbi, who visited Rabat, the Moroccan capital, recently said that Mozambique and Morocco will from now reinforce their relations and start cooperation in various sectors. Maputo, September - The Mozambique-South African Joint Commission for Security has discussed in Maputo accusations by the Mozambican authorities regarding South African support of Renamo terrorists. Heading the delegations were the commanders of the armies of the two countries, Lt-General Tobias Dai for Mozambique and Lt-General A.J. Liebenberg for South Africa. The meeting followed repeated accusations in the Mozambican media of continued South Africa support for the terrorists, despite Pretoria's repeated denials. Maputo, August - President Joaquim Chissano discussed the peace process in Mozambique with leaders of Islamic community in Maputo - (Vide p.3). Other points of the agenda were the participation of the Islamic community in economic and social reconstruction. Maputo, August - The food situation in Mozambique is extremely chaotic and grave, said Jacinto Veloso, Minister of Cooperation. Veloso pointed out that most of the donors hadn't fulfilled their promises of sending emergency aid to Mozambique. At a donors meeting in New York last April, the international community agreed to donate over $350 million to about 4.7 million Mozambicans facing starvation. In some districts of Zambezia province more than 100 deaths daily due to famine were reported. .pa MOZAMBICAN GOVERNMENT SEARCHES FOR PEACE Maputo-Harare-Nairobi is a triangle for preliminary talks Maputo, July - In a move described by observers as unprecedented, the Government of Mozambique produced a twelve- point document outlining basic principles that could lead to a dialogue to establish the modalities to end the war and to normalize the life of all Mozambicans. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya have accepted the request of the Mozambican authorities to be mediators of the peace process, a role they played in early August in Nairobi, when a religious delegation from Maputo, led by Cardinal D. Alexandre dos Santos, met with the leadership of the so-called Renamo. D. Alexandre conveyed to a six-man Renamo delegation, led by its military commander Afonso Dhlakama, the twelve points announced by President Joaquim Chissano in a press conference held in Maputo, one week before the Frelimo's Congress. The Government document describes the war in Mozambique as "an operation of destabilization which should not be confused with a struggle between two parties". The peace process is aimed, according to the paper, at "an end to this inhuman situation" of brutal acts of terrorism. The document argues that Mozambican policies are established by national consensus, formulated through a process of consultation and debate with the people or social groups involved". Laws on land, health, and education are described by the paper as examples of decisions taken after national consensus, as well as the ongoing revision of the Constitution and the preparation of legislation on religious liberties. "Policy or constitutional changes or revisions to the principal laws of the country, where in many cases debate or consultation with citizens has already occurred or is in process, can be brought about and should be brought about only through the ample participation of all citizens", says the document. In this context, the government document rejects "the use of intimidation or violence to impose" the will of one group "on the whole society". The use of such methods is viewed, according to the document, as anti-democratic. The document stresses that dialogue with those who have been involved in violent actions of destabilization is aiming to clarify these positions and give guarantees of participation in dialogue to all Mozambicans. The acceptance of the Government principles, assures the document, by the so-called Renamo could lead to a dialogue about modalities for ending violence, establishing peace and normalizing life for all in Mozambique. Meanwhile, the Fifth Congress of the ruling Frelimo Party endorsed the Government principles for peace. A resolution on peace and national unity was approved on the final day of the Congress. It stated that the Mozambican people want a peace that does not constitute a prize for terrorism. The Nairobi meeting The meeting between Mozambican churchmen and the so-called Renamo, which has been postponed several times, finally took place in Nairobi on August 7 under the auspices of President Daniel Arap Moi and President Robert Mugabe. The two leaders had agreed in early July to play a mediatory role at President's Chissano request. The churchmen, led by Cardinal Alexandre dos Santos, presented to the so-called Renamo delegation the Mozambican Government's twelve-point principles. With the Cardinal were D. Jaime Goncalves, Catholic Archbishop of Beira; Dinis Sengulane, the Archbishop of the Limbombos; and Pastor Jeremias Mucache, Chairman of the Mozambique Christian Council, the umbrella body of 17 Protestant churches. After the meeting, Renamo produced a 16-point document. Commenting on that, President Joaquim Chissano said that the Renamo paper has no meaning at all. This showed, added Chissano, that there is still a great lack of understanding among Renamo leadership. Renamo's 16 point document tries to establish the terrorists as a legitimate political organization; denies the well- documented massacres, mutilations and other atrocities committed by them; and demands the withdrawal of the foreign forces brought in by Frelimo, while failing to mention Renamo's own origins as a creature of first the Rhodesian and then the South African secret services. While the eighteen African Heads of State gathered in Harare praised Chissano's efforts in pursuit of peace, Maputo media reacted with disbelief to Renamo's attempt to legitimize itself and write off its history of atrocities. The 16-point rethoric surprise by its ingenuity and lack of seriousness, commented Fernando Manuel, a senior reporter with the Mozambican Tempo magazine. Antonio Makwala from Noticias daily newspaper concluded in a long commentary that Renamo had a short memory of its destabilization of Mozambique. Meanwhile, a new round of talks took place in Nairobi between the church leaders and Renamo's representatives. Cardinal Alexandre dos Santos, leading a three-man delegation, was due in the Kenyan capital in late August. Atrocities continue Despite the government's expressed interest in peace attacks on civilians and destruction of economic and social infrastructures by the terrorists escalated in August. According to the independent Mozambican weekly magazine Tempo, Renamo killed 330 civilians, kidnapped 600, and burned 185 peasants huts in Zambezia province alone between 3 and 24 of August. This wave of destruction and massacres led the Vicar General of Maputo, Joaquim Mabuiangue of the Catholic Church in Maputo, to comment that the intensification of destruction, killings, and attacks doesn't favor dialogue. Following is a brief summary of the atrocities committed by Renamo recently. July 23: Renamo murdered 22 people in attacks on the towns of Morrumbala and Namacurra. The terrorists damaged a number of the town's buildings but did not managed to occupy them. August 1: Transmission lines are sabotaged in Ressano Garcia, the main border post between Mozambique and South Africa, causing prolonged power cuts in parts of Maputo city. August 7: Fifty four people were massacred and 17 wounded by Renamo at Fidel Castro village in Gaza province. Most of those killed had been kidnapped elsewhere in the province. Their hands had been tied behind their backs, and they had been marched to the village, which lies just 15 miles outside the provincial capital, Xai-Xai. Among the dead were 13 women and eight children. The terrorists did not use firearms on their victims but beat, stabbed, or hacked them to death, using axes, machetes, and clubs. August 12: Sixteen people were killed and 20 wounded in the villages of Nacune and Natipa in the coastal district of Angoche in Nampula province. The terrorists also burned 150 peasant huts and looted the villager's possessions. August 13: In an attack to the town of Mabalane, in Gaza province, Renamo kprivate schools and commercial tutoring. The change is justified by the fact that the national education system only covers about 40% of children aged between 7 and 11, and there is no prospect of attaining a higher percentage over the next decade. Legislation regarding the housing bill will be changed, signaling a departure from a 1976 law which established the state as the only landlord. Since then, private citizens are allowed to own a maximum of two houses, but they may not let them out for rent. To lessen the house shortage, the Central Committee report proposed an intervention by all sectors in building infrastructure and in extending the house stock. This means that duly authorized companies should be allowed to build for sale or rent. IAN GREY OUT OF JAIL Maputo, August - Ian Grey, the Australian missionary who once worked for the terrorists of the so-called Renamo, was released in Maputo as a result of the new amnesty and pardon measures disclosed by the Mozambican parliament. Grey spent about 18 months of his 10 years sentence term in jail. Along with Grey three foreigners were released. One Kenyan, one Sao Tome citizen, and one British were serving prison terms sentences as a result of their involvement in actions which jeopardized the security of the state security. Ian Grey entered Mozambique from Malawi, through the northern province of Tete, without a valid visa which is required of every foreign national wishing to enter the country. He was residing in Malawi, where he could have applied for an entry visa at the Embassy of Mozambique in Lilongwe, the Malawian capital. Grey was detained early in November. At the time of his detention, material evidence was found in his possession which were incriminating in nature and appeared to link him to the terrorist network heavily supported externally. - more - Taken into custody, a thorough investigation was undertaken to determine the extent of Grey's involvement in crimes against the people and state of Mozambique. Grey was found guilty and convicted of 14 years in jail, a sentence which was reduced later to 10 years. 1888 Mozambicans released In another development, 1888 Mozambicans were released from various prisons in different provinces of the country. Most of those who benefited from the clemency are common law prisoners, jailed for relatively minor offenses. However, about 100 people were serving sentences under the country's 1979 security legislation, which covers treason, espionage, sabotage, armed rebellion and similar offenses. This measure of clemency has been decided upon, according to the explanation given by the parliament, in order to allow the citizens who benefit from it to become involved with redoubled vigor in the tasks of developing the country. This is the second pardon in Mozambique for security offenses. In December 1987, the parliament cut by half security offenders' sentences of between two and eight years, and by one quarter sentences longer than twelve years. The new measures are an extension of the 1987 law, explained the Minister of Justice, Ali Dauto. These, he added, are part of the efforts to normalize life in the country. Crackdown on corruption NINE OFFICIALS OF RELIEF BODY DETAINED Maputo, July - Nine people in Mozambique's emergency relief body, the DPCCN, have been arrested on charges of theft - six in Maputo and three in the central province of Zambezia. Maputo's daily Noticias reported in June that the six officials arrested in Maputo were involved in concerted activity to use for other purposes goods meant for the victims of war and natural disasters. A member of the Government-appointed commission of inquiry investigating the DPCCN refused to give the names of those under arrest, since the charges against them are still being prepared. We took a preventive measure, he told the paper, since we were in possession of data, in principle irrefutable, which showed that these individuals had committed irregularities. In Zambezia, the provincial governor Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, has announced that three DPCCN officials are in the hands of the police, accused of stealing 456 sheets of zinc roofing. Rosario said that the system of management and control of emergency supplies by the Zambezia DPCCN office was so feeble that it was an open invitation to dishonesty. Mozambicans and international donors were vocal on the theft of emergency goods taking place in various parts of Mozambique. PRESIDENT CHISSANO EVALUATES PROSPECTS FOR PEACE IN ANGOLA AND MOZAMBIQUE Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has expressed the hope that the ceasefire agreement in Angola, achieved at the 23 June Summit in the Zairean town of Gbadolite, will have "some influence" in persuading MNR bandits to accept the Mozambican Government's peace program. This centers on an amnesty for bandits who surrender. The amnesty, initially just for 1988, was extended by the Mozambican parliament until the end of 1989. Speaking from the central Mozambican city of Beira on his return from Zaire, on 23 June, PRESIDENT Chissano told reporters " I hope that those who fight against the Mozambican Government and people, with the subsequent massacres and destruction of the economy, will today look into their consciences". Just as the Angolan movement UNITA has finally agreed to collaborate with the Angolan Government, so should the MNR decide to collaborate with the Mozambican Government, said President Chissano, "to create peace so that we can normalize the life of all citizens". "We are prepared to follow this road," he said, but it was necessary first that the bandits "renounce violence and recognize the existing order". The Mozambican President added "this does not mean that the existing order cannot be modified, but those who modify it must be the Mozambican people, through their unity, and not through pressures exerted with the support of interests alien to the Mozambican people". President Chissano said that the agreement in Angola was the result of "the maturing of objective conditions, and of the joint efforts of all the interested parties and persons". These conditions included the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 435 on Namibian independence. Asked about the position of those who had sponsored UNITA in the past, the Mozambican leader said "those who were part of the problem yesterday, are now part of the solution...To make myself clear, I don't think the South Africans will go back on their word," he said. "They will not invade Angola against the will of UNITA." As for UNITA's other main backer, the United States, President Chissano said "the Americans will have no further interest in supporting a UNITA that will in reality disappear, with the integration of all the personnel who today constitute UNITA into the existing democratic, national order". Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko, who had frequently been criticized in the past for his support of UNITA, "played perhaps the most important role in the latest phase to achieve this solution," said the Mozambican leader. He praised the Zairean leader for his "vigorous commitment" to achieve a successful outcome at Gbadolite. Speaking at a reception to mark the fourteenth anniversary of Mozambican independence on 25 June, President Chissano declared that "the key to ending the war" in Mozambique lies in the hands of the MNR bandits. In an impromptu speech, President Chissano called on the bandits to follow the example of their Angolan counterparts, UNITA. "There is no reason for the war to continue in Mozambique," he said. He described the MNR's war as "useless and unnecessary bloodshed... We call on those who still persist in violence to look into their consciences, and to take the decision to put an end to these massacres," said the Mozambican leader. He warned that his appeal should not be viewed "as a sign of weakness, or of any impossibility of us continuing the struggle". The Mozambican people, he said, "will never be defeated in this war", and he reiterated his conviction that the people fully supported the FRELIMO Party and the Mozambican Government. The Mozambican President said that he hoped that peace in Mozambique could be reached through the "good sense" of Mozambicans, and called on the international community to support efforts to achieve peace. Referring to the 23 June Summit in the Zairean town of Gbadolite and the subsequent ceasefire in Angola, President Chissano said "what happened in Angola could have happened with better results in Mozambique". (He appeared to be referring to the abortive negotiations with South Africa in October 1984, which broke on the unwillingness of the MNR's backers to abandon destabilization.) He said that the peace agreement between the two parties "who were fighting and killing each other" (the MPLA and UNITA) was "along the lines always advocated by the FRELIMO Party". --- Patt Haring | United Nations | Did u read patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | misc.headlines.unitex patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | today? -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-