tecnica@cdp.uucp (10/12/89)
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".
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