Pretoria - Mozambican president Armando Guebuza has sent a new invitation to the leader of the main opposition Renamo party for talks this week to resolve the country's prevailing political crisis.
"His excellency the president of the Republic invites Afonso Dhlakama for a meeting on November 8 in Maputo," Guebuza's spokesperson, Edson Macuacua said.
Macuacua also said that Guebuza's decision is that dialogue is the only way to resolve the country's problems, and that there is no alternative for peace, without peaceful means.
The former rebel movement is at loggerheads with the Frelimo government, accusing it of not honouring the Rome peace agreement they signed in 1992.
Renamo is demanding the scrapping of the existing electoral law, arguing that it allows the government to rig elections. The former rebel movement has lost all the elections since it laid its arms down to stop the 16-year civil war against Frelimo, in power since independence.
Renamo also accuses Frelimo of discriminating against its party members and sympathizers, all accusations rejected by the Guebuza’s government.
The two sides have been in talks since the beginning of the year to do away their differences, but there is little progress.
There has been an outcry from all corners of the country, including religious groups and politicians that Guebuza and Dhlakama must meet to resolve the crisis for good.
But there is doubt about the whereabouts of Dhlakama since he fled an attack to his bush home of Satunjira, in the central province of Sofala on October 21.
Renamo's spokesperson Fernando Mazanga said that his party does not know where Dhlakama is since the clashes.
The latest round of the Maputo talks between Renamo and the government was boycotted by the opposition. Dhlakama’s party is demanding the presence of facilitators and observers, an idea rejected by the government.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s High Commissioner to Mozambique, Charles Nqakula, has assured South African tourists that the southern parts of Mozambique are safe to travel.
“The southern parts of Mozambiwque are fairly safe to travel… there is nothing happening here. The problem is the central portion of the country and a little further the north,” Nqakula said in an interview with talk radio 702 this morning.
South Africans planning their festive season travels have raised concerns due to the political instability in that country.
Nqakula said South Africa has “both political and economic interest in Mozambique and therefore anything that threatens the country threatens us as well”.
He added that South Africa insists on peace, stability and security in that country. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua
