Opinion / Columnist
Sadc should assist Mozambique
08 Jun 2016 at 05:01hrs | Views
RENAMO leader Alfonso Dhlakama
Every right thinking African should be worried about the violence unfolding in our sister country, Mozambique, at the instigation of RENAMO led by Alfonzo Dhlakama.
RENAMO has caused untold suffering to hundreds of thousand innocent people in Mozambique and neighbouring countries including Zimbabwe, twenty years ago, before a peace agreement was reached with the ruling FLERIMO.
Dhlakama participated in democratic elections several times but failed to win the presidency of that country. Peace brought hope of stability and economic growth, not only to Mozambique but to Southern Africa as a whole. A lot foreign direct investment poured in that country resulting in Mozambique recording one fastest economic growth in Africa. However, after realising that he could not win the presidency through democratic means, Dhlakama is now resorting to banditry again in order to take power by force. As I write this article people are being killed, maimed and displaced in their thousands in Mozambique, hence many citizens of that country are now refugees in neighbouring countries including Malawi and Zimbabwe.
At the peak of Mozambique's civil war, at the instigation of Apartheid South African sponsored RENAMO, thousands of Zimbabweans, who stayed close to the country's border with Mozambique, were brutally killed, maimed or displaced from their homes. In addition, Zimbabwe's defence budget was strained to the limit as the country defended its citizens as well as trade routes and the oil pipeline in Mozambique.
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Chadzimura Mhute <chadzi.mhute@gmail.com
RENAMO has caused untold suffering to hundreds of thousand innocent people in Mozambique and neighbouring countries including Zimbabwe, twenty years ago, before a peace agreement was reached with the ruling FLERIMO.
Dhlakama participated in democratic elections several times but failed to win the presidency of that country. Peace brought hope of stability and economic growth, not only to Mozambique but to Southern Africa as a whole. A lot foreign direct investment poured in that country resulting in Mozambique recording one fastest economic growth in Africa. However, after realising that he could not win the presidency through democratic means, Dhlakama is now resorting to banditry again in order to take power by force. As I write this article people are being killed, maimed and displaced in their thousands in Mozambique, hence many citizens of that country are now refugees in neighbouring countries including Malawi and Zimbabwe.
At the peak of Mozambique's civil war, at the instigation of Apartheid South African sponsored RENAMO, thousands of Zimbabweans, who stayed close to the country's border with Mozambique, were brutally killed, maimed or displaced from their homes. In addition, Zimbabwe's defence budget was strained to the limit as the country defended its citizens as well as trade routes and the oil pipeline in Mozambique.
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Chadzimura Mhute <chadzi.mhute@gmail.com
Source - Chadzimura Mhute
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