AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - Clashes with RENAMO extend to the south

Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - Clashes between the Mozambican armed forces and members of the RENAMO (Mozambique National Resistance), the guerrilla movement, which became the main opposition party after the peace agreement of 1992, extends to the south of the Country.
The clashes, concentrated in the district of Homoine, Inhambane province, seem to have caused at least eight deaths.
The new wave of violence began in October 2013 when the army attacked the headquarters of the leader of RENAMO, Afonso Dhlakama, in the forest of Gorongosa Sofala province, in central Mozambique, where he had retired a few months before in sign of protest because of the discrimination that, in his view, the political movement he represents suffers on behalf of the government in office.
The presidential elections scheduled in October, in fact, increased tensions between RENAMO and FRELIMO (Liberation Front of Mozambique ), the two movements that faced each other in the civil war which lasted from 1975 to 1992. Since then, FRELIMO has always been in power. RENAMO calls for a different composition of the Independent Electoral Commission and a more balanced distribution of the country’s resources. This week Japan announced a strong interest in buying Mozambican gas to meet its energy needs after the disposal of the Japanese nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 10/01/2014)