Ahead of the Pope’s visit to Mozambique, the country’s president and the leader of the Renamo opposition have signed a peace agreement to end armed hostilities, almost three decades after the end of a civil war.
The permanent ceasefire comes just weeks before Francis arrives on 5 September into Maputo for a one-day visit to the country that will include meeting with President Filipe Nyusi. The motto for the Papal visit is “hope, peace and reconciliation”.
President Nyusi, and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade signed the accord on 1 August at Gorongosa National Park in the Gorongosa Mountain range - Renamo’s stronghold and the location of its headquarters and numerous bases.
The accord will be followed by another agreement to be signed in Maputo on 6 August pledging peace in the 15 October national elections. Previous elections have been marked by violence and Renamo allegations that the ruling Frelimo party rigged the results.
Starting in the late 1970s, Renamo fought a brutal 16-year civil war against the Frelimo government that left one million people dead before the fighting stopped in 1992 in a peace deal in part negotiated by the Catholic Church.
Despite the end of the civil war and the group transforming into a political party, it retained an armed wing and violence has continued to flare up ever since. Signing the accord brings an end to a long peace negotiation process initiated by Renamo's former leader, Alfonso Dhlakama, who died in May last year.
Of the more than 5,200 Renamo former fighters who are disarming, around 800 are reported to be registering for employment at Gorongosa’s wildlife park, which Nyusi has now declared a “peace park”.
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