Dhlakama & Nyusi agree Renamo to submit proposal to parliament

via Dhlakama & Nyusi agree Renamo to submit proposal to parliament – The Zimbabwean 10 February 2015

Following a second meeting with President Filipe Nyusi, Renamo head Afonso Dhlakama said they had agreed Renamo would submit to parliament a preliminary proposal for “autonomous regions” in the centre and north of the country. This means Renamo will take up its seats in parliament.

The three-and-a-half-hour meeting yesterday again took place at the Indy Village hotel and again the two leaders were in shirtsleeves.

The agreement is open to a wide range of interpretations and may just shift the dispute from the presidents to parliament.

Speaking after the meeting, Dhlakama said “The President understands our requirements and Renamo will present a preliminary proposal [anteprojecto] to parliament [Assembleia da Republica] and the agreement is that the parliamentary benches will take it seriously, because this is not a normal proposal of the opposition that is just voted down by the majority party,” according to Radio Mocambique (9 Feb)

He continued that “it is important that the party benches know that this is an agreement between the government and Renamo, similar to what happened with the electoral law, which was negotiated outside and the party benches had instructions from their parties to approve it.”

He also said “if the government is deceiving us and uses its majority [in parliament] to play with us, there will be serious consequences for the President because he will not be able to govern. There will be demonstrations. Even if they kill people, the government will fall,” according to CanalMoz (10 Feb). In particular, the Frelimo majority cannot simply vote down the preliminary proposal.

President Nyusi, who did not speak after the Saturday meeting, did stand with Dhlakama yesterday after the meeting and made a few comments. In particular, he said “I am satisfied that we are now going down the constitutional route.” He continued “Our discussions had no pre-conditions. Questions were raised” and they decided that “parliament will be the place where the will of the people is decided”.

Afonso Dhlakama does not accept the results of the 15 October 2014 election, which he says were fraudulent and that he won. At first he demanded a caretaker government, then he shifted to demanding “republics” of the centre and north, and then autonomous regions of the centre and north where he says he won, and where official results give him majorities in some provinces. The proposal to parliament should concretise that demand.