(Reuters) - Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi was sworn
in on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by cheering supporters and dignitaries,
but boycotted by opposition politicians who dispute his October election win as
fraudulent.
After a civil war that killed around 1 million people
before a 1992 truce, and periodic violence since, Nyusi signed a deal with
rebels-turned-opposition party Renamo in August meant to bring definitive peace
to a country on the cusp of becoming a global gas exporter.
Instead, October’s election exacerbated decades-old wounds:
Nyusi, of the ruling Frelimo party, won with over 70% of votes but his main
rival Ossufo Momade said the poll was rigged.
Neither Momade nor any Renamo lawmakers turned up for the
swearing-in at Independence Square in central Maputo.
Speaking after the ceremony, Nyusi said over his next
five-year term he would seek to ensure peace lasts. “Peace has been and will be
our absolute priority,” he told the crowd.
Renamo secretary general Andre Magibire told Reuters the
party does not recognize Nyusi as legitimate leader, but would also not be
drawn back into violence.
“There’s no way we can derail the peace deal, even though
Frelimo keeps pushing us toward war,” he said on Tuesday.
Frelimo spokesman Caifadine Manasse dismissed that. “The
opposition is crying foul, in general it uses this tactic to spark
instability,” the spokesman said.
Renamo is fracturing. A breakaway group of former fighters
have been staging attacks in former heartlands.
This low-level fighting threatens to draw resources away
from efforts to tackle a festering Islamist insurgency in the north, on the
doorstep of blockbuster gas projects led by Exxon and Total.
Mozambique’s top court dismissed Renamo’s challenge against
the results in November.
While analysts say the August peace deal is likely to
survive, its implementation has stalled amid infighting, with even some in
Renamo’s political wing believing the party has backed down too easily. Some
are agitating for protests or even violence, said a party lawmaker who asked
not to be named, though he added there was still party discipline.
After such a wipe-out in the official election result,
Momade’s time as party leader seems limited, said Alex Vines, head of Africa
program at the Chatham House thinktank.
Contenders for the job would include an “ambitious bunch”
from a faction of Renamo’s political wing, some of whom have been accused of
encouraging attacks from the former fighters, he said.
Momade’s relationship with Nyusi was central to sealing the
peace pact, and his leadership remains important for the ongoing process, Vines
said. But the group of disgruntled former fighters - and some Maputo-based
politicians - want him to resign.
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