Ossufo Momade | |
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Leader of RENAMO | |
Assumed office 3 May 2018 | |
Preceded by | Afonso Dhlakama |
Personal details | |
Born | Island of Mozambique,Portuguese Mozambique | 30 January 1961
Political party | RENAMO |
Ossufo Momade (born 30 January 1961) is a Mozambican politician. He has served as president of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO),the main opposition party of Mozambique,since January 17,2019. He assumed the presidency of the party after the death of its leader Afonso Dhlakama in May 2018 on an interim basis until he was elected president of the party at an internal congress held at the beginning of the following year. [1] On August 1,2019,Momade agreed to renounce violence and signed a peace agreement with Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi at RENAMO's remote military base in the Gorongosa mountains. [2] This agreement resulted in the last remaining members of the RENAMO insurgency surrendering their weapons. [3] A second signing ceremony then took place in Mapotu's Peace Square,which result in Momade declaring that he and members of RENAMO would now focus on "maintaining peace and national reconciliation." [4]
Momade was born on the Island of Mozambique when the region of Mozambique was still a Portuguese colony. He is the son of Ossufo Momade Sr. and Alide Zainabo. He attended Luís de Camões Elementary School,and after completing fourth grade in 1973,he moved to the Pêro da CovilhãCommercial School. In 1978 at the age of 17 Momade enlisted in the military. [5]
During the outbreak of the Mozambican Civil War Momade was kidnapped by anti-communist rebels. [6] Eventually he was persuaded to join the rebel organization called RENAMO and their leader Afonso Dhlakama. Momade eventually became the commander of the rebel's operations in the central provinces of Manica and Sofala. [6]
In 2007 Momade was elected secretary general of the party of RENAMO, [6] a position he held until 2013 when he vacated it to Manuel Bissopo to become the appointed head of the defence and security department of RENAMO. [5] After the death of party leader Afonso Dhlakama,Momade was made intern head of the part,a position he held until he was formally elected chief in January 2019. [1]
On 26 June 2019 Momade was formally announced as RENAMO's candidate for the 2019 Mozambican general election. [7]
On August 1,2019,President Filipe Nyusi and Momade signed a peace agreement bringing an end to the six year RENAMO insurgency. [8] [2] During the signing ceremony,Momade and Nyusi also shook hands and embraced each other as well. [2] The signing of the peace took place at RENAMO's remote military base in the Gorongosa mountains. [2] After the agreement was signed,the last remained RENAMO fighters surrendered their weapons. [3] Momade told the Associated Press "We will no longer commit the mistakes of the past." [3] He also stated "We are for a humanized and dignified reintegration and we want the international community to help make that a reality." [3] During a second signing ceremony between Nyusi and Momade which took place on August 6,2019 in Maputo's Peace Square,Momade vowed to "maintain peace and national reconciliation." [4]
Mozambique was a Portuguese colony,overseas province and later a member state of Portugal. It gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
Politics in Mozambique takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic,whereby the President of Mozambique is head of state and head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of the Republic.
RENAMO is a Mozambican political party and militant group. The party was founded with the active sponsorship of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in May 1977 from anti-communist dissidents opposed to Mozambique's ruling FRELIMO party. RENAMO was initially led by AndréMatsangaissa,a former senior official in FRELIMO's armed wing,and was composed of several anti-communist dissident groups which appeared immediately prior to,and shortly following,Mozambican independence. Matsangaissa,who died in 1979,was succeeded by Afonso Dhlakama,who led the organization until he died in 2018. He was succeeded by Ossufo Momade.
The United Nations Operations in Mozambique was a UN peace mission to Mozambique established in December 1992 under Security Council Resolution 797 with the assignment to monitor the implementation of the Rome General Peace Accords agreed upon by the Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano of FRELIMO,the Front for Liberation of Mozambique,and Afonso Dhlakama of RENAMO,the Mozambican National Resistance. The operation was one of the most significant and extensive UN operations and it sought to demobilize and disarm troops,provide humanitarian aid,and oversee the elections. The operation ended in December 1994.
Afonso Marceta Macacho Dhlakama was a Mozambican politician and the leader of RENAMO,an anti-communist guerrilla movement that fought the FRELIMO government in the Mozambican Civil War before signing a peace agreement and becoming an opposition political party in the early 1990s. Dhlakama was born in Mangunde,Sofala Province.
The Rome General Peace Accords,officially the General Peace Accords,was a peace treaty signed between the government of Mozambique and RENAMO,ending the Mozambican Civil War on October 4,1992. Negotiations preceding the agreement began in July 1990. They were brokered by a team of four mediators,two members of the Community of Sant'Egidio,Andrea Riccardi and Matteo Zuppi,as well as Bishop Jaime Gonçalves and Italian government representative Mario Raffaelli. The delegation of the Mozambican government was headed by Armando Guebuza,who went on to become President of Mozambique. The RENAMO delegation consisted of Raul Domingos,Joséde Castro,Vicente Ululu,Agostinho Murrial,João Almirante,JoséAugusto and Anselmo Victor. The accords were then signed by the then-president of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano,and by the leader of RENAMO,Afonso Dhlakama.
The Mozambican Civil War was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992. Like many regional African conflicts during the late twentieth century,the impetus for the Mozambican Civil War included local dynamics exacerbated greatly by the polarizing effects of Cold War politics. The war was fought between Mozambique's ruling Marxist Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO),the anti-communist insurgent forces of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO),and a number of smaller factions such as the PRM,UNAMO,COREMO,UNIPOMO,and FUMO.
Articles related to Mozambique include:
Filipe Jacinto Nyusi is a Mozambican politician serving since 2015 as the fourth President of Mozambique. He is the current leader of FRELIMO,the party that has governed Mozambique since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Additionally,he has served as the Chairman of the Southern African Development Community since August 2020. During his time in office,President Nyusi has promoted peace and security,and signed multiple agreements with the main opposition parties,RENAMO,to bring a definitive and lasting peace to Mozambique.
General elections were held in Mozambique on 15 October 2014. Filipe Nyusi,the candidate of the ruling FRELIMO,was elected president,and FRELIMO retained its parliamentary majority.
The RENAMO insurgency was a guerrilla campaign by militants of the RENAMO party and one of its splinter factions in Mozambique. The insurgency was widely considered to be an aftershock of the Mozambican Civil War;it resulted in renewed tensions between RENAMO and Mozambique's ruling FRELIMO coalition over charges of state corruption and the disputed results of the 2014 general elections.
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Events in the year 2018 in Mozambique.
General elections were held in Mozambique on 15 October 2019. During the leadup to the elections,assassinations and significant intimidation of prominent leaders of opposition parties and election observers were alleged. In addition,state resources,media,and aid for cyclone victims were also alleged to be used in favour of the ruling party (FRELIMO) and its candidates. Local elections observers,civil society organizations,the Commonwealth Observer Group,the European Union Election Observation Mission,and several national and international entities classified the elections as rigged. Nevertheless,the incumbent president Filipe Nyusi of FRELIMO was declared re-elected with 73% of the vote. The main opposition party RENAMO as well as the other oppositions parties involved in the elections contested the results,claiming there were numerous irregularities,and accusing FRELIMO of "massive electoral fraud",including hundreds of thousands of "ghost voters". As evidence for the international community,Ossufo Momade,the president of the main opposition party RENAMO,transported to Europe a box filled with vote ballots that had been marked in favor of the incumbent president Filipe Nyusi of FRELIMO before the commencement of voting. Despite these occurrences,the international community largely ignored any concerns of fraud,and gradually countries started recognizing the incumbent president Filipe Nyusi of FRELIMO as the winner of the elections.
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The Maputo Accord,officially the Maputo Accord for Peace and National Reconciliation,is a peace agreement between the Government of Mozambique and Renamo,signed on 6 August 2019,with the aim of bringing definitive peace to Mozambique. The agreement was signed by the President of the Republic of Mozambique,Filipe Nyusi,and the leader of Renamo,Ossufo Momade,in Maputo,and was the result of years of negotiations. It was preceded by the signing of the Agreement on the Definitive Cessation of Military Hostilities,on 1 August 2019,in Gorongosa.
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