Mnangagwa to attend Renamo demobilization ceremony

President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is today expected to join other Heads of State & Gvt in attending a closing ceremony of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration phase for Renamo.

Renamo is a former insurgency and military group formed in the 1970s to overthrow the Frelimo-led government in Mozambique.

The reintegration is expected to end decades of civil war in Mozambique, whose impact threatened the security and stability of the SADC region including Zimbabwe.

Renamo militants once attacked Zimbabwe over late former President Robert Mugabe’s assistance to the Mozambican government in 1989.

In 2016, Zimbabwe’s security cluster ministries had to be put on high alert following sporadic attacks on government officials and highway trucks being orchestrated by the opposition group Renamo in Mozambique.

Although the insurgencies by Renamo are mainly being reported along Mozambican’s major highways linking the country with Zimbabwe and Mozambique, there were fears that the disturbances may spread beyond the borders of the three countries.

Zimbabwe’s then Minister of Defence at the time, Sydney Sekeramayi said the government was closely monitoring the situation with the view of containing the escalation of hostilities.

“Our major concern is our railway and pipe lines. So any instability in Mozambique is of major concern to us. Our security details are permanently stationed along the border with Mozambique at Nyamapanda, Forbes Border Post and Mukumbura,” said Sekeramayi.

Minister Sekeramayi said the current sporadic attacks did not warrant a deployment of troops inside Mozambique.

Despite Minister Sekeramayi playing down the threat of the insurgencies to Zimbabwe, residents of Nyamapanda border post last month said they were living in fear after the rebels show a police officer and ambushed a South African-bound haulage truck heading to Zimbabwe just 45 kilometres from border inside Mozambique.