6 January 2000
The African National Congress is deeply concerned about Mozambican opposition Renamo's refusal to accept the country's election results and the party's subsequent rejection of the Supreme Court ruling on the matter.
The move could have serious implications for peace and stability in the Southern African region in general and Mozmbique in particular. Of even greater concern is the fact that the country is in the process of recovering from the trauma of a civil war which devastated the economy and left thousands of Mzambicans dead, while leaving others either displaced or disabled.
The ANC wishes to appeal to political leaders in Mozambique, especially Renamo's Afonso Dlakama, to display the political maturity that saw the warring parties coming together and agreeing to end the war that had ravaged the country for close to two decades. We appeal to them to rise above narrow party political interests for the sake of peace, stability and progress in their common motherland.
Since the war stopped in Mozambique, the country's economy is reported to be one of the fastest growing in Southern Africa. It is incumbent upon political role players in that country to lean backward to ensure that nothing spoils the good progress made so far towards nation building. Failure by Mozambicans to find a solution to the crisis could derail this process and plunge the country back into the chaos that prevailed before the Mozambicans agreed on peace and nation rebuilding.
Without trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Mozambique, we have no doubt that, Renamo wolud win themselves more friends by changing their stance and acccepting the Supreme Court ruling which declared the election results valid, than by rejecting it (the ruling.).
No war-weary Mozambican can welcome the tension and uncertainty created by the rejection of the court ruling. People prefer consultation to confrontation.
We urge the people of Mozambique to avoid a repeat of what happened in Angola when the opposition refused to accept the election results and reverted to war which is threatening to reduce that potentially reach country to a wasteland. The eruption of such a conflict would not only destabilise Mozambique, but its spillover would have a debilitating effect on the economies of neighbouring countries.
We appeal to political leaders, in approaching this matter, to consider thousands of Mozambicans, young and old, who lost their lives, who lost limbs to landmines and thousands of children who lost their parents in a war that could have been avoided. We appeal to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Southern African Development Commission (SADC) to intervene in this impasse and make sure it does not hamper the process of actualising the African Rennaissance and the celebration of the African Millenium.
Issued by: Smuts Ngonyama (Head of Communications)
Department of Information and Publicity
PO Box 61884
Marshalltown
2107
Tel: (011) 330 7053/7052
For Information Contact Nat Serache at 083 492 2337