As January 15, the inauguration date of the new president, Daniel Chapo, approached, the development of events began to take an unexpected turn – just like at the beginning of the electoral process in October last year.
Mondlane’s increased influence over the situation in the country
Upon arrival from Doha at Maputo Airport, as reported by the Financial Times, and in the presence of several thousands of his supporters, Mondlane loudly declared: “I’m here to say… if you want to negotiate (referring to FRELIMO), then I’m ready”. With a Bible in his hands and kneeling, he proclaimed himself “the president elected by the people of Mozambique, and not appointed by the Constitutional Council”.
Turkish Yeni Safak notes that, at the airport, he expressed his readiness to respond to the authorities’ accusations of causing serious damage to the state through the riots that swept the country after the elections. He also stated that he is ready to cooperate with the government, but “on his terms”.
According to ZITAMAR News, published in England, the fact that Mondlane was allowed to return to Maputo and was provided with a police escort from the airport to the capital indicates that he received guarantees of his safety from the government, due to the absence of which he left the country more than two months ago.
The Qatari Gulf Times wrote that a political dialogue mediated by external players between the parties involved was already underway, omitting the names of the specific individuals involved.
According to the Zimbabwean Bulawayo24 News website, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the most active mediator in the negotiations between Daniel Chapo and Mozambican opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who left for South Africa following the murder of his lawyer.
If taking into account that Mondlane arrived in Maputo from Doha on January 9, then it cannot be ruled out that Qatar has also joined the process of political settlement with its mediation services. Qatar has recently shown great interest in developing Mozambique’s mineral resources, having concluded an agreement to intensify economic cooperation last year.
It seems that Mondlane’s categorical statements about his non-recognition of the election results and direct calls to his supporters to end the FRELIMO regime are explained by the fact that he could have received political support from a number of external players.
It got to the point that Mondlane publicly called on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to reconsider the decision to recognise the election results in Mozambique. This came against the background of the ruling African National Congress in South Africa congratulating FRELIMO on its victory even before its official confirmation.
Assessing the difficult internal political situation in Mozambique, France 24 concludes that, in order to reduce tensions, the new president may make a number of concessions to the opposition, particularly by including some of its moderate representatives in the government.
Moreover, on January 14, the Vatican’s Fides news agency announced that to resolve the crisis in Maputo, the possibility of creating a government of national unity is being considered – including with Venancio Mondlane as prime minister.
Inauguration of a new team
Against the background of increased strikes and protests, on January 13, the swearing-in ceremony of the new National Assembly, consisting of 250 deputies, was held. 171 parliamentarians from FRELIMO and 43 from the RENAMO party, which voted for Mondlane in the elections, were in attendance. The party’s leader, Albino Forquilha, said that his party is fighting for the interests of the people, not for Mr. Mondlane. 28 deputies from RENAMO and 8 from the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, however, boycotted the meeting.
On the eve of the National Assembly’s opening session, at which it was planned that new parliamentarians and then the elected president, Daniel Chapo, would be sworn in, Mondlane called on his supporters to hold a nationwide strike from January 13 to 15 in order to “paralyse the work of all state authorities in these three days”, Al-Jazeera quoted him as saying.
Despite this and amid heightened security measures, Daniel Chapo was sworn in as the country’s fifth president and the first leader born after independence in 1975. The event took place on January 15 in Maputo’s Independence Square, in front of the City Hall and in the presence of approximately 2,500 invited members of the public.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Presidents of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, the Minister of Defence of Zimbabwe, as well as lower-ranking representatives of other countries.
In his speech at the ceremony, Daniel Chapo vowed to “make every effort to strengthen national unity, democracy, protect human rights and ensure the well-being of the people of Mozambique”. He promised to reduce the cost of maintaining the state apparatus by abolishing some ministries and nomenclature positions. He also promised to reform the electoral system and begin the fight against corruption and unemployment.
The Nigerian Daily Post qualifies Daniel Chapo’s rise to power as a generational change in the leadership elite, represented by veterans of the war for independence.
According to The New York Times, members of the ruling political elite, including Daniel Chapo, began to understand the need to restructure FRELIMO. In one of his statements, the new president, as quoted by the newspaper, stressed: “I know that many Mozambicans believe that the country’s leaders have become inaccessible to the people and are not interested in the real problems of the population. But that’s going to change”.
In fulfilling his election promises, when forming a new government, the new head of state reduced the number of ministries to 12, merging some of them and abolishing three state secretariats.
Chapo appointed Maria Benvinda Levy, 55, the former minister of justice (2008-2015) and most recently an adviser to President Filipe Nyusi (who resigned on January 14), the new prime minister on January 17. At the same time, only Defence Minister Cristovao Chume retained his post among old members of the government.
In parallel, as part of efforts to restore confidence in state institutions of power, the head of the Mozambican police, Bernardino Rafael, resigned. He was accused by the opposition of ill-treatment of demonstrators dissatisfied with the results of October’s elections.
Challenges for Mozambique
The new president and his team will, first and foremost, have to look for ways to resolve the current political crisis and national reconciliation in general. According to many experts, since the country gained independence, Mozambique has remained divided along regional and ethnic lines, which has led to an aggravation of intertribal contradictions between the tribes of Macua, Maconde and Mwani.
The Macua tribe, which is the largest in the country, was traditionally the most influential force in the province of Cabo Delgado, and some of its representatives, along with the Mwani, sided with Portugal during the War of independence. However, the Maconde (natives of the provinces of Inhambane and Cabo Delgado) played a key role. In the struggle for independence today and as representatives of the ruling FRELIMO party, they have taken dominant positions not only in Cabo Delgado, but also in all areas of the socio-political and economic life of the country, which led to complications in intertribal relations.
Terrorism in Cabo Delgado
The situation in the country is complicated by terrorist attacks in the province of Cabo Delgado by the jihadist group al-Shabab. It is not related to the terrorist organisation bearing the same name in Somalia, but is associated with the Islamic State (terrorist organisation banned in Russia), which keeps the entire population and government structures in this region in constant tension.
Its basis is the unemployed youth of Cabo Delgado, mainly from the Macua and Mwani tribes, who have fallen under the strong spiritual influence of regional jihadist preachers. Over the past seven years, about 6,000 people have become victims of it, and two million residents have been forced to leave their homes.
According to the Pentagon’s African Centre for Strategic Studies, the leaders of the group advocate the abolition of the secular public education system, the widespread introduction of Sharia law and, ultimately, the creation of an Islamic state, which clearly contradicts local traditions and the Sufi version of Islam practiced by the local population.
As Die Welt notes, against the background of increasing social tension after the discovery of massive deposits of natural gas, rubies and graphite, the local population, who for many years had been forgotten and had a miserable existence, started to express that it was time to arrange their own lives and take power into their own hands.
Taking advantage of the aggravation of the current situation in the country, on January 26, terrorists carried out another attack in this province on a gold mine in the Meluco District, about 150km from the border with Tanzania, killing three miners and robbing the rest.
Recently, Maputo, instead of the military coalition of the of Southern African Development Community, has engaged a 5,000-strong contingent of the Rwandan armed forces (composed of those who have shown the highest combat capability) to combat them. Their task is not only to suppress this rebellion, but also to ensure the safety of the development of gas fields by American ExxonMobil and French Total Energies.
Viktor Goncharov, Africa expert, PhD in Economics
