“A new page has opened up with these significant political initiatives. Now it is possible to write a new page for Mozambique. And the president has the task, a challenging but fundamental task, of leading the construction of the country’s present and future,” said the European Union’s ambassador to Mozambique, Antonino Maggiore, today.
The President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, met today with the European Union ambassador to Mozambique and ambassadors from EU member states in the country to discuss and strengthen co-operation.
The EU ambassador highlighted the efforts of the President of Mozambique to achieve stability and peace in the country by meeting with opposition political parties and former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, saying that the head of state “completed the dialogue with all the parties”.
“We welcome the president’s agenda of reform and change (…) In this task of reforming the country, the president can count on the European Union and its member states. We are working with his team in the Presidency office and with the government and institutions to offer comprehensive and concrete support,” said Antonino Maggiore, noting that the EU intends to offer direct support to the reform process in the country.
On 2 April, The Mozambican parliament unanimously and definitively approved the law on the political agreement to pacify the country, which provides for revising the Constitution and the powers of the president.
The law is based on the agreement between the President, Daniel Chapo, and all the political parties, signed on 5 March and submitted to the parliament for consideration as an urgent matter.
As part of the constitutional reform, three objectives are set out in the law, starting with the “reform of the state”, with measures at the level of the “political system, the powers of the President (…), de-partisanship of state institutions, decentralisation and political, economic and financial devolvement”.
The law also includes the ‘reform of the justice system’, namely the “mechanism for appointing the heads of justice bodies and their financial and administrative independence”, and the “reform of the electoral system”, in this case with the “definition of a new system, composition of electoral administration bodies, electoral legislation, electoral justice bodies, among other aspects that contribute to the integrity of the entire electoral process”.
Based on what was approved by parliament, a technical commission of 21 members – 18 from the parties and three appointed by civil society – will be set up to operationalise these measures, with a proposed budget of 91,471,200 meticais (€1.3 million), more than half of which will be for attendance fees, funds to be provided by the government and the parties.
Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise the results of the general elections on 9 October, called for the protests which, in five months, have caused around 360 deaths.
However, on 23 March, Venâncio Mondlane and Daniel Chapo met for the first time and a commitment was made to stop the violence in the country.
Since October, 388 people have died, according to the most recent assessment by Plataforma Decide, a Mozambican non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes.
The Mozambican government has confirmed at least 80 deaths, as well as the destruction of 1,677 commercial establishments, 177 schools and 23 health centres during the demonstrations.
