President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday pledged to prioritise the promotion of peace and stability during the next five years as he took oath of office for a second and final term of office following disputed elections held late last year.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony at Independence Square in Maputo, the Mozambican leader said he would reach out to his political opponents in order to promote peaceful co-existence and stability in a country that has not known peace for most of its 45-year post-independence existence.
“Peace has been and will be our absolute priority,” he told thousands of cheering supporters and foreign dignitaries.
Nyusi signed a shaky peace deal in August 2019 with his main adversary, Ossufo Momade, leader of the rebel movement-cum-opposition party Renamo.
The deal has however been violated a number of times amid reports of internal divisions within Renamo that have seen militias – who are allegedly aligned to senior party officials opposed to Momade’s ascendancy to the helm of the organisation following the death of former leader Afonso Dhlakama in 2018 – launching attacks on trucks and buses along major highways in the country’s central regions.
Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony was boycotted by opposition parties, which claim that Nyusi rigged last October’s polls.
Nyusi garnered about 74 percent of votes cast against 22 percent for Momade but the latter has contested the outcome, alleging that the poll was rigged.
JN/APA