MAPUTO – Reports of young men apparently being rounded up for recruitment into the armed forces in Beira are being investigated by the defence ministry. This is according to media reports from the country.
Renamo, which is also the main opposition party, annulled a peace accord three months ago, which was signed in 1992 and ended the country’s 16-year war.
The civil war, ended in 1992 against communist-backed Frelimo, after Renamo lost its Cold War backers Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa.
The war killed about one million Mozambicans.
Tension between Mozambique Liberation Front, also known as Fremlio and Renamo has been escalating since last year.
According to AIM, the Mozambican defence ministry had opened an investigation into the alleged compulsory recruitment of young people to the armed forces (FADM) in the central city, which sparked off serious rioting on Wednesday.
Deputy defence minister
Mr Agostinho Monjane, had gone to Beira to personally head the inquiry. Interviewed by the independent television station STV, Monjane said, “I’m not going to put forward solutions now, because we are undertaking a detailed investigation to find out exactly what happened to make a large part of the population of Beira demonstrate in the way they did.” AIM reported he could give no date for the conclusion of the investigation. “If it was a matter that originated inside the institution (such as the FADM), it would be easier for us to set deadlines,” said Monjane. “But now, in a situation where we’re dealing with an open environment such as this, where the supposed cases of compulsory recruitment happened among the population, it becomes a delicate matter. But we will make every effort to clear up the case.
“We urge the population of Beira, and indeed the entire Mozambican people, to step up their vigilance in all aspects, and denounce in due time any anomalous situation, in order to avoid disturbances,” he said.
Manjane admitted the possibility that there had indeed been attempts at compulsory recruitment, not by the army, but by persons unknown.
He stressed that the law on military service did not allow the defence ministry or the army to press-gang people on the streets. “But there is the hypothesis that there are opportunists with other objectives,” said Monjane. “We are working to clarify this.”
AIM stated that there were indeed signs that something illicit had happened on Wednesday morning, and photos and videos were circulating on the Internet of vehicles supposedly involved in the compulsory recruitment. The clearest of these shows a man brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle bundling a youth into a pick-up truck.
