Mozambique rebels put proviso on truce

Press, 5 October 1984, Page 6

Mozambique rebels put proviso on truce

NZPA-Reuter Johannesburg

South Africa has announced a cease-fire in Mozambique’s eight-year-old civil war, but rebels fighting the Maputo Government say that conditions have to be worked out before fighting ends.

The Right-wing rebels say that they still insist on sharing power with the Marxist Government of Samora Machel and have made no long-term commitment to retain Mr Machel as the country’s President. South Africa and Mozambique promised six months ago to stop backing each other’s guerrilla enemies. Continued conflict in Mozambique had threatened the agreement with collapse. The South African Foreign Minister, Mr Roelof Botha, announced the new truce agreement yesterday after spending hours shut-

tling between a visiting Mozambican Government delegation and leaders of the Mozambique National Resistance.

Mr Botha, speaking in Pretoria, said that under the accord Mr Machel was recognised as Mozambique’s President and that hostilities must stop. Pretoria had been asked to help implement the pact and a joint commission had been set up to work out details.

Evo Fernandes, the head of the rebel delegation, said later that his movement had agreed to the principle of a cease-fire but conditions for the truce, including political demands, must be worked out before fighting ceased. Mr Fernandes said that the Resistance still insisted on sharing power with Mr Machel’s Marxist regime.

“There is no commitment from our side to keep Machel in power in future. We are simply recognising the

present reality,” he said. Announcing the accord, Mr Botha said that his country’s troops might be sent to Mozambique to monitor an eventual cease-fire, but Mr Fernandes scorned the suggestion. “We (the M.N.R.) never accepted the idea of sending South African troops into Mozambique,” he said. Pretoria launched the truce bid after warnings from Maputo that continued rebel activity was endangering the six-month-old peace pact between South Africa and its north-eastern neighbour. Mozambique has been ravaged by an M.N.R. campaign of sabotage since the country won independence from Portugal in 1975. The joint commission held its first talks yesterday but no details, nor the date of its next meeting, were released. Mr Fernandes said that

the agreement amounted to recognition of his movement by the Maputo Government and was designed to produce political-results. “To discuss political prob-, lems, we must stop fighting each other,” he said. Analysts who have been' following Mozambique's civil strife said that they doubted whether the M.N.R. would be able to ensure a halt to anti-Government activities.

They said that many armed men who attacked Government targets were not concerned with politics but were trying to secure food supplies in a country impoverished by a combination of sabotage and years of drought. Mr Botha said that implementing the truce would be difficult but he hoped peace would attract overseas investment to help rebuild Mozambique’s economy.