Shake-up in Mozambique as party changes tack

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 9

Shake-up in Mozambique as party changes tack

NZPA-Reuter Maputo Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party has ditched its Marxist-Lenin-ist ideology and thrown out two hardline Marxists from its politburo in efforts to bring rebels to the negotiating table and end a decadeold insurgency. Western diplomats in Maputo said the changes reflected a growing pragmatism within the one-party government which, with Western support, is struggling to extricate the country from war and economic collapse. The new programme and statutes, approved by a Frelimo congress, mark a significant shift in the ideological direction of the party that has ruled Mozambique, on the Indian Ocean coast bordering South Africa, since independence from Portugal in 1975. '/President Joaquim Chissano, who succeeded the charismatic leader

Samora Machel after his death in 1987, was unanimously re-elected party president. The congress strongly endorsed moves by Mr Chissano to talk peace with right-wing Mozambican National Resistance (M.N.R.) rebels. It said the Mozambican people wanted peace through consensus but not a peace that would be a “gift to terrorism.” The party, which has just over 200,000 members, is seeking to become more representative of Mozambique's 15 million people, more than 60 per cent of whom are illiterate peasants. The chief party ideologue, Jorge Rebelo, said the message received from the people was that the party had to “operate in the context of reality, not in a world of ideals.” The congress declared its support for a continuing tough economic recovery pstn launched in 1987 and backed by 'the International Mone-

tary Fund that steers away from the notion of exclusive centralised State direction. The Prime Minister, Mario Machungo, said the party backed a mixed economy based on farming, to which the State, co-operatives, families and private individuals should all contribute. Elected to a new 12-member politburo was the Foreign Minister, Pascoal Mocumbi, one of the founders of Frelimo and a close associate of Mr Chissano. The other new members were Eduardo Nihia, political commissar of the armed forces, Feliciano Gundana, Minister at the Presidency, and Rafael Maguni, governor of Manica province. -j; < Two members dropped were Sebastiqo Mabote, a former armed forces commander, and Jose Oscar Monteiro, Mwster of State Administration. W