Mozambique, after the disputed 2014 elections, witnesses a deep political crisis. During last months violence and armed clashes between the forces of the government of Mozambique and those of the main opposition party, Renamo, have produced victims and pushed several thousand Mozambicans to refuge in neighboring Malawi. On July 18 an international mediation was started to resolve the current political crisis, with the presence of various mediators under the coordination of the European Union, represented by Mario Raffaelli and by Don Angelo Romano, of the Community of Sant’Egidio.
Mediation acts in the framework of a so-called “Joint Commission”, composed of twelve representatives of the President of the Republic of Mozambique and of the President of Renamo. Today this mediation has achieved an important result. Renamo asks, since the beginning of the political crisis, to govern the provinces of Mozambique where it has strong political support from the population. This request, in order to be resolved, needed a more extensive discussion, in the context of the reform of local authorities of Mozambique.
The mediation has got that the Mozambican government reform, under the sign of decentralization, becomes part of the work of the negotiation itself: today was created a sub-committee in charge of this particular job, always with the help of mediation. Such result will allow setting a mood of mutual trust, necessary for the achievement of peace.
The Community of Sant’Egidio, present in all the provinces of Mozambique, protagonist of the mediation that led to the peace agreement of 4 October 1992, is still in the front line to defend the important results obtained in the historic agreement and to progress on the path to peace, development and living together. The “Peace Generation”, that is, of those Mozambicans born after the peace agreements of 1992, is today a majority in the country and claims loud that peace is not wasted.