Progress welcomed in Mozambique peace talks

MAPUTO

Observers greeted progress in the latest peace negotiations between Mozambique's government and former rebels with cautious optimism Tuesday after months of renewed violence.

Simmering tensions between rebel group-turned-opposition party Renamo and the Frelimo government erupted into armed clashes in April -- more than two decades after the end of the southern African country's civil war.

After 11 rounds of talks aimed at resolving the crisis, news finally came Monday that the government and Renamo had reached a partial agreement to change electoral laws -- an announcement that was broadly welcomed.

"This is a positive development. At last there is a basis for a compromise," said Britain-based analyst Alex Vines.

It appeared the government was "serious about providing a face-saving mechanism for Renamo," he added.

"At last the government and Renamo start to agree!" said independent newspaper O Pais.

Both sides said Monday they had made progress -- the first time since talks started last December.

"Everything leads us to believe that conditions have been created for (an agreement) to be signed," chief government negotiator Jose Pacheco told state-run Radio Mozambique.

"A good consensus prevails between the two parties on key issues," said Renamo chief negotiator Saimone Macuiane.

But Renamo says it still wants clarifications before signing a 12-point agreement hammered out during exhaustive talks.

Without far-reaching changes to election laws, the opposition group has vowed to boycott municipal elections set for November as well as presidential polls in 2014.

Support for Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama has slipped from 47.7 percent in the 1999 presidential election to 16.4 percent in the last vote, in 2009.

In June the former rebel group attacked several vehicles, killing two civilians. The army retaliated by attacking a Renamo base, state media reported earlier this month.

Vines said the long-term sustainability of any agreement was doubtful.

"Renamo's strategy in the past has been to demand concessions and then there is a period of co-existence and then Renamo begins demanding, again, concessions," said Vines.

"The issue will flare up again in a few years. It is a pattern."

Some one million people died in Mozambique's 16-year civil war, which erupted soon after independence from Portugal in 1975.