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province on Saturday, killing two and injuring two others, authorities said.
Political tensions have been rising since police allegedly killed two men after storming Renamo offices in a northern town, a year ago.
Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama briefly retreated to a camp in the secluded Gorongosa mountains last November, threatening to set up a rebel training camp and start another war, although the resumption of full hostilities is unlikely given Frelimo’s political and military capacity.
The Mozambique conflict pitted Renamo – which was backed by the Smith regime and apartheid South Africa as well as the CIA – against the ruling Frelimo from 1975 to 1992.
Ian Smith and apartheid SA wanted to prevent the Frelimo-government from offering rear bases to Zanla guerrillas. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces were sucked into the conflict after independence as they helped repel the Renamo bandits while protecting the Feruka Oil Pipeline upto 1992 when a ceasefire was called.
“They attacked two vehicles — a bus and a truck . . . there were two deaths in the truck and two civilian women injured in the bus,” Arnaldo Machohe, administrator of the town of the Chibabava district, told AFP.
RENAMO
He told TV station STV in a telephone call the attack occurred around 5pm local time.
It was the second attack in two days after Renamo attacked a police squadron in the town of Muxungue last Thursday, killing four police officers.
In Saturday’s attack, the group — armed with AK47 assault rifles — stopped the truck transporting petrol on the road leading to the capital Maputo, Machohe said.
They killed the truck’s two occupants.
They also attacked an Intercape bus with around 60 passengers on board.
“Two women were injured on the bus. They are in hospital in Muxungue,” said Machohe.
“We don’t know why they are stopping civilian vehicles. The population (is) fleeing their homes and fields. The whole district is living in fear,” Machohe said.
According to a Reuters report, Thursday’s Muxungue clash in the central province of Sofala is one of the most serious outbreaks of political violence in a decade in the war-scarred and mineral-rich country and bodes ill for elections due to be held next year.
Police declined to comment other than to confirm the deaths in the town, which is home to Renamo headquarters.
Police also maintain that Renamo’s meetings are military training seminars organised to destabilise the country.
Renamo security chief Osufo Madate claimed the retaliation demonstrated the former rebel group’s refusal to tolerate what it says is oppression meted out by the ruling Frelimo party, its enemy in a 16-year post-independence civil war that ended in 1992.
“For the past 20 years, we have fought for peace and have been repeatedly attacked and humiliated”, Madate told Reuters.
“But since October 2012, we have changed our stance. If we continue with our peaceful behaviour, it will mean the end of us. From now on, whenever we are attacked, we will
retaliate adequately.”
Since the shaky 1992 truce, tensions are bound to worry foreign mining firms exploring some of the world’s largest untapped coal and natural gas reserves.
Major investors include Italy’s Eni, New York-listed Anadarko, Brazil’s Vale and London-listed Rio Tinto.
Mozambique’s offshore Rovuma gas field is believed to hold 150 trillion cubic feet of gas — enough to supply Germany, Britain, France and Italy for 15 years.
Renamo has denied any part in the killing of the two civilians.
“Renamo distances itself from this attack. During the civil war we had identical situations where Frelimo used our uniforms and blamed us for attacks on civilians,” the head of Renamo’s Security and Defence wing, Ossufo Momad, told AFP.
“After 20 years of peace why would we want to do this?” asked Momad who accused the Frelimo-led government of setting up the attack on civilian vehicles in order to blame the Renamo opposition. — AFP/Reuters/HR.
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