The United Nations Secretary-General's personal envoy to Mozambique, Mirko Manzoni, said on Friday that "there are no resources" to pay pensions to demobilized guerrillas from the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) party, following the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process signed in 2019 between the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, and the president of the Renamo party, Ossufo Momade.

"We can't pay pensions without being prepared and without resources," Manzoni told the private channel STV in Serra da Gorongosa, in Sofala, central Mozambique.

Mirko Manzoni said that "the issue of pensions, which has been under negotiation for three years, is not easy", assuring that "work is being done to find out how to find the resources" so that the demobilized are "integrated into the pension system".

António Guterres' special envoy guaranteed that all the partners involved in the negotiation process are working to find "a solution on pensions", warning that it must be "sustainable", as "the resources will be Mozambican".

After handing in their weapons, the guerrillas receive an allowance for a period of a few months and then pensions are set.

The government has allocated land and donated building materials to former Renamo fighters in order to build houses, but those targeted have opted to sell the materials to make up for the lack of basic foodstuffs, according to Deutsche Welle.

On Monday, the President of Renamo, Ossufo Momade, said that there was a "systematic failure by the government to comply with the peace agreement", mentioning the fact that the demobilized "are still waiting for their pensions to be fixed", an issue that has been repeatedly raised by the party.

The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process is part of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement signed on August 6, 2019.

According to Renamo, 4,001 (80%) combatants have already been demobilized out of the 5,254 planned. (Toad; DW)