The former presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, accused the President of the Republic, Daniel Chapo, of lying about the content of the meetings that took place in March and May.

Interviewed by the electronic newspaper "Mozambique Times" Mondlane said that Chapo was not sincere in denying the existence of agreements reached during the two meetings, held on March 23 and May 20.

Mondlane said that he and Chapo had reached consensus on four points, including the "release of all those detained in connection with the post-election protests". The other points agreed, according to Mondlane, were the cessation of all forms of violence by both parties; free medical treatment, within the National Health System, for all those injured during the protests; and support for the families of those killed in the violence, both civilians and police.

Mondlane's statements follow Chapo's recent interview with CNN-Portugal, in which he denied having reached any agreement with the former presidential candidate.

"At the first meeting, held at the Joaquim Chissano Conference Center in Maputo, I was the one who proposed the four points that were agreed and it was President Chapo himself who made the final summary, in the presence of the facilitators," said Mondlane.

The facilitators included a former interior minister, Óscar Monteiro, one of the country's most important writers, Luís Bernardo Honwana, academics Severino Ngoenha and Narciso Matos, and lawyers Carlos Martins and Tomás Timbane.

"At the second meeting, these points were revisited and reaffirmed, and a fifth topic was added concerning the 'creation of the VM political party'. Consensus was reached once again, witnessed by the aforementioned facilitators, with the addition of one more participant: Teodato Hunguana (former Minister of Information and former Constitutional Council judge)," added Mondlane.

But Chapo has publicly denied the existence of any agreements or consensus, first in statements to the Mozambican media and, more recently, in an interview with CNN Portugal, where he declared: "There is no agreement with Venâncio Mondlane. And where there is no agreement, there is nothing to fulfill".

Chapo acknowledged that "there were meetings", but insisted that they had no formal status, claiming that their aim was to "pacify the country" and combat "hate speech".

Mondlane said that "one of the issues that the other side never wanted to formalize was the signing of the minutes and summaries of the agreements. They were always evasive and repeatedly postponed the act". However, he stressed that "witnesses were present, so that what was discussed and agreed could be authenticated".

 

(Photo DR)