Ossufo Momade, the leader of what used to be Mozambique's main opposition party, Renamo, has resigned, according to the electoral bulletin of the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organization.

According to the same publication in its Tuesday edition, Ossufo Momade tendered his resignation during a meeting of Renamo's National Political Commission, held last Saturday in Maputo.

The CIP quotes Momade as saying at the meeting: "Right now, I am the problem of this organization". The majority of Commission members accepted Momade's resignation proposal, but a minority of six or seven disagreed. Even so, the resignation was not announced publicly.

According to the same publication, the next steps should be for Momade to convene a meeting of the Renamo National Council, which will decide on the steps to be taken before holding a congress to elect a new Renamo president.

At the end of Saturday's meeting, Renamo's Political Commission advised that things should only move forward once the current disputes arising from the October 9 general elections have been resolved.

The meeting proposed that Momade establish conditions for a transition that does not increase divisions within Renamo. His successor must be a consensual figure who can attract back to Renamo people who have left the party in recent years.

Meanwhile, on Monday, former Renamo guerrillas stormed Renamo's national headquarters in a clear attempt to put pressure on the resigning Ossufo Momade.

Momade is still leader of the opposition, because Renamo is the largest opposition party in the outgoing parliament. But when the new parliament takes office at the beginning of next year, Renamo will be replaced by the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (PODEMOS), the party that gave the main organizational support to the independent presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane.

(Photo DR)