The Prime Minister, Adriano Maleiane, assured on Saturday, at the United Nations General Assembly, that the disarmament process of the military wing of the largest opposition party in Mozambique, Renamo, will be concluded this year.

According to the official, "the DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration) process is an important milestone in the implementation of the peace and national reconciliation agreement, signed on August 6, 2019 between the Government of Mozambique and Renamo," he said.

They also revealed that 4,002 have already joined the process and turned in their weapons, out of a total of 5,221 guerrillas that are intended to be covered.

Adriano Maleiane was speaking during the intervention reserved for Mozambique in the debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

This information had already been mentioned by the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, who in May guaranteed that all Renamo military bases should be closed by the end of 2022.

"With the completion of this stage, the focus" of the process will shift, Maleiane said, stressing that attention will now be focused on "long-term reintegration and more effective reconciliation."

"These are essential factors to ensure the sustainability of the peace process and consolidation of national unity," he added.

During his speech in New York, Adriano Maleiane thanked the unanimous election of Mozambique as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a place it will occupy for the years 2023 and 2024.

In office, the country will advocate "dialogue" and "concerted multilateral actions" to promote peace and conflict resolution, he said, tools he considers important today to end supply problems in global markets, he added - but without ever making direct references to the war in Ukraine.

In early March, just days after the Russian invasion began, the overwhelming majority of member states in the UN General Assembly - 141 out of 193 - condemned Moscow's action, with Mozambique and Angola among the countries that abstained.

Before ending his speech as part of the United Nations General Assembly, the Mozambican prime minister also recalled the extreme weather events that have hit the country (such as cyclones and floods), most severely in recent years, to launch an appeal.

"We call on the international community to join the effort of Mozambique and all countries in Africa to build resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change within the framework of the Paris agreement," he said. (Lusa)