The meeting between the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, and the presidential candidates to find solutions to the post-election crisis ended in failure yesterday, due to the absence of Venâncio Mondlane, the candidate supported by PODEMOS, who claimed that security was not guaranteed.

According to a VOAThe meeting was attended by Daniel Chapo, from Frelimo; Ossufo Momade, from Renamo; and Lutero Simango, from MDM, who at the beginning of the meeting questioned Mondlane's absence.

"As everyone knows, all four candidates should have been here to allow this meeting to be, in fact, a meeting not only to analyze the situation, but also for the good of the Mozambican nation," said Simango, stressing that "I don't know if there is a justification for the absence of the fourth candidate?".

For his part, Renamo candidate Ossufo Momade said that with his absence the meeting would be worthless, and called on Filipe Nyusi to intervene.

"There is a need for the President, as the nation's magistrate, to do everything so that he (Venâncio Mondlane) can be in the country, but the Public Prosecutor's Office has a case against this citizen, they need to do something so that we can have him here in the country, and in relation to his safety," said Momade.

Daniel Chapo simply thanked us for inviting him to the meeting.

And Filipe Nyusi commented that Venâncio Mondlane's absence was due to the fact that he was in an uncertain location.

"Candidate Venâncio has not been expelled from Mozambique, there is no reason for him not to be in Mozambique (...) if he were in a known place, perhaps I would even suggest to this team that is interested in solving the problem that we meet him there (...) but nobody knows where he is," said Nyusi.

Nyusi also said that "an effort will be made to ensure that he is here, and from what I understand he has accepted the invitation, he has not raised the issue of security".

Last week, Venâncio Mondlane accepted Nyusi's invitation and demanded "guarantees of political and legal security for the actors and players in the dialogue" and the "release of all those detained as part of the demonstrations".

However, almost at the same time as the meeting at the Presidency of the Republic, Venâncio Mondlane reacted live on FacebookHe said that his absence was due to the fact that he had not received a response to the agenda items he had previously submitted.

"The President of the Republic has no genuine will to have a serious debate, a serious dialogue to solve the problem of the post-election crisis that Mozambique is experiencing," said Mondlane.

Mondlane said that Nyusi "has no concern for the crimes, the electoral illicit acts that were committed by STAE in manipulating the results, tampering with documents, falsifying notices and minutes".

(Photo DR)