Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama died,
according to Sapo. Dhlakama must have died
aboard a helicopter that was trying to get him to
medical treatment after a severe
diabetic crisis , according to Público.
Full name Afonso Macacho Marceta
Dhlakama, the leader of Renamo was born on
January 1 , 1953, in Mangunde,
Chibabava district in Sofala. He is the son of a
traditional leader , the Mangunde ruler.
Dhlakama joined FRELIMO in 1974, but
left the Movement in a short time,
becoming one of the founders of the
National Resistance of Mozambique. That was when Andre Matsangaíssa, in combat at Gorongosa, died
on 17
November 1979, that Dhlakama became
president of the movement having taken over the
reins in 1980. Dhlakama thus took on the
guerrilla at the age of 27. It was with his
leadership that civil war, which lasted 16 years,
expanded to the entire national territory and
de-structuring the country in economic and
social terms. This led the government to negotiate with the
Apartheid regime that financed Renamo a
non-aggression agreement in 1984. In such an agreement the
Mozambican government would no longer support the ANC
that was fighting against the then South African regime, and
this in turn to Renamo.
At the end of the 1980s, Afonso Dhlakama
led Renamo's negotiations with the
government at the time led by Joaquim Chissano
the Peace Agreement, under the mediation of the Catholic Church
in Rome, having as main agenda the
demilitarization of Renamo and integration of its
personnel into the
National Defense and Security Forces and the introduction of Multiparty,
a Rule of Law In Mozambique
and regular elections. After
consensus, on October 4, 1992, he would sign
an agreement with the then President of the Republic,
Joaquim Chissano, in Rome, Italy.
From then on, RENAMO became a
political party, and Afonso Dhlakama, from
military leader to political leader,
the first presidential elections in 1994, in
which it obtained about 33% against 50% of
Chissano.
In the presidential elections of 1999, Afonso
Dhlakama lost to Chissano. The margin was
much lower. Renamo's leader added 47.71% and
Frelimo's 52.29%. Renamo disputed the
validity of these elections and, about a year
later, in November 2000, there were violent
demonstrations all over the country, fomented by
Renamo. Dhlakama and Chissano had to return
to negotiations to restore normalcy in the country.
He returned to compete in the following two elections and
lost to Armando Guebuza in 2004 and 2009
respectively.
Afonso Dhlakama decided in 2010 to leave the
country's capital, where he had resided since 1992 and settled
in Nampula. After a
failed dialogue with Armando Guebuza, then
president, the government sent military and
paramilitary forces to the vicinity of his
home in the city of Nampula. This and other
events led to the resignation of the RENAMO leader from
his home in the
city of Nampula, and went to
Renamo's former headquarters in the town of
Sathundjira, Vunduzi,
Gorongosa district , province of Sofala.
From there it directs a new military confrontation
with government forces starting in 2013
with an attack on a police station in Muxúnguè after an
attempt to disperse its former military personnel
who were stationed at the local
Renamo branch. In response the government forces
attacked the place where Afonso Dhlakama lived and the
same escapes unharmed.
After difficult negotiations, he signed a new
Peace Agreement with the then President of the
Republic, Armando Guebuza on September 5,
2014, which enabled his participation in
the 2014 elections. He lost them to current
President Filipe Nyusi. And once again did not
recognize the results and traveled the country
mobilizing its members to not do so either
threatening to take power by force.
As a result of this situation he met with Philip
Nyusi on two occasions in February 2015
to try to end the political crisis. But without
effect.
As a consequence, the Renamo leader has suffered
three attacks against his life. The first
attempt to assassinate Afonso Dhlakama
happened in the early evening of 12 September
2015, when a caravan of cars he
was following was attacked in Manica province,
apparently by men from the
Mozambican defense and security forces . Five were
wounded, but the opposition leader left unharmed. On
25 September 2015, the leader of Renamo
escaped unhurt to a new attack in less than two
weeks in the province of Manica. And take refuge
in the woods.
After negotiations with the government, he accepts to leave the
woods on October 8 and heads to the
city of Beira. On the morning of the following,
October 9, 2015, police surround their residence
in Beira and disarm their security. And the police
called the operation as the beginning of the
coercive disarmament of the Renamo Armed Men.
However, days later Dhlakama manages to flee
his residence in Beira and take refuge in the
jungles of the Gorongosa mountain range and resume
military attacks extending beyond the section of EN1
between Save river and Muxúnguè and Nhamapaza-Caia and
of EN7 between Vanduzi and Rio Luenha.
To put an end to the conflict, President
Philippe Nyusi began talks with
Dhlakama via telephone, which allowed for the
establishment of truce and the end of
military hostilities. Filipe Nyusi went
three times to Gorongosa to meet
Afonso Dhlakama and two went with success.
Recently the two leaders agreed on a
Decentralization Package that was deposited in the
Assembly of the Republic and awaits its
approval. And at the moment they were negotiating
the demobilization and integration of
Renamo's men into the Defense and Security Forces.
Dhlakama was waiting for negotiations to end.
get out of the woods. Afonso Dhlakama leaves a widow and
eight children.
