Riyaz Patel
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi was sworn in Wednesday at a ceremony attended by cheering supporters and dignitaries, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, but boycotted by opposition politicians who dispute his October election win.
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Mozambique’s former colonial master, joined 7 African Presidents at the inauguration ceremony.
A long-running civil war that killed around 1-million people before a 1992 truce, and periodic violence since, ended when Nyusi signed a deal with rebels-turned-opposition party Renamo in August.
The peace deal was meant to bring definitive peace to a country on the cusp of becoming a global gas exporter.
Instead, October’s election exacerbated decades-old wounds: Nyusi, of the ruling Frelimo party, won with over 70% of votes but his main rival Ossufo Momade said the poll was rigged.
Neither Momade nor any Renamo lawmakers turned up for the swearing-in at Independence Square in central Maputo.
Nyusi said over his next five-year term he would seek to ensure that peace lasts. “Peace has been and will be our absolute priority,” he told the crowd.
Renamo secretary general Andre Magibire said emphatically that his party does not recognise Nyusi as legitimate leader, but would also not be drawn back into violence.
“There’s no way we can derail the peace deal, even though Frelimo keeps pushing us towards war,” he said on Tuesday.
Frelimo spokesperson Caifadine Manasse dismissed that.
“The opposition is crying foul, in general it uses this tactic to spark instability.”
Mozambique’s top court dismissed Renamo’s challenge of the results in November.
