schema:articleBody
| - Mozambique prosecutors have summoned the brother of a former rebel chief and opposition leader for questioning over a wave of deadly highway ambushes, a party official said Tuesday. The order targetted Elias Dhlakama, brother of Afonso Dhlakama, the deceased leader of Mozambique's former rebel group and now opposition movement Renamo. Elias Dhlakama, a retired army general and now lawmaker, failed to appear before the public prosecutors on Tuesday because he has parliamentary immunity, Renamo said. "The case is not cancelled, but it must first have clearance from parliament," said a Renamo party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media. Dhlakama is the latest Renamo politician called in for questioning on suspicion of backing armed assailants who have ambushed vehicles along the north-south highway in attacks that have claimed at least 10 lives in the opposition bastion. Earlier this month several other opposition lawmakers were quizzed over the attacks which have forced the government to increase security, including having military escorts. The government blames Renamo, the former guerrilla group turned opposition party, for the attacks. So far one politician and ex-Renamo member of parliament Sandura Ambrosio has been arrested over the attacks and charged with conspiracy against state security, police said. Dhlakama was an army officer and a former Renamo guerrilla leader during the Mozambican civil war. After the 1992 peace agreement with government he joined the national army as part of the post-war integration deal. But after the death of Afonso Dhlakama in 2018, the younger Dhlakama left the army to run to bid to succeed his brother as Renamo chief, but lost to Ossufo Momade. The recent unrest, mainly in the provinces of Sofala and Manica, came in the aftermath of disputed general elections in October in which Momade lost to President Filipe Nyusi. The opposition claim the vote was fraudulent. Frelimo and Renamo, whose 1976-92 civil war left one million dead in the former Portuguese colony, signed a peace deal in August last year under which Renamo has promised to disarm its fighters. A militant faction of Renamo claimed a string of attacks just before the election. str-mgu/sn/pma
|