VZCZCXRO4822
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #0987/01 2210629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090629Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5818
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP  0067

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000987 
 
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TAGS: PGOV MZ
SUBJECT: Mozambique: July Political Digest 
 
REF: A) Maputo 591 
 
B) 05 Maputo 1158 
 
MAPUTO 00000987  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) This is a brief summary of significant political 
events in Mozambique during July 2006.  We provide it as a 
supplement to our other reporting.  The items discussed are: 
 
-- RENAMO Members Switching to FRELIMO 
-- Provincial Elections Unlikely in 2007 
-- Gay Rights Surfaces as Issue in Media 
-- Mozambique Sends Personnel to Monitor Congo Elections 
 
----------------------------------- 
RENAMO Members Switching to FRELIMO 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On July 29 a former parliamentarian from Maputo, 
Adelina Matule, announced that she had left the main 
opposition party, RENAMO, and was joining the ruling party, 
FRELIMO, according to press reports.  She and 16 other 
former RENAMO members were admitted to FRELIMO in a ceremony 
that day at the FRELIMO provincial headquarters in the 
Maputo suburb of Matola.  This past April a RENAMO 
politician who lost the contentious 2005 election for mayor 
of the northern town of Mocimboa da Praia (ref B) announced 
that he was joining FRELIMO. 
 
¶3. (U) RENAMO politicians have attacked FRELIMO over these 
and other defections over the past several months, claiming 
that FRELIMO is bribing RENAMO members to leave and doing so 
with state funds.  A senior RENAMO official stated Matule 
was given USD 2,400 to switch parties, according to a press 
report August 3.  FRELIMO politicians reject the charges as 
baseless and attribute the defections to growing 
disorganization within RENAMO. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Provincial Elections Unlikely in 2007 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. On July 8 the head of the Electoral Administration 
(STAE), Antonio Carrasco, told reporters that he was worried 
that Mozambique's first provincial elections - mandated 
under the constitution to be held in 2007 - would have to be 
put off because of delays in approving a new electoral law. 
Negotiations in the National Assembly between the two major 
political parties, FRELIMO and RENAMO, broke down in early 
May when the ad hoc committee established for revising the 
law, which had gotten nowhere in more than a year of 
discussions, was abolished (ref A).  There has been little 
movement since May in an Assembly committee assigned the 
electoral law.  And without a new electoral law, no action 
has been taken on establishing voter registration 
procedures; a new registration of voters would be necessary 
before provincial elections could be held, according to 
Carrasco. 
 
¶5. Carrasco instead suggested that provincial elections be 
postponed so that they would coincide with presidential and 
legislative elections scheduled to be held in 2009.  (Note: 
Mozambique is to hold municipal elections, for the second 
time, in 2008.  End note.)  Meanwhile, the semi-official 
main newspaper, Noticias, has run several stories in recent 
weeks quoting various public figures as saying that 
provincial elections should not or could not be held in 
¶2007. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Gay Rights Surfaces as Issue in Media 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. For the first time, a major Mozambican paper has 
published an article arguing in favor of gay rights. 
Prominent Radio Mozambique journalist Emilio Manhique argued 
that gays "have a right to be different" in an editorial he 
wrote in early July in the Beira daily "Diario de 
Mozambique." Earlier he took up the issue in his phone-in 
program "Caf de Manha," a half-hour long morning radio 
program.  He took 23 calls in the half hour, a record for 
listener participation, according to press reports. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Mozambique Sends Personnel to Monitor Congo Elections 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7. Mozambican Defense Minister Dai told reporters on July 19 
 
MAPUTO 00000987  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
that twelve Mozambicans had been dispatched to the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of the Southern 
African Development Community (SADC) election monitoring 
contingent.  The twelve were ten soldiers and two civilians. 
National elections took place in the Congo on July 30. 
Other SADC countries also contributed personnel and 
logistical equipment. 
 
Dudley