Home Mozambique RENAMO: “There is no transparency” in the EU 60 ME to demobilize ex-combatants

RENAMO: “There is no transparency” in the EU 60 ME to demobilize ex-combatants

In an interview with Lusa, South African jurist Andre Thomashausen defended the performance of a financial audit in the application of the 60 million euros allocated by the European Union (EU) in the demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).

The European Union, through the then High Representative Frederica Mogherini, announced in August 2019 the allocation of 60 million euros, during the signing of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement by the President of the Republic, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, and the leader of Renamo , Ossufo Momade, for the application of the agreement until 2022.

The new peace agreement in Mozambique provides, among others, for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of the armed wing of the main opposition party in the Portuguese-speaking African country, it was announced at the time.

According to Thomashausen, it is urgent to demand a financial and transparent audit to find out who benefited, how much, and for what purposes the European millions were used.

In December last year, the EU ambassador to Mozambique, António Sanchez-Benedito Gaspar, “explained that 10 million of this money would have already been allocated to support communities that suffered the consequences of the civil war and that another 25 million would be allocated at the beginning of 2020 as subsidies to certain organizations to facilitate the reintegration of demobilized people, and the remaining 25 million would be allocated at the end of 2020, again in support of NGOs and certain groups that would facilitate the process ”, stressed Andre Thomashausen.

However, the way in which European funds are used is strange to the South African lawyer. In the last 15 months, only a thousand people have been demobilized “and, as far as is known, which is well documented, the total amount spent for each one of these thousand people was 1,000 dollars (858.3 euros), at most. After five years, he would have spent 5 million euros, which does not even reach 10% of the amount allocated by the European Union ”, he explained.

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