MAPUTO: Pope Francis urged the people of Mozambique on Thursday to nurture their hard-earned peace and strive to provide equal opportunities for all so as not to slip back into civil war.
Francis addressed President Filipe Nyusi of the ruling Frelimo party and leaders of the Renamo opposition at the colonial-style presidential palace, where peacocks roamed lush gardens in contrast to bustling streets outside.
The two sides in the former Portuguese colony fought a 15-year civil war that ended in 1992 and killed about a million people. But only last month did they sign a permanent ceasefire.
“In the course of these years, you have come to realize how the pursuit of lasting peace — a mission incumbent upon all — calls for strenuous, constant and unremitting effort. For peace is like a delicate flower, struggling to blossom on the stony ground of violence,” the pope told them.
Some fear that as the country of 28 million people approaches new elections scheduled for next month, violence could break out, particularly in rural areas where the former rebels have more sway.
Ossufo Momade, leader of Renamo, was in the audience for the papal address and received a round of applause when the president mentioned him.
In his address to the pope, the president vowed to help build a nation “where non-violence becomes a culture lived by all, where politics is practised through the force of argument and not the force of arms’’.But Francis said if they wanted lasing peace, leaders had to discourage any form of fanaticism and exaltation and strive to improve conditions and opportunities for the marginalized.
“Without equal opportunities, the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode,” said the pope, who arrived in Mozambique on Wednesday night.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), 80 per cent of Mozambique’s population cannot afford the minimum costs for an adequate diet — Reuters
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