Mozambique govoernment, ex-rebel group leaders to meet amid simmering tensions

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza is to meet Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of the former rebel group Renamo, next week amid simmering tensions in the resource- rich country that have left more than a dozen people killed and the transport system disrupted in recent weeks. Presidential spokesperson Edson Macuacua on Sunday said Guebuza has mandated the government's delegation which had been holding talks with Renamo to take all the necessary measures to prepare for the meet, the first between the leaders of the clashing political camps since the president took office in 2005. The venue of the meeting is in the capital Maputo, but the exact date has not yet been worked out, the official said. The meet is expected to de-escalate rising tension between the government and the rebel-movement-turned-opposition-party Renamo. At least a dozen soldiers and civilians were killed in clashes and attacks that erupted in recent weeks in central Mozambique. The police have arrested a senior Renamo official after he threatened to destabilize the country's road and rail transport in the coal-rich region. Road attacks, allegedly by Renamo supporters, were reported following the threat message. Renamo had waged a 16-year civil war against the Frelimo party- led government since the country's independence. The two sides signed a peace agreement in Rome in 1992 to end the civil war. But in recent years, Renamo repeatedly accuses the government of not honoring the accord by discriminating against the party's members and sympathizers at workplaces and state agencies, an accusation rejected by the government.