Maputo - Mozambique's government will meet a delegation from the ex-rebel group Renamo on Friday, an official said, amid threats of violence that echo the country's brutal civil war.
“The interior minister will receive a Renamo delegation at their request,” a spokesman for the defence ministry, Pedro Cossa, told AFP.
The meeting follows deadly attacks last week between the former civil war foes in the central province of Sofala, where seven people were killed including police officers.
Tensions between Renamo and the Frelimo-led government escalated in 2012, after the group's leader Afonso Dhlakama set up camp in the Gorongosa mountains, retraining former guerrilla fighters.
They are demanding the government renegotiate the terms of a 1992 peace accord.
Radio Mozambique reported that the purpose of the meeting was “to discuss the tense situation being experienced in the centre of the country.”
Two meetings held by the parties in December 2012 yielded no results.
Earlier this month, Renamo members attacked a police command post in the town of Muxungue, just hours after the police raided the group's office with tear gas and arrested 15 leaders.
Tensions between the government and Renamo have peaked ahead of local elections set for November, which Renamo has threatened to disrupt.
Dhlakama has said that he is open to a ceasefire as long as the government pulls back its security forces from the perimeter of his bush camp in the Gorongosa mountains and releases the 15 detained supporters.
Renamo claims one of its members was killed in the attack.
“They (the police) dispersed the meeting but with the intention to kill,” Dhlakama said on Wednesday confirming he ordered the revenge attack,” Renamo is tired of not responding,” he said.
Dhlakama has declined a face to face meeting with President Armando Guebuza, claiming such encounters had in the past led to speculation that he was receiving pay-offs from the government. - AFP