MOZAMBICAN President Joaquim Chissano does not intend to run for a third term in office in general elections due in 2004, state media reported on Wednesday. Chissano announced that he would not seek re-election late on Tuesday in the southern industrial city of Matola. Mozambique’s constitution limits the president to serving two consecutive five-year terms. Chissano’s announcement came as presidents throughout southern Africa have been working to strip two-term limits from their constitutions. Chissano has ruled Mozambique since 1986, when he took over Frelimo after independence leader Samora Machel died in a plane crash. He won his first mandate as a president elected through multiparty elections, after a 1992 peace deal ended Mozambique’s brutal 16-year civil war.
* In neighboring Malawi, church leaders have issued stern warnings to President Bakili Muluzi against similar manoeuvrings for a third term.