EIGHT small Mozambican opposition parties at the weekend announced they are to form a united front, the Mozambican Opposition Union to battle the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo). UMO leader Wehia Ripua said his group would back a single presidential candidate and a single parliamentary list. Ripua came third in the presidential race after Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the country’s main opposition party Renamo in the 1994 general elections won by incumbent President Joaquim Chissano. Recently, three other opposition parties formed a coalition, the Alliance for Democracy (APD).