/ 3 May 2000

RENAMO EXCLUDED FROM FLOOD AID CONFERENCE

MOZAMBIQUE’s main opposition party has criticised President Joaquim Chissano’s government for excluding its members from a delegation to an international conference on grant aid for the flood-hit southern African nation. Vicente Ululu, a senior official of Renamo said in an interview with state radio that “our technicians should have been included in the government team in order to discuss together how aid should be used”. The government delegation to the Rome conference under way on Wednesday is led by President Chissano and includes Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Leonardo Simao and Planning and Finance Minister Luisa Diogo. Since the emergency began following the worst floods in living memory in early February, Renamo has persistently accused the government of misusing humanitarian aid.