President Armando Guebuza pledged to step up the fight against the crippling levels of poverty in war-ravaged Mozambique on Friday as he opened the long-time ruling Frelimo party’s national congress.
”We reiterate our determination to fight against poverty, which affects 54% of the Mozambican population,” Guebuza told delegates at the congress in the central city of Quelimane, a bastion of Frelimo’s old rival Renamo.
”We are in the process of change and we must clearly signal at this congress that we understand the necessity of taking more decisive steps to resolve the problems of poverty,” added Guebeza who came to power last year.
Mozambique’s economy was devastated by a brutal 16-year civil war that ended in 1992 and claimed up to one million lives.
Frelimo has begun to make inroads into levels of poverty in the past few years, lowering poverty levels from 69% in the period immediately following the war to a little more than 50%.
However, unemployment among the population of 17-million is rife and the former Portuguese colony remains heavily dependent on foreign aid.
In another sign of the country’s changing priorities, the agenda at Frelimo’s ninth congress is this year dominated by debate on social issues such as poverty and crime levels rather than security.
The congress is being held for the first time in what is considered a heartland of the former rebel Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo), which became an opposition party after the civil war.
Relations between the two parties remain fractious and Renamo threatened mass protests after the December 2004 elections were won by Guebuza. Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama had boycotted Parliament for seven months after his first electoral defeat in 1994.
The decision to stage the congress in Quelimane has been interpreted as a sign that Frelimo, which has been in power since independence in 1974, now wants to expand its electoral base.
The congress usually meets every five years, but the latest gathering is taking place a year ahead of schedule to enable the party to gear up for provincial elections in 2007 that will be followed by municipal elections in 2008 and a general election in 2009. — Sapa-AFP