Mozambique President, Rebel Leader Sign Peace Pact

Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama sealed an accord Friday to end 16 years of civil war by Oct. 1, ending three days of talks with an emotional embrace.

“This is a historic day for the people of Mozambique and Africa. . . . Please, no more deaths. No more war,” Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who brought the two foes together for the first time, said after the signing ceremony.

The six-page accord said the leftist government and the right-wing Renamo rebels, are “determined to do all in our power to end the catastrophe resulting from the combined effects of the war and drought in our country.”

The agreement was brokered by Italy, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the Roman Catholic Church and British businessman Roland Rowland.

More than 600,000 people have died in the fighting, which began two years after the country of 15 million gained independence from Portugal. Another 2 million have been displaced, living on the edge of starvation.

Mugabe, who persuaded Chissano to meet the shadowy, bush-based rebel leader in Rome, urged Renamo not to try to grab more territory in the coming weeks to strengthen its negotiating hand and said the government should not try to flush out rebels from their positions.

“That would mean more war and more people dying. . . . The next two months are crucial,” Mugabe said.

Dhlakama flew to Rome in a private jet belonging to Rowland, chief executive of the British conglomerate Lonrho, which has extensive interests in East Africa.

Renamo, the Portuguese acronym for Mozambique National Resistance, was established in 1976 by the Rhodesian secret police to combat the Marxist regime in Mozambique, which sheltered Rhodesia’s black guerrillas.

When Rhodesia became black-ruled Zimbabwe in 1980, South Africa took over the arming and training of Renamo. Pretoria says it stopped the aid in 1984.

“Although war may continue for some time, it will finish before Oct. 1,” Chissano vowed.

During three days of negotiations in Rome, Renamo rejected a simple truce, claiming there were no controls to enforce it.