Two officers from Mozambique’s Renamo rebel group have joined the country’s national army and police force. The move was denounced by the Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama as a ‘dirty game’ played by Frelimo, but as Mozambique Politics & Security outlines, this and further defections could weaken the hand of the veteran rebel leader in negotiations with the government. It also reminds Renamo rebels of the possible benefits which can come from accepting a state position.

The Monday meetings between government and Renamo representatives which seek to bring about agreement between the two parties on – among other things – how to integrate Renamo rebels into society are, as ever, bringing no progress. This week, the independent mediators complained that the parties are returning to go over matters which the mediators believed had already been settled.

However, the facts on the ground have run ahead of negotiations in terms of integrating Renamo cadres into the security services. On Friday 31 July, one Renamo officer joined the army, and another the police force. Both had been members of the Renamo delegation in the EMOCHM international military observer team that had been trying to observe the ceasefire in the first half of this year (see Mozambique Politics & Security – 20.05.15).

Dhlakama was outraged at this unilateral act which, he felt, undermined the negotiations which were still taking place. The co-option of the two men certainly played into the hands of Frelimo whose public line on Renamo has recently focussed on sympathy for Renamo members who are left languishing ‘in the bush’, unable to rejoin society, while Renamo MPs get fat off their salaries and benefits in the capital.

The two men, who made Major in the army and Assistant Superintendent in the police force, said they were no longer part of either Renamo or Frelimo, but non-partisan members of the security and defence forces. They had made the decision on behalf of themselves and their families, they said. Jorge Khalau, the chief of police, said that any other Renamo officers who wanted to come forward could be integrated. The two new recruits said there would be more to follow.

Dhlakama said that the move by the officers was part of a “dirty game” being played by a pitiable and desperate Frelimo – and said it made him happy because “it is clear we have no adversary”. The strength of his reaction, however, makes one wonder who is feeling more desperate. If more of his cadres do cross over to salaried positions in the security services, preferring that to an uncertain future on the fringes of society, a major negotiating chip is taken away from Dhlakama and Renamo, and his forces will be depleted.