Mozambique cease-fire to be extended 60 days: Opposition

File photo: Mozambican regular army vehicles patrolling the roads on the outskirts of Vanduzi village in the Gorongosa area, Mozambique. Mozambique opposition head says a cease-fire declared a week ago will be extended for two months. (AFP)
Updated 03 January 2017
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Mozambique cease-fire to be extended 60 days: Opposition

JOHANNESBURG: The head of Mozambique’s opposition movement says a cease-fire declared a week ago will be extended for two months to allow peace talks to continue in a “favorable environment.”
Afonso Dhlakama’s announcement comes a day after he spoke by phone with President Filipe Nyusi, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported Tuesday.
Talks between the government and the opposition Renamo movement, aided by international mediators, have been hurt by attacks on officials from both camps.
The two sides fought each other in a devastating civil war that ended in 1992. The ruling Frelimo party won 2014 elections, but Renamo alleged fraud and wants a bigger role in the government as well as more autonomy in areas it dominates.


UK to deploy aircraft carrier group to Arctic this year: PM

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UK to deploy aircraft carrier group to Arctic this year: PM

  • The HMS Prince of Wales is the Royal Navy’s largest warship
MUNICH, Germany: The UK will deploy its aircraft carrier group to the North Atlantic this year in a “powerful show of force” against Russian threats in the Arctic, British officials said Saturday.
“I can announce today that the UK will deploy our carrier strike group to the North Atlantic and the High North this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating alongside the US, Canada and other NATO allies in a powerful show of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the Munich security conference.
The group will include Royal Navy warships, F-35 jets and helicopters in what has been dubbed “Operation Firecrest,” the ministry of defense said in a statement.
It will be a “powerful show of force … to deter Russian aggression and protect vital undersea infrastructure.”
The HMS Prince of Wales is the Royal Navy’s largest warship and US aircraft are also expected to operate from its deck.
The operation will involve thousands of personnel from all three services of the Armed Forces, the MoD statement added.
“The deployment will include activity under NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission, launched this week, strengthening the Alliance’s security in a region where melting sea ice is opening new routes and increasing threat from hostile state activity,” the ministry said.
France has also announced that it will deploy its aircraft carrier group in the region in 2026.
Starmer told the Munich conference that Britain must be “ready to fight.”
Leaders must not dither as “Russia has proved its appetite for aggression,” he said.
“The road ahead is straight and it is clear. We must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age,” he added.
“We must be able to deter aggression, and, yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight.”
The defense ministry said the deployment would reinforce “NATO’s deterrence at a time of rising Russian threats in the region.”
It added that “over the past two years, there has been a 30 percent increase in Russian navy vessels threatening UK waters.”
US President Donald Trump has also unnerved European countries by saying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic, should come under US control.
Trump said last month however that an understanding had been reached with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte that would give the United States greater influence in the mineral-rich and strategically placed territory.