Mozambique and Ghana Condemn Military Coups

Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, and his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, who was on a three day visit to Mozambique, on Friday condemned the recent military coups in west and central Africa.

At a Maputo press conference, held after official talks between Mozambican and Ghanaian delegations, both Presidents declared that military takeovers are not the solution to the problems of African development.

Nyusi said that mistakes will always be made, and so the best way of solving problems peacefully should be identified. “I don’t believe that nothing goes wrong in Asian countries, or in European countries, or in American countries, but these failings do not lead to coups’, he stressed. “There will always be failings’.

Nyusi called for investigating the reasons that lead to coups in just one part of the world, and to avoid drawing hasty conclusions.

Akufo-Addo agreed. “Military coups are not the solution to the problems of our continent’, he said. “We have to find the best ways of governing ourselves, and these are not through military intervention’.

There is nothing new about military coups, he added. Ghana itself had suffered coups – which was why, he stressed, Ghanaians did not need to be told that military intervention is not a solution to their problems.

The two presidents urged media professionals to help the continent by spreading a culture that would be a barrier to military takeovers.

The latest country where soldiers have helped themselves to power is Gabon where President Ali Bongo was overthrown on Thursday.

The justification given for this is that Bongo had stolen the presidential election of 26 August – although some independent analysts believe that the incumbent had won.

The Gabonese junta is treading a path followed in recent years by the military in Niger, Mali, Burkina Fasso, and Guinea.

Nyusi said Mozambique wants to learn from the Ghanaian experience in matters of defence and security. He was particularly interested in the Council of Peace that Ghana had established, which brings together all segments of society.

This Council had been set up, he said, not because there is any conflict in Ghana, “but in order to prevent any conflict from arising’.

He also hoped to cooperate with Ghana in the fight against piracy, an area on which Ghana has great experience.

Also on Friday, Mozambique and Ghana signed agreements on political and diplomatic consultations, municipal development, fisheries and aquaculture, and geology and mining.

“Ghana has been a good reference point for democracy and the fight against corruption’, said Nyusi. “Transparency is a battle that is being won in Ghana, and we shall work to see what we can do together’.