MOZAMBIQUE SAYS OPPOSITION MILITIA KILL THREE OVER WEEKEND

By Borges Nhamire 
Militia loyal to Mozambique’s largest opposition party, Renamo, killed three people on major highways over the weekend in attacks meant to paralyze transport in the nation’s central regions, Interior Minister Basilio Monteiro said.
One person was killed in a Sunday strike on a bus in Murrotone, Zambezia province, the minister said in comments broadcast on national radio, while another died in an assault on a private car she was traveling in on Saturday, in Mossurize, Manica region. A hit on a military vehicle killed a member of the nation’s security forces, Monteiro said.
Renamo’s spokesman, Antonio Muchanga, said he didn’t know who was behind the violence. The party has retained its military wing since the official end of Mozambique’s civil war in 1992. 

Frequent clashes between its militia and government forces risk disrupting the nation’s development of gas deposits big enough make Mozambique the world’s third-largest supplier of gas chilled to liquid.
Mozambique’s central bank said Friday frequent Renamo attacks are one of the main reasons behind the nation’s economic crisis. The coal-producing nation is struggling with a cash crunch after global prices for commodities fell. Inflation in April rose to 17.3 percent, while the metical has weakened 12 percent against the dollar this year.

CREDIT: BLOOMBERG