Mozambique's ex-president Guebuza resigns as head of ruling party

MAPUTO: Mozambique's ex-president Armando Guebuza on Sunday stepped down as head of the ruling Frelimo party, two years before his term expired, a party official said, allaying fears he wanted to cling to power behind the scenes.
Guebuza, 72, was president of Mozambique until January when he was succeeded by Filipe Nyusi, 56 following elections in October.
He was legally not eligible for another term as he had served his second and final tenure, but he could have continued as head of the party where his term was due to expire in 2017.
"The new party president will be elected today," Frelimo spokesman Damiao Jose told AFP on the sidelines of the party congress, adding that the only candidate for the post was the country's new president Nyusi.
If elected Nyusi will rise from not holding any top position in the once Marxist-Leninist Frelimo party, to becoming its leader.
Guebuza, 72, and two-time president of the southern African country, has in recent weeks come under pressure to leave the party's top job to pave the way for Nyusi.
Frelimo, which has ruled the former Portuguese colony since independence nearly 40 years ago, is holding its annual meeting which opened on Thursday and is due to end Sunday in Matola town on the outskirts of the capital, Maputo.
Guebuza, a 1980s ex-Marxist styled general, took power as head of state in 2005.
Although Mozambique remains one of the world's poorest countries, Guebuza presided over a seven percent average annual growth rate in recent years.
Mozambique is now poised to earn billions of dollars in foreign investment over the next decade on the back of discoveries of significant coal and gas deposits. – AFP