A Further Five Renamo Gunmen Defect

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

A Further Five Renamo Gunmen Defect

8:12 CAT | 20 Jan 2016

Jornal Notícias

The Mozambican authorities on Tuesday presented to the press a further five gunmen who have defected from the militia of the former rebel movement Renamo, and say they wish to return to a normal life.

They are Sergeants Bernardo Gasolina (46 years old) and Helena Mulimule (37), Second Lieutenants Abdul Muquitia (53) and Luisa Madaculene (46) and private Armando Augusto (47). All had come from the Renamo base at Murotane, in Mocuna district, in the central province of Zambezia.
.
The spokesperson for the group, Gasolina, who said he has been fighting for Renamo since 1982, claimed that many other Renamo fighters want to abandon their bases in the bush but find it difficult to leave because, if they are discovered, the consequences are fatal.

“If those who try to escape are discovered, they are immediately killed”, he claimed. The Renamo leaders, he added, also tell their men that anyone who tries to defect will be killed by the government forces.

Gasolina told the reporters that life in the Murotane base was permanently miserable. “Murotane is an area where there is nothing”, he said. “We didn’t sleep, all our time was spent in training. We weren’t eating, and we didn’t take baths with soap, We were living badly. So I saw it was worth leaving that place and seeing if the government will help us”.

He urged other Renamo gunmen still in the bush to surrender to the government forces and join in the work to develop the country.

For his part, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs, Horacio Massangaie, said that Renamo gunmen who defect have nothing to worry about, since their security is guaranteed., Several government teams have been set up to receive those Renamo militiamen, who wish to leave their bush camps, particularly in the central provinces of Manica. Sofala and Zambezia.

“Our arms are open to receive all those who wish to return to normal life, or with to remain in the military, if that’s what they prefer”, he said. The five defectors presented on Tuesday had all opted to return to civilian life.

Massangaie pointed out that funds are available to support veterans, including former Renamo fighters, notably the government’s Peace and National Reconciliation Fund which provides loans for viable projects presented by veterans.

Source: AIM