Mozambique: 15,000 meticais base salary for military “square soldiers” and other ‘Junta’ demands – Carta

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Mozambique: 15,000 meticais base salary for military “square soldiers” and other ‘Junta’ demands – Carta

3:47 CAT | 24 Nov 2020

File photo: Plataforma Media

The attacks in the central region of the country, specifically in the provinces of Sofala and Manica, seem to have no end in sight. Meanwhile, last week was marked by the ‘anger’ of the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, at the lack of readiness for dialogue on the part of the Renamo Military Junta, and because of the publication of the dissident movement’s ‘letter’ laying out their main claims.

In the document, dated September 30, 2019, the Renamo Military Junta, led by Lieutenant-General Mariano Nhongo, wants, among other things, military “square soldiers” to be paid a base salary of 15,000 meticais [around US$202 at current exchange rates].

This requirement appears among the “basic issues to be taken care of in the negotiations” with the Mozambican government.

The letter also stipulates that “each military to be demobilised must be entitled to a pension; accumulated back payments from all years of service; reintegration of Renamo military personnel; the parity of Renamo commands in all the sectors of the Defence and Security Forces; and the demobilisation must be carried out for the Renamo and the Government military personnel in four places of cantonment (Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambézia)”.

Currently, the “square soldier” performing compulsory military service is paid 3,000.00 meticais per month, and the equivalent rank in the Voluntary Regime earns 5,200.00 meticais per month, while training for a career as sergeant or officer.

The Renamo Military Junta document was made public just days after the President of the Republic professed himself upset with the Military Junta’s stance during the officer graduation ceremony at the Lieutenant General Armando Emílio Guebuza Superior Institute of Defence Studies. On that occasion, President Nyusi said that the matter of the Junta would be treated in line with the acts it had been perpetrating.

The Head of State’s ‘anger’ derives from the Junta’s failure to comply with the unilateral truce he decreed as a way of opening space for dialogue with the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, which has been carrying out attacks in Manica and Sofala provinces.

Meanwhile, in the ‘hangover’ of the unilateral truce, Mariano Nhongo said publicly that it did not produce the results intended because the FDS continued to persecute and murder his men, in what he classified as a “cheat”.

It should be recalled that the leader of the self-styled Renamo Military Junta had conditioned negotiations with the government on the publication of the document it sent to the President of the Republic last year, which is now in circulation.

Military Junta – the letter

The document says that the Military Junta formally constituted an extraordinary conference on the 17th of August 2019, in which representatives from units across the country took part.

The document reveals that the Military Junta has as its objectives removing Ossufo Momade from the presidency of Renamo and taking over, on Renamo’s behalf, negotiations with the Nyusi government, with a view to achieving lasting peace.

At the negotiating table, the document says, the Renamo dissident group aims to rescue and restore what it calls the truths that were purposely omitted on key aspects for implementing the letter and the spirit of the residual forces’ Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process, in compliance with the terms negotiated by the then leader of Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama.

On the DDR, the Military Junta wants to see Renamo guerrillas integrated into command roles in the Defence and Security Forces, from the top (at ministerial level) to the bottom, specifically the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the State Intelligence and Security Service (SISE)

The Military Junta describes itself as a group that does not support war and is genuinely committed to “installing” effective peace in the country. In fact, for the group, effective peace in Mozambique is “a basic and achievable precondition to the benefit of the country’s integral development”.

Source: Carta de Moçambique