Mozambique: Courage and loyalty of veterans should be an inspiration – AIM report

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Mozambique: Courage and loyalty of veterans should be an inspiration – AIM report

9:05 CAT | 09 Sep 2019

Photo: Domingo

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi declared on Saturday that the courage and loyalty displayed by those who freed the country from colonial rule should serve as an inspiration for the current and future generations as they build a prosperous Mozambique.

Nyusi was speaking in the central city of Chimoio, at the sixth festival of Veterans of the National Liberation Struggle, which this year coincides with Victory Day, the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Lusaka Agreement on Mozambican independence, on 7 September 1974.

The first shots in the struggle to overthrow colonial rule were fired on 25 September 1964, and the war ended ten years later, with the agreement signed in the Zambian capital between the Portuguese government and the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), which set up a transitional government leading to full Mozambican independence on25 June 1975.

Nyusi stressed the commitment of those Mozambicans who sacrificed their youth to join the ranks of Frelimo and fight for freedom. The generations of today and tomorrow, he said, have the mission to preserve this independence, which “cost the blood of the sons of this country of heroes, and thus value the sacrifice of those who laid down their lives to bring us this common good that is called independence”.

“National Independence is ours and needs to be valued, just as we should value peace. These are two important factors for the growth of a nation”, said Nyusi. “A country can only develop, if it is independent and at peace”.

He recalled that a month ago, on 6 August, he had signed a peace and reconciliation agreement with Ossufo Momade, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo. The agreement had been enshrined into law by the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, which meant it was now binding on all Mozambican citizens.

That agreement, he continued, reminded Mozambicans “that they are all brothers, and that they share the same country, regardless of differences”. Thus they should all cultivate “a spirit of peace, where dialogue must prevail as the only means of solving conflicts, allowing our brothers who are still in the bush to return to their families”.

Attending the Manica festival were more than 3,800 veterans of the liberation war. During the ceremony 55 veterans were decorated, one of them posthumously, with the “Veteran of the National Liberation Struggle” medal.

Source: AIM