Mozambique: Dozens of former Renamo fighters being taught to read, write in Gorongosa – Lusa

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Mozambique: Dozens of former Renamo fighters being taught to read, write in Gorongosa – Lusa

8:11 CAT | 08 Jun 2021

FILE - Illustrative photo. [File photo: Lusa]

At least 69 former Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) guerrillas will be taught to read and write in Sofala province, under the ‘Peace Clubs’ initiative, promoted by Gorongosa National Park and funded by the Portuguese government.

The project falls within the initiatives that seek to promote the reinsertion of guerrillas of the main opposition party who laid down their weapons and left the bush under the peace agreement signed between the government and Renamo in 2019, Gil Mahara, education manager and focal point of the “Peace Clubs”, told Lusa.

The initiative is funded by the Portuguese Cooperation in Mozambique at an annual value of €50,000. It will be run for a year, and the main beneficiaries are former Renamo guerrillas living in the district of Gorongosa Sofala province.

Also read: Mozambique: Launch of the Peace Clubs initiative

“This is a long-term initiative, and what we are doing now is experimenting so that in the future we take the project to other parts of the country,” Mahara said, adding that it is a “functional literacy” programme, which includes in its teaching plan small business methods and strategies for this group.

The “Peace Clubs” initiative also aims to create job opportunities for former Renamo guerrillas within the Gorongosa National Park. At least five people are currently employed as part of the process.

Mozambican head of state Filipe Nyusi and Renamo president Ossufo Momade signed a Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in August 2019, an understanding that provides, among other things, for the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of the armed wing of that party, involving about 5,000 members.

According to official figures, by April of this year, more than 2,600 guerrillas of the Renamo armed wing had given up their weapons, in a process that is taking place “smoothly”, according to the chairman of Renamo.

Despite the progress, namely the signing of the peace agreement, the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, a splinter group of the party, has been carrying out armed attacks in the provinces of Sofala and Manica in central Mozambique.

The junta led by Mariano Nhongo, a former Renamo guerrilla leader, is contesting the party leadership and the conditions for demobilisation arising from the peace agreement and is, according to the authorities, responsible for the incursions which have already caused the death of 30 people and several wounded on roads and in villages in those two provinces.

Source: Lusa