Mozambique: Government receives database of Renamo former guerrillas

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Mozambique: Government receives database of Renamo former guerrillas

8:36 CAT | 27 Jul 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Mozambique’s government on Monday received the database of former members of the armed wing of the main opposition party, Renamo – a necessary step for the establishment of a system of pensions for the one-time guerrillas, under the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process, it was announced on Wednesday.

In a statement issued after the 26th ordinary session of cabinet was held on Tuesday, the government said that the database containing the elements necessary for the preparation and fixing of pensions “under the terms of the agreements signed” was received on Monday.

The DDR process, which began in 2018, covers 5,221 former guerrillas of Renamo, Mozambique’s largest opposition party then and now, including 257 women. The latest phase was completed last June with the closure of the Vunduzi base, Renamo’s last, located in the district of Gorongosa, in Sofala province, in central Mozambique.

That base closed 30 years and eight months after the end of the country’s civil war, and the closing ceremony in June represented the end of the demobilisation process of the guerrillas who had remained in bases in remote areas and who began to surrender their weapons in 2019.

This phase is followed by the reintegration phase, which includes the start of pension payments to the demobilised guerrillas.

The closure of the last base is part of the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement signed between the govening Frelimo party and Renamo in August 2019, which was the third signed between the parties – the first two having been violated with the resumption of armed clashes, following the contestation of the election results by Renamo.

Source: Lusa