Clarification: 1,400 army deserters numbers are from 16-year civil war, not present conflict – Mozambique

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Clarification: 1,400 army deserters numbers are from 16-year civil war, not present conflict – Mozambique

12:55 CAT | 16 Mar 2016

O País

The Ministry of Combatants yesterday issued a clarification of an article in O País titled “1400 defect from Mozambique army,” the same newspaper reports today.

Ministry spokesman Horacio Massangai says that the defections in question are not from the current Armed Defense Forces of Mozambique (FADM), but relate to the old Armed Forces of Mozambique.

“There have been defections, yes. That is a fact, but the numbers revealed refer to the time before 1992,” the date of the General Peace Agreement. This means that the desertions were of soldiers fighting in 16-year civil war between Renamo and government forces.

In a further twist, it has come to light that the numbers were established during the registration process for combatant pensions in 2015.

A report by Minister of Combatants’ Eusebio Lambo says the civil war deserters have now reappeared en masse to claim pensions.

“These cases deserve special attention. However, it must be noted that local governments took over and gave great support to the registration process, a fact which is proven by the flow of veterans, both in meetings and at the registration posts. There was a massive campaign on combatant status and the process itself,” said Lambo, cited by AIM.

Registration identified 189,687 combatants nationally, of which 95,743 are national liberation struggle veterans and 93,944 A total of 33,747 combatants registered for pensions, 17.3 percent of the total number. Of this number, 19,773 are national liberation struggle veterans and 13,974 civil war combatants.

According to Lambo, 31,060 cases were processed in total, with 19,248 applications for veteran bonuses recorded and 11,557 applications for the social reintegration payment (limited to civil war veterans). Two hundred and fifty-five applications for survivors’ pensions were also recorded and 1,106 combatants’ projects promoted funded through the Fund for Peace and National Reconciliation.

Eusébio Lambo added that there have been recorded 9,147 pending cases, of which 2,890 were veterans of the national liberation struggle and 1,309 cases by fighters from the 16-year war that date back to less than 10 years ago. There are also 4,383 pending cases by fighters from the 16-year war that date back to more than 10 years ago.

Source: O País / AIM