From: barnhart@netcom.com (Aaron Barnhart)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:MOZAMBIQUE: THE COMBATANTS FRELIMO
Date: 15 Aug 92 02:21:38 GMT
Reply-To: barnhart@netcom.com
Organization: Netcom

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: MOZAMBIQUE: THE COMBATANTS FRELIMO ''FORGOT'' /REPEAT/


an inter press service feature

by accadoga chiledi

boane, mozambique, aug 10 (ips) -- armando mchamu sits against
the wall of his mud and thatch house at the 'centro dos antigos
combatents', (centre for former combatants) dejected, bitter and
angry.

mchamu is a veteran member of the ruling mozambique
liberation front (frelimo) who fought the 1964-1974 independence
war against portuguese colonialism.

at 45 mchamu feels his whole life has been wasted. ''frelimo
has abandoned us'', he told ips at the centre, about 35 km
south-west of the capital, maputo, friday. ''is this what we
fought for all those 10 years in the bush?

''nowadays when i sleep i always think: what crime did i
commit? was my crime to fight against the portuguese?''

mchamu was demobilised along with some 10,000 other
ex-combatants from the mozambique army in 1984 and sent to the
centre -- a farm abandoned by the portuguese owner at
independence -- as head of production because of his
agricultural training.

but the centre, like its members, has been ''abandoned'' by
the government, says mchamu, a father of seven, who was the
centre's head of production for five years.

when it opened in 1986, the government promised to give ''all
assistance'' to the centre, which used to produce citrus fruits,
vegetables, and had goats, chicken and pigs, according to
mchamu.

at the height of production in 1984, the ex-combatants
exported 14,000 boxes of citrus fruits to the (former) german
democratic republic (gdr) over a three-month period (march-may).

the centre has a health centre and a primary school to cater
for the original 160 ex-combatants and their families, mchamu
says.

however, the health centre exists only in name and no
medicines. the school is in a state of disrepair, with pupils in
primary one and two sitting on the dusty floor. (more/ips)


mozambique: the combatants (2)         /repeat/

with the current drought, production has stopped. their
only meagre source of survival is what they can get from their
little individual plots which they water by hand.

what mchamu gets from their little plot supplements his
monthly pension of 30,000 meticais (15 dollars). the minimum
wage in mozambique is 40,000 (20 dollars), which experts say
covers less than a third of the basic diet for a family of five
a day.

''we fought and gave food to frelimo. they are now rich and they
have abandoned us'', mchamu says. ''renamo (the rebel mozambique
national resistance) is fighting frelimo so they can also eat.''

''i don't want to hear anything about frelimo or renamo. i
now want to live a  quiet, simple life. i have been used before.
i don't want to be used again. never''.

mchamu desire is to get home to the northern province of
cabo delgado. this has been his wish since he was demobilised,
but he does not have the means.

in 1977 the defence ministry, which administers the centre
through the association of ex-combatants, took the names of
persons who wished to return to their home areas. but up to now
there has been no action.

hilario linha paulo (34) was demobilised in 1986 after he
suffered a broken leg in a renamo ambush dec. 25, 1982 near the
south african border, where six of his colleagues died and three
(including him) were injured.

a father of three, paulo is bitter about the treatment he has
received from the ministry of defence. like mchamu, he receives
a monthly pension of 30,000 meticais.

''look, this is all i have'', he told ips, touching his pair of
combat trousers.

but despite everything, ''to me frelimo is my father. it
brought me up. but not (dhlakama's) renamo. his war is
meaningless'', says paulo.

''all i want from the government is to care for my children
until they are fullly grown-up children of this country. that's
all i want''.

the ex-combatants here are not the only ones ''abandoned''.
the situation similar in the other nine centres in eight of the
country's 10 provinces, according to a former senior member of
the association of ex-combatants.

''the problem is greater than meets the eye'', says the official
who spoke to ips on condition of anonymity. ''the problem is nobody
appears to care at the top about the ex-combatants''.
(end/ips/apc/tvh/92)


-- 
Aaron (Barnhart@netcom.com) -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african