wfn.org | MOZAMBICAN CHURCH WORKS TO DEMILITARISE COUNTRY

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Title; MOZAMBICAN CHURCH WORKS TO DEMILITARISE COUNTRY
June 10, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications, 
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.6.1.4]

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MOZAMBICAN CHURCH WORKS TO DEMILITARISE COUNTRY

(Taken from the All Africa Press Service 19 May 1997)

After they successfully participated in the peace making process that
saw the signing of the historical peace accord in Rome in 1992 between
the Mozambican Government and the rebel Movement-front for the
Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), the Mozambican Churches are now
embarked on yet another national programme. This demilitarisation
programme aims to swap weapons with farm implements, for example, for a
better Mozambique, reports APS writer Osman Njuguna.

"When we fully participated in the peace making initiatives that finally
brought peace to the Mozambicans after the historic signing of the peace
accord in Rome in 1992 between the Mozambica Government and the rebel
Movement-Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), our simple
understanding was that we would go back to the 'normal' pastoral work.
This was all that was there for us. But alas! we are back to the scene.
We are today involved in yet another national programmes:
demilitarisation, aimed to transform the Mozambicans from war to peace
situation - physically and morally too," explains Mozambican Anglican
Bishop Dinis Sengulane (Bishop of Lebombo).

The Anglican clergyman, who was addressing a church-sponsored
pan-African meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, recently said the
programme involves "healing the Mozambican, who, for many years have
been revenged by civil strife, to change from war to peace mentality."
But how is this going to be done?

"The Churches in Mozambique, under the umbrella of the Christian Council
of Mozambique (CCM), aim to open up as many centres as possible where
those in possession of guns among other weapons can surrender the items
to us; but of course with a reward," explained Bishop Sengulane in an
interview with APS.

"A man who brings us a gun, for example, will end up going home with a
plough; while a mother or a women for that matter, who does the same,
will end up going home with a sewing machine. And a man who surrenders,
say 500 guns to us, will end up going home with a tractor," the
Mozambican bishop further explained.

Bishop Sengulane says the Church is getting a lot of support from the
Mozambican Government on the programme. "The Government is equally
concerned that there are a lot of weapons, ranging from guns and
grenades to mines (anti-personnels), among the Mozambicans. Our
contribution here is to help the Government either lessen the situation
or simply wipe it out," explains Bishop Sengulane. This is not unique,
taking into account that the country has been under a war or war-related
situation for many years.

According to Bishop Sengulane, the programme, which has already taken
off the ground, is attracting financial attention from some ecumenical
partners in Europe. "The money coming in is helping us to purchase items
to swap these weapons with", he says, without wanting to go deeper to
explain how much is needed and what their sources are.

The issue here is not so much the money but rather how to effectively
educate the Mozambicans on the need to "change from war to development
mentality", he says.

According to the Mozambican clergyman, the Church has so far been able
to 'collect' 1000 firearms in terms of AK47 and pistols and an estimated
2,300 bullets, landmines and grenades.

"We are currently operating in Maputo and its environs but we hope to
move to other provinces, with aims to cover the entire country," says
Bishop Sengulane. But what does the Church do with the 'collected'
weaponry items?

"For guns and pistols, we cut them into pieces. We also de-activate
them. And for grenades and landmines, we explode them through the help
of the security men," he explains.

"We normally select a place to have them exploded. We invite the
security men to come but on condition that they come as per our
arrangement. For example, they should not be in uniform and they should
only come when we invite them to do so. We also alert the community
around' least you shock them with the explosion," he explained.

According to Bishop Sengulane, the Church plans to use the materials in
the weaponry to make "peace related items," such as rosaries or
souvenirs or household items, at least to prove to ourselves that "it is
possible to transform a nation or community from the mentality of war to
the mentality of peace."

And Mozambican children are not left out in the programme. Children are
encouraged to participate through collecting 'war' items and handing
them over to the Church. "We try to exchange whatever they have managed
to collect with toys; thus encouraging them to participate further, says
the Mozambican clergyman.

Christians in Mozambique are shocked that many crimes in the country
faithfully imitate films and plays watched by both children and adults.
Many toys given to children also are war-oriented and provide an
efficient way of creating and perpetuating a violent mentality, laments
Bishop Sengulane.

Even Christmas toys, he further says, teach Mozambican children to kill,
when the message of the season is peace on earth, goodwill to all. And
as a contribution to peace, the CCM will endeavour to advise children to
bring their guns to church, where they would be smashed as a testimony
of their devotion to the Prince of Peace, explains Bishop Sengulane.

Earlier, while addressing the Nairobi meeting, which was organised by
the International Affairs, Refugee and Emergency Committee of the All
Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), Bishop Sengulane said the
programme also aimed to help "those who have been disadvantaged by war,
ex-military or young people who missed normal schooling."

"We intend to try to provide them with basic skills to earn their living
through their work done in a transparent way. This is a need we have
become more and more aware of, yet very little has been done to meet
it," he laments.

He added that the programme, which he described as "turning swords into
ploughshares", would also endeavour to appeal to "our artists to think
about peace as they plan their artistic manifestations. Many times," he
explained,"people think that what is exciting and amusing must be
violent. We intend to show that violence is not amusing, but destructive
and disgusting."

Bishop Sengulane, who doubles as Chairman of the Peace and Justice as
well as Liturgy commissions of the CCM, further said that CCM through
this programme intends to set up a documentation centre, where documents
related to peace and justice would be available for all those spreading
the message of peace. They will also endeavour to encourage the use of
posters and gestures promoting peace, he explained, while lamenting that
some of the country's monuments, the national currency and national
symbols, unfortunately depicted a lot of violence.

On the landmine issue, the Churchman was quick to observe that
Mozambique like several African countries was badly affected by menace.
Some statistics have it that the country holds as many as 2 million
mines planted in its soil, he said.

Mozambique, which last February hosted the 4th International NGO
Conference of Landmines, 'Toward a Mine-free Southern Africa', is
reportedly said to be making efforts towards 'banning' the use,
manufacturing and trade of landmines. Its neighbouring country, South
Africa, is equally reported to be making efforts in the same direction.