More than 700 Mozambican civil war veterans and their families have gathered in Maputo to demand pensions from the government.
|||Maputo - More than 700 Mozambican civil war veterans and their families gathered in the country's capital Maputo on Wednesday during a second day of protests to demand pensions from the government.
The group of veterans, widows, children, and siblings camped outside the prime minister's office on Tuesday, singing revolutionary songs and brandishing placards.
“We want the government to pay us a pension of 12 500 meticals per month for each demobilised war veteran, as well as the integration of former militiamen and their widows in the scheme,” the leader of one of the veterans' associations, Herminio dos Santos, told reporters on Wednesday.
“We don't want to dialogue with the ministry (of war veterans), we want direct talks with the president or the prime minister.”
Dozens of police officers armed with AK-47 rifles and riot gear watched over the protest as nervous authorities fear an outbreak of riots after unrest in September last year left 14 people dead.
None of the 70 000 fighters from the 16-year civil war between the Frelimo government forces and Renamo rebel group currently receive pensions, while veterans from the country's liberation war against colonial power Portugal do get money from the state.
A new law pledges payment to civil war veterans, but the value has not been set.
The war veterans ministry said the gathering was unnecessary.
“The Ministry of Combatants is open to dialogue with demobilised soldiers, so there is no reason for them protest and demand an explanation to the president or the prime minister,” spokesperson Lourenco Chapo told state newspaper Noticias.
Mozambique would have to pay 840-million meticals every month to meet the veterans' needs. The country spends 10-billion meticals a year on war pensions already.
Around 100 000 people were killed four million others displaced during the conflict which ended in 1992. - Sapa-AFP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/hundreds-march-over-pensions-in-maputo-1.1165476
No comments:
Post a Comment