The Forgotten Sons of the State: The Social and Political Positions of Former Government Soldiers in Post-War Mozambique

Abstract

This article shows that 21 years after the signing of the peace accords, the Mozambican state continues to struggle with the social and political niche of the more than 90,000 demobilized soldiers. The article departs from the observation that the memory construction of the past liberation and civil war done by the FRELIMO government was highly influential in creating and sharpening categories of veterans, determining which "type" of veteran has access to privileged resources and which is excluded. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the problematic relationship between ex-combatants of the government army and the Mozambican government is explored. For veterans, this relationship is characterized by frustration, hope, patrimonialism and the use of the threat of violence. This plays out in negotiations involving material aspects (particularly pensions), but also symbolic aspects of being regarded as worthy veterans.

Keywords

• Former combatants
• state
• memory politics
• pensions
• violence