Draft Culture of Peace Programme in Mozambique 51-54

PROJECT PROFILE 7.0

In addition to the long-term cultivation of peace at the grass-roots level, a process of responsibility for peace by community and government leaders is needed over the next few years to assure the peaceful transition of Mozambique to a stable political and economic system and to avoid a resurgence of violent conflict. Three categories of leadership are deemed to be especially important to this process: women in leadership positions, the leadership of the new army and police, and the traditional village leaders of the countryside.

It is likely that a substantial number of women will be elected to parliament in the October 1994 elections, and it is the opinion of members of the Culture of Peace Steering Committee that they can play a major role in the new government in assuring that it gives leadership for peace and reconciliation.

Under terms of the Rome Peace Accord, the new army (FADM or Mozambique Armed Defence Force) is scheduled to have 30,000 men, including 15,000 from each of the armies from the two sides of the previous armed conflict. By early September, it was still being formed and had 3,715 from RENAMO and 8,688 from the government forces. At the same time, there are rumors of each side holding back soldiers and weapons which could be used in case of a return to hostilities.

The Rome Accords did not provide for a new police force. As a result the Mozambican Republic Police (PRM) with its 28,000 members, are supposed to extend their jurisdiction to the entire country, including RENAMO-held areas. This process has not yet been completed.

The future of the army and police will be crucial for the future of peace in Mozambique. What kind of army and police will they be? What will be there guiding principles and their functions? Will they be under effective civilian control? To some extent the answers to these questions can be influenced by an effective training of army and police leadership in human rights, democratic principles and methods of non-violent conflict resolution.

About 80% of Mozambicans live in rural areas, where society has traditionally been organized in a hierarchical system of clans and lineages with both religious and secular leadership. This leadership still plays a very important role in the traditional processes of peace-making, such as the "palabre". At the same time, because this traditional social organization is organized along ethnic lines, it has the potential for inter-ethnic conflict as well. Thus there are traditions of rivalry, for example, between Macondes and Macuas, between Senas and Ndaus, and between Rongas and Changanes.

An important part of the peace process must be the recognition of the relevance of traditional leadership in the countryside and a process of dialogue among leaders from different communities and ethnic groups in which conflicts can be worked out in a peaceful way. Although this is a process which the Mozambicans themselves must carry out, it is one that can be assisted by the Culture of Peace Programme.

These challenges to leadership in the next few years are not unique to Mozambique, but are common to many countries in the Southern African sub-region, such as in Zimbabwe and Namibia, and most recently to the newly elected government of the Republic of South Africa. Therefore an important part of the this project involves systematic provisions for exchange of experiences in peace-building with leadership counterparts in other countries of the sub-region.

In order to involve traditional community leaders in the peace and reconciliation process, a series of meetings will be held twice a year in districts or provinces throughout the country bringing together traditional leaders representing localities with different ethnicities and political views. These meetings will be devoted to discussions aimed at producing an understanding of their conflicts and common problems and leading to recommendations for conflict resolution and for actions at provincial and national levels.

Training seminars will be organized for training in civic education and a culture of peace to the women elected to parliament in the 1994 elections. Special attention will be given to support for the drafting laws to guarantee the rights of women in Mozambique, using experience gained by organizations and lawmakers in other countries.

Training seminars in human rights, democracy and non-violent conflict resolution will be offered to the army and civil police.

The training seminars, both for parliamentarians and for army and policy will be based on Mozambican traditions and experiences of conflict resolution and will be "elicitive" in methodology. In other words the content will be based primarily on an exchange of the skills and knowledge which the participants already bring to the seminars.

Linkages will be developed between the trainers on this project and those in projects of the Culture of Peace Programme dealing with related issues: between the training of women parliamentarians and the project for rural women; between the training of army and police and the training of demobilized soldiers.

Special research projects will be supported to study the problems and approaches of the three groups in this project and to evaluate the effectiveness of the training offered.

International exchanges will be promoted for the women parliamentarians and army and police officers with their counterparts working for peace in other African countries.

Summary of Activities:

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