‘A baby who does not cry will not be suckled’: AMODEG and the reintegration of demobilised soldiers

Abstract

Journal of Southern African Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:This article investigates the politics of the Mozambican demobilised soldiers' association (the Associagao Mogambicana dos Desmobilizados da Guerra, AMODEG). On the basis of interviews and press reports, I explore AMODEG's appeals and strategy, as well as the association's relationship with the government, donors and its own members. I argue that AMODEG has a considerable degree of independence from the state, derived from its ability to appeal to the international community for financial resources, and from its capacity to mobilise its members and raise fears of instability and violence. AMODEG has made some positive contributions to the reintegration of ex-soldiers by channelling their demands politically and providing an alternative to banditry and crime. However, AMODEG's dependence on donor and state funding has undermined its capacity to represent the interests of its members. I thus follow other scholars in questioning the potential for civil society -in the form of associations such as AMODEG -to constrain state power and promote democratic reforms in Mozambique.

Ex-combatant agency and re-recruitment

“…War-related severe stress, even though transient indelibly changes an individual on various levels (Schaal and Elbert, 2006: 95-105). Regret over the loss of education, sexual exploitation, false promises regarding future rewards are some of the practical and moral factors that can deter re-recruitment (Blattman and Annan, 2010;Schafer, 1998). Reflective agency can also be linked to temporality in terms of age and changes in status (Thornberry, Huizinga and Loeber, 1995).…”

Renamo's Rise and Decline: The Politics of Reintegration in Mozambique

“…The Mozambican demobilized soldiers' association, the Associaçã o Moçambicana dos Desmobilizados da Guerra, AMODEG tried to assist, but its dependence on particularly state funding made it less supportive of ex-Renamo combatants in their efforts to reintegrate. 28 Renamo proposed extending pension benefits to its soldiers as they not been paid salaries during the war, but Frelimo opposed it. Frelimo used the pension debate to demonstrate its political strength.…”

“We Have Been Sensitized”: Ex‐Combatants, Marginalization, and Youth in Postwar Sierra Leone

“…Simultaneously, their embrace of victimhood fit poorly with the local emphasis on usefulness as a tenet of positive social personhood (Bolten 2008). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which promoted public truth telling and forgiveness as social healing (see Kelsall 2005; Shaw 2005) lacked the scope to ask whether an ex‐combatant desiring forgiveness possessed the qualities of social personhood enabling his integration. The skills training offered ex‐combatants during reintegration was poorly designed and executed (Peters 2006), leaving them unable to compete with or be employed by local master craftsmen and rendering them unable to prove their usefulness.…”

“…As long as they lived “peacefully,” attempted to find employment, and possessed a “community orientation,” reconciliation was possible (Ginifer 2003:46). Some participated in the TRC, which promised ex‐combatants that truth telling was a necessary reconciliation activity (Shaw 2005:4). Among the TRC participants I interviewed, most volunteered because they believed going through the process would inculcate the reconciliation that would initiate civilian life.…”

“…They became agitated recalling the stories—Ibrahim burst into a sweat—and only became “cool” when we moved to other topics. These traumatic memories were voiced and enacted through the bodily suffering of wam at (Das 2000:205), a suffering considered socially dangerous because it reopened the space for violence (Shaw 2005). Like the avoidance ex‐combatants experienced from civilians who “didn't want to know” about them, managing wam at meant these confrontations, and their retelling, while perhaps not rare, were rarely public and were managed quietly, individually.…”