It is difficult to reintegrate into the community someone who has been away for a long time; to forgive and forget evil deeds; and to spend time together again after being so long apart. This is because these are matters concerning the very psyche of the individual. When the emotional and physical distance between loved ones is an armed conflict, with the physical and psychical violence that implies, the task of reintegration is enormous. In the case of Mozambique this situation involved children being removed from their communities forcibly by acts of war, being beaten, mistreated, raped, starved and commanded to kill even close relatives.

This contribution provides a positive account of attempts now being made in Mozambique to reintegrate children involved in the armed conflict that ended in October 1992.

The activities in question are being carried out by government, non-governmental organisations, and by local communities where the children are being resettled to reacquire social rules and family values, largely disregarded during the hard times of displacement, captivity, compulsory participation in combat and other circumstances accompanying armed conflict.

The end of the war in Mozambique in 1992 has made evident the need for overall reconstruction and for the reintegration of refugees, displaced people and other groups rendered vulnerable by conflict. It has also drawn attention to the urgency of reconciling the various parties to the conflict - individuals, social groups and communities - and the need to develop new ideas and perceptions about the structuring of the nation's political life and the process of development for the country.

At present, a process of reconciliation is being consolidated in Mozambique, and is becoming a reality across the country, in the broadest sense. Individuals and the social groups are participating in an exercise of forgiveness, helped by ceremonies and rituals taking place in urban and rural areas all around the country.

It is important to understand that after more than a decade of armed conflict, in which the state has been dangerously weakened by destruction wrought from within and outside the country, communities are reinforcing their traditional role of structuring the rules for the cyclical productive process and for the long term process of social reproduction. In fact, Mozambique, being a community state by nature, community life is the traditional avenue for individuals to seek support. In the aftermath of war, the community offers the individual a sense of belonging to a collective that cares for its members, which is so important for those morally and physically dislocated by the exigencies of conflict.

Communities have participated actively in the process of reintegrating demobilised soldiers, despite conditions of general scarcity. At present these communities are taking responsibility for the care of children affected by the conflict, whether or not these children have proper family ties. This is particularly important in a situation in which aid fatigue is denying the state and the NGOs badly needed financial means to back up projects or programmes for this purpose.

In the case of child ex-soldiers, the community is taking responsibility for reintegrating them in social life. And because African culture is replete with rituals of reconciliations, in which dances, songs and other collective actions help to heal abused and afflicted souls, these are playing a role in the process of healing and reintegrating those very young men and women, trying again to make them functional human beings. Furthermore, the communities are performing rituals of cohesion to make sure the wounds of war are healed properly, making an essential contribution to the implementation of a real and lasting peace.

Because healing has to do with the inner self, and we are all cultural beings, culture plays a major role in the process of reintegration in collective social life. This being so, the actions of reintegration based on the traditional community way of life are showing better results than other approaches, because they follow rules knows and valued by the local population, using the very cultural language as a mechanism to bring local individuals back to local social life.

With the help of various social forces from inside and outside the country, society in Mozambique is returning to normality, itself a contribution to the consolidation of reconciliation. The new parliament is slowly promulgating laws, decrees and political resolutions to structure the country's political life and guide the development of the new democratic state. It is as part of this package of "back to normal life" that a new Conscription Act has been approved by the Assembly of the Republic.

The implications of this specific law are that the Mozambican state will have to consider living under laws that stipulate exceptions for at least a generation. This is a matter of ethical and moral principle, because those who have suffered most have to be protected and cared for in a special way, and given preference by the state in execution of its responsibilities, even if the Republics constitution stipulates that all citizens have equal rights and duties. This is a situation that also has to be taken into account in the monitoring of the situation by civil society.

In spite of the attempt to normalise as far as possible the lives of a group of children ex-soldiers by reintegrating them into society, this should be regarded as the exception, because children have the right to a normal childhood. To allow a group of ex-child soldiers to serve in the new non-partisan army and resume contact with military life, should be regarded as immoral.

The monograph shows that the national campaign launched by civil society against the conscription of ex-child soldiers has already met with a good response from many social forces in the country. It is now in the hands of the state, however, to ensure that such conscription does not occur.

Irae Baptista Lundin
Head: Dept of Cultural, Political and Social Studies
Centre for Strategic and International Studies
Maputo, Mozambique