More than 250 former Renamo guerrillas in central Mozambique, demobilized as part of the Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) process, said on Monday 27 that they were facing integration challenges in their communities following their exclusion from the peace agenda and social assistance opportunities.

Speaking at the first regional meeting of dialogue between women and local leaders in Mozambique, they noted that many former guerrillas are becoming marginalized due to the failure to comply with various promises in the peace agreement, which include pensions, land for housing and income projects.

Amélia Sitole, a former guerrilla, notes that the lack of material and financial resources has made her economic reintegration difficult, and her exclusion from some social assistance projects has worsened her social condition.

"The agricultural fields are rented and due to lack of money I can't rent them to produce food, and the projects that appear in the neighborhood we are not contemplated, as it was with the applications to benefit from Covid-19 funds, the surveyors passed by our houses, it was enough to know that it is the house of an ex-guerrilla," laments Amélia Sitole, quoted by Voice of America.

Another former combatant, Linda Size, who was demobilized in June at the last Renamo base in Gorongosa, notes that she was well accepted in the area where she was reintegrated in Manica, but is fighting for economic integration that will free her from dependence on family help.

"We are facing problems. All the promises in the agreement are not being fulfilled; no income generation project, no pension, so we are angry. We are in a bad way. Many ex-guerrilla women are excluded from social support in the neighborhoods," says Size, also quoted by VOA.

For her part, Manica's Director of Gender, Children and Social Action also expressed concern about the integration of former guerrilla women into social and economic development processes, but defended the fact that various efforts are underway for their economic inclusion and that of their dependents affected by the war.

"This year we have managed to integrate around 3,600 women into income-generating projects, but we also need to look at these aspects of women ex-combatants," said Ema Catana, stressing that social support should also include the wives and children of ex-combatants who died in combat, and who today suffer the collateral damage of the war.

For Dércio Alfazema, director of programmes at the Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD), the marginalization of ex-combatants contributes to a decrease in trust between these groups and the institutions, threatening the sustainability of peace in Mozambique.

Alfazema believes it is necessary to create tools for women - who have been excluded from society for a long time due to the war - to explore opportunities at a local level.

The source emphasizes that the former guerrillas "need to have a mechanism for accessing income, so as not to depend solely on pensions, to access markets, so that they can be integrated into local processes and mechanisms that promote peace," thus contributing to local development agendas.

The DDR covered 5,221 former Renamo guerrillas, including 800 women, 257 of whom were reintegrated in the provinces of Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambézia, in central Mozambique.