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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
ANGOLA: Feature - Training helps ex-combatants reintegrate into civilian life
WAKU-KUNGO, 25 September 2003 (IRIN) - Angola's former rebel soldiers and their families continue to return in large numbers to their areas of origin - but lacking the necessary skills, few of them have found work and thousands complain about the lack of food security.
In an attempt to reduce unemployment among the ex-combatants, the Ministry for Public Administration, Employment and Social Security (MAPESS) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have set up education centres for basic training in brick-making, agriculture, electric wiring and carpentry.
In the city of Waku-Kungo, 350 km southeast of the capital, Luanda, the second group of students recently graduated after completing 45 days of training. Around 30 men between 16 and 56 years old were already enrolled at the centre for the next round.
"I came here because it gives me a chance to have a brighter future. I am here to learn how to make bricks and build houses. Those who learn, get jobs - the others don't," 19-year-old Fernando Angelino, who returned to his home in January, told IRIN.
When the war ended in April 2002, Fernando had been a soldier for four years, but now lives with his family near the city of Waku-Kungo. Despite his traumatic experiences as a soldier he is confident in the future. "I am going to be a businessman. I want to be rich," he said.
Not all ex-UNITA rebel fighters were as optimistic as Fernando. Some of his UNITA friends stood around him and grinned when they heard him talking. None of them were literate, but all held the information folders they had received from the centre tightly in their hands.
A recent WFP survey showed that 16 percent of ex-UNITA soldiers did not have any formal education, while nine percent had a grade 4 education.
All the students attending the education centre received WFP food rations that were expected to last a month. Many came to the centre on foot from villages up to 10 kilometers away.
According to Amerigo Constantino, head teacher at the education centre, the practical skills were more important for a "smooth integration" into civil society than reading and writing. He noted that although students participating in the training were selected by MAPESS, "they make their own choice as to what they want to learn".
Agricultural studies and brick-making were the most popular subjects. As part of their training, the previous group of students had laid the foundation of a house. One of the new students, Luciano Oliveira, sat in one of the rooms, ready to take up where his predecessors had left off at graduation.
Before enrolling at the centre Luciano had been looking for a job for 17 months. After the end of hostilities between UNITA and the government last year, he moved with his family to a UNITA quartering area in Menga in central Kwanza-Sul province, where there were several thousand soldiers and their families. They remained in the camp until January, when he finally received government clearance to move back to his home area near Waku-Kungo.
Now 39 years old, he feels ready to get his first paid job. "The government has promised me a job as a construction worker," he said.
In 1982 he joined the ranks of UNITA as a soldier. "Everything was compulsory - when you were ordered to move to a new area, you had to do it. You were supposed to be grateful. I tried to be grateful, even though I never chose to join UNITA," Oliveira said.
Without the support of WFP his family would have had a hard time surviving until the first harvest next year. In the meantime, Oliveira said, he would try to find employment in the city centre, building houses.
On the construction sites, Luciano is likely to encounter not only other ex-UNITA combatants in a similar situation, but also former MPLA (government) soldiers. Working alongside old enemies did not appear to bother him.
"I am happy that I don't have to be afraid of them. They are my brothers, like everybody else. I understand that they too were soldiers following orders. They didn't chose to be soldiers any more than I did. Sure, I was sad when Jonas Savimbi (UNITA founder) was murdered - it was a tragedy. I understood that the MPLA had won. But it was also a relief. I don't want to go back to war. Not ever again."
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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