African History 6.6 Ways to Move Past the Violence

About a million people died as the two powers bashed away at each other. [Soldier is knocked down by an explosion]

And about four million said “peace out”…and ditched their home country. [People protesting]

For many, life as a refugee was better than a brutal death back home.

Thankfully, the sides finally signed a peace treaty in 1992 at a Catholic nonprofit charity

in Rome.

Way to go, Rome.

Now…Frelimo had a slight moral high ground. [Renamo and Frelimo playing baseball]

They were guilty of some war crimes and forcing men to join the army… but at least they

didn’t get into the child soldier game like Renamo. [Umpire sending Renamo off the field]

To get the peace treaty signed, they had to totally gloss over everybody’s war crimes

and human rights abuses.

…but in Mozambique things weren’t so simple.

If Frelimo said that Renamo was full of war criminals, then they would have to, ya’ [Frelimo bringing the police to Renamo]

know… arrest some of those war criminals.

This would include many of the head honchos of Renamo.

It’s kinda hard to get people to sign a treaty that includes their own trial and execution. [Guy reading an agreement in court]

So Frelimo chose to forgive many monsters…at least on paper… in hopes of a permanent [Frelimo rubbing a yellow monster]

peace.

Another reason for all this was that Mozambique had never had a legal definition of human

rights.

Their colonial history was 100 years of corporate rule, followed by 50 years of fascism.

No government had ever admitted that humans even had any fundamental rights. [Guy in a suit sat on a desk]

So you can’t really punish people for violating rights that don’t legally exist…

Also, a bunch of the soldiers who committed war crimes were kids or conscripts who were [Firing squad]

forced to fight.

Were they responsible for what they did if they were forced to do it?

It was all pretty murky…

So in the name of peace, the government gave everybody amnesty, meaning that [Government giving away boxes of amnesty]

all was forgiven.

It was basically like giving the whole country a do-over.

But a lot of people didn’t believe in the magic amnesty dust the government sprinkled [The government throwing dust over people and Mozambique]

over Mozambique.

It’s hard to move on from being abducted, tortured, and transformed into a brainwashed

killing machine.

It’s even harder if the guy who did it to you is your next-door neighbor. [Kids with guns]

So… many people took justice into their own hands.

Vigilante mobs attacked former Renamo commanders and ripped up their property. [Mobs in the street]

Many Renamo soldiers have been dragged before illegal juries of civilians and sentenced

to beatings or death.

The bad blood between Frelimo and Renamo had a violent flare-up in 2013…and nobody will

be surprised if it happens again in our lifetimes. [Soldiers fighting in a field]

The government chose peace over justice, but increasingly people are choosing justice over [The government choices peace, another person chooses justice]

peace.

Let’s hope Law and Order marathons don’t start airing in Mozambique...