Africa-Press – Angola. Former soldiers from the extinct FALA, armed wing of UNITA, had a weak adherence to the program of reintegration into productive activities, under the aegis of the Institute for Socio-Professional Reintegration of Ex-soldiers (IRSEM), in Huíla province.
From 2018 to 2022, IRSEM included 803 ex-soldiers in productive programs under the Bicesse, Lusaka and Luena Memorandum of Understanding agreements, 160 of which were served by IRSEM and 535 by the Integrated Program for Local Development and Combating Poverty of municipal administrations, with a focus on agricultural activity, commerce, locksmiths and carpentry.
The rest were inserted into 28 cooperatives, received 33 tractors to promote agricultural activity, with a view to the sustainability of their families.
The information was released today, Monday, in Lubango by the provincial director of IRSEM, Abdel Dias dos Santos, who says he does not know the real reasons for the poor adherence to the programs in progress, but it is assumed, according to information obtained, to be linked to political ideologies.
“Some ex-FALA soldiers refused to join the State programs, presuming to be for political ideological reasons, others for changing residence or province without notice and the rest simply did not comment”, he said.
Abdel dos Santos pointed out that of former UNITA soldiers, IRSEM has a record of the integration of 64, in 2020, 53 of these in agricultural cooperatives and 11 received kits for individual income activities.
He clarified that the forecast was to reintegrate, in five years, 12 thousand 137 former soldiers, but many did not show up for the registration of the process already closed in 2022.
The official said that the reintegration process is officially closed in Huíla, but is now under the responsibility of municipal administrations, within the scope of the Local Development and Combating Poverty Programme, provided that they present the passport of availability of the various peace agreements.
He referred that all applicants are forwarded to local administrations, as long as they have a passport of military availability. Those who misplaced the document, Abdel Dias dos Santos, said that there is a database of the 1992 registration and it is possible to locate it.
“Right now, at our level, we are only registering our target group and subsequently forwarding them to the administrations, in the case of health, we issue guides to the military hospital”, he continued.
He stressed that there are “good examples” of beneficiaries who already live off the program’s earnings and have employed other people, asking municipal administrations to strengthen communication, in terms of assisting possible ex-soldiers who claim their rights.
He added that administrators must gradually comply with the obligation to assist former soldiers, within the framework of the Program for Local Development and Combating Poverty, gradually, to cover the largest number of deserving people.
In the pipeline is a new assistance program for the target group, called POSPAE, which will be technically executed by IRSEM and coordinated by the Secretary of State for Social Action.
This new program is aimed at FAA graduates – after completing their mandatory military service, war-disabled staff, those who are temporarily inactive for health reasons, former soldiers licensed under the terms of the peace agreements, but not assisted until then for reasons unrelated to the programs and projects already implemented.
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