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 FThe population of Lunda Norte province is expected to reach 1.15 million in 2024, according to projections by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The 2014 statistical record, the second census carried out by the country, indicated that the province of Lunda Norte had, at the time, 862,566 inhabitants.
At the opening of the training of the 189 field agents, who will carry out the Pilot Census in that circumscription, the head of provincial services at INE, Leão Mucazo Cazade said that in the first phase the statistical registration will take place in 115 urban census sections and 57 rural ones, 25 in the commune of Canzar (Cambulo municipality) and 90 in Luachimo (Chitato).
In addition to the field agents, the operation will have 23 provincial, municipal and communal technical assistants who will be responsible for training the field agents who will collect data from the 7th of August.
Of the 189 field agents undergoing training as of today, only 172 will be selected to work as census takers and supervisors, 146 in the municipality of Chitato and 25 in Cambulo.
The Pilot Census will take place between the 19th of July and the 19th of August in the provinces of Bengo, Bié, Cuando Cubango, Cunene, Luanda, Lunda Norte and Uíge, with the aim of testing the level of readiness for the intervention of all procedures associated with the operational, logistical, technical-functional and organizational implementation, for the success of the general population census to take place in 2024.
Angola has already carried out two general population and housing censuses, namely in 1970, during the colonial period, and in 2014, after national independence, with the 2024 statistical registration being the third census operation that the country will carry out.
The province of Lunda Norte results from the division of the former province of Lunda, on 4 July 1978. It is located in the east of the country and comprises the municipalities of Chitato (political and economic capital), Cambulo, Caungula, Cuilo, Cuango, Capenda Camulemba, Lucapa, Lubalo, Lóvua and Xá-Muteba.AA 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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