Maputo — Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said in Maputo on Monday that the government is committed to finding ways to alleviate the difficulties some of the veterans of the country's independence war are now facing.

Speaking during a ceremony to mark the inauguration of new premises for the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, Chissano stressed that the Mozambican state acknowledges the role played by the liberation fighters, which is enough reason for it to strive to improve their living conditions.

He warned, however, that whatever measures the government may take will only yield good results with the involvement of the beneficiaries themselves.

"All should be aware, and should denounce cases of infiltration into the pensions system, because such a situation does not allow us to value those who liberated the country and thus deserve these pensions", he said.

Chissano was referring to the repeated scandals whereby people who had nothing to do with the liberation struggle have fraudulently claimed veterans' pensions.

The Minister for Veterans' Matters, Antonio Hama Thai, said that to date pensions have been fixed for 50,271 veterans. He said that a further 11,632 candidates for veterans' pensions have not dealt with the paperwork in due time, and still await a decision.

He reiterated that one of the Ministry's priorities is to ensure useful employment of the veterans. "We have more than 3,000 projects submitted by veterans awaiting approval by the Social Insertion Fund", he said. The main obstacle to the implementation of such projects is lack of money - in all, they are budgeted at 60 million US dollars.

The new Ministry premises have been rehabilitated, but cannot yet be used, since they have no electricity. The necessary electrical equipment will cost a further 536 million meticais (22,500 US dollars).

Ham Thai pointed out that his Ministry still lacks premises of its own in the provinces. "There are no houses, no transport, no furniture, and no computers", he said.