Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Friday recognised that veterans of the liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial rule have not yet achieved the successes they desire, in part because the statute on veterans' rights and duties has not been properly implemented.

Guebuza was speaking in the southern city of Matola, at the opening session of a meeting of the National Committee of the Veterans' Association.

The problems, he said, were not just with implementing the veterans' statute, but also with the functioning of the Association itself.

"Faced with this picture", he said, "we should accept as an individual and collective challenge the correct application of the instruments that are at our disposal in order to reverse the current economic and social situation".

That meant taking initiatives. Guebuza urged each of his fellow veterans to "use our creative capacities to exploit the resources available around us to produce wealth and thus improve our living conditions".

The Veterans' Statute, passed by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic in December 2001, gives a series of rights to those who took part in the liberation struggle - including special pensions and bonuses, assistance in housing, "free or partially free" medical treatment, and priority for their children in publicly-owned educational institutions The statute also promises fiscal incentives to veterans "in order to promote their socio-economic insertion". However, there have been complaints that much of the statute has not yet been implemented.

Guebuza said the veterans had always been to the forefront in forging national unity. "They always identified with the people at all times, and on the various fronts of combat, for they were convinced that only united would they be able to overcome foreign domination", he said.

Now there were new battles to be waged. In the 1960s and 70s, "our objective was to win independence", said Guebuza. "Once independence was won, veterans were called upon to defend our sovereignty threatened by the racist and minority regimes of southern Rhodesia and apartheid. Today our main objective is to overcome poverty".

In this struggle, he added, the country faced the obstacles of red tape, the spirit of apathy and drift, crime and corruption. He called on the veterans "with their usual determination and commitment, to contribute, with their experience of struggle, so that once more we may proclaim victory, this time in the fight against poverty".