5 October 2007
Maputo — The Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM), the umbrella body for the mainstream Protestant churches, says that it has collected about 700,000 firearms since launching its project to "Transform Guns into Hoes", a modern version of the biblical injunction to turn swords into ploughshares.
The CCM initiative was launched shortly after the end of the war of detabilisation in 1992.
Speaking to AIM on Thursday, during the celebrations of the anniversary of the 1992 peace agreement, the CCM chairperson, Anglican bishop Dinis Sengulane stressed the importance of this project in consolidating peace and fighting crime in Mozambique.
Under TAE, guns and other military artefacts are collected, with no questions asked. Those who turn over illictly held guns are offered useful goods instead - such as hoes, bicycles and sewing machines.
As for the fight against crime, last year the CCM launched a programme entitled "Choose Life" which sought to make society more aware of the physical violence that accompanies crime. This seems to have had some effect - for Sengulane claimed that, after this programme was launched, many more firearms were handed over to the CCM.
Sengulane also argued that the fight against crime must also involve guaranteeing employment and education for all. He added that the consolidation of peace involves the equitable distribution of resources so that nobody feels excluded.
"God is so generous that he gave Mozambique sufficient resources for all of us to live well and not merely to survive", said the Bishop. "But unfortunately there is a great imbalance in the quality of life people enjoy".
"We must reaffirm peace by fighting against poverty", he stressed. "It's not a secret for anybody that here in Maputo we have sophisticated palaces, while on the other side of the same city there is enormous poverty".
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