|
|
Mozambique: Lidimo And Ngonhamo Leave the Army
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
21 March 2008
Posted to the web 21 March 2008
Maputo
The two generals who have led the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) since their creation in 1994, Lagos Lidimo and Mateus Ngonhamo, left active service and passed onto the reserve list on Friday, at a ceremony chaired by President Armando Guebuza, in his capacity as FADM commander in chief.
Under the 1992 peace agreement signed between the government and the Renamo rebels, the government army (the FAM/FPLM) and the Renamo army were both disbanded, and the FADM was set up as a unified force of volunteers from both. The FADM chief of staff, Lidimo, came from the FAM/FPLM, while his deputy, Ngonhamo, was drawn from Renamo.
Although some feared this might prove a recipe for conflict, in fact the two men appear to have worked together well, and the FADM has been a stable institution.
Guebuza praised Lidimo and Ngonhamo for the "valuable contribution" they had made to building up the FADM so that it could comply with its mission both on Mozambican soil and in peace keeping missions abroad.
"They were successful in this mission because they knew how to be men of integrity and selfless patriots", he declared, and they had transmitted this attitude to the rest of the armed forces.
They had carried out professionally all the tasks given to them by the Mozambican nation, he continued, and so could leave their posts with a sense of "mission accomplished"
On missions abroad (for example in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur) FADM units, Guebuza added, had brought with them solidarity and the Mozambican experience of finding and maintaining peace to countries that were still in conflict.
|
Guebuza also promoted and swore into office the new leadership of the general staff. The new chief of staff, Paulo Macaringue, was promoted from brigadier to four star general, while his deputy, Olimpio Carmona, rose from Major-General to Lieutenant-General.
Guebuza said he was confident that Macaringue and Carmona, with many years of military experience behind them, could successfully continue the work begun by their predecessors. "We want the FADM to continue cultivating self-esteem, patriotism, peace and stability", said the President.
Mad/pf (362)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
