Maputo — Hundreds of former agents of the Mozambican intelligence and security service (SISE) demonstrated outside SISE headquarters in Maputo on Wednesday, demanding higher pensions.

According to a report in the independent daily “O Pais”, the current pension for former SISE members is 1,500 meticais (about 50 US dollars) a month. Not all the protesters receive this – some say they have received nothing at all since they were made redundant from SISE.

They are demanding a pension of between 11,000 and 16,000 meticais a month, depending on their category within SISE when they retired.

The former intelligence agents also claim that they should never have been made redundant. They claim that, since they handle sensitive information, no SISE member should be forced out of the institution before reaching retirement age.

They claim that the reasons for redundancy were never made clear to them, despite meetings with high-ranking state officials. Eventually they accepted redundancy – but on condition that they received decent pensions.

Some say that, in 2004, when Armando Guebuza was elected President, they were called back to service and stationed at a Maputo barracks. However, they claim the reasons for this recall were never explained, and that they were then given nothing to do and no wages.