4.4. Peace education

Little effort at peace education was included in the demobilization process, yet as stated by Federico Mayor, UNESCO Director General: “Yesterday's soldiers of war can become tomorrows soldiers of peace ... they too should be given the opportunity to engage in the process of building peace.”²

² Quoted in Centro de Estudios Internacionales, Demobilized soldiers speak: Reintegration and reconciliation in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mozambique, CEI, Managua, 1996, p. iii.

AMODEG is currently examining the potential of peace education in the reintegration process.³ Yet a recent conference on peace education scheduled to be held in Mozambique in December 1996 was cancelled at the last minute for fear of reinforcing the group identity of demobilized soldiers. The need to strengthen peace and advocate peaceful resolution of conflict remains a priority. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of semi-automatic weapons are believed to be stored in arms caches throughout Mozambique. Some weapons are already in use. The Christian Council of Mozambique is promoting an exchange project whereby villagers can “exchange” guns for bicycles, sewing machines, and so on. These can be given anonymously. Previously, people kept guns because of uncertainty about the sustainability of the peace process. With the conviction that peace is here to stay, a substantial number of weapons are beginning to be handed in. In fact, the Council recently encountered a problem because it ran out of materials to exchange.⁴

³ ibid., p. 62.

⁴ Adeljo Alfabet, Christian Council of Mozambique, in discussion with the author, 18 Dec. 1996.

UNICEF is preparing a booklet on peace education which will be made available to all adults dealing with children, including teachers, social workers, health workers, NGO workers and community leaders and volunteers.