Ex-spooks besiege Moz HQ in protest
2013-02-21 09:11
Maputo - Hundreds of disgruntled former internal security
agents besieged the headquarters of Mozambique's intelligence services
on Wednesday, demanding pensions and warning a wave of unexplained kidnappings
will go unsolved without their help.
Around 250 of the cold war veterans joined the protest to
demand their pensions be paid.
"In no other part of the world can an intelligence
agent be got rid of during his lifetime," a spokesperson for the
protesting secret servicemen, Adolf Beira, told AFP.
Many claim to have received special training in Cuba and in
countries of the former Soviet bloc and accuse the government of laying them
off unfairly and replacing them with younger, inexperienced officers.
"If they marginalise us we will all witness the tragedy
that is unfolding to our country," the former agent said.
Displaying their covert muscle, former agents said figures
in power were involved in a spate of kidnappings that began in late 2011 that
terrorised the wealthy South Asian business community.
One former agent refused to name anyone specifically but
said "it is certain that authorities are getting money from these
kidnappings."
"These kidnappings should not be happening but there
are people in whose interests it is for them to continue happening because it
earns them easy money."
During the most recent kidnapping of the owner of a Maputo
take-away restaurant last Friday, assailants were dressed in police uniforms,
local press reported.
The kidnappers have since demanded over $111 000 for his
release.
"They know we could fight this," another former
agent said.
