MOZAMBIQUE -
'THE STOLEN CHILDREN'

30 minutes - 1994

OPENING SEQ
'I killed people but I never wanted to, I did because my Chief want it, I did it because it was the law.'

'Children don't have ethics, they don't have rules, you just put them killing and they do it, without asking why.'

TITLE
STOLEN CHILDREN

DANCE
Mozambicans in Swaziland celebrate the end of a long war. After 17 years as refugees today they will go home.

MUSIC TRAIN SEQ

DAY TRAIN
Though they return to a country ruined by a vicious and long war it's a happy day for everyone on the train.

UNLOAD TRAIN
Every Thursday 750 Mozambican refugees are brought across the border from Swaziland. They're returning to land which hasn't had people for 17 years. They've brought everything they will need to rebuild their lives.

ASSEMBLY AREAS
FROM HELICOPTER
But it's not only civilians who are coming home. Across Mozambique the warring armies are coming out of the bush and gathering in United Nations assembly areas.

SOLDIERS UNLOAD HELICOPTER
At huge cost the United Nations is providing the demobilised armies with everything they need.

SOLDIERS WALK
Mozambican government soldiers fought a disastrous 16 year war against the South African backed Renamo rebel movement. The South African resources and money finally forced the Mozambican army to sue for peace.

RENAMO SET EXPLOSIVES
South Africa didn't like the thriving Russian backed Marxist state on her borders. They wanted at any cost to bring Mozambique to ruin. .

EXPLOSION
But they soon realised that destruction of Mozambique's transport network and traditional guerilla attacks could never topple the government.

TRAINING
That's when, in a top secret operation, they began to kidnap and train Mozambique's children. It was a tactic guaranteed to also wreck the social fabric of the country. South Africa was helping create one of the most cruel armies ever devised.

RENAMO ASSEMBLY AREA
Under pain of death Renamo's kidnapped soldiers rarely speak to outsiders of their experiences. But as they go to the UN demobilisation areas like this one the truth is becoming harder to hide. Kidnapped at a young age few of these Renamo soldiers have any education. In preparation for civilian life the UN is teaching them the basics.

JULIO IN POLICE STATION
In a Mozambican police station a 19 year old Renamo soldier waits to go home. Julio Bombi was kidnapped when he was 9 years old. He escaped from Renamo two weeks ago and was taken for questioning by the police. Unusually, Julio is prepared to risk his life and speak of his experiences. He tells of the widespread use of children in a war where the young became the most fierce killers of all.

VISION JULIO BOMBI
'The young soldiers are accustomed to killing people. Sometimes they would beat them to death. They didn't want to hear about anyone escaping because in Renamo they felt powerful. Those ones preferred to stay in Renamo.'
V/O
'Some of the young soldiers do want to go home but most smoke lots of marijuana. The marijuana makes them forget about going home.'

POLICE STATION
Julio decided to escape from Renamo and search out his family. Having been responsible for the killing of many Mozambicans Julio was worried about how he would be received by the authorities.

VISION JULIO BOMBI
'I was scared. I realised that if I went straight out to the street and asked for a lift without paper I would be arrested. And even if I told the police who I was they would not believe me.'

JULIO GIVEN TEA
But reconciliation is the order of the day in Mozambique and after a brief investigation the police have decided to give Julio his freedom and the papers he needs to go home.

JULIO LEAVES
After ten years of captivity Julio's a free man in a world he hardly knows.

JULIO WALKS MUSIC

JULIO IN MARKET
The last time Julio was in a market he had a gun which he often used.


VISION JULIO BOMBI
'To get food and goods we just used to go and kill. We would go to shops and take everything we wanted.'
V/O 'When I had to do those things in Renamo I always felt as if I was committing a crime. Now that I'm here and free I feel much better.'

MAPUTO
Maputo, the capital city, was one of the few parts of Mozambique to survive the war unscathed. But people lived in fear of the young soldiers who dominated the countryside and brought their Soviet backed government to it's knees.

MUSIC & TRAFFIC CONTROL

PAN BUILDERS TO
PEACE SIGN With elections coming up in October the economy is again picking up. Everyone wants to forget the past, most of all Renamo. Elevated from bush fighters to political party their leader can't now avoid questions about their systematic use of children during the war.

I/V ALFONS DHLAKAMA - President of Renamo
'Some boys of 13-15 years had weapons but we did not send them to fight Frelimo. They were just there in some secret bases. Sometimes it's correct to admit but what I can say is that Renamo did not go to villages to recruit children from 9 & 10 years to fight the army here.'
BUS TRAVELS

VISION JULIO BOMBI
'When I was young and I had to kill people I didn't feel happy. I had to do it because in Renamo it was the law. I felt unhappy because before that I never imagined I could kill another person.'
V/O ON BUS
'During my military training it was difficult to carry the gun because it was so heavy but after some time I got used to it.'

BUS MONTAGE AND MUSIC

BUS
Julio is on a two day journey to find his home. He travels along a road he has seen many times before. When he was with Renamo he was regularly involved in attacks on it.

V/O JULIO BOMBI
'We used to go to the bush near the road and wait until we saw a car approaching.'

VISION
'We waited without attacking while two or three empty cars drove past. When a heavily laden miners bus came by we shot at the tyres and approached the bus. We killed some of the passengers, and kidnapped a few of them, then we stole what was inside the bus.'

BUS
For those who suffered at the hands of the young killers Renamo's return to civilian and government areas raises some concerns.

I/V OLD MAN ON BUS
'People do have doubts and there are a lot of rumours circulating among the people.'
V/O 'But Renamo's returning soldiers are Mozambicans. They are after all our sons, and even though they killed our families, we can't now give them problems.'32.23

STREET KIDS LIE
ON PAVEMENT
All over Mozambique it was the children who paid the highest price. Ten thousand street children in Maputo found themselves paying the social costs of the war. With fathers spending years at a time fighting many families slowly disintegrated.

Hilario Manuel Eugenuio Matusse
Mozambican National Association of Journalists

'In terms of the future, what can we do in the next 20-30 years without the many children killed. Even for children who are still alive, without schools, without hospitals, what kind of a generation will we prepare for the future?''

Renamo Children Archive Children sing and dance in a Renamo camp in 1988. They dance for visiting officials Renamo kidnapped children not only as soldiers. Some were used for domestic work and girls were also forced to become sex slaves as the proportion of children on the Renamo side rose dramatically. violent young societies are said to have emerged.

UN FLAG & CARS The UN's operation in Mozambique is Africa's largest. After the failure of Somalia's peace mission they are anxious not to spend time delving into Renamos past.

Aldo Ajello
UN Special Representative for Mozambique
'If you come here and say well since you have been fighting for 16 years, and killing, and kidnapping people, and so on, and you have such an attitude then you will go nowhere. You have to accept that now peace is now in place, and that war is over. Now you have in front of you somebody who is a negotiator, someone who is a leader of the government opposition in the peace agreement. You must work with the two parties in this spirit. Otherwise you'll go nowhere.'
JULIO'S BUS

JULIO IN
RESTAURANT As Julio draws nearer to his home town he frets about his family. The worst part of Renamo's children's war was that their victims were so often their own villages.

I/V JULIO BOMBI
'I think when I get home my family will ask what I did in Renamo. I don't care. What I did in Renamo is the past. It was against my will.'

I/V JULIO BOMBI
'I feel so close to my family now but I'm so worried about how I can have a good relationship with them.'

JULIO WALKS Julio knows he can't write out his past and that he'll never again be the innocent child who left 10 years before.
CHILDREN'S SONG

MALAHASE MUSIC

JULIO GETS ONTO
FIRST BUSH TAXI Renamo children walk differently and speak differently. Many people instantly recognise who Julio is. Passengers on the first bush taxi Julio asks for a ride refuse to travel with him.
JULIO ASKS 2ND
TAXI

JULIO DEPARTS But the 2nd he has more luck. As Julio travels the final 30km he fear of rejection by his family is greater than ever.

JULIO BOMBI V/O 'When I get home my mother will recognise me but it might be hard for my younger brothers. They might feel frightened? If my mother doesn't recognise me it could be because she's frightened of problems from Renamo.'

ARCHIVE For the duration of the 16 year war Mozambicans moved continually as they attempted to escape the vicious battle front. Julio's home town was at the centre of fighting.

ANCELMO & BOYS AWAKE
On Maputo's streets Ancelmo Joao Cossa sleeps in after a hard night on the concrete. He's 11 years old and lost his family during fighting 6 years ago. His friends say maybe he was kidnapped, and escaped. He wants to go home to the village of Magude but won't say anything else about his past. Today a Norwegian missionary group, has promised to help Ancelmo find his lost family.

CAR TO MAGUDE
Today the Norwegian missionaries will try to grant Ancelmo his wish. The search for Ancelmo's family begins. Like millions of other Mozambicans the last thing he remembers is the terrible whine of bullets and the screams of his disappearing family.

VILLAGE
On reaching Ancelmo's village, it soon becomes clear that to find his family will not be simple. Ancelmo's surname is Cossa and it's one of the most common in the town.


Man Points
'Over there is a man called Cossa. He knows the whole Cossa family very well. His name is Raphael. Maybe he can help.'

'There was Nelson Paulo Cosa, he never returned. 'And Armando's boy, but he was older.'
(off cam)
'Wasn't Amandos' boy older when he was kidnapped.?'
'Yes, that's right he was already looking after the goats wasn't he?'
PEOPLE LOOK AT ANCELMO
Wherever they go there are people anxious to take a look at Ancelmo. Everyone seems to have lost children during the war. Though it's more than a decade since it happened they still clearly remember the terrible day their lives were turned upside down.
SCHOOL TEACHER
LOOKS AT ANCELMO
'Where are you from boy?
'Where were you kidnapped from?'
EDGAR SPEAKS TO TEACHER
'They kidnapped my first daughter, my son, my wife, and a baby of 4 years old. They took them to their base 5km away. My daughter and wife stayed there for 2 years before my daughter escaped. My wife escaped 2 weeks later but my son is still there and I've never heard anything of him.'

HUTS The scale of the attack that occurred on that day 6 years before is clear, and serious doubts begin to emerge about whether Ancelmo's parents are still alive.

EDGAR ASKS ABOUT
WAR ‘Was there much shooting around here?'
'There was so much. We were so frightened we could hardly stand up.'

EDGAR 'Did many people die?'
'So many people died, so many people.'

DRIVING HOME At the end of a long day Ancelmo returns to the streets of Maputo as alone as ever. A generation of Mozambican children have been so vastly abused.
JULIO WALKS MUSIC

JULIO ASKS WAY TO HIS HOUSE
NATSOF
JULIO WALKS
Julio's parents live in the village of Malahase. The village suffered terribly during the war. Many families losing children to the Renamo kidnappers.

JULIO TALKS
'Can you tell me the way to Cor is this the right road
Yes it's the right road, just go straight ahead.

CHILDREN RUN
In Malahase the children run from anyone they don't know.

JULIO'S
REUNION
'Welcome my son, welcome, welcome. There's your father.'

JULIO'S HOME
Julio is the eldest in a poor family of 12. It makes his arrival all the more significant to his sickly parents.
JULIO GREETS
SISTERS & FATHER
As Julio greets his brothers and sisters his fears have evaporated. Everyone is pleased to see him, and the rumours he'd heard about his father's death have proved untrue.

I/V JULIO BOMBI
'I feel very happy now I'm home. Everything is just as I remember it. I can even remember my whole family.'
'I don't know but I'm sure that they are thinking about my past with Renamo.'

CHICKEN GIVING
After a change into borrowed clothes, his parents offer him a live chicken. It's one of the simpler of the many ceremonies that will be carried out in the coming days to celebrate Julio's return.

I/V MARIO BOMBI - Julio's Father
'Julio was a small boy when he was kidnapped by Renamo. We're surprised at how big he is now. He was so little when he was kidnapped we really thought he was lost for good. Now he is back and grown up we are very happy.'
SAVE THE CHILDREN
OFFICES At the American branch of Save The Children their children at war project has become their organisations main focus. So far they have a data base containing 14000 lost children, and they say it's only the tip of the iceberg.

RENAMO CHILDREN'S
BASE At a crude Renamo base 11 kidnapped children will today go back to their families. It's part of the Save the Children operation. And it's a unique and sensitive project won through delicate negotiation with the Renamo leader. It's not a subject Save the Children is willing to discuss too openly for fear of upsetting Renamo.

I/V AGOSTINHO MAMADE
Co-ordinator - Children at War Project
V/O 'It's delicate because peace has held for just one year. It's not an easy process. We will have elections in October 1994.'
VISION 'This war was a brutal war. There were a lot of deaths, we have a lot of atrocities, we have a lot of strange situations, so it's not easy to deal with the issue.'

With the end of the war renamo's kidnapped are no longer of use, rather they're a burden.

I/V JOSE L NHANTUNDO - Renamo Administrator
'Renamo wants to return the children to their parents to show the people that the war is now over.'

HELICOPTER
HOME Joanna, Antonio and Lizette are all going back to their families. They were kidnapped years ago and none expected to ever be allowed to return. Today their dreams and long years of waiting will finally come to an end.

DRIVING For Save the Children this operation has taken months to set up. Renamo bases are in the bush and vehicle access is mostly impossible. Renamo is now happy for the kidnapped children to go homes but there are few parents who will go to the bases themselves to look for their own children.
ANTONIO
REUNITED
'Do you recognise this boy.'
'Oh of course I know him'
'Germano, my son, my son.'
'I can't believe that you are still alive.'

KIDS REUNITED
Lizette was 4 when she was taken and is coming home to relatives she can't even remember.

ARRIVAL
More often than not the children are returning to families decimated by the long war. This is her aunty who has agreed to take care of her. She's glad for the extra pair of hands she'll have around the house. For Lizette it's the best option she's got.
'She doesn't recognise us because she was so young.'

LIZETTE
WALKS & SITS
Renamo wasn't fussy about the sex of their stolen children. Girls were used for domestic chores and sex.

SITTING DOWN
For Lizette the nightmare is almost over. Anything is better than Renamo.

'Her mother had to move to Guija after her husband died. Then they were kidnapped there.'
'And what about your mother?'
'My mother is dead.'
'Was she at the base.'
'Yes , that's right'

Mozambique's government says that as terrible as Renamo's crimes were they must today be forgotten.

I/V MARIO MACHUNGU
Mozambican Prime Minister
'It's necessary to treat Renamo as an equal because we need peace and stability. Otherwise these murderers will continue. We need to stop it and we managed to stop it. God help us, but that's why we need to treat well those who caused the destruction in Mozambique.'

RELIGIOUS DANCE
At Julio's home things are going well. He's making friends and has joined the village church. His home coming has been cause for celebration in his village. Julio is a young and strong man, and the eldest in a poor family. He represents peace and the fulfilment of villagers dreams after 16 years of a uniquely brutal war.

END