Crisis between the Defense and Security Forces and the Population in Mozambique: The Urgent Call for the Restoration of Social Order

Alípio Freeman"

The crisis between the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and the Mozambican population has reached a critical point. The conflict is not between natural enemies, but between brothers separated by uniforms and weapons. Apart from that, they are all children of the same land, victims of the same precariousness, hostages of a system that drains their strength and robs them of their future. The real problem lies in politics: a politics made by greedy men, who use the State to feed their own interests and sacrifice the people on the altar of their ambition.

The FDS, which should protect citizens, has been transformed into a tool of repression at the service of a political elite that perpetuates itself in power. Instead of defending the country, it is manipulated to maintain the privileges of a few. Machiavelli taught that a prudent prince must know how to balance force and cunning, but Mozambican politicians apply this lesson in a perverse way, using the security forces as a shield for their excesses. They infiltrate trusted men into the FDS command, ensuring that the institutions continue to protect their interests and not those of the people.

The violence generated by this corrupt relationship only deepens the gap between the FDS and the population. Hobbes said that without a strong and just State, men return to the state of nature, where the law of the strongest reigns. When institutions fail to guarantee security and justice, the people lose faith and begin to seek alternatives – some peaceful, others violent. Locke, in turn, warned that the legitimacy of a government depends on its ability to protect the fundamental rights of the population. When this does not happen, the population has the right to resist.

This crisis is not isolated. Many African countries have faced the same dilemma since independence. Ali Mazrui argued that African states have failed to create strong and inclusive institutions, resulting in authoritarian governments that treat their own people as enemies. Fanon, for his part, denounced the danger of elites who, instead of liberating their countries from colonialism, merely take the place of the former oppressors, maintaining the same structures of domination.

The solution to this crisis involves reestablishing the social contract. Rousseau argued that the State should be a reflection of the will of the people, not an instrument of oppression. Montesquieu pointed to the separation of powers as essential to avoid abuse. Mozambique needs a profound reform of the FDS, ensuring that its leadership is independent of political interests and that its mission is truly to serve and protect the people.

The independence of Mozambique was proclaimed at the Machava Stadium in June 1975 and is seen by many as ground zero for the disaster that began with ideological uncertainties and tribalism that degenerated into deadly conflicts that led great men, sons of this nation, to their graves in the forests of Nachingwea and Mtelela. Some say that it is to Machava that we should return symbolically. Or there are those who prefer to go back to Lusaka and review the 1974 agreements. Or there are even those who prefer to go back to 1962 and dissolve the front, allowing each movement to become autonomous again. However, for me it is easier to return to the Machava Stadium, not because of its geographical or temporal proximity, but because the embryo of a country born by caesarean section was buried there, a difficult birth, surrounded by mistakes that were never corrected and that we still feel the effects of today. The celebration of 50 years of independence cannot be just an event of empty speeches and official parties. It needs to be a milestone of a new beginning. A restart, as they say in the corridors and on social media. A new beginning that rescues the true meaning of independence and gives back to the people the dignity and power that were denied to them.

The FDS needs to free itself from political currents and rediscover its true mission. There are examples in the world of security forces that fulfill their role without allowing themselves to be manipulated by power. Professional armies and modern police forces know that their commitment is to the people and not to the rulers of the day. Mozambique needs to follow this path, before it is too late.

The country is at a crossroads. Either it chooses to rebuild trust between the State and society, ensuring justice and security for all, or it continues to slide into an abyss where human life loses value and brutality becomes the norm. Our destiny is in our hands. And the time for change is now. The solution to the crisis will never be political, as long as we see it as a dirty and immoral game.

2025/12/3