Mozambique may remove gun from national flag

MAPUTO - Mozambique is considering removing the image of a gun from its national flag, ditching a militant symbol that portrayed the country's struggle to gain independence from Portugal.

Three decades after independence and 13 years after the end of a civil war, Mozambicans are asking whether the sub-machinegun is a national rallying point or simply an unpleasant leftover from the Marxist era.

Mozambique's flag comprises horizontal stripes of green, black, yellow and white.

On the left side is a red triangle and a star overlaid with the images of a gun, a book and a hoe - showcasing the country's struggle for independence and its commitment to education and agriculture.

"The (national) symbols are not representative. They were established in a different context. We live today in a new reality that must be reflected in all forms," said Eduardo Namburete, a legislator from the opposition and former rebel Renamo party.

"The gun, for one, has no relevance in this era," said another senior politician from Renamo.

"It simply has to go."

In 2002, Mozambique's parliament voted for a new anthem to replace one that appeared to praise the ruling Frelimo party, the formerly Marxist victors in Mozambique's long civil war who once ran the country as a one-party state but later opened the door to both democratic and economic reforms.

A new constitution adopted this year committed to changing the flag and other emblems within a year. Parliament is expected to debate the changes in the coming weeks.

Leading figures in Frelimo this month mounted a vigorous media campaign in which they said changing the flag would amount to denying history and betraying liberation heroes.

Changes to national symbols require a two-thirds majority vote in Mozambique's 250 seat parliament.

Frelimo has 160 of those seats, implying that a change to the national flag and emblem will be "almost impossible", one legislator said, but added that MPs were prepared to listen and debate.

Many Mozambicans wonder whether the government should concentrate on improving the lives of ordinary poor people instead of tampering with national symbols, which still have a strong resonance for many.

"I can't accept changing national symbols," Lina Magaia, a writer and liberation war veteran, told Reuters.

"These are issues like mother and son. Mozambique was born out of the liberation war and those foundations are described by the flag," she said.

- REUTERS