Warfare by Witchcraft

Volume 3 1992

In the Nampula and Zambezia provinces of Mozambique, the Frelimo government has developed a formidable fighting force of some 20 000 Naparamas (meaning vaccinated ones). These Naparamas claim to have been vaccinated against bullets with the ash from a secret bush. In mass ceremonies each recruit is repeatedly cut with a razor blade and the ash is rubbed in.

The local villagers claim that bullets bounce off these vaccinated warriors leaving them unharmed. There are even claims that these Naparamas have developed a new secret weapon - a spear that can kill the enemy 30km away!

The commander of the Naparamas is a youthful looking Manuel Antonio who wears a purple cross on his black beret. One of his favourite stunts is to lie down in a freshly dug grave and be buried while his officers chant prayers and incantations.
Once the commander is buried, his chief of staff declares: “Naparama isn’t beaten down here in the grave. He is doing the same work as Jesus Christ. He agrees to be buried as a sacrifice to stop the bloodshed of the Mozambiquan people!”

After this the ground trembles and Manuel Antonio rises from the shallow grave and brushes off the dirt with burning embers from a nearby fire.

Antonio claims that he has successfully merged Catholicism with witchcraft to develop an unbeatable force. However, despite the local legends, the fact is that Naparamas do continue to get shot. Recently, at Lalaua, Renamo soldiers killed 49 in one battle and cooked some of their remains with a bean stew in publicly displayed cooking pots.

Yet such setbacks don’t seem to have diminished local faith in the Naparama’s bullet proof vaccine. The witchdoctors claim that the casualties must have broken one of the numerous rules: a Naparama must always attack in the sun, never in the shade, he must always receive soup that has been ladled with the spoon tipped but not turned over, nor can he ever turn his back on the enemy, and so on.

Witchcraft continues to be very popular with both sides in the 16 year civil war. It reminds us that 80% of the people of Mozambique adhere to animist beliefs and practices.

“Do not practice divination or sorcery... Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them.” Leviticus 19:26,31

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