The Young Soldiers of Caxito

This flow follows inexperienced fighters as fear, coercion, and youth complicate the moral categories of the front.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Learning to Fight

Learning to Fight The inner battle Comandante Ndozi describes recruits who fire blindly because they are fighting their own terror rather than aiming at the enemy. He sees the gap between experienced command and boys pulled from ordinary life into combat. A costly education The recruits learn through exposure to danger, but the skills acquired are also a measure of what war takes from them. They should be growing into students and workers, yet they are being trained to kill.

Captured at Caxito

Captured at Caxito Prisoners with different stories After the MPLA takes Caxito, Comandante Ju-Ju questions captured FNLA soldiers. One describes being press-ganged in Zaïre; another tells of thirst and confusion on the road. A boy who wants to draw A sixteen-year-old says he joined because he was promised schooling and hopes to become an artist. His account exposes the human lives hidden inside the opposing uniform and unsettles easy claims about shame or guilt.

Football Behind the Barrier

Football Behind the Barrier An argument resumes Prisoners and guards debate a local soccer match across the balustrade. Their rival loyalties do not follow the division between captor and captive. A temporary human bond For a moment, shared excitement over sport lets the young men forget the recent battle and the threat of further violence. The exchange does not undo their losses, but it reveals a common life that the war cannot entirely erase.

Early war, 1975

October 1975

The night after the battle for Caxito