The bulletproof Naparama
During Mozambique's civil war, the healer Manuel António raised the Naparama militia in Nampula and Zambezia, whose fighters were given a ritual 'vaccine' said to make them immune to bullets.
1988 CE · -14.98, 38.27 · status: account
The account
Recruits were cut on the neck and chest and plant ash was rubbed in, then tested with a machete blow; fighters were forbidden to retreat or duck. Armed mostly with spears and knives, the Naparama overran RENAMO bases in 1990, starting with Nauela on 29 April. Manuel António was killed on 5 December 1991 defending Macuse. Position: Ribáuè District, where the first militia formed. The name was revived for militias fighting the Cabo Delgado insurgency from 2022.
The sceptical view
Their success is explained by morale and the fear they inspired; fighters did die from bullets.