The Mozambican Civil War (Portuguese: Guerra Civil Moçambicana) was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992 due to a combination of local strife and the polarizing effects of Cold War politics. The fighting was between Mozambique's ruling Marxist Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), the anti-communist insurgent forces of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO), and a number of smaller factions such as the PRM, UNAMO, COREMO, UNIPOMO, and FUMO.
RENAMO opposed FRELIMO's attempts to establish a socialist one-party state, and was heavily backed by the anti-communist governments of Rhodesia and South Africa who supported them in order to undermine FRELIMO's support for militant nationalist organisations in their own countries. Over one million Mozambicans were killed in the fighting or starved due to interruptions to food supply; an additional five million were displaced across the region. The Mozambican Civil War destroyed much of Mozambique's critical infrastructure in rural areas, including hospitals, rail lines, roads, and schools. FRELIMO's security forces and RENAMO insurgents were accused of committing numerous human rights abuses, including the use of child soldiers and indiscriminately salting a significant percentage of the countryside with land mines. Three neighboring states—Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Malawi—eventually deployed troops into Mozambique to defend their own vested economic interests against RENAMO attacks.
The Mozambican Civil War ended in 1992, following the collapse of support from the Soviet Union and South Africa for FRELIMO and RENAMO, respectively. Direct peace talks began around 1990 with the mediation of the Mozambican Church Council and the Italian government; these culminated in the Rome General Peace Accords which formally ended hostilities. As a result of the Rome General Peace Accords, RENAMO units were demobilised or integrated into the Mozambican armed forces and the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) was formed to aid in postwar reconstruction. Tensions between RENAMO and FRELIMO flared again between 2013 and 2018, prompting the former to resume its insurgency. This smaller second conflict ended with a peace treaty in 2019.
Background
Independence
Portugal fought a long and bitter counter-insurgency conflict in its three primary African colonies—Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau—from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, when they finally received independence following the Carnation Revolution. In Mozambique, the armed struggle against colonial rule was spearheaded by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), which was initially formed in exile but later succeeded in wresting control of large sections of the country from the Portuguese. FRELIMO drew its initial base of support primarily from Mozambican migrant workers and expatriate intellectuals who had been exposed to the emerging popularity of anti-colonial and nationalist causes overseas, as well as the Makonde and other ethnic groups in northern Mozambique, where Portuguese influence was weakest. The bulk of its members were drawn from Makonde workers who had witnessed pro-independence rallies in British-ruled Tanganyika. In September 1964, FRELIMO commenced an armed insurgency against the Portuguese. Its decision to take up arms was influenced by a number of internal and external factors, namely the recent successes of indigenous anti-colonial guerrilla movements in French Indochina and French Algeria, as well as encouragement from contemporary African statesmen such as Ahmed Ben Bella, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Julius Nyerere. FRELIMO guerrillas initially received training primarily in North Africa and the Middle East in countries such as Algeria, with the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China providing military equipment.
Portugal responded by embarking on a massive buildup of military personnel and security forces in Mozambique. It also established close defence ties with two of Mozambique's neighbours, Rhodesia and South Africa. In 1970, the Portuguese launched Operation Gordian Knot, which was initially successful at eliminating large numbers of FRELIMO guerrillas and their support bases in the north of the country; however, the redeployment of so many Portuguese troops to northern Mozambique allowed FRELIMO to intensify its operations elsewhere in the country. The following year, Portugal established an informal military alliance with Rhodesia and South Africa known as the Alcora Exercise. Representatives from the defence establishments of the three countries agreed to meet periodically to share intelligence and coordinate operations against militant nationalist movements in their respective countries. Simultaneously, FRELIMO also pursued close relations with the latter; for example, by 1971 it had cultivated an alliance with the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). ZANLA insurgents were permitted to infiltrate Rhodesia from FRELIMO-held territory. During the late 1960s, the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) also took advantage of the gradual disintegration of Portuguese military control in Mozambique to begin infiltrating South Africa from that territory.
In April 1974, Portugal's longstanding Estado Novo political order was dismantled as a result of the Carnation Revolution. The revolution also brought to power a military junta known as the Armed Forces Movement, which was committed to divesting itself of the colonies and ending the increasingly costly African wars. The turmoil in the metropole was mirrored by increasing instability in Mozambique and a further weakening of Portugal's grip on its East African colony. Various new political parties were formed in Mozambique, including several by FRELIMO splinter factions, during the following months in anticipation of multi-party elections. However, FRELIMO insisted on being recognised as the sole legitimate representative of the new Mozambican nation. It rejected proposals for multi-party elections and took advantage of the chaos in the Portuguese military establishment to intensify its guerrilla campaign. In early September 1974, Portugal announced it was acceding to FRELIMO's request. No elections were going to be held in Mozambique; instead, after a nine-month transition period, the positions of local government would simply be handed to FRELIMO officials.
The Portuguese decision to effect a transfer to power to FRELIMO, without a local referendum or elections, was greeted with intense trepidation by Portugal's traditional Cold War allies: South Africa, Rhodesia, and the United States. The US government predicted that an independent Mozambique under the direction of FRELIMO would be heavily influenced by the Soviet bloc. Black opposition movements in South Africa declared that they would bring FRELIMO officials to address rallies being held near Durban, Johannesburg, and at the University of Northern Transvaal. The South African authorities banned the demonstrations, but activists proceeded anyway in defiance of the police. By the end of the year, sixty people had been arrested for organising pro-FRELIMO rallies.
In Mozambique, the announcement sparked an uprising by right-wing elements in the white population, joined by disgruntled veterans of the colonial army and some black Mozambicans outraged by FRELIMO's pending unilateral assumption of power. The rebels appealed to South Africa and Rhodesia for military assistance to preempt the installation of a FRELIMO government. However, South African prime minister B. J. Vorster was unwilling to intervene, fearing condemnation from the international community for any interference with the decolonisation process in a neighbouring country. Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith was more sympathetic to the rebels' cause but felt that he would be unable to act without the guarantee of South African support. The uprising was eventually crushed after four days by an unlikely coalition of Portuguese and FRELIMO forces.
On 25 June 1975 Mozambique formally gained independence from Portugal, with FRELIMO Leader Samora Machel becoming President of the People's Republic of Mozambique.
Geo-political situation
The independence of Mozambique and Angola in 1975 challenged white minority rule in Southern Africa. Firstly, the independence wars in Angola and Mozambique demonstrated that even with great military resources it was virtually impossible for a small white minority to guarantee the safety of its members, let alone to exert control over a mobilised and agitated population outside of major power centres. The downfall of Portuguese colonial rule gave hope to black liberation struggles in the then apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia. Second, in both countries revolutionary socialist movements gained power. These movements had been cooperating with the black liberation movements in South Africa and Rhodesia, and continued to openly support them, offering them a safe haven from where they could coordinate their operations and train new forces. As President Machel put it in a speech in 1975: "The struggle in Zimbabwe is our struggle."
The independence of Mozambique was especially devastating for white-ruled Rhodesia in multiple aspects. The Rhodesian armed forces lacked the manpower to effectively protect its 1,300-kilometre (800 mi) border with Mozambique against entering ZANLA insurgents. At the same time, the apartheid government and the Smith regime lost Portugal as an ally and with it the tens of thousands of soldiers that had been deployed in the Portuguese colonial wars. Additionally Rhodesia used Mozambican ports as their primary means for imports and exports, with over 80% of all imports passing through Maputo and Beira into the heavily sanctioned country. The loss of these ports after President Machel declared sanctions against the country further weakened the already fragile economy of Rhodesia and angered the Ian Smith regime.
Thus with the South African and Rhodesian white minority government position severely weakened by the events of 1974/75 both governments sought to undermine the newly independent countries and to shatter FRELIMO's goal of building the first, non-racial socialist state in Southern Africa. The countries' capacity to support national liberation movements also concerned South Africa and Rhodesia and both countries sought for a first strike strategy to counter this new threat. This manifested itself in the Rhodesia-sponsored foundation of RENAMO, then called the Mozambique National Resistance (MNR), in 1974 and in South Africa's adoption of the "Total National Strategy."
Internal Mozambican tensions
FRELIMO dissidents
Soon after independence, FRELIMO began Mozambique's transformation into a socialist one-party-state. This was accompanied by crackdowns on dissidents and the nationalisation of important economic facilities abandoned by fleeing Portuguese. Numerous political parties sprang up virtually overnight and vied for power with FRELIMO. Many of these parties like COREMO and UNAR were made up of FRELIMO dissidents such as Uria Simango and Lazaro Nkavandame. Both men were arrested and convicted in a public trial before Samora Machel before and sent to re-education camps. Simango was reportedly later extrajudicially executed whilst Nkavandame reportedly died of natural causes.
Furthermore, the nationalisation of many formerly Portuguese-owned enterprises, fear of a retaliation against whites, and an ultimatum to either accept Mozambican citizenship or leave the country within 90 days, drove the majority of the 370,000 white Portuguese Mozambicans out of the country. As the Portuguese left some purposefully sabotaged the economy, stealing profits from factories, driving tractors into the sea and pouring cement into sewers. The Portuguese exodus resulted in economic chaos as only a few Africans had received higher education or even primary education under Portuguese rule with over 95% of the population illiterate.
Overturning of traditional hierarchies and re-education camps
As a revolutionary Marxist party, FRELIMO embarked on overturning traditional, tribal governance structures that grew extensively under the Portuguese colonial rule in an effort to counter regionalism and tribalism to build a single, national identity. Shortly after independence many local chiefs were ousted and removed from positions of power and many dissidents were imprisoned in re-education camps. Another source of conflict was the continuation of the aldeamento system that the Portuguese had introduced as a means of exerting control and inhibiting contact between the population and the rebels. It coerced thousands of peasants to move into communal villages and communal farms where they were given food, water and healthcare, but lacked adequate tools and money to farm effectively. FRELIMO hoped that this system would enable the fulfilment of its ambitious agricultural development goals, but the implementation often alienated parts of the rural population, whom FRELIMO had popular support from during the independence struggle. This was especially the case in central and northern Mozambique, where households are traditionally separated by considerable distances.
Course of the war
Outbreak
From 1975 to 1979, Rhodesian troops and forces repeatedly entered into Mozambique in order to carry out operations against supposed ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) bases tolerated on Mozambican territory by the FRELIMO government and to destabilise the FRELIMO government directly. These included the bombing of the Beira Port in 1979 and the occupation of the town of Mapai in 1977.