Mozambique

Mozambique Under Portuguese influence since 1508, it was used to supply slaves to Brazilian plantations. In the late nineteenth century, its interior was occupied by the Portuguese, who came to institute one of Africa's harshest and most racist colonial regimes. The country's resources were ruthlessly exploited, while no efforts were undertaken to educate an indigenous elite. Inspired by the process of decolonization that occurred from the late 1950s in the English and French colonies of Africa, a resistance movement, FRELIMO, was formed in 1964. It became increasingly successful in its guerrilla warfare against the government, and by 1974 controlled more than one-fifth of the country.

After the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship in 1974, independence came suddenly, unexpectedly, and with little preparation on 25 June 1975. Under the leadership of Machel, a Communist People's Republic was proclaimed. With little coordination, a programme of nationalization of private companies and of agrarian reforms was introduced, which proved disastrous for an economy already wounded by the complete withdrawal of Portuguese expertise, capital, and machinery. The country's woes were greatly increased through a rising guerrilla campaign by RENAMO, which originated in an attempt by Ian Smith's racist Rhodesian government to destabilize the Communist regime. It was after the fall of Smith's government, when RENAMO switched its allegiance to the South African apartheid regime, that the guerrilla movement became a potent force. While still too weak to replace the government, RENAMO launched an attack of unprecedented destruction of property and human life, on a scale only exceeded in twentieth-century African history by the massacres in Rwanda (1994).

After his death in 1986, Machel was succeeded by the more pragmatic Chissano. He improved relations with the USA, appealed for funds from the IMF, and relaxed some of his predecessor's socialist policies. Most importantly, he tried to reach a compromise with the RENAMO rebels to end the civil war. This was greatly facilitated by the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, which deprived RENAMO of its vital support and made it eager to reach a compromise. Free elections were held on 27–9 October 1994 amidst fears that RENAMO might not accept a possible defeat. However, RENAMO appeared to accept the result (37.8 per cent of the popular vote against 44.3 per cent for FRELIMO), partly because neither force was able to wage an effective military campaign after the decommissioning of 90 per cent of their respective troops.

New elections in 1999 confirmed Chissano in office. These elections were confirmed as fair by international observers, but were contested by RENAMO. Despite repeated negotiations between Chissano and RENAMO's leader, Afonso Dhlakama, RENAMO continued to refuse participation in the political process. Chissano's political success was acknowledged in 2000, when Mozambique became one of the first countries to qualify for substantial debt relief under the HIPC Initiative. By contrast, a series of devastating floods in 2000 and 2001 caused damages of up to $2bn., and destroyed much of the economic growth achieved in the 1990s. Even more serious was the development of AIDS. Largely as a result, by 2001 average life expectancy had been reduced to below 40 years.