In 1992, one of Africa’s most brutal civil wars came to an end in Mozambique. This war was being
waged against the ruling Frelimo party by a rebel group, called the Mozambican National Resistance,
commonly know as Renamo. Renamo was created by the then white-monority govenrment of Rhodesia and
then nurtured by apartheid South Africa. RENAMO’s sole purpose was to cause instability for Samora
Machel and his Frelimo party in Mozambique. For 39 years, Renamo was led by the notorious
rebel turned opposition leader, Afonso Dhlakama until his death in 2018.
During Afonso Dhlakama and Renamo’s bid to wreak havoc in Mozambique,
they resorted to brutal tactics such as burning cooperative farms, destroying bridges, railway
lines and recruiting child soldiers. Inevitably the war became one of the most brutal in Africa,
leaving an estimated 1 million people dead and displacing millions more.
By this stage, Mozambique, by almost any standards, was one of the poorest
countries in Africa and the world. In this episode of African Biographics,
we cover the story of the notorious rebel Afonso Dhlakama and his outfit Renamo, and how they
contributed to chaos in Mozambique, even after the devastating civil-war had come to an end.
Mozambique was embroiled in the war of liberation against the Portuguese until the country gained
independence on 25 June 1975. The great majority of the Portuguese settlers, who had held most of
the administrative and skilled jobs, left the country at independence to present the
ruling party, FRELIMO, with the formidable problems of reconstructing Mozambique
Samora Machel was the leader of the country and FRELIMO turned to the Soviet Union for
funding following independence, declaring itself to be a socialist organization and
by February 1977, Frelimo formally declared its transformation from a liberation movement
into a Marxist-Leninist vanguard party. The winds of change that were sweeping through
Southern Africa, as the various countries were becoming independent sounded the alarm for
the white-minority ruled Rhodesian government and the apartheid regime in South Africa.
The independence of Mozambique was especially devastating for white-ruled neighbouring Rhodesia,
now present day Zimbabwe and this was because the Rhodesian armed forces
lacked the manpower to protect their border with Mozambique against guerilla fighters who were
fighting for independence in then Rhodesia. Robert Mugabe and other African freedom fighters
used liberated areas within Mozambique as staging grounds for attacks against Ian Smith's
white minority regime in Rhodesia. 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. Rhodesia had been
under heavy international sanctions after it unilaterally declared independence in 1965.
So now in 1976, Samora Machel’s government imposed sanctions against the Rhodesian regime of Ian
Smith, restricting access to the ports. So for Rhodesia, the loss of these ports further weakened
their already fragile economy of Rhodesia and this angered the Ian Smith regime.
So in retaliation ,Rhodesia's army believed that its best defense was to find a way to
cause instability in Mozambique by having the natives there have internal disputes,
be suspicious and doubtful of each other, in turn destroying their confidence and unity.
The Africans’ overwhelming numerical majority would thus be neutralized and cease to be a
threat to continued minority rule in Rhodesia and Apartheid South Africa. So with this in mind,
the Rhodesians began to look at ways of arming and training a Mozambican opposition force.
So a man by the name Ken Flower, who was the head of Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organization
(CIO), was in charge of putting together such a force and so Renamo was born.
The founding members of Renamo were disaffected dissidents who were formerly members of Frelimo
and Ken Flower and the CIO had little difficulty in recruiting these dissidents to form Renamo.
In Mozambique at the time, there had been discontent from a substantial part
of the rural population in relation to Frelimo’s socialist policies and its mode of execution.
In fact, FRELIMO, in it’s bid to transform Mozambique into a socialist country,
alienated some peasants in these areas by forcing them to abandon traditional family
homesteads and move them far away to live and work on state-owned collective farms.
When Renamo was formed, Andre´ Matsangaissa was its first leader until he died in action in 1979.
Following a power struggle that ensued within the organisation, at just 27 years old,
Afonso Dhlakama, who is the main subject of this video, became Renamo’s second leader.
Afonso Dhlakama was born on the first of January, 1953, in the Sofala Province of central
Mozambique. Young Afonso was educated by Roman Catholic seminarians in the port city of Beira.
Dhlakama was then conscripted into the Portuguese colonial army but he left to join Frelimo.
He then defected to the newly formed Renamo and some sources say that Dhlakama had in
fact been dismissed from Frelimo for corruption and misconduct — allegations
that he vehemently denied. Afonso Dhlakama rose rapidly through the Renamo
ranks, and when its leader, André Matsangaissa, was killed in action, Afonso Dhlakama took over
the organization and presided over the expansion of its army into a force that numbered up to
20,000 guerrillas during its peak. Renamo Actions and Sponsorships
Just before Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the Rhodesian minority government transferred the
management of Renamo to South Africa’s Directorate Special Tasks (DST), which fell under the command
of the Centre of Staff Intelligence. Just like the Rhodesian Government before it,
the apartheid regime of South Africa feared allowing an African regime, in this case the
Momzambican government, to thrive next door. So the apartheid South African government
used Renamo as a tool for destabilizing Mozambique and as a counter to Mozambique’s support for the
African National Congress (ANC) who were fighting apartheid. The transfer of Renamo’s support to the
apartheid regime was a turning point in the civil war, as the conflict really escalated to
another level. This was due to the enhanced support that South Africa gave Renamo.
Renamo’s strength increased between 1980 and 1982 from 1,000 to 8,000 fighters.
Some 45 to 60 tons of supplies were airlifted every month to Mozambique between 1980 and 1984.
And by the mid-1980s Renamo was getting between R12 to 14 million in equipment.
The equipment ranged from pens and stationary to arms and ammunition – either of foreign origin or
with South African identification marks removed prior to dispatch.
An advanced communication system with radios was one of the most important DST investments for
Renamo as it enabled its leadership to communicate with its commanders long after the apartheid South
African support had slowed to a trickle. Some Western nations, including the United States
also provided funding for the RENAMO, as a way of fighting the socialist FRELIMO. The decision came
at a time when Mozambique was attracting military aid from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
And remember this was during the time of the Cold War. So essentially these superpowers used the
Mozambican civil war as a proxy war. In the Mozambican civil war, the first
combat areas were the provinces of Manica and Sofala provinces, but Renamo quickly
expanded its military operations throughout most of the country. By 1982 fighting had
spread to Gaza and Inhambane provinces and the country’s richest province of Zambe´zia.
Like I said before, the Rhodesians and South Africans sought to recruit discontented
Mozambicans and dissidents into Renamo. But Renamo, under the leadership of Afonso Dhlakama,
also used abduction as a tactic to help swell its ranks. There were also reports of recruits
being forced to commit human rights abuses as a method to buttress their loyalty to Renamo.
A study of ex-combatants after the war in 1997 showed that 87 percent of Renamo soldiers
had been forced recruits. Renamo became particularly well-known for
its practice of mutilating civilian victims. The organization also engaged in numerous attacks
on civilian targets such as transportation links, health clinics and schools. RENAMO would sweep
through the villages, killing the mature men and women and capturing young boys and girls.
I should point out that we can’t solely put all the blame on Renamo
because as the war continued both sides began to use brutal tactics including the
use of landmines. Nkomati Agreement
As you can imagine, the state of affairs in Mozambique were dire,
and the conditions for its citizens were perilous due to the threat posed by Renamo which was
growing from strength to strength. So in October of 1982, Machel was forced
to seek assistance from two of his neighbors, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
By 1983, RENAMO guerrillas had become active in every province except Cabo Delgado in the north
where the Tanzanian troops were stationed. By this time several thousand Zimbabwean troops
had been deployed along the Beira Corridor. A growing problem for Samora Machel’s government
was the poor condition of its army. The troops were widely demoralised as they were
ill-equipped, badly malnourished, often unpaid and felt neglected.
Such troops, suffering from low morale were really demotivated to take the field against RENAMO.
So with their backs against the wall. President Samora Machel and FRELIMO launched a diplomatic
offensive to try and quell the war. Samora Machel visited British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, and Thatcher introduced Machel to the then U.S. President
Ronald Reagan. Reagan was impressed with Machel and subsequently ordered the United
States to oppose right-wing efforts within South Africa to destabilise Mozambique.
Subsequently, Samora Machel and South Africa signed the Nkomati Accord
in 1984. In this agreement, Machel pledged to oust South african ANC struggle fighters who
were fighting the Apartheid Regime from Mozambique, and South Africa promised to
stop arming, training, and funding RENAMO and destabilizing Mozambique. Frelimo also
had proximity talks in 1985 with Renamo in a bid to put the war to an end.
The ANC and Julius Nyerere both condemned the Nkomati Accord, but at the time,
Machel had little choice, even though his own leadership was opposed to the agreement.
But well following this agreement there was no decline in RENAMO’s activity.
Both the Nkomati nonaggression pact with South Africa, and the proximity
talks with Renamo failed and massacres by Renamo continued. South Africa continued to aid Renamo,
albeit in a reduced manner. By 1986, Renamo units had pushed deep
into Zambe´zia province. At one point it appeared as if Renamo would capture the city of Quelimane,
cutting the country into two and so more Tanzanian and Zimbabwean troops were brought to help
regain the lost territory to Renamo. By 1990, Mozambique was the world's poorest
country with a per capita income of only US$80. In comparison, Somalia's per capita
income was nearly twice as much. During this whole period, Mozambique’s
first president, Samora Machel, was killed in a mysterious plane crash. This was in 1986. It was
unclear how and why the plane crashed or whether RENAMO or even South Africa was responsible.
Following this Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique’s foreign minister since independence became
the president. With Chissano now in charge, there were a series of reforms,
and ultimately peace negotiations with Renamo began in 1990.
Developments outside Mozambique, also contributed to these peace talks emerging.
This is because By 1990 South Africa was moving toward a black majority-controlled nation
and the Soviet Union had fallen. This meant that FRELIMO and RENAMO were losing
their major supporters and arms suppliers. Also widespread famine conditions injected a new
urgency into the peace process in 1991 and 1992 as the war prevented the provision of adequate
relief to the needy population. As drought spread, Renamo’s ability to live off the land steadily
collapsed and it became increasingly desperate in its search for food. So with Renamo increasingly
hungry and finding external supply sources drying up, peace looked increasingly attractive.
So after a period of talks, On October 4, 1992, President Chissano who was now the
head of FRELIMO, and Afonso Dhlakama, leader of RENAMO, signed a peace accord in Rome, Italy.
Mozambique’s adopted a new constitution that included multiparty elections. Renamo moved from
“rebel movement” to political party and Afonso Dhlakama from “rebel leader” to party leader.
This 1992 treaty was enforced by more than twenty thousand U.N. troops, who ensured that all weapons
were surrendered to the United Nations, and all armed groups were disbanded within six months.
United Nations troops left Mozambique in January of 1995.
Mozambique became a model economic state until devastating floods in the
late 1990s destroyed years of progress. So In 1994, the first general elections – both
presidential and legislative – under a multi-party system were held in Mozambique. Afonso Dhlakama
was defeated by Joaquim Chissano. Despite FRELIMO winning the majority, a portion of the population
voted for RENAMO candidates. The same would happen in the presidential elections of 1999
in which Dhlakama lost against Chissano. 2004 and 2009 would see Renamo and Dhlakama
lose elections against Armando Guebuza. But in 2010 Afonso Dhlakama left Maputo and settled in
Nampula after refusing to acknowledge the results of the presidential elections of the previous
year. Following this, Armando Guebuza and Dhlakama entered into a political dialogue
but this did not yield any results. The government in Maputo then sent
military and paramilitary forces to Nampula, prompting Afonso Dhlakama to move again,
taking refuge in Renamo’s former headquarters in Gorongosa in the Sofala province.
It was from Gorongosa that Afonso Dhlakama began to lead a new military confrontation against the
governmental forces. This started in 2013 with an attack on the police station of Muxungué. In
response, the government forces attacked his place of residence, but Dhlakama escaped unharmed.
September 5, 2014 saw the end of the new military conflict, with the signing of a new peace
agreement, which enabled Dhlakama’s participation in the 2014 presidential elections, in which he
would once again be defeated, this time to the current president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi.
In February 2015 there was a host of meetings and political talks between Nyusi and Dhlakama, but
with no practical results. Then on September 12 of the samme year, Afonso Dhlakama survived the first
of three attempts on his life when his convoy was attacked in the province of Manica, apparently by
men from the Mozambican defence and security forces. Dhlakama came out of this unscathed.
Again of theSeptember 25, 2015 there was a second attempt on Dhlakama’s life,
also in Manica and luckily for him he escaped unharmed again and took refuge in the woods.
After negotiations with the government, Dhlakama agreed to leave the bush and take up residence
in the city of Beira. But the next morning, police surrounded his residence
and disarmed his bodyguard in an operation “framed” as the beginning of the “coercive
disarmament'' of the armed Renamo men. Days later, Afonso Dhlakama managed to
escape from his residence in Beira, and again he took up refuge in the Gorongosa
mountain range and resumed the military attacks. There were further talks held between Dhlakama
and Nyusi which followed. The two parties agreed a truce and they announced the end to hostilities.
Afonso Dhlakama died on On 3 May 2018 in Gorongosa. He was 65 years old.
His critics say thatAfonso Dhlakama failed to transform his mentality
from a guerrilla leader to post-war Mozambique. They say he has never reintegrated properly’.
Part of his legacy will be the Mozambican Civil War.
Although the war came to an end 30 years ago, its effects still linger on the Mozambican people.
In a 2015 interview, Dhlakama argued that civil war in Mozambique was justified by what he said
was Frelimo’s “betrayal of independence”, and that had Frelimo not been “arrogant” and “cruel”,
Renamo would not have existed. For him, were it not for the “arrogance” of Samora Machel,
the first Mozambican president, and Frelimo’s “cruel behaviour”,
“there would be no physical force for a civil war”.
Let me know in the comments section below what your thoughts are about Afonso Dhlakama and
Renamo, especially their role in the civil war and afterwards as a political organisation.
Don’t forget to like and share the video if you enjoyed it. Thank you all for tuning in,
this has been Tatenda for African Biographics, until next time, cheers, have a good one.