Mozambique Civil War

Civil wars have ravaged many countries in the search for more efficient government by the residents of that country.

Mozambique was ravaged by a bloody civil war in which the group RENAMO tried to reform Mozambique’s government. RENAMO was a group of rebels who came together to form an Anti- FRELIMO group. FRELIMO was the governing group at the time. FRELIMO was a communist party that ruled Mozambique for several years before being rivaled by RENAMO and was Marxist-Leninist.

Mozambique’s civil war was an important event in their history because it led to a fairer government system. This essay is limited to the effects of the war on the change of government. Before the Portuguese took over the control of Mozambique in the 1500’s and turned into one of its colonies, Mozambique consisted of several groups of Africans. In 1974 Mozambique became free from Portugal and Samora Machel, of FRELIMO, was the leader of the independent Mozambique. The pre-war government was a Marxist-Leninist form run by the group FRELIMO.

Mozambique is an African country located in southeast Africa. Mozambique is located on the Indian Ocean and has several important ports. This paper is focusing on events from1976 to1994. Mozambique’s civil war affected South East Africa by showing how Mozambique’s government was changed in a positive way. In order to see the effects of the civil war on Mozambique, one must look at the government before the war.

FRELIMO stood for the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique. FRELIMO had several positive and negative policies that they enforced. An example of a positive policy was when FRELIMO created a new rule or law, then all members had to stand by it, and be approving of it (James 185). Their negative policies are also important to look at also.

FRELIMO was based on Marxism- Leninism, so it had the negative policies that come with being Marxist- Leninist. Some of these negative policies were imperialism in poor, underdeveloped societies and socialism, which is the stage in Marxism-Leninism between imperialism and communism where the economy isnt fully developed, afterwards.

Because FRELIMO was the only political party in Mozambique, during the elections, no matter what, a member from FRELIMO would be elected. FRELIMO only wanted it to look like they cared about public opinions, but they really didn’t, because they had complete control before the war. Despite this, FRELIMO received support, such as food and money, from Algeria, Russia, China, and the United States.