Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini (Swaziland) and South Africa to the southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city of Mozambique is Maputo.
Mozambique was a Portuguese colony, overseas province and later a member state of Portugal. It gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
Politics in Mozambique takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Mozambique is head of state and head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of the Republic.
The Mozambique Armed Defense Forces or FADM are the national armed forces of Mozambique. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces and three branches of service: Army, Air Force and Navy.
Samora Moisés Machel was a Mozambican military commander and political leader. A socialist in the tradition of Marxism–Leninism, he served as the first President of Mozambique from the country's independence in 1975. Machel died in office in 1986 when his presidential aircraft crashed near the Mozambican-South African border.
FRELIMO, from the Portuguese Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, is the dominant political party in Mozambique. Founded in 1962, FRELIMO began as a nationalist movement fighting for the self-determination and independence of Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule. During its anti-colonial struggle, FRELIMO managed to maintain friendly relations with both the Soviet Union and Maoist China, and received military and economic assistance from both Moscow and Beijing. Independence was achieved in June 1975 after the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon the previous year. It formally became a political party during its 3rd Congress in February 1977, and adopted Marxism–Leninism as its official ideology and FRELIMO Party as its official name.
RENAMO is a militant organization and political movement in Mozambique. Originally sponsored by the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), it was founded in 1975 as part of an anti-communist backlash against the country's ruling FRELIMO party.
The Rome General Peace Accords, officially the General Peace Accords, was a peace treaty signed between the government of Mozambique and RENAMO, ending the Mozambican Civil War on October 4, 1992. Negotiations preceding in began in July 1990. They were brokered by a team of four mediators, two members of the Community of Sant'Egidio, Andrea Riccardi and Matteo Zuppi, as well as Bishop Jaime Gonçalves and Italian government representative Mario Raffaelli. The delegation of the Mozambican government was headed by Armando Guebuza, who went on to become President of Mozambique, The RENAMO delegation consisted of Raul Domingos, José de Castro, Vicente Ululu, Agostinho Murrial, João Almirante, José Augusto and Anselmo Victor. The accords were then signed by the then-president of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano, and by the leader of RENAMO, Afonso Dhlakama.
The Frontline States (FLS) were a loose coalition of African countries from the 1960s to the early 1990s committed to ending apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia. The FLS included Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The FLS disbanded after Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa in 1994.
The Mozambican Civil War was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992. Like many regional African conflicts during the late twentieth century, the Mozambican Civil War possessed local dynamics but was also exacerbated greatly by the polarizing effects of Cold War politics. The war was fought 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.
Pax Praetoriana refers to the relative stability of modern South Africa and the dominant foreign policy of the country towards the African continent and its encouragement of stable, accountable, democratic governments in other African states. The term Pax Nigeriana is sometimes used in relation to Nigeria's similar status. Both these terms derive from the expression Pax Romana – the Roman peace. The term Praetoriana also derives from Pretoria, the administrative capital city of South Africa.
The Southern Africa Non-aggression Pact required signatory states to ensure that no individual or organization attacked a signatory state from signatory soil. Presidents Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia signed the agreement on October 14, 1979. The signatories also signed a treaty on transportation and communication cooperation the same day. The non-aggression pact largely held together until Angola, along with most of the rest of Southern Africa, invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996 during the First Congo War.
United Nations Security Council resolution 782, adopted unanimously on 13 October 1992, after welcoming the Rome General Peace Accords signed on 4 October 1992, in Rome between the FRELIMO (government) and RENAMO (rebel) parties in the Mozambican Civil War, the council approved the appointment of an interim Special Representative and the deployment of up to 25 military observers to Mozambique. The Special Representative was an Italian, Aldo Ajello.
United Nations Security Council resolution 818, adopted unanimously on 14 April 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 782 (1992) and 797 (1992) on the situation in Mozambique, the Council stressed its concern regarding the delays and difficulties affecting the implementation of the peace process envisaged in the Rome General Peace Accords during the Mozambican Civil War.
United Nations Security Council resolution 850, adopted unanimously on 9 July 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 782 (1992), 797 (1992) and 818 (1993) on the situation in Mozambique, the Council discussed the implementation of the Rome General Peace Accords and the formation of a new armed forces in the country.
United Nations Security Council resolution 863, adopted unanimously on 13 September 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 782 (1992), 797 (1992), 818 (1993) and 850 (1993) on the situation in Mozambique, the council discussed the implementation of the Rome General Peace Accords.
United Nations Security Council resolution 882, adopted unanimously on 5 November 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 782 (1992) and subsequent resolutions on Mozambique, the council noted, in addition to positive developments in the country, that some aspects of the Rome General Peace Accords had not been implemented.
United Nations Security Council resolution 916, adopted unanimously on 5 May 1994, after reaffirming Resolution 782 (1992) and all subsequent resolutions on Mozambique, the council decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) for a final period ending 15 November 1994, and discussed the implementation of the Rome General Peace Accords.
Mozambique – South Africa relations refers to the bilateral relationship of Mozambique and South Africa. Governmental relations began in 1923, during the colonial era, when the Union of South Africa entered into formal agreements with the Portuguese Empire for the colony of Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) in regard to labour, transport and commercial matters. Graça Machel, the inaugural First Lady of Mozambique from 1975 to 1986, later married the first post-Apartheid-era President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, on July 18, 1998, Mandela's 80th birthday. They remained married until Mandela's death on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95. She was previously married to Mozambique's first president, Samora Machel, who died in a plane crash on October 19, 1986, aged 53. Although South Africa is preponderant in the region in terms of economic resources and military might, Mozambique is considered a second-tier state in Southern Africa and a crucial partner for Pretoria.
The Maputo Accord, officially the Maputo Accord for Peace and National Reconciliation, is a peace agreement between the Government of Mozambique and Renamo, signed on 6 August 2019, with the aim of bringing definitive peace to Mozambique. The agreement was signed by the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, and the leader of Renamo, Ossufo Momade, in Maputo, and was the result of years of negotiations. It was preceded by the signing of the Agreement on the Definitive Cessation of Military Hostilities, on 1 August 2019, in Gorongosa.
