RENAMO

RENAMO unified with another rebel group, the Revolutionary Party of Mozambique (PRM) in 1982. As result of this merger, the rebel group was able to expand its operations in northern Mozambique, particularly in Zambezia Province.[13][14] In 1984 the South African and Mozambican governments signed the Nkomati Accord,[15] in which South Africa agreed to stop sponsoring RENAMO if the Mozambican government expelled exiled members of the African National Congress (ANC) residing there. This was consistent with the Total National Strategy then in existence whereby the carrot of infrastructural development projects would be offered as an inducement for co-operation, supported by the stick of military reprisal if guerillas of the ANC were still given succour.[16] In 1988, RENAMO experienced its only major split during the civil war, when former PRM commander Gimo Phiri broke off and founded an independent insurgent group known as Mozambican National Union (UNAMO).[17]

Meanwhile, the Mozambican government did not expel the exiled members of the ANC and consequently the South African government continued funnelling financial and military resources until a permanent peace accord was reached in 1992 and was supervised by the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (UNOMOZ) until 1994. To nudge this process in the right direction a special operation was launched by the National Intelligence Service called Operation Bush Talk, which was designed to permanently end the civil war in Mozambique to stem the flow of military materiel across the porous borders into South Africa.[18] One manifestation of this was the militia of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) that was being trained and armed by the SADF Special Forces as part of Operation Marion[19] which were being armed by weapons coming from Mozambique.

The peace accord led to the disarmament of RENAMO, to the integration of some of its fighters into the Mozambican army and to its transformation into a regular political party. It is now the main opposition party in Mozambique. At the legislative elections on 1 and 2 December 2004, the party was the main part of the Renamo-UE electoral alliance, that won 29.7% of the popular vote and 90 out of 250 seats. The presidential candidate of this alliance, Afonso Dhlakama, won 31.7% of the popular vote.

Raul Domingos, negotiator at the Rome General Peace Accords and RENAMO's leader in parliament from 1994–1999, was expelled from the party in 2000, and in 2003, founded the Party for Peace, Democracy, and Development.

In October 2012, RENAMO's headquarters were relocated near Casa Banana (also named Sathunjira, RENAMO's former guerrilla base in the 1980s) in Gorongosa, where a training camp was set up for around 800 partially armed followers. Previously, the headquarters had been moved from Maputo to Nampula in 2009.[23] RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama threatened to "destroy the country" if his political demands were not met.[24]

On 4 April 2013, one woman and four police officers were killed, with ten policemen more injured in a RENAMO attack on a police station in the town of Muxengue. The leader of the attackers was also killed.[25] RENAMO's security chief stated that the action was a response to previous police raids on RENAMO gatherings. Around 300 RENAMO members had remained armed since the 1992 peace deal, despite efforts to integrate them into the army or police.[26]

On 6 April 2013, two or three civilians were killed and two women were injured when alleged RENAMO militiamen attacked a truck and a bus in Chibabava District.[27] RENAMO denied being involved in the attack.[28]

On 21 June, suspected RENAMO guerrillas attacked a bus in Machanga, Sofala Province, injuring an elderly woman. The incident happened two days after RENAMO threatened to paralyse key roads and the only coal export train to force the FRELIMO government to renegotiate peace terms.[29]

On 17 October, suspected RENAMO guerrillas ambushed a military patrol near Gorongosa, RENAMO's stronghold, killing seven soldiers, according to local media.[30] On 18 October, another clash between Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) and RENAMO militiamen took place in Mucodza, seven kilometres away from Gorongosa. National director of defence policy in the Ministry of Defence, Colonel Cristovao Chume, claimed that the soldiers suffered no losses and that a RENAMO fighter was injured and captured by their forces. RENAMO leader Dhlakama claimed that no RENAMO fighters were killed on the attack, which, according to him, was started by the Army, and that the casualties had been suffered by the FADM. However, reporters confirmed that the bodies of two RENAMO fighters were in the local morgue of Gorongosa.[31]

On 21 October, FADM forces captured Sathunjira base after several days of combat. RENAMO spokesman Fernando Mazanga claimed that the government forces had shelled the base with heavy weapons (artillery), and that Afonso Dhlakama had fled the base. A RENAMO statement said that the capture of the base puts an end to the 1992 peace deal.[32] RENAMO announced that MP Armindo Milaco was killed in the government raid. On 22 October, gunmen attacked a police station in Maringué District in apparent retaliation, with no casualties reported.[33]

On 26 October, alleged RENAMO fighters attacked civilian vehicles in the main north-south highway near Beira, killing one and injuring 10 people. RENAMO denied its implication in the attack.[34]

On 3 May 2018, Afonso Dhlakama, who led RENAMO since 1979, died in Gorongosa after suffering a heart attack.[40] An unnamed official in RENAMO acknowledged this and also stated that Dhlakma had been ill prior to his death.[40] Regarding the future of RENAMO following Dhlakma's death, Ed Hobey Hamsher, an analyst with Maplecroft, stated that "no potential successor has Dhlakama's stature" and that anybody who succeeds him "will struggle to unify Renamo's factions."[41] At the time of Dhlakma's death, the RENAMO Congress was unable to fix a date to vote on a successor.[41] The next month on 14 June 2018, Ossufo Momade, who was picked to serve as the interim leader of RENAMO until the organization's Congress could vote on a permanent successor to Dhlakma,[41] went into hiding.[42]

On August 1, 2019, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and RENAMO leader Ossufo Momade signed a peace agreement bringing an end to the six year period of armed clashes.[43][44] They also shook hands and embraced each other as well.[44] The signing of the peace took place at RENAMO's remote military base in the Gorongosa mountains.[44] After the agreement was signed, the last remaining RENAMO fighters surrendered their weapons Momade told the Associated Press “We will no longer commit the mistakes of the past.”[11] He also stated “We are for a humanized and dignified reintegration and we want the international community to help make that a reality.”[11] During another signing which took in Maputo's peace square, Momade declared the group would focus to "maintain peace and national reconciliation."[12]

• 
  First flag of RENAMO
• 
  Second flag of RENAMO

• Heads of the National Resistance Government of Mozambique

• Wiegink, Nikkie (2020). Former Guerrillas in Mozambique. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-5205-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to RENAMO.

• RENAMO official site
• Special Report on Mozambique 2004 Elections by the Carter Center
• Final Report of the European Union Election Observation Mission
• Main RENAMO Policy Guidelines 2004 (pdf)
• Mozambique-US Relations during Cold War from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives