Figure 1.-- The Mozambique Civil War was a human tragedy of immense proportions. And it went on for 17 years--fFour times longer than the American Civil War. errible atriocities were committed. This was in part possible because of support from foreign powers, mostly China and the Soviet Union which supported Frelimo. South Africa provided more limited support to Renamo. Starvation was rampant and large segments of the ppulation had no access to medical care. This photograph was taken in Mocuba, a small inland town in central Mozambique on Licungo River, about 600 km (370 miles) north of the capital city, Maputo in 1989. The caption read,"Nineten-year-old Elisa Antonio comforyts her 2-year-old daughter, Marta Oniva, after a 40-miler walk to the relative safety of Mocuba town. As amanyas 5 milion of Mozambique's 14.5million citizens have been uprooted from homes and lands by the brutal civil war. Some 200,000 children there are either orphaned or unable to find their parents." Photgraphr: David Ward.

Frelimo, a Marxist-leminist Party seized power. Socialist and the authoritarian politics that followed with Soviet influence sparked resistance. And because the Mozambicans aided South African guerillas, the South Africans supported the Mozambique resistance--Renamo. The result was a 17-year civil war. The war for independence was fought at low levels, the civil war was a different matter. It became a bloody, vicious struggle. Many Mozambicans were adversely affected, especially people in rural areas where the guerillas were active. Hundreds of thousands were killed. More than 1 million Mozambicans fled the country, seeking safety in Malawi which cuts into central Mozambique. Another million Mozambicans sought safe havens within the country. Large numbers of Mozambicans in the countryside migrated to the safety of the cities, especially the coastal cities where the Government maintained control. Agricultural production plummeted, Some authors seek to blame the economic collapse on entirely on the civil war. The war was certainly a major factor, but the Government's Marxist policies also played a major role. Mozambique country suffered a deep recession as the economy ground to a halt. Food became scarce. At the peak of the civil war, Mozambique reported one of the lowest per-capita caloric intakes in the world. The 1992 El Niño affected rainfall, precipitating a deadly famine. International relief efforts were impaired by the damage to the country's infrastructure and transportation network as a result of the civil war, making it difficult to get food to starving people. Feuding political parties also interfered with the relief work.

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Created: 2:43 AM 5/27/2025
Last updated: 2:43 AM 5/27/2025