What brought about the civil war in Mozambique? Was the peace process successful in creating stability in the country? What is the likelihood of a reoccurrence of civil war? What can be done to prevent this? Earlier analysis saw Mozambique’s ‘internal war’ as being imposed largely from outside: From Western imperialism, and apartheid South Africa’s regional strategy of destabilisation. However, a number of observers now place the central responsibility of Mozambique’s transition into civil war on internal factors and internal actors.
This chapter, in ‘Civil Wars in Africa: Roots and Resolution’, outlines the roots of the Mozambican conflict by considering the relative importance of internal and external factors. This analysis leads to a consideration of how these parallel forces shaped the recent resolution of armed conflict, tracing the negotiations that led to multi-party ‘democratic’ elections. In each stage of this peace process, it is demonstrated that both internal and external actors played prominent roles.
This chapter also considers the roots and resolution of the conflict from both a political science and political economy perspective. It is argued that this further complication of motives is often overlooked, but plays an important role in deciphering the motivations of the parties involved. It is found that:
- While Mozambique’s liberation struggle can be viewed as politically defined, between the liberation movement and controlling colonial powers, an economic interest can also be identified, sizing up a socialist economic outlook against the capitalist system
- The political process that brought the opposing sides to negotiate and implement a peaceful resolution were framed by socio-economic processes, such as the need for economic stability.
The legacy of the war has continued to make itself felt negatively across a wide range of related fronts. For example, the markedly high level of criminality is a reflection of the wholesale availability of arms and the country’s desperate economic situation. Given this lack of resolution of issues that led to conflict, could a similar scenario recur? Policy implications drawn from this chapter include:
- The people of Mozambique currently lack a strong sense of purpose. This lack of societal and public drive has characterised the conflict and the resolution process. If this is not addressed, conflict is likely to return
- It is important to foster a commitment to the collective, otherwise society is likely to fragment.
