Mozambican Civil War

=== RENAMO ===

RENAMO systematically committed atrocities as part of its war and destabilization strategies. These included massacres, rapes and mutilation of non-combatants during attacks on villages and towns, the use of child soldiers and the employment of the Gandira system, which involved forced labour and sexual violence. Women would often be abducted in the fields, then raped as a means to boost troop morale. The Gandira system also contributed to famine, as the rural population was made to produce food for RENAMO and unable to produce food for themselves. Others were made to transport supplies for RENAMO in long marches. Refusing to participate in Gandira or falling behind on the marches would result in severe beating and often execution.<ref>Gersony 1988, pp. 20-22</ref> Attempting to escape was also punished harshly. One particularly gruesome practice was the mutilation and killing of children left behind by escaped parents.<ref>Gersony 1988, p.24-27</ref><ref>Gersony 1988, p. 32</ref> RENAMO's brutal tactics quickly earned it a negative reputation among much of Mozambique's population who referred to them as "Armed Bandits" and endorsed beatings against them, even pressuring the military into a public execution of four RENAMO rebels in 1983.<ref>"Pena de morte exigida para bandidos armados", Noticias, 1983</ref>

RENAMO's atrocities gained worldwide attention in July 1987, following a massacre of 424 civilians during a raid on the rural town of [[Homoine District|Homoine]], which was lightly defended by 90 FRELIMO soldiers. The victims of the massacre included hospital patients.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-24/news/mn-3651_1_renamo |title=Toll Over 380; Guerrillas Blamed : Massacre in Mozambique: Babies, Elderly Shot Down|website=Los Angeles Times|date=16 August 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/homoine.html |title=MHN: Homoine, 1987 |publisher=Mozambiquehistory.net |access-date=4 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307230039/http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/homoine.html |archive-date=7 March 2012}}</ref> This incident prompted an investigation into RENAMO's tactics by US-State Department consultant Robert Gersony, which finally put an end to ambitions from some conservative politicians for US government support for RENAMO.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/mccain-urged-reagan-admin_b_135431.html |title=Jacob Alperin-Sheriff: McCain Urged Reagan Admin To Meet Terror Groups Without Pre-Conditions |date=23 November 2008 |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |access-date=4 March 2012}}</ref> The report concluded that RENAMO's attack in Homoine did not significantly differ from the tactics it normally employed in such raids. The report described RENAMO's methods in the following way:<blockquote>The attack stage was sometimes reported to begin with what appeared to the inhabitants to be the indiscriminate firing of automatic weapons by a substantial force of attacking RENAMO combatants. [...] Reportedly the Government soldiers aim their defensive fire at the attackers, while the RENAMO forces shoot indiscriminately into the village. In some cases refugees perceived that the attacking force had divided into three detachments: one conducts the military attack; another enters houses and removes valuables, mainly clothing, radios, food, pots and other possessions; a third moves through the looted houses with pieces of burning thatch setting fire to the houses in the village. There were several reports that schools and health clinics are typical targets for destruction. The destruction of the village as a viable entity appears to be the main objective of such attacks. This type of attack causes several types of civilian casualties. As is normal in guerrilla warfare, some civilians are killed in crossfire between the two opposing forces, although this tends in the view of the refugees to account for only a minority of the deaths. A larger number of civilians in these attacks and other contexts were reported to be victims of purposeful shooting deaths and executions, of axing, knifing, bayoneting, burning to death, forced drowning and asphyxiation, and other forms of murder where no meaningful resistance or defense is present. Eyewitness accounts indicate that when civilians are killed in these indiscriminate attacks, whether against defended or undefended villages, children, often together with mothers and elderly people, are also killed. Varying numbers of civilian victims in each attack were reported to be rounded up and abducted [...].<ref>Gersony 1988, p. 30f.</ref></blockquote>

According to the Gersony Report, RENAMO's abuses were far more systematic, widespread and serious than FRELIMO's: the refugees interviewed for the Gersony Report attributed 94% of murders, 94% of abductions and 93% of lootings to RENAMO.<ref>Gersony 1988, p.34-36.</ref> However, this conclusion has been disputed by the French Marxist scholar Michel Cahen, who states that both sides were equally to blame:<blockquote>There can be no doubt that the war was largely one fought against civilians... I am also convinced that the war was equally savage on both sides, even if the total domination of the media by FRELIMO for the 15 years of the war has led even those most desirous of remaining objective to attribute the majority of the atrocities to RENAMO. The people themselves were not duped: they attributed various acts of banditry and certain massacres to "RENAMO 1," but others to "RENAMO 2" – the euphemistic term for FRELIMO soldiers and militiamen acting on their own.<ref>Cahen 1998, p. 13.</ref></blockquote>