RENAMO

===Independence and formation===

From the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, [[Portugal]] fought a series of [[Portuguese Colonial War|bitter counter-insurgency conflicts]] against independence movements in its three primary African colonies—[[Angola]], Mozambique, and [[Guinea-Bissau]]. In Mozambique, the armed struggle against colonial rule was spearheaded by the [[Front for the Liberation of Mozambique]] (FRELIMO), which was initially formed in exile in neighbouring [[Tanzania]].<ref name=Nationalism>{{cite book|last=Derluguian|first=Georgi|editor-last=Morier-Genoud|editor-first=Eric|title=Sure Road? Nationalisms in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique|date=1997|pages=81–95|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden|isbn=978-9004222618}}</ref> FRELIMO recruited from Mozambican migrant workers and intellectuals living abroad, where they had been exposed to the emerging popularity of anti-colonial and nationalist causes overseas.<ref name=Nationalism/><ref name=Walters>{{cite book|last=Walters|first=Barbara|editor-last=Snyder|editor-first=Jack|title=Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention|date=1999|pages=52–58|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0231116275}}</ref> Its political programme was anti-colonial in nature, but also anti-traditionalist; FRELIMO leaders planned to wrest social and political power from the Portuguese administration, as well as on the grassroots level from local tribal authorities.<ref name=Hume>{{cite book|last=Hume|first=Cameron|title=Ending Mozambique's War: The Role of Mediation and Good Offices|date=1994|pages=81–95|publisher=United States Institute of Peace Press|location=Washington DC|isbn=1-878379-38-0}}</ref> The party also envisioned a radical restructuring of post-colonial Mozambican society in accordance with the principles of [[scientific socialism]].<ref name=Hume/> In September 1964, FRELIMO initiated an armed insurgency.<ref name=Nationalism/> Its decision to take up arms was influenced by a number of internal and external factors, namely the recent successes of indigenous anti-colonial guerrilla movements in [[French Indochina]] and [[French Algeria]], as well as encouragement from contemporary African statesmen such as [[Ahmed Ben Bella]], [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], and [[Julius Nyerere]].<ref name=Nationalism/> FRELIMO insurgents initially received training primarily in North Africa and the Middle East in countries such as [[Algeria]], with the [[Soviet Union]] and People's Republic of [[China]] providing military equipment.<ref name=Nationalism/> FRELIMO established a permanent foothold in underdeveloped northern Mozambique and began expanding its operations southwards, reaching the central provinces by 1973.<ref name=Hume/> Portugal responded with increasingly large scale [[search and destroy]] operations and strengthening military and intelligence ties to the neighbouring states of [[Rhodesia]] and [[South Africa]], then ruled by white minority governments sympathetic to the colonial regime.<ref name=Unity>{{cite book|last=Sayaka|first=Funada-Classen|title=The Origins of War in Mozambique: A History of Unity and Division|date=2013|pages=263–267|publisher=African Minds|location=Somerset West|isbn=978-1920489977}}</ref> FRELIMO, in turn, forged an informal alliance with a Rhodesian insurgent movement, the [[Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army]] (ZANLA).<ref name=Unity/> ZANLA insurgents were permitted to infiltrate Rhodesian territory from FRELIMO-held areas of Mozambique, inexorably linking the Mozambican conflict to the [[Rhodesian Bush War]].<ref name=Unity/>

The 1974 [[Carnation Revolution]] and the collapse of Portugal's right-wing ''[[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]]'' government plunged Lisbon into turmoil and brought to power a military junta known as the [[Armed Forces Movement]].<ref name="George">{{cite book|title=The Cuban intervention in Angola |last=George|first=Edward|location=New York|publisher=Frank Cass Publishers|year=2005|isbn=978-0415647106|pages=49–53}}</ref> The Portuguese junta was committed to divesting itself of the colonies and ending the increasingly costly African wars.<ref name="George"/> The resulting confusion among the metropole's military forces in Mozambique allowed FRELIMO to wrest control of large sections of the territory from the Portuguese.<ref name=Finnegan/> In the absence of Portuguese repression, a number of new Mozambican political parties, including some formed by FRELIMO splinter factions, appeared and began campaigning for support.<ref name=Finnegan>{{cite book|last=Finnegan|first=William|title=A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambique|url=https://archive.org/details/complicatedwarha00finn|url-access=registration|date=1992|pages=[https://archive.org/details/complicatedwarha00finn/page/112 112–118]|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0520082663}}</ref> Portugal announced it would initiate a political transition in Mozambique simultaneously with multi-party elections prior to independence, but FRELIMO condemned the proposal.<ref name=Hume/> The party's leadership, headed by [[Samora Machel]], countered that it was the sole legitimate representative of the Mozambican people, and demanded it be permitted to take power directly, without multi-party elections.<ref name=Hume/> In early September 1974, Portugal announced it would comply with FRELIMO's request.<ref name=Finnegan/> Portuguese officials promised that after nine months, the positions of local government would be handed to FRELIMO appointees, and no elections would be held.<ref name=Finnegan/>

The decision to effect a direct transfer of power to FRELIMO, without a local referendum or elections, was greeted with trepidation by South Africa and Rhodesia.<ref name=Volk>{{cite book|last=Miller|first=Jamie|title=An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival|year=2016|pages=122–126, 314|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0190274832}}</ref> It also resulted in an exodus of Portuguese settlers, FRELIMO dissidents, and indigenous troops who had served with Portuguese auxiliary units, including the elite [[Flechas]], fearing retribution under the new regime.<ref name=Leviathan/> Many of the new exiles fled to Rhodesia, where they were recruited as assets by the Rhodesian [[Central Intelligence Organisation]] (CIO).<ref name=Leviathan/> The most prominent anti-FRELIMO exile in Rhodesia was Orlando Cristina, a former member of the colonial security services in Mozambique who had served as a regional liaison with the Rhodesian government.<ref name=Leviathan/> Cristina set up a Portuguese-language radio broadcasting station, known as ''Voz da Africa Livre'', which broadcast anti-communist and anti-FRELIMO messages into Mozambique.<ref name=Leviathan/> Cristina's broadcasts called attention to human rights violations committed by FRELIMO, including the detention of party dissidents, and accused FRELIMO of betraying Mozambican nationalism by pandering to the Marxist ideology of the Soviet Union.<ref name=Leviathan/> The CIO hoped to use ''Voz da Africa Livre'' to recruit disaffected Mozambicans for an anti-FRELIMO paramilitary force.<ref name=Leviathan/> One such recruit was [[André Matsangaissa]], a former FRELIMO official who had been imprisoned by the party in a re-education camp following the transfer of power; Matsangaissa had subsequently escaped to Rhodesia and was familiar with Cristina's broadcasts.<ref name=Leviathan/> Matsangaissa met with Cristina and argued that hostile radio messages alone could not change the political situation in Mozambique; armed struggle was necessary.<ref name=Leviathan/> Shortly thereafter, the CIO recruited Matsangaissa as the leader for its new anti-FRELIMO force.<ref name=Leviathan/> The militants received guerrilla training from the CIO and were infiltrated back into Mozambique, where they conducted surveillance of ZANLA movements at the Rhodesians' behest.<ref name=Leviathan/> In February 1977, the unit demonstrated its ability to carry out autonomous operations when it stormed a FRELIMO re-education camp in [[Sofala Province]], freeing the detainees there.<ref name=Leviathan/> During a meeting at Cristina's home in May 1977, the unit's leadership formally adopted the title ''Resistência Nacional Moçambicana'' (RENAMO).<ref name=Leviathan/>