Mozambican Civil War

=== RENAMO strategies and operations ===
[[File:Afonso Dhlakama, 1993 in Maringue.jpg|thumb|[[Afonso Dhlakama]] (center), leader of [[RENAMO]] from 1979 ]]

Having fought the Portuguese using guerrilla strategies, FRELIMO was now forced to defend itself against the very same methods it employed against the colonial regime. It had to defend vast areas and hundreds of locations, while RENAMO operated out of a few remote camps, carrying out raids against towns and important infrastructure. Furthermore, RENAMO systematically forced civilians into its employment. This was done by mass abduction and intimidation, especially of children in order to use them as soldiers. It is estimated that one-third of RENAMO forces were child soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/?p=2867 |title=RENAMO and the LRA: The History and Futures of African Child Soldiers &#124; New Histories |access-date=2015-02-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230235024/http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/?p=2867 |archive-date=30 December 2013}}</ref> But abducted people also had to serve RENAMO in administrative or public service functions in the areas it controlled. Another way of using civilians for military purposes was the so-called system of "Gandira". This system especially affected the rural population in areas controlled by RENAMO, forcing them to fulfill three main tasks: 1) produce food for RENAMO, 2) transport goods and ammunition, 3) in the case of women, serve as sex slaves.<ref>Igreja 2007, p.153f.</ref> RENAMO's stated goal was to free Mozambique from "Machelist Communism".<ref>"Mozambique Dissidents' Military Communiqué" Summary of World Broadcasts, 15 July 1980</ref> RENAMO's political programme centered around the abandonment of FRELIMO's socialist policies, the adoption of a free market economy, and more traditionalist concerns such as the reinstatement of tribal leaders to positions of authority.<ref name=Alden>{{cite book|last=Alden|first=Christopher|title=Mozambique and the Construction of the New African State: From Negotiations to Nation Building|date=2001|pages=15–31|publisher=Palgrave|location=Basingstoke |isbn=0-312-23594-1}}</ref>

Thus, despite its far superior numbers, FRELIMO was unable to adequately defend most regions except the most important cities by the mid-1980s. RENAMO was able to carry out raids virtually anywhere in the country except for the major cities. Transportation had become a perilous business. Even armed convoys were not safe from RENAMO attacks and were frequently attacked.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/mozambique/key-actors.php |title=Mozambique: Key Actors in the War and Peace Process |access-date=2012-03-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229195859/http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/mozambique/key-actors.php |archive-date=29 December 2011}}</ref>