M N G u o E T o OZA STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL Mozambique's History: In 1964, led by the Front for the libera­ Mozambique tion of Mozambique (FRELlMO), they Mozambique was a Portuguese colony launched an armed struggle to oust the for more than four hundred years. Portugal Portuguese. Ten years later, in 1974, Por­ was a poor country itself, unable and un­ tuguese army officers rebelled against their own government, ending decades of Natala willing to develop Mozambique's economic potential. The Portuguese profited from ex­ fascist rule within Portugal. In the following porting Mozambican labor to the South y~ar , Mozambique won independence, as African mines and exporting agricultural did the other Portuguese colonies of products such as cotton, tea, and cashew Angola and Guinea Bissau. nuts. Mozambican peasants were forced to Mozambique's new Frelimo government grow these crops under brutal conditions. established a nonaligned socialist model of They were forced to work on government development, which included a non-racial projects such as road and railway con­ policy of inclusion, provision of education (J struction under conditions considered to be and health services, and a plan to in­ among the worst in African colonial history. tegrate women equally into the new Mozambique is twice the size of Cali­ society. fornia and strategically located on the TRANSPORT LINKS TO PORTS OF BEIRA Indian Ocean, with a coastline equivalent NACALA AND MAPUTO - MAIN TARGETS ' to that of the United States from Boston to OF SOUTH AFRICAN SABOTAGE Miami. It has been generously endowed POPULATION 15 MILLION with mineral resources. Resistance, (MNR or Renamo). The Mozambique 1990 Mozambic'ans call them 'bandidos ar­ ~ Life Expectancy at Birth 45 years Mozambique today is caught up in a mados,' (armed bandits), or 'BAs', for devastating war that is killing and maiming short. its people, traumatizing its children, and destroying its economy. The stage for this Mozambique war was set during the 1970s when Schools Destroyed by MNR have left 300,000 Mozambique extended sanctuary to Robert Quality of Life Indicators 1988 children without Mugabe and his forces who were fighting schools a war for independence in what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Ian Smith was then the head of the Rhodesia's white • minority government. The Rhodesian n $121,00 per year secret service set up a spy network and Average Income 1 year olds fully vaccinated Measles 46% established bandit groups inside Mozambi­ Polio 32% que to collect information about anti-Smith activities. When Ian Smith lost power in • 1980, the bandit groups came under South n African control. Since that time the South Under 5 Mortality Rate 325-375 per 1,000 African government has continued to sup­ (death rate for infants = 1 infant every 7 minutes) port these armed gangs of terrorists, now Literacy Rate for Women 12% known as the Mozambique National Mozambique's History Mozambique 1990 The Case for Genocide Prominent Mozambicans Joaquim Chissano is the current Eduardo Mondlane was the first Samora Machel became Graca Machel Samora Machel's president of Mozambique. He leader of Frelimo. He was trained president of Frelimo following the widow, was Minister of Education began his antif- Portuguese as a sociologist in the United assassination of Mondlane. until recently. She continues on activities as a young student in States and worked for the United Trained as a nurse under the the Frelimo Central Committee the 1950s. He was a leader in Nations until he returned to Portuguese, he led Frelimo and and holds many other leadership Frelimo during the armed struggle Mozambique in 1960 to help end the nation to independence and positions. She has been active in in the 1960s, and was the Prime Portuguese colonialism. His book, became the first president of increasing international awareness Minister of the transitional Struggle in Mozambique, was for Mozambique. Widely of Mozambique's current situation, government in 1974. He was many years the only English­ acknowledged as a charismatic especially the plight of the elected President following the language source on modern and dynamic man , his song-filled children. death of Samora Machel in 1986. Mozambique. He was speeches carried in him the love Salome Moiane is the head of the assassinated in 1969 by the and dedication of millions of Mozambican Women's Portuguese secret police. Mozambicans. He was killed in Organization (OMM), which plays October 1986 when his plane a central role in raising issues of crashed in South African territory importance to Mozambiques' under suspicious circumstances. struggle and development. MNR when they blew up a train travelling The MNR from Ressano Garcia to Maputo. While the Eyewitness to the There is ample evidence that the MNR train was disabled they used bayonets and is not interested in overthrowing the guns to kill some of the passengers. Homoine Massacre Buses, trains, and truck convoys bringing Frelimo government. Its major aim is to All of them wore new uniforms , shiny spread terror and destruction. In one of its famine relief are routinely assaulted and burned. boots and carried new weapons. It also most horrific attacks in July 1987 MNR appeared that they were well organized. entered the peaceful southern town of One man led the group and directed Homoine at dawn and massacred 424 peo­ the others into three smaller sections. ple, including children and hospital pa- As the bandits turned the corner under tients. MNR targeted Homoine because my windows, they fired a volley of the town had been recovering from the ef­ bullets at the buildings on the main fects of the recent drought that has af- street. I stood stunned as I saW seven fected most of southern Africa. Not only women , who were huddled on the had Homoine been feeding itself, but it sidewalk, shot down. Some of the had begun to supply food to the surround­ women carried babies wrapped in cloth ing region . It's ability to survive and pro- t:: around their bodies .. .. the final death toll duce made Homoine a valuable target for )Jl in Hoimoine: 424 dead, 44 children. destruction. While Homoine was perhaps ~ Another 298 people were taken captive the single blooctiest incident, similar q;' by the bandits (MNR). massacres have been repeated all over the 2 Mark Van Kovering , MCC , Agronomist country. In February of 1990, there were ~ 66 Civilian killed and 50 wounded by the School bound children in Tete Province Mozambique 1990 The Case for Genocide Children As Victims It happened at night, as it always does. Like owls or hyenas, the bandits The hardest hit victims are the children swooped down on a village in the area of Mozambique. A United Nations study in of Tanainga. They stole kidnapped and 1989 'the economic cost of frontline then forced their victims to carry their resistance to apartheid' revealed that in food, radios, batteries, the sweat of Mozambique, nearly 494,000 children died their labor in the fields or in the mines between 1980 and 1988 as a result of the of Jo'burg where many of those war. If Mozambique could live in peace, possessions had come from . such conditions could be improved. Those Among the kidnapped were pregnant children who survive face diminished lives women and little children. Among the as a result of the destabilization of their little ones was a small girl of nearly society. Many children have been maimed, eight. .. have seen family members tortured and To demonstrate the fate of the girls to killed, have been kidnapped by the MNR t~ose who were going back, the bandit and forced to murder others, or have been chief of the group picked out one, the forced to flee their homes and live in small girl who was less than eight. In refugee camps. The long term costs of front of everyone, he tried to rape her. having the next generation traumatized by The child's vagina was small and he these experiences cannot be calculated. could not penetrate. On a whim , he took a whetted pocketknife and opened her with a violent stroke. He took her in Blood . The child died. These ctlildren were attacked with an axe by Mozambican Writer Lina Magaia, excerpts from MNR bandits in Inhambane Province the " Little Girl Who Never Learned to Dream" 31 doctors worked in rural areas, and the Health Care Under Attack ratio had fallen to one doctor for every The health care system has been 396,000 people. Added to this decline is the decline in health caused by the war's especially targeted by the MNR. A recent 494,000 war-related child deaths 1980-1988 report states that by the end of 1986, 213 impact on food supplies and sanitation. outlying health posts had been destroyed, and a further 382 had been looted or forced to close. This represents nearly South Africa's War one-third of Mozambique's health post net­ Against Mozambique work. These posts were designed to be the 900,000 War-related total deaths 1980-1988 primary source of health care for the The Impact millions of rural peasants who make up the majority of Mozambique's population. ~, By the end of 1987, Mozambican health 1983-84 war-induced famine reduced available officials estimate two million people had grain to 2 million tons lost access to health care. This was caused by the destruction of many 250,000 orphaned children centers, the increased difficulty in getting 4 Z supplies to centers that remain open , and 1.5 million deaths have resulted from South the problems of travelling to those centers Africa's war against its neighbors when roads are not safe.