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Chapter 1 Background - a Land of War, a Land of Hope

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Chapter 1 Background - a Land of War, a Land of Hope Notes Chapter 1 Background - a Land of War, a Land of Hope 1. Mozambique File, no. 169, 1990, reported that there were 16600 elephants left in Mozambique in 1989, compared to over 54000 only ten years earlier. 2. In 1965 87.4 per cent were rural farmers, and in 1973 85.8 per cent (World Bank Country Brief). 3. Cashews were not grown in Mozambique prior to the fifteenth century, when they were imported from Brazil by the Portuguese. 4. Knight, 1988. 5. Basil Davidson, 1980. 6. C. F. Spence, 1963. 7. Albeit that Portuguese is spoken in many different dialects. 8. Poor Portuguese often lived in the same areas of town as poor blacks. It is still possible to walk into the slums of Maputo and find shacks as bad as any, in which poor Portuguese live. 9. UN Economic and Social Council, 1976. 10. Africa Watch, 11 February 1991, p. 3. 11. Most of Mozambique's military aid still comes from the Soviet Union. The United States is the main food donor. Chapter 2 Frelimo - Idealism, Discipline, Pragmatism 1. The reshuffle of 3 January 1991 appointed Rafael Maguni to the Ministry of Information. Maguni played a central role in the war, working on the Frelimo radio station broadcasting from Tanzania. 2. Eduardo Mondlane said in 1969 ' ... what type of social structure, what organisation we would have, no-one knew ... Now, however, there is a qualitative transformation in thinking which has emerged during the past six years which permits me to conclude that at present Frelimo is much more socialist, revolutionary and progressive than ever and that the line, the tendency, is now more and more in the direction of socialism of the Marxist-Leninist variety. Why? Because the conditions of life in Mozambique, the type of enemy which we have, does not give us any other alternative ... '. (Bertil Egero, 1987). 3. See Martin and Johnson, 1981, p. 128. 4. Bertil Egero, 1987. 5. lain Christie, 1989. 6. David Lamb, 1987. 7. The British Ambassador to Mozambique during 1984-86, Eric Vines, refers to the stubborn and impetuous strands in Machel's character, 174 Notes to pp. 27-35 175 amongst his better publicised qUalities. Machel's biographer, lain Christie, too alludes to Machel's tendency to demogoguism. 8. Samora Machel May Day Speech, quoted in David Lamb, 1987. 9. These rites often include the crude and unsanitory performance of a clitorectomy on the girl, which prevents her from experiencing any pleasure during sex by severing her clitoris. 10. The payment of bride price by the husband to the father of the bride is taken by many husbands to be their 'claim' on their wife's labour. The wife, because she has been paid for, is expected to do her traditional duties, which, in Africa, usually amount to serving her husband in the way that he sees fit. Disobedience is often punished by beating. 11. For Machel's attitude on race see lain Christie, 1989, p. 152. Also see Joseph Hanlon, 1984. 12. David Lamb, author of The Africans, who visited Codzo, one of Frelimo's re-education camps, described it as follows: 'Codzo was a prison with no walls, no gates, no clanking steel ... approaching it ... I saw what looked like a typical African village. There were eight hundred male prisoners . some were petty criminals or drug addicts, others were described as enemies of the revolution. No one was ever charged or tried in court, and no one knew how long he would stay. Everyone in Codzo spent ninety minutes a day in sessions devoted to self-criticism and Marxist orientation, and everyone was taught a trade, from carpentry to farming.' 13. The video (made by Prince Johnson, his murderer, and leader of the INPFL rebels) of the murder of Samuel Doe on 10 September, 1990, was shown to Western journalists. It graphically screened the shaving of his head with broken glass and the shattering of both his knees before his death. Doe's own soldiers in 1980, on storming the palace where President Tolbert was President, gouged out the President's right eye, dismembered him, and fired three bullets into his head. 14. Amnesty Law (Law 14/87) 19 December 1987. 15. See Gervase Clarence-Smith, 'The Roots of the Mozambican Counter­ Revolution', The Southern African Review of Books, April-May 1989. 16. Middlemas, 1977. 17. As will be seen in the Chapter 3, their discontent was largely material, rather than political or ideological. 18. Geffray, 1990. 19. Geffray, 1990, p. 41. 20. Christie, 1989. 21. Southern Africa Report November, 1989. 'Nampula: What's Left?'. 22. Vail and White, 1980, p. 391. 23. Vail and White, 1980, p. 400 examines this as it relates to the case of the Gurue tea estates, concluding that 'Frelimo was not taking control of the commanding heights of the economy, but rather trying to bailout an endless line of sinking ships'. 176 Notes to pp. 16-51 24. See Chapter 1, p. 15. 25. See Murray, 1981. 26. Bender, Coleman and Sklar, 1985. 27. There were 317 in 1985. 28. Torp, 1989; Mozambique (Marxist Regimes Series). 29. Alex Vines, 1991; 'Renamo in Negotiation and Peace'. 30. Alex Vines, 1991; Confirmed by Fernandes Honwana, Machel's close advisor. 31. 'Building Socialism: The People's Answer', IV Congress, 1983. 32. This lies in sharp contrast to the way Angola, for example, has reformed. In Angola, signs of enthusiasm for the imminent democratisations are considerably less evident. See Herald Tribune, 'Angola, Haunted by Violent Past, Looks Towards Democracy' by David B. Ottaway, Washington Post Service, 29 December 1990. 33. Quoted in Bertil Egero, 1987, p. 65. Chapter 3 The 'Khmer Rouge' of Africa? 1. Ken Flower, 1987. 2. Herman Cohen made this clear in August 1989, as reported by APN, 14 July 1989. 3. UNIT A has always refused to have anything to do with Renamo. This was confirmed by an interview with Paul Oliviera taped by Africa Confidential. See Fred Bridgland (1986), Jonas Savimbi: a Key to Africa for nature of UNITA. 4. Gordon Winter, 1981. 5. ZANLA is the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). 6. See Andre Thomashausen, Africa Insight, vol. 13 (1983). 7. Martin and Johnson, 1981. 8. Martin and Johnson, 1986. 9. Ibid. 10. Winter, 1981. 11. Jaoa Cabrita interviews (1990/91). Cabrita worked with Cristina on the radio station for six years. 12. In interviews with David Martin and Phyllis Johnson in April and June 1984; see Destructive Engagement, Chapter 1. 13. Cristina was draughted into the army's military intelligence, reportedly because of his experience in the bush as a big game hunter. There is dispute as to whether or not he was a PIDE agent. 14. He denied that he worked for the PIDE although Frelimo insists that he did. He does, however, admit working for the Portuguese judicial police in Beira. 15. Magaia was more or less a monthly publication, and the last edition was printed in 1978. It was not paid for by Jorge Jardim as is commonly believed. Notes to pp. 51-63 177 16. Resistencia Mo~ambique. 17. Cristina had told REMO that he was Renamo's leader, so they channelled money raised for the rebels through him. They began to suspect that he was not giving the money to Renamo, but sending it back to his farm in Australia, and threatened verbally to kill him. Cabrita interview. 18. Fernandes has claimed this in interview. However, neither he nor Dhlakama was present at the meeting. Jaoa Cabrita interviews. 19. A senior CIO instructor describes his relationship with Matsangaissa: 'The way I ran them was I always consulted Andre (Matsangaissa) on everything ... I didn't always agree with him and ifI didn't agree with him I'd say 'No, we don't do that' (Destructive Engagement). 20. Colin Legum, 1983. 21. Thomashausen interview, December 1990. 22. Five Reconnaissance. 23. Eschel Rhoodie, 1983. 24. See for example, Knight, 1988, p. 23; Wilson and Shumba, 1990; Geffray, 1990. 25. Wilson and Shumba, 1990; interview in Zambia with refugee from Northern Tete. 26. Saxon Logan's film for Compass, screened on lTV London 24 April 1990, 10:35 p.m. 27. Kanji, Richman and Zinkin, 1988. 28. Mozambique Briefing, July 1987, 'Children of the War'. 29. US News and World Report, 16 January 1989. 30. A photo in Die Zeit, 4 March 1990, reveals that some fighting units are made up solely of children. 31. The Times, 22 March 1991. 32. Geffray, 1990. 33. Dhlakama, and Jose Agosto (Renamo cabinet member), have both admitted in interviews with Alex Vines that support for Renamo in the south is very limited. 34. Geffray, 1990. 35. BBC World Service, Network Africa, 25 June 1990, Julian Borgar. 36. Otto Roesch (Trent, Canada) 'Renamo and the Peasantry in Gaza (Southern Mozambique)'. Not yet published. 37. Robert Gersony, 1988. 'Summary of Mozambican Refugees Accounts of Principally Conflict-Related Experience in Mozambique'. 38. K. B. Wilson and F. Shumba, Oxford University Refugee Studies Programme, 'An Account of the Civil War in Northern Tete' (unpublished). 39. Juhba's carried home made guns, and are in charge of collecting maize flour form the villages as 'tributes' to Renamo. Majibha's are 'special groups of volunteers who worked "hand in hand" with Renamo', and despite usually being captives themselves, guard over the other captives for Renamo as their main responsibility. 178 Notes to pp. 64-91 40. 'Extra' deaths means literally those that would not have died from the drought, because aid was there to help them, but who did die because of the difficulties Renamo created for the efficient operation of aid.
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