Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T14:46:18.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

History, legitimacy, and Renamo's return to arms in central Mozambique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2020

Justin Pearce
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Twenty years after the Mozambican war ended, a return to arms from 2013 by the opposition movement Renamo served to revitalize support for the party in the 2014 election, and put pressure on the Frelimo government to consider demands for constitutional change. Building on existing research on post-war politics and on recent economic change, this article addresses the question of how Renamo obtained civilians’ approval for renewed armed action in the south of Sofala province, the region where conflict broke out in 2013. I argue that popular legitimacy for Renamo's challenge to the state is constituted in a narrative about Renamo that is congruent both with present-day grievances against the state and with understandings of local history dating to the anticolonial struggle that challenge the nationalist history on which Frelimo hegemony rests. Renamo has adapted this narrative in such a way as to claim a historic role for itself in defending the interests of central and northern Mozambique and in struggling for an inclusive and democratic state. In this way, Renamo has gained support for its renewed armed actions, not only among those politicized by Renamo in the earlier war but more broadly among civilians in the region.

Résumé

Résumé

Vingt ans après la fin de la guerre mozambicaine, le mouvement d'opposition Renamo a repris les armes à partir de 2013 pour redynamiser le soutien au parti lors des élections de 2014 et faire pression sur le gouvernement Frelimo pour qu'il prenne en considération les demandes de changement constitutionnel. S'appuyant sur des études existantes sur la politique d'après-guerre et sur la mutation économique récente, cet article s'interroge sur la manière dont la Renamo a obtenu des civils qu'ils approuvent une reprise de l'action armée dans le sud de la province de Sofala, la région dans laquelle le conflit a éclaté en 2013. L'auteur soutient que la légitimité populaire du défi lancé à l’État par la Renamo se constitue dans une narration de la Renamo qui est conforme à la fois aux griefs actuels contre l’État et aux interprétations de l'histoire locale remontant à la lutte anti-coloniale qui remettent en cause l'histoire nationaliste sur laquelle s'appuie l'hégémonie du Frelimo. La Renamo a adapté sa narration de façon à se revendiquer un rôle historique de défenseur des intérêts des régions centrales et septentrionales du Mozambique et de combattant pour un État démocratique inclusif. Ce faisant, la Renamo a obtenu un soutien pour la reprise de son action armée, non seulement auprès de ceux que la Renamo a politisés lors de la guerre précédente, mais aussi plus largement auprès des civils de la région.

Type
History, legitimacy and Renamo
Information
Africa , Volume 90 , Issue 4 , August 2020 , pp. 774 - 795
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agência Moçambicana de Informação (2015) ‘Mozambique: budget does not favour southern provinces’, AllAfrica, 27 April <http://allafrica.com/stories/201504280178.html>, accessed 25 July 2018.,+accessed+25+July+2018.>Google Scholar
Alexander, J. (1997) ‘The local state in post-war Mozambique: political practice and ideas about authority’, Africa 67 (1): 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, J., McGregor, J. and Ranger, T. (2001) Violence and Memory: one hundred years in the ‘dark forests’ of Matabeleland. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Azevedo-Harman, E. (2015) ‘Patching things up in Mozambique’, Journal of Democracy 26 (2): 139–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, B., Eyoh, D. and Kymlicka, W. (2004) Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Bertelsman, B. E. (2016) Violent Becomings: state formation, sociality and power in Mozambique. New York NY: Berghahn Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borges Coelho, J. P. (2015) ‘Abrir a fábula: questões da política do passado em Moçambique’, Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais 106: 153–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buur, L. and Kyed, H. M. (2006) ‘Contested sources of authority: re-claiming state sovereignty by formalizing traditional authority in Mozambique’, Development and Change 37 (4): 847–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabrita, J. (2000) Mozambique: the tortuous road to democracy. Basingstoke: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahen, M. (1993) ‘Check on socialism in Mozambique: what check? What socialism?’, Review of African Political Economy 57: 46–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahen, M. (1994) ‘Mozambique: histoire géopolitique d'un pays sans nation’, Lusotopie 1: 213–66.Google Scholar
Cahen, M. (1998) ‘Dhlakama é maningue nice! An atypical former guerrilla leader in the Mozambican electoral campaign’, Transformation 35: 1–48.Google Scholar
Cahen, M. (2004) Os Outros: um historiador em Moçambique, 1994. Basel: Schlettwein.Google Scholar
Cahen, M. (2011) ‘The enemy as model: patronage as a crisis factor in constructing opposition in Mozambique’. OxPo Working Papers. Oxford: Oxford-Sciences Po Programme (OxPo), University of Oxford <https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/materials/centres/oxpo/working-papers/wp_10-11/OXPO_10-11f_Cahen.pdf>, accessed 15 November 2019.,+accessed+15+November+2019.>Google Scholar
Cahen, M. (2015) ‘“Se nos roubar, vamos queimar!” Vers une nouvelle guerre civile au Mozambique?’, LAMenparle blog, 2 February <http://lamenparle.hypotheses.org/162>, accessed 1 May 2018.,+accessed+1+May+2018.>Google Scholar
Cooper, F. (2002) Africa Since 1940: the past of the present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, C. (2006) Civil War Is Not a Stupid Thing: accounting for violence in developing countries. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Darch, C. (2018) A Success Story Gone Wrong? The Mozambican conflict and the peace process in historical perspective. Maputo: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.Google Scholar
Dinerman, A. (2006) Revolution, Counter-revolution and Revisionism in Postcolonial Africa: the case of Mozambique, 1975–1994. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feijó, J. and Agy, A. R. (2015) ‘Processos migratórios, trabalho agrícola e integração no mercados; efeitos da implementação de grandes projectos sobre comunidades camponesas’ in Desafios para Moçambique 2015. Maputo: Instituto de Estudos Económicos e Sociais.Google Scholar
Florêncio, F. (2008) ‘Autoridades tradicionais vaNdau de Moçambique: o regresso do indirect rule ou uma espéciede neo-indirect rule?’, Análise Social 43 (187) [Moçambique actual: continuidades e mudanças]: 369–91.Google Scholar
Forquilha, S. (2017) ‘Descentralização e conflito em Moçambique: o desfio da construção do estado’ in Desafios para Moçambique 2017. Maputo: Instituto de Estudos Económicos e Sociais.Google Scholar
Geffray, C. (1990) La Cause des Armes au Mozambique: anthropologie d'une guerre civile. Paris: Karthala.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gersony, R. (1988) Summary of Mozambican Refugee Accounts of Principally Conflict-related Experience in Mozambique. Washington DC: Department of State Bureau for Refugee Programs.Google Scholar
Geschiere, P. and Jackson, S. (2006) ‘Autochthony and the crisis of citizenship: democratization, decentralization, and the politics of belonging’, African Studies Review 49 (2): 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, M. (1990) ‘The Mozambican National Resistance Movement (Renamo): a study in the destruction of an African country’, Africa 60 (1): 39–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, M. and Young, T. (1997) Confronting Leviathan: Mozambique since independence. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Hanlon, J. and Ahlback, J. (2016) ‘Mozambique returns to war, as opposition claims electoral “fraud”’, LSE International Development blog <http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2016/03/09/mozambique-returns-to-war-as-opposition-claims-electoral-fraud/>, accessed 15 November 2019.,+accessed+15+November+2019.>Google Scholar
Henderson, E. A. (2008) ‘When states implode: Africa's civil wars 1950–1992’ in Nhema, A. and Zeleza, P. T. (eds), The Roots of African Conflicts: the causes and costs. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Igreja, V. (2008) ‘Memories as weapons: the politics of peace and silence in post-civil war Mozambique’, Journal of Southern African Studies 34 (3): 539–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Igreja, V. (2015) ‘Amnesty law, political struggles for legitimacy and violence in Mozambique’, International Journal of Transitional Justice 9 (2): 239–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacman, A. and Isaacman, B. (1983) Mozambique: from colonialism to revolution. Boulder CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Kyed, H. M. (2007) ‘The politics of policing: re-capturing “zones of confusion” in rural post-war Mozambique’ in Buur, L., Jensen, S. and Stepputat, F. (eds), The Security–Development Nexus: expression of sovereignty and securitization in Southern Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Longo, M. and Lust, E. (2009) ‘The case for peace before disarmament’, Survival 51 (4): 127–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lubkemann, S. C. (2008) Culture in Chaos: an anthropology of the social condition in war. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Macamo, E. (2015) ‘Violence and political culture in Mozambique’, Social Dynamics 42 (1): 85–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macuane, J. J., Buur, L. and Monjane, C. M. (2018) ‘Power, conflict and natural resources: the Mozambican crisis revisited’, African Affairs 117 (468): 415–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, C. (1998) ‘Constructing opposition in Mozambique: Renamo as a political party’, Journal of Southern African Studies 24 (1): 161–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, C. (2002) The Politics of Peace in Mozambique: post-conflict democratization, 1992–2000. Westport CT: Prager.Google Scholar
Manning, C. (2010) ‘Mozambique's slide into one-party rule’, Journal of Democracy 21 (2): 151–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melber, H. (2002) ‘From liberation movements to governments: on political culture in Southern Africa’, African Sociological Review 6 (1): 161–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Messiant, C. (1997) ‘La paix au Mozambique: un succès de l'ONU’ in Messiant, C. and Marchal, R., Les Chemins de la Paix et de la Guerre: les fins de conflit en Afrique orientale et austral. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Minter, W. (1994) Apartheid's Contras. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Morier-Genoud, E. (2009) ‘Mozambique since 1989: shaping democracy after socialism’ in Mustapha, A. R. and Whitfield, L. (eds), Turning Points in African Democracy. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Morier-Genoud, E. (2017) ‘Proto-guerre et négociations: le Mozambique en crise, 2013–2016’, Politique Africaine 145: 153–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morier-Genoud, E., Cahen, M. and do Rosário, D. M. (eds) (2018) The War Within: new perspectives on the civil war in Mozambique. Oxford: James Currey.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munslow, B. (1983) Mozambique: the revolution and its origins. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Ncomo, B. (2004) Uria Simango: um homem, uma causa. Maputo: Edições Novafrica.Google Scholar
Newitt, M. (1995) A History of Mozambique. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Nilsson, A. (1993) ‘From pseudo-terrorists to pseudo-guerrillas: the MNR in Mozambique’, Review of African Political Economy 20 (57): 60–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opello, W. C. (1975) ‘Pluralism and elite conflict in an independence movement: FRELIMO in the 1960s’, Journal of Southern African Studies 2 (1): 66–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostheimer, A. E. (2004) ‘Mozambique's tainted parliamentary and presidential elections’, Africa Spectrum 40 (1): 125–37.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. (2015) Political Identity and Conflict in Central Angola 1975–2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Péclard, D. (2016) Les Incertitudes de la Nation en Angola: aux racines sociales de l'Unita. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Pereira, J. C. G. (2016) ‘Para onde vamos? Dinâmicas de paz e conflitos em Moçambique’ in Desafios para Moçambique 2016. Maputo: Instituto de Estudos Económicos e Sociais.Google Scholar
Pitcher, M. A. (2006) ‘Forgetting from above and memory from below: strategies of legitimation and struggle in postsocialist Mozambique’, Africa 76 (1): 88–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roesch, O. (1992) ‘Renamo and the peasantry in southern Mozambique: a view from Gaza province’, Canadian Journal of African Studies 26 (3): 462–84.Google Scholar
Ron, J. (2005) ‘Paradigm in distress? Primary commodities and civil war’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 49 (4): 443–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabaratnam, M. (2013) ‘History repeating? Colonial, socialist and liberal statebuilding in Mozambique’ in Shandler, D. and Sisk, T. (eds), The Routledge Handbook of International Statebuilding. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sabaratnam, M. (2017) Decolonising Intervention: international statebuilding in Mozambique. London: Littlefield.Google Scholar
Schafer, J. (2001) ‘Guerrillas and violence in the war in Mozambique: de-socialization or re-socialization?’, African Affairs 100 (399): 215–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schafer, J. (2007) Soldiers at Peace: veterans of the civil war in Mozambique. New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlichte, K. and Schneckener, U. (2015) ‘Armed groups and the politics of legitimacy’, Civil Wars 17 (4): 409–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simango, U. (1969) ‘Gloomy situation in Frelimo’ <https://macua.blogs.com/moambique_para_todos/2010/01/suponho-nunca-ter-sido-tornado-publico-na-sua-totalidade-o-documento-apresentado-por-uria-simango-em-novembro-de-1969-e.html>, accessed 15 November 2019.,+accessed+15+November+2019.>Google Scholar
Southall, R. (2013) Liberation Movements in Power: party and state in Southern Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Stewart, F. (2002) ‘Horizontal inequalities: a neglected dimension of development’. QEH Working Paper Series 81. Oxford: Queen Elizabeth House (QEH).Google Scholar
UNICEF (2014) ‘Budget brief – equity special: health sector in Mozambique’. New York NY: UNICEF <http://www.rosc.org.mz/index.php/component/docman/doc_view/216-budget-brief-health-sector-in-mozambique->, accessed 25 July 2018.,+accessed+25+July+2018.>Google Scholar
Vines, A. (1991) Renamo: terrorism in Mozambique. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Vines, A. (2013) ‘Renamo's rise and decline: the politics of reintegration in Mozambique’, International Peacekeeping 20 (3): 375–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vines, A., Thompson, H., Jensen, S. K. and Azevedo-Harman, E. (2015) Mozambique to 2018: managers, mediators and magnates. London: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Werbner, R (1998) ‘Beyond oblivion: confronting memory crisis’ in Werbner, R. (ed.), Memory and the Postcolony: African anthropology and the critique of power. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Wiegink, N. (2015) ‘“It will be our time to eat”: former Renamo combatants and big-man dynamics in central Mozambique’, Journal of Southern African Studies 41 (4): 869–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegink, N. (2019) ‘The good, the bad and the awkward: the making of war veterans in postindependence Mozambique’, Conflict and Society 5 (1): 150–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, T. (1990) ‘The MNR/Renamo: external and internal dynamics’, African Affairs 89 (357): 491–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar