Stephen Emerson - Mozambican Civil War: Marxist–Apartheid Proxy, 1977–1992

MOZAMBICAN CIVIL WAR

MARXISTAPARTHEID PROXY, 19771992

STEPHEN EMERSON

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN AND SWORD MILITARY

an imprint of

Pen and Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Stephen Emerson, 2019

ISBN 978 1 52672 849 4

eISBN 978 1 52672 850 0

Mobi ISBN 978 152672 851 7

The right of Stephen Emerson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Maps by George Anderson

Front cover photo courtesy of Centro de Formao Fotografica, Maputo, Mozambique

Back cover photo courtesy of Andr Thomashausen

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LIST OF MAPS

Map 1: Mozambique

Map 2: The RhodesianMozambican Frontier, 19771979

Map 3: Battleground Central Mozambique

Map 4: The Southern Front, 19831985

Map 5: Renamos Casa Banana Headquarters Complex, August 1985

Map 6: The Central Front, 19851987

Map 7: The Southern Battleground, 19871989

Map 8: The Northern Battleground, 19871990

GLOSSARY

AFZ	Air Force of Zimbabwe
ANC	African National Congress (South Africa)
bandidos armados	armed bandits; Frelimo name for Renamo guerrillas
Beira corridor	rail and road network, plus oil pipeline running across central Mozambique from Beira to Mutare (Zimbabwe)
BMATT	British Military Advisory Training Team
CIA	Central Intelligence Agency (United States)
CIO	Central Intelligence Organization (Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe)
ComOps	Combined Operations Headquarters (Rhodesia)
Dak	C-47 Dakota transport aircraft
DST	Directorate of Special Tasks (South Africa)
DZ	drop zone for men and matriel by parachute
FADM	Foras Armadas de Defesa Moambique (Mozambique Defense Armed Forces), present
FAM	Foras Armadas de Moambique (Armed Forces of Mozambique),
flechas	members of the special Portuguese commando unit under PIDE control; operated in Angola and Mozambique (lit. arrows)
FPLM	Foras Populares de Libertaco de Moambique (Popular Forces for the Liberation of Mozambique), Frelimos armed wing,
Frelimo	Frente de Libertao de Moambique (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique), FPLMs political wing
Gersony Report	U.S. government-funded study on Mozambican violence published in April 1988; Renamo blamed for majority of violence against civilians
GPA	General Peace Agreement; signed in Rome in October 1992
Hercules	C-130 transport aircraft
JVC	Joint Verification Commission
Limpopo corridor	rail and road network roughly paralleling the Limpopo River and running from Maputo to Chicualacuala in southeast Zimbabwe
MNR	Mozambique National Resistance; early Rhodesian name for Renamo
Nkomati Accord	non-aggression pact signed between South Africa and Mozambique in March 1984
Operation Altar	South African covert assistance to Renamo, March 1980January 1983; renamed Operation Mila after January 1983
Operation Bumper	Rhodesian military assistance to Renamo
Operation Cob Web	Zimbabwean escort operations along the Tete corridor
Operation Lifeline	Zimbabwean defense of the Beira corridor
Operation Open Way	Zimbabwean defense of the Limpopo corridor
PIDE	Polcia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado, International Police for the Defence of the State (Lisbons equivalent of the secret police)
recces	South African reconnaissance commandos
Red Berets	Mozambican commando unit
Renamo	Resistncia Nacional Moambicana (Mozambican National Resistance)
RLI	Rhodesian Light Infantry
RPG-7	Soviet-made rocket-propelled grenade launcher
SADCC	Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference
SAAF	South African Air Force
SADF	South African Defence Force
SAS	Special Air Service (Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe)
STF	Special Task Force (Zimbabwe)
stop group	prepositioned troops placed in a blocking position
Sunray	military voice procedure codename for local commander
TPDF	Tanzanian Peoples Defence Force
Voz da Africa Livre	Voice of Free Africa; Renamo radio station
ZANLA	Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army; ZANUs armed wing
ZANU	Zimbabwe African National Union
ZAPU	Zimbabwe African Peoples Union
ZIPRA	Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army; ZAPUs armed wing
ZNA	Zimbabwe National Army

Mozambique.

1. THE COLD WAR IN AFRICA

Though not preordained to such a fate, the march of history in the post-World War II period would dramatically transform the heretofore neglected African continent into a major venue for superpower competition and military confrontation during the Cold War. As such the continent and its people would find themselves caught up in a global ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union not of their own making. Nonetheless, they would find themselves forced to cope with an intense level of sustained violence throughout the last half of the 20th century as the impact of the Cold War played out across Africa.