Brief history of Mozambique
Mozambique has been under Portuguese domination since the beginning of the sixteenth century and after WWII, it officially became an overseas colony.
In 1962, various liberation forces banded together to form FRELIMO (Front de Libertaçao de Moçambico – Mozambique Liberation Front) and in 1964, the war of independence began, backed by the Soviet Union, China and the Scandinavian countries.
After more than ten years of war, peace was declared and on June 25, 1975 the independence of Mozambique was proclaimed.
In 1977, FRELIMO became a Marxist political party and General Samora Machel, the first President of independent Mozambique, forged an alliance with the Soviet Union.
At the beginning of the 1980s, after a series of terrorist attacks on schools, means of transport and medical facilities, the country became the setting of a violent civil war that caused nearly a million deaths, 95% of which were civilians.
This war saw the regular Mozambique army pitched against guerrilla groups that banded together under the name, RENAMO, a group of anti-Communist resistance fighters funded by the white governments of Rhodesia and South Africa, and by the government of the USA.
These groups, commanded by mercenaries and common bandits, brought terror and death to the villages of the country, destroying human lives, vegetation and animals.
The conflict ended in 1992 with the Rome General Peace Agreements, negotiated by the Italian Government and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
It is this war that is recounted in these stories.