the XX century. As Christian Geffray stated in “The Cause of the Arms”,24 geography represented an important factor in the dynamics of the Mozambican Civil War. Mozambique was then bordered by the white-settler regimes of Rhodesia and South Africa, the likes of which played key roles in the Mozambican internal conflict. With the advent of independence in the Portuguese colony, some landlocked neighboring countries feared they could lose access to Mozambique’s seaports and thereby becoming unable to export and import goods overseas. Some Portuguese and anti-communists found in Rhodesia an opportunity to establish a movement that could counter-balance FRELIMO. This was the case with Andre Matsangaissa, who in 1976 had escaped from a re-education camp and became the first president of RENAMO. Matsangaissa was a former fighter of FRELIMO, just like his successor and current head of that political force, Afonso Dlakhama. In 1976, president Samora Machel implemented the sanctions decided by the United Nations against Rhodesia and closed the borders. The UN sanctions, dated from May 1968, were introduced to condemn and punish “Ian Smith's white-supremacist regime in Rhodesia, which has been deplored as an international renegade ever since it broke away from British rule 13 months ago ”.25 The Independence unilateral declaration of Rhodesia was in November 1965. Mozambique’s decision negatively impacted Rhodesia, since the country had lost railway access to international markets, and thereby was unable to export and import from overseas. Thus, those who were compromised with the Ian Smith’s regime, “Frustrated and resentful proceeded to recruit, organize and train a mercenary troop, consisting essentially of the former demobilized Mozambican soldiers of the colonial army immigrated in Rhodesia with only one know-how - the one of war”.26 That was key for increasing RENAMO’s support base. In 1976, with the death of Andre Matsangaissa in Gorongosa and Afonso Dhlakama’s rise to RENAMO’s leadership, the first signs of the re-ignition of armed conflict started to emerge in Mozambique. In the following year, the conflict reached the central region of the country and, by 1980 the war had attained greater proportions, driven by the independence of Zimbabwe. On 18 of April of 1980, which had resulted in 24 Christian Geffray, A Causa das Armas. Antropologia da Guerra Contemporânea em Moçambique. Edições Afrontamento. 1991
25
Time. United Nations: Sanctions Against Rhodesia. (December, 1966) Time. Available at: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840760,00.html 26 Christian Geffray. A Causa das Armas, Antropologia da Guerra Contemporânea em Moçambique. (Edições Afrontamento Porto. 1991). p.12
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