Resistência Nacional Moçambicana

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Renamo party flag

The Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (short Renamo , Portuguese for National Resistance of Mozambique ) is a conservative political party in Mozambique .

history

It was only founded after Mozambique's independence in 1975 with the help of the white minority government of Rhodesia as an anti-communist resistance movement, when it wanted to fight the communist -oriented one-party system of the Frelimo in Mozambique, supported by the Soviet Union . In its early years, the Renamo consisted mainly of Frelimo dissidents and soldiers who had fought for Portugal in colonial times .

When the guerrilla fighting finally forced the Rhodesian government to resign at the end of the 1970s, the now independent Zimbabwe no longer offered the Renamo fighters a safe haven and no political base either. Most of them moved to South Africa in order to be able to continue their military ambitions against Mozambique within the framework of the foreign and security policy of the apartheid regime there .

In 1984 the President of South Africa, Pieter Willem Botha , and the Frelimo government signed the Nkomati Agreement under heavy pressure , in which it was agreed that Mozambique would not allow any guerrilla activities of the African National Congress or the MK from Mozambique and South Africa would in return support it the Renamo fails. While Mozambique largely adhered to the agreement, South Africa repeatedly violated it and officially declared it null and void in 1985 due to "several violations".

In 1987 the US Senators Jesse Helms and Bob Dole mobilized US support for the Renamo Liberation Army. Renamo also received support from West Germany in particular. The most important hub for Renamo supporters was in the FRG .

When the civil war between the Renamo rebels and the government came to an end in 1990 with the beginning of the peace negotiations, Renamo was faced with the problem of having to transform itself from a purely military organization with a loose structure into a political party after years of guerrilla war . The problem was exactly the opposite that African parties normally have. While these were usually urban groups focused on the country's intellectual elite who were faced with the difficulty of creating a base among the rural population, the Renamo were faced with the problem of having an anchorage in the urban centers the country was missing. Their political statements in the past had been limited to anti- Marxist , pro- capitalist and pro- democratic statements, and their opportunities to seriously discuss these issues were limited. Only after massive financial support as a result of the General Peace Agreement of Rome , which put an end to the civil war in 1992, did the Renamo manage the transition to a political party.

Political activity

By 2013, Renamo had laid down their arms and was Mozambique's largest opposition party . In the presidential elections in December 2009 the Frelimo candidate Armando Guebuza triumphed with 75% over his challenger Afonso Dhlakama , the long-time leader of Renamo, who received only 16% of the votes cast. The results of the election, despite some irregularities and although Frelimo took advantage of its advantages as a ruling party, tended not to be questioned by international observers. Renamo also suffered a devastating defeat in the 2009 parliamentary elections , gaining only 16% and 17% of the vote, respectively. This result can partly be explained by the appearance of the new opposition party Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM), which was founded as a split from Renamo in early 2009 to protest against the authoritarian leadership style of Dhlakama. Although there were indications of electoral fraud by the ruling party in this election too, observers did not consider these irregularities to be decisive for the election. The Renamo currently holds 51 of 250 seats in parliament. In the run-up to the local elections in 2013 , Dhlakama declared that Renamo would boycott further elections until the electoral law was changed according to his ideas and there were armed clashes between armed ex-Renamo guerrillas and the police and army . In the local elections boycotted by Renamo, the new MDM party won a considerably larger share of the vote nationwide than Renamo had achieved in any national election since 1999 and thus challenged it for the rank of the largest opposition party.

Election results

In the presidential elections since 1994, Renamo's number of votes has almost halved by 2009, compared to the best result in 1999 even reduced to a third. The results of the parliamentary elections are roughly comparable. The local and provincial elections were grossly neglected by the Renamo leadership, with correspondingly poor results. In the 2008 local elections , Renamo did not win a mayor's post, and in 9 of 43 local authorities it was not even enough for a seat.

Presidential elections since 1994 in comparison
Year of choice Party and candidate Number of votes Result in percent
1994 Renamo: Afonso Dhlakama 1,666,965 33.73%
Frelimo: Joaquim Chissano 2,633,740 53.30%
1999 Renamo: Afonso Dhlakama 2,133,655 47.71%
Frelimo: Joaquim Chissano 2,338,333 52.29%
2004 Renamo: Afonso Dhlakama 998.059 31.74%
Frelimo: Armando Guebuza 2,004,226 63.74%
2009 Renamo: Afonso Dhlakama 650 679 16.41%
Frelimo: Armando Guebuza 2,974,627 75.01%
MDM: Daviz Simango 340 579 8.59%

See also

swell

  1. ↑ Matthias Voss (Ed.): We have left traces! The GDR in Mozambique. Experiences, experiences and knowledge from three decades . Lit-Verlag, Münster-Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-8258-8321-3 , p. 309. See also Google Books .
  2. ↑ http://www.infopartisan.net/trend/trd0901/t150901.html

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