People's Republic of Mozambique

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República Popular de Moçambique
People's Republic of Mozambique
Flag of Mozambique (1975-1983) .svg Emblem of Mozambique (1975-1982) .svg
State flag (1975-1983) Coat of arms of the Mozambican People's Republic
Flag of Portugal.svg Portuguese East Africa ↔ Republic of Mozambique Flag of Mozambique.svg
Official languages Portuguese
Capital Maputo
Form of government People's Socialist Democracy
Form of government socialist one-party state
president Samora Machel
prime minister Mário da Graça Machungo
Existence period 1975 - 1990
currency Metical
Location of the VR Mozambique in Southeast Africa

The People's Republic of Mozambique ( Portuguese República Popular de Moçambique ) was a socialist state with a Marxist orientation that existed from June 25, 1975 to December 1, 1990 as the successor state to the Portuguese overseas province of Mozambique . Today it is the Republic of Mozambique .

history

Flag of Mozambique in April 1983

After the final achievement of independence from Portugal in 1975, the People's Republic of Mozambique and its ruling party FRELIMO supported friendly political forces ( ZANU ) in the Rhodesia conflict in the neighboring country. The Rhodesian government under Prime Minister Ian Smith responded to Mozambique with sabotage and destabilization measures, which killed and injured around 3,000 Mozambicans. 350 military operations against Mozambique by Rhodesian government troops have become known. In addition, the Smith government supported emerging opposition groups in the neighboring country, which were burdening the situation with raids, sabotage and mine attacks. The Mozambique National Resistance ( RENAMO ) achieved the greatest fame . This was a conservative-anti-communist-oriented guerrilla movement, whose financial aid and material support to the group was gradually taken over by the apartheid government of South Africa . Specifically, the former South African secret service BOSS is said to have led the subversive support. In view of this development, Mozambican President Samora Machel tried to counteract the emerging escalation by publicly emphasizing good neighborliness with South Africa. After the end of the government of the white minority in Rhodesia, the anti-FRELIMO forces in the northern transvaal on South African territory were given new areas of refuge and were able to continue their activities against the neighboring country to the east.

The People's Republic of Mozambique had close ties with the GDR and Bulgaria , which were socialist states at the time. Mozambique also established relations with France , Italy , Cuba , the Netherlands and Sweden . Relations with the Soviet Union remained difficult, with the exception of arms deliveries and very limited help from doctors, teachers and geologists. The application for admission to the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (Comecon) was supported by the GDR and Bulgaria, but decidedly rejected by the Soviet Union. The People's Republic of Mozambique remained an observer to Comecon. The Mozambican-Soviet relationship remained cool, also because Mozambique refused a military base and also pursued the goal of keeping the Indian Ocean free from nuclear weapons .

traffic

Seaports of Mozambique that were important during the time as the People's Republic are still located in the larger coastal cities of Maputo in the south, Beira , Quelimane , Nacala and Pemba in the north.

A railway network connecting the major ports, which could also take on distribution tasks including humanitarian aid within the country along the approximately 2,500 km long coast, did not exist in the then People's Republic of Mozambique. The main function of Mozambique's railroad was to act as a partner to the three most important ports and neighboring countries: main lines of the railroad connected the port of Maputo with the neighboring countries of South Africa and Swaziland , the port of Beira with the neighboring countries of Zimbabwe and Malawi, and the port of Nacala as well with neighboring Malawi . In addition, there were some isolated branch lines of purely local importance. There was no rail link to the neighboring country of Tanzania to the north, either before or after Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975. Overall, the then People's Republic of Mozambique had only 3 139 km of mostly single-track railway lines after 1975.

The perfection of the handling technologies in the ports of Mozambique and their further expansion in the age of the ever-developing containerization ("container revolution") in maritime traffic was also supported by the GDR at that time, among other things by sending consultants and port specialists and developing projects in Scientific and technical expert groups to solve key problems. In 1979 a maritime transport agreement was concluded between the GDR and the VR Mozambique.

The Deutsche Seereederei (DSR) in Rostock , which also still existed in reunified Germany , ran the three main ports of Maputo within the Maputo Bay in the south, Beira in the center (capital of the province ) as part of the relations between the GDR and the People's Republic of Mozambique in the East Africa liner service at that time Sofala ) and Nacala Province Nampula in the north of the country regularly.

In the GDR book series Jahrbuch der Schiffahrt , Volume 22 ('Jahrbuch der Schiffahrt, Jg. 1982', Transpress - VEB Verlag für Verkehrwesen Berlin 1981, edited by Lothar Hitziger, there on pages 78 to 84) by the author Egon Hammerschmied appeared The contribution Five on the Indic The seaports of the People's Republic of Mozambique : The ports of Maputo, Beira, Quelimane, Nacala and Pemba and the unconnected parts of the existing railway lines of a total of only 3,139 km were described by the German engineer and port specialist Egon Hammerschmied in his above. Contribution u. a. with 7 illustrations, 1 map, 2 tables for the then current situation after 1975 in Mozambique in the 1982 YEARBOOK OF SHIPPING.

The recognizable underdevelopment of the railways and also of the ports after gaining independence from Portugal in 1975 in the course of the Carnation Revolution could not be eliminated in the period from 1975 to 1990 in the short orientation phase of the country as a people's republic and made economic development and humanitarian aid more difficult Mozambique then as now: With the development of democratic structures in the VR Mozambique and the reorientation towards the free market economy from 1989/1990 and since 1995 as a member of the Commonwealth of Nations , development cooperation with industrialized countries that are currently in question could in the future also lead to permanent improvements in the transport sector here at railways and ports.

See also

further reading

  • Egon Hammerschmied: "Five on the Indic The Seaports of the People's Republic of Mozambique" Article in the YEARBOOK OF SHIPPING 1982, Transpress VEB Verlag für Verkehrwesen, Berlin 1982, pp. 78 - 84 with long-term archiving in works by and about "Yearbook of Shipping" ( http: / /d-nb.info/012893536 ) in the catalog of the German National Library, ISSN of the template 0075-238X.

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ A b Joseph Hanlon: Mozambique. Revolution in the crossfire. (= edition southern Africa. 21). Bonn 1986, ISBN 3-921614-25-2 , p. 279.
  2. ^ Ronald Meinardus: The Africa policy of the Republic of South Africa . (= ISSA - scientific series. 15). Bonn, 1981, ISBN 3-921614-50-3 , pp. 429-431.
  3. ↑ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: Council for Mutual Economic Aid (RGW) . on www.kas.de
  4. ↑ a b c d see further literature under 1.