Violence, Peacebuilding, and Elite Bargains in Mozambique Since Independence

Abstract

This chapter provides a unique account of Mozambique’s long, often fraught peacebuilding journey, from the end of its 16-year civil war in 1992 through fifteen years of relative stability despite extreme poverty, corruption and social dislocation, to recent peace negotiations between the ruling FRELIMO party and its rebel nemesis-RENAMO. It examines the diverse initiatives-from financial and diplomatic to the contribution of church-based mediation and grassroots initiatives for justice and reconciliation-that brought the parties to a negotiated settlement, against a backdrop of changing regional and international dynamics. In some ways, the chapter concludes, FRELIMO’s landslide victory in 2019 is likely to complicate the elite bargaining that has helped Mozambique avoid any large-scale recurrence of violence.