Mozambique’s post-war success story

Is it time to revisit the narrative

Bibliographic Data

ID12806054
AuthorsCyprian Muchemwa (Bindura University of Science Education, corresponding author), Geoffrey T Harris (Durban University of Technology)
Year2018
Volume15
Issue1
Pages25-48
Publication date2018-09-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocracy and Security (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1555-5860 • E-ISSN: 1741-9166
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17419166.2018.1517336
OpenAlexW2893489720
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Over the past years since the signing of the Rome peace Accords, Mozambique has generally been regarded as an exemplary African post war success story. However, events in the last four years illuminate something different. This article will show that the low intensity but violent clashes between FRELIMO government forces and former rebel group RENAMO are not just a mere manifestation of Mozambican’s government inability to consolidate post war gains. These clashes could be framed and located within the broader context of complexities associated with transforming a peace Accord into a genuine and sustainable postwar peace dividend. It seems the success was largely registered in terms of reducing direct violence by creating negative peace. Even though negative peace was good, it was unfortunately not adequate. This article also argues that the success narrative lulled many including Mozambicans into ignoring fissures in the area of structural violence which effectively limited the country’s ability to progress towards positive peace. Despite all this, however, this article will concur with the belief that an outright full scale war is still highly improbable, but not impossible because RENAMO is still capable of spoiling and eroding the registered post war gains

Context (archaeology · Development economics · Economics · Government (linguistics · Narrative · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Global Political and Social Dynamics · History · Law