Mozambican Civil War

The Mozambican Civil War was fought from 1977 to 1992 between the ruling Marxist FRELIMO government, which had led Mozambique to independence from Portugal in 1975, and the RENAMO rebel movement, which was initially organized with backing from white-ruled Rhodesia and later sustained by apartheid South Africa as part of the wider Cold War-era destabilization of the region. The prolonged conflict caused massive civilian displacement and repeated famine, devastating the country's infrastructure and economy. Mediation by the Community of Sant'Egidio led to the Rome General Peace Accords, signed in October 1992, which ended the fighting and provided for RENAMO's transformation into a legal political party within a multiparty Mozambican state.