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Supporting the Right Side in Mozambique
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# : |
14881 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1988 |
2,595 Words |
| Author
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Christopher Gregory
Christopher Gregory is a lecturer in the Department of
International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, and a frequent commentator on southern African
affairs. In early 1988 he visited Mozambique. |
In the 1970s a Mecca for Western intellectuals antagonistic to modern capitalism, Mozambique today is supported by what at first sight appears to be an unlikely group of symphathizers. Notwithstanding the tenets of the Reagan Doctrine, which vows to aid anticommunist insurgencies fighting incumbent Marxist regimes, the U.S. State Department has, since the mid-1980s, spearheaded Western initiatives in Mozambique, joining Britain, Italy, and the Scandinavian countries in providing emergency aid for the drought-and conflict-ridden rural populace, and diplomatic support for the Frelimo government against South Africa and the Renamo insurgency movement.
For its part, the Soviet Union continues to play the role of armorer to the Mozaambicans, in addition to supplying emergency aid and the bulk of the country's fuel needs. Given Frelimo's longstanding militant and pro-Soviet alignment in international affairs, and its attempts at home to restructure the economy and policy along Marxist-Leninist lines, how and why have the United States, Britain, and other Western countries come to support Frelimo in preference to Renamo, a Mozambican rebel movement that claims to be anticommunist? Is not Renamo perhaps a better candidate for Western support? Certainly this is the opinion of conservative organizations like the Heritage Foundation in the United States, which has frequently asserted that Renamo should be included under the Reagan Doctrine.
The basis of growing Western support for the Frelimo regime is two-fold. It lies primarily in Western perceptions of the changing nature of the Mozambican ruling party, specifically the belief that there are increasing signs of Frelimo's disillusionment with socialism and a concomitant turning to the
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