REVISITING THE TRANSITIONS IN ANGOLA AND MOZAMBIQUE
Angola and Mozambique are two paradigmatic cases for the study of civil wars. The first is often
used to illustrate the fragile nature of peace processes. The second is hailed as a rare success story.
According to Stedman, UNITA’s leader, Jonas Savimbi, was the prototype of a total spoiler, a military
chief who did not hesitate to use violence to reach his objectives.
According to Barbara Walter, the
unequivocal international commitment is responsible for peace in Mozambique.
If Angola illustrates the
difficulty of consolidating peace, Mozambique proves the importance of international actors to this end.
But is the story so simple?
Beyond their use to illustrate the difficulty of war-to-peace transitions, both cases are particularly
comparable because they share a number of important characteristics.
Former Portuguese colonies,
Angola and Mozambique gain independence following the “Carnation Revolution” which brought an end
to the Caetano regime on 24 April 1975. The fall of the authoritarian Portuguese regime is in part due to
internal struggles spurred by conflict in the colonies. In both Mozambique and Angola, decolonisation
struggles have gone on since the early sixties. But the speedy transition to independence is problem-ridden
in both countries. In Angola, the Alvor agreements, hastily signed in January 1975, provide for
powersharing between the three main nationalist factions, the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola
(MPLA), the Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (FNLA) and UNITA. But the agreements fail and
civil war erupts. The MPLA takes control of the capital Luanda and it announces the creation of the Popula
Republic of Angola on 11 November 1975. The new country is granted recognition by most foreign
governments and by the United Nations Organization. In the meantime, in Mozambique, Portugal gives
power up to the FRELIMO resistance movement under the auspices of the Lusaka Accords of 7 September
Nations University Press
18
. Stedman, 1997, « Spoiler Problems in Peace Processes ».
19
. Walter, 1997, « The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement ».
20
. Comparisons of Angola and Mozambique abound. See for example, Alcida Honwana, 2001, « Children of War:
Understanding War and War Cleansing in Angola and Mozambique », in Civilians in War, Simon Chesterman (ed.),
Boulder: Lynne Rienner, pp. 123-142.
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Convention