Renamo's Rise and Decline: The Politics of Reintegration in Mozambique

Mozambique celebrated 20 years of peace in 2012. Renamo was a successful guerrilla force that mostly demobilized and disarmed. It also contested four presidential and parliamentary elections. Renamo became the largest opposition party in Africa until, 2002 but has since been less successful due to exclusion politics by the party of government Frelimo, and because of tactical mistakes by Afonso Dhlakama, Renamo's leader for 33 years. This paper argues that Dhlakama's leadership was critical in bringing an end to the conflict and delivering Renamo's demobilization, but he was unable to tactically change from a guerrilla mentality. Dhlakama's decision to return to rural central Mozambique in late 2012 and the armed violence that followed in 2013 was out of political desperation. Renamo lacks the support or resources to return Mozambique to civil war, and a splinter party, Movimento Democrático de Moçambique, has benefited.