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The Conflict with Renamo, 1976-1992
«June 1990»
Dossier MZ-0020
124. FPLM Capture Ngungwe Base in Magude;
Mariano Matsinhe Blames a "Foreign Power"
Above: Mariano Matsinhe (b.1937) was a senior figure in FRELIMO the liberation front and later in the Frelimo Party. He held various ministerial positions in the 1980s, including Minister of Labour, Minister of the Interior, Governor-Resident of Sofala, Minister of Security (twice), and Governor of Niassa. He retired with the rank of major-general.
Mariano Matsinhe, at the time Minister of the Interior, stated while visiting Dodoma in Tanzania that a "foreign power" was encouraging Renamo to break off peace talks with the aim of destabilising Mozambique and compel the adoption of a multi-party system. Earlier in the month Afonso Dhlakama had refused to meet a government negotiating team.
Extensive reporting in June detailed the capture in mid-May of a Renamo base at Ngungwe, a few kilometres from the South African border. The rebels had laid down a dirt road to the border to receive supplies from South Africa (in violation of the 1984 Nkomati Accord).
At the same time, Renamo groups murdered a woman and kidnapped an adolescent girl across the border in Zimbabwe, killed some women and children in another part of Zimbabwe, and released a South African family of four who they had abducted in April.
Consolidated Downloadable Zipped Files
Click on the yellow folder image below to download an unsorted zipped archive of documents and press clippings in PDF format concerning the armed conflict between Renamo/MNR and the Mozambican government in June 1990.
