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The Conflict with Renamo, 1976-1992
«May 1985»
Dossier MZ-0020
63. Nyerere Calls for African
Countries to Assist Mozambique
Above : Railway (CFM) maintenance workers One of the constant targets of Renamo sabotage during the conflict was Mozambique's railway network. In mid-May the line of rail to South Africa was re-opened after having been cut by the rebels, who blew up a bridge.
President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who was the current chair of both the Frontline States grouping and the OAU, said that African countries should help Mozambique to prevent its government from being toppled. He was speaking to officials at the CCM's Kivukoni ideological college.
In an exercise in misdirection, the MNR secretary-general Evo Fernandes warned in Paris that any attempt by South Africa to help the Mozambican government would be that coiuntry's "Vietnam". Fernandes said that the fall of Maputo was "coming".
During a visit to Japan, Samora Machel stated categorically during a television interview that his government would never negotiate with the MNR, and that the South African apartheid system could not be reformed, but had to be eliminated.
Eleven civilians were stabbed to death after a group of villagers were abducted after an MNR attack on Moamba.
Click on the yellow folder image below to download an unsorted zipped archive of documents and press clippings in PDF format concerning the conflict between the Mozambican government and the MNR/Renamo in May 1985.
