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The Conflict with Renamo, 1976-1992
«August 1986»
Dossier MZ-0020
78. Renamo Gets a Foot in the Door at the White House
Above: The Reagan administration was in the end unpersuaded by the MNR's attempts to win direct support, despite a visit to the White House by rebel representatives. In the photograph above, taken in August 1986, from left to right, Luís Serapião; the MNR representative in Germany; Pat Buchanan, Director of Communications in the White House; and Jorge Correia, a Renamo functionary from Lisbon.
SNASP (the Mozambican security service (which was a Frelimo Party and not a state structure) reported that Renamo was being supplied with war materiel by air, with light aircraft delivering both men and supplies to landing fields prepared in Manica province. These supplies were supposedly destined to be used in attacks on the Beira Corridor.
The Zimbabwean opposition politician and former freedom fighter Ndabaningi Sithole was reported to have signed an agreement with the MNR/Renamo to "fight Marxism" in both Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The agreement was signed in Washington DC around the time of the visit of Renamo representatives to the White House, and it was reported that Sithole's "ZANU" (not to be confused with the ruling ZANU (PF) movement) has received a large grant from an unnamed but presumably conservative US organisation.
Three nuns who had been abducted by Renamo were released during the month, which also saw military engagements in Manica and Nampula, and the destruction of a large regional rebel base in Inharrime, Inhambane province.
Three Renamo representatives were photographed in the White House with Pat Buchanan during a diplomatic offensive aimed at securing official US government support for the rebels. This was never forthcoming.
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 August 1986.
