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The Conflict with Renamo, 1976-1992
«February 1989»
Dossier MZ-0020
108. Poaching in Gonarezhou Linked to Renamo's Activities
Above: Renamo apparently deployed at least some anti-aircraft weapons, and claimed to have shot down government planes on several occasions. In the picture, Soviet-made pedestal-mounted KPV 14.5 mm. heavy machine guns, which could have hit low-flying aircraft. It's unclear where Renamo obtained these weapons.
The MNR/Renamo had been widely reported as relying on the smuggling of ivory, rhino horn and precious stones as a source of funding for their anti-government rebellion. Poaching in Gonarezhou, Zimbabwe's largest game park, was reported to have increased, and it was suspected that the rebels were using the park as a kind of rear base (with water supply) for attacks on the pylons carrying the long power-lines from the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam to the south. The elephant population of the reserve had dropped to between 2,000 and 3,000. Something similar happened in areas controlled by UNITA in Angola.
Renamo attacks included one at Maragra, where 38 people died; a train ambush near Movene, with 11 dead; and killings in Manjacaze, and across the border in Zambia.
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 February 1989.
