I have been reading of some RENAMO incidents of late in Mozambique.

Does anyone know if any safaris have been affected?

RENAMO is still a political party so you will always hear from them but unlikely to be a problem.

From what I remember from World History about RENAMO...was that they were on the RIGHT side of things. We should be thankful they are still around!

There have been problems - http://www.news24.com/Africa/N...amo-attacks-20130621

I'm planning a fishing trip there in Sept & am watching the situation closely.

Renamo were one of the most brutal organisations in existance outside of North Korea. Fremlemo was/is Wrong...just Renamo is wronger....

Sort of reminds me of Zukov's comment at lennengrad- we were trapped between the two most brutal dictators of all time- Stalin and Hitler- we just prefered the one who spoke russian.

The ordinary people in Moz are in the same possition...it is all about rights to which politico sits where at the feeding trough

Military escorts 2x per day each way on some roads in Central Moz. I'm sure anyone that charters into camp's (which is most in Moz)no problem. I heard that the new tourist camp in Gorongosa NP is temporarily closed due to this
situation.

I know it is relatively early in the season but any reports from this year out there for this year in Central or Northern Moz?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambican_Civil_War


RENAMO[edit]
RENAMO systematically committed war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of its destabilization strategy. These include mass killing, rape and mutilation of non-combatants during terroristic raids on villages and towns, the use of child soldiers and the employment of the Gandira system, based upon forced labour and sexual violence. Often women would be apprehended while out in the fields, then raped as a means to boost troop moral. Gandira caused widespread starvation among the rural population due to the little time left to produce food for themselves. This caused more and more persons to be physically unable to endure the long transportation marches demanded from them. Refusing to participate in Gandira or falling behind on the marches resulted in severe beating and often execution.[14] Flight attempts were also punished harshly. One particularly gruesome practice was the mutilation and killing of children left behind by escaped parents.[15][16]

RENAMO crimes gained worldwide public attention when RENAMO soldiers butchered 424 civilians, including the patients of a hospital, with guns and machetes during a raid on the rural town of Homoine.[17] This incident prompted an investigation into RENAMO methods by US-State Department consultant Robert Gersony, which finally put an end to conservative ambitions for US-government support for RENAMO.[18] The report concluded that RENAMO's actions in Homoine did not significantly differ from the tactics it normally employed in such raids. These methods are described in the report in the following way:

"The attack stage was sometimes reported to begin with what appeared to the inhabitants to be the indiscriminate firing of automatic weapons by a substantial force of attacking RENAMO combatants. […] Reportedly the Government soldiers aim their defensive fire at the attackers, while the RENAMO forces shoot indiscriminately into the village. In some cases refugees perceived that the attacking force had divided into three detachments: one conducts the military attack; another enters houses and removes valuables, mainly clothing, radios, food, pots and other possessions; a third moves through the looted houses with pieces of burning thatch setting fire to the houses in the village. There were several reports that schools and health clinics are typical targets for destruction. The destruction of the village as a viable entity appears to be the main objective of such attacks. This type of attack causes several types of civilian casualties. As is normal in guerrilla warfare, some civilians are killed in crossfire between the two opposing forces, although this tends in the view of the refugees to account for only a minority of the deaths. A larger number of civilians in these attacks and other contexts were reported to be victims of purposeful shooting deaths and executions, of axing, knifing, bayoneting, burning to death, forced drowning and asphyxiation, and other forms of murder where no meaningful resistance or defense is present. Eyewitness accounts indicate that when civilians are killed in these indiscriminate attacks, whether against defended or undefended villages, children, often together with mothers and elderly people, are also killed. Varying numbers of civilian victims in each attack were reported to be rounded up and abducted [...]."[19]
Thus it appears the only difference between the Homoine massacre and RENAMO's usual methods was the size of the operation. Normally RENAMO would choose smaller, easier targets instead of attacking a town defended by some 90 government soldiers.[20]

According to the Gersony Report, RENAMO's transgressions were far more systematic, widespread and grave than FRELIMO's: the refugees interviewed for the Gersony Report attributed 94% of the murders, 94% of the abductions and 93% of the lootings to RENAMO.[21] However, this conclusion has been disputed by the French Marxist scholar Michel Cahen, who states that both sides were equally to blame:

There can be no doubt that the war was largely one fought against civilians... I am also convinced that the war was equally savage on both sides, even if the total domination of the media by FRELIMO for the 15 years of the war has led even those most desirous of remaining objective to attribute the majority of the atrocities to RENAMO. The people themselves were not duped: they attributed various acts of banditry and certain massacres to "RENAMO 1," but others to "RENAMO 2" – the euphemistic term for FRELIMO soldiers and militiamen acting on their own.[22]
Rudolph Rummel estimated the democide of the RENAMO rebels between 1975 and 1987 to be at least 125,000 killed.[23]

Thanks Shakari..this gives a good historical perspective..but I am more interested on what is going on right now and if any safaris have been affected.

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:
Thanks Shakari..this gives a good historical perspective..but I am more interested on what is going on right now and if any safaris have been affected.

Sorry buddy..... my post was to illustrate Ganyana's post.

I have a bit of 2nd hand info about what's going on now but not 1st hand so rather than pass on what little I've heard from various sources, I'll wait for someone who has 1st hand knowledge...... I'm sure it won't be too long before someone comments.

Going to Mozambique (Tete),next monday for a week. So far, what i have heard was that there are isolated "incidents" in some roads.
Believe political promises are (have not been met).
I am sure some of our hunting friends on the ground, know far more that we are assuming....

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
From what I remember from World History about RENAMO...was that they were on the RIGHT side of things. We should be thankful they are still around!

thankful they are still around???

quote:

Originally posted by only.375H&H:
Going to Mozambique (Tete),next monday for a week. So far, what i have heard was that there are isolated "incidents" in some roads.
Believe political promises are (have not been met).
I am sure some of our hunting friends on the ground, know far more that we are assuming....

Are you hunting in Tete? If so could you give us a report?

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by only.375H&H:
Going to Mozambique (Tete),next monday for a week. So far, what i have heard was that there are isolated "incidents" in some roads.
Believe political promises are (have not been met).
I am sure some of our hunting friends on the ground, know far more that we are assuming....

I should think the very person you could ask is your outfitter.

If anyone knows what's going on in the hunting area, it'll be him.