MOZAMBIQUE

officially Republic of Mozambique, Portuguese Repblica de Moambique, country located on the southeastern coast of Africa. It stretches along the Indian Ocean coast from Cape Delgado at latitude 1027 S to latitude 2652 S. Its westernmost border at the Arungua (Luangwa) River reaches longitude 3031 E, and the easternmost point, 110 miles (175 kilometres) east of Nampula on the Indian Ocean coast, is at longitude 4051 E, but most of the country's 313,661 square miles (812,379 square kilometres) lies between longitudes 32 and 40 E. It is bordered to the south and southwest by South Africa and Swaziland, to the west by Zimbabwe, to the northwest by Zambia, Lake Nyasa (Niassa), and Malawi, and to the north by Tanzania. The Mozambique Channel separates it from Madagascar to the east. The capital city of Maputo (formerly Loureno Marques) is in the nation's southernmost province. Mozambique's extensive coastline (1,563 miles) features some of Africa's best natural harbours, a fact that contributes to the nation's important transportation and communication role in the region. The massive Zambezi River dominates the central area and provides sufficient hydroelectric potential to make Mozambique the region's powerhouse. officially Republic of Mozambique, Portuguese Repblica de Moambique country located on the southeastern coast of Africa. Elongated in shape, the country extends for about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) from north to south, and from east to west about 400 miles (645 km) in the north and 200 miles (320 km) in the south. Mozambique is bounded on the north by Tanzania, and on the west by Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Swaziland; the entire eastern boundary is defined by the Mozambique Channel of the Indian Ocean. The capital is Maputo. Area 313,661 square miles (812,379 square km). Pop. (1992 est.) excluding refugees in nearby countries, 14,842,000. Additional reading Harold D. Nelson (ed.), Mozambique, a Country Study, 3rd ed. (1985), provides coverage of politics, security, economics, and society. Repblica Popular de Moambique, Ministrio da Educao, Atlas Geogrfico, vol. 1, 2nd ed., rev. and updated (1986), is a useful geographic tool. Country Profile: Mozambique (annual), published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, contains accurate, up-to-date information on the economy, resources, and industry. Stephanie Urdang, And Still They Dance: Women, War, and the Struggle for Change in Mozambique (1989), highlights women's historical gains and their struggles in the face of war and economic collapse. Lina Magaia, Dumba Nengue: Run for Your Life: Peasant Tales of Tragedy in Mozambique (1988; originally published in Portuguese, 1987), comprises a collection of testimony of the terror experienced by rural Mozambicans at the hands of Renamo. Ruth First, Black Gold: The Mozambican Miner, Proletarian, and Peasant (1983), is a classic study of the country's historically most important flow of migrant labour from southern Mozambique to South Africa's gold mines. Keith Middlemas, Cabora Bassa: Engineering and Politics in Southern Africa (1975), is a detailed study of the conceptualization, financing, and construction of one of the world's largest hydroelectric projects. The Emergency Situation in Mozambique: Priority Requirements for the Period 19901991 (1990), prepared by the Mozambique government in collaboration with the United Nations, summarizes problems and development strategies. Jeanne Marie Penvenne Administration and social conditions Government Mozambique is in transition from a single-party state with a strong commitment to socialism to a multiparty system of still uncertain orientation and from a centrally planned, largely state-owned economy to a mixed economy encouraging private ownership and international investment. Both sets of changes will have important implications for Mozambique's government, political processes, and social conditions. The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frente da Liberatao de Moambique; Frelimo) led the armed insurgency against Portuguese colonial rule and came to power precipitously in l975 after brief negotiations with the Armed Forces Movement, which had toppled the government in Lisbon in l974. Frelimo developed in the early 1960s as one of many socialist-oriented guerrilla groups seeking to overturn colonialism and white minority rule in southern Africa and saw Mozambique's independence as a component of the regional struggle against white domination. That commitment necessarily involved Mozambique in the continuing struggle in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Mozambique's government was structured by the national constitution, produced by the Central Committee of Frelimo and set forth at independence. Under the constitution Mozambique's president, who was also the president of Frelimo, headed the Council of Ministers, the elected People's Assembly (more than 200 members), and the party's Central Committee. He was also the commander in chief of the armed forces. Since membership in Frelimo was a prerequisite for any political office, the most powerful national and provincial offices tended to circulate among a fairly small group of trusted party members. The l975 constitution set forth the spirit of the law. While popular assemblies were in the process of articulating a specific body of legislation, colonial legislation was allowed to stand unless it was specifically judged to contradict the spirit of the new constitution. Legislation and judicial principles and practice evolved piecemeal through the work of popular assemblies and popular tribunals. In November 1990 a new constitution introduced sweeping changes in the government. Candidates from competing parties were to be elected by universal adult suffrage and secret ballot. The president was limited to three consecutive five-year terms. The constitution established a parliament with limited ability to veto executive action. The new constitution abolished the death penalty and confirmed freedom of the press, the workers' right to strike, and the concept of habeas corpus. Many political parties emerged under the new legislation; the Liberal and Democratic Party of Mozambique (PALMO) and the Mozambican National Union (UNAMO) are among the larger groups. Every aspect of Mozambican government and society has been touched by the conflict between Frelimo and the Mozambican National Resistance (Resistncia Nacional Moambicana; Renamo) and by Frelimo's support for majority political participation in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Closing the border with Rhodesia in l976 cost the country an estimated $200 million in lost transit revenues alone. Frelimo's attempt to transform a guerrilla force into a government and its vigorous attempt to bring health and educational benefits to the rural majority have been thoroughly undermined. Renamo attacks destroyed nearly 3,000 government schools and more than half the nation's health-care facilities. Education The Portuguese educational system was two-tiereddesigned to promote rudimentary skills among the majority African population and to provide liberal and technical education for the settler population and a tiny minority of Africans. Nearly 90 percent of students enrolled in the colonial system were restricted to the rudimentary program. The state, in cooperation with the Roman Catholic church, provided public education, but private education was also available, mostly through church groups. The medium for education was Portuguese, but at independence less than 7 percent of the African population was literate in that language. Private and parochial school facilities were nationalized to facilitate the unification and total overhaul of the educational system. Demand for education quickly outstripped the state's capacity. The number of students at the primary level doubled and at the secondary level tripled. Literacy programs were extended to the adult population at the workplace and in communities. The National System of Education, implemented in the early 1980s, spanned child to adult, part-time to full-time, and literacy to technical educational programs. The number of secondary schools quickly quadrupled. The number of adult educational and vocational centres doubled. A national university established in l962 was renamed Eduardo Mondlane University in l976 to honour the first president of Frelimo. It offers courses through a range of faculties, centres, and schools. Mozambicans trained both abroad and within the national system have increasingly assumed faculty positions, thus diminishing the nation's dependence on foreign faculty. In l975 the ratio of Mozambican to foreign faculty was about 1 to 30, but by the early 1990s Mozambicans outnumbered foreign faculty at all levels. The shortage of teachers, teacher dissatisfaction with low salaries, and conditions in refugee camps all tended to undermine the significant educational gains.