From: jnr@igc.apc.org (Jim Rosenfield)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: 10/07 Wire stories on hunger
Date: 8 Oct 92 00:22:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1471700165:cdp:1471700168:000:3048
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!jnr    Oct  7 17:22:00 1992


/* Written  5:19 pm  Oct  7, 1992 by jnr in cdp:hunger.general */
UPn  10/05 0021  Peace accord ends Mozambique civil war

By PHILIP WILLAN 

ROME (UPI) -- Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and RENAMO
rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama signed a historic peace treaty to
end 16 years of civil war that brought famine and over a million
deaths to the impoverished southeast African country. 

The two leaders smiled and shook hands after signing the accord
Sunday at the Italian Foreign Ministry in the presence of
representatives from 30 countries from the region and Italian
Foreign Minister Emilio Colombo. 

"Thank you, brother Joaquim Chissano, for this agreement, for
which the merit goes to the entire Mozambican people," Dhlakama
said. 

He said his Mozambique National Resistance accepted "the rules of
democracy and the outcome of the ballot box." 

The two leaders said they hoped for a better future "in a
Mozambique that must be and will be rebuilt." 

The leftist government and rightwing rebels have been locked in a
ruinous civil war since shortly after independence from Portugal
in 1975. 

The government of landlocked Zimbabwe, which has 7,000 troops in
Mozambique to guard road and rail links to the Indian Ocean, said
it would begin withdrawing its forces immediately. 

The agreement, which provides for an immediate end to
hostilities, is the result of protracted negotiations which began
in July 1990 and were mediated by the Italian government and the
Roman Catholic group known as the Sant'Egidio Community. 

It was originally due to be signed Thursday, but was delayed by
last- minute problems over the control of rebel-held areas ahead
of general elections scheduled to take place within the next
year. 

Dhlakama upset plans for a signing ceremony to be witnessed by
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and South African Foreign
Minister Pik Botha when he pulled out of the deal on Tuesday,
insisting on changes to an agreement worked out in Botswana Sept.
18. 

He arrived in Rome Thursday and mediators worked frantically to
iron out the final obstacles concerning control of Mozambique's
security forces and the implementation of a cease-fire in
rebel-held areas. 

Observers said RENAMO's anxieties were prompted by the outcome of
the Angolan general elections, where the rebels of Jonas
Savimbi's right- wing UNITA movement face defeat at the hands of
the leftist government. 

Chissano, president since November 1986 and a former fighter in
the Marxist Front for the Liberation of Mozambique or FRELIMO
organization which won independence from Portuguese rule, has
proved himself a moderate leader open to relations with the West.


Dhlakama, a fervent anti-communist backed by South Africa, became
leader of RENAMO in 1980 and guided a guerrilla war that has made
Mozambique the poorest country in the world, with an average
annual income of $80 and a life expectancy of 47 years. 

The Italian foreign minister said he would be calling an
international conference to raise finance for development in
Mozambique.