AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - A Brief Overview of the Country

Maputo (Agenzia Fides) – Mozambique, a country located in southern Africa, has a surface area of 799,380 km2 and a population of 20.5 million inhabitants. The country has a coastline on the Indian Ocean reaching 2, 470 km, bordering Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Swaziland.

History
For nearly 470 years, Mozambique was a Portuguese colony. In 1963, it began the fight for independence, led by the FRELIMO (National Liberation Front). After a long war against Portuguese troops (40,000 men sent to put down the guerrillas), in 1975 Mozambique obtained independence (one of the last African countries to gain its independence. It was an independence that was looked down upon by what was then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which did not appreciate the support offered by the Mozambican authorities to the movements fighting against the racist regime in Rhodesia. Rhodesia favored the formation of the National Resistance of Mozambique (RENAMO), an armed opposition movement, which provoked the civil war. After the fall of the Rhodesian regime (1979), the South African secret service supported the RENAMO. In the early 1990s, peace negotiations were finally arranged (with a contribution from the Community of Sant'Egidio), which led to the Rome Accords in 1992. RENAMO has since become a political party and has been the leading opposition party.
The first President of Mozambique was the historic leader of the FRELIMO, Samora Machel, who lost his life in a plane crash in 1986, an event whose circumstances still raise doubts and suspicions.
He was succeeded by Joaquim Chissano, who had been Machel's Minister of Foreign Affairs. After 18 years of governing, in 2004, Chissano retired from political life and FRELIMO's presidential candidate for the third democratic elections in the country was Armando Guebuza, who won the elections with 63.74% vs. RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama's 31.74%.

Economy
The economic infrastructure of Mozambique has been marked by nearly 20 years of civil war (in additions to the years of the war for independence from Portugal). Since the signing of the peace treaty in 1992, the economy has made significant progress, with positive effects on the population. “Mozambique is still dependent on external aid,” a local Church source tells Fides. “For example, over 50% of the state budget is paid by the 19 countries of the European Union. This aid has been well employed, as the donors themselves (foreign countries and international organizations) have verified on several occasions. The improvement of living conditions has also been seen, mainly in the capital, Maputo (with over 1.2 million inhabitants). There is new construction taking place and traffic has increased considerably in recent years.” Among the foreign partners of Mozambique is Brazil (for the linguistic ties), France, and Great Britain (Mozambique, although not an English-speaking country has formed part of the British Commonwealth).
“The foreign aid have been used to help small-scale industries established before the independence and to improve the agricultural industry. In this area, however, more efforts need to be made, as the majority of the rural population lives off of subsistence farming.”
The country continues to produce corn, cotton, tea, sisal, and coconuts. It also contains important hydroelectric resources, gas reserves, and mines of carbon, bauxite, and tantalum. Mozambique has three important ports (Maputo, Beira, and Nacala), also used by the neighboring countries.
After the elections in 1994, Mozambique had an average yearly growth of 8%. In 2008, this went down to 6.5% (for 2009, it is expected to reach 4.5%). Nearly 90% of the population lives on two dollars per day.

Church Facts
There are 4,594,000 Catholics in 12 dioceses, with 301 parishes. There are 17 Bishops, 212 diocesan priests, 364 religious priests, 998 professed brothers, 1,121 religious sisters, 42,898 catechists. The Catholic Church runs 66 pre-school/kindergartens with 14,775 students; 310 elementary schools with 38,875 students; 53 middle schools and high schools with 21,544 students, and a Catholic University, as well as 70 hospitals, 13 clinics, 12 shelters, 33 orphanages, 43 childcare centers, 4 family medical clinics (statistics from the most recent Church Annual of Statistics). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/10/2009)