FRELIMO

The Mozambican liberation front, founded in 1962, governing since independence in 1975.

Overview

FRELIMO united exile nationalist movements in 1962 under Eduardo Mondlane, fighting the Portuguese to the 1974 coup in Lisbon that ended the empire. Independent Mozambique under Samora Machel was Marxist Leninist, wrecked by Rhodesian and South African sponsored civil war with RENAMO, a million dead before the 1992 peace. FRELIMO adopted multiparty politics and won every election since 1994, under Chissano, Guebuza, Nyusi, and Chapo, presiding over gas and coal booms, insurgency in Cabo Delgado, and persistent single party dominance with an opposition that contests results, the classic liberation party turned incumbent machine.