Mozambican Civil War

The Mozambican Civil War began in 1977, two years after the end of the war of independence. It resembled the Angolan Civil War in that both were proxy wars of the Cold War that started soon after the countries gained independence from Portugal. The ruling party, Front for Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), and the national armed forces Armed Forces of Mozambique](FAM), were violently opposed from 1977 by the Mozambique Resistance Movement (RENAMO) which received funding from white-ruled Rhodesia and (later) apartheid South Africa. About one million people died in fighting and from starvation; five million civilians were displaced, and many were made amputees by landmines, a legacy from the war that plagued Mozambique for more than two decades afterward. Fighting ended in 1992 and the country's first multi-party elections were held in 1994.