Amnesty law, political struggles for legitimacy and violence in Mozambique

Article


Igreja, Victor. 2015. "Amnesty law, political struggles for legitimacy and violence in Mozambique." International Journal of Transitional Justice. 9 (2), pp. 239-258. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijv004
Article Title

Amnesty law, political struggles for legitimacy and violence in Mozambique

ERA Journal ID35576
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorIgreja, Victor
Journal TitleInternational Journal of Transitional Justice
Journal Citation9 (2), pp. 239-258
Number of Pages20
Year2015
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN1752-7716
1752-7724
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijv004
Web Address (URL)http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/9/2/239
Abstract

Two decades after the negotiated peace accord and amnesty law that ended the civil war (1976–1992) between the Frelimo government and the rebel group Renamo, an armed conflict (2013–2014) broke out between Frelimo and Renamo military forces. While in the 1990s the pacification process was locally and internationally celebrated as a successful transition from a socialist, repressive regime and civil war to peace and democratization, the transition process produced different dynamics at the state and societal levels. This article focuses on state and elite politics by analysing debates among Frelimo elites at critical junctures of the peace negotiations with Renamo, the enactment of the amnesty law and subsequent political relations between Frelimo and Renamo. The analysis reveals complex realities that defy mainstream praise for the amnesty law and the allegedly successful peacebuilding in Mozambique. It suggests that Frelimo alone passed the amnesty law to avoid accountability and to imply a public commitment to reconciliation in tandem with their attempt to recover losses incurred in the peace negotiation context. These goals fostered the marked open-endedness of the transition, whereby contested war memories were used as weapons and fierce struggles for political legitimacy involving flashes of political violence occurred well beyond the accord. The article suggests the need for some measure of accountability and a nationwide debate about the composition and role of the security and defence forces in Mozambique.

Keywordsamnesty; elite politics; accountability; demobilization; Mozambique
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020440899. Political science not elsewhere classified
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Byline AffiliationsSchool of Arts and Communication
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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