André Matsangaissa (also spelled Matsangaiza) (1950? – 17 October 1979) was a Mozambican anti-communist rebel and the first leader of the Rhodesian-backed

Mozambican National Resistance RENAMO (from the Portuguese , ) is a Mozambican political party and militant group. The party was founded with the active sponsorship of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in May 1977 from anti-communist dissidents oppos ...

(RENAMO). Born in

Gorongosa Gorongosa is a town and the administrative center of Gorongosa District of Mozambique, situated on the country's main north-south highway (the EN1). Mount Gorongosa Mount Gorongosa is an inselberg in Sofala Province of central Mozambique. Its ...

, Mozambique, Matsangaissa joined

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's firs ...

in 1972, and after FRELIMO's victory in 1975 he became a quartermaster stationed at Dondo, near Beira. He was punished for theft by being expelled from the Mozambican Army (''Forças Armadas de Moçambique'', FAM) and was placed in a re-education camp at Gorongosa. He was freed during an attack on the camp by Rhodesian forces and was taken to Rhodesia. In 1977 Matsangaissa was appointed by the Rhodesians as leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) in an effort to indigenize the rebel group. Matsangaissa died in a 1979 raid against FRELIMO in

Sofala Province Sofala is a province of Mozambique. It has a population of 2,259,248 (2017 census). Beira is the capital of the province, named for the ruined port of Sofala which is to the south. History Portuguese landholder and imperialist Joaquim Carl ...

, Mozambique. Former members of RENAMO commemorated his death in Gorongosa on 17 October 1997, although the town administrator rejected their plan to build a tomb in his memory. In June 2007, a municipal roundabout in the city of Beira was renamed after Matsangaissa by the Beira Municipal Assembly, then under the control of RENAMO. In the elections of 2008,

reassumed control of the Assembly and attempted to return the roundabout to its old name.Igreja, p. 328

Citations

Sources

* * * Fauvet, P. (1984) Roots of counter-revolution: the Mozambique National Resistance {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsangaissa, Andre Year of birth missing 1979 deaths Mozambican rebels Mozambican anti-communists RENAMO politicians FRELIMO politicians Mozambican escapees Escapees from Mozambican detention