The United Nations Operations in Mozambique (ONUMOZ, pt, Operação das Nações Unidas em Moçambique) was a UN peace mission to

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

established in December 1992 under Security Council Resolution 797 with the assignment to monitor the implementation of the

Rome General Peace Accords The Rome General Peace Accords, officially the General Peace Accords (), was a peace treaty signed between the government of Mozambique and RENAMO, ending the Mozambican Civil War on October 4, 1992. Negotiations preceding the agreement began in ...

agreed upon by the Mozambican president

Joaquim Chissano Joaquim Alberto Chissano (born 22 October 1939) is a politician who served as the second President of Mozambique, from 1986 to 2005. He is credited with transforming the war-torn country of Mozambique into one of the most successful African demo ...

(

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 first ...

) and

Afonso Dhlakama Afonso Marceta Macacho Dhlakama (1 January 1953 – 3 May 2018) was a Mozambican politician and the leader of RENAMO, an anti-communist guerrilla movement that fought the FRELIMO government in the Mozambican Civil War before signing a peace agr ...

RENAMO 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 oppose ...

. Its mandate ended in December 1994.

Mandate and Strength

ONUMOZ' mandate was: *To monitor and verify the ceasefire, the separation and concentration of forces, their demobilization and the collection, storage and destruction of weapons; *To monitor and verify the complete withdrawal of foreign forces and to provide security in the transport corridors; *To monitor and verify the disbanding of private and irregular armed groups; *To authorize security arrangements for vital infrastructures and to provide security for United Nations and other international activities in support of the peace process; *To provide technical assistance and monitor the entire electoral process; *To coordinate and monitor humanitarian assistance operations, in particular those relating to refugees, internally displaced persons, demobilized military personnel and the affected local population. In order to accomplish its mission ONUMOZ had an authorised strength of 6.625 troops and military support personnel, 354 military observers, 1.144 civil police officers, 355 international staff, 506 local staff and 900 election observers.

Performance

The bulk of ONUMOZ troops under the command of Secretary-General's Special Representative

Aldo Ajello Aldo may refer to: * Aldo (given name), male given name ** Aldo (footballer, born 1977) ** Aldo (footballer, born 1988) * Aldo Group, a worldwide chain of shoe stores * Aldosterone Aldosterone is the main mineralocorticoid steroid hormone ...

was deployed in early 1993. Initially, ONUMOZ faced significant resistance carrying out its mission. Due to distrust among the conflict parties, the collection of weapons could only begin as late in November 1993 following a visit of the UN Secretary General and a further resolution of the UN Security Council (

United Nations Security Council Resolution 882 United Nations Security Council resolution 882, adopted unanimously on 5 November 1993, after reaffirming resolutions 782 (1992) and subsequent resolutions on Mozambique, the council noted, in addition to positive developments in the country, th ...

). Thus the original schedule which had aimed for elections in October 1993 could not be met. Despite of these obstacles the mission was a success with the holding of general, free elections on 13 October 1994. ONUMOZ's mandate expired with the swearing in of president Joaquim Chissano and the newly elected parliament and the mission was liquidated in January 1995. Prior to this, ONUMOZ had disarmed some 76,000 fighters, collected 155,000 firearms, helped train 10,000 soldiers of the new Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) and helped repatriating most of the five million refugees and internally displaced people uprooted by the civil war. In doing so it had suffered 26 casualties. The mission cost US $492.6 million and an additional $616 million was spent on humanitarian aid.

References

Source cited

United Nations: ONUMOZ Mission
{{Authority control

History of Mozambique Military history of Mozambique

782 __NOTOC__ Year 782 ( DCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 782 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in ...

1992 in Mozambique Mozambique and the United Nations