André Matsangaissa (also spelled Matsangaiza; 1950 – 17 October 1979) was a Mozambican

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

rebel and the first leader of the

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

n-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 opposed ...

(RENAMO). Born in Chirara, Mozambique, Matsangaissa joined

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It has governed the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Founded in 1962, FRELIMO began as a nationalist movement fighting for the self-determination ...

in 1972, during the

Mozambican War of Independence The Mozambican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the guerrilla forces of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and Portuguese Armed Forces, Portugal. The war officially started on 25 September 1964, and ended with a ceas ...

, 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 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

. 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 was killed in action in a 1979 raid against FRELIMO in

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

, 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 A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

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 1979 deaths Mozambican rebels Mozambican anti-communists RENAMO politicians FRELIMO politicians Mozambican escapees Escapees from Mozambican detention 1950 births