SUMMARY
The conflict between the Naparama and Renamo (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana; Mozambican National Resistance) emerged during the intra-state conflict in Mozambique (1975-1992) between the Government of Mozambique - Renamo. Peasant militias began forming in late 1989 or early 1990 in the northern regions of Mozambique as a response to the brutality of Renamo's actions and due to the apparent military stalemate between the Government of Mozambique and Renamo.
Initially, the Naparama were able to attack several Renamo bases as the latter was focused on its conflict with the government. The rebel group was not prepared for a second actor in the regions where Naparama became active. Typically, the Naparama founder António would be called for by a displaced or captive community to perform mass vaccinations of local civilians against bullets. Once made “invulnerable” by the vaccination, these new Naparama would then go on to attack the local Renamo presence and liberate their area. Liberated areas would often be handed over to the Government and its army to reinstate their presence, allowing thousands of displaced villagers to return to their homes.
When attacking a Renamo stronghold, the Naparama would typically walk in a single file, yelling war cries, singing songs, batting drums and rattling tin cans. These attacks were usually carried out at daytime, initially only using traditional “cold steel” weapons like spears or machetes as they eschewed the use of firearms. Instead of engaging, the Renamo soldiers would instead often break rank and flee in fear at the sight and sound of an approaching “invincible” Naparama force. No credible evidence of battle-related deaths could be found for the years 1989 or 1990.
Prior to 1991, most clashes between Naparama and Renamo took the form of the former marching on the latter’s strongholds. There is no evidence of Renamo actively engaging the Naparama until 1991 when they began a focused campaign to hunt down the group, leading to a number of battles between the two actors. This is when the clashes between the Naparama and Renamo are first included in the UCDP database as an active conflict.
The conflict between Naparama and Renamo began in the Nampula region and later spread south into the central and eastern areas of Zambézia. Initially, conflict was focused in the rural regions but after Renamo was pushed from these areas by Naparama, the conflict increasingly began to focus around larger Renamo bases and cities.
The non-state conflict between Naparama and Renamo is first included in UCDP data in 1991. In late June of that year, the two sides clashed in the city Lalaua in Nampula province, resulting in over 25 battle-related deaths.
