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The United Nations and Mozambique, 1992–1995
58
Reviews
NOTE 1. U.S. Office of the Federal Register, U.S. Governmenr Manual 199.5/96 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1995). 2. Donald Bacon et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of the United Stares Congress (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), S.V.“Congressional Research Service” by James D. Carroll. 3. Bacon, et al.
Government
ELIZABETH BAUR Publications Department McWherter Library The University of Memphis Memphis, TN 38152 USA
The United Nations and Mozambique, 1992-1995. United Nations Department of Public Information. New York: United Nations, 1995. 321~. United Nations Blue Book Series, volume 5. ISBN: 92-l-100559-0. Sales No. E.95.1.20. Document No. DPI/1675. $29.95. Most U.S. citizens are not aware of the devastating “contra” war against Mozambique waged by the Rhodesian white-minority regime and apartheid South Africa in collaboration with the United States. Those familiar with the U.S. role in Central America during the 1980s can visualize close parallels. Mozambique suffered during the Cold War because of its active opposition to the white-minority regimes and its embracing of socialist domestic policies. As a Portuguese colony, Mozambique only gained its independence in 1975. Portugal was the last and probably the most repressive colonial power in Africa, making almost no attempt at local development. It took a 12-year guerrilla war in Mozambique and similar struggles in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde to weaken the fascist regime in Portugal to the point where a group of young military officers were able to overthrow the Caetano dictatorship in 1974. The new Portuguese Government then speedily granted independence to all its colonies. The Mozambique liberation movement, the Frente da Liberta#o de Mogambique, popularly known as FRELIMO, formed the new independent government. Having fought against a fascist pro-Western government and member of NATO, it was natural for FRELIMO to adopt a leftwing ideology and receive aid from the Soviet Union. During the new government’s early years, it put its socialist principles into practice creating health clinics, schools, and a basic infrastructure. At great financial and political cost, the new government honored UN sanctions against Rhodesia by closing its border. Furthermore the African National Congress of South Africa was given military camps inside the country (until the Nkomati Accord of 1984). The Rhodesian white-minority regime responded by creating a “contra” force, which eventually came to be known as the Resist&ncia National Moqambique or RENAMO. When the Zimbabwean liberation movements overthrew the Rhodesian regime, South Africa became RENAMO’s patron. Cold War politics naturally led to covert U.S. assistance to RENAMO though South Africa. RENAMO’s tactics were brutal. These Contras destroyed schools and clinics and attacked civilians as a matter of policy. They mined farming areas so that Mozambique (and Angola) now have the highest proportion of amputees in the world. The FRELIMO Government also made its fair share of economic and political mistakes, including overdependence on investment in the state sector-thereby marginal&g peasant production-and the exclusion of peasants from the political process by depending on a centralized political party structure. RENAMO was able to conquer large amounts of territory, displace four million people (including one million to other countries), and kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people. But RENAMO was never able to overthrow the FRELIMO government, and when exhaustion finally set in, the United Nations was able to facilitate peace, elections, and the rebuilding process. FRELIMO won the free and fair 1994 election. This United Nations sales publication gives a detailed account of the peacemaking process, giving due credit to various United Nations bodies including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and various non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Section one (69 p.) gives an overview of Mozambican history beginning with the founding of FRELIMO in 1962. The years in the
59
Reviews
publication title obviously do not refer to this section. There are eight parts in Section 1: introduction, background to the conflict and United Nations (UN) involvement, negotiations and the peace treaty, the first year of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), demobilization, improvements in the humanitarian situation, the election process and aftermath, and the contribution of the UN to the implementation of peace. Reference to 92 key documents (icluded in Section 2 with page numbers) are given in the wide margins. The section also includes several detailed, easy-to-use maps. Those unfamiliar with the recent history of Mozambique will fmd this section quite readable and useful. More knowledgeable readers will be pleased to find easily apparent references to the primary sources included. Of course, UN protocol precludes much political analysis, but even so, the facts speak for themselves. For example, the UN has no problem in noting the early social achievements of the FRELIMO government and assigning the destruction of those gains to the white-minority regimes. Section 2 (248 pages) begins with a chronology from 1962 to 1995, again with references to the documents included. This is followed by a list of the 92 key documents reproduced. Where applicable, UN document numbers are, of c:ourse, listed. Note that some documents are abridged. The section continues with a list of 53 additional but important appropriate UN documents. Next one finds the texts of the 92 documents and then a subject index to the documents and a separate subject index to the material in the numbered paragraphs of Section 1. The 92 key documents are surprisingly interesting for they include numerous letters and other materials that were never issued as UN documents! Materials otiginally written in Portuguese are translated into English. Examples include the Peace Agreement between FRELIMO and RENAMO, correspondence between the UN Secretary-General and other UN officials and the President and Ministers of Mozambique, RENAMO officials, and Presidents and Ministers of other countries. Both indexes are expertly crafted and contain numerous see-references and cross-references. This work is part of the new UN Blue Book Series. For a review of a companion volume, The United Nations and Apartheid, 1948-1994, see the Journal of Government Information 223 (1995):487-88. Other volumes include: The United Nations and Cambodia, 1991-1995; The United Nations and Nuclear Non-Proliferation; The United Nations and El Salvador, 1996I995; The United Nations and Somalia; The United Nations and the Advancement of Women, 1945-1995; and The United Nations and Human Right:;, 1945-1995. These works are impressive, high-quality productions that make the work of the United Nations understandable and accessible to the general public and scholars. The UN Department of Public Information should be commended for its efforts. Perhaps such projects will help in gaining public support for worthwhile UN initiatives.
University
ALFRED KAGAN of Illinois Library Urbana, IL 61801 USA
The New Age Information Guide to the Federal Government. By John Davis. Rockville, MD: Finkelstein Associates, Inc., 1995. 576~. Semi-annual. LC 95-130160. ISBN 0-9645986-O-4. $59.95. The subtitle on the cover of this paperback volume informs us that this is “The Most Comprehensive Directory to Access the U.S. Federal Government’s Computer Bulletin Boards.” The 90 electronic bulletin boards (BBS) are arranged by the sponsoring department, followed by the independent government agencies. At the beginning of each section there is a reproduction of the department’s official seal, followed in order by a summary of the mission and operations of the department, any important notes (such as the abolishing of specific government offices), an organization chart, major functions of important offices, significant names and telephone numbers, and a listing of departmental bulletin boards. Within the individual bulletin board sections one can find the sponsoring subagency, a sentence describing the scope of the bulletin board, and telephone numbers for voice, data, and registration. What this reviewer found particularly valuable were the reproductions of the computer screens as one logs on, conducts a search, and logs off. While some bulletin boards are familiar, such as the Commerce Department’s Economic Bulletin Board, others may not be (e.g., the Rapid Information Bulletin Board System of the Postal Service). However, the bulletin board for the Government Printing Office is not included, a serious omission. The pages are all numbered consecutively within each chapter and are preceded by the chapter numbers.
Reviews
NOTE 1. U.S. Office of the Federal Register, U.S. Governmenr Manual 199.5/96 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1995). 2. Donald Bacon et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of the United Stares Congress (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), S.V.“Congressional Research Service” by James D. Carroll. 3. Bacon, et al.
Government
ELIZABETH BAUR Publications Department McWherter Library The University of Memphis Memphis, TN 38152 USA
The United Nations and Mozambique, 1992-1995. United Nations Department of Public Information. New York: United Nations, 1995. 321~. United Nations Blue Book Series, volume 5. ISBN: 92-l-100559-0. Sales No. E.95.1.20. Document No. DPI/1675. $29.95. Most U.S. citizens are not aware of the devastating “contra” war against Mozambique waged by the Rhodesian white-minority regime and apartheid South Africa in collaboration with the United States. Those familiar with the U.S. role in Central America during the 1980s can visualize close parallels. Mozambique suffered during the Cold War because of its active opposition to the white-minority regimes and its embracing of socialist domestic policies. As a Portuguese colony, Mozambique only gained its independence in 1975. Portugal was the last and probably the most repressive colonial power in Africa, making almost no attempt at local development. It took a 12-year guerrilla war in Mozambique and similar struggles in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde to weaken the fascist regime in Portugal to the point where a group of young military officers were able to overthrow the Caetano dictatorship in 1974. The new Portuguese Government then speedily granted independence to all its colonies. The Mozambique liberation movement, the Frente da Liberta#o de Mogambique, popularly known as FRELIMO, formed the new independent government. Having fought against a fascist pro-Western government and member of NATO, it was natural for FRELIMO to adopt a leftwing ideology and receive aid from the Soviet Union. During the new government’s early years, it put its socialist principles into practice creating health clinics, schools, and a basic infrastructure. At great financial and political cost, the new government honored UN sanctions against Rhodesia by closing its border. Furthermore the African National Congress of South Africa was given military camps inside the country (until the Nkomati Accord of 1984). The Rhodesian white-minority regime responded by creating a “contra” force, which eventually came to be known as the Resist&ncia National Moqambique or RENAMO. When the Zimbabwean liberation movements overthrew the Rhodesian regime, South Africa became RENAMO’s patron. Cold War politics naturally led to covert U.S. assistance to RENAMO though South Africa. RENAMO’s tactics were brutal. These Contras destroyed schools and clinics and attacked civilians as a matter of policy. They mined farming areas so that Mozambique (and Angola) now have the highest proportion of amputees in the world. The FRELIMO Government also made its fair share of economic and political mistakes, including overdependence on investment in the state sector-thereby marginal&g peasant production-and the exclusion of peasants from the political process by depending on a centralized political party structure. RENAMO was able to conquer large amounts of territory, displace four million people (including one million to other countries), and kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people. But RENAMO was never able to overthrow the FRELIMO government, and when exhaustion finally set in, the United Nations was able to facilitate peace, elections, and the rebuilding process. FRELIMO won the free and fair 1994 election. This United Nations sales publication gives a detailed account of the peacemaking process, giving due credit to various United Nations bodies including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and various non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Section one (69 p.) gives an overview of Mozambican history beginning with the founding of FRELIMO in 1962. The years in the
59
Reviews
publication title obviously do not refer to this section. There are eight parts in Section 1: introduction, background to the conflict and United Nations (UN) involvement, negotiations and the peace treaty, the first year of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), demobilization, improvements in the humanitarian situation, the election process and aftermath, and the contribution of the UN to the implementation of peace. Reference to 92 key documents (icluded in Section 2 with page numbers) are given in the wide margins. The section also includes several detailed, easy-to-use maps. Those unfamiliar with the recent history of Mozambique will fmd this section quite readable and useful. More knowledgeable readers will be pleased to find easily apparent references to the primary sources included. Of course, UN protocol precludes much political analysis, but even so, the facts speak for themselves. For example, the UN has no problem in noting the early social achievements of the FRELIMO government and assigning the destruction of those gains to the white-minority regimes. Section 2 (248 pages) begins with a chronology from 1962 to 1995, again with references to the documents included. This is followed by a list of the 92 key documents reproduced. Where applicable, UN document numbers are, of c:ourse, listed. Note that some documents are abridged. The section continues with a list of 53 additional but important appropriate UN documents. Next one finds the texts of the 92 documents and then a subject index to the documents and a separate subject index to the material in the numbered paragraphs of Section 1. The 92 key documents are surprisingly interesting for they include numerous letters and other materials that were never issued as UN documents! Materials otiginally written in Portuguese are translated into English. Examples include the Peace Agreement between FRELIMO and RENAMO, correspondence between the UN Secretary-General and other UN officials and the President and Ministers of Mozambique, RENAMO officials, and Presidents and Ministers of other countries. Both indexes are expertly crafted and contain numerous see-references and cross-references. This work is part of the new UN Blue Book Series. For a review of a companion volume, The United Nations and Apartheid, 1948-1994, see the Journal of Government Information 223 (1995):487-88. Other volumes include: The United Nations and Cambodia, 1991-1995; The United Nations and Nuclear Non-Proliferation; The United Nations and El Salvador, 1996I995; The United Nations and Somalia; The United Nations and the Advancement of Women, 1945-1995; and The United Nations and Human Right:;, 1945-1995. These works are impressive, high-quality productions that make the work of the United Nations understandable and accessible to the general public and scholars. The UN Department of Public Information should be commended for its efforts. Perhaps such projects will help in gaining public support for worthwhile UN initiatives.
University
ALFRED KAGAN of Illinois Library Urbana, IL 61801 USA
The New Age Information Guide to the Federal Government. By John Davis. Rockville, MD: Finkelstein Associates, Inc., 1995. 576~. Semi-annual. LC 95-130160. ISBN 0-9645986-O-4. $59.95. The subtitle on the cover of this paperback volume informs us that this is “The Most Comprehensive Directory to Access the U.S. Federal Government’s Computer Bulletin Boards.” The 90 electronic bulletin boards (BBS) are arranged by the sponsoring department, followed by the independent government agencies. At the beginning of each section there is a reproduction of the department’s official seal, followed in order by a summary of the mission and operations of the department, any important notes (such as the abolishing of specific government offices), an organization chart, major functions of important offices, significant names and telephone numbers, and a listing of departmental bulletin boards. Within the individual bulletin board sections one can find the sponsoring subagency, a sentence describing the scope of the bulletin board, and telephone numbers for voice, data, and registration. What this reviewer found particularly valuable were the reproductions of the computer screens as one logs on, conducts a search, and logs off. While some bulletin boards are familiar, such as the Commerce Department’s Economic Bulletin Board, others may not be (e.g., the Rapid Information Bulletin Board System of the Postal Service). However, the bulletin board for the Government Printing Office is not included, a serious omission. The pages are all numbered consecutively within each chapter and are preceded by the chapter numbers.