« Back to Accord

Refugees: General Peace Agreement for Mozambique

Implementations

Refugees – 1992

“Zimbabwe has nearly 250,000 Mozambicans on its soil, about 130,000 of whom are officially registered as refugees. The number is part of the more than two million Mozambicans who have sought refuge from violence and drought.”¹

It was reported that there were about 1 million Mozambican refugees in Malawi.² Some of these refugees began returning spontaneously to their villages in the Tete province.³ By November 21, 1992, it was reported that more than 12,000 refugees coming from refugee centers in Malawi had already presented themselves to the Zobue administrative area in Tete Province’s Moatize District.⁴

“Number of Refugees from Mozambique to Zimbabwe Reportedly Decreasing,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, October 28, 1992.
“What Mozambique Can Learn,” The Economist, November 7, 1992, 48 (U.K. Edition, 74).
“Food Aid Begins to Reach Mozambique Hinterland,” Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), November 12, 1992.
“Mozambique Return of 12,000 Refugees from Malawi,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, November 23, 1992.

Refugees – 1993

It was reported early in February 1993 that more than 100,000 refugees had come home from the neighboring countries.⁵

Refugees’ Assistance Organization Director Fernando Fazenda told the ‘Noticias’ newspaper that more than 300,000 Mozambicans, who sought refuge in neighboring countries, might have returned to the country on their own since the signing of the General Peace Accord. The official repatriation of refugees would begin in May 1993.⁶

“In Ulongue, the district capital of Angonia, the district administrator rattled off the estimates of returnees. In October, 1,472. In November, 9,228. In December, 33,184. In January, when the rain slowed them, 31,530. The administrator, Evaristo Wezulo, said two-thirds of Angonia’s prewar population of 159,000 had fled. Most have already come home. Those who remain behind, relief workers say, are wives and children subsisting on refugee-camp ration cards until the first harvest at home, or children finishing the Malawi school year.”⁷

It was reported on 23 March 1993 that the Zimbabwe government had undertaken to facilitate the repatriation of some 140,000 Mozambican refugees from that country.⁸

More than 150,000 Mozambican refugees had returned from Malawi to their home districts in Mozambique’s northwestern Tete Province since the preceding October’s peace agreement between the government and RENAMO. Most of these returnees were from districts of Angonia, Tsangano and Mutarara.[fn]”Mozambique; Over 150,000 refugees return to Tete Province from Malawi,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, April 29, 1993.[/efn_note]

On May 1993, it was reported that RENAMO would send three representatives to Maputo to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This would ensure that RENAMO would not be left out of the refugee repatriation process.⁹

More than 10,000 Zimbabwe and South Africa-based Mozambican refugees had been repatriated.¹⁰

“For what has been described as the largest operation ever carried out by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Africa, a ceremony was held in the border town of Machipanda on 12 June 1993, marking the beginning of the repatriation of Mozambicans who had sought refuge in Zimbabwe. The first group, consisting of 254 men, women and children, returned home on that day from the Nhagombe [phonetic] refugee centre. A total of 145,000 Mozambican refugees were scheduled to be repatriated from Zimbabwe by the end of July. The ceremony was attended by Aldo Ajello, special representative of the UN secretary-general; Elias Chimuzo, representative of Manica Province’s governor; Vicente Ululu, secretary-general of the Mozambique National Resistance; James Nkomo, Zimbabwe’s Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister; members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Mozambique; and a number of Mozambican and foreign officials.”¹¹

It was reported on 19 August 1993 that an agreement between Swaziland, Mozambique, and the UNHCR was signed that would make provisions for 24,000 Mozambicans in Swaziland to return home.¹² “By the end of 1993, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that more than half of Mozambique’s 1.5 million refugees had returned to the country. A further 350,000 were expected to return by the end of 1994, with the remaining 375,000 expected to repatriate during 1995.”¹³ The 2002 UNHCR Statistical Year Book reported that 604,387 refugees had returned in 1993 alone.¹⁴

“Mozambique: Still Waiting,” The Economist, February 6, 1993.
“Mozambique: Refugee director on numbers returned since peace accord,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, February 15, 1993.
Bill Keller, “Peace From Chaos — A special report.; Mozambique’s Outlook Brightens As Truce Holds and Drought Ends,” The New York Times, February 22, 1993 (sec. A, 1).
“OTHER SOUTHERN AFRICAN COUNTRIES; Zimbabwe agrees to “repatriation” of 140,000 refugees from Mozambique,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, March 26, 1993.
“OTHER SOUTHERN AFRICAN COUNTRIES; Mozambique: three RENAMO representatives to work with UNHCR in Maputo,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, May 14, 1993.
“OTHER SOUTHERN AFRICAN COUNTRIES; Mozambique: South Africa repatriates more than 9,000 people to Gaza Province,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, May 24, 1993.
“SOUTHERN AFRICA; Mozambique: ceremony to mark start of repatriation of refugees from Zimbabwe,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, June 14, 1993.
“SOUTHERN AFRICA; Mozambique and Swaziland sign agreement on repatriation of refugees,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, August 21, 1993.
“Mozambique – ONUMOZ Background,” United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), accessed June 4, 2010, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/onumozFT.htm.
“2002 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook— Mozambique,” UNHCR, 2002, accessed September 14, 2010, http://www.unhcr.org/414ad5990.html.

Refugees – 1994

On 15 June 1994, Alfredo del Rio, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that over one million Mozambicans had already returned home through the repatriation program.¹⁵ The repatriation of refugees would continue until the end of October.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believed 1.5 million Mozambican refugees had returned to the country by the end of November 1994. Quoting a UNHCR report, the Mozambique Information Agency (AIM) reported that about 100,000 Mozambican refugees were still living in neighboring countries and were likely to repatriate the next year. The 2002 UNHCR Statistical Year Book reported that 804,376 refugees had been returned in 1994 alone.¹⁶

“MOZAMBIQUE; UNHCR says over one million refugees have returned home,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, June 17, 1994.
“2002 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook — Mozambique.”

Refugees – 1995

The Zimbabwe Inter-African News Agency (ZIANA) reported that the UN program for the voluntary repatriation of Mozambican refugees in Zimbabwe ended on 30 May 1995 when the last group of 1,300 crossed through the Forbes border post near Mutare.

“UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Yusuf Hassan said 1.7 million Mozambican refugees had so far been repatriated from six southern African countries, in the largest and most complex operation undertaken by the commissioner. The cost so far was 152m US dollars.”¹⁷ Similarly, the program for repatriating Mozambican refugees from Malawi officially ended on 21 November 1995.¹⁸ On 28 March 1995, it was reported that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would stop repatriating Mozambicans from South Africa at the end of the month, and the last 2,000 would be repatriated that week.¹⁹ The 2002 UNHCR Statistical Year Book reported that 159,134 refugees had been returned in 1995 alone.²⁰

“MOZAMBIQUE; UN completes voluntary repatriation of Mozambican refugees in Zimbabwe,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, June 2, 1995.
“MALAWI AND MOZAMBIQUE; Repatriation of Mozambican refugees from Malawi ends,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, November 22, 1995.
“MOZAMBIQUE; UNHCR to stop repatriating Mozambicans from South Africa,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, March 30, 1995.
“2002 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook — Mozambique.”