Abstract
Examines the question of American intervention in the civil war between the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) and the Marxist Government.
Description
After gaining independence from Portugal in 1975 Mozambique fell under the Marxist rule of Samora Machel. Yet despite the Reagan Doctrine of aiding anti-Communist movements in countries aligned with the Soviet Union, Washington refused to support the seemingly pro-western, pro-market Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO), instead attempting to lure the government outside the Soviet sphere of influence with economic aid. Because RENAMO was receiving assistance from the South African government, the State Department feared that intervention on RENAMO's behalf would be seen as backing South Africa, thus jeopardizing the United States' position of opposing apartheid. However, critics argued that RENAMO was a democratic movement on the verge of overthrowing a Soviet client state, and that a RENAMO victory would show the world that the Soviet Union and its Brezhnev Doctrine were not invincible. In this episode, guests Jack Wheeler of the Freedom Research Foundation and Professor Herbert Howe, head of the African studies program at Georgetown University examine the question, is it in America's interests to intervene in RENAMO's fight against the Marxist government?
Location
Africa; Southern Africa; Mozambique;
