Mozambique troops wipe out MNR bandit camps
The Herald, 5 September, 1985
TWO camps of MNR bandits in Maputo province were destroyed in the last week of August, according to a report in yesterday’s issue of Noticias.
One of the camps at Malengane in the district of Manhica, some 50km north of the capital, was used by MNR gangs who attacked vehicles on the main northsouth highway.
Over the last two months, a series of savage ambushes on the road in the area of Maluane have cost the lives of about a hundred civilians. Buses packed full of passengers have been the favourite targets.
Troops of the Mozambican armed forces stormed the Malengane camp on August 26 and were in full control after an hour of fighting. A total of 25 MNR bandits were killed in the operation.
The second camp, taken on August 27, was in the district of Magude, north-west of Maputo. In the assault, Mozambican forces killed 38 bandits.
Mozambican troops also repelled an attack by bandits against the town of Marromeu in the central province of Sofala.
According to a Noticias report the attack took place last Tuesday. The raiders were unable to penetrate the defensive system that the army has erected around Marromeu, and were obliged to retreat. No further details on the engagement are yet available.
Marromeu, on the south bank of the Zambezi, contains one of the country’s major sugar complexes. — Ziana-AIM.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
◆ The Mozambique National Resist- ance (MNR) or RENAMO (the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana), was established in 1976 with the support of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation. The MNR was known for its banditry and insurgent activities.
◆ Renamo posed significant challenges to national security and development efforts in Mozambique and its neighbours.
◆ The Mozambican Civil War (1977 to 1992), saw significant involvement from Zimbabwe in efforts to combat the insurgent group Renamo.