Mozambique, 1982 AD., People´s Republic, 5 Meticais, KM 101.

Mozambique, People´s Republic, 1982 AD.,
5 Meticais (ø 24,5 mm / 2,50 g), aluminium, 2,6 g theor. mint weight(`?), mintage 1.908.000 , axes medal alignment ↑↑ (0°), reeded edge,
Obv.: REPUBLICA POPULAR DE MOCAMBIQUE // REPUBLICA POPULAR /DE MOCAMBIQUE // 1982 , emblem of the People´s Republic Mozambique, name around and on plate within, date below.
Rev.: 5 / METICAIS , tractor r., value number above, denomination below.
KM 101 .

Year / Mintage
1980 7.736.000
1981 / ?
1982 / ?
1986 / ?

Mozambique became independent from Portugal on 25 June 1975. In an act of vengeance, a law had been passed by the then relatively unknown Armando Guebuza in the FRELIMO party ordering the Portuguese to leave the country in 24 hours with only 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of luggage. Unable to salvage any of their assets, most of them returned to Portugal.

The Mozambican Civil War began in 1977, two years after the end of the war of independence. It was similar to the Angolan Civil War as both were proxy wars of the Cold War that started soon after the countries gained independence from Portugal. The ruling party, Front for Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), and the national armed forces FAM (Armed Forces of Mozambique), were violently opposed from 1977 by the Mozambique Resistance Movement (RENAMO) which received funding from Rhodesia and (later) South Africa. About one million people died in fighting and from starvation, five million civilians were displaced, and many were made amputees by landmines, a legacy from the war that continues to plague Mozambique. Fighting ended in 1992 and the country's first multi-party elections were held in 1994.

The new government of 1975, under president Samora Machel, established a one-party state based on Marxist principles. The new government received diplomatic and some military support from Cuba and the Soviet Union and proceeded to crack down on opposition. Starting shortly after the independence, the country was plagued from 1977 to 1992 by a long and violent civil war between the opposition forces of anti-Communist RENAMO rebel militias and the Marxist FRELIMO regime. This conflict, combined with sabotage from the neighbouring white-ruled state of Rhodesia and the Apartheid regime of South Africa, ineffective policies, failed central planning, and the resulting economic collapse, characterised the first decades of Mozambican independence. This period was also marked by the exodus of Portuguese nationals and Mozambicans of Portuguese heritage, a collapsed infrastructure, lack of investment in productive assets, and government nationalisation of privately owned industries as well as widespread famine. During most of the civil war, the FRELIMO-formed central government was unable to exercise effective control outside of urban areas, many of which were cut off from the capital. It is reported that in RENAMO controlled areas, which included up to 50% of the rural areas in several provinces, health services of any kind were isolated from assistance for years. The problem worsened when the government cut back spending on health care. The war was marked by mass human rights violations from both sides of the conflict with RENAMO contributing to the chaos through the use of terror and indiscriminate targeting of civilians. The central government executed tens of thousands of people while trying to extend its control throughout the country and sent many people to re-education camps where thousands died.

During the war RENAMO proposed a peace agreement based on the secession of RENAMO controlled northern and western territories as the independent Republic of Rombesia, but FRELIMO refused wanting sovereignty over the entire country. An estimated one million Mozambicans perished during the civil war, 1.7 million took refuge in neighbouring states, and several million more were internally displaced. The FRELIMO regime also gave shelter and support to South African (African National Congress) and Zimbabwean (Zimbabwe African National Union) rebel movements while the governments of first Rhodesia and later South Africa (at that time still operating the Apartheid laws) backed RENAMO in the civil war.

On 19 October 1986, Samora Machel was on his way back from an international meeting in Zambia in the presidential Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft when the plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains, near Mbuzini. There were ten survivors, but President Machel and thirty-three others died, including ministers and officials of the Mozambique government. The United Nations' Soviet delegation issued a minority report contending that their expertise and experience had been undermined by the South Africans. Representatives of the Soviet Union advanced the theory that the plane had been intentionally diverted by a false navigational beacon signal, using a technology provided by military intelligence operatives of the South African government.

Machel's successor, Joaquim Chissano, implemented sweeping changes in the country, starting reforms such as changing from Marxism to capitalism, and began peace talks with RENAMO. The new constitution enacted in 1990 provided for a multi-party political system, market-based economy, and free elections. The civil war ended in October 1992 with the Rome General Peace Accords, first brokered by the CCM, the Christian Council of Mozambique (Council of Protestant Churches) and then taken over by Community of Sant'Egidio. Under supervision of the ONUMOZ peacekeeping force of the United Nations, peace returned to Mozambique.

By 1993 more than 1.5 million Mozambican refugees who had sought asylum in neighbouring Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa as a result of war and drought had returned, as part of the largest repatriation witnessed in sub-Saharan Africa.