Samora Moisés Machel (September 29, 1933 – October 19, 1986) was a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual President of Mozambique. Machel led the country to independence in 1975 until his death in 1986, when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa converge. is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Religious socialism Key Issues People and organizations Related subjects Socialism refers to a broad array of ideologies and political movements with the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... List of Heads of State of Mozambique The official residence is the Palácio da Ponta Vermelha. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...

Early life

Samora Machel was born in the village of Madragoa (today's Chilembene), Gaza Province, Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), to a family of farmers. He was a member of the Shangana ethnic group and his grandfather had been an active collaborator of Gungunhana. Under Portuguese rule, his father, an indigenous, was forced to accept lower prices for his crops than white farmers; compelled to grow labor-intensive cotton, which took time away from the food crops needed for his family; and forbidden to make an identifying brand on his cattle to prevent thievery. However, Machel's father was a successful farmer: he owned four plows and 400 head of cattle by 1940. Machel grew up in this agricultural village and attended mission elementary school. In 1942, Machel was sent to school in the town of Souguene in Gaza Province. The school, was run by Catholic missionaries who educated the children in Portuguese language and culture. Although having completed the fourth grade, Machel never completed his secondary education. However, he had the prerequisite certificate to train as a nurse anywhere in Portugal at the time since the nursing schools were not degree conferring institutions. Machel started to study nursing in the capital city of Lourenço Marques (today Maputo), beginning in 1954. Unable to secure the fees to complete formal training at the Miguel Bombarda Hospital in Lourenço Marques, he got a job working as an aide in the hospital and earned enough to continue his education at night school. He worked at the hospital until he left the country to join the nationalist struggle. In the 1950s, he saw some of the fertile lands around his farming community on the Limpopo river appropriated by the provincial government and worked by white settlers who developed a wide range of new infrastructures for the region. Like many other Mozambicans near the southern border of Mozambique, some of his relatives went to work in the South African mines where additional job opportunities were found. Shortly afterwards, one of his brothers was killed in a mining accident.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} Gaza is a province of Mozambique. ... Mozambique is a country in Southern Africa, bordering South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ... Gungunhana when captured by the Portuguese colonial army (December, 1895). ... Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education logo Higher education in Portugal is divided into two main subsystems: university and polytechnic education, and it is provided in autonomous public universities, private universities, public or private polytechnic institutions and higher education institutions of other types. ... Maputo is the capital of Mozambique. ... The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... Course and Watershed of the Limpopo River The Limpopo River rises in the interior of Africa, and flows generally eastwards towards the Indian Ocean. ...

Liberation struggle

Main article: Mozambican War of Independence

Machel was attracted to Marxist ideals and began his political activities in a hospital where he protested against the fact that black nurses were paid less than whites doing the same job. He later told a reporter how bad medical treatment was for Mozambique's poor: "The rich man's dog gets more in the way of vaccination, medicine and medical care than do the workers upon whom the rich man's wealth is built." His grandparents and great grandparents had fought against Portuguese colonial rule in the 19th century so it was not surprising that in 1962 Machel joined the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) which was dedicated to creating an independent Mozambique. He received military training in 1963 elsewhere in Africa, and returned in 1964 to lead FRELIMO's first guerrilla attack against the Portuguese in northern Mozambique. By 1970, Machel had become commander-in-chief of the FRELIMO army which had already established itself among Mozambique's peasantry. His most important goal, he said, was to get the people "to understand how to turn the armed struggle into a revolution" and to realize how essential it was "to create a new mentality to build a new society." Combatants Mozambican Liberation Front Portugal Commanders Eduardo Mondlane (1962–69), Filipe Samuel Magaia (1964–66), Samora Moïses Machel (1969–75) António Augusto dos Santos (1964–69), Kaúlza de Arriaga (1969–74) Strength 15,000[1] 73,000 Casualties 25,000 10,000[2] The Mozambican War of... Marxism is both the theory and the political practice (that is, the praxis) derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ... ... The Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO, pronounced fray-LEE-moo; Portuguese: Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) is a political party that has ruled Mozambique since independence in 1975. ... Guerrilla redirects here. ...

Independence

Converging borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa

That goal would soon be realized. The FRELIMO army had weakened the colonial power and, after Portugal's coup in 1974, the Portuguese left Mozambique. Machel's revolutionary government then took over and he became independent Mozambique's first president on June 25, 1975. At home, he quickly put his Marxist principles into practice by calling for the nationalization of Portuguese plantations and property, and to have the FRELIMO government establish schools and health clinics for the peasants. As an internationalist, Machel allowed revolutionaries fighting white minority regimes in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa to train and operate with Mozambique. The regimes retaliated by forming a rebel group called RENAMO to destroy the schools and hospitals built by FRELIMO, and to sabotage railway lines and hydroelectric facilities. The Mozambique economy suffered from these depredations, and began to depend on overseas aid - in particular from the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, Machel remained popular throughout his presidency. The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese, Revolução dos Cravos) was an almost bloodless, leftist, military-led coup détat, started on April 25, 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, that effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a liberal democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC... is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act by which a nation takes possession of assets without requiring the owners consent, with or without payment of compensation. ... This article is about the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia, todays Zimbabwe. ... The Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO; Portuguese: Resistência Nacional Moçambicana) is a conservative political party in Mozambique led by Afonso Dhlakama. ...

Samora Machel was awarded Lenin Peace Prize (1975-76). The International Stalin Prize or the International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples (renamed Russian: , the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples as a result of destalinization) was the Soviet Unions equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize. ...

The fatal aircrash and investigations

Main article: Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 air disaster

On October 19, 1986 Samora Machel was on his way back from an international meeting in Lusaka, Zambia in the presidential Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft when the plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains, near Mbuzini. There were ten survivors,^[7] but President Machel and twenty-four others died, including ministers and officials of the Mozambique government. The Mozambican presidential Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft crashed just inside [[South African] territory on October 19, 1986. ... is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Lusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. ... An Aeroflot Tu-134 sits on the tarmac The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name Crusty) was a Russian twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9. ... The Lebombo Mountains are a range of mountains in Southern Africa stretching from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa. ...

The Margo Commission, which included high-level international representation, investigated the incident and concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error.^[7] Despite the acceptance of its findings by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the report was rejected by the Mozambiquean and Soviet governments. The latter submitted a minority report putting forward a conspiracy theory that the aircraft was intentionally lured off course by a decoy radio navigation beacon set up specifically for this purpose by the South Africans. Speculation about the accident has therefore continued to the present day, particularly in Mozambique,^[8] however a number of follow-up reports and investigations have been unable to find any evidence to support the theory of foul play. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. ... For other uses, see Conspiracy theory (disambiguation). ... Radio navigation is the application of radio frequencies to determining a position on the earth. ...

Graça Machel

Machel's widow, Graça, is convinced the aircrash was no accident and has dedicated her life to tracking down her husband's killers. In July 1998, Mrs Machel married the then South African President Nelson Mandela. She thus became unique in having been the first lady of two different nations (Mozambique and South Africa), although not simultaneously. Graça Machel in 1984, with then husband President Samora Machel of Mozambique and P W Botha and Pik Botha of South Africa at the signing of the Nkomati Accord. ... For other people named Mandela, or other uses, see Mandela. ... This article is about the use of the term first lady internationally. ...

Memorial

A memorial at the Mbuzini crash site was inaugurated on January 19, 1999 by Nelson Mandela and his wife Graça, and by President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. Designed by Mozambican architect, Jose Forjaz, at a cost to the South African government of 1.5 million Rand (US$ 300,000), the monument comprises 35 steel tubes symbolising the number of lives lost in the aircrash. At least eight foreigners were killed there, including the four Soviet crew members, Machel's two Cuban doctors and the Zambian and Zairean ambassadors to Mozambique.^[9] is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... Joaquim Chissano Joaquim Alberto Chissano (born 22 October 1939) served as the second President of Mozambique for nineteen years from 6 November 1986 until 2 February 2005. ...

References

JSTOR®, begun in 1995, is an online system for archiving academic journals. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ...

See also

• Portuguese Colonial War

Belligerents Portugal Angola (1961-74): MPLA, UNITA, FNLA Guinea-Bissau (1963-74): PAIGC Mozambique (1964-74): FRELIMO Strength 169,000 70,000 in Angola 42,000 in Guinea-Bissau 57,000 in Mozambique 20,000 6,500 in Angola 7,000 in Guinea-Bissau 6,500 in Mozambique Casualties and...

External links

• Speech by Nelson Mandela at the unveiling of the Samora Machel Memorial
• The TRC's Special Investigation into the death of President Samora Machel
• A case of assassination? President Samora Machel and the plane crash at Mbuzini
• Biographical notes on Samora Machel
• Graça Machel and Mandela

v • d • e Presidents of Mozambique
Samora Machel • Joaquim Chissano • Armando Guebuza