The Mozambican National Resistance Movement (MNR or Renamo) is a shadowy movement and ill-understood, save for its well-established genesis as a military artefact of the Rhodesians, then its transition in 1980 to South African patronage. This article synthesizes material from diverse sources on Renamo’s internal organization and operations. The question it addresses in particular is how an organization with so little appeal that it must rely on widespread forced recruitment can achieve such a measure of ‘success’ against the Mozambican State. Although the paper argues that Renamo has indeed taken on local roots, despite its external origins and employment as a tool against Mozambique, and that in so doing it has been able to feed on peasant discontent with Frelimo economic policies, the evidence suggests that the more important factors are the structural weaknesses of the Mozambican State, combined with the degree of violent coercion Renamo employs against the civilian population. The first part of the article summarizes the origins and the spread of the conflict, and Renamo’s organization and aims, both at the formal and at the grassroots level. The second part analyses the processes at work on the ground. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French.
