The Mozambican Civil War (Portuguese: Guerra Civil Moçambicana) was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992 due to a combination of local strife and the polarizing effects of Cold War politics. The fighting was between Mozambique's ruling Marxist Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the Rhodesia-backed anti-communist insurgent forces of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO), and a number of smaller factions such as the PRM, UNAMO, COREMO, UNIPOMO, and FUMO.
RENAMO opposed FRELIMO's attempts to establish a socialist one-party state, and was heavily backed by the anti-communist governments of Rhodesia and South Africa who supported them in order to undermine FRELIMO's support for militant nationalist organisations in their own countries. Over one million Mozambicans were killed in the fighting or starved due to interruptions to food supply; an additional five million were displaced across the region. The Mozambican Civil War destroyed much of Mozambique's critical infrastructure in rural areas, including hospitals, rail lines, roads, and schools. FRELIMO's security forces and RENAMO insurgents were accused of committing numerous human rights abuses, including the use of child soldiers and indiscriminately salting a significant percentage of the countryside with land mines. Three neighboring states—Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Malawi—eventually deployed troops into Mozambique to defend their own vested economic interests against RENAMO attacks.