State resettlement policies in post‐colonial rural Mozambique: the impact of the communal village programme on Tete province, 1977–1982

Abstract

This article considers the impact of the villagisation policy implemented by the new Frelimo government in Tete province between 1977 and 1982. It traces continuities with the unpopular policy of colonial era aldeamentos, the concentrated settlements which served counter‐insurgency purposes during the war for independence, and which had been a subject of guerrilla attack. The article focuses on the economic basis of the new villages, exploring the introduction of collective production, interventions in marketing, and the ecological implications of concentrated settlement. A discussion of the early years of Renamo's war in Tete, and its interaction with the state's rural policies, forms the final section of the article.