Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05MAPUTO288
2005-03-02 13:45:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Maputo
Cable title:  

MOZAMBIQUE: BIODATA ON PRESIDENT GUEBUZA

Tags:  PGOV PREL MZ 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000288 

SIPDIS
AF/S - TREGER
STATE PLEASE PASS TO MCC GAULL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: BIODATA ON PRESIDENT GUEBUZA

REF: A. MAPUTO 00248

B. MAPUTO 00150
Classified By: Ambassador Helen La Lime, for reasons 1.4 (b/d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000288

SIPDIS
AF/S - TREGER
STATE PLEASE PASS TO MCC GAULL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL MZ
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: BIODATA ON PRESIDENT GUEBUZA

REF: A. MAPUTO 00248

B. MAPUTO 00150
Classified By: Ambassador Helen La Lime, for reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (SBU) Armando Emilio Guebuza was born January 20, 1943 in
Murrupula, Nampula province. His father was a member of the
Ronga ethnic group (from the Maputo area) and his mother
(still living) is Makua (from Nampula). At a young age, his
family moved to Maputo, where Guebuza grew up. While
attending secondary school at Salazar High School, he became
active in the Mozambican Association of African Secondary
School Students (an organization founded by Eduardo
Mondlane). In 1960 he succeeded Joaquim Chissano,
Mozambique's second president, as president of the
nation-wide student organization. In 1963 Guebuza joined
Frelimo and worked in Maputo as a clandestine operative for
the movement. He was arrested by the Portuguese in 1964 for
his political activities. In 1965 he fled Mozambique to join
Frelimo rebels in exile in Tanzania. He was elected to the
Frelimo Central Committee at its formation in 1966. During
his exile in Tanzania Guebuza became a prominent guerrilla
commander in the liberation army, rising to the rank of
lieutenant general. He served briefly as Frelimo Secretary
for Education while in exile, and in 1974 was named Minister
of Internal Administration in the transition government.


2. (U) During the early years of independence Guebuza was
very close to Samora Machel, the first post-independence
Mozambican president. Machel appointed him to several
high-level positions within the new government, including
Minister of the Interior (1975-1977 and 1983-1984) and Vice
Minister of Defense (1977-1983). From 1978 to 1979 Guebuza
also served as governor of Cabo Delgado and, from 1981 to
1983, he took on the role of Resident Minister in the civil
war torn province of Sofala.


3. (C) As Minister of Interior Guebuza played a role in some
of the most controversial decisions made by the Frelimo
government. During his first term Guebuza was responsible
for the ill-famed "20/24" decree, in which many Portuguese
were given just 24 hours to leave the country with a maximum
of 20 kilograms of luggage. The national police under his
command gained a reputation for human rights abuses during

the early days of Mozambican independence. In 1983, during
his second term as Minister of Interior, Guebuza oversaw the
implementation of "Operation Production," an attempt to expel
unemployed from urban centers to the rural northern province
of Niassa ostensibly to help develop the province. Thousands
of "unproductive" residents were rounded up and deported from
the cities to Niassa under the program. No infrastructure
was provided for those forcibly removed and some perished
from hunger, exposure, or wild animal attacks. (Comment:
Guebuza maintains both publicly and privately that he was
personally opposed to the scheme, but was acting under orders
of President Machel. End Comment.)


4. (C) Guebuza was dismissed from his cabinet position in
June 1984. Most believe his dismissal resulted from the
combined effects of the public relations disaster of
"Operation Production," his failure to stem the growing tide
of Renamo attacks, and his order to arrest Machel ally Santo
Garcia for smuggling precious stones. Machel reportedly held
Guebuza under house arrest for several months. In late 1984
Guebuza's political persona was partially rehabilitated, and
he was appointed to the powerless post of Minister in the
Presidency without portfolio, a position he held through 1986.


5. (SBU) Machel's death in 1986 and the ascension of
President Chissano led to the recovery of Guebuza's political
fortunes. Under Chissano's first government Guebuza was
appointed Minister of Transport and Communications, however
his key role was as the government's chief negotiator with
Renamo when peace talks began in 1990. He was considered by
most to be the party's de facto number two when he was
elected to the post of Secretary General in 1991. Following
the successful conclusion of the Rome Peace Accords in 1992,
Guebuza headed the government's participation on the
Supervision and Control Commission, the U.N.-chaired body
which oversaw implementation of the peace agreement and
guided the country towards its first multi-party elections in

1994. Guebuza was later involved in the Burundi peace
process, initiated in 1996 under the leadership of former
Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere.


6. (C) Sometime between the signature of the Rome Peace
Accords in 1992 and the multi-party elections in 1994,
Guebuza and Chissano reportedly fell out over Guebuza's use
of his cabinet position for personal enrichment. Guebuza is
thought to have used his political influence to obtain shares
in privatized companies and to influence regulatory decisions
related to companies in which he held major shares. (Note:
Guebuza's business interests range over various sectors, from
fisheries to construction to tourism to publishing. He is an
important shareholder in Mozambique's second largest brewery,
Laurentina Ltda. and Banco Mercantil de Investimentos, one of
Mozambique's largest banks. End Note.) News articles from
this period equated Guebuza as the symbol of endemic
government corruption. In response, Chissano omitted Guebuza
from his 1994 cabinet and arranged his ouster as Frelimo
secretary general in favor of Manuel Tome in 1995. Guebuza

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retained his position on the Frelimo Political Commission and
won a seat as a deputy for Maputo City in the 1994 and 1999
elections. Following both elections, he was elected by his
fellow deputies as leader of the Frelimo bench, a sign of his
on-going influence within the party. As Frelimo's
presidential candidate for the 2004 general elections,
Guebuza campaigned actively, working to connect with the
electorate and increase party membership. His efforts have
been attributed to the successful revitalization of Frelimo,
which had been facing dwindling popularity since the
mid-1990's.


7. (C) Guebuza has been a leading exponent of
black-Mozambican empowerment. He is widely perceived as
someone who can improve policy implementation, as well as
address the problems of criminality and corruption. Guebuza,
who has profited handsomely from privatization and has
extensive business interests to protect, appears to have
little ideologically in common with Frelimo hardliners and
has publicly stated he intends to continue economic reforms
undertaken by the Chissano government. It is reported that
following the Montepuez incidents in 2000 in which over 100
Renamo party followers died in captivity, it was Guebuza who
pushed for direct talks between Chissano and Dhlakama to
reduce tensions, ostensibly to prevent further erosion in
investor confidence (an indication of how far along the path
to free-market economics Guebuza has come).


8. (SBU) Though it is expected that government policy will
remain the same under Guebuza, a new style of leadership is
likely. He will adopt a more hands-on approach, with more
discipline, than the approach taken by former President
Chissano. He is expected to keep a close eye on all the
ministries, and will focus more on internal policy and less
on foreign affairs. Guebuza is intelligent, a good listener,
though perhaps less of an accomplished public speaker than
Chissano.? Guebuza is an alumnus of the U.S. sponsored International Visitors Program (1987).


9. (U) Guebuza is married to Maria da Luz Dai Guebuza, the
sister of the current Defense Minister, Tobias Dai, and has
four children. He speaks fluent English.
LALIME