118
also figures that an additional 92,000 people fled from Tsangano District to Malawi. We d2o62
not have comprehensive data for the number of people internally displaced in the district.
3. LAND TENURE IN ANGONIA DISTRICT BEFORE THE PEACE ACCORD
263
As noted, much of the countryside in the district was abandoned after 1986.
Government had little control over much of the province; there was little farming outside of
the secure areas. 264 Some refugees and displaced families interviewed at the Malawian
border and in Ulongue thought they had secure land rights and that they could reclaim their
land when the war 2e65nded; others said they were not so sure about their land rights and were
anxious to resettle. In 1988 many smallholder refugees in Malawi started to farm the land
nearest to the district borders while some farmers exploited the land surrounding the
government-protected areas. There were shortages and competition between displaced farmers
and smallholders claiming historical rights in just these two locations.
Also beginning in 1988 commercial producers occupied some of the lands formerly
belonging to colonial private farms and CAIA. These farmers came largely from Ulongue and
Tete city; they were secure during the war because they had their own security forces
(milicianos) (Eliseu 1994). "Temporary" use rights were approved by district officials, though
authorities insist that temporary users was given no legal documents to support their claims
or have their rights registered.' However, the results of an investigation by the Norwegian
Refugee Council in September 1993 suggested that some commercial producers were indeed
262. Both USCR and UNHCR report that only 13,000 people remained in Angonia District during the war
while an additional 5,000 persons stayed in Tsangano District. Presumably, by the end of the war, a great
majority of these refugees were living in the three secure, government-controlled cities. However, we believe
that the number of people reckoned to have remained in the districts is an underestimate. Further, the division
between refugees in Malawi and those staying in the districts suggests there was no movement back and forth
between Mozambique and Malawi and that people who fled to Malawi stayed there until the peace accord. We
know, however, that many people were returning to Ulongue as early as 1986 and that there was considerable
movement between Malawi and Ulongue (Eliseu 1994; Ken Wilson, personal communication, February 1994;
and Bonga and Wilson 1993).
263. Some individuals chose to remain in the RENAMO-controlled areas and continued to farm throughout
the war. The relationship between these farmers and RENAMO has been documented by Olaf Juergensen,
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario (forthcoming dissertation; see also Ken Wilson, unpublished notes on the
war in Tete Province, personal communication, February 1994). Juergensen's research also seeks to determine
why some inhabitants of the district went to Malawi and others to the government-controlled areas. He suggests
that tenure security may have affected this choice. His work will shed light on an important set of issues.
264. Although we know little about the RENAMO-held areas, it is likely that there was intensive cultivation
in a few of them (see Juergensen 1994?).
265. Interviews with smallholder farmers, Dedza and Ulongue, March 1993.
In 1993 Violet Bonga talked to refugees in Malawi before they repatriated to Mozambique. Many of her
questions focused on the refugees' perceptions about postwar Mozambique, including a very brief inquiry about
land access. She recounted that refugees did not think they would have difficulty acquiring land when they
returned to Mozambique.
266. Interview with administrator of Angonia; and District Agricultural Officer, March 1994.