"Fathers of the axe"

Abstract

This paper aims to explain the similar levels of violence against civilians exhibited by Angola's and Mozambique's rebel forces during their respective civil wars. According to the extant literature on rebellion in civil wars, Angola, with its vast natural resource wealth, ethnic polarization, and multiple interventions, seemed more at-risk for an intense insurgency by its rebel group, UNITA. However, Mozambique's rebel group, Renamo, exhibited violence against civilians of a similar intensity. This study will use a most-different-systems approach to examine the influence of three hypotheses, South Africa's "Total Strategy," traditional religion, and child soldiering, on UNITA's and Renamo's violence against civilians. This thesis will use qualitative and historical data to determine the effect of each hypothesis. The findings support the main hypothesis, as well as the two alternative hypotheses to a lesser degree. South Africa's "Total Strategy" had the greatest impact on UNITA's and Renamo's use of violence against civilians.