FES-Study 2003 Some Notes on the Development of the Defense and Security Sector in Mozambique João Paulo Borges Coelho University Eduardo Mondlane Translated from Portuguese 1. Introduction: 1 Mozambique is experiencing a period of extended and multidimensional transformation which was initiated by the endorsement of the Constitution in 1990 and has been decisively marked by the setting up and implementation, since October 1992, of a General Peace Agreement(Acordo Geral de Paz- AGP) that denoted the end of a prolonged internal conflict with devastating consequences for the country’s society and economy. Besides having terminated military/armed hostilities, 2 making room for a transition towards peace, the AGP also provided the concrete context for the political transition from a one-party state to a political multi-party system within the framework of a new liberal democratic order 3 . Finally, and constituting a third dimension, this dynamic process was accompanied by an economic transition from a planned and centralized socialist economy towards a neo- liberal market economy within the framework of endorsing structural readjustment programs of the international financial institutions. It is, on the other hand, also important that this process co-existed with the profound changes both at global level, with the end of the Cold War and of the bipolar international order, and above all at regional level, with the downfall of apartheid in South Africa and the substitution of a climate of confrontation with an environment of cooperation in southern Africa. Obviously, this immense transformation – at external level and also internally in the military, political and economic fields – implying a profound restructuring of the State and the existing political order, equally implied important developme nts in its defense and security sector. This article intends to characterize and discuss, in the brief form permitted by the allocated space, the dimension and scope of these developments, pointing out what seem to be promising ways and, at the same time, trying to identify the obstacles encountered. 1 I am grateful to Paulino Macaringue for his valuable comments and suggestions during the preparation of this article. The contents expressed therein are, of course, my responsibility. 2 AGP, Protocol VI(on the cease-fire). 3 AGP, Protocols II(on the formation and registration of political parties) and III(on the election law). 1