8 International and Local Mediation in Mozambique's Intermittent Civil Conflict, 2013-2017 Énio Viegas Filipe Chingotuane Introduction In 1992, after a long 16-year war, Mozambique reached a peace agreement between the Mozambican government led by the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique(FRELIMO) and Resistencia Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO). The international community considered the General Peace Agreement(GPA) a success. This ignored the fact that the accord in itself could not guarantee stable and durable peace. It was hindered by periods of instability and threats of resumed violence, mainly following elections. FRELIMO’s dominance has prevailed from the country’s first election in 1994 to date, despite strong contestation from RENAMO. As an opposition party, it struggled to make inroads and challenged all elections results by arguing they had been rigged. To pressure the government, RENAMO resorted to threats of war; while these threats caused some alarm in Mozambique, then-President Chissano adopted a diplomatic approach in dealing with RENAMO based on constant dialogue with its leader Alfonso Dhlakama. The situation changed after President Guebuza came into power in 2004 when he subsequently abandoned the dialogue approach and refused to make concessions to RENAMO. Following the 2009 general elections that Guebuza won by a considerable margin, RENAMO rejected the results and again threatened to wage war. On this occasion, the Guebuza-led government refused to appease Dhlakama. The situation deteriorated further 235 Énio Viegas Filipe Chingotuane