Africa: Mandela and Chissano’s Similar Approach in Seeking to Achieve Peace

Joaquim Chissano talks about the differences and similarities between his philosophy and Nelson Mandela’s when dealing with conflict situations.

“There are differences and there are similarities. The difference is that Mandela did not have to work to end a war in his own country, but the similarity lies in that he had to see how groups of people, who were enemies within the same country, could come together and live in harmony. In our case, we had Mozambicans who went to work for our enemies against our Independence, but these are ultimately Mozambicans; so we wanted to see how they could come back and be together with everybody else, with the same rights. This is the core: ensuring everyone has the same rights and defending peoples’ fundamental rights. I believe we had that in common”, says Joaquim Chissano.

“Looking at South Africa, I would say that Mandela came out of a process, and he began negotiations in a different environment than we did here in Mozambique. The approaches were therefore naturally different in either case, and could not be similar on all counts”, he adds.

“My approach was simply that there should be dialogue, which again is something we probably have in common, because Mandela also supported dialogue. But then, you have to also understand that he came out of prison just as we were concluding our process of negotiations, which began in 1990, including reforms and our new Constitution, thereby laying the foundations for everyone to feel well in the country. When Mandela was released, we began to work together, in order to try and help each other to solve problems”, he concludes.