Africa”, a radio station aimed at broadcasting anti-FRELIMO propaganda. In February 1977, Matsangaisa, Dhlakama and other FRELIMO dissidents returned to Mozambique through Manica province in order to fight against the FRELIMO government. 86. In Manica province, the small group of RENAMO fighters mounted a successful raid against a re-education camp and freed close to 500 detainees.4 Of these, 300 were incorporated into RENAMO’s ranks. Apart from targeting re-education camps, to which most FRELIMO dissidents were sent, RENAMO fighters adopted outrageous methods of kidnapping, setting ambushes, making threats, destroying villages and local populations’ farms, sabotage and mutilation in order to force people to adopt RENAMO’s objectives, increase the number of guerrillas, and widen the organisation’s base of support inside Mozambique. 5 87. The above is said in explanation of the overwhelming increase in the number of fighters and the pace at which the war spread throughout Mozambique. Until 1981, the war had been limited to Manica province only. In 1982, it spread to four provinces (Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala and Tete); in 1983, to three more provinces (Maputo, Nampula and Zambézia); and, by 1984, fighting had reached the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Niassa. 6 88. By the mid-1980s, Mozambique was at a crossroads, as the war had spread throughout the country, causing great devastation in rural areas, the suspension of development programmes and the disruption of socioeconomic infrastructure. The costs of the war were massive and included an estimated 1 million casualties, 1.7 million refugees in neighbouring countries, and 3.2 million displaced people within Mozambique. 7 89. As a result of the devastation of its social and economic infrastructure, Mozambique became one of the poorest, highly aid-dependent and debt-ridden countries in the world, with the lowest ranking on the Human Development Index (HDI) for southern Africa. 8 The economy experienced a steady decline, as reflected in its falling GDP, production, real incomes and employment, the negative balance of payments and an average per capita income of less than US$100 dollars. 9 4 Kulipossa, F.P. 2006. Mozambique. IDS Bulletin, 37(2): 40–52. 5 As reported in a range of studies on the subject. 6 Serapião (1989:12–13). 7 Hanlon, J. & Smart, T. 2008. Do bicycles equal development in Mozambique? Oxford: James Currey. 8 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 1998. Human Development Report (HDI) 1998. New York: Oxford University Press. 9 Hanlon & Smart (2008). 62 A P R M COU N T RY R EV IEW R EP ORT NO. 11