under severe constraints. To date, Mozambique has held three presidential and parliamentary elections (in 1994, 1999 and 2004) and two municipal elections (in 1998 and 2003), with legislative and presidential elections set for 2009. Civil and political rights have been more deeply entrenched in the country due to constitutional guarantees being observed. Civil society participation in development processes and institutional capacity building has added value to the formulation and implementation of important national action plans, policies and programmes. Although important safeguards exist to ensure that the media operate and can disseminate information, access to information remains a problematic issue. 68. Although the country still faces enormous challenges, Mozambique today stands as a beacon of hope for other post-conflict countries, not only in Africa, but also across the world. These countries can draw useful lessons from Mozambique’s experience in political and economic management. 69. Despite these successes, Mozambique is, to all intents and purposes, still a post-conflict society and one of the poorest countries in the world. Some 54 per cent of the population find themselves below the national poverty line and the country ranked 172nd out of 177 countries in the 2007/08 Human Development Report.1 Although the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) has been in power since independence, the country bears only the slightest resemblance to the vision that was proclaimed at independence. 2.1 Brief Political History 70. Mozambique has had a chequered past in its struggle for liberation, peace, political stability and democracy. This brief exposition of the country’s history is intended to illuminate how Mozambique’s complex historical inheritance led the country to political ruin, economic decline and mass poverty. For ease of understanding, this section has been divided into three phases: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. 2.1.1 Pre-colonial History 71. According to historical accounts, Mozambique’s first inhabitants were the San hunters and gatherers, ancestors of the Khoisan peoples. Between the first and fourth centuries AD, waves of Bantu-speaking peoples, generally farmers and ironworkers, migrated from the north through the Zambezi River valley and then gradually into the plateau and coastal areas. 72. When the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, reached the Mozambican coast in 1498, he found Swahili and Arab trading settlements that had existed along 1 Human Development Report (HDR). 2007/08. Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world. New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 58 A P R M COU N T RY R EV IEW R EP ORT NO. 11