PART I I. General Information A. Geography 8. The Republic of Mozambique is situated on the southeastern coast of Africa. With a total area of 799.380 square kilometers, the country is divided into 11 provinces, namely Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambézia, Tete, Manica, Sofala, Inhambane, Gaza, Maputo Province and Maputo City. The City of Maputo is the capital of Mozambique. 9. The country borders Tanzania to the north, South Africa (KwaZulu Natal Province) and Swaziland to the south, and Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa (Mpumalanga Province) to the west. The entire coastal region, extending over 2 470 km, is bound by the Indian Ocean. B. Brief History and Key Political Developments 10. A former Portuguese colony, Mozambique became independent on 25 June 1975, following a heroic and centuries-old resistance put up by its people with the help of various freedom-loving nations committed to the paramount values of mankind. 11. The first Constitution came into force on Independence Day and was known as the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Mozambique, 1975. Although not very explicit, the 1975 Constitution included in 11 of its articles the principles and norms relating to universal human dignity values. 12. Demographically, the people of Mozambique are a diverse cultural, religious and social entity, stemming from relationships and trade exchanges with peoples and cultures from various parts of the world throughout the centuries. Nowadays, the people of Mozambique embody a single and indivisible national identity as a modern nation where the various religious, cultural and political values coexist and interact in a plural and tolerant setting. 13. As part of political and constitutional reforms, the new Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique was approved and enacted in 1990. The 1990 Constitution established a new political and economic order, coinciding with the introduction of a multiparty system and a market economy. This amounted to the setting up of a plural democracy and a qualitative leap in matters related to the promotion and protection of human rights. 14. It was within the framework of the enactment of the 1990 Constitution that foundations were laid down for political and diplomatic initiatives aimed at bringing to an end a 16-year harrowing war of destabilization opposing the legitimate government of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) and the rebel Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) movement. This conflict came to an end only after the signing of the General Peace Accord in Rome in Combined Report from the Republic of Mozambique to the ACHPR, 1999-2010 6