90. Faced with severe shortages of food supplies and the need to restore the socioeconomic life in rural areas, the FRELIMO government agreed to join the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1984, and allowed the presence of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in order to distribute aid and food for the starving rural masses. By 1986, Mozambique had no choice but to pursue a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in return for aid. 10 91. The concessions made by Mozambique to Western countries had immediate positive payoffs. Aid increased from US$360 million in 1985 to US$1 billion in 1990. In the period 1990–94, Mozambique had become the largest aid recipient in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), accounting for more than US$1.1 billion per year. The consequence of the proliferation of aid was that donors and international NGOs became powerful, often prevailing over the Mozambican government in policy making and implementation. 92. Following the demise of Rhodesia in 1980, RENAMO enjoyed South African patronage as part of the latter’s “Total Onslaught” strategy aimed at disrupting the politics and economies of the black-ruled “frontline states” on its borders. War weariness and political changes in South Africa and Mozambique – including FRELIMO’s move away from Marxism-Leninism doctrine – helped bring about a General Peace Agreement (GPA) between FRELIMO and RENAMO, signed in Rome in 1992. 93. In an attempt to end the war, the late President Samora Machel negotiated the infamous Nkomati Accord with the then President P.W. Botha and the South African government in 1984, in which Mozambique was to expel the ANC in exchange for South Africa cutting off aid to RENAMO. At first, both parties complied, but it soon became evident that infringements were taking place on both sides and the war thus continued. In 1986, President Samora Machel died in a plane crash inside South African territory on his way from a frontline meeting in Zambia. Although unproven, many suspect a conspiracy lay behind his death. Samora Machel was replaced by Joaquim Chissano as President. 94. With apartheid crumbling in South Africa, and support for RENAMO drying up both in South Africa and the USA, the first direct talks between the FRELIMO government and RENAMO were held in 1990. As a result, a new Constitution was adopted in November of that year. Mozambique had become a multiparty state, committed to periodic elections and guaranteed democratic rights. On 4 October 1992, the Rome General Peace Accords, negotiated by the Community of Sant’Egidio with the support of the United Nations (UN), was signed in Rome between President Joaquim Chissano and RENAMO leader, Afonso Dhlakama, and formally took effect on 15 October 1992. A UN peacekeeping 10 Ibid. 63