chapter 3 3. DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOOD GOVERNANCE 3.1 Overview 198. Mozambique gained independence in 1975 after a protracted armed struggle against Portuguese colonial rule. For the next 16 years, the country fought a bitter civil war, which ended only after the General Peace Agreement (GPA) was signed in 1992. It was not until peace had been secured that the leaders could concentrate fully on the country’s socioeconomic development and the promotion of the people’s political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. Mozambique’s political development since independence has, therefore, been shaped by the desire to consolidate peace, grow the economy rapidly and ensure that citizens’ basic needs are met within an expanding framework of rights, duties and responsibilities. 199. The national leadership has performed this balancing act reasonably successfully over the past 16 years, enabling the country to make a relatively smooth transition from a one-party state of Marxist orientation to a multiparty free market democracy. The Mozambican government deserves much praise for the success it has achieved thus far in institutionalising democracy and political good governance, despite the challenges it has faced in reconciling competing political and social interests, and the relative inadequacy of human and material resources. 200. Reflective of Mozambique’s late start in embracing multiparty democracy and the global regime of human rights, is the country’s record with regard to the signing and ratification of instruments reflecting internationally accepted standards for democracy, good governance and human rights. Mozambique has signed and ratified many relevant codes and standards of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), but many more remain to be signed. In addition, many of those ratified are not being fully implemented or observed. Thus, Mozambique needs to sign and ratify outstanding international instruments and implement them, along with those already ratified, in order to ensure that citizens enjoy the full benefits to be derived from the international legal system. 201. After some 30 years of armed conflict, Mozambique found peace through an agreement that was facilitated by friendly African countries, the Catholic Church and the Italian government. The GPA not only ended armed conflict, but also resulted in the adoption of a set of values and principles that have 87