| Joaquim Alberto Chissano | |
|---|---|
| 2nd President of Mozambique | |
| In office November 6, 1986 – February 2, 2005 |
|
| Prime Minister | Mário da Graça Machungo Pascoal Mocumbi Luisa Diogo |
| Preceded by | Samora Machel |
| Succeeded by | Armando Guebuza |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 22, 1939 Gaza Province |
| Political party | FRELIMO |
| Spouse(s) | Marcelina Rafael Chissano |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Joaquim Alberto Chissano (born 22 October 1939) served as the second President of Mozambique for nineteen years from 6 November 1986 until 2 February 2005. Since stepping down as president, Chissano has become an elder statesman and is called upon by international bodies, such as the United Nations, to be an envoy or negotiator. He currently chairs the Joaquim Chissano Foundation and the Forum of Former African Heads of State and Government.[1] In 2007, he was awarded the inaugural Prize for Achievement in African Leadership by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
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Joaquim Chissano was born in the remote village of Malehice, Chibuto district, Gaza Province of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique (then called Portuguese East Africa). Chissano was the first black student to attend the only high school in the colony, Liceu Salazar in Lourenço Marques (present day Maputo). He became a member, and subsequently the leader of the Mozambican "African Secondary School Students' Organisation" (NESAM).
After leaving secondary school, he went to Portugal to study medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Because of Chissano's political activism, his studies came to an end. He fled to Tanzania via France.
Joaquim Chissano represented Frelimo, the Mozambique independence movement, in Paris during the 1960s. He was known there as a soft-spoken diplomat who worked to reconcile radical and moderate Marxist factions of the Frelimo party.
He went on to fight in the Mozambican War of Independence against the Portuguese colonial government and the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo, by then engaged in a multi-front colonial war. By the time that Mozambique finally achieved its independence in 1975 as a result of the liberation struggle and the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, Chissano had risen to the rank of major-general.
The new president of Mozambique, Samora Machel, appointed him foreign minister. Chissano served in this position for the next eleven years. In 1974, he participated in the Lusaka talks, which paved the way for the independence of Mozambique, and subsequently was elected Prime Minister of the Transitional Government.
Joaquim Chissano succeeded to the presidency in 1986 when Samora Machel's presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain in South Africa.[2]
After the Mozambican Civil War, during which the Renamo rebels become a regular political party, Chissano won multi-party elections in 1994 and again in 1999. In 1999, he defeated the former rebel leader, Afonso Dhlakama, by 52.3% to 47.7%. Chissano served as Chairperson of the African Union from July 2003 to July 2004.
Chissano chose not to run for a third term in the elections of 2004, although the constitution would have allowed him to do so. Frelimo selected Armando Guebuza as its candidate, who defeated Dhlakama by a larger margin of votes than in 1999.
Chissano left office at the end of his term in February 2005.
In 1992, Joaquim Chissano learnt the Transcendental Meditation technique. Two years later, he ordered all military and police recruits to learn and practice the technique.[3] In addition, 16,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians were taught the more advanced technique of Yogic Flying. Chissano said: "First I started the practice of Transcendental Meditation myself, then introduced the practice to my close family, my cabinet of ministers, my government officers and my military. The result has been political peace and balance in nature in my country."[3] Chissano received an honorary degree from the Maharishi Vedic University in MERU, Holland in 1993.[4] His son and several children of his cabinet members received scholarships to Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa.[5] Chissano negotiated an agreement that would give control of 49,000,000 acres (20,000,000 ha) of land in Mozambique, one quarter of the area of the country, to the Maharishi Heaven on Earth Development Project, which would receive royalties and 80% of the future profits.[3] The plan was dropped when it received negative publicity.
On 4 December 2006, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Chissano the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan, to resolve the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Chissano worked with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (then led by Eliane Duthoit), and with the International Criminal Court (ICC). It indicted LRA leader Joseph Kony and four other senior members of the LRA.
On March 22, 2010, Chissano wrote an article on The Huffington Post about water scarcity in Africa.[9]
Chissano is the eldest son of Joaquim Chissano, a Maputo-based businessman, linked to two high-profile murders in Mozambique, both of which are widely reported to have occurred because of their victims' anti-corruption activities.
On 11 May 2006, AIM reported that the Mozambican public prosecutor's office had charged Nyimpine Chissano of "joint moral authorship" of the murder of Carlos Cardoso.[10] AIM also quoted a report in the Mozambican journal Zambeze that a Maputo prosecutor, Fernando Canana, had issued an arrest warrant for Nyimpine Chissano.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Samora Machel |
President of Mozambique 1986-2005 |
Succeeded by Armando Guebuza |
| Preceded by Thabo Mbeki |
Chairperson of the African Union 2003–2004 |
Succeeded by Olusegun Obasanjo |
| Preceded by New post |
Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for LRA-affected areas 2007–present day |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by New award |
Prize for Achievement in African Leadership 2007 |
Succeeded by Festus Mogae |
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