Joaquim Chissano

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 (1939-10-22) (age 72) 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.

Early life

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).^{[citation needed]} He became a member, and subsequently the leader of the Mozambican "African Secondary School Students' Organisation" (NESAM).^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} He fled to Tanzania via France.

Freedom fighter

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

President

Chissano meets the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, on a state visit to Brasília, in 2004.

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%.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Chissano left office at the end of his term in February 2005.

Transcendental Meditation

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.^{[citation needed]}

Retirement

Joaquim Chissano speaking at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Conference

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.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy and honors

• 2007, On Chissano's 68th birthday, he was awarded the inaugural $5 million Prize for Achievement in African Leadership awarded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. It is intended to be given annually to a former African leader who has shown good governance.^[6] The prize of five million dollars is spread over the course of ten years, plus $200,000 per annum subsequently, and is believed in total value larger than the Nobel Prize.^[7]

• He is an Eminent Member of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation and a Member of the Club of Madrid.^[8]

On March 22, 2010, Chissano wrote an article on The Huffington Post about water scarcity in Africa.^[9]

Nyimpine Chissano

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Portuguese Colonial War

References

1. ^ BBC News profile of Joaquim Chissano.
2. ^ Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 air disaster
3. ^ ^{a b c} Astill, James (September 22, 2001). "Meditation is path to peace, Mozambique leader says: Former Marxist guerrilla turned president spreads the word of the Beatles' guru to his ministers and the military". The Guardian (Manchester (UK)): p. 19. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/sep/22/jamesastill. 
4. ^ VAN NIEKERK, PHILLIP (November 27, 1994). "Mozambique and yogic cult start project to create Utopia Phillip van Niekerk reports from Maputo on moves by the guru of the Beatles to run a quarter of the country.". The Guardian (Manchester (UK)). 
5. ^ KELLER, BILL (February 20, 1994). "Heavenly Plans for Mozambique". San Francisco Chronicle: p. 3. 
6. ^ Joaquim Chissano wins the largest prize in the world
7. ^ "Mozambique ex-leader wins prize". BBC News. 2007-10-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7056159.stm. Retrieved 2007-10-22. 
8. ^ (English) The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members – 66 democratic former heads of state and government.
9. ^ "For Africa, Water Is Life" March 22, 2010, Huffington Post
10. ^ "Nyimpine Chissano charged over Cardoso murder" 6 March 2006, AIM report

External links

• Audio: "Chissano discusses the need for debt relief", BBC, 4 March, 2000
• "Joaquim Chissano: Democrat among the despots", The Independent.

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

Persondata
Name	Chissano, Joaquim Alberto
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 October 1939
Place of birth	Gaza Province
Date of death
Place of death