PRM leader Gimo Phiri stated in an interview that África Livre did not refer to an actual organization but served as a collective term for all anti-FRELIMO groups in Zambezia.

[4] Accordingly, a variety of minor anti-FRELIMO movements in northern Mozambique, including Sagwati, Maramara, Nharene, Involiwa,[7] and COREMO as well as UNAR remnants have been termed África Livre.

Sumane's forces fought for the separation of "Rumbezia", the region between the Rovuma and Zambezi rivers, from Mozambique and its eventual unification with Malawi.

[8] The war of independence ended in 1974 with the Portuguese withdrawal from Mozambique, whereupon FRELIMO seized power in the country and marginalized other rebel forces.

[3][a] Paul Favert noted that former PIDE Mozambican operatives exiled in Malawi acted in concert with Sumane to organise cross-border attacks.

Militants in northern Mozambique included peasant rebels, remnants of earlier separatist factions, "externally sponsored destabilization forces", and regular criminals.

[2][4] Sumane's force mostly recruited ethnic Lomué tribesmen who had suffered economically due to the collapse of the regional plantation economy, and had been marginalized by FRELIMO's rural modernization policies such as the establishment of communal villages.

[4] The PRM consequently regarded the FRELIMO-organized communal villages as primary target,[4][18] but also attacked other government-associated locations such as "People's Shops",[18] party offices, local branches of FRELIMO mass organizations, homes of officials, and police stations.

[4] The PRM's political commissar Gimo Phiri would later claim that the group's first attack on FRELIMO troops took place at Jalasse in Zambezia Province on 8 August 1978.

[25] The Mozambican government eventually resorted to forcing people to relocate to communal villages in some areas such as Milange District, hoping that this would isolate the rural population from the rebels.

RENAMO fighters who operated alongside PRM militants later claimed that the latter resorted to "rudimentary" tactics and were "mainly relying on stones" to fight the Mozambican government.

[28] According to researcher William Finnegan, the merger was facilitated by RENAMO's South African allies with the purpose of opening a northern front against FRELIMO.

[3] As result of leadership struggles, tribal disputes,[29] and policy disagreements in RENAMO,[30] Phiri and about 500 followers[c] broke off in late 1987[29] or early 1988,[3] founding the Mozambican National Union (UNAMO)[29][31] ostensibly in honor of Sumane.

According to researchers Weinstein and Francisco, Phiri believed that he could compete with RENAMO using his past experience as independent commander and the weaponry which his forces had gained through the merger.

[32] UNAMO began to occasionally ally with FRELIMO to defeat RENAMO forces,[31] and Phiri agreed to join sides with the Mozambican government in 1988.

[29] UNAMO organized the so-called "Maria Group" to patrol certain areas in Zambezia,[4] and fought for FRELIMO for the rest of the civil war.

However, its leader Phiri was deposed during internal party struggles, and subsequently founded the Democratic Union of Mozambique (Udemo) in protest.

According to researcher Sérgio Chichava, many peasants were actually dissatisfied with the communal villages and supported the PRM; others destroyed their settlements out of fear of reprisals by the insurgents.

[33] The destruction of communal villages was a generally effective strategy, as it not just exploited anti-FRELIMO sentiments of civilians, but also separated the population from government influence.