Soon after Mozambique won its independence from Portugal, President Nixon was elected into office in the US. He had an extremely strict ant-Communist policy that he was determined to enforce. Mozambique was at the time a very Marxist and Socialist country. nixon didn't want that. Two years after Mozambique was liberated, the US teamed up with a capitalist party in Rhodesia called the Renamo. The Renamo, with US support, moved into Mozambique. At first, they weren't offensive. They simply spread around anti-Communist propaganda and instilled doubt in the population. The Renamo's goal was to start a civil war between the Socialist and Capitalist sides of Mozambique. Their plan worked. Mozambique was soon engulfed in a civil war that would take 17 years to die out completely. Since the war was capitalist versus communist, the US had the perfect reason to join the fray. The Renamo continued to expand their control in the Mozambican government. The US almost managed to tip the scales in their favor, but democracy proved their downfall. In 1994, the first democratic election in Mozambican history took place, in which Marxist and FRELIMO supporter Joaquim Chissano was elected. The US and Renamo had no choice but to acknowledge Chissano as the President and withdrew their forces from Mozambique.