Grande Hotel Beira by VIPs from all over the Estado Novo and the neighbouring 'White Laager' countries. The Grande Hotel was the only place large enough to accommodate the event. The swimming pool remained open to the public and, as it was the only Olympic-size swimming pool in the colony at that time, it became the main training facility for the Mozambican Olympic swimming team. On 25 June 1975, Mozambique gained independence as a result of Portugal's nonviolent Carnation Revolution the previous year; the Mozambique Liberation Front, later known as Frelimo, assumed power. On the first day of independence, the Grande Hotel hosted
Food security in Mozambique non-existent. Mozambique suffers from multiple plagues. The most devastating by far for agriculture is the red locust, which is endemic in the Pungwe basin. Mozambique is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters such as droughts and floods, with a total of 15 over the last 25 years. These events greatly damaged the rural sector and the country’s overall economy. For example, the floods of 2000 affected some 2 million people, while the droughts of 1994 and 1996 affected 1.5 million people in the southern and central parts of the country. Cyclones in Mozambique occur during the cropping season, from October to