Mozambique and economic growth. FRELIMO took control of the territory after 10 years of sporadic warfare, as well as Portugal's own return to democracy after the fall of the authoritarian Estado Novo regime the Carnation Revolution of April 1974, and the failed coup of 25 November 1975. Within a year, most of the 250,000 Portuguese in Mozambique had left—some expelled by the government of the nearly independent territory, some fleeing in fear—and Mozambique became independent from Portugal on 25 June 1975. A law had been passed on the initiative of the relatively unknown Armando Guebuza of the FRELIMO party, ordering the
Transport in Mozambique total of 30,400 km of highways, of which 5,685 km was paved. There are 3,750 km of navigable waterways. Seaports on the Indian Ocean coast include: the merchant marine fleet consisted of three cargo ships of 1,000 gt or over, totaling 4,125 gt/. Two of these were Belgian-owned ships registered in Mozambique as a flag of convenience. there were 158 airports in total, 22 of them having paved runways. The main airport in the country is Maputo International Airport, which is also the hub of Mozambique's flag carrier, LAM Mozambique Airlines. Transport in Mozambique Modes of transport in Mozambique include