26 June 2012 Last updated at 08:05 ET

Mozambique profile

President: Armando Guebuza

Millionaire business Armando Guebuza came to power in 2005

Armando Guebuza, from the ruling Frelimo party, succeeded Mozambique's long-time leader Joaquim Chissano in February 2005.

He won another term in office in the October 2009 elections with a landslide majority.

Frelimo, in power since it led the country to independence from Portugal in 1975, won 191 parliamentary seats out of 250 - enough to change the constitution at will.

Mr Guebuza, seen as welcoming of greater foreign investment, beat his rivals, long-time leader of the opposition party Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, and the head of a new party, Daviz Simango, capturing 75.46 % of the presidential vote.

Mr Guebuza, a millionaire businessman, is under pressure to provide poor Mozambicans with the benefits of tourism and untapped mineral and energy resources that have started to draw foreign investors, particularly from neighbouring South Africa.

And Guebuza, who made his fortune in the energy, transport and port industries, faces the new challenge of accommodating a new generation that was not born in the liberation struggle nor the 16-year civil war against Renamo.

He was a member of Frelimo's armed wing and played a leading role in Mozambique's struggle for independence. As a former interior minister in 1975 he ordered the expulsion of Portuguese citizens from the country.

His predecessor, Joaquim Chissano, became president in 1986 after the death of founding president, Samora Machel. Mr Chissano oversaw a move away from Marxism and the introduction of a multi-party constitution.