Former rebels of the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo) have dealt a blow to Mozambique’s efforts to position itself as a major investment success story and future gas exporter, abandoning their 1992 peace deal with the ruling Frente de Libertação Moçambicana (Frelimo) with a series of attacks on government troops. Few commentators expect a return to all-out civil conflict but investors are jumpy, not least because Renamo’s rejection of peace coincides with a spate of kidnappings –15 in October alone –with some in the capital, Maputo. In early November, British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which has extensive coal operations in north-western Tete Province, withdrew expatriate employees’ families from the country.