Events leading to the Plane crash

The crash happened at a time when Mocambique government was in the midst of an armed attack by the National Resistance Movement in Mozambique (RENAMO). RENAMO was a rebel group backed by the South African and Rhodesian government. There was also mounting tension between South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi. The Mozambican Chief of Staff accused the President of Malawi, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, of setting up a base for RENAMO in tis territory and issuing the rebels with travel documents. One month prior to the crash, an angry Mozambican President Machel issued his Malawian counterpart with an ultimatum to stop his support for RENAMO. He threatened to seal off Mozambique's borders with Malawi.

On 7 October 1986, a fter six South African soldiers died in a landmine explosion on the Mocambique border, the SA Minister of Defence, Magnus Malan, threatened the Mozambican leader personally when he said, "He will clash head-on with South Africa." The two countries got embroiled in a bitter verbal exchange. Two weeks before the crash, the South African government accused Machel of having revived his support to the banned African National Congress (ANC) and its guerilla forces.

On 18 October, Carlos Cardosa, Director of the Mocambican News Agency Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), received an anonymous message informing him that the President (Machel) had died. The message was very bizarre as Machel was preparing to leave for Zambia. On the same day before leaving for Zambia, Machel had convened a meeting with journalists, FRELIMO leaders and military officers. Machel announced that he had received information that the South Africans wanted to eliminate him. He gave instructions to his Cabinet and Party what had to be done if he failed to return.