AFRICAN   REVOLUTIONARY   STUDENTS
IN   FREE   MOZAMBIQUE
Seven members of the Dar es Salaam
University College Revolutionary Front
recently spent four weeks with FRELIMO •
travelling through the liberated areas
of Mozambique, meeting and speaking with
the people and observing their struggle
for national liberation. The following
is an account of their visit: why they
went, what they saw, and the impressions
they brought back. They called their
safari "OPERATION KIMATHI" in memory of
Field-Marshall DEDAN KIMATHI, hero of
the Kenyan Revolution,
As members of an organisation with a philosophy and belief in revolution
as the only means to progressive social change, we axe aware that abstract
discussion and debate can never be an adequate substitute for first-hand
experience of the revolutionary situation* And a lack of this experience
is indefensible when one of Africa's fiercest liberation wars is taking
place on our own door-step. Moreover, we were interested to see for ourselves what was happening in Mozambique, whether there were in fact wide-
scale military operations, as claimed by FRELIMO; and .if so how intensive
and with what degree of success. Or whether the colonialist statements
about spasmodic, disorganised, 'terrorist1 attacks were justified. In
addition, we would bring the message of solidarity to our brother across the
Ruvuma, We would demonstrate that Africa, Black Africa in particular, is
one, .having a unity that transcends boundaries imposed by colonialists. We
thus approached FRELIMO and asked them to take us inside Mozambique, They
agreed.
our misconceptions
We started out with a few serious misconceptions about the situation in
Mozambique. For instance, we thought that fighting was still at what Che
Guevara terms "the nomadic stage", i.e. bands of guerrillas with no fixed
base roaming the countryside. We also expected that people would be roaming
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