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The congress was to meet in Dar es Salaam and would be attended by delegates
representing the various political groups of Mozambique exiled in East Africa and
as many others as could send delegates from within Mozambique.
In the last half of the month of September the congress finally took place,
attended by 80 delegates and more than 500 observers from Dar es Salaam, Tanga,
Lindi, Morogoro, Songea, etc., in Tanganyika, where there are more than 100,00
Mozambicans working in the various spheres of life, including thousands of refugees who
had just recently arrived from Mozambique,  There were also observers from Zanzibar,
an island off the coast of Tanganyika where over 30,000 Mozambicans work in shipping
and clove farms and plantations; from Mombasa, Kenya, came several people representing
a Mozambican community of over 20,000 in the dockyards; and a few  came from the
Rhodesias and Nyasaland,  All in all, the first congress of our party was a very
representative affair inspite of the fact that it was the first of its kind in the
history of our country.
PROGRAM-IE OF FRELIMO.
The Congress of FRELIMO examined carefully the present situation in Mozambique
and made recommendations for the Central Committee to carry cut during the year.
During the discussions of the Congress the following points were noted: (a) that the
people of Mozambique were still under the subjection of Portuques colonialism,
characterized by political, economic, social and cultural oppression; (b).that the
Portuguese government in Mozambique denied the basic freedoms to which modern man
is entitled; (c) that the Portuguese government failed to recognise the primacy of
the interests of the Mozambicans, and that it opposed the right of the people to
determine their own destinies, contining to insist upon labelling Mozambique as an
'overseas province11; conflict between her and the people of Mozambique, she continued
to use fascist methods of repression, reinforcing the military and police apparatus by
the despatch of military contingents* massacring innocent people; imprisoning and
torturing people suspected of nationalistic tendencies.  The Congress noted further that
as a result of the above facts, the people of Mozambique were being forced to seek
effective method of self-defense.  It also considered that the recent reforms
promulgated by Portugal were within the framework of the same colonialist spirit that
has typified Portuguese action for centuries;- that because they x-rere taken unilaterally,
even if they fair to the people, they would still be inacceptabls.  The Congress
therefore Called upon all Mozambican patriots to unite under FRELIMO1.s banner to fight
for the independence of their country.  It went on to call attention to the existence
of an alliance between the racist pox^ers of Portugal, South Africa and the so-called
Central African Federation, led by Salazar, Verwoerd and Wellensky, aided by a multifarious system of economic interests financed in London and New York, and urged all
freedom-loving peoples of the world to condemn and act in such a way as to frustrate
the inhuman activities of these forces. *.
The Congress of FRELIMO declared its determination to promote, the efficient .
organisation of the struggle of the Mozambican people for national liberation and
adopted the following measures to be carried out by the Central Committee:-
. 1/ Development and consolidation of the organisational of FRELIMO;
2/ Development of unity among Mozambicans;
-3/ Maximum utilization of the energies and capabilities of each
member of FRELIMO;
4/ To promote and accelerate the training of cadres;
5/ To use every effort to expedite the access of Mozambique to freedom;
■ 6/ To.promote the social and cultural development of Mozambican women;
7/ To develop literacy programmes for Mozambican people, creating schools
- wherever possible;
8/ To encourage and support the formation and consolidation of trade unions,
students and women's organisations;
9/ Encourage as much as possible cooperation with nationalist organizations
of Angola, Guinea and Cape Verde;