THE MOZAMBIQUE INSTITUTE
(INSTITUTO MOPAMBICANO)
P. 0. Box 20773
Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika
9 October 1964
The spirit of freedom which has gained independence in most
other African countries is now being felt in Mozambique, a lovely
tropical country on Africa's east coast.  Although Portugal dates
her colonial occupation from the 17th century, Europeans number
less than one-tenth of one percent of Mozambique's seven million
people.  Mozambique has been called af,land of silence", for the
harsh dictatorship of the Portuguese has closed normal communications between its colony and the outside world.  It was not "until
1961, when nationalists in Angola became engaged in the war which
is still in progress that public attention was turned to these
territories.  However, several hundreds of thousands of African
workers have left Mozambique since the early 1900!s to escape the
oppressive labour system of that country, and such v/orkers have
made a vital contribution to the countries surrounding their homeland.
Now it is the political refugee that is coming from Mozambique,
as they have been coming from Angola for the past three years.  In
the past week, 5,000 men, women and children have crossed into
southern Tanganyika with tales of the horror of killing, burning
villages and wholesale destruction by the Portuguese.  The desire
of the African nationalists for an independent country and the
opposition of the present Portuguese rulers is a problem that can
be settled only at the political level.  Meanwhile, they wait for
the day when they may return to live in a country freed from one
of the cruellest oppressions known to the African continent.
Something must be done to give the Mozambique refugee population an opportunity to make a temporary place for themselves.  The
sudden flow of 5,000 persons is, if we take counsel from the
Angolan situation, only a beginning.  It will be a growing problem,
one which must be handled by various refugee organisations.  There
are already several groups working on the refugee problem in
Tanganyika.  The Tanganyika Government relates its concern in
three different ministries:  the Vice-President's Office for defense and resettlement;  the Ministry of External Affairs on the
political level;  the Ministry of Home Affairs with refugees
living in and around the urban centre of Dar es Salaam.  In addition, there are some volunteer organizations such as the local
Christian Council of Tanganyika, the Tanganyika Christian Refugee
Service and the African-American Institute.  Tanganyika, as host
to refugees from all of the southern part of Africa, no  doubt
welcomes the aid she can obtain in handling this heavey problem.
It has been estimated that there are presently 150,000
Mozambicans in Tanganyika, many of these having fled the forced
labour conditions within their own country.  Now, with the
sudden on-slaught of many thousands more, the question we are
concerned with here is:  What can be done to help eager young
Mozambican refugees face a future in which they will be leaders
of an independent state?
The Mozambique Institute is looking for an answer.