- 2
/ sorrow and misery•
Yet in spite of the heroism and bravery which
I witnessed everywhere in Mozambique our people are
presently going through the worst type of persecution
and extermination at the hands of the Portuguese fascists
who employ the most inhuman methods of persecution and
murder, reminescent of Nazi Germany. In the areas of
Zumbo, Zambue, Fingoe, Carinde, Chicoa and Tete where we
travelled and worked we found that the people are being
moved from their traditional villges and lands and herded
to newly built concentration camps along the roads and in
places easily accessible to the Portugues fascist troops.
In these ghettos they are heavily guarded and are compelled to do forced labour, repairing destroyed roads
and bridges which are continually being blown up and
disrupted by our revolutionary fighters. Not only do the
Portuguese fascist troops unlawfully use for their own
maintenance the hard-grown food of the people ?/ho are
exposed to hunger and starvation, they also in beastial
manner satisfy their starved sexual appetites by indulging in a continuous orgy of rape of old women,young women
and even little girls. Normal family life has been rendered impossible and as a result of the immoral behaviour
of these so-called standard-bearers of Western Christian
civilisation the majority of the babies born in these or
camps are mulattos. These concentration camps are intended
to be a device of preventing the African people of Mozambique from coming into contact with COREMO organisers
and finghting forces. They are a loud testimony not only
of the barbaric backwardness of the Portuguese under the
great fascist dictator Salazar but also of the evil cruelty and base inhumanity that the systems of oppression
and exploitation can bring out of man.
As I have mentioned already the major purpose
of the over 1,730 miles., journey through the interior of
Mozambique was the organisation and mibilisation of the
people getting them zxdt ready and prepared for the long
and sustained struggle of emancipation that lies before
the nation. But our revolutionary forces had a number of
military encounters with the Portuguese troops the three
major ones of v/hich took place in the districts of Zumbo,
Carinde and Fingoe in which a minimum of 13 enemy soldiers
x-zere wiped out and many woudded. The telephone line v/hich
links Zumbo, Carinde, Chicoa and Tete the Provincial capital was cut and two(2) military vehicj/ies were blownujxp
and completely destroyed v/hile four(4) bridges were completely destroyed by our forces. In the &?§& of Carinde the
Portuguese bandits made a surprise attack on us in the forest v/here we had camped for the night of the 2nd February,
1968; at 11,45 Pm but our forces fought back gallantly
/.