TETEPROVINCE
The intensification of our military operations in the zone
of Cahora Bassa, which is one of the targets of FRELIMO in
Tete Province, led recently to the destruction of three vehicles
and one shop; the death of a number of Portuguese soldiers;
capture of a Portuguese civilian; capture of very important
material for the Cahora Bassa Project, including plans for
that scheme.
Details of the Operations.
On the 9th of April an enemy convoy comprising civilian cars
escorted by military lorries was ambushed on the road between Tete and Cahora Bassa, 20 kms. from Cahora Bassa.
One lorry was blown up and the soldiers in it were killed. One
of the cars — with the registration number MBE-45-28 was
assaulted and all the material it was transporting was captured.
The material included high-precision instruments and eight
big files with documents - plans for the construction of the
Dam.
On the 30th of April, a FRELIMO unit attacked a shop of a
Portuguese trader, called Maneca, on the road of Cahora Bassa.
The shop supplied the colonialist troops and was housing a
number of them. The shop was destroyed, and some soldiers
killed and wounded.
On the 2nd of May, our comrades ambushed a convoy on the
road between Tete and Cahora Bassa. The civilian vehicles of
this convoy belonged to a company which supplies feul to
the airbase of Chitima. This airbase is for the defence of the
Cahora Bassa Dam. One of the cars (registration number
MMB-44-04) was assaulted and its occupants were captured.
These included a Portuguese and three Mozambicans. The
name of the Portuguese is Jose Lopes, he is 30 years old and
was born in Tras-Os-Montes (Portugal). He is married with
two children. His family lives in the town of Tete. The four
captured men were taken to a FRELIMO base where they
stayed for about three weeks. During this period they were
explained the nature and objectives of our struggle, and several
aspects of the policy of FRELIMO. They were then released
by our comrades in accordance with the policy of clemency
defined by the 2nd Congress of FRELIMO. The Portuguese
civilian returned to Tete. The 3 Mozambicans decided to
stay in our zone, integrated into FRELIMO.
15th July, 1971.
AVISO   A   POPULA^AO
C inimij < atravessa o Rio Zambeze para fugir da presen-
ca da Tropa e tambem para fazer milando com outras
populacoes.
A Tropa torn que defender as popolacoes desses bandido*. ,M«i\ a Tropa qoando ve gente no rlo nao sabe se e
gente da popolacao,  se e bandido.
A populacao nao deve atravessar o rlo.
A popolacao nao deve andar junto com bandido.
Tropa vai matar bandido que atravessar
o Rio Zambeze.
Tropa vai deitar fogo a todos os barcos.
Nao atravesses o rio. Foge dos bandidos.
SE   NAO,   MORRERAS.
The Portuguese are interpreting the progress of our
struggle in a new and bizarre way. Unable to conceal the advance of our forces, who are already operating in the south of Tete Province, the Portuguese are now claiming that we crossed the Zambezi River into southern Tete in ORDER TO RUN
AWAY FROM THEIR TROOPS! The absurdity of
this claim is so obvious that it deserves no comment.
At the same time (and this is another sign of their
weakness) the Portuguese have launched a terror
campaign, killing all villagers who cross the river
Zambezi or who are found in possession of any
boat. And, significantly, they are not ashamed of
their terrorist acts: they actually publicise them.
Thousands of leaflets like this, entitled «Warning
to the population» are being spread in the region
along   the   river.      The   text  reads  as  follows:
«The enemy (meaning FRELIMO) crosses the Zambezi river in order to escape from the (Portuguese)
troops and also to make trouble with other populations.
The troops have to defend the populations from
bandits. But when the troops see people on the
river they do not know if they are local people or
if they are bandits.
The population must not cross the river. The population must not go around with the bandits.
The troops are going to kill the bandits who cross
the Zambezi
The troops are going to set fire to all boats. Don't
cross the river. Run away from the bandits. Otherwise, you will die.
And for those who cannot read, a drawing makes
the meaning crystal clear.
In this way the Portuguese themselves reveal to
the world the barbarity of the methods they are
using  to   suppress  the   people  of  Mozambique.