A DIFFERENT WAR.    A DIFFERENT COUNTRY.
BUT THE  ENEMY IS THE SAME.    AND SO IS THE AIM.
LIBERATION
The FRELIMO delegation with comrade Chico Mendes
((Guinea Bissau is a flat and marshy
country.)) These were the words of the
commentator in 'Labanta Negro', the first
documentary film on the liberation war
in Guinea that we had seen. And that
was our overriding impression from the
very first days of our stay there. With our
tendency for making comparisons, we
thought of the climb up to the plateau of
the Makondes in our own country, tiie
introduction to the liberated regions in
Cabo Delgado.
From the very first day, we saw for ourselves the efforts being made in national
reconstruction under harsh conditions of
repression. Here too the repression gives
rise to difficult problems in carrying out
normal activities. In northern Guinea, a
rice and livestock region, cattle are the
main target. Veritable extermination campaigns are carried out with helicopters to
wipe out this Guinean asset. To resist
this, the people have to move the cattle
frequently, throwing the enemy reconnaissance planes off the scent.
This, and especially the bombing raids,
was the only sign of Portuguese presence
in the liberated areas of Guinea Bissau
which we visited. But this success in
having eliminated the Portuguese presence,
or of having robbed them of the initiative
16
on the ground, is no reason for passivity.
((Now it is a question of constantly
seeking ways of keeping the initiative.
The enemy have learned from experience
to accept the status quo, in that all
attempts at reconquest made up to now
have failed.)) Indeed, once they have lost
control of a region, the Party's work
among the people-the participation of
the people in public affairs, the setting up
of schools, health services, people's shops-
is such that every Portuguese attempt to
take over again comes up against a real
mass uprising of the people, who have
been irreversibly won over to a life without the Portuguese. That is why the
enemy have now been forced to give up
certain regions definitively. But this does
not render them inactive. They have
launched an out-and-out propaganda offensive among the people in the towns
under their control and among those who
have been regrouped in strategic hamlets.
((Our real problem is carrying out the
work of national reconstruction so indispensable to the pursuit of the war,
while at the same time consistently expanding the geographical combat area,))
we were told by Chico Mendes, a member
of the Council of War and, with Osvaldo
Vieira, a leader of the first armed group
in the northern region.
REPORT FROM
GUINE - BISSAU
A FRELIMO delegation composed of comrades Oscar
Monteiro and Anselmo Anai-
va recently spent three weeks
in Guinea-Bissau, at the invitation of the PAIGC. The
following is an account of
their trip, specially written
for MOZAMBIQUE REVO -
LUTION'.
A first answer was to attack the enemy
in their hide-outs with daring commando
attacks, or shelling and attacking fortified
posts. With us was Andre Gomes, Commander of the Nhacra-Mores Sector, leader
of the 12-man commando unit which
infiltrated the area of the Bissalanca
airport and shelled the runway, causing
substantial damage. The power of the
PAIGC's artillery and its sophisticated
equipment are beginning to sow panic in
the ranks of the colonial army ensconsed
in the bunkers. On our return, we could
see from the front page headlines of
Portuguese papers the commotion caused
by the rocket attack on the Farim general
staff.
Carrying out national reconstruction while
continuing the liquidation of the enemy
forces: this is the basic task facing each
of the movements in the CONCP. National
reconstruction starts with maintaining
production, which means protecting the
people in the liberated regions in their
daily work, organising people's shops to
meet basic needs in manufactured goods,
setting up hospitals and educating the
people. What is most important is that,
owing to the political line and also out
of necessity, all these tasks are carried out
with the participation of the organised
people, and in some cases they are taken