used in the offensive being launched in
the north of our country.
It goes without saying that the sum total
of armoured vehicles, trucks, civil engineering material, artillery, and firearms
was given to the Portuguese land army by
its allies. And it is obvious-when one
considers the damage and wastage of
these items through use-that it would
be ridiculous to pretend that all this
material was delivered to Lisbon before
the United Nations demanded that member states stop doing it!
Today, we see that the forces which have
gathered against us and which we call by
their proper name of Imperialism are
preparing further escalation of their aggression against us.
Already, they are training the Portuguese
army, sending new military teams to 'visit'
the war zones, and establishing new
military agreements. And further, in the
press of certain countries as well as in the
publications of their Ministries of Defence,
one reads about the necessity of intervention. Already, in the programmes of
certain parties in power, military intervention against our liberation movements
is called for blatantly.
But even all this is from the past.
For today, the NATO ministerial meeting
is being prepared to take place in Lisbon.
And today Sir Alec Douglas Home is
getting ready to go to Lisbon to renew
British support to the colonialists, just
after the South African arms deliveries.
Today, as the Portuguese Army moves
rapidly towards a shameful defeat, imperialists are trying to prolong the Portuguese gasp of death by increasing the
price we are paying for our liberty in
suffering and in blood.
ACTION   BY  THE UNITED NATIONS
He is a bad strategist who, even after his
tactics have proved worthless on the field
of battle, continues to employ those same
tactics.
We believe that the continuation of the
Portuguese colonial war, ten years after
passage of the U.N.'s resolution 1514
(XV), constitutes a brutal and indecent
challenge to all peoples. By its crimes,
including aggression against sovereign African states, the Portuguese government
has by its own action set itself against
civilised humanity.
We can no longer accept that the United
Nations content itself simply with making
appeals to Portugal and its allies. We
must take sanctions against Portugal as
an aggressor state.
For she is nothing more than an aggressor
who occupies de facto certain areas of our
country. In almost one-third of our country, Portuguese sovereignty no longer
exists. Over one-fifth of our territory
new structures and new institutions function regularly, concretising the de facto
sovereignty which has been conquered by
our people. It is now time to recognise
the new reality. That is, to consider illegal
the Portuguese occupation by force of
part of our country, to no longer accept
Portugal as legally responsible for our
country, and to refuse the juridical fiction
which are 'overseas provinces'. In short,
it is time to recognise from now on that
the Mozambican people are themselves
responsible, and this through FRELIMO.
Whether it be by the criteria of an
existing territory, and a population thereon, by the creation of law and the
establishment of institutions, by the exercise of power, or be it by organisation
and practice of economic and social
activity in the liberated zones of Cabo
Delgado, Niassa, and Tete, we are in fact
witnessing the operations of a new state.
We would like for you to come and see
for yourselves this new reality in the
liberated zones; accordingly we renew our
invitation to you to do so!
kJrj
PROJECT   PLANS
We regret that our plans for economic
and social development which we have
submitted to you in the past have not yet
been given any support by your specialised
organisations.
Certainly a positive step has been taken
by the ECA and even though it is yet to
be ratified by the Economic and Social
Commission, we have great hope for this
new cooperative effort. We count on your
encouragement of both the Economic and
Social Commission as well as the FAO to
furnish a substantial material aid to our
effort in national reconstruction.
Likewise, the UNESCO decision to contribute to our education programme should be supported in particular, and
especially because UNESCO consulted us
before taking its position. Through collaboration with us and by taking into
account our principles, methods, and
needs, UNESCO will make a precious
contribution indeed to our work.
We regret however that other specialised
organisations-and in particular the WHO
have not yet answered our legitimate
requests. Our campaigns against smallpox,
eprosy, cholera and other endemic diseases are not only beneficial to our own
people, but they also aid neighbouring
countries to fight against the same diseases with better chance of success.
We are hereto attaching the project plans
which we submitted in 1969 and 1970,
in the hope that you will be able to
bring about positive action on the part
of those organisations concerned.
We conclude by thanking warmly the
Committee of Twenty-Four for its efforts
in making known the legitimacy of our
struggle while isolating politically and
morally the Portuguese colonialists.
We wish also to express our fraternal
solidarity with the people and Government of Tanzania, with TANU and President Nyerere, who are being exposed to
numerous provocations and instances of
aggression on account of their support
of FRELIMO and the Mozambican people's struggle.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES'
INDEPENDENCE OR DEATH'
WE SHALL CONQUER!
Dar Es Salaam, 19 May 1971
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