slaughtered. They showed us several heavy sticks stained with
blood which had certainly been used to slaughter the victims.
About 20 meters from the grave we found many empty Portuguese army ration tins.
4. On the same day, 7th May, the Portuguese soldiers killed
7 Mozambicans in the village of Mahanda. The names of those
killed were: Chimuchamu, (he had a wife and 6 children),
Ringuitoni (with a wife and 6 children), Pensura, (wife and 4
children), Wacheni, (wife and 6 children), Joane, (wife and 4
children), Gomo, (wife and 1 child), Eanhadza Saimoni, (wife
and 4 children). We were given these details by the wife of
one of the dead men. We also questioned many people from
the village of Mahanda who, through fear of the Portuguese
troops, are now living in the bush: all the names and other details coincide with those given by the first woman.
5. 8th May, 1971: Portuguese soldiers killed four people
near the shop of a Mr. Gabriel in the village of Antonio. The
bodies were not buried since the villagers were afraid that the
Portuguese would kill them, too, if they caught them burying
the dead. On Sunday, 9th when the priests went to Antonio
village to celebrate mass, as was usual, they found the village
deserted. However, after waiting for a long time, a man appeared and explained to the priests what had happened the
day before. They went down to the shop, and with the help
of some people who, encouraged by the presence of the
priests, came forward, they buried the four men whose names
were: Januario, Charedzera, Kaswaswaira, and Chirega. One
had been killed by 3 bullet shots in the head, another by
several shots in the chest, the third decapitated and the fourth
had had his stomach cut open.
It must be noted that all the dead - 26 - were local peasants.
Some of them very old with grandchildren. The troops were
not successful in catching any FRELIMO member - this we
were told by the agent of the Secret Police (DSG-PIDE).
This picture shows a Mozambican
badly beaten by a Portuguese
DGS agent in  Tete Province.
It was a DGS agent who told
the White Fathers in Mukumbura:
<(The negroes only speak when
they are beaten".
6. Talks between the Priests and the Portuguese authorities at
Mukumbura.
(a) with the agent of the DGS.
The priests told him that the massacres carried out by the soldiers and the DGS were inhuman, cruel and contrary to all
human rights because the villagers were innocent. The DGS
agent replied (in the first discussion after the death of Aroni):
((Terrorism must be fought with terrorism. If you priests have
no stomach for these things, then it is better for you to leave
Mukumbura. In a guerrilla war there are no trials: one death
in time can save many lives. Listen, my friends, don't concern yourselves in politics. Your role is to preach the Gospel.
And I can assure you of one thing, it is now that you will
really start hearing the complaints of the Africans, because
our measures will be more harsh and drastic. The situation in
this zone is extremely explosive and politicised by FRELIMO.
The human rights admitted by Portugal at the UNO about
which you are telling me, are ((books)) (sic) and here we do not
care about books)).
(b) with the Captain - Company Commander.
He said, ((Believe me, fathers, I do not know anything about
that Aroni: you may ask the DGS agent. But you must think
also about the 5 men of my company who were killed by the
first mine, and the 3 Rhodesians who were killed by the second mine)). The priests replied that one cannot answer an unjust act with another unjust act, that people should be brought
to trial and not murdered that way. The captain answered,
«The villagers are guilty, because they are to terrorism what
water is to fish)). Thus we, the priests, concluded that the
troops intend to finish off with the water - the villagers - so
that the fish will die.
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