Cahora Bassa Dam, will have negative implications for the Angolan people. What
exactly is the objective of the enemy in
building the Cunene Dam and what has
been the action of the MPLA to prevent
it.
A: The Cunene project is part of a complex of projects which Portugal, South
Africa and Rhodesia are undertaking in
the Southern part of our continent in
order to achieve their objectives of exploitation of the peoples of different countries and the domination of that part of
Africa. Like the Cahora Bassa Project,
the Portuguese are intending to build
along the river Cunene a series of dams in
order to create conditions for immigration
to the areas which are along the shores
of the river, not only from Angola, but
also from South West Africa. They also
want these dams to provide power for
their industries and especially for the
mines of Tsume in Namibia. The Cunene
is a river which borders Namibia and Angola. It is a river which rises up to Nova
Lisboa where it has its source, and in that
whole area, the Portuguese aim at establishing colonialists, not only Portuguese
settlers, but also South African and other
nationalities. We heard recently that
some Italians wanted to settle in that area
to grow bananas. This kind of settlement
in Angola and Mozambique and in particular the association with South Africa
reveals a political tendency to transform
Angola, to transform Mozambique into
new South Africas where power will be in
the hands of white minorities who will
continue to oppress our peoples. The
Portuguese government is naturally trying
a series of solutions for the problem of
Angola and Mozambique. I think they
have not yet reached what they can consider a "proper" solution, so meanwhile
they are studying ways to strengthen their
position. Building of dams fits into that
kind of plan as well as the building of
roads. For example, a road which is
being built from Luanda to Pretoria has
clearly a strategic purpose. This is to link
the two countries more closely so that the
colonialists and the racists of Southern
Africa can help each other more easily
against the peoples of Angola, Rhodesia
South Africa and Mozambique. We think,
therefore, that all the activity which
FRELIMO has been undertaking to fight
the Cahora Bassa Project is just and we
have praised the great results achieved by
you internationally with the withdrawal
of companies and capital involved in the
building of the dam. This represents an
important   diplomatic  victory.     It  also
means an important defeat for those who
plan to build the dam. We have praised
your efforts to stop its construction and
we are absolutely certain that this Cahora
Bassa project, as the late President of
FRELIMO, Comrade Eduardo Mondlane
said, is a project which is doomed and
must be fought by the whole world. The
power of mobilisation of FRELIMO in
this respect has been really great and we
hope it will continue to bear fruit so that
the Portuguese will be deprived of one
more instrument for the repression of the
Mozambican people. In Angola we shall
act in the same way, the most correct
way, but we have not yet organised a similar campaign to FRELIMO in the diplomatic field. We still have not paid enough
attention to the problem of the Cunene
Dam, it is even little known in the world
outside. It is being built in silence, but
this is because of other preoccupations we
have had until now, preoccupations of
political and military nature, which have
demanded our energy and our attention,
so for the moment we do not consider it
the main objective of our struggle, of our
present tactics, to make a frontline attack
against the Cunene Dam. But of course,
we shall fight against its construction,
certainly the colonialists (some of whom
are already there) will be forced to leave,
and I am absolutely sure that our cannon
and mortar shells will not let those individuals who come to exploit our people,
remain on the land as owners, as capitalists who do not want anything but to fill
their pockets at the cost of the blood and
sweat of the African people.
Q: The Portuguese colonialists have recently intensified the use of herbicides
against the zones controlled by the MPLA.
What are the effects of these barbaric
actions? This certainly corresponds to a
new phase of the war, a desperate measure
of the Portuguese government similar to
what the Americans are doing in Vietnam.
A: The use of herbicides goes back as far
as 1962. They did not just start using
herbicides now in the northern front. In
the districts of Cuanza North and Luanda
the herbicides have often been used since
1962, 1963, 1964 in particular to destroy
the cassava and deprive the populations in
the liberated areas, and thus force them
to return to the Portuguese control.
However, after 1970, this action was intensified - vast areas of the Eastern
region were also affected by herbicides
entailing particular damage, because the
herbicides affect our basic food-stuff -
cassava, and one cannot plant and grow
crops of cassava in a short time.   When
using this tactic I think the Portuguese
colonialist government believes that by
creating more difficulties for the people
they will surrender in order to live better.
On the other hand they also consider that
without the people the guerrillas cannot
fight. This is the main reason why the
enemy uses herbicides. There is no doubt
that they have destroyed vast areas of
land but their calculations were not correct, for they did not consider certain
other factors. First of all they didn't
take into account the determination of
the people to fight, whatever the difficulties, until independence. They didn't
expect the leadership's decision to do
everything so that this use of herbicides
would not cause too extensive damage,
could not harm the struggle. They didn't
consider the counter measures which we
took so that there would be no food
shortages. They did not anticipate the
international solidarity which played a
crucial role in ensuring that the populations of the affected areas continued to
have food and did not suffer hunger. In
fact, on this point, I must say that several
countries in the world offered food for
the areas affected by herbicides, which
represents a new victory for our movement and for all liberation movements,
and a severe blow to Portuguese policy.
They thought about depriving us of the
vital supplies for the guerrillas in the
areas where they have no control. But on
the contrary it was noticed that these
conditions increased and improved thanks
to international solidarity. When they
decided to halt the guerrillas with their
planes and herbicides a general movement
of sympathy with the people who suffered
this inhuman attack started throughout
the world. Even in the UN (where there
is still a majority which does not allow
that organisation to act within the spirit
of the 1960 Declaration of Independence of the Colonised Peoples) we saw
a movement of sympathy for our people,
particularly in the specialised agencies
like FAO, UNESCO, WHO. They are
giving support to the liberated areas so
that the effects of the herbicides will be
lessened. That means that Portugal suffered yet another defeat when she used
that weapon, a defeat which was inflicted
both by our people and also by all the
peoples of the world. And what she
thought would be a means of oppression,
of demoralisation of our people, became
instead a means of encouragement, because we saw we had friends throughout
the world and we saw that we could rebuild what was destroyed by the Portuguese. This world response helps us even
more, to reiterate and support with all
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