Q: What do you think is the reason for
the war?
A: The reason for the war in Angola.
Guine and Mozambique is tho Portuguese
Government. Because the Portuguese
Government always says that Mozambique is Portugal.
Q: What do the Portuguese people say
about the war?
A: The people cannot speak. And the
Portuguese soldiers have to light, are
forced to fight.
Q: You have been living with FRELIMO
for a little over a month. Do you think
they  have the ability to win the war?
A: 1 believe thatMozambiquewill get its
independence because it has got the
means for it.FRELIMO is on its own land
and has got better weapons than the
Portuguese government  thinks.
Q: During the time you have been a prisoner of war, have you had an opportunity to talk to some of the FRELIMO
fighters?
A: Yes.  1 have been talking much.
Q: What have they told you about why
they are fighting?
A: They say they are fighting against the
Portuguese government and not against
the Portuguese people.
Q: And is what you have seen any indication that what they were saying is true?
A: Through the way they treated me, I
can see that it is true.
Q: You were captured at a place near the
coast and now you are at another place,
far away from the coast. This means that
you have travelled through a large part of
of Cabo Delgado Province. Can you tell
me during that time, did you have any
trouble.
A: I was captured near thc coast and 1
was taken on a five-day march to the
Provincial Base. From the Provincial
base I was taken to a village where I
stayed for 15 days. From there I came
to this base.
Q: And to repeat the other part of my
question - during all this marching, have
you seen mything to indicate that the
Portuguese are in control of the area, or
is FRELIMO?
A Fnm what I
do mo: have any
Mozamb que.
i see, the Portuguese
ntrol in this part of
Q: Cou!' you describe briefly the attack
upon your post, during which you were
captured. What happened to you and
what happened to the post?
i place at 5.30a.m.   It
ack     We were sleeping
A:   i he atta< I
was a surpri: e   H ta
(we slept wo in the same room) and
were awakened by the noice of the firing
I recognised rifle-shots as well as mortars, bazookas and cannons Some shells
fell just near oui house \1\ companion
said «Thcre they arc. We have fighting)).
We took our G-3 gens and rushed to the
shelter. There my friend said «My weapon is stuck». 1 answered: «Well you
d< ii? expect me to give you my gun!))
He said worriedly: «I don't see any
Chaganga around)). 1 answered: «Maybe
we should give ourselves up!» He replied:
<You are crazy»! He ran into the house
to try to repair his gun or get another one.
By that tune the firing was very intense
around me. A mortar shell fell on my
right side, and a hand-grenade was thrown
on my left. 1 could not do anything so 1
stood up with my hands up. The head
o^ FRELIMO Reconnaissance Section
caught me. The Deputy Political Commissar approached and said: «Your
friend was mad, we told him to come
with us but he tried instead to hit me.
He said he could never surrender to a
black man so we had to kill him». FRELIMO men captured the weapons that
were in the post - G-3, many Mausers
and a machine-gun which belonged to the
Administrator. They captured other material as well. 1 had been wounded during
the fighting so I could not walk. The
Deputy Political Commissar and other
cadres carried me on their shoulders for a
long distance. On the way, the .people
came to help them everyone wanted
to carry me, to help me.
Q:  How is your wound now?
A: Only my feet are painful because of
the   march,   otherwise   I   am   all   right.
Q: Can you tell me something about the
post where you were stationed, was it
isolated   or   was   it   a   trading   centre?
A: It was an advance post, there was no
population around. The post was opened
about a year ago and was garrisoned by a
company of Portuguese soldiers. There
was a cashew plantation there belonging
to a landlord called Leal. But the troops
destroyed the cashew trees, they even
opened a big football field right in the
middle of the trees. Instead of protecting
they were spoiling everything. So Leal
asked the authorities to send the troops
away and to bring police. From that time
I was there, with two other white soldiers acting as policemen and 60 black
soldiers.
Q: What became of the other soldiers?
A: Of the two Portuguese soldiers, the
younger one Carlos Silva was in the shelter firing against FRELIMO. He got shot
in the head. He had been in Angola and
Guine. The older one, Eugenio Paixao,
1 know only what I heard, when he was
told to surrender, he tried to hit the
FRELIMO Political Commissar and the
FRELIMO soldiers had to kill him. Many
of the other black soldiers were killed or
wounded, others fled to Mocimboa da
Praia.
Q: One last question — if you had an
opportunity today to talk to your former
comrades in the Portuguese army, what
would you want to tell them?
A: I would tell them that they are fighting
against themselves. That what they Portuguese government tells are lies. I would
advise them to give themselves up, because nothing of what the officers say will
happen. And if they are still suffering
it is because they want to. They could
end their own suffering if they wanted
to.
Q: Do you expect to return to Portugal
eventually?
A: I don't know, I am in the hands of
FRELIMO.
Q: If you were eventually to return to
Portugal, and your friends asked you to
tell them about the war in Africa, what
would you tell them?
A:  I would tell them that what the Portuguese government says is not true and
the proof is that, if it was true, I would
not be   still alive
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