THE CEIMES OF
COLONIALISM
FRELIMO'S
TESTIMONY TO
THE HUMAN
RIGHTS
COMMISSION
On August 10, five FRELIMO
witnesses appeared before the
U.N. Commission on Human
Rights at a sitting in Dar es
Salaam. They told the Commission about the brutalities they
had experienced at the hands of
the Portuguese colonialists. Below is the text of FRELIMO's
introduction to the testimonies.
If we were to sum up what happened
since we last gave evidence here, we
would note that the barbarity and contempt for human beings which have always been the predominant features of
Portuguese colonialism, from the time of
the invasion throughout the occupation
and after the launching of the armed
struggle for national liberation, have considerably worsened over the past two
years and have now reached unimaginable
extremes.
To understand this, it should be recalled
that this is a reflection of the despair
which is gaining ground among the supporters of the system and in the enemy
military command and which is spreading
to all ranks of the army, owing to the
success of our struggle which is already
seriously threatening the economic foundations of colonial rule and rapidly spreading to new zones and making all the
enemy's «miracle plans» fail. This is the
explanation - if there can be one - for
the bestial torture of which the witnesses
here and the written testimonies and other
documents which we will submit to you
can give only a very insubstantial picture.
The testimonies we are submitting to you
will give an idea of the crimes committed
by the Portuguese army and also of the
manifestations of forced labour and racial
discrimination. Among the testimonies
you will find some related to indiscriminate repression against the civilian population. They tell of the rape of women,
the bombing of villages, the plunder and
the forced removal of the population and
A Mozambican victim of Napalm bombing
the continued imposition of forced labour.
They tell of the torture and murder of
prisoners of war.
They refer to racial discrimination and
also to «forced assimilation)), attempting
to turn us into Portuguese in violation
of our Mozambican and African personality which is evidence of the fact that
despite its alleged abolition, the Native
Statute is still enforced. Among the testimonies we make special mention of those
which emphasize an infamous practice
which has become common among Portuguese soldiers and which verges on genocide, which is that of killing all pregnant
women by ripping open their stomachs
with bayonets to take out the foetus in
order, in their own words, «to prevent thc
birth of new terrorists)).
The testimonies will also tell you of the
inhuman treatment to which prisoners
locked up in colonialist jails are subjected.
In these prisons, as is stated in one of the
testimonies of a Mozambican who was in
jail for 7 years without ever being tried,
everything - the food, the baths, the
dormitory, the medical care and transfers
- is a form of torture. They tell of the
murder of detainees in prison.
The few prisoners who are brought to
trial stay in prison for much longer than
the sentences given. Such was the case of
Domingos Mascarenhas Arouca, the first
black lawyer in Mozambique who was
brought to trial more than two years
after his detention in May, 1965 and condemned to 4 years imprisonment and to
security measures which enable the authorities to prolong his detention indefinitely.
Despite his failing health, Domingos
Arouca is still being held in the Penichc
Prison in Portugal to which he has been
transferred, although more than 7 years
have passed since his detention. Like him,
many others suffer the same fate. Black
prisoners are subjected to discriminatory
treatment in prison because of their colour.
The repression is getting worse and spares
no one. Last June about 1,800 people
were arrested in Southern Mozambique.
At the same time, the leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique were
also put in prison.
We would like also to draw your attention
to the most serious aspect of the increased
repression against our people.   Since the