two weeks to come into the fortified
villages. If they don't we shoot them».
Although it is easy to see that such
methods cannot but give rise to the
fierce resistance of the population and
their more active involvement in the liberation struggle, the Portuguese army
seems to have been overcome by hysteria
and destructive lunacy.
Terrorism against the civilian population
is attaining almost unbelievable degrees
of cruelty. When they vigorously denounced the crimes of the Portuguese
army and decided to leave Mozambique
last July, the White Fathers merely raised
a corner of the curtain of silence surrounding the terrorism of the Portuguese
army. Other priests, 4 of whom are now
in prison, and other witnesses, have exposed   the   barbarous   practices   of  the
without distinction of race, colour or
social origin, is growing daily.
The most marked worsening of repression,
however, has been the use of chemical
weapons in Cabo Delgado region. Under
the two-fold pressure of the local forces
and the spread of the struggle on other
fronts, the Portuguese have been forced
to evacuate a large number of posts in
this area, thereby recognising their virtually definitive loss of control. They
have embarked upon the use of chemical
agents, trying to reduce the population
by means of famine and starvation and
trying to palliate their inability to maintain their direct military presence. Indeed in Cabo Delgado Province enemy
activity over the past year was greatly
reduced. This decline in activity started
to make itself felt in September  1971,
Portuguese soldiers which have become
truly systematic and are as systematically
unpunished, so that they can be looked
upon not as individual acts but as part of
a line clearly laid down by the High
Command.
In the areas which are still occupied,
nationalist feeling is exploding with such
power that the campaign of arrests can no
longer contain it. During the month of
June more than 1,800 Mozambicans were
arrested in the south of the country,
among them the principal leaders of the
Protestant church of Mozambique. Recently, the Association of Mozambican
Students in the University of Lourenco
Marques was arbitrarily closed by the
authorities. The awakening consciousness
of the  people in supporting FRELIMO
after they had withdrawn from Ng'
angolo post. In the central areas of Cabo
Delgado, for example, in the last months
of 1971, they only carried out one large
scale   attack  against  one  of our  bases.
When they were counter-attacked they
withdrew and took refuge at Ng'angolo
post, which they did not leave again until
15th January, 1972. On that day they
organised a few isolated operations,
mainly bombing raids aimed at creating
panic and at preventing the population
from weeding the fields. It was in April
that they started a programme of destroying crops with chemical agents sprayed from planes. These operations started
in Nangade and Muidumbe areas along
the Muera river; then moved into Ibo
and   Lurio.      Four   aeroplanes   sprayed
herbicides while 2 jets, 5 bombers, one
reconnaissance plane and a number of
helicopters gave them protection. After
one of the planes had been hit by our
anti-aircraft fire (wc saw it trailing
smoke), these operations were drastically
reduced.
According to press reports The Sunday
Times of 9 July, 1972, thc mercenary
South African pilots who were piloting
the aeroplanes were so afraid of our tire
that they hastily cancelled their contracts
and returned to their base, despite the
enormous salary they were getting. Several crops were affected in the /ones
which were hit, namely maize and cassava, but the surpluses produced in other
regions of the province were taken to the
affected zones and prevented a famine
situation.
The determination of the population also
played an important role in preventing
greater damage. Indeed, immediately
after the planes had spread their chemicals, the people left their shelters and
came out to cut the stalks to prevent the
poison from travelling down the stalks
into the roots. In this way, a lot of cassava was saved.
It is important, however, to point out the
significance of the involvement of South
African pilots in spraying operations in
Cabo Delgado. Coming in thc wake of
multiple and camouflaged forms of South
African support for thc Portuguese army,
ranging from logistic and technical support to the psychological operations of
the Soldiers' Comfort Fund, this last
form of aid seems to forecast increased
involvement by the South African racists.
Already numerous reports and testimonies
among them those of the Rhodesian
Military Command itself, have confirmed
the involvement of Rhodesian troops in
repressive operations in Tete. In thc past
few months a press campaign has been
raging in South Africa aimed at preparing the public for direct intervention
in Mozambique. These, as we have said
elsewhere, arc difficulties which wc had
foreseen and which, with the aid of thc
world peace-loving and progressive forces,
we shall be able to overcome.
Thc fundamental point is this: three
Provinces are liberated, and the armed
struggle has already reached thc fourth
of Mozambique's nine Provinces. And,
taking into account thc favourable national situation, the growing international
solidarity and the increasing disarray within the Portuguese system, there is every
guarantee that our struggle will advance
even faster in the future.