viding preventive medicines and vaccinations for animals.
6. Draught Animals.
One of the most serious bottlenecks in
both external and internal trade is the
lack of any transport facilities apart from
men. A man can carry an average of 20
to 25 kilos over a distance of about 40
kilometres a day's march, which is not
nearly enough for the level of production
already reached or for the internal and
external trade requirements of the liberated areas. One possible solution would
be to use beasts of burden, especially
mules and donkeys, but they are virtually
non-existent in our part of Africa.
7. Craft-based Light Industries.
A number of problems which hamper the
development of the liberated areas and,
hence, prevent us from satisfying vital
needs, can be solved through the setting
up of craft-based light industries. FRELIMO has been tackling these problems
since 1966 and some positive results have
been achieved. Extracting salt from the
sea has become a reality in many parts
of Cabo Delgado and the question of
making domestic utensils and certain
agricultural implements has been solved
almost everywhere. A start has been
made in solving the problems of fishing
and fish preservation.
However, this progress is far from providing the answer to our real needs. Very
many problems could be solved, because
the liberated areas have an abundance of
raw materials and it goes without saying
that internal consumption would absorb
this production. This would be the case
with soap-making and the establishment
of rudimentary tanneries to supply craft
shoe-making centres with cured skins and
also with cotton spinning and weaving
and the manufacture of agricultural implements on a larger scale and in a wider
range. The solution of these problems
requires twofold action, on the one hand
obtaining the necessary tools for the liberated areas, and, on the other, training
skilled and semi-skilled people in these
fields.
8. Schools of Arts and Crafts.
This leads us to the question of setting up
a school of arts and crafts which could
train carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners,
shoe-makers, weavers, tailors, etc. This
school should also be able to raise the
level of agricultural cooperative cadres'
knowledge of agriculture and livestock
raising.
9. The Basis for ECA Action.
In their resolutions and appeals, both the
UN General-Assembly and the Economic
and Social Council, as well as many specialised agencies, have expressed the will
to support our efforts in liberation and
national reconstruction. Paragraph 3 of
resolution 233 (X) passed at the First
Meeting of the Conference of Ministers
held in Tunis last year, asked the Executive Secretariat to do everything to support our efforts.
We have described our needs in the course
of our speech. In other words, we have
outlined those areas in which, by dint of
its nature, we think the ECA could possibly help us. It is not a question of
establishing a programme of ECA aid here
and now. But having outlined our needs,
we hope that our Conference will recommend to the Council of Ministers and
other appropriate bodies support for our
efforts in the fields mentioned, and we
should like that it be decided that the
Secretariat make a thorough study, directly with us, of ways and means of
providing technical and financial assistance for programmes to be jointly established in the fields described. We
would prefer to study these programmes
with the Secretariat, since the shortage of
The transport problem
cadres typical of under-development,
combined with the war conditions under
which we are living, makes it impossible
for us to submit our projects in a detailed
and complete way. For this reason, an
on-the-spot enquiry and discussion would
be desirable.
10.      Support   for  the  Portuguese  War
Effort.
There is another field in which ECA action
should and must come into play: that of
blocking economic aid to Portugal, the
aid which renders possible the financing
of a colonial war which has exceeded its
tenth year and costs some two million
dollars a day. Certain western countries,
particularly the United States, Federal
Germany, the United Kingdom, France
and Japan, bear a heavy share of the
responsibility for the pursuit of the colonial war. Economic interests in those
countries, stimulated by the absurdly
low costs of forced labour and an ultra-
liberal tax policy, are making massive investments in our countries and, in this
way, associating themselves with the Portuguese colonial regime, the guarantor of
their super-profits.
Several resolutions passed by the Conference were relevant to
the Portuguese colonies. Among these were:
'Assistance, instead of being given
only to governments, will be given
both to governments and territories.
The secretariat must organise studies and projects about the problems of the liberated regions of the
territories still under colonial domi
nation.'
'The conference unanimously condemned the use of forced labour in
the territories occupied by the Portuguese colonialists in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, which
is closely akin to slavery.'
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