We started with a small nucleus of guerrillas in the Centre-North of
Tete. That group grew, incorporating elements of the local population and spreading throughout the whole area north of the Zambezi
River. Today our forces operate in the East along the border with
Malawi5 in the South, in the zone of Cahora Bassa, in the West we
have reached Zumbo.
As both the cause and consequence of the development of the armed
struggle, the level of political consciousness of the people has
increased extraordinarily. The population no longer thinks of escaping from the struggle and seeking refuge in the neighbouring countries, on the contrary, those who at the beginning of the war had fled,
are now anxious to return and participate. This change of attitude is
due to several factors—the development of the struggle and the growing confidence of the people in our ability to defend them; the constant work of our political commissars^ and the intensification of
agricultural production. The increase in production, even the mere
possibility of producing in the regions under FRELIMO control, is one
more element which encourages the population to return to their
homeland.
We have already opened 6 schools in Tete and many medical centres.
The colonialist project of Cahora Bassa is being seriously threatened
by our forces. At this moment, the Portuguese and their allies
(South Africans, West Germans,; French and Italians) axe organising
the transport of material to the site where they plan to build the
dam. This preparatory work includes the construction of an airfield for helicopters on the Northern Bank (mountain of Mulumba),
and the building of wood and corrugated iron houses for the workers
on the southern bank (mountain of Songo). Along both sides of the
river the enemy is trying to open small roads to allow movement of
their troops.
The people who live along the banks of the Zambezi River, in the
zone of the construction, are being evacuated to concentration camps
(so-called "protected villages"). The plan of the enemy, when trying
to depopulate the zone is to isolate the guerrillas and thus hinder
our activities. Under this plan, the enemy has destroyed all the
people1s canoes that they have found along the river.
Our guerrillas are already operating in the zone of Cahora Bassa,
undertaking acts of sabotage, destroying lines of communication
(roads and bridges), attacking enemy posts and camps.
During the period between September, 19^9 and January, 1970 (the report
for January is still incomplete), our guerrillas in action in Tete
Province launched 20 ambushes and attacks against posts and camps,
sabotaged 3 bridges and carried out more than 40 mining operations
against enemy convoys and groups on the roads.
As a result, several of these posts and camps were almost completely
destroyed, 5 bridges blown up, about 550 colonialist soldiers killed
and 55 vehicles destroyed.
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