forces'in Italy - political, trade-unionist, resistance and youth
organisations - was entrusted the task of organising the Conference
in Rome.  Extensive preparatory work in the fields of information
and mobilisation will preceed the Conference, in order that its
success may be assured.
The holding of this Conference in Western Europe will give a great
impetus to the activities of the peoples of those countries against
the support of their governments for the Portuguese colonial policy;
support which is manifested through military, political, financial
and diplomatic assistance, and is today one of the main obstacles
to the liberation of our peoples.
May the decade of the 1970Js v/itness the development of a great
international solidarity movement with the peoples of/Angola,
Mozambique and Guinea - Bissau and Cape Verde Islands.
We quote the Appeal issued by the Conferences
It is now nine years since the Angolan patriots of the People's
Movement for the Liberation of Angola fired the first shots
against the prisons of Luanda, thus bringing the process of liberation in the Portuguese colonies to a new level.
At a time when the colonial system in the rest of Africa, condemned by world opinion and the course of history, was at the point of
collapse, the Portuguese government intensified its centuries-
old policies of repression, domination and opposition to progress,
putting a final stop to any possibility of independence being
achieved by peaceful means.
Appeals to international public opinion, the firm denunciation of
Portuguese colonialism by international bodies such as the United
Nations, reiterated direct appeals to the Portuguese government
have not been able to put an end to the colonial situation.
The launching of armed liberation struggle by the peoples of
Angola, Guinea Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, and Mozambique
appeared historically as the only possible path towards liberation
left to our people and our nationalist movements.
So our people took to arms, thus fulfilling their own destinies
and becoming the agents of their own liberation. Today the people
are re-instated to their rights in large areas of Angola, Guinea
Bissau and Mozambique, which have been freed from colonial domination. National reconstruction is under way in these areas, through
programmes of education, medical assistance and economic reorganisation, giving the people the opportunity of participating, for the
first time in decades, in the building of their national society.
The armed liberation struggle is spreading to increasingly large
regions, thereby putting the Portuguese colonial presence in our countries radically to the test.
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