Eduardo Mondlane
Washington DC, 23 May 1961Dear Mac,
The
attached memorandum which was written by Eduardo Mondlane, an African
from Mozambique, is worth reading as it underscores the explosive nature
of the situation there.Mondlane is a graduate of Oberlin and Northwest University, and now an employee of the United Nations. I met him a week ago and was impressed.
He is a moderate person with the potential for top leadership in Mozambique. He emphasised his willingness to work with the Portuguese in order to keep the explosive forces under control 'once they have agreed to a step-by-step withdrawal'. I suggested that concessions of this kind do not appear to be in the cards, and he agreed. In this case, he said, civil war would be impossible to avoid, and he and other foreign educated Africans would have no alternative but to throw their influence into the struggle.
With my warmest regards,
Sincerely,
Chester Bowles.
The Honorable
McGeorge Bundy,
The White House
