Saturday, December 27, 2014

The Conflict with Renamo 1975

The Conflict with Renamo
1975

Dossier MZ-0020
Decoration

Introduction to the «Conflict» Series

This is the first of a series of chronologically-organised thematic pages devoted to the Mozambican government’s conflict with the armed rebel group known as the MNR [Mozambique National Resistance] and later as Renamo. This conflict, sometimes described as a civil war, lasted until October 1992, and led eventually to multi-party elections in 1994. The first few pages cover periods of a year, then a few months, and eventually, as the quantity of newspaper reports increases, a month at a time. You may navigate by using the multi-level menu at left, or by simply hopping along chronologically using the green buttons in the main part of the page. Each year or month is introduced by a short text pointing to the main features of the period covered, but users are clearly free to interpret the texts as they wish.
Decoration

The First Stirrings of Opposition to Frelimo

Organised public opposition to Frelimo's accession to power as the only legal political party in independent Mozambique really only begins in the latter part of 1976 with a concerted propaganda campaign originating from Rhodesia. The MNR, later Renamo, was founded – or rather, cobbled together – in Rhodesia in the following year, 1977. Both of the movement's early leaders, André Matsangaissa and Afonso Dhlakama, had been arrested in the mid-1970s for petty crimes.
Frelimo as a liberation movement seems to have regarded cities and towns as sinks of moral corruption, in contrast to the correctness and purity of rural life. Early attempts to 'clean up' what the party and government liked to call 'criminal elements' probably helped to create a pool of discontent from which the Rhodesians were later able to recruit members for their new movement. Certainly, women living alone, for example, tended to be regarded with suspicion.
See below for a handful of reports on some arrests and escapes, and a minor bomb incident.
Decoration
Blank button 1976 1977 1978
◊ 20 April 1975
Capturados reaccionários evadidos. Tempo [Lourenço Marques], no.238, 20 April1975, p.9. The escapees were David Hong Adams (British citizen), Bernard Sidney Alliron [possibly Bernard Sidney Allison], Nicholas Heinz and Albertus Stephanus Botes (all South Africans). They had arrived in a power boat. This issue of Tempo also carried a feature article about the cleaning up of the Rua Araújo, Maputo’s red light district. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 227 kb.
◊ 11 July 1975
Mozambique: five escape. To the Point [Johannesburg], vol.4 no.28, 11 July 1975, p.49-50. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 280 kb.
◊ 15 September 1975
Pencil bombs in Lourenço Marques. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], 15September 1975. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 110 kb.
◊ 16 September 1975
Explosive devices in Lourenço Marques. Summary of World Broadcasts[London], 16 September 1975. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 97 kb.
◊ 3 November 1975
[No title]. Daily News [Dar es Salaam], 3 November 1975. Over 3,000 men and women accused of vagrancy, drug dealing and prostitution were arrested in five cities and towns, in an operation that ‘will continue indefinitely’. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 98 kb.
◊ 18 December 1975
Clash with reactionary elements in Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts[London], 18 December 1975. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 34 kb.
◊ 19 December 1975
Rush to get out. To the Point [Johannesburg], 19 December 1975, p.48. Click hereto view or download a PDF, size 36 kb.
◊ 20 December 1975
Subversion warning by Machel. Star [Johannesburg], 20 December 1975. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 90 kb.
Decoration
Left: Frelimo soldiers raising the new national flag of the independent People's Republic on 25 June 1975. Opposition to Frelimo was not yet organised. Below: a video clip of part of the Independence Ceremony [4 min. 22 sec.]
Decoration
Search Mozambique History Net

The Conflict with Renamo
1976

Dossier MZ-0020

"Radio Hyena" and the First Rhodesian
Propaganda Campaign

Late in the year, in September, the Rhodesia Herald reported that anti-government attacks were on the increase in Mozambique, and in December coded messages and suggestions for slogans were being broadcast clandestinely into the country by the Voz da África Livre, which was quickly nicknamed Rádio Quizumba [Radio Hyena] by Frelimo. By the end of the year the Mozambican Ministry of Information was publicly condemning the use of radio for hostile propaganda. Daniel Roxo [Francisco Daniel Roxo (1933-1976), pictured left], who had fought an allegedly private campaign, with his own militia group, against Frelimo in Niassa province during the Liberation War was killed in Angola. His name had been associated with both Jorge Jardim and the anti-Frelimo 'resistance'. According to radio reports in 1974, he was one of the leaders of theDragões da Morte rebellion of September that year, just after the Lusaka Agreement. For more details on Roxo, click here [this is not an endorsement].
Decoration
1975 Blank button 1977 1978
◊ 26 December
O que dizem de nós. Tempo, no.325, 26 December 1976, pages 61-64. Includes the full text of an undated Comunicado do Ministério de Informação on «falsidades apregoadas na imprensa capitalista mundial». Click here to view or download a PDF file [812 Kb].
◊ 20 December
Slogans broadcast by ‘Voice of Free Africa’. Summary of World Broadcasts, ME/5387/B/5, 20 December 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF file [85 Kb].
◊ 20 December
Mozambique government on hostile propaganda campaign. Maputo radio on 18 December, reported by Summary of World Broadcasts, 20 December 1976. Clickhere to view or download a PDF file [270 Kb].
Includes the text of the communiqué of 17 December, in English.
◊ 17 December
Ministry of Information. Communiqué. 17 December 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF file [148 Kb].
Left: A portrait of the militia leader Francisco Daniel Roxo (1933-1976) in uniform. He was killed in Angola in September 1976.
◊ 11 December
Voice of Free Africa announcement. Summary of World Broadcasts, ME/5387, 11 December 1976, page B/5. Click here to view or download a PDF file [23 Kb].
◊ 3 October
O imperialismo e os seus lacaios: a Voz da África Livre é a voz do Jardim e do Arouca. Tempo, no.313, 3 October 1976, pages 52-56. Click here to view or download a PDF file [1.3 Mb].
◊ 3 October
Marcelino Komba. Voice of the Hyena is from Rhodesia. Sunday News [Dar es Salaam], 3 October 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF file [155 Kb].
◊ 1 October
«Sabotage économique» à la firme Monteiro et Giro: une commission administrative est nommée. Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens, 1 October 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF file [58 Kb].
◊ 16 September
Attacks on Frelimo step up. Rhodesia Herald, 16 September 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF file [48 Kb].
◊ 9 September
White devil Roxo killed in Angola. Rhodesia Herald, 9 September 1976. Click hereto view or download a PDF file [73 Kb].
◊ 4 July
Terry Blocksidge. Fleeing refugees bring in planes. Rhodesia Herald, 4 July 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF file [117 Kb].

The Conflict with Renamo
1977

Dossier MZ-0020

The Rhodesian Propaganda Campaign Hots Up
and Spies are Caught

Not surprisingly, there is little contemporary reportage from the 1976-1977 period about the antecedents and formation of the MNR, since this was a highly secretive process. However, during 1977 the Rhodesian clandestine radio station, Voz da África Livre, continued to broadcast propaganda into Mozambique. A fairly constant theme was the alleged presence of Soviet and Cuban troops in Mozambique. The first, early articles about the 'Resistance' also began to appear, especially in the South African disinformation magazine To the Point. At the end of the year a few pieces appeared in southern African sources after a Mozambican spy called Afonso Cotoi, who had been infiltrated back into Mozambique by the Rhodesians, was captured by the government's security services.
Decoration
1975 1976 Blank button 1978
◊ November
Tanzania-Mozambique: a tale of two spies. Africa, no.75, November 1977, pages 27-28. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 346 Kb.
◊ 29 September
Shadrack Soko. The confessions of a Mozambican spy. Zambia Daily Mail, 29 September 1977, abridged by Facts and Reports. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 336 Kb.
◊ 25 September
Capturado agente do exército rodesiano. Tempo, no.364, 25 September 1977, pages 62-64. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 1.2 Mb.
◊ 23 September
José Ramalho. Mozambique: tribal loyalties Frelimo's main stumbling block. To the Point, 23 September 1977, page 50. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 158 Kb. On a group called FUSSA (Frente Unida do Sul do Save), allegedly part of the Resistance.
◊ 20 September
Rhodesian agent on impending operations against the PRM. Maputo radio quoted in Summary of World Broadcasts, ME/5618/B/2, 20 September 1977. Click hereto view or download a PDF file, size 173 Kb.
◊ 19 September
I'm a spy, says Afonso. Rand Daily Mail, 19 September 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 117 Kb.
◊ 19 August
José Ramalho. Mozambique: Resistance fights for freedom from Frelimo. To the Point, 19 August 1977, page 57. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 346 Kb. One of the earliest reports on the MNR, in which Ramalho mentions both André Matsangaissa and Afonso Dhlakama by name.
◊ 22 June
Radio's analysis of Machel's tactics. Summary of World Broadcasts, 22 June 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 212 Kb.
◊ 20 June
Radio's report on presence of Russians and Cubans in Nacala. Voz da África Livre on 17 June, reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, 20 June 1977. Click hereto view or download a PDF file, 97 kb.
◊ 23 May
Clandestine radio's broadcast in English. Summary of World Broadcasts, ME/5519, 23 May 1977, pages B/1-3. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 426 Kb.
◊ 22 April
Broadcast addressed to Cubans in Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts, 22 April 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 111 Kb.
◊ 23 March
Maputo reports on the arrest of eight FPLM members. Maputo radio on 23 March 1977, quoted in FBIS, 25 March 1977, page E4. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 193 Kb.
◊ 23 March
Fake cash plates made in London. Daily News [Dar es Salaam], 23 March 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 101 Kb.
◊ 14 March
Réné Backmann. Les allumes-feu de Ian Smith. Nouvel Observateur [Paris], 14 March 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 481 Kb.
◊ 10 February
Rhodesian collaborator in Mozambique. Maputo radio on 9 February, quoted inSummary of World Broadcasts, 10 February 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 94 Kb.
◊ 31 January
Exposure of propaganda about presence of foreign troops. Maputo radio, quoted in Summary of World Broadcasts, 31 January 1977. Report quotes The Observer[London] of 30 January 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 106 Kb.
◊ 28 January
Warning against bogus collectors by Voice of Free Africa. Broadcast of 26 January, reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, ME/5424, 28 January 1977, page B/6. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 83 Kb.
◊ 24 January
Voice of Free Africa broadcast. Reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, 24 January 1977. Click here to view or download a PDF file, size 109 Kb.
The MNR claimed that fighting had taken place within 60 km. of Maputo. TheSWB also reported that the radio had broadcast a coded message: "As aves chegaram à montanha. Em breve segue transporte".

The Conflict with Renamo
1978

Dossier MZ-0020

The MNR Claims 'Vast' Territories;
and Maputo's Scala Café is Bombed

The «Resistance» claimed in October (see the article by José Ramalho below) that it controlled 'vast areas of central Mozambique', and issued communiqués claiming that it had been in action in Milange in the north and as far south as the Save river. Voz da África Livre claimed that MiG military aircraft were being assembled in the port city of Nacala by Soviet technicians.
Earlier, at 20h15 in the evening on 26 July, a bomb was exploded in the Scala café in downtown Maputo, injuring fifty people, and other bomb attacks took place in Beira and in Chimoio. Mozambican sources attributed these sabotage attacks to the Rhodesian secret services in response to successful ZANU advances.
Decoration
1975 1976 1977 Jan.-Feb. 1979
◊ December
Explosion in Beira. AIM News Bulletin, date unknown. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 75 kb.
◊ 27 October
José Ramalho. Mozambique: anti-Machel movement has some success. To the Point vol.7 no.43, 27 October 1978, page 51. Includes a list of claimed engagements and actions of the MNR against government forces. This article also includes one of the earliest appearances of the MNR logo with the five downward-pointing arrows. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 514 kb.
◊ 4 August
Mocambique [sic]: vigilante groups set up after bomb blast. To the Point vol.7 no.31, 4 August 1978, page 40. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 303 kb.
◊ 30 July
Explosão na capital: 50 feridos numa acção inimiga de sabotagem e terror.Tempo, no.408, 30 July 1978, pages 20-21. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 747 kb.
Bomb damage
◊ 29 June
Reported assembly of MiG aircraft in Mozambique. Voz da África Livre reported in the Summary of World Broadcasts, 29 June 1978. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 104 kb.
◊ 22 April
Families tell of ‘ordeal’ in Maputo. Rhodesia Herald, 22 April 1978. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 125 kb.
◊ 20 April
Frelimo again attacks Zona Tea Estates. Rhodesia Herald, 20 April 1978. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 116 kb.
◊ 31 March
Mozambique: the body politic. Africa Confidential vol.19 no.7, 31 March 1978, pages 4-5. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 328 kb. Concludes that Arouca's FUMO, the 'Resistance' and the Partido Revolucionário de Moçambique in Tete and Niassa do not 'constitute a serious threat'.
◊ 22 February
Return of black Rhodesians from Mozambique. Salisbury radio on 17 February, cited in Summary of World Broadcasts, 22 February 1978. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 110 kb.
◊ 1 January
Serviço Nacional de Segurança Popular (SNASP). Apelo a todos os cidadãos. Tempo no.378. 1 January 1978, page 9-10. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 350 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
January-February 1979

Dossier MZ-0020

The Attack on Chicamba Real Dam

In 1979, the "phoney war" phase began to change as the Ian Smith regime came under increasing pressure from Patriotic Front liberation fighters, and decided that hitting back harder and harder at Mozambique was a necessary strategy. The Rhodesian Special Air Service (the SAS) was operating in Mozambique with individuals – recruited by the Rhodesian CIO as the nucleus of the MNR – assisting them as guides. The propaganda campaigns against Mozambique also continued. One of the first genuine attacks claimed by the MNR was against the Mavuze power station at the Chicamba Real Dam, near the border with Rhodesia. But although power to Beira was cut off, it was not entirely accurate to call this anMNR attack, as later accounts revealed:
… the SAS and MNR had severed the electricity supply to a vast part of Mozambique and it would be some time before the damage was repaired … The MNR's local knowledge had played a significant part in the success of the mission. They had guided the SAS to the target and had been used as "faces" among the local population – gathering intelligence and spreading the MNR gospel – while the SAS remained under cover … and it was to be their modus operandi for joint missions from then onwards.
[Barbara Cole, The elite: the story of the Rhodesian Special Air Service (Amanzimtoti: Three Knights, 1984) p.246.]
While the Rhodesians were searching for dissatisified Mozambicans to swell the ranks of the «Resistance», the Mozambican security services were busy intercepting large numbers of would-be recruits, and presenting them at mass meetings, and to the media. This would seem to confirm that for whatever reason, the Rhodesian recruiting campaign was at this time having an impact.
Decoration
1976 1977 1978 March
◊ 24 February
Mozambique appearance of enemy agent. Rádio Moçambique on 22 February reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, 24 February 1979. Manuel Armando Jambo from Catembe was recruited in 1976 and had done recce work for the Rhodesians, planted mines, and tortured people. Click here to view or download a PDF file [94 Kb].
◊ 23 January
Dennis Gordon. Saboteurs blast Beira power and water supplies. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 23 January 1979. A report on the Chicamba Real Dam attack, stating that power in Beira was down for twelve hours. Click here to view or download a PDF file [178 Kb].
◊ 19 January
José Ramalho. Guerrillas shatter Frelimo: it's war, says Machel. To the Pointvol.8 no.3, 19 January 1979, page 37. Click here to view or download a PDF file [404 Kb].
◊ 19 January
Resistance leader hits out. To the Point vol.8 no.3, 19 January 1979, page 36. An interview with a former FPLM soldier, Daniel Caetano, claiming that Mozambique was becoming a staging post for the export of revolution to Africa. Click here to view or download a PDF file [169 Kb].
◊ 13 February
Mozambique claim of capture of 300 Rhodesian infiltrators. Rádio Moçambique on 11 February reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, 13 February 1979. Click here to view or download a PDF file [95 Kb].
◊ 12 January
Mozambique capture of agents of Smith regime. Rádio Moçambique on 10 January and Tanjug report on 11 January, reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, 12 January 1979. Click here to view or download a PDF file [126 Kb].
◊ 8 January
Voice of Free Africa account of Mozambique Resistance Movement's claims. Reported in Summary of World Broadcasts, 8 January 1979. Click here to view or download a PDF file [143 Kb].

Left: Several memoirs written by former Rhodesians reveal the extent to which the MNR in its early days was subordinated to the military exigencies of the Smith regime. The covers on the left show some examples of these. They are first, Ken Flower'sServing secretly; second, Barbara Cole's The Elite; and last, Ron Reid Daly's Selous Scouts: Top Secret War.

The Conflict with Renamo
January-March 1980

Dossier MZ-0020

The Voz da África Livre Closes Down

The Rhodesian-MNR propaganda radio station Voz da África Livre, nicknamed Rádio Quizumba or ‘Radio Hyena’ by the Mozambican media, finally stopped broadcasting on 15 February, in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s independence elections. The transitional British governor’s office informed the Mozambican authorities on 9 February that the station would close down. Mozambique had been pressing the British to take this step since the signing of the Lancaster House agreement on 21 December 1979.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
◊ 12 January 1980
Agentes perdoados pelo povo revelam as marcas da Quizumba. Notícias[Maputo], 12 January 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 726 kb.
◊ 13 January 1980
Eles vivem a roubar e matar populações indefesas: elementos capturados e desertores das fileiras do inimigo relatam experiências. Tempo [Maputo], no.483, 13 January 1980, p.12-15. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 749 kb.
◊ 17 February 1980
Rádio Quizumba perdeu a voz. Tempo [Maputo], 17 February 1980, p.4. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 45 kb.
◊ 28 February 1980
Provenientes da Rodésia, agentes treinados pelo Special Branch neutralizados pela vigilância popular. Notícias [Maputo], 28 February 1980. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 753 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
January-March 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

Mozambique Accuses South Africa
of Training and Arming the MNR

In front of the local and international press, Mozambique produced several captured ‘bandits’ who were able to testify that they had received training atPhalaborwa, two hours from the Mozambican border across the Kruger Park. South Africa was thus taking over the role of supporting the MNR insurgency that had been launched by the Rhodesians. Another witness, a former SWAPO fighter, stated that Angolans were also present at the Phalaborwa camp.
In mid-January Mozambique and Zimbabwe signed a formal defence pact, clearly aimed principally at containing the MNR insurgency.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
◊ 9 January 1981
Quentin Peel and Diana Smith. Sabotage cuts power to lines in S[outh] Africa. Financial Times [London], 9 January 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 102 kb.
◊ 12 January 1981
SA slammed as defence pact signed. Star [Johannesburg], 12 January 1981. Zimbabwe and Mozambique sign a defence pact. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 40 kb.
◊ 17 January 1981
José Ramalho. Rebel plan to march on Maputo. Star [Johannesburg], 17 January 1981, p.12. Feature article. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 135 kb.
◊ 10 February 1981
Two killed in derailment. Star [Johannesburg], 10 February 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 38 kb.
◊ 12 February 1981
Para cometer crimes contra o povo moçambicano: grupos de bandidos são armados pela África do Sul, confirmam declarações de elementos que recentemente se entregaram às nossas autoridades. Notícias [Maputo], 12 February 1981, p.1, 4. One of the earliest evidence-based claims that South Africa was now training and arming the MNR, having taken over from Rhodesia. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 2.2 Mb.
◊ 16 February 1981
Machel’s speech and presentation of traitor officers at anti-S Africa rally.Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6650, 16 February 1981, p.B/6- . Click here to view or download a PDF, size 23 kb.
◊ 16 February 1981
Support by S Africa for dissidents in southern Africa. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6650, 16 February 1981, p.B/6- . Click here to view or download a PDF, size 17 kb.
◊ 26 February 1981
Pillay kidnap: rebels blamed. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 26 February 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 121 kb.
◊ 8 March 1981
Capturados mais de quarenta contra-revolucionários. Tempo [Maputo], no.543, 8 March 1981, p.2. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 14 kb.
◊ 22 March 1981
Os boers torturaram-me com choques eléctricos, disse à informação nacional um guerrilheiro da SWAPO que conseguiu fugir para Moçambique. Notícias[Maputo], 22 March 1981. Salomon Moses, a SWAPO fighter, testifies that Angolans and Namibians are being trained at Phalaborwa. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 159 kb.
◊ 31 March 1981
Relações luso-moçambicanos: o contencioso continua em aberto, lembra o dr. Evo Fernandes, delegado da RNM na Europa. O Diabo [Lisbon], 31 March 1981, p.12. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 177 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
April-June 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

Concern Grows at the MNR’s Resurgence

Reports and feature stories emphasised the Mozambique government’s concern with the MNR’s continuing activity in the rural areas, especially along the border with Zimbabwe, and with their ongoing attacks on undefended villages. One magazine stated that incidents of this kind had dramatically increased in recent months. Reports also surfaced of attacks on the power line from the Cahora Bassa dam. Repairing the line was a major government expense.
One cited official analysis was that the lingering presence was to be expected – the Cuban experience was cited as encouraging – and was fundamentally a problem of the lack of economic development in the countryside. However, this perspective ignored the overwhelming evidence of South African support for the MNR after Zimbabwean independence.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
◊ 4 April 1981
140 flee Mozambique fighting. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 4 April 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 31 kb.
◊ 13 April 1981
Anthony Rider. The thorn in Machel’s side: rebels without a cause. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 13 April 1981, p.11. The newspaper’s Central Africa correspondent examines the genesis and effectiveness of the MNR in a feature article. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 215 kb.
◊ June 1981
Machel concerned at new SA-backed terror campaign as innocent people are maimed. New African [London], June 1981, p.34. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 171 kb.
◊ June 1981
Marcelino Komba. Mozambique’s return to arms. Africa [London], no.118, June 1981, p.52-54. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 376 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
July-August 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

The Defection of Adriano Bomba

On 8 July 1981, a Mozambican air-force pilot, Adriano Bomba, flew his ageing MiG fighter at low level into South African airspace, where he was quickly intercepted. It turned out that he wanted to defect, and a few days later his brother, Boaventura Bomba, managed to slip across the border into Swaziland, in what was allegedly a planned joint defection. South African newspapers carried many stories, reports and interviews, often pushing the theme that life in South Africa must be better, even under apartheid, if a black Mozambican pilot wanted asylum. The Mozambican press was understandably much more restrained, and even suggested that Bomba had been forced to land. President Machel famously commented that at least the SADF now had one black pilot.
Both the Bomba brothers eventually joined the ranks of the MNR.
Two ‘spies’ with military rank escaped from prison in unexplained circumstances, and public appeals were made in the Mozambican press for assistance in their recapture.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981

The Conflict Continues

◊ 14 July 1981
Rebels claim SA aided fight against Maputo. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 14 July 1981. Captured MNR testify to the press in Maputo that they were kidnapped from a re-education centre and sent for training. The claims are dismissed by the SADF as 'propaganda'. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 53 kb.
◊ 17 July 1981
Mozambique dissident movement’s claims. Summary of World Broadcasts[London], 17 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 98 kb.
◊ 19 July 1981
África Livre lança do regime do apartheid: elementos do grupo entregam-se às FPLM. Tempo [Maputo], no.562, 19 July 1981, p.10-12. Testimony from five former MNR members that they abandoned the movement because of its lack of coherent political objectives. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 381 kb.
◊ 20 July 1981
Poen de Villiers. Mozambique preparing for attack by S[outh] A[frica]. Citizen[Johannesburg], 20 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 246 kb.
◊ 26 July 1981
Espiões evadidos: Ministério da Segurança lança apelo para captura. Notícias[Maputo], 26 July 1981, p.3. The escapees were Lt.-Col. Jossias Ressamo Dlakama and Lt.-Col. Fernandes Baptista. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 105 kb.
◊ 2 August 1981
Evadidos perigosos espiões: apelo para a captura. Tempo [Maputo], no.564, 2 August 1981, p.9. This story had already been reported in Notícias on 26 July. The rumour was that they had been trained in unarmed combat. They overcame and killed their armed guards and fled. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 122 kb.

Lieutenant Bomba Flies to South Africa

The photograph below shows two SADF pilots standing in front of Bomba’s MiG after he had landed it in South Africa.
Boletim da Celula
◊ 9 July 1981
Aviões da RSA interceptam MiG da RPM. Notícias [Maputo], 9 July 1981. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 127 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
Defection of the flyer from Frelimo. Pretoria News [Pretoria], 9 July 1981. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 121 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
Frelimo pilot defects. Sowetan [Johannesburg], 9 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 52 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
MiG was probably tagged from take-off. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 9 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 235 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
Mozambique pilot defects. New York Times [New York], 9 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 47 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
Top-level move to decide jet’s fate. Star [Johannesburg], 9 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 143 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
José Caetano. Our plane intercepted says Mozambique. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 9 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 203 kb.
◊ 9 July 1981
Don Marshall. MiG pilot defects. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 9 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 152 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
A better life. Natal Mercury [Durban], 10 July 1981. Editorial comment on Bomba's decision to defect. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 121 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
Comment: defector. Citizen [Johannesburg], 10 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 159 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
Dramatic evidence of a struggling revolution. Evening Post [Port Elizabeth], 10 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 51 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
Editorial opinion: a flight into history. Daily Dispatch [East London], 10 July 1981, p.19810710_flight_into_history. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 62 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
Maputo wants access to MiG pilot. Star [Johannesburg], 10 July 1981. Click hereto view or download a PDF, size 29 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
The MiG from Mozambique. Cape Times [Cape Town], 10 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 45 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
MiG pilot: no request yet for asylum. Citizen [Johannesburg], 10 July 1981. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 99 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
What to do with our first black defector. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 10 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 75 kb.
◊ 10 July 1981
Carel Birkby. A toast to the aces of Cheetah Squadron. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 10 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 82 kb.
◊ 11 July 1981
Rob Nuttall. Points to be pondered on the defector. Eastern Province Herald[Port Elizabeth], 11 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 214 kb.
◊ 12 July 1981
Maputo asks to see pilot: defector faces death if he’s returned, says expert.Sunday Tribune [Durban], 12 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 179 kb.
◊ 13 July 1981
Winged victory. Natal Witness [Pietermaritzburg], 13 July 1981, p.4. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 30 kb.
◊ 14 July 1981
Defection of the Frelimo flyer. The Friend [Bloemfontein], 14 July 1981. Click hereto view or download a PDF, size 49 kb.
◊ 15 July 1981
Mozambique claims Bomba was anti-white. Pretoria News [Pretoria], 15 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 70 kb.
◊ 16 July 1981
Fugitive pilot remembered for anti-white attitudes. Star [Johannesburg], 16 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 46 kb.
◊ 19 July 1981
MiG moçambicano interceptado pela África do Sul. Tempo [Maputo], no.562, 19 July 1981, p.9. Note that the photograph published by Tempo on this page is not, in fact, a picture of Adriano Bomba. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 299 kb.
◊ 19 July 1981
Pilot’s brother seeks asylum. Sunday Times [Johannesburg], 19 July 1981. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 42 kb.
◊ 19 July 1981
Desmond Blow. Now Boaventura Bomba crosses the Swazi border to look for asylum: pilot’s brother also defects to SA. Sunday Express [Johannesburg], 19 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 200 kb.
◊ 19 July 1981
Ron Golden. Bomba: follow me to South Africa. Sunday Tribune [Durban], 19 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 99 kb.
◊ 19 July 1981
Ray Smuts. My flight from broken promises: Mozambican defector talks to the press. Sunday Times [Johannesburg], 19 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 216 kb.
◊ 20 July 1981
He’s not a spy, say the experts. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 20 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 235 kb.
◊ 20 July 1981
Like a Bomba. Citizen [Johannesburg], 20 July 1981, p.6. Argues that Bomba's defection shows that ‘life in South Africa is better’. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 28 kb.
◊ 20 July 1981
Joubert Malherbe. Bomba copes with the press barrage. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 20 July 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 68 kb.
◊ 28 July 1981
Saldanha e Silva. Ex-Frelimo pede asilo a Pretória: a vida degrada-se em Moçambique, acusa Francisco Adriano Bomba. O Diabo [Lisbon], 28 July 1981, p.18. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 328 kb.
◊ 7 August 1981
Bafana Sibanyoni and Morgan Mjoko. This man Bomba. Sowetan[Johannesburg], 7 August 1981. Two reader’s letters. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 49 kb.
◊ 21 August 1981
Veleleni Mashumi. The freedom Bomba chose. Pretoria News [Pretoria], 21 August 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 277 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
September 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

Focus on Machaze

The impact of the war on the town of Machaze and its surrounding district in southern Manica received serious press attention in September 1981, after the area was won back from MNR occupation by the FPLM. Machaze is a thinly populated rural area which is often affected by drought. Click here to see a Google Satellite Map of Machaze district.
In addition, the defection of the Mozambican air force pilot Adriano Bombacontinued to attract occasional press comment.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
◊ 4 September 1981
Manica faz limpeza: bandidos expulsos de Machaze. Notícias [Maputo], 4 September 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 36 kb.
◊ 5 September 1981
População e FPLM reconstroem Machaze. Notícias [Maputo], 5 September 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 94 kb.
◊ 6 September 1981
Arlindo Lopes. Machaze: nascimento de uma cidade. Tempo [Maputo], no.569, 6 September 1981, p.10-17. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 1.4 Mb.
◊ 13 September 1981
Criminosos isolados aumentam barbaridade. Notícias [Maputo], 13 September 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 176 kb.
◊ 13 September 1981
Arlindo Lopes. Machaze, guerra de reconstrução: como agem os bandos da África Livre. Tempo [Maputo], no.570, 13 September 1981, p.18-25. Second part of the feature article by Arlindo Lopes. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 949 kb.
◊ 24 September 1981
Mozambican defector flying high with SAAF. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 24 September 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 122 kb.
◊ 25 September 1981
Flight of fancy. Star [Johannesburg], 25 September 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 93 kb.
Decoration

The Conflict with Renamo
October 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

Attempted Railway Sabotage and Bridges Destroyed

In October 1981, Mozambican media reported that three South Africans had been killed in a skirmish while trying to blow up the Beira railway. The report was summarily dismissed by the South African regime as ‘lying propaganda … typical of the African pattern’. Unhappily for the South Africans this particular pigeon eventually – although rather slowly – came home to roost, when the London Sunday newspaper the Observer revealed in its edition of 20 February 1983 that one of the men was a British mercenary named Alan Gingles. In this dossier for October 1981, none of this subsequent information was yet available; there are only reports that the men had been killed.
The sensational book Inside BOSS by Gordon Winter was published by Penguin Books in London. In the book, Winter, certainly not the most reliable of sources, nevertheless describes himself as the MNR’s main propagandist (pages 545-553):
I know all about this movement because I was its number one propagandist right from the start. It was the most successful clandestine operation ever mounted by Pretoria. Its name was the ‘Mozambique National Resistance’ (MNR) and when I first started glorifying its exploits in July 1977 it existed in name only. The sabotage attacks it was supposed to have made inside Mozambique were secretly carried out by the South African Army’s ‘Reconnaissance Commando’, a crack unit of tough and specially trained commandos formed in August 1975. This unit was led by Commandant Jan Breytenbach …
This obviously contradicts the Rhodesian accounts in significant ways.
Two bridges over the Pungue river were also blown up in October, and it was announced that Adriano Bomba’s MiG fighter would be returned to Mozambique by the South Africans.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
◊ October 1981
Paul Fauvet. Mozambique: the RNM’s lingering war. Africa Now [London], October 1981. Argues that although the Mozambican National Resistance has been contained by Frelimo, Pretoria keeps the movement alive. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 217 kb.
◊ 2 October 1981
Fernando Lima. Crónica: o MNR ou mais uma face da agressão. Notícias[Maputo], 2 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 130 kb.
◊ 13 October 1981
Evelyn Holtzhausen. After six years, a black pilot. Natal Mercury [Durban], 13 October 1981. Comment on the case of Adriano Bomba. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 126 kb.
◊ 16 October 1981
Don Marshall. New front: eyes on Mozambique. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 16 October 1981. Argues, from a statement by Magnus Malan, that South African armed forces could soon be involved in fighting along the Mozambican border (the ‘Beirut’ option). Click here to view or download a PDF, size 109 kb.
◊ 24 October 1981
Três militares boers abatidos em Manica: racistas preparavam-se para minar via fé:rrea. Notícias [Maputo], 24 October 1981. The first report of the attack in which the Ulsterman Alan Gingles was killed, and which was fully reported for the first time only in February 1983 in the London Observer. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 151 kb.
◊ 24 October 1981
Don Marshall. Bomba’s plane to return to Maputo. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 24 October 1981. The story adds that Bomba and his brother have been given permission to stay in South Africa, with work permits. The aging MiG-17 presumably offered little new intelligence. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 95 kb.
◊ 26 October 1981
S[outh] Africans killed in rail sabotage attempt in Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6863, 26 October 1981, p.B/1. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 258 kb.
◊ 26 October 1981
[Untitled story on railway sabotage]. Daily News [Dar es Salaam], 26 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 105 kb.
◊ 26 October 1981
Joseph Hanlon. White man killed while trying to blow up Beira railway: South Africa accused of sabotage. Guardian [London], 26 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 139 kb.
◊ 29 October 1981
Ada Stuijt. Bomba tells SA of training by Reds. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 29 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 262 kb.
◊ 30 October 1981
Sabotadas duas pontes sobre o rio Púngoè. Notícias [Maputo], 30 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 41 KB.
◊ 30 October 1981
Joseph Hanlon. Key bridge destroyed. Guardian [London], 30 October 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 16 kb.
◊ 31 October 1981
Mozambican report of S[outh] African intelligence agent’s book. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6868, 31 October 1981, p.B/6. About Gordon Winter's book Inside Boss. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 95 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
November 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

South Africa’s Focus on the Beira-Mutare Lifeline

South Africa, having taken over the job of supporting the MNR insurgency from the defunct Rhodesian regime of Ian Smith, began to up the ante by attacking what was later to become known as the Beira Corridor, i.e. the road, rail and fuel pipeline links between Beira and Mutare (formerly Umtali), in Zimbabwe. At the end of November a piece by David Ward in the London weekly the New Statesman argued that attacks on marker buoys in Beira harbor and the blowing up of road and rail bridges were the work of the MNR supported by the South Africans, and were a manifestation of this policy. Mozambique claimed over 40 airspace violations during an 18 month period, presumably to drop supplies to the insurgents. South Africa continued to deny any involvement.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
◊ 1 November 1981
Militares boers abatidos em Doeroi. Tempo [Maputo], no.577, 1 November 1981, p.7. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 35 kb.
◊ 1 November 1981
S[outh] Africa blamed for blast. Observer [London], 1 November 1981. Click hereto view or download a PDF, size 18 kb.
◊ 2 November 1981
War damage repair work in Mozambique’s Manica province. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6869, 2 November 1981, p.B/1. Manica’s provincial government decides to elevate Machave locality to district status. Machave was destroyed by Rhodesian troops in 1976. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 258 kb.
◊ 9 November 1981
African food aid lifeline cut by rebels. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 9 November 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 42 kb.
◊ 14 November 1981
Sabotadas bóias no porto da Beira. Notícias [Maputo], 14 November 1981. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 32 kb.
◊ 20 November 1981
David Ward. Mozambique: lifelines under attack. New Statesman [London], 20 November 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 109 kb.

The Conflict with Renamo
December 1981

Dossier MZ-0020

The Capture of Garágua Base and its Consequences

The war against the MNR can in some respects be said to have begun in earnest – in tactical terms at least – in November and December 1981. In response to South Africa’s attempt to use the MNR as a cover to cut the road, rail and pipeline connection between Beira and Mutare, in newly-independent Zimbabwe, Mozambican forces attacked and on 8 December captured the major MNR base at Garágua in Manica province, with substantial amounts of weaponry and ammunition falling into government hands.
The capture of the base was followed, according to the press reports, by vigorous pursuit operations, code-named ‘punição’. Within a short time, although it is not absolutely clear whether there was a connection, the MNR killed two Portuguese technicians in Guro district, and kidnapped the British ecologist John Burlison and a Mozambican teacher, Moisés Carril, from the Gorongosa Wildlife School. A Tanzanian cooperante at the school managed to escape on foot; extraordinarily his wife, a nursing mother, was released unharmed by the MNR a few hours later. Burlison’s kidnapping turned out to be a major propaganda coup for the MNR; he was eventually released on Zimbabwean territory in May 1982.
Tome Eduardo
Above: Maj.-Gen. Tomé Eduardo and Maj. Fernando Cachaça at Garágua after the FPLM had captured the MNR base. Left top: John Burlison. Left bottom: a handwritten list, in English, of the names of recruits in the MNR’s First Company. Click on the small image to view a larger PNG image file.
Decoration
1977 1978 September 1981
Decoration
◊ December 1981
Paul Fauvet. Mozambique: threat to SADCC strategy. Africa Now [London], December 1981. Argues that the attacks in Mozambique may be aimed at cutting off Zambia and Zimbabwe from access to the sea. This copy is poor quality and incomplete. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 91 kb.
◊ 3 December 1981
Michael Holman. Now there’s method in MRM attacks. Rand Daily Mail[Johannesburg], 3 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 85 kb.
◊ 5 December 1981
Operations against Mozambican National Resistance. South African radio broadcast of 5 December 1981 published in the Summary of World Broadcasts[London]. A note adds that África Livre has started broadcasting again. Click hereto view or download a PDF, size 22 kb.
◊ 6 December 1981
Detidos cinco agentes do inimigo. Tempo [Maputo], no.582, 6 December 1981, p.4. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 13 kb.
◊ 8 December 1981
Mozambican dissidents’ reported decision to ask for external assistance.Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6900, 8 December 1981, p.ii. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 262 kb.
◊ 8 December 1981
Mozambican dissidents’ reported decision to ask for external assistance.Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6900, 8 December 1981, p.B/1. Cleverly, the MNR, at this time pretty much entirely reliant on South African support, uses Mozambican-Zimbabwean cooperation to justify a ‘decision to seek external aid’, thus representing itself as entirely a domestic phenomenon. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 258 kb.
◊ 10 December 1981
USA and South Africa waging undeclared war against Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.SU/6902/A5, 10 December 1981, p.1. TASS commentary. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 264 kb.
Captured armaments
Above: weaponry captured at Garágua. This crate originally contained a light 60mm. mortar, with its accessories, manufactured in Portugal in the 1960s by the Fábrica de Braço de Prata (FBP; later part of INDEP) for use by light infantry in heavily wooded terrain, especially in African campaigns. The Portuguese word morteirete was a trade name of the FBP company. The Mozambican government claimed that the MNR’s weapons were airdropped by the South Africans.
◊ 11 December 1981
Destruída base inimiga. Notícias [Maputo], 11 December 1981. The first news item on the capture of the Garágua base. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 143 kb.
◊ 11 December 1981
Maputo’s dossier on SA attacks. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 11 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 882 kb.
◊ 12 December 1981
Operation against Mozambican rebel base. Summary of World Broadcasts[London], no.ME/6904, 12 December 1981, p.ii. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 258 kb.
◊ 12 December 1981
Fernando Lima. Após ocupação de Garagua: punição prossegue com acções de perseguição. Notícias [Maputo], 12 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 343 kb.
◊ 13 December 1981
Forças armadas destroem base inimiga. Domingo [Maputo], 13 December 1981, p.2-3. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 757 kb.
◊ 14 December 1981
Maputo claims proof of major SA aid for rebels. Rand Daily Mail [Johannesburg], 14 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 120 kb.
◊ 14 December 1981
The operation against Mozambican bandits. Summary of World Broadcasts[London], no.ME/6905, 14 December 1981, p.B/1- . Transcript of ANGOP news item. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 261 kb.
◊ 14 December 1981
The operation against Mozambican bandits. Summary of World Broadcasts[London], no.ME/6905, 14 December 1981, p.B/1- . Transcripts of Mozambican radio broadcasts. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 261 kb.
◊ 15 December 1981
Garágua: prosseguem acções contra bandidos. Notícias [Maputo], 15 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 72 kb.
◊ 20 December 1981
Arlindo Lopes. Garágua: punição exemplar. Tempo [Maputo], no.584, 20 December 1981, p.20-27. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 2.3 Mb.
◊ 25 December 1981
Bandidos armados assassinam técnicos da SHER. Notícias [Maputo], 25 December 1981. Two Portuguese technicians, Joaquim José Estrela Rato and António Martins Joaquim, working for the Sociedade Hidro-Eléctrica do Revué (SHER) are killed on 20 December in Guro district. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 47 kb.
◊ 28 December 1981
Mozambique reports abduction in game park. New York Times [New York], 28 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 167 kb.
◊ 28 December 1981
Na Gorongosa, bandoleiros raptam moçambicanos e estrangeiros: FPLM em perseguição do bando armado. Notícias [Maputo], 28 December 1981. Click hereto view or download a PDF, size 172 kb.
◊ 28 December 1981
Joseph Hanlon. Briton missing. Guardian [London], 28 December 1981. Clickhere to view or download a PDF, size 19 kb.
◊ 29 December 1981
Two murders. Agence France Presse [Paris], 29 December 1981. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 26 kb.
◊ 30 December 1981
Kidnapping of foreign instructors in Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts [London], no.ME/6915, 30 December 1981, p.B/3. Click here to view or download a PDF, size 259 kb.

Atrocities and Massacres, 1960-1977:
Wiriyamu, Mueda and Others

Dossier MZ-0354
Decoration
This page deals with gross human rights violations by the Portuguese armed forces during the struggle for national independence in Mozambique, and is organised into four sections: 1. The Wiriyamu Massacre and Marcelo Caetano’s Visit to London, 1972-1973; 2. Wiriyamu: Attempted Cover-ups; 3. The Massacre of Mueda, 16 June 1960; and 4. Other Massacres. This last section of the dossier presents evidence that Wiriyamu was not an isolated incident, with items on other atrocities at Inhaminga, Mukumbura and Chai. Click on the titles to jump directly to the relevant section.
News of the massacre of villagers by the Portuguese army at Wiriamu (or Wiriyamu) in Tete on 16 December 1972 played an important role in mobilising public opinion against Portugal in the later phase of the independence struggle. The story originally broke in the Times of London on 10 July 1973, just before Marcelo Caetano’s planned visit to London the same month, and provoked intense correspondence and follow-up reports in that newspaper (see list below; not all reports are available from this page at this time). Adrian Hastings, the missionary who broke the story to the English-speaking world, subsequently published a book, Wiriyamu: My Lai in Mozambique (New York: Orbis, 1974); also published in Africa as Wiriyamu: massacre in Mozambique (Nairobi: Transafrican Publishers, 1974). The book includes two pages (click here) listing the most important contemporary newspaper reports about Wiriyamu.
There are also sources of information on Wiryamu and other massacres available on the Web. These include a detailed 2008 post by Abel Marques de Vasconcelos Cardoso on the massacres of Wiriyamu, Chawola and Juwau, with videos and photographs (click here); and a 2010 post on the Delagoa Bay Blog entitled «Wiriyamu e as entrevistas de Rodrigues dos Santos», with commentaries by Yussuf Adam and others (click here). The veterans’ website «Dos Combatentes da Guerra do Ultramar» includes a page on the massacre, with videos and press clippings, posted by Ilídio Costa, a former member of the Companhia de Caçadores de Mocimboa da Praia (click here).
Location of Wiriyamu
In November 1974, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3114, setting up a Commission of Inquiry on the Wiriyamu and related atrocities. The five-nation Commission, chaired by the representative of Nepal and with members from the GDR, Honduras, Madagascar and Norway, reported a year later, after hearing testimony in London and Dar es Salaam, and concluding that the massacres had indeed occured.
Some scholarly attention has been paid in recent years to the massacre of Wiriyamu. See Mustafah Dhada, «Contesting terrains over a massacre: the case of Wiriyamu» in: Contested terrains and constructed categories: contemporary Africa in focus, ed. George Clement Bond and Nigel C. Gibson (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 2002), pages 259-276. A version of this text is available on Professor Dhada’s Academia.edu page, here.
More recently, an article in English by two Portuguese scholars promises to provoke controversy: see Bruno C. Reis and Pedro A. Oliveira, «Cutting heads or winning hearts: late colonial Portuguese counter-insurgency and the Wiriyamu massacre of 1972» Civil Wars vol.14 no.1 (March 2012), pages 80-103 (click here[requires subscription]). A summary of the article by Isadora Ataíde was published in Portuguese in the Maputo weekly Savana on 18 May 2012 under the title «40 anos após o massacre que chocou o mundo, atrocidades em Wiriyamu continuam por esclarecer» (click here to read the piece in HTML). This received a short rebuttal by the Swiss scholar Eric Morier-Genoud, «Wiriyamu: atrocidade por esclarecer?» on page 11 of the 1 June edition of the same newspaper [clickhere to read this piece].
The massacre of Mueda in Cabo Delgado on 16 June 1960 was and remains a fundamental legitimising event for the Mozambican independence struggle (for a deconstruction, see Michel Cahen, ‘The Mueda case and Maconde political ethnicity: some notes on a work in progress,’ Africana Studia, no.2, 1999, pages 29-46 [available on the CEAUP website]). See also the post dated 16 June 2011 onMoçambique para Todoshere. This dossier includes a rare contemporary Lisbon newspaper account dated 19 June 1960, three days after the event (see below).

1. The Wiriyamu Massacre and Marcelo
Caetano’s Visit to London, 1972-1973

◊ 10 July 1973
Adrian Hastings. Portuguese massacre reported by priests. The Times, 10 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 299 kb. The story breaks for the English-speaking world.
◊ 10 July 1973
The massacre in Mozambique [editorial]. The Times, 10 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 106 kb. The ‘Thunderer’ comments on the story that it is running, refering to feelings of ‘shock and horror’ and stating that there is ‘little doubt of the substantial accuracy of the report’ by Adrian Hastings.
◊ 11 July 1973
No enquiry, no welcome. The Times, 11 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 133 kb.
◊ 11 July 1973
Mr. Wilson demands cancellation of visit by Portuguese leader. The Times, 11 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size xx kb.
◊ 11 July 1973
Mr. Heath will not call off Portuguese state visit: massacre denied by Lisbon. The Times, 11 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 54 kb.
◊ 11 July 1973
Lord Gifford and others. Reported massacre in Mozambique. The Times, 11 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 91 kb.
◊ 11 July 1973
David Leigh. Priest derides official denial. The Times, 11 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 79 kb.
◊ 11 July 1973
A. M. Rendel. Embassy issues angry reply. The Times, 11 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 70 kb.
◊ 12 July 1973
M. A. Faul. Reported massacre in Mozambique and Portuguese policy. The Times, 12 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size xx kb.
◊ 12 July 1973
Priests comment on slaying report. New York Times, 12 July 1973, page 5. Available in New York Times archive (requires subscription). Three Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries said today that two fellow priests had personally met survivors of a massacre of at least 400 men, women and children by Portuguese troops in a Mozambique village.
◊ 13 July 1973
Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists. Reports of atrocities by Portuguese troops in Mozambique. The Times, 13 July 1973.Clipping not available on MHN.
◊ 14 July 1973
Paul Hofmann. New charges of mass executions in Mozambique are made in Rome. New York Times, 14 July 1973, page 9. Available in New York Times archive (requires subscription).
◊ 14 July 1973
All the Africans in Tete know where massacre took place, ousted missionary says in Madrid. The Times, 14 July 1973. Clipping not available on MHN.
◊ 15 July 1973
Massacre reports from Africa grow. New York Times, 15 July 1973. Available inNew York Times archive (requires subscription).
◊ 16 July 1973
Pope pleads for the oppressed. The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 20 kb. The Pope refers to ‘inhuman delinquency’, taken to refer to the Wiryamu massacre. A question is put down in the Italian parliament calling for condemnation of Portuguese atrocities.
◊ 16 July 1973
Harry Debelius. Wiriyamu ‘is marked on Tete mission maps’. The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 184 kb. In a report datelined Madrid, a Spanish missionary confirms and locates the village of Wiriyamu in response to Portuguese denials of its existence. The Times publishes a sketch mapshowing the village [reproduced above].
◊ 16 July 1973
George Clark. Labour demand for inquiry at massacre scene. The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 88 kb. Harold Wilson and Michael Foot are to demand in Parliament that the Portuguese government permit an international inquiry to visit the village of Wiriyamu. Labour will also push for the suspension of Portuguese membership of NATO. Labour and Liberal politicians are also to boycott functions linked to the visit by Dr. Caetano.
Police cordon around Portuguese embassy
Above: the police cordon protecting the Portuguese embassy as thousands protest the Caetano visit. MHN apologises for the poor quality of this picture (credit: Bill Warhurst).
◊ 16 July 1973
Christopher Walker and David Leigh. Heavy police precautions as Dr Caetano begins his visit to Britain today: 5,000 in London protest march. The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 189 kb. Lead story, with a picture of a 100-metre police cordon protecting the Portuguese Embassy in London (reproduced immediately above). Over 100 police, including armed members of the Special Branch, have been assigned to protect Caetano. The article details Caetano's programme and planned protests aimed at disrupting it.
◊ 16 July 1973
Adrian Hastings and others. Reported massacre in Mozambique: how it was made known. The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 281 kb. Letters to the editor from Adrian Hastings, David Crouch, G. Lewis, J. P. Miller, and M. Rashleigh Toone, this last a correction to a previous letter, published on 13 July 1973.
◊ 16 July 1973
Sweden to double its aid to FRELIMO. The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 229 kb. The Swedish government will push for a UN investigation into the alleged atrocities in Mozambique, and will double aid to liberation movements in Portuguese African colonies. Swedish trade unions are also planning measures against Portugal.
◊ 16 July 1973
Jerome Caminada. A sea of turbulence awaits Dr Caetano during London visit.The Times, 16 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 131 kb. Opinion piece broadly sympathetic to Caetano and the ‘graceful figure’ of his daughter, Ana Maria Caetano. Caminada refers, inter alia, to the ‘strength of Chinese interference from Tanzania’.
◊ 17 July 1973
Press Council is asked to investigate. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 49 kb. John Jackson, a Conservative Party prospective candidate, asks the Press Council to investigate whether the Times took the necessary steps to check its information before publishing the original Wiriyamu report.
◊ 17 July 1973
José Shercliff. 40,000 people demonstrate in Mozambique capital. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 61 kb. Large demonstration takes place in Lourenço Marques, repudiating reports in the Times concerning the Wiriyamu massacre. Both blacks and whites are in the crowd, which is addressed by the mayor, Emílio Martins, and the governor-general, Pimentel dos Santos.
◊ 17 July 1973
Dr Caetano and Mr Heath meet angry demonstrations at Greenwich after peaceful day. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 175 kb. Lord Gifford of MAGIC attributes the absence of anti-Portuguese protest during Caetano’s visit to the ‘secrecy’ with which it was organised. Rest of the story describes Caetano’s conversations with Heath, and a dinner at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
◊ 17 July 1973
Churchmen call for impartial inquiry. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 80 kb. The steering committee of the Commission for International Justice and Peace has asked for an immediate impartial inquiry into the Wiriyamu massacre.
◊ 17 July 1973
Catholics in Holland urge Papal statement. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 62 kb. Prominent Dutch Catholics have signed a letter asking why the Vatican has maintained silence on the Wiriyamu events, and request that the Pope issue a statement. Meanwhile the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, has come out in support of Swedish demands for a UN investigation.
◊ 17 July 1973
Bishop of Tete says his duty is not to become involved in controversy. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 98 kb. Augusto César, Bishop of Tete, refuses to comment on the massacre allegations, saying his duty is to his flock. Meanwhile in Milan, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera publishes reports on 16 or 17 July regarding massacres by Portuguese troops in Guinea-Bissau between January and May 1973. In Rome, the periodical Il Mondo is preparing to publish further reports from Father Luís Alonso da Costa on Mozambican atrocities.
◊ 17 July 1973
David Leigh and Christopher Walker. Distribution of pro-Lisbon leaflets was arranged by Zanzibari. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 166 kb. Ahmed Seif Kharusi, chair of the Zanzibar Association, paid for pro-Portuguese leaflets to be handed out at a protest rally in London, for motives which were unclear, and with funding which he refused to disclose.
◊ 17 July 1973
Basil Davidson and others. Mozambique atrocity reports: Portuguese policy in the colonies. The Times, 17 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 378 kb. Letters to the editor from Basil Davidson, David Vicars, John Crawley, Philip Noel-Baker, Denise E. Lester, William Burridge, and A. J. C. Kerr.
◊ 18 July 1973
Visa refused for The TimesThe Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 282 kb. Michael Knipe, a Times journalist covering southern Africa, is refused a visa for Mozambique because of ‘fears for his safety’ at the hands of outraged Mozambicans.
◊ 18 July 1973
Paul Oestreicher and others. Mozambique. The Times, 18 July 1973. Clickhere to download a PDF file, size 121 kb. Letters to the editor from Paul Oestreicher, David Tereshchuk, Hannah Stanton, and D. Keating.
◊ 18 July 1973
On all grounds Portugal must remain a member of NATO. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 286 kb. Report of a parliamentary debate on Portugal.
◊ 18 July 1973
Nine arrested during protest outside Buckingham Palace. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 346 kb. Protests against Caetano’s visit to London. The arrestees include Tariq Ali, who is pictured being taken away by policemen.
◊ 18 July 1973
Hugh Noyes. Past quotations used against Labour leader. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 221 kb. Account of the House of Commons debate on Portugal and its colonies, claims that Wilson comes off worse in exchanges with Conservative leaders.
◊ 18 July 1973
Christopher Walker. More people join in protests over Caetano visit. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 121 kb. Report on protests outside the Savoy HOTEL IN LONDON against the visit by Dr Caetano. Amnesty International has asked permission to visit two priests detained in Machava Prison in Mozambique after reports of the Wiriyamu Massacre were published outside Portugal. Progressive conservatives in the UK have condemned the Caetano visit to London.
◊ 18 July 1973
Cancellation of Dr. Caetano’s visit on the basis of article in The Times would be to prejudge case against an old and loyal ally – Foreign Secretary. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 616 kb. Report of a British parliamentary debate on the visit of Dr Caetano.
Marcelo Caetano and Baron Mais in 1973
Above: The Portuguese prime minister Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano (1906-1980), and Alan Raymond Mais, Baron Mais (1911-1993), Lord Mayor of London in 1972-1973, pictured together during Caetano’s ill-fated visit to the United Kingdom.
◊ 18 July 1973
A. M. Rendel. Lord Mayor offers an apology to Portuguese leader and criticizes newspaper report. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 121 kb. Lord Mais, the Lord Mayor of London, apologises at a Mansion House dinner to Caetano for the hostile demonstrations against his visit, and criticises the Times for having published the allegations about the Wiriyamu massacre, hinting at an ulterior motive regarding the timing. See picture above.
◊ 18 July 1973
A. M. Rendel. Dr. Caetano rules out UN inquiry into massacre allegations. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 145 kb. Caetano and Foreign Minister Rui Patrício meet with UK ministers and hold a press conference in the afternoon. They categorically deny that the Wiriyamu massacre ever took place or that irregular warfare is permitted in Mozambique, and rule out any sort of UN inquiry (Patrício acts as Caetano’s interpreter into English). Seventy percent of Portuguese troops in Mozambique were Africans.
◊ 18 July 1973
Yelling and jeers as MPs debate London visit of Dr. Caetano. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 32 kb. Alec Douglas-Home accuses Harold Wilson of double standards in a noisy debate on the Caetano visit in the British parliament.
Above: an extract from the Portuguese television programme Grande Reportagemwith clips of Caetano and Adrian Hastings commenting on the question of Wiriyamu. Caetano claims there is an international campaign against Portugal; Hasting describes himself as politically naive.
◊ 18 July 1973
Worse than the Nazis, missionary says. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 179 kb. In a report datelined Rome from the weekly Il Mondo, expelled missionary Luís Afonso da Costa is quoted as saying he witnessed torture, decapitations and the cutting open of pregnant women by Portuguese soldiers, who are worse than the Nazis.
◊ 18 July 1973
Harry Debelius. Priest says he spoke to survivors. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 127 kb. Vicente Berenguer Llopis, a Spanish missionary, names the nun who witnessed the aftermath of the Wiriyamu massacre, which he says took place on Saturday 16 December 1972.
◊ 18 July 1973
David Leigh. War against Frelimo like fight with IRA. The Times, 18 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 56 kb. In a BBC interview, Caetano compares the Portuguese war against Frelimo with the British campaign against the IRA. Also a report datelined New York that Kurt Waldheim, UN secretary-general, is to meet Adrian Hastings.
◊ 19 July 1973
Le Monde says Africans’ silence is surprising. The Times, 19 July 1973. Click hereto download a PDF file, size 35 kb. Le Monde comments on the silence among African political leaders about the atrocities. The Times points out that Le Mondeis alone among French papers in paying more attention to the atrocities than to the Caetano visit.
◊ 19 July 1973
Christopher Walker. 300 police ring Caetano’s reception. The Times, 19 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 111 kb. Dinner held at the Portuguese Embassy on a rainy evening and attended by Edward Heath is protected by three hundred police. Earlier over 1,000 protesters had greeted Caetano when he visited an exhibition at the British Museum. There have been 17 arrests in the three days of the visit, including Tariq Ali, who was charged with assault.
◊ 19 July 1973
B. D. Ross and others. Attitude to race in Mozambique. The Times, 19 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 148 kb. Letters to the editor from B. D. Ross, John Paul (former missionary in Niassa province), Manuel Azevedo, Peter Elstob and Kenneth Clarke.
◊ 19 July 1973
A. M. Rendel. Whitehall plays it by ear in Africa. The Times, 19 July 1973. Clickhere to download a PDF file, size 127 kb. Apparent inconsistencies in British policy towards Africa mask a desire to protect British interests while working for change, argues Rendel, the Times’ diplomatic correspondent, in a general article starting from Caetano’s controversial visit to London after the breaking of the Wiriyamu massacre story.
◊ 20 July 1973
Withdrawal of the White Fathers from Mozambique. The Times, 20 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 212 kb.
◊ 20 July 1973
João de Sá. Para o rev. Adrian Hastings mandar publicar no «Times»: É assim o ‘racismo’ português. Unidade, 20 July 1973. First published in Diário de Luanda, date unknown. Click here to download a PDF file, size 142 kb.
◊ 20 July 1973
Augusto César. Wiriyamu: um samba de malucos num labirinto de espelhos.Unidade, vol.1, no.8, 20 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 708 kb.
◊ 20 July 1973
Portuguese converge on Lisbon to welcome Dr. Caetano back home. The Times, 20 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 153 kb. Large and supportive demonstration greets Caetano on his return to Lisbon. Includes report from Christopher Walker that security costs for the visit were in the range £80,000-£150,000, and quoting Polly Gaster of MAGIC to the effect that the anti-Caetano demonstrations had been successful.
◊ 21 July 1973
David Wigg. Priest gives massacre details to UN committee. The Times, 21 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 235 kb. Adrian Hastings gives evidence on the Wiriyamu massacre to the UN Decolonisation Committee, chaired by Salim Salim. Before giving evidence, he met briefly with Kurt Waldheim. With photograph.
◊ 21 July 1973
Michael Knipe. African civilians suffering heavily in Mozambique war. The Times, 21 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 151 kb.
◊ 22 July 1973
Peter Hogg and others. Mozambique. The Times, 22 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 129 kb.
◊ 23 July 1973
Michael Knipe. Mozambique bishop maintains his silence on reports of massacres. The Times, 23 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 136 kb. Report datelined Tete city, 22 July. Knipe has interviewed the Bishop of Tete, César Augusto Ferreira da Silva, who was unforthcoming, and spent some time with other journalists, accompanied by Portuguese troops, trying to locate Wiriyamu village. Poor quality image.
◊ 24 July 1973
George F. Kennan and others. Double standards over Mozambique. The Times, 24 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 127 kb.
◊ 24 July 1973
Michael Knipe. Reporter of The Times ordered out of Tete. The Times, 24 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 125 kb.
◊ 25 July 1973
Michael Knipe. Mozambique secret police keep an eye on correspondent from the Times. The Times, 25 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 83 kb.
◊ 26 July 1973
Peter Niesewand. Labour turning against Portugal. The Guardian, 26 July 1973, page 4. Click here to download a PDF file, size 109 kb.
◊ 27 July 1973
O sentido. Unidade, 27 July 1973, page 4. Click here to download a PDF file, size 98 kb. Says that the Wiriyamu case is nothing more than a cowardly attack on the morale of the Portuguese army, by an enemy who has realised that military victory is impossible.
◊ 29 July 1973
Peter Pringle. Secret police seize my Mozambique tapes. Guardian [?], 29 July 1973 [?]. Click here to download a PDF file, size 117 kb. Pringle reports that the DGS (ex-PIDE) has expelled him from Tete province and confiscated his notebooks, tape recordings, films, diary and other documents, after three days there. Click here to download a PDF file, size 117 kb.
◊ 30 July 1973
Michael Knipe. Portuguese army chief defends policy in Mozambique. The Times, 30 July 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 242 kb.
◊ August 1973
American Committee on Africa with Adrian HastingsPortugal’s Rule by Violence Exposed: Massacre in Mozambique. New York: ACOA Fact Sheet, August 1973. 12 pages. Digitised by Aluka, and available as a PDF file, size 652 kb. from the African Activist website, here. «This document is based on a report by Father Adrian Hastings on the massacre of more than 400 African villagers in Wiriyamu, Mozambique. It includes a press statement by FRELIMO about the massacre in Tete Province and newspaper articles ‘Portugal Admits Abuse’ and ‘Portuguese massacre reported by priests’ by Adrian Hastings».
◊ 6 August 1973
Aquino de Bragança. Les enfants fusillés avec leur mére. Afrique-Asie, no.36, 6 August 1973, pages 22-24. Click here to download a PDF file, size 390 kb.
Vicente Berenguer Llopis and Julio Moure
Above: the two Burgos Fathers, Vicente Berenguer Llopis (left) and Júlio Moure (right), pictured on 5 August 1973 during a visit to London. They were among the authors of the Spanish report on massacres in Mozambique.
◊ 6 August 1973
Richard Wigg. Missionary names five survivors who saw Mozambique massacre. The Times, 6 August 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 438 kb. An interview with Father Vicente Berenguer Llopis and Father Júlio Moure of the Burgos Fathers.
◊ 17 August 1973
Klaus Pokatzky. After a massacre report: an information gap was filled.Frankfurter Rundschau, 17 August 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 93 kb. [Not original clipping; translation into English by Facts and Reports].
◊ 23 August 1973
Communist newspaper claims further atrocities. AFP, 23 August 1973 [from Facts and Reports]. Click here to download a PDF file, size 176 kb. Agence France Presse says that the Italian Communist newspaper Unità reported on 22 August 1973, citing eye-witness testimony, that South African and Rhodesian troops have also been involved in atrocities in Mozambique.
◊ 23 August 1973
Douglas Alexander. Priests to face charges of helping Frelimo. The Age[Melbourne], 23 August 1973. Click here to read a PDF of this story at Google News. Two Burgos Fathers, of Spanish nationality, from the Mukumbura Mission in Tete have been arrested by the Mozambican colonial authorities.
◊ 26 August 1973
The ugly face of Portugal. Observer, 26 August 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 287 kb.
◊ 16 September 1973
Canon Carr’s criticisms. AFP, 16 September 1973 [from Facts and Reports]. Clickhere to download a PDF file, size 55 kb.
◊ 25 September 1973
[Extract from interview with Adrian Hastings]. Africa, 25 September 1973. Clickhere to download a PDF file, size 95 kb.
◊ 8 October 1973
Frelimo report issued on massacre by Portuguese. The Times, 8 October 1973. Click here to download a PDF file, size 82 kb.
◊ 14 December 1973
Adrian Hastings. Church silence on Wiriyamu. Catholic Herald, 14 December 1973. Click here to access a PDF in the archive of the Catholic Herald.
◊ 14 December 1973
UN to hold inquiry on Wiriyamu massacre. The Times, 14 December 1973. Clickhere to download a PDF file, size 26 kb.
◊ 30 April 1974
Eric Pace. UN will examine torture charges in Mozambique. New York Times, 30 April 1974, page 3. Available in New York Times archive (requires subscription).
◊ 28 June 1974
Kathleen Teltsch. UN panel backs Mozambique case: it says Portuguese troops killed unarmed people. New York Times, 28 June 1974, page 7. Available in New York Times archive (requires subscription).
◊ 22 November 1974
Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Reported Massacres in Mozambique. New York: United Nations, 22 November 1974. iv, 40 pages. Click here to download a PDF file, size 3.0 Mb. The Commission, which worked without Portuguese government cooperation and did not visit Mozambique, concluded that it had no doubt that «during the period under study, personnel, for whose acts the Portuguese colonial Government is responsible, perpetrated a number of atrocities in Mozambique». The full transcripts of the evidence that the commission heard are available on-line via the UN documents database (here) under reference numbers A/AC.165/PV.1- et seq.
◊ 11 December 1974
UN unit confirms massacres and torture in Mozambique. International Herald Tribune, 11 December 1974. Click here to download a PDF file, size 45 kb.
◊ 19 December 1982
Wiriyamu: recordando os massacres coloniais. Domingo, 19 December 1982. Click here to download a PDF file, size 221 kb.
◊ 23 February 1984
Manuela Ferreira. Wiriamu: a aldeia da fome negra. O Globo, 23 February 1984. Click here to download a PDF file, size 288 kb. Ten years after the massacre, villagers are dying of hunger because of drought.
◊ 25 June 1999
Alfredo Macaringue. É o sobrevivente Vasco Tenente quem o diz, recordando Wiriamu: «Comam estas sardinhas para se despediram da vida» – disseram os soldados portugueses momentos antes do massacre que custou a vida a perto de duzentos pessoas. Notícias [suplemento], 25 June 1999, page 11. Click here to download a PDF file, size 381 kb.

2. Wiriyamu: Attempted Cover-Ups

◊ 17 December 1981
Jack Anderson. Richard Allen and ’73 massacre in Mozambique. Washington Post, 17 December 1981. Click here to download a PDF file, size 138 kb.
◊ 17 December 1981
Jack Anderson. Agent Allen: new shocker. New York Post, 17 December 1981. Click here to download a PDF file, size 279 kb.
◊ 29 June 1980
Sol Carvalho. Editor de um livro denunciando massacres em Moçambique vítima de processo judicial: José Ribeiro concede entrevista exclusiva à «Tempo».Tempo, no.507, 29 June 1980, pages 29-31. Click here to download a PDF file, size 621 kb.
Massacres na guerra colonial (Ulmeiro)
◊ 11 March 1983
Ulmeiro enfrenta justiça militar. O Jornal, 11 March 1983. Click here to download a PDF file, size 83 kb. The book that Ulmeiro was prosecuted for publishing wasMassacres na guerra colonial.

3. The Massacre of Mueda, 16 June 1960

◊ 19 June 1960
Reunião de indígenas perturbada por agitadores estrangeiros que foram repelidos. O Século (Lisboa), 19 June 1960. Click here to download a PDF file, size 451 kb.
◊ April-June 1970
Alberto Joaquim Chipande. The massacre of Mueda. Mozambique Revolution, no.43, April-June 1970, pages 12-14. Click here to download a PDF file, size 833 kb.
◊ 13 June 1981
Mueda evocada em Portugal. Notícias, 13 June 1981. Click here to download a PDF file, size 32 kb.
◊ 13 June 1982
Mueda: memórias de um massacre. Tempo, no.609, 13 June 1982, pages 24-[?]. Click here to download a PDF file, size 791 kb.
◊ 19 June 1982
[No title]. Notícias 19 June 1982. Click here to download a PDF file, size 1.2 Mb. The report includes a reproduction of the report that Notícias carried on 18 June 1960 under the heading «Agitadores estrangeiros nos Macondes».
◊ October 1993
Yussuf Adam and Hilário Alumasse Dyuti [apresentação]. Entrevista: o massacre de Mueda – falam testemunhas. Arquivo [Maputo] no. 14 (October 1993), pages 117-128. Click here to download a PDF file, size 145 kb. Interviews with Daniel Muilundo; Cornélio João Mandanda; Rachid Katame; and Jacinto Omar.

4. Other Massacres

◊ July-September 1971
End of a mission: why the White Fathers left Mozambique. Mozambique Revolution [Dar es Salaam], no.48, July-September 1971, pages 19-22. Click hereto download a PDF file, size 826 kb.
◊ January-March 1972
After the massacres of Mukumbura, a victim’s relatives join the struggle.Mozambique Revolution [Dar es Salaam], no.50, January-March 1972, pages 9-10. Click here to download a PDF file, size 690 kb.
◊ Summer 1974
J. Martens, A. Verdaasdonk, J. van Rijen, A. van Kampen and J. Tielemans. Diary of Inhaminga. Issue: A Journal of Opinion vol.4 no.2 (Summer, 1974), pages 62-73. Click here to access a copy through JSTOR (requires subscription).
◊ 7 November 1976
Página da história da resistência do povo moçambicano: os massacres de Inhaminga. Tempo, no.354, 7 November 1976, pages 34-40. Click here to download a PDF file, size 2.7 Mb.
◊ 25 September 1977
Chai: o massacre que os colonialistas esconderam. Tempo, no.364, 25 September 1977, pages 34-37. Click here to download a PDF file, size 1.7 Mb.
Decoration

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