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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2017
On May 17, 1970, Portuguese colonial forces in Mozambique numbering 50,000 and headed by the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, General Kaulza de Arriaga launched a sweeping offensive against the areas in northern Mozambique held by FRELIMO, the Mozambique Liberation Front. Operation Gordian Knot was intended to crush the FRELIMO forces which had been operating in Mozambique since 1964. Now, four years after “Gordian Knot,” General de Arriaga has retired from the Portuguese armed forces. Following the coup that rocked Portugal on April 25 the new provisional Portuguese government has opened discussions with FRELIMO in Lusaka on the colonial problem. And FRELIMO forces are operating in strength in five districts of Mozambique—from Niassa and Cabo Delgado in the north, to Tete in the west, to Beira and Vila Pery in central Mozambique. The purpose of this article is to examine the Portuguese military defeat in Mozambique and the growing strength of FRELIMO, to look at the situation as it appears immediately following the coup in Portugal, and to briefly relate these developments to U.S. policy towards Portuguese colonialism.
The most dramatic testimony of the Portuguese military failure is of course the coup in Portugal. Many accounts have noted that General Spinola's book, Portugal and the Future, which heralded the coup, made clear in its analysis that Portugal could not defeat the liberation movements militarily and that a political solution had to be sought. The signs of the erosion of Portugal's position have been evident: the feeling of “hopelessness” among Portuguese youth about the colonial wars; an estimated 100,300 draft resisters and deserters abroad added to the some one million expatriates working outside the country; an increasing tendency for troops in the field “to shy away from contact with the enemy, taking defensive stands only“; fewer than one hundred places taken in the military academy with room for four hundred; the massive discontent within the Portuguese junior officer corps about conditions of service; the growing refusal of military duty (one half of the last class called refused to report).
1 New York Times, 26 April 1974.
2 Ibid.
3 Basil Davidson, “South Africa and Portugal” (United Nations, New York, Unit on Apartheid, No. 7/74, April 1974.)
4 The Star (Weekly), Johannesburg, 2 February and 6 April 1974.
5 Sunday Times, Johannesburg, 6 and 7 April 1974.
6 Ibid., 10 March 1974.
7 Michael Degnan, “The Three Wars of Mozambique,” Africa Report, October 1973.
8 Sunday Times, Johannesburg, 10 March 1974.
9 United Nations, Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Hereinafter referred to as Special Committee), Working Paper (A/AC.109/L.919), 8 February 1974, pp. 4-8; Newsweek, 27 November 1972; Mozambique Revolution, Mozambique Liberation Front (Dar es Salaam), October- December 1973.
10 Daily News, Dar es Salaam, 6-8 December 1973; Financial Times, London, 28 September 1973.
11 Gerald Bender, “The Limits of Counterinsurgency” in Contemporary Politics, April 1972; Brendan F. Jundanian, “Resettlement Programs: Counterinsurgency in Mozambique,” International Studies Association/West Conference, March 1973.
12 United Nations, Special Committee, Working Paper, 8 February 1974, p. 30.
13 Bender. “The Limits of Counterinsurgency,” p. 360.
14 Manifesto, Rome, 25 September 1973.
15 United Nations, Special Committee, Working Paper, 8 February 1974, pp. 4, 5; Guardian, New York, N.Y., 5 December 1973.
16 United Nations, General Assembly, Report of the Special Committee, Chapter VII, Territories Under Portuguese Administration (A/9023/Add. 3), 19 September 1973, pp. 104,5. 17 United Nations, Special Committee, Working Paper, 8 February 1974, pp. 6, 7.
18 Degnan, “The Three Wars of Mozambique.“
19 Guardian, London, 23 April 1974.
20 Mozambique Revolution, July-September, October-December 1973.
21 77ie Observer, London, 9 September 1973.
22 United Nations, Special Committee, Working Paper, 8 February 1974, p. 1: Mozambique Revolution, October-December 1973.
23 Financial Times, London, 22 January 1974; The Economist, London, 2 February 1974;Souf/?e/-n Africa, May 1974, p. 19.
24 Saul, John S., “FRELIMO and the Mozambique Revolution,” in Essays on the Political Economy of Africa by Arrighi, Giovanni and Saul, John S. (New York, USA: Monthly Review, 1973).Google Scholar
25 Ibid., pp. 380, 382.
26 Cabora Bassa and the Struggle for Southern Africa, World Council of Churches, Programme to Combat Racism (Geneva, Switzerland, 1971).
27 United Nations, Special Committee, Working Paper, 8 February 1974, pp. 4-8.
28 Quoted in Eduardo Mondlane, The Struggle for Mozambique (Baltimore: Penguin, 1969), p. 111.
29 Olav Stokke and Carl Widstrand, eds.. Southern Africa, The U.N.-O.A.U. Conference, Oslo, April 9-14, 1973, Vol. 2, “Papers and Documents” (Uppsala, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1973), p. 91.
30 New York Times, 11 May 1974.
31 Guardian, London, 24 April 1974.
32 “FRELIMO Takes Over Lourenc,o Marques Demonstration,” Sunday Times, Johannesburg, 5 May 1974; The Observer, London, 12 May 1974; New York Times, 3 May 1974.
33 New York Times, 22 May 1974
34 New York Times, 6 May 1974; William Minter, Portuguese Africa and the West (Middlesex: Penguin, 1972), pp. 30-36.
35 New York Times, 13 May 1974.
36 The Observer, London, 12 May 1974; The Star (Weekly), Johannesburg, 25 May 1974; Guardian, London, 24 April 1974.
37 The Star (Weekly), Johannesburg, 1 June 1974; New York Times, 13 and 26 May 1974.
38 Guardian, London, 23 and 24 April 1974; 77ie Star (Weekly), Johannesburg, 25 May 1974.
39 The Observer, London, 12 May 1974; see “Diary of Inhaminga” in this Issue, p. 62.
40 Washington Post, 4 June 1974.
41 Telegram to the American Committee on Africa from Marcelino dos Santos, Vice President, FRELIMO, 3 June 1974.
42 NewYork Times, 3 June 1974.
43 New York Times, 12 June 1974.
44 Ibid.; and New York Times, 13 June 1974.
45 United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 2918 (XXVII), 4 November 1972; Organization of African Unity, Resolution 268 (XIX), Rabat, Morocco, 15 June 1972.
46 United Nations, Special Committee, Statement by the Frelimo Executive Committee on the Events in Portugal, (A/AC.109/L.942), 7 May 1974. Reprinted on pp. 58-9 of this Issue.
47 United Nations, Office of Public Information, (472-12490), June 1972.
48 See Africa Today, “Allies in Empire, the U.S. and Portugal in Africa,” Vol. 17, No. 4, July-August 1970, and Eduardo de Sousa Ferreira, Portuguese Cdlonialism, From South Africa to Europe (Freiburg: Aktion Dritte Welt, 1972).
49 Background sources for this section include: Africa Today, July- August 1970; William Minter, Portuguese Africa and the West; U.S. Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Implementation of the U.S. Arms Embargo (Against Portugal and South Africa, and Related Issues), Hearings before the Subcommittee on Africa, 93rd Congress, 1st Session, 1973.
50 Michael Degnan, “The Three Wars of Mozambique,” pp.13-14.
51 “Gulf Oil and Portugal, Partners in Colonialism” in The Corporate Examiner, April 1974. (National Council of Churches, Corporate Information Center, New York.)
52 New York Times, 7 June 1974.
53 Testimony of Paul O'Neill before the Subcommittee on Africa, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 14 March 1974.
54 Implementation of the U.S. Arms Embargo, Hearings before the (House) Subcommittee on Africa, p. 143.
55 Tom Wicker; New York Times, 14 June 1974.
56 Washington Post, 12 May 1974.
57 New York Times, 20 June 1974.
