MOZAMBIQUE REVOLT Troops deployed against whites

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33635, 10 September 1974, Page 17

MOZAMBIQUE REVOLT Troops deployed against whites

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LISBON, September 9.

Talks between Portuguese authorities and white rebels in Mozambique broke down early today as the Government announced that it was deploying troops from the north of the territory to deal with the revolt.

An official statement said that the situation was stationary in the capital, Lourenco Marques, where dissidents have seized the main radio station and other key points in protest against an independence agreement under which Lisbon will hand over to the African Frelimo liberation movement.

There was no word that Portuguese troops were using force to end the rebellion, although they have orders from the military chief, General Francisco da Costa Gomes, to restore peace.

The communique, from the Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese forces in Mozambique, said: “The reactionary extremists are maintaining their criminal stand contrary to the interests of the people of Portugal.” Observers said that the Portuguese Government evidently hoped to control the situation without bloodshed —which could jeopardise the whole process of Portuguese decolonisation in Africa. The white rebels have broadcast statements opposing the Mozambique independence agreement signed on Saturday in Lusaka.

The Government said that the rebels were holding women and children as hostages and had also occupied the Lourenco Marques airport tower. The latest communique paid tribute to the “firm and dignified attitude” of the Frelimo leader, Samora Machel. It said that he had prevented the intervention of Frelimo forces to avoid shedding blood uselessly. In talks with the rebels, the Portuguese side emphasised that President Antonio de Spinola had formally approved the Lusaka accord, and that the process of decolonisation was irreversible, the statement said. Two whites and an African have already been killed

in a ciash on the road leading to the airport. In Lourenco Marques, a crowd of several hundred white civilians, some armed with sticks, were standing guard over Mozambique’s main radio station in case Portuguese troops tried to retake the installation from the dissidents.

The dissidents, calling

themselves the Movement for a Free Mozambique (M.F.M.), draw much of their support from former servicemen and oppose a complete hand-over of power to Frelimo. The M.F.M. claims to have the support of troops and police in Mozambique, but its actual following cannot be determined.

The Army made no attempt to stop its take-over attempt in Lourenco Marques, but this could have been due to the low profile the military has adopted in an apparent attempt to prevent bloodshed. There have been few overt signs of support for the M.F.M. outside Lourenco Marques and in Beira, Mozambique’s main, port, service chiefs said that they would not tolerate action by “adventurers.”