from Chris Arthur
The following article has been taken froma report by Peter Younghus-= band which appeared recently in the Daily Mail. In greater detail than we have room for, he illustrates the appalling brutality of the Portuguese colonial war. This new evidence must reinforce our demand for the Labour Government to impose a complete arms embargo on Portugal.
“A giant crucifix dominates the small island of Likoma, situated on the East of Lake Malawi, and a part of Malawi, where 3,500 refugees shelter. They are terrified fugitives whosevillages on the Mozambique mainland have been bombed and machine-gunned by Portuguese planes. Some of the refugees have been treated for bullet wounds, They tell horrifying tales of brutality on the mainland = three miles away. The reprisals are vengeance for guerilla attacks by Frelimo, the Mozambique African Nationalist Organisation.
“Refugees tell of entire villages burned down by Portuguese troops; of villages bombed and strafed until every resident has fled; of villages suddenly surrounded vy Portuguese commandos, and those of their population who could not escape, lined up and shot. Reprisals are always severe after the Frelimo guerillas inflict casualties on the Portuguese. They were particularly severe after a Frelimo land mine blew up a troop carrier, killing ten men.
"The Portuguese operation, which is claimed on the mainland to have been a success so far, is to obliterate villages suspected of giving assistance to the Frelimo. Now they wish to entice the refugees back to strategically situated, Government-built community housing schemes, which are being built to replace the destroyed villages. In this way the African populations in combat areas will be housed under Portuguese control, and will not be acce essible to Frelimo. But few of the fugitives on Likoma are yet convinced that there is hope for a safe existence again in Mozambique."