Mozambique War for Independence (1964)

Fri Sep 25, 1964

Image

On this day in 1964, the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) launched a war against their Portuguese colonizers, winning independence after a decade of fighting. Communist revolutionary Samora Machel served the country’s first President.

Ideologically Marxist-Leninist, FRELIMO was able to expel the Portuguese from significant regions of the colony. The Portuguese military, largely ineffectual in combat against guerrilla tactics, responded with extreme suppression of suspected leftists and FRELIMO-sympathizers among the native citizenry.

In April of 1974, a military junta seized power in Portugal in a coup known as the “Carnation Revolution”. In the following months, FRELIMO was able to negotiate a ceasefire with the new government, ending the war and officially winning their independence.

“FRELIMO TODAY SOLEMNLY PROCLAIMS THE GENERAL ARMED INSURRECTION OF THE MOZAMBICAN PEOPLE AGAINST PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF THE COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE OF MOZAMBIQUE. Our fight must not cease before the total liquidation of Portuguese colonialism…”

- FRELIMO, September 25th, 1964