Mozambique’s Neglected Nationalists in Exile: Retracing Coremo’s Relations with the Congolese Government and the FNLA

Abstract

Even though the Mozambique Revolutionary Committee (Coremo) was Mozambique’s second largest liberation movement, historians have neglected its role in the struggle for Mozambican independence. This neglect has resulted in an imbalanced understanding of how Mozambicans fought to overthrow Portuguese colonial rule throughout the second half of the 20th century, including how Mozambican liberation movements navigated the precarious exile environment. By retracing and examining Coremo’s relations with Joseph Mobutu’s Congolese government and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), this article adds to the growing literature on competing anti-colonial movements during Mozambique’s liberation struggle. Coremo’s relationship with these two actors is intertwined with and was founded on the earlier relations that Paulo Gumane’s reconstituted National Democratic Union of Mozambique (Udenamo) had established with the FNLA and Cyrille Adoula’s Congolese government. Reconstructing the story of this relationship deepens our understanding of the different transnational and transregional strategies that smaller liberation movements like Coremo employed in exile. The story of Coremo’s relations with Kinshasa and the FNLA highlights the importance of and difficulties in establishing support structures in the context of competitive liberation politics. The history of these long-standing relations also adds to our understanding of the formation and development of working relationships between lusophone African liberation movements, which have traditionally focused on the Conference of Nationalist Organisations of the Portuguese Colonies, and brings to our attention the role of alternative African support hubs in southern Africa’s liberation struggle.

Keywords:

• Coremo
• FNLA
• Mozambique
• Angola
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Paulo Gumane
• southern Africa
• liberation movements

Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the continuous support of Ian Phimister, to whom I am eternally grateful. A special thank you should also go to Brooks Marmon, Alex Marino and the various organisers and audience members who provided valuable feedback on previous iterations of this paper that I presented in workshops and conferences, and whose input has greatly improved the quality of my arguments and insights. Finally, the guidance and suggestions of the JSAS editors and the two anonymous peer reviewers were greatly appreciated.

Notes

1 The ‘Belgian Congo’ became the ‘Republic of the Congo’ on 30 June 1960. In 1964, the name was changed to the ‘Democratic Republic of the Congo’. As part of Joseph Mobutu’s Authenticité campaign, the country was renamed the ‘Republic of Zaire’ in 1971, and Mobutu himself chose to be known as Mobutu Sese Seko. Finally, in 1997, the name changed back to the ‘Democratic Republic of the Congo’. For the sake of convenience, this article will refer to the country as ‘Congo’.

2 For the period under study (1963–1974), the primary sources refer to the Union of the Angolan Peoples (UPA), the FNLA and the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) interchangeably. Since UPA’s specific role in the FNLA is not the focus of this article and GRAE was the FNLA’s appointed governmental body outside Angola, I use FNLA as a shorthand.

3 Gumane’s reconstituted Udenamo was commonly referred to as Udenamo-Gumane, Udenamo-Cairo or Udenamo-Moçambique. In this article, I will refer to it as Udenamo.

4 R. Lopes and V. Barros, ‘Amílcar Cabral and the Liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: International, Transnational, and Global Dimensions’, The International History Review, 42, 6 (2020), pp. 1230–7; V. Barros, ‘Connected Struggles: Networks of Anticolonial Solidarity and the Liberation Movements of the Portuguese Colonies in Africa’, in Z. Maasri, C. Bergin and F. Burke (eds), Transnational Solidarity: Anticolonialism in the Global Sixties (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2022), pp. 131–53.

5 C.V.L. Munguambe, ‘Nationalism and Exile in an Age of Solidarity: Frelimo–ZANU Relations in Mozambique (1975–1980)’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 43, 1 (2017), pp. 161–178; N. Telepneva, ‘Mediators of Liberation: Eastern-Bloc Officials, Mozambican Diplomacy and the Origins of Soviet Support for Frelimo, 1958–1965’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 43, 1 (2017), pp. 67–81; C. Tornimbeni, ‘Nationalism and Internationalism in the Liberation Struggle in Mozambique: The Role of the FRELIMO’s Solidarity Network in Italy’, South African Historical Journal, 70, 1 (2018), pp. 194–214.

6 G. Liesegang and J. das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo: Da fundação e dos planos de fusão da Udenamo e MANU à revolta da base da Udenamo em Junho de 1962 e o resurgimento deste partido em 1963: Um plano e primeiros resultados da recolha de fontes para permitir uma leitura sociológica’, (unpublished paper, 2005), p. 2.

7 G.C. Mazarire, ‘ZANU’s External Networks 1963–1979: An Appraisal’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 43, 1 (2017), pp. 83–106; V.A. Shigwedha, ‘The Relationship Between UNITA and SWAPO: Allies and Adversaries’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 40, 6 (2014), pp 1275–87; G. Roberts, ‘Molinaco, the Comorian Diaspora, and Decolonisation in East Africa’s Indian Ocean’, Journal of African History, 62, 3 (2021), pp. 411–29; B. Marmon, ‘“Division to Save the Country Is Wisdom”: The Short Life of the Zimbabwe National Party and Its Lasting Impact on Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle, 1961–1963’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 53, 3 (2020), pp. 361–87.

8 A. Moledo, ‘“A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation”: The Making of Liberation Alliances in 1960s’ (Unliberated) Southern Africa’, Comparativ, 29, 4 (2019), pp. 13–29; J.M. Mabeko-Tali, ‘Dreaming Together, Fighting for Freedom Together: African Progressive Nationalism and the Ideology of Unity in Portugal’s African Colonies in the 1950s and 1960s’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 46, 5 (2020), pp. 829–44; C. Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa and the OAU’s Liberation Committee: Settling Internal Disputes for the Independence of Angola and Mozambique’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 48, 6 (2022), pp. 1099–117.

9 D. Kaiser, ‘“Makers of Bonds and Ties”: Transnational Socialisation and National Liberation in Mozambique’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 43, 1 (2017), pp. 29–48.

10 C. Tornimbeni, ‘Dall’Udenamo al Coremo: Un’opposizione al Frelimo nella guerra di liberazione in Mozambico e il panorama continentale’, Afriche e Orienti, 21, 1 (2019), pp. 47–66.

11 P. Israel, ‘A Loosening Grip: The Liberation Script in Mozambican History’, Kronos, 39 (2013), p. 16; Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, p. 2; J. das Neves Tembe, ‘Uhuru na Kazi: Recapturing MANU Nationalism through the Archive’, Kronos, 39, 1 (2013), pp. 258–9.

12 A. Isaacman and B. Isaacman, Mozambique: From Colonialism to Revolution, 1900–1982 (Boulder, Westview Press, 1983), p. 210, n. 10.

13 J.M. Cabrita, Mozambique: The Tortuous Road to Democracy (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2000); J.A. Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique (Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

14 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’; Tornimbeni, ‘Dall’Udenamo al Coremo’, pp. 49–50.

15 C. Baquete, ‘Génese da oposição à Frente de Libertação de Moçambique FRELIMO (1960-1994): Caso do Coremo’ (unpublished paper, n.d.).

16 A. Isaacman, P. Lalu and T. Nygren, ‘Digitization, History, and the Making of a Postcolonial Archive of Southern African Liberation Struggles: The Aluka Project’, Africa Today, 52, 2 (2005), pp. 55–77.

17 Stanford University (SU), John Marcum Papers (M1726), Box 34, Folder 3, Coremo 1964-74, Biography by P.J. Gumane, n.d.; Report from Fanuel Mahluza to Malcolm Smart, ‘Contribuições para a história de Moçambique, Por Fanuel Guidione Malhuza’, 3 April 1978, available at https://macua.blogs.com/moambique_para_todos/files/contribuies_para_a_histria_de_moambique_mahluza.doc, retrieved 15 February 2023; ‘Fanuel Mahluza’, interview by Emilio Manhique, 15 September 2015, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2A5NDLBNFQ&t=1173s, retrieved 14 November 2023; B.L. Ncomo, Uria Simango: Um Homem, Uma Causa (Maputo, Edições Novafrica, 2003).

18 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, p. 18.

19 J. Alexander, J. McGregor and B.M. Tendi, ‘The Transnational Histories of Southern African Liberation Movements: An Introduction’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 43, 1 (2017), pp. 3–5.

20 For a good understanding of the role and functioning of the SCCI, see S. Araújo, ‘Shaping an Empire of Predictions: The Mozambique Information Centralization and Coordination Services (1961-1974)’, in E. Blanchard, M. Bloembergen and A. Lauro (eds), Policing in Colonial Empires: Cases, Connections, Boundaries (ca. 1850-1970) (Bern, Peter Lang, 2017), pp. 137–58.

21 J. Dlamini, The Terrorist Album: Apartheid’s Insurgents, Collaborators, and the Security Police (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2020).

22 D. Birmingham, A Short History of Modern Angola (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 76–7. I would like to thank Alex Marino pointing out this reference.

23 See, for instance, T. Simpson, Umkhonto we Sizwe: the ANC’s Armed Struggle (Cape Town, Penguin Random House, 2016); E. Kennes and M. Larmer, The Katangese Gendarmes and War in Central Africa: Fighting Their Way Home (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2016); H.A. Fonseca, ‘The Military Training of Angolan Guerrillas in Socialist Countries: A Prosopographical Approach, 1961–1974’, in L. Dallywater, C. Saunders and H.A. Fonseca (eds), Southern African Liberation Movements and the Global Cold War ‘East’, Transnational Activism 1960-1990 (Berlin, De Gruyter, 2019), pp. 103–28.

24 Dlamini, The Terrorist Album, p. 77.

25 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, pp. 6–7, 11–12; Tornimbeni, ‘Dall’Udenamo al Coremo’, pp. 52–3.

26 Cabrita, Mozambique, pp. 9, 12, 17; Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, p. 46.

27 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, pp. 6–8; National Archive and Records Administration (NARA), RG 84, Tanganyika US Consulate and Embassy, Dar Es Salaam, Classified General Records 1947–1963, Box 9, Folder 350, Mozambique 1963, Aerogramme from the American Embassy in Leopoldville to the US Department of State, Activities of African Nationalists in Leopoldville, 19 July 1963.

28 Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (ANTT), Lisbon, PT/TT/SCCIM[Information Centralisation and Co-ordination Services - Mozambique]/A/20/165/1, União Democrática Nacional de Moçambique (Udenamo) - Cairo, Cota [Number] 1358, Press Statement delivered by David J.M. Mabunda, Cairo, 1 May 1963.

29 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Uniao Democratica Nacional de Mocambqiue ‘Udenamo’ Constitution and Programme, English, printed in Cairo, n.d.

30 SU, M1726, Box 20, Folder 1, Roberto/FNLA/COMIRA/PDA Frente Nacional de Libertacau de Angola, excerpts from a speech by Mr Holden Roberto, on the occasion of the anniversary of the war, in Leopoldville, on March 15, 1962, n.d., Angola Calling.

31 See, for instance, Marmon, ‘Division to Save the Country Is Wisdom’, pp. 374–5.

32 L. Passemiers, Decolonisation and Regional Geopolitics: South Africa and the ‘Congo Crisis’, 1960–1965 (Abingdon, Routledge, 2019), pp. 83–97.

33 NARA, RG 84, Box 9, Folder 350, Mozambique 1963, Aerogramme from the American Embassy in Leopoldville to the US Department of State, Activities of African Nationalists in Leopoldville, 19 July 1963.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, p. 61; Passemiers, Decolonisation and Regional Geopolitics, pp. 85–91.

37 See for instance, F.A. Guimarães, The Origins of the Angolan Civil War: Foreign Intervention and Domestic Political Conflict (Basingstoke, Macmillan Press, 2001); R.B. Velez, Caetano, Spínola e Mobutu: As Relações Bilaterais Entre Portugal e o Zaire (1968-1974) (Oporto, Fronteira do Caos, 2017); C. Young, ‘The Portuguese Coup and Zaire’s Southern Africa Policy’ in J. Seiler (ed.), Southern Africa Since the Portuguese Coup (New York, Routledge, 2019), pp. 195–212.

38 L. Passemiers, ‘The Pan Africanist Congress and the Congo Alliance, 1963–1964’, South African Historical Journal, 70, 1 (2018), p. 88.

39 Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa’.

40 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, p. 8.

41 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’.

42 Arquivo Histórico Diplomático (AHD), Lisbon, PROC 940,1(8)D, Organizações Nacionalistas, Folder PAA 531, Comité Revolucionário de Moçambique - Coremo ou Mozambique Revolutionary Committee - MORECO, Vol. II, Letter from Fanuel Mahluza to Francisco Fole, 23 October 1963.

43 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Letter from Fanuel G Mahluza to Abilio Mavile, 18 November 1963.

44 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Vol. II, Letter from Fanuel Guidion Mahluza to the Ambassador of Israel, 1965.

45 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Vol. II, from Ministério do Ultramar, Gabinete des Negócios Políticos: I) Contactos com os Macondes demorados em Elisabethville. II) Tentativa de contactos com Victor Namunera, em Lusaka. III) Proposta de criação de um sistema de pesquisa de informações no Catanga, 30 September 1965; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Contactos com Victor Namunera II - A ‘planos’ de penetração em Moçambique - sua autenticidade, n.d.; Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, p. 62.

46 Arquivo da Defesa Nacional (ADN), Paço de Arcos, F.02, Secretariado-Geral da Defesa Nacional (SGDN), SC.02-2a Repartição (Informações) (2REP), Series 215, Movimentos Políticos de Moçambique, Box UI 735, File 002, Udenamo - União Democrática Nacional de Moçambique e Unamo, from Ministério do Ultramar, Gabinete des Negócios Políticos: I) Contactos com os Macondes demorados em Elisabethville. II) Tentativa de contactos com Victor Namunera, em Lusaka. III) Proposta de criação de um sistema de pesquisa de informações no Catanga, 30 September 1965; ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, Noticia from O Adido Militar e Aeronáutico, Consulado Geral do Portugal, Salisbury, 31 July 1965.

47 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, União Democrática Nacional de Moçambique (Udenamo) - Cairo, Cota 1359, Boletim de Difusão de Informações, Serviços de Centralização e Coordenação de Informações, no. 184/64, 17 September 1964.

48 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Organizações Nacionalistas, Folder PAA 101, ‘Representação da Udenamo em Leopoldville’, Letter from Fanuel Mahluza to Abilio Jonas Maville, 6 September 1963; AHD, File MU/GM/GNP/051, Udenamo, Folder Processo No. L-6-2-3, Comunicados - Declarações – Memorandos, F. Mahluza, Press Statement, 11 September 1963.

49 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, Cota 1359, Letter from Fanuel Mahluza to Lopes Tembe, [Lusaka], 18 November 1963.

50 Chilenge was formerly secretary of social affairs of the original Udenamo: see Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, p. 3.

51 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Relatório de Noticia from Embaixada Congo-Leo, 4 July 1964.

52 Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’, p. 18.

53 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, from Ministério do Ultramar, Gabinete des Negócios Políticos. I) Contactos com os Macondes demorados em Elisabethville. II) Tentativa de contactos com Victor Namunera, em Lusaka. III) Proposta de criação de um sistema de pesquisa de informações no Catanga, 30 September 1965; ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, Noticia from O Adido Militar e Aeronáutico, Consulado Geral do Portugal, Salisbury, 31 July 1965.

54 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Contactos com Victor Namunera II - A ‘Planos’ de Penetração em Moçambique - sua Autenticidade, n.d.

55 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, Cota 1359, document no. 535; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, Cota 1359, Boletim de Difusão de Informações, Serviços de Centralização e Coordenação de Informações, no. 184/64, 17 September 1964.

56 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, from Ministério do Ultramar, Gabinete des Negócios Políticos: I) Contactos com os Macondes demorados em Elisabethville. II) Tentativa de contactos com Victor Namunera, em Lusaka. III) Proposta de criação de um sistema de pesquisa de informações no Catanga, 30 September 1965; ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, Noticia from O Adido Militar e Aeronáutico, Consulado Geral do Portugal, Salisbury, 31 July 1965.

57 Passemiers, Decolonisation and Regional Geopolitics, pp. 161–2; J. Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, Vol. II: Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare, 1962–1976 (Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1978), p. 142.

58 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, from Ministério do Ultramar, Gabinete des Negócios Políticos. I) Contactos com os Macondes demorados em Elisabethville. II) Tentativa de contactos com Victor Namunera, em Lusaka. III) Proposta de criação de um sistema de pesquisa de informações no Catanga, 30 September 1965.

59 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 003, UNAMO e Udenamo, Report from Comando-Chefe das Forças Armadas de Angola, Gabinete Militar, Serviço de Informações Militares, Actividades dos ‘Nacionalistas’ de Moçambique, 7 April 1965.

60 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 003, Report from Secretariado Geral de Defesa Nacional 2a Repartição, Moçambicanos treinados no Congo, 1 April 1965.

61 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/163/8, União Democrática Nacional de Moçambique (Udenamo), Cota 1356, Boletim de Difusao de Informacoes SCCIM, no. 140/65, 7 April 1965.

62 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 003, Report from Secretariado Geral de Defesa Nacional 2a Repartição, Moçambicanos treinados no Congo, 1 April 1965; ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, Noticia from O Adido Militar e Aeronáutico, Consulado Geral do Portugal, Salisbury, 31 July 1965.

63 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 003, Letter from Simão Rafai tTo F.C. Mahlusa, n.d.; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, Cota 1359, Letter to F.G. Mahluza, n.d.

64 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, Cota 1359, Letter from Fanuel Mahluza to His Excellency the Prime and Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 10 March 1965.

65 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/2, Cota 1359, from O Director, Gabinete dos Negócios Políticos to Senhor Governador Geral de Moçambique, 26 March 1965.

66 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2, Processo Coremo: 2.º Vol, from Pide Moçambique, Comité Revolucionário de Moçambique - Coremo, 4 February 1966.

67 M. Mainga Bull and L. Habasonda, ‘Zambia Analysis’, in A. Temu and J. das Neves Tembe (eds), Southern African Liberation Struggles, Contemporaneous Documents, 1960-1994, Vol. 7 (Dar es Salaam, Mkuki na Nyota, 2014), pp. 5–49; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Letter from Fanuel Guidion Mahluza, 9 June 1964; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Secreto, SCCI RES.NO.9/1964 Fls.20.

68 SU, M1726, Box 38, Folder 2, Udenamo 1963-5/COSERU, from Fanuel J. Mahluza to John Marcum, 27 February 1964; ‘Ten Nationalist Groups now Based in Lusaka’, The Northern Star, 15 October 1964. The same building housed the PAC, UPA and SWAPO.

69 ‘Portuguese rebels in Lusaka’, Zambia News, Kitwe, 15 March 1964.

70 ANTT, PIDE/DGS/DEL.A/Pinf/131.07.17/NT.2751, Escritórios da Udenamo em Livingstone-Zâmbia, Relatório Imediato from PIDE Angola, UPA/Udenamo, 21 December 1964.

71 AHD, Arquivo do Consulado Geral de Portugal em Salisbúria, File M.10, Folder 2813, Faunuel Guidion Malhuza, Udenamo, 1963-64, PIDE, copy of a Letter from William Crabtree, Udenamo Activities, n.d.; AHD, Arquivo do Consulado Geral de Portugal em Salisbúria, File M.10, Folder 2813, Letter from David J. Mabunda to Abilio Jonas Mavile, 12 December 1963; ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 215, Box UI 735, File 002, Relatório de Notícia, Possíveis Ataques a Moçambique, 9 July 1964.

72 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/165/1, Cota 1358, Boletim de Difusão de Informações, from Serviços de Centralização e Coordenação de Informações, 13 June 1964; ANTT, PIDE/DGS/Del.A/Pinf/131.07.08/NT.2751, GRAE-Lusaka-Representação, Letter from Domingos [Livingstone] to Holden Robert, 16 March 1964.

73 See M. Grilli, Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana’s Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonization (Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); C. Chongo, ‘A Good Measure of Sacrifice: Aspects of Zambia’s Contribution to the Liberation Wars in Southern Africa, 1964-1975’, Zambia Social Science Journal, 6, 1 (2019), pp. 1–27; S.L. Ishemo, ‘“A symbol that cannot be substituted”: The Role of Mwalimu J.K. Nyerere in the Liberation of Southern Africa, 1955–1990’, Review of African Political Economy, 27, 83 (2000), pp. 81–94.

74 Tornimbeni, ‘Dall’Udenamo al Coremo’, p. 51; K. van Walraven, Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa, 1963-1993 (Leiden, African Studies Centre, 1999), p. 247; E. Dube, ‘Relations between Liberation Movements and the OAU’, in N.M. Shamuyarira (ed.), Essays on the Liberation of Southern Africa (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Publishing House, 1975), pp. 28–9; 43; Tembe, ‘Uhuru na Kazi’, pp. 264–5.

75 Cabrita, Mozambique, pp. 37–8. There remains contention about whether UNAMI and Mole’s reanimated MANU eventually joined Coremo. In his article ‘Uhuru na Kazi’, das Neves Tembe notes that Matthew Mmole’s name was also written as Mathews Mmole and Mateus Mole.

76 ‘Memorandum Submitted to the 3rd Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity Accra/Ghana’, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/al.sff.document.chilco221, retrieved 14 November 2023.

77 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2, Coremo press conference, Lusaka, n.d.; Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, p. 68.

78 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’, p. 4; Cabrita, Mozambique, pp. 9, 73. Baquete, ‘Génese da oposição à Frente de Libertação de Moçambique FRELIMO’.

79 Cabrita, Mozambique, pp. 37–8; Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, pp. 60, 66.

80 Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’, pp. 15–16; Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa, pp. 1106, 1109; see also L. Passemiers, ‘“Our Country or Death”: Reconstructing the Mozambique Revolutionary Committee’s (Coremo) Political Ideology through its Public Discourse’, unpublished paper.

81 O Combatente 1, 2, 24 August 1967.

82 This assessment is based on a thematic reading of Coremo’s public discourse, especially its party organs: The Voice of Coremo, The Valiant Hero, O Combatante, and Coremo Newsletter, undertaken for the paper Passemiers, ‘Our Country or Death’.

83 See Mozambique Revolutionary Committee (Coremo), ‘Memorandum Submitted to the Summit Conference of Heads of African States held in the Democratic Republic of Congo-Kinshasa, January 1967’, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/al.sff.document.chilco267, retrieved 14 November 2023; AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Organizações Nacionalistas, Folder PAA 531, Comité Revolucionário de Moçambique - Coremo ou Mozambique Revolutionary Committee - MORECO, Vol III, From DGS Moçambique, Actividades do Coremo, 15 October 1971.

84 Dube, ‘Relations Between Liberation Movements and the OAU’, p. 39; van Walraven, Dreams of Power, pp. 239, 241–2.

85 van Walraven, Dreams of Power, pp. 244–5.

86 Coremo, ‘Memorandum Submitted to the Summit Conference of Heads of African States’.

87 Zambian National Archives (ZNA), FA/1/28, Location 496, OAU Liberation Committee, Report from K.A.J. Kangwa, Zambian OAU Attaché, Summary Report of the Tenth Session of the OAU Co-ordination Committee for the Liberation of Africa held in Kinshasa, Congo, from 30 January to 4 February 1967, 11 February 1967; Coremo, Memorandum Submitted to the Summit Conference of Heads of African States, 11 September 1967, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/al.sff.document.chilco267, retrieved 14 November 2023.

88 ZNA, FA/1/28, Location 496, Report from K.A.J. Kangwa, Zambian OAU Attaché.

89 ‘Coremo Lashes OAU on Arms Aid’, Times of Zambia, 22 January 1968.

90 COREMO, ‘Documents Relating to Coremo Application for AAPSO Membership’, Council Meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, 13 February 1967, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/al.sff.document.chilco264, retrieved 14 November 2023.

91 Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa’; Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’.

92 Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’, p. 21.

93 Cabrita, Mozambique, p. 39.

94 I. Taylor, China and Africa: Engagement and Compromise (London, Routledge, 2006), p. 95; Grilli, Nkrumaism and African Nationalism, pp. 253, 335; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/1, Mozambique Revolutionary Council (Coremo), Cota 1403, Boletim de Informação, 29 November 1965.

95 For Gwambe’s relationship with Nkrumah, see Tornimbeni, ‘Dall’Udenamo al Coremo’, p. 52.

96 SU, M1726, Box 34, Folder 3, Mozambique Revolutionary Committee (Coremo), press conference, 1966.

97 Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa’, p. 1107.

98 For a detailed overview of Mobutu’s foreign policy, see K. Mwene-Kabyana, ‘La politique étrangère du Zaïre (1965-1985): Illusion de puissance et clientélisme’ (PhD, Université Laval, 1999); Young, ‘The Portuguese Coup and Zaire’s Southern Africa Policy’.

99 ZNA, FA/1/28, Location 496, Report from K.A.J. Kangwa, Zambian OAU Attaché.

100 Ibid.

101 For a detailed study of Mobutu’s relationship with Portugal, see Velez, Caetano, Spínola e Mobutu.

102 P. Monaville, Students of the World: Global 1968 and Decolonization in the Congo (Durham, Duke University Press, 2022), pp. 116, 171.

103 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 218, Coremo, Box UI 758, File 002, Transmissão Imediata de Notícias, Direcção Geral dos Negócios Políticos e da Administração Interna, 30 June 1966.

104 ‘M. Gumane: “Nous nous tournons vers le Congo … pour la libération de notre pays’, Le Progrès, Lyon, 7 July 1966; ‘Le Président du “Comite Révolutionnaire de Mozambique a Kinshasa”, Le Courrier d’Afrique, 2 July 1966; AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Actividades de Indivíduos Relacionada Comos Movimentos Nacionalistas, PAA 529, Paulo José Gumane, Congo: Paulo Gumane Talks to the CGTC Leaders, n.d.

105 ‘Le Président du ‘Comité Révolutionnaire de Mozambique’ à Kinshasa’, Le Progrès, 28 June 1966.

106 AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Folder PAA 531, Letter from Paulo Jose Gumane to Joseph Mobutu, 6 July 1966.

107 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, PAA 529, Report from Le Secrétaire General, Compte-rendu de la visite de Monsieur José Gumane Président du Comité révolutionnaire de Mozambique, 3 August 1966.

108 Ibid.

109 Ibid.

110 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, PROCESSO COREMO: 3.º VOL, from PIDE Angola, COREMO/UPA, 19 December 1968; Ncomo, Uria Simango, p. 258.

111 Roberts, ‘Molinaco’.

112 See J. Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, & the Third World Order (New York, Oxford University Press, 2019); G. Roberts, Revolutionary State-Making in Dar es Salaam: African Liberation and the Global Cold War, 1961–1974 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021); E. Burton, ‘Hubs of Decolonization: African Liberation Movements and “Eastern” Connections in Cairo, Accra, and Dar es Salaam’, in Dallywater, Saunders and Fonseca, Southern African Liberation Movements, pp. 25–56.

113 Z. Levey, ‘Israel’s Involvement in the Congo, 1958–68: Civilian and Military Dimensions’, Civil Wars, 6, 4 (2003), p. 30.

114 ANTT, Phy.PIDE/DGS/Sdel.L/GAB/1757/NT.8084, Paulo José Gumane, from PIDE Director, Coremo, 19 September 1966; ANTT, Phy.PIDE/DGS/Sdel.L/GAB/1757/NT.8084, from PIDE Angola, Actividades do IN, 27 September 1969; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, Ataque ao Acompamento do Cabinete do Plano do Zambeze em Mucangádeze por Terroristas do Coremo.

115 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, Processo Coremo: 4.º Vol., Relatório de Notícia from Secretariado Geral da Defesa Nacional 2ª Repartição, Actividades do Coremo, 16 May 1967.

116 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from PIDE Angola, Coremo/UPA, 19 December 1968. This is a transcribed letter from Paulo Gumane to Narciso Namburete Mbule, who was in Kinshasa at the time.

117 AHD, File Malawi, M. 10, Folder Processo 1.7.4, Coremo, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do Coremo, 21 December 1970.

118 Monaville, Students of the World, p. xiv.

119 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/2, Mozambique Revolutionary Council (Coremo), Cota 1404, from Serviços de Centralização e Coordenação de Informações, Coremo, 28 October 1966.

120 ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 218, Coremo, Box UI 758, File 004, from O Chefe do Gabinete Militar, 18 July 1967.

121 AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Folder PAA 531, Dirigentes dos Movimentos de Libertação do Sul da Africa Avistaram-se Hoje com o Presidente do Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, Segundo anuncia a Agencia de Imprensa do Zaire, 24 October 1972.

122 AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Folder PAA 531, Telegram from Ministro to Governador-Geral de Angola, 30 October 1972; AND, SGDN, 2REP, Series 218 - Coremo, Box UI 759, File 007, Coremo, from O Chefe da 2ª Repartição to Representante Militar em Salisbúria, Uniao Frelimo-Coremo, 29 December 1972.

123 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, From DGS/SUB BR, Coremo: Visita ao Zaire. Apoios, 14 December 1972.

124 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from PIDE Angola, Actividades do Coremo, 7 October 1969.

125 Cable from the American Embassy in Caracas to the Secretary of State, Washington, DC, ‘Frelimo Pardons 240 “Traitors”‘, 20 March 1975, available at http://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975CARACA03133_b.html, retrieved 14 November 2023.

126 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do ‘Coremo’, 21 July 1972.

127 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/5, Mozambique Revolutionary Council (Coremo), Cota 1407, Relatório Imediato from DGS, Coremo: Conferencia Anual Actividades, 4 April 1973.

128 Report from Fanuel Mahluza to Malcolm Smart, ‘Contribuições para a história de Moçambique, por Fanuel Guidione Malhuza’, 3 April 1978. It is more likely that Mahluza meant the Congolese ambassador to Zambia. Interview transcript available at https://macua.blogs.com/moambique_para_todos/files/contribuies_para_a_histria_de_moambique_mahluza.doc, retrieved 14 November 2023.

129 Cable from the American Embassy in Caracas to the Secretary of State, Washington, DC, ‘Frelimo Pardons 240 “Traitors”‘, 20 March 1975.

130 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/3, Mozambique Revolutionary Council (Coremo), Cota 1405, document no. 342; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/3, Cota 1405, Relatório Imediato from SCCIM, Coremo, 10 August 1967; AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Folder PAA 531, from PIDE Moçambique, Actividades do Coremo, 28 February 1967.

131 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do ‘Coremo’, 10 February 1972.

132 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do ‘Coremo’, 18 December 1972; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, from Direcção-Geral de Segurança Delegação em Moçambique, Coremo: EFICIENCIA.APOIOS, 7 April 1973.

133 AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Organizações Nacionalistas, Folder PAA 531, Comité Revolucionário de Moçambique - Coremo ou Mozambique Revolutionary Committee - MORECO, Vol. I, Letter from Director Gabinete dos Negócios Políticos, 14 December 1965; ADN, SGDN, 2REP, Series 218, ‘Coremo’, Box UI 759, File 005, ‘Coremo’, from PIDE Moçambique, [untitled], 22 August 1968. Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, p. 67.

134 Cabrita, Mozambique, p. 39.

135 Ibid., p. 40; Marcum, Conceiving Mozambique, pp. 68–9.

136 S. Ndlovu, G. Houston and B. Magubane, ‘The South African Liberation Struggle’, in A.J. Temu and J. das Neves Tembe (eds), Southern African Liberation Struggles, Contemporaneous Documents, 1960-1994, Vol. 3 (Dar es Salaam, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, 2014), pp. 583–6.

137 AND, SGDN, 2REP, Series 218, Coremo, Box UI 758, File 001, Transmissão Imediata de Notícias, from Direcção Geral dos Negócios Políticos e da Administração Interna, 2 July 1965.

138 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205, Cota 1403, Letter from Peter Simbi to UPA Elisabethville, 17 July 1965.

139 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-1, Processo Coremo: 1.º Vol, from PIDE Angola, 28 July 1965.

140 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-1, Tradução (Resumo), n.d.

141 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Vol. II, Letter from Director Geral to Senhor Secretario Adjunto da Defesa Nacional, 29 April 1966.

142 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Vol. II, Letter from Fanuel Guidion Mahluza to the Ambassador of Israel, 1965; AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, Vol. II, Letter from Francisco Fole to the Danish Ambassador, Leopoldville, 8 October 1965.

143 AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Folder PAA 531, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do Coremo, 28 September 1971; ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/4, Mozambique Revolutionary Council (Coremo), Cota 1406, Relatório Imediato from DGS, Coremo: Actividades, 12 August 1971.

144 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from DGS Moçambique, Frelimo/Coremo, 12 September 1970.

145 ANTT, PT/TT/SCCIM/A/20/205/3, Mozambique Revolutionary Council (Coremo), Cota 1405, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do Coremo, 12 February 1972.

146 See Munguambe, ‘Nationalism and Exile in an Age of Solidarity’; Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’; Mabeko-Tali, ‘Dreaming Together’; Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa.

147 See F. Ribeiro de Meneses and R. McNamara, ‘Parallel Diplomacy, Parallel War: The PIDE/DGS’s Dealings with Rhodesia and South Africa, 1961–74’, Journal of Contemporary History, 49, 2 (2014), pp. 366–89.

148 P.J. Gumane, ‘Clarion Call’, Cairo, 1 January 1965, available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/al.sff.document.chilco298, retrieved 14 November 2023.

149 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2, Resolution Passed by the First Annual Conference of the Mozambique Revolutionary Committee - Coremo, n.d.

150 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2, from PIDE Moçambique: Coremo - Comunicado - Lusaka (Zambia), 25 May 1968. Azania was the name for South Africa used by some liberation movements, including the PAC.

151 Cabrita, Mozambique, p. 39.

152 ‘Le Président du “Comité Révolutionnaire de Mozambique” à Kinshasa’, Le Progres, 28 June 1966.

153 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, PAA 529, Report from Le Secrétaire General, Compte-rendu de la visite de Monsieur José Gumane Président du Comité révolutionnaire de Mozambique, 3 August 1966.

154 Ibid.

155 AHD, PROC 940,1(8)D, PAA 529, from O Director dos Serviços de SCCIM, Coremo, 21 April 1967.

156 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2, from PIDE Angola, Pan-Africanismo, 31 March 1967.

157 Mabeko-Tali, ‘Dreaming Together’; Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’, p. 15.

158 Mabeko-Tali, ‘Dreaming Together’, p. 840; Fonseca, ‘The Military Training of Angolan Guerrillas in Socialist Countries’, pp. 115, 124.

159 Mabeko-Tali, ‘Dreaming Together’, p. 838.

160 ‘Documento do GRAE “Le GRAE et la CONCP”‘, available at https://www.tchiweka.org/documento-textual/0073000017, retrieved 14 November 2023.

161 Mabeko-Tali, ‘Dreaming Together’, p. 838.

162 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, Information Bulletin from Ministerio dos Negocios Estrangeiros, Embaixada da Portugal em Londres, 19 August 1968; Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, Vol. II, p. 223.

163 Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa’, pp. 1108–9.

164 O Combatente 5, no. 1, 2 January 1972.

165 Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’, pp. 14–15.

166 Liesegang and das Neves Tembe, ‘Subsídios para a Historia da Udenamo e Frelimo’; ‘Lista dos membros do GRAE e minibiografias’, available at https://www.tchiweka.org/documento-textual/0033000009, retrieved 14 November 2023.

167 See series of photographs in ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2.

168 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, Resumé du Rapport, n.d.

169 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from PIDE Angola, Coremo/UPA, 19 December 1968.

170 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, Resumé du Rapport, n.d.

171 ANTT, Phy.PIDE/DGS/Sdel.L/GAB/1757/NT.8084, from PIDE Angola, Coremo/GRAE, 6 October 1970; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from DGS-Luanda, Paulo José Gumane, 20 March 1971.

172 Moledo, ‘A New Phase of Anti-Imperialist Cooperation’, p. 20.

173 For a detailed overview of the strength of the FNLA, see Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, Vol. II.

174 AND, SGD, 2REP, Series 218, Box UI 758, File 002, Relatório de Notícia, from Secretariado Geral da Defesa Nacional 2ª Repartição, Actividade Do Coremo no Congo (Leo), 25 March 1966.

175 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-2, from PIDE Moçambique: Comité Revolucionário de Moçambique - Coremo, 4 February 1966; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from DGS Moçambique, Coremo Apoios Externos, 21 September 1970; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do ‘Coremo’, 28 July 1972.

176 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, From SUBPIDEBR: Coremo - Ordem de Batalha, 4 January 1968; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from PIDE Angola, Actividades da ‘UPA’, 16 December 1968; ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-4, from DGS Moçambique, Actividades do ‘Coremo’, 10 February 1972.

177 Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, Vol. II, pp. 207–9.

178 M. Mainga Bull and L. Habasonda, ‘Zambia Analysis’, pp. 5–49.

179 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from PIDE Moçambique, Apoio do Governo Zambiano aos Partidos Emancipalistas, 24 September 1969.

180 ANTT, Phy.PIDE/DGS/Sdel.L/GAB/1757/NT.8084, Relatório Imediato, from PIDE Angola, Actividades do GRAE, 4 August 1968; ANTT, Phy.PIDE/DGS/Sdel.L/GAB/1757/NT.8084, from Relatório Imediato PIDE Angola, Actividades do GRAE, 9 November 1968; ANTT, Phy.PIDE/DGS/Sdel.L/GAB/1757/NT.8084, from PIDE Angola, Actividades do GRAE, 17 July 1969.

181 ANTT, PT/TT/PIDE/D-C/001/4126-3, from PIDE Moçambique, Apoio aos Movimentos Terroristas, 27 December 1968.

182 Tornimbeni, ‘The CONCP in Southern Africa’, p. 1115.

183 See ANTT, PIDE/DGS/Del.A/Pinf/131.07.08/NT.2751, for an overview of such developments.

184 ANTT, PIDE/DGS/Del.A/Pinf/131.07.08/NT.2751, from DGS Angola, Actividades da FNLA - Deslocação de H. Roberto, 8 April 1974.

185 C. Chonga, ‘A Good Measure of Sacrifice: Aspects of Zambia’s Contribution to the Liberation Wars in Southern Africa, 1964-1975’, Zambia Social Science Journal, 6, 1 (2016), pp. 18-20; F.A. Guimares, The Origins of the Angolan Civil War, p. 115.

186 AHD, File PROC 940,1(8)D, Organizações Nacionalistas, Folder PAA 1305, Coremo, Aerogramme from Portuguese Embassy, Zomba, 17 June 1974; Cable from the American Embassy in Lusaka to the Secretary of State, Washington, DC, ‘Alleged Embassy Lusaka Contacts with Paul Gumane’, 19 March 1975, available at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975LUSAKA00478_b.html, retrieved 14 November 2023; Cable from the American Embassy in Lusaka to the Secretary of State, Washington, DC, ‘Some Coremo Personnel still Detained in Zambia’, 15 July 1974, available at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974LUSAKA01453_b.html, retrieved 14 November 2023.

187 Mazarire, ‘ZANU’s External Networks’.