20 February 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican government on Tuesday passed a decree setting up the Centre for Research into the National Liberation Struggle.
The Centre will be subordinate to the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs, but will enjoy administrative autonomy.
The government's spokesperson, Deputy Education Minister Luis Covane, told reporters that the purpose of the new institution will be to study, document and preserve the key period in Mozambique's history running from 1964 (the start of the war against Portuguese colonial rule) to independence in 1975.
The Centre will also promote scientific events and debates on fundamental questions of recent Mozambican history.
The decision to establish this research centre is long overdue. The great majority of Mozambicans were born since independence, and so have no direct experience of the colonial period or of the struggle to overthrow colonialism.
A few leading Frelimo figures (such as former health minister Helder Martins, and former security minister Jacinto Veloso) have written memoirs, but most have not. Some key early Frelimo documents are readily available, but in general there is a dearth of detailed information on the anti-colonial war in the public domain.
Key military commanders in the independence struggle - such as Sebastiao Mabote, Osvaldo Tazama and Fernando Matavele - have died without any historians interviewing them.
Perhaps the new Centre will ensure that Mozambique does not lose its history bit by bit, and that the memories of veterans of the liberation war are written down and preserved for future generations.
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