Muidumbe — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza declared on Sunday that eradicating poverty is possible, but will be a prolonged battle requiring the commitment of each and every Mozambican, just as Mozambicans had once committed themselves to a ten year war of liberation against Portuguese colonial rule.

Guebuza was speaking in Muidumbe district, in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, at a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of the death of one of the heroes of the independence war, Tomas Nduda.

Nduda died in combat in Muidumbe on 23 March 1968. He had joined the guerrilla army of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) when he was 28n years old. Four years later he died during a Frelimo attack against a Portuguese garrison.

Guebuza said that, just as men such as Nduda first had to be convinced that it was possible to defeat colonialism before they ventured onto the battlefield, so today citizens can only fight effectively against poverty, if they believe that this struggle can be won.

Those who joined Frelimo had no idea how long the war against colonialism would last, said Guebuza. That just knew that the system was not invincible and could be overthrown.

Today, he continued, nobody could put a date on the eradication of poverty in Mozambique - but what was important was that Mozambicans should believe in their ability to overcome poverty.

Guebuza urged young Mozambicans to draw inspiration from those who had fought for independence. They were the heroes of the anti-colonial struggle, and the youth of today could be the heroes of the war against poverty, remembered tomorrow as the fathers of the nation's prosperity.

"We Mozambicans were able to fight against and to defeat colonialism, under extremely difficult conditions, facing all possible risks", declared the President. "We beat a system which, apart from having many more soldiers than the number of guerrillas in the Frelimo army, was much better armed than we were, and enjoyed the support of some of the most powerful countries in the world".

Only a heroic people could defeat colonial rule as the Mozambicans had done, he continued. "So I say that we Mozambicans are a heroic people, and some of us, such as Tomas Nduda, a fighter who feared nothing, are the best proof of that".

Like independence, he continued, development and prosperity would not fall from the sky, but required the commitment of all, selfless work, and a willingness to make sacrifices.