Maputo — Had Mozambique's first President Samora Machel survived, he would have been 75 years old on 29 September.

Launching commemorations of this anniversary, the Minister of Education and Culture, Aires Aly, told a Maputo press conference on Wednesday that on 16 September a symbolic 75 trees will be planted in places that have already been identified throughout the country.

"President Samora used to say that children are the flowers that never wither, and the places where the trees will be planted are all schools, where we believe that they will be looked after properly", said Aly.

There will be a range of cultural and artistic events to commemorate Machel's life, beginning in Cabo Delgado province, in the far north, an ending in Machel's birthplace at Chilembene, in the southern province of Gaza. The Chilembene ceremonies will be led by President Armando Guebuza.

Aly said that Machel's birthplace has been declared "a historic site of national interest", and consultations with the Machel family will determine the measures taken by the government to preserve it.

Machel became President of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in 1970, and led it to victory in its war of liberation against Portuguese colonial rule. He was President of Mozambique from 1975 until his death on 19 October 1986 in a plane crash widely believed to have been the work of the apartheid military.