Luanda — Angola pays tribute on Monday to all those that on 4 February 1961 sacrificed themselves so that Angola could be an independent and sovereign country, the Territory Administration minister, Bornito de Sousa, declared.

The minister was delivering a speech at the main institutional event celebrating the 52nd anniversary of the start of the armed struggle against colonialism, held in Xangongo, southern Cunene Province, in representation of the Angolan Head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos.

He reminded that on 04 February 1961, a group of Angolan patriots, with only cutlasses in their hands, attacked the colonial prisons of Luanda City to liberate the political prisoners.

"The 4 February heroes faced the colonial army and police only with cutlasses in their hands, so the date is thus regarded and celebrated as the start of the armed struggle for national liberation, currently being a national public holiday", he said.

The minister highlighted that the struggle spread gradually to the rest of the national territory, culminating with the victory over the colonial regime on 25 April 1974, and also the proclamation of national independence on 11 November 1975.

He also reminded that the armed struggle was not the first option of the Angolan patriots, who only resorted to that when it was clear that the colonial regime had closed its doors to a negotiated solution for Angola's independence.

According to Bornito de Sousa, the armed and olitical struggle, coupled with the efforts of the people and patriots of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mozambique, Portugal and East-Timor, led to the fall of the Portuguese colonial regime.