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Photo: O País
Between 20 and 25 July 1968, the Second Congress of the Liberation Front of Mozambique was held at the Matchedje Administrative Post in Sanga district of Niassa province. Today, 50 years have passed since that great meeting ended, and the Frelimo party gathered its members and sympathisers, veterans of the National Liberation Armed Forces among them, to celebrate the anniversary at the monument erected in memory of the event.
The ceremony, which was led by the President of Frelimo and of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, comprised the laying of flowers at the monument, composed of three pillars representing the three political formations that in 1962 joined forces as the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, each bearing the names of the delegates who participated in the 2nd Congress.
Then, the participants, including Filipe Nyusi, visited the interpretation centre where there is a permanent exhibition of the photos that illustrate the main moments that characterised the meeting as well as the speeches of Eduardo Mondlane, then president of Frelimo and who was re-elected in the meeting, congressional theses, resolutions and other important decisions.
The guided tour passed by the camp that in 1968 was erected in the place that at the time was a thick forest and without any infrastructure. In the place can be seen the huts where the leaders of the Front slept during the days in which the congress took place. The visit ended at the place where Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel talked in the intervals between sessions. There, current and former presidents Filipe Nyusi and Joaquim Chissano re-staged the photographs taken at the time.
The highlight of the celebrations was of a well-attended rally with speeches and cultural activities. On that occasion, Filipe Nyusi presented some of the former Frelimo leaders who had participated in the second congress, each giving testimony on those cold days in Matchedje in 1968. But he also a point of presenting the current leaders of Frelimo, beginning with members of the Political Commission, the Secretariat, Frelimo’s First Provincial Secretaries, and also the former President of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa, accompanied by a delegation from the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party.
In his address, Filipe Nyusi revisited July 1968 to recall the environment marked by the intense armed struggle for national liberation that, despite the danger of Eduardo Mondlane’s decision to organise the congress in Niassa in the liberated zones, was a clear sign of the objectives to be achieved. Nyusi pointed out that the decisions that were taken were crucial to the achievement of independence and the construction of the country. And today the same ideas should inspire us to continue to fight against the challenges facing the country, he said.
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“The invocation of the second congress cannot be seen as merely rhetorical, but as an aggregating commitment of different generations, bringing together a national ideal at the service of the sovereignty of the people and the development of the homeland. The ideals it sowed have overcome the dimension of time and endure because they are inscribed in the hearts of each one of us and will continue to be the guide to the edification of our beloved country.”
On the other hand, Filipe Nyusi wants the legacy of the second congress to serve also the cohesion and unity within the Frelimo party, in order to fortify its mission in the vanguard of the creation of the economic and social well-being of the Mozambicans.
“Embracing this memory means that each one of us redoubles discipline and obedience to the statutes, observing the orientations emanating from structures at various levels, and implies the humility and spirit of dedication that have always embodied Frelimo’s set of non-negotiable values. Like the decisions that came out of the second congress and with a single purpose, today nobody is as big as the party. Each of us, combatant, man, woman, youth, each one is a particle that composes this historic and glorious Frelimo party. Each militant should continue to draw inspiration from the real voice of the Mozambican people and grassroots. Our actions must meet the wishes and satisfy the concerns and aspirations of the people,” President Nyusi declared.
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