ABSTRACT
Up to 1965 the achievement of independence of African colonies was a relatively peaceful affair. Political organizations and parties were the vehicle for demands for independence, supplying the leadership, legitimacy, and support for the independence struggles. The revolutionary soldier rarely regards the military organizations as a discrete and formally separate part of the revolutionary movement. The revolutionary soldier is an integral part of the movement; he does not demand autonomy but rather seeks to be an instrument of mobilization. Colonialism in Mozambique was initiated in 1500, when Portugal, interested in commercial activities in the interior and the establishment of refreshment and strategic posts on the coastline, settled a small number of Portuguese in the area. After the 1926 coup, Portugal attempted to draw Mozambique closer to its economic orbit, with Mozambican development premised on the Portuguese need for raw materials and for a market for Portuguese goods.
