Testimony on Mozambique

Extract

Mozambique is a territory of approximately 300,000 square miles, bounded on the East entirely by the Indian Ocean, on the North by Tanzania and on the West and South by Malawi, Zambia, Rhodesia, Swaziland and the Republic of South Africa. Of the total population of ±7,000,000, there are perhaps 80,000-90,000 Portuguese left, 35,000 mulattoes, and 25,000 East Indians, Pakistanis and Chinese. Of the Black population, the largest ethnic groups are the Makua-Lomwe, perhaps 2,500,000 in the Center-North, the Shona, 1,600,000 strong in the Center, and the Thonga, about 1,300,000 in the South. The population is divided religiously between the Moslems North of the Zambezi River and the Christian or Pagan South. Mozambique, unlike Angola, is still overwhelmingly rural and tribal, and knowledge of the Portuguese language is not widespread outside the urban centers. Additionally, the Portuguese population of the territory, in contrast to Angola, has always been predominantly made up of either peasants or functionaries of the government or of Metropolitan Corporations. Thousands of these have left in the past year. In any case, the entrepreneurial spirit was largely lacking.