Relations of Neighbourliness – Malawi and Portugal, 1964–74

Robert D'a Henderson

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00002056

Relations of Neighbourliness – Malawi and Portugal, 1964–74

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Robert D'a Henderson

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In 1967, the Portuguese Foreign Minister spoke of relations with Malawi as ‘that kind of mutual respect which ensures good neighbourliness, cordial relations and constructive cooperation’1. Yet, throughout the ten-year period from July 1964 to September 1974, the dominant political issue in Southern Africa had been the armed struggle for political rights between African liberation movements and the white-minority régimes. Within this context, the boundary between Malawi and Portuguese East Africa became part of the dividing line where the independent black African states met the white-dominated régimes. This article seeks to explore the pressures for both conflict and cooperation which were continuously being felt by Malawi and Portugal. Despite their substantial ideological differences over where political power should reside, both countries were drawn together because of their geography, Malawi being dependent upon the transportation facilities in Mozambique for an outlet to the Indian Ocean.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , September 1977 , pp. 425 - 455

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00002056 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

^{page 425 note 1} Nogueira, Franco, Portuguese Foreign Policy, 1965–1967 (Lisbon, 1968), p. 124.Google Scholar

^{page 425 note 2} Hughes, Anthony, ‘Malawi and South Africa's Co-prosperity Sphere’, in Červenka, Zdenek (ed.), Land-locked Countries of Africa (Uppsala, 1973), pp. 212–32Google Scholar; McMaster, Carolyn, Malawi: foreign policy and development (London, 1974)Google Scholar; Short, Philip, Banda (London and Boston, 1974)Google Scholar; Speck, Samuel W. Jr, ‘Malawi and the Southern African Complex’, in Potholm, Christian P. and Dale, Richard (eds.), Southern Africa in Perspective: essays in regional politics (New York, 1972), pp. 207–18Google Scholar; Grundy, Kenneth W., Confrontation and Accommodation in Southern Africa: the limits of independence (Berkeley, 1973)Google Scholar; and Nolutshungu, Sam C., South Africa in Africa: a study in ideology and foreign policy (Manchester, 1975).Google Scholar

^{page 426 note 1} Shaw, Timothy M., ‘Southern Africa: co-operation and conflict in an international subsystem’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), XII, 4, 12 1974, p. 635Google Scholar, and ‘The International Sub-System of Southern Africa: introduction’, in ̂ervenka (ed.), op. cit. pp. 161–4.

^{page 428 note 1} Hance, William A. and van Donglin, Irene S., ‘Beira: Mozambique gateway to Central Africa’, in Annals of the Association of American Geographers (Washington), 47, 4, 12 1957, p. 309.Google Scholar

^{page 428 note 2} Banda, H. K., Republic Celebrations Speeches, July 1970 (Blantyre, 1970), p. 9.Google Scholar But ‘Nyasaland's external trade is hardly sufficient to justify even one railway [Beira-Blantyre], let alone several’, according to the Federal Government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in The Issue of Nyasaland's Secession (Salisbury, 1962)Google Scholar, C. Fed. 231, p. 47.

^{page 428 note 3} See Malawi Government, Statement of Development Policies, 1971–1980 (Zomba, 1971), pp. 3, 7, 62, and 67.Google Scholar

^{page 428 note 4} Republic of Portugal, International Conference on Central African Transport, May 24th-31st, 1949 (Lisbon, 1949), p. 30.Google Scholar

^{page 429 note 1} See Nunes, António José, Desenvolvimento e subdesenvolvimento: O Caso de Moçambique (Lourenço Marques, 1974), pp. 101–3.Google Scholar

^{page 429 note 2} Nogueiro, Franco, ‘Foreign Minister Holds Press Conference in Lisbon on April 9, 1964’, in Portugal. Information Bulletin (London), III, 4, 04 1964, pp. 1–2Google Scholar; also see Secretaria Provincial de Comunicação, Moçambique. Comunicaçoes, 1970–1973 (Lourenço Marques, 1974).Google Scholar

^{page 429 note 3} Chipembere, Henry B. Masauko, ‘Malawi's Growing Links with South Africa – a Necessity or a Virtue?’, in Africa Today (Denver), XVIII, 2, 04 1971, p. 33.Google Scholar Chipembere appears to have confused the date (February 1962) when it was agreed that Banda should visit Lisbon for talks, with the actual date (20 June 1962) when this took place. See ‘State of Malawi’, in The Economist (London), 7 July 1962, p. 19.

^{page 429 note 4} See Short, op. cit. p. 234.

^{page 429 note 5} Banda, , Celebrations Speeches, July 1970, p. 9.Google Scholar

^{page 429 note 6} Nyasaland Times (Blantyre), 5 Aug. 1961, quoted by Short, op. cit. pp. 181 ff.

^{page 430 note 1} Chipembere, loc. cit. p. 34.

^{page 430 note 2} Banda, Aleke K., ‘Broad View of the Country's Economy’, in New Commonwealth (London), 3, 1970, pp. 13–14.Google Scholar

^{page 430 note 3} Statement of Development Policies, p. 67.

^{page 431 note 1} Press Communiqué of the Government of the Republic of Zambia; quoted in Some Portuguese Documents on the Question of Rhodesia (Lisbon, 1966), p. 15.Google Scholar

^{page 431 note 2} ‘Railways and the Country's History in Parallel Growth’, in New Commonwealth, 3, 1970, p. 22; and ‘Malawi’, in I.M.F. Surues of African Economies, Vol. IV (Washington, 1971), p. 224.Google Scholar

^{page 432 note 1} Recent newspaper reports have documented the extent to which Rhodesian foreign trade continued to utilise Mozambique's transit facilities during this period. See Martin, David, ‘Rhodesia Loses More than Half of its Trade’, in The Observer (London), 14 03 1976.Google Scholar

^{page 432 note 2} Dated 3 February 1967, in Nogueira, op. cit. p. 93.

^{page 432 note 3} Quoted in Africa Contemporary Record, 1971–72 (London, 1972), p. B456.

^{page 432 note 4} de Carvalho, Henrique Martins, ‘Relações diplomáticas de Portugal com os paises e territórios vizinhos de Moçarnbique’, in Moçambique: Curso de Extensão Universitária (Lisbon, 1965), pp. 313–14.Google Scholar

^{page 432 note 5} Nogueira, op. cit. p. 124.

^{page 433 note 1} Source: Nunes, op. cit. p. 102 also see Ultramarino, Banco Nacional, Boletim Trimestral (Lisbon), 82/83, 1970, pp. 334–7, and 92, 1972, pp. 44–7.Google Scholar 1 Conto = 1,000 Escudos.

^{page 433 note 2} The I.D.C. is a semi-autonomous agency created by the 1940 South African Government ‘to the end that the economic requirements of the Republic may be met’, according to the 1974 Handbook of IDC (Johannesburg, 1975), p. 7.Google Scholar A condition of the loan was that South Africa was to be given preference for the necessary technical skills and materials, when these were not locally available.

^{page 434 note 1} Source: Malawi News (Blantyre), 30 March 1974.

^{page 434 note 2} Celebrations Speeches, July 1970, p. 14; see also ‘Malawi’ in African Development (London), June 1972, p. 90.

^{page 434 note 3} Mozambique Harbours, Railway, and Transport Administration, Mozambique Harbours and Transport (Lourenço Marques, 1971), p. 22.Google Scholar

^{page 434 note 4} Statement of Development Policies, p. 70.

^{page 434 note 5} It is possible that this additional rail link had only been a proposal by Banda and not a planned extension, since the official Malawi rail policy is for ‘investment to be concentrated in the improvement of the permanent way (particularly the section Balaka to Salima), telecommunications systems, and acquisition of additional locomotives and rolling stock’, according to ibid. p. 68. It should also be noted that the Portuguese Government was interested in improving the roads between Malawi and Mozambique, and to this end made its first foreign loan to an independent African country. According to the Malawian Minister of Finance, Banda, A. K., ‘the Government of Portugal has stated that it will provide a loan of up to £2·5 million for the construction of a new tarred road from Blantyre, via Chikwana, to the Malawi/Mozambique border’. Malawi Hansard (Zomba), 19 03 1970, p. 340.Google Scholar

^{page 435 note 1} President Kaunda, Kenneth stated that ‘Smith has deceived us twice. We will not be deceived again. The Government of the Republic of Zambia has announced the permanent abandonment of the southern routes for all Zambian imports and exports’, in A Challenge to the Nation: zambia shall beat the blockade (Lusaka, 03 1973), p. 7.Google Scholar

^{page 435 note 2} Young, John, ‘Interview with President Banda’, in The Times (London), 30 06 1973.Google Scholar

^{page 435 note 3} Kaunda, , A Challenge to the Nation, p. 16.Google Scholar

^{page 435 note 4} As a result of port congestion at Dar es Salaam in 1973, there was renewed Zambian interest in Banda's offer: ‘Zambia Warms to Malawi Rail Plan’, in The Guardian (London) 23 Feb. 1973. For an earlier Zambian consideration of the offer, see African Development, Oct. 1971, p. 4. After Banda's visit to Lusaka in January 1975, the Zambian Government agreed to a survey of the proposed route: A.F.P. Inter-African News Survey (Paris), 10 Jan. 1975.

^{page 437 note 1} Colonial Office, Report of the Nyasaland Commission of Inquiry (London, 1959), Cmnd. 814, p. 13.Google Scholar

^{page 438 note 1} Chipembere, loc. cit. p. 30.

^{page 438 note 2} Report of the Nyasaland Commission of Inquiry, p. 32.

^{page 438 note 3} Banda, H. K., OAU Conference in Cairo: Address of Heads of State (Blantyre, 07 1964), p.8.Google Scholar

^{page 438 note 4} See Short, op. cit. pp. 179–83.

^{page 438 note 5} Ingalls, Leonard, ‘Mozambique Fear Caused by Angola’, in The New York Times (New York), 18 06 1961.Google Scholar

^{page 439 note 1} Lessing, Pieter, ‘Portugal Guards Mozambique’, in Christian Science Monitor (Boston), 19 03 1963Google Scholar, and Only Hyenas Laugh (London, 1964), pp. 132–4.

^{page 439 note 2} After the seaborne attack on Conakry in 1970, the vulnerability of Dar es Salaam made the Tanzanian Government more concerned about the possibilities of such a threat being carried out. See Dobert, Margarita, ‘Who Invaded Guinea?’, in Africa Report (New York), XVI, 3, 03 1971, pp. 16–18Google Scholar, and U.N. Security Council Documents S/10009 and Add. I, 5 December 1970.

^{page 439 note 3} Chipembere, loc. cit. p. 33.

^{page 439 note 4} Lee, J. M., African Armies and Civil Order (London, 1969), p. 26.Google Scholar

^{page 439 note 5} See Foltz, William J., ‘Military Influence’, in McKay, Vernon (ed.), African Diplomacy: studies in the determinants of foreign policy (London, 1966), pp. 71–2.Google Scholar

^{page 440 note 1} The Issue of Nyasaland's Seccession, p. 60.

^{page 440 note 2} See Malawi Government, Mid-Year Review, 1971–72 (Zomba, 10 1971), pp. 25–7Google Scholar, and Table 3 below.

^{page 440 note 3} Banda, H. K., Address to the National Assembly of Malawi (Blantyre, 09 1964), p. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 440 note 4} Mondlane, Eduardo, The Struggle for Mozambique (Harmondsworth, 1969), pp. 138–9.Google Scholar

^{page 441 note 1} Tanganyika Standard (Dar es Salaam), 16 November 1964.

^{page 441 note 2} ‘Confirmation of the War’, in Africa Today, XII, 5, November 1965, pp. 7–8. In 1967, several more Portuguese patrol boats were transported to Lake Malawi to block this infiltration route, according to Salisbury Radio, 30 September 1967–cited in the B.B.C. Survey of World Broadcasts, ME/2584/B/6.

^{page 441 note 3} Quoted in McEwen, A. C., International Boundaries of East Africa (Oxford, 1971), p. 194.Google Scholar

^{page 441 note 4} See ‘Gunboats Shelled on River and Lake’, in East African Standard (Nairobi), 20 January 1973. The Malawian Government provided fuel for a Portuguese boat patrolling the northern part of Lake Malawi, according to Munger, Edwin S., ‘Trading with the Devil’, in American Universities Field Service Reports: Central and Southern Africa Series (Washington), XIII, 2, 10 1969, p. 15.Google Scholar

^{page 441 note 5} An editorial in the Malawi News, 28 December 1964, accused Tanzania of training the exiles to lead an invasion, but the T.A.N.U. Government denied this in the Tanzania Standard, 31 December 1964.

^{page 441 note 6} See Rocha, Nuno, Guerra em Moçambique (Lisbon, 1975), p. 121.Google Scholar

^{page 442 note 1} Mayall, James, ‘The Malawi–Tanzania Boundary Dispute’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, XI, 4, 12 1973, p. 620.Google Scholar

^{page 442 note 2} Ibid. p. 616.

^{page 442 note 3} Rhodesia Herald (Salisbury), 7 July 1966, cited in African Research Bulletin – Political, Social, Cultural (Exeter), III, 1966, p. 576A.

^{page 442 note 4} Malawi News, 4 July 1967, quoted by Speck, loc. cit. p. 217.

^{page 442 note 5} ‘Malawi Survives a Squall’, in Africa Confidential (London), 23, 17 November 1967, p. 6. Also see Richardson, Henry J., ‘Malawi: between black and white’, in Africa Report, XV, 2, 02 1970, p. 18Google Scholar; McMaster, op. cit. p. 122; and Short, op. cit. p. 303.

^{page 443 note 1} Banda, H. K., His Excellency the Life President's New Year Message to the Nation, 1973 (London, 01 1973), p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 443 note 2} Mayall, James, ‘Malawi's Foreign Policy’, in The World Today (London), XXVI, 10, 10 1970, p. 443.Google Scholar

^{page 443 note 3} ‘Lisbon Denies Clash with Freedom Fighters’, in Sunday Post (Nairobi), 6 May 1973. Also see Nolutshungu, op. cit. pp. 204–5, and Colvin, Ian, ‘South Africa Gives Aid to Banda’, in Daily Telegraph (London), 3 12 1971.Google Scholar

^{page 444 note 1} Source: Malawi Government, Annual Economic Reports, 1966–75.

^{page 444 note 2} Foltz, loc. cit. p. 85. Such a situation occurred in Zaïre when a G.R.A.E. unit mutinied at an Angolan guerrilla training base in 1972, according to West Africa (London), 31 March 1972, p. 404.

^{page 444 note 3} Rhodesia Herald, 12 November 1966, cited in African Research Bulletin – Political, Social, Cultural, III, 1966, p. 666c.

^{page 444 note 4} Ibid. 3 November 1971, cited in Africa Digest (London), IX, 1, February 1972, pp. 17–18.

^{page 445 note 1} ‘Malawi Survives a Squall’, loc. cit. p. 6.

^{page 445 note 2} ‘Malawi Helps Portugal to Fight Frelimo’, in Sunday News (Dar es Salaam), 21 February 1971.

^{page 445 note 3} Hoagland, Jim, ‘Lake Watch by Portuguese Officers’, in The Guardian, 19, 08 1971.Google Scholar

^{page 445 note 4} Lee, op. cit. p. 13.

^{page 445 note 5} I am grateful to Richard Hodder-Williams for clarifying this point. For a discussion of the disturbances at Mangochi, see his ‘Dr Banda's Malawi’, in Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics (Leicester), XII, 1, March 1974 pp. 108–9.

^{page 445 note 6} Dodd, Paul, ‘Southern African Guerrillas Cut Road Links’, in Christian Science Monitor, 7 12 1971.Google Scholar See also Henderson, Robert D'A, ‘Cabora Bassa: who will benefit during the construction phase?’, in Culture et développement (Louvain), IV, 2, Autumn 1972, pp. 327–54.Google Scholar

^{page 446 note 1} Source: Malawi, 1972 (Blantyre, Malawi Information and Broadcasting, 1973), pp. 41; and 44.

^{page 446 note 2} ‘SA Arms for Banda: He Asked for Military Aid’, in Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg), 4 December 1971, and ‘Cars for Banda's Troops’, in The Guardian, 8 December 1971.

^{page 447 note 1} ‘Army Strength to be Doubled’, in Agence France Presse (Paris), 1 August 1972, and ‘Malawi’, in Barclays International Review (London), September 1972, p. 23.

^{page 447 note 2} Algerian Press Service (Algiers), 25 October 1971, cited in African Research Bulletin – Political, Social, Cultural, VIII, 1971, p. 2264A.

^{page 447 note 3} ‘Malawi: Wooing OAU?’, in Africa (London), 16, December 1972, p. 43. But Malawi had been absent from the June 1972 O.A.U. Summit Meeting in Rabat, giving the reason that the agenda contained colonial issues which had already been discussed – African Research Bulletin – Political, Social, Cultural, IX, 1972, p. 2497A.

^{page 447 note 4} ‘Malawi Border Battle Cools’, in The Star (Johannesburg), 5 May 1973, and ‘Malawi and Portugal Deny Border Clash’, in Sunday Times of Zambia (Lusaka), 6 May 1973; also see ‘Malawian Press’, in Africa Confidential, XIV, 14, 6 July 1973, p. 8.

^{page 448 note 1} White, Matthews, ‘Malawi: Banda's Achilles Heel’, in Financial Times (London), 14 12 1972Google Scholar; and Leguin, Colin, ‘Banda Quarrels with Lisbon’, in The Observer, 17 12 1972.Google Scholar

^{page 448 note 2} Loudon, Bruce, ‘Frelimo in War for “Heartland”’, in Daily Telegraph, 11 02 1974.Google Scholar

^{page 448 note 3} See ‘Frelimo Opens a New Front (Manica e Sofala District)’, in Mozambique Revolution (Dar es Salaam), 52, July–September 1972, pp. 1–2.

^{page 449 note 1} Jardim, Jorge has recently written Mozambique: Terra Queimada (Lisbon, 1976)Google Scholar, which includes a Section on his perceptions of Malawi-Portuguese relations and his rôle in them.

^{page 449 note 2} Burgess, Julian, ‘Banda Sets Out to Repair the Fences’, in African Development, 10 1975, p. 85.Google Scholar

^{page 450 note 1} Banda, OAU Conference in Cairo, op. cit. pp. 11–12.

^{page 450 note 2} See ‘Lisbon Quits ILO Meeting’, in Daily News (Dar es Salaam), 22 July 1973, and ‘South Africa and Portugal Kicked Out of [International Telecommunications] Union’, in Times of Zambia (Lusaka), 4 October 1973. But voting for resolutions which could adversely affect Portugal did not necessarily gain Frelimo's support for Banda's Government.

^{page 451 note 1} Banda, H. K., ‘Malawi and the Change of Government in Portugal’, in Malawi High Commission Newsletter (London), 4A, 06 1974, p. 1.Google Scholar

^{page 451 note 2} Young, Gavin, ‘Tycoons Plot Private War against Frelimo’, in The Observer, 21 07 1974.Google Scholar

^{page 451 note 3} ‘Lisbon Break with Malawi over Consul's Activities’, in The Times, 25 July 1974; also see Legum, Colin, ‘Mad Mike Hoare Arives to Fight Frelimo’, in The Observer, 4 08 1974.Google Scholar

^{page 452 note 1} McMaster, op. cit. p. 120.

^{page 452 note 2} Nogueira, , Portugal Information Bulletin, 04 1964, p. 4Google Scholar; also see the press conferences given by Nogueira of 3 June 1964 (Lisbon), and 29 September 1964 (Luanda).

^{page 452 note 3} Machel, Samora, ‘The Proclamation of Independence’, in Mozambique Revolution (Lourenço Marques), 61, 07 1975, p. 14.Google Scholar

^{page 452 note 4} ‘Foreign Policy’, in ibid. (Dar es Salaam), 51, April–June 1972, p. 27.

^{page 454 note 1} See ‘Malawi Socialist League, 1974’, in Review of African Political Economy (London), 4, November 1975, pp. 101–3.

^{page 454 note 2} In April 1974, Banda suspended the recruitment of labour for the South African mines after 75 Malawians died in an aeroplane crash in Botswana on their way home at the end of their contract period.

^{page 455 note 1} One clause of these agreements takes into account the possibility that other African countries might wish to co-operate in ‘mutually advantageous undertakings’, according to Denman, Della, ‘Mozambique and Tanzania set up Co-operation Commissions’, in Financial Times, 9 09 1975.Google Scholar Also see Avirgan, Tony, ‘Machd Turns to Nyerere’, in The Guardian, 04 1976.Google Scholar

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