Independence movements in Mozambique Independence movements in Mozambique Groups interested in freeing Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule and making it an independent nation emerged in the early 1900s, shortly after Portugal had defeated the last of the native chieftaincies and established effective control over the territory. In 1920 or 1923, a government sponsored organisation, the Liga Africana was established in Lisbon for ""assimilados"" -- members of the tiny minority of Africans in the colonies who had been given citizenship status. Gibson states that "although it gathered together only some twenty African and mulatto intellectuals, [it] had significant repercussions in the colonies." Later, in Mozambique,
Victoria Falls Conference (1975) immediate handover to communist guerrillas. Brief, frenzied negotiations with FRELIMO in Mozambique preceded the country's independence on 25 June 1975; FRELIMO took power without contesting an election, while Samora Machel assumed the presidency. Now that Mozambique was under a friendly government, ZANLA could freely base themselves there with the full support of Machel and FRELIMO, with whom an alliance had already existed since the late 1960s. The Rhodesian Security Forces, on the other hand, now had a further of border to defend and had to rely on South Africa alone for imports. The second event was more surprising for the