AFRICAN WEEKLY NOTES PORTUGUESE GUINEA: AMILCAR CABRAL PLANS NEW GUERRILLA INITIATIVES

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06954142
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: July 13, 2023
• Document Release Date: November 7, 2022
• Case Number: F-2018-01460
• Publication Date: September 1, 1972

Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142
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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
African Weekly Notes
7-Top-Secret-
39
September 1972
Sc No. 09819/72
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
1 September 1972
African Weekly Notes
� CONTENTS.
Page
Portuguese Guinea: Amilcar Cabral Plans
New Guerrilla Initiatives
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Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142
Portuguese Guinea
I /e/4
Amilcar Cabral, leader of the African Party
for the Independence of Portuguese Guinea and the
Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC), is preparing major
new political initiatives in his movement's ten-
year-old guerrilla war against Portuguese forces.
In recent statements to various journalists during
an extended foreign tour, Cabral has indicated that
the struggle has entered a new stage. During this
stage his movement will declare an independent state
comprising all of Portuguese Guinea and the Cape
Verde Islands and the creation of an independent
government resident inside Portuguese Guinea.
r-- The exact timing depends on the completion of
preliminary steps now under way. One press account
from Cairo reports Cabral as saying the independence
declaration would come shortly, but similar rumors
during the last year have proved premature. The
circumstances and venue of any proclamation will
no doubt be carefully chosen for maximum propaganda
impact. Cabral's supporters in the United Nations
could try to take his case to the General Assembly
this month.
A prerequisite to any proclamation of a non-exile
government was an independent verification of the
claim that his group controls part of Portuguese
Guinea--a claim hotly denied by Lisbon--and oper-
ates government services such as schools and hos-
pitals.
1 September. 1972.
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UN committee, meeting
in Conakry, Guinea, followed with a resolution
stating that the PAIGC was the "only and the au-
thentic" representative of the people of Portuguese
Guinea and urged the United Nations and its spe-
cialized agencies to consider this in dealing with
the people of that territory.
Cabral's present concern is to ensure that,
when .PAIGC announces a government, that body will
be regarded by at least a substantial nuMber of
nations as legitimate and democratically based.
Cabral has 'claimed on several recent occasions
that an election of representatives to a popular
national assembly is under way among residents
within the "liberated" areas. It will be this
assembly's task to organize and proclaim the new
government
These new political moves, designed in large
part for propaganda impact, are an important part
of the over-all pressure by which Cabral hopes to
force Lisbon to negotiate a favorable settlement
on Portuguese Guinea- Cabral does not expect to
defeat Portugal decisively on the battlefield, and
he has reiterated his willingness to negotiate.
Lisbon, however, is not interested in negotiations
at present,. and' the declaration of an independent
republic is not likely to chaTitle this attitude.
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1 September 1972
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TOP SECRET
Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142
Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142
Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142
Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142
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Approved for Release: 2022/09/21 C06954142