President Yoweri Museveni has hailed the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) for playing an instrumental part in building the capacity of FRONASA which later enabled it to liberate Uganda.
Museveni said that FRELIMO helped train and shape the 1970s rebel group Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) that he led, which became the foundation of Uganda’s liberation army, NRA, and current UPDF.
Formed in 1972 by Museveni, FRONASA, a unit of the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) fought Idi Amin alongside Tanzanian forces.
Museveni is in Mozambique for a state visit where he held bilateral talks with his counterpart, President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi on Wednesday as well as signing cooperation agreements in areas of trade, defence and tourism.
In the capital Maputo where Museveni addressed a session of Maputo Municipal Council Thursday evening, he was bestowed upon the highest honour of the Key of Maputo City.
But Museveni said that his trip to Mozambique is partly to pay tribute to FRELIMO and the people of Mozambique for their significant role in making FRONASA.
“FRELIMO greatly helped Uganda build a national liberation army that dismantled tribal and sectarian based post-independence armies including the defeat of tyrants,” Museveni said in a statement on Friday.
He went on to say that “Ugandans should not forget, let alone underrate or take for granted this contribution”.
According to Museveni, the successes registered by the Ugandan army including defeating Somali terrorist group, Al-Shabaab is partly attributed to the support rendered by FRELIMO.
He paid tribute to FRELIMO leaders, especially Comrade Samora Machel, “for their unwavering efforts in the fight for the independence of Mozambique”.
“They not only achieved freedom for Mozambique but also engineered and motivated other African freedom fighters in countries that were still colonised,” Museveni said.
He equally lauded former Tanzanian President, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere regarding his as a “positive post-independence leader” that stood for patriotism and Pan-Africanism as opposed to politics of tribe and religion.
“Nyerere’s foresightedness drove him to openly support FRELIMO and also backed Ugandan fighters to train in Mozambique so as to fight the Idi Amin dictatorship”.
Museveni said that these historical ties must be strengthened through economic cooperation between Mozambique and Uganda, using trade.
FRELIMO was founded in 1962, having begun as a nationalist movement fighting for the independence of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique.
As a party, it has ruled Mozambique since the attainment of Independence, first as a one-party state and later after the 1990 constitution which ushered in multiparty dispensation, as a political party system.
Since the 1994 elections, FRELIMO has been elected as the majority party in the parliament of Mozambique.
