Amilcar Cabral Announces National Assembly in Liberated Regions of Guinea-Bissau | Nov. 1972

Monday, November 6th 1972.

Footage of Amilcar Cabral, the Secretary-General of the Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Liberation Movement (PAIGC), announcing in Algiers, the objective of setting up a National Assembly in the liberated regions of Guinea-Bissau as a first step towards declaring the Portuguese colony an independent state. This, he envisaged, would be done by the end of 1972 or the beginning of 1973.

The announcement was made in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria where he also held talks with President Houari Boumedienne.

Cabral said elections were underway in Guinea-Bissau to elect representatives to fifteen "regional councils." He also displayed books prepared by the United Nations Children's Organisation for use in "liberated areas."

Footage: Reuters News Archive.

Song: "Unidade e Luta" ("Unity and Struggle").

Note:

1. Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (1924-1973), one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders, was an agricultural engineer, political organizer and theoretician.

2. He was assassinated on January 20th 1973, eight months prior to the unilateral declaration of independence by the Guinea-Bissaun liberation movement.

3. The location of Cabral's November announcement, Algeria, reflected that nation's reputation in the 1960s and 1970s as a haven for a multitude of national liberation movements as well as groups such as the American Black Panther organisation.

As Cabral himself wrote in the late 1960s:

"Pick a pen and take note: the Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Christians to the Vatican and the national liberation movements to Algiers!"