While serving his term, Sigauke was often able to obtain reading material. "I read about Washington and Jefferson," he said, "I had never heard of them before, but I did a let of thinking about what they were trying to do." In prison he also found a guard who would sneak him newspapers, and he read about James Meredith who he felt was "another American revolutionary."

When Sigauke was released from prison in April, 1964, the PIDE promptly rearrested him and "interogated" him for four more days at their headquarters. He was then released but kept under constant watch to prevent him from leaving the country. But last July, during a state visit to Mozambique by the president of Portugal, Americo Thomas, Sigauke slipped out of Lourenco Marques and across the border into Swaziland where he was met by Frelimo agents. A few days later Sigauke and his friends daringly recrossed the border and stood smiling in a crowd of African peasants as Amerigo Thomas rode past. "Of course we could have shot him," said Sigauke, "but why? He is an old man."

But Sigauke was by now too important to risk being captured. An English friend in Swaziland arranged for him to be driven, non-stop, across South Africa by Land Rover and into the Bechaunaland Protectorate. From there he crossed into Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and made his way to join the other Mozambican revolutionaries in Tanzania. There he became Frelimo's secretary for internal organization within Mozambique. Because of his knowledge of the secret police, he now directs the Frelimo agents within the country.

Despite his experience, Sigauke retains his original idealism. Frelimo will not engage in terrorism and the murder of civilians, he says, "not because it would give us a bad image, but because it is wrong." "We fear racism," he adds. "We have known long enough the miseries of division. You cannot expect us to want to continue them ourselves." As for the future, "there will always be a place for the white man in Mozambique," he says adding softly, "Portugal is a poor country, we cannot expect them all to stay at home."

Portugal is a poor country, and it cannot afford to maintain a lingering colonial war on several fronts for a long period of time--perhaps no more than five years. Although Frelimo's guerillas, who number only a few thousand, are far from constituting a major threat to the polished forces of the Portuguese, they do not have to seize large areas of land or fight major battles. Time is on the Africans' side. As long as the rebels can maintain forces in the field, they will be winning the battle.

John D. Gerhart '65-3 went on Project Tanganyika last year and visited Mozambique in July.