Bulgarian Support for the Mozambique Liberation Front (1965–1974)

Bulgarian Historical Review, 52 (2024), No. 3-4, pp. 143-169
DOI:

Nadezhda Yankovska

Institute for Historical Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 52, Shipchenski Prohod Blvd., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8276-9205; E-mail: n.yankovska@abv.bg, n.yankovska@ihist.bas.bg

Abstract: The article traces the development of relations between the People’s Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) and the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) during the latter’s armed struggle against the Portuguese colonialists. The specific forms of Bulgarian aid, as well as the mechanisms of its implementation, have been studied. Attention is paid to the motives of the Eastern Bloc for supporting the Front – in the context of the Cold War and in accordance with the Soviet policy toward Africa during the Brezhnev era. The results of the given assistance are also presented, including its significance for the official Bulgarian-Mozambican relations after 1975. The study claims that up to the end of 1974, FRELIMO absorbed the largest share of the total amount of Bulgarian aid provided to the movements in sub-Saharan Africa to fight against colonial forces – mostly in the form of weapons and ammunition. Since there is a lack of in-depth scientific research on the Bulgaria-FRELIMO relations in the period before Mozambique’s independence, the main part of the article was built using the Bulgarian Communist Party’s available documents in the Central State Archives of the Republic of Bulgaria (Fund 1B), including secret party decisions. Published Russian documents from the Soviet era, as well as those of the US Department of State (FRUS), were also used.

Keywords: FRELIMO, Mozambique, People’s Republic of Bulgaria, national liberation movement, Lusophone Africa, free aid

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