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The struggle for independence

“Vade Retro domum” - “Nolo Relinquere”

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Cape Verde

“ Amid the contemporary African decolonization movement, their status was modified in
1951 to "overseas provinces," and their inhabitants were officially granted full Portuguese
citizenship in 1961. Not perceiving these changes as meaningful, however, some

members of the colonial population began to agitate for complete independence from
Portugal for both Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde. One such group, the African Party for

the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da
Guiné e Cabo Verde; PAIGC), was founded in Bissau in 1956 and headed by Amílcar

Cabral, a gifted revolutionary leader and theoretician. Its goal was to achieve
independence by using peaceful means of protest. In 1959, however, the Portuguese
responded with violence and arrests, which convinced the PAIGC that only a path of

armed struggle would be sufficient to end the colonial and fascist regime. After a period
of military training and political preparation, the PAIGC launched its armed campaign in

January 1963 and showed steady military progress thereafter. On January 20, 1973,
Cabral was assassinated, and later that year, on September 24, Guinea-Bissau declared

independence. “

"Cabo Verde - Struggle for Independence." 112
Encyclopedia Britannica.
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Eritrea
“ The Eritrean War of Independence was a conflict fought between successive Ethiopian

governments and Eritrean independence fighters from 1 September 1961 to 24 May
1991.

After the defeat of the Italians from Eritrea by the Allies in 1941, Eritrea became a British

protectorate until 1951. The General Assembly of the United Nations held a meeting
about the fate of Eritrea, in which the majority of the delegates voted for the federation of

Eritrea with Ethiopia, and Eritrea became a constituent state of the Federation of Ethiopia
and Eritrea in 1952.

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Eritreans were supposed to claim Eritrea as an independent sovereign state after the ten
years of federation. However, Eritrea's declining autonomy and growing discontent with

Ethiopian rule caused an independence movement led by the Eritrean Liberation Front
(ELF) in 1961. Hamid Idris Awate officially began the Eritrean armed struggle for