DECOLONIZATION THROUGH ARMED STRUGGLE
Decolonization through armed struggle is the form of decolonization which involves the use of force or bloodshed. Example of the countries which used this form were Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, etc. It involved the use of military armies or guerrilla warfare against colonial government when peaceful negotiations failed. Other examples, Cape Verde, Algeria, Kenya, etc.
CAUSES FOR THE ARMED STRUGGLE FOR THE INDEPENDENCE
There were various conditions had made colonial powers reluctant to grant independence to the colonized people. It was due to this reluctance that Africa ns opted to use violence to attain their freedom. At the beginning Africa ns tried to use peaceful means but their efforts were suppressed by colonial power, thus opting the armed struggle as the only alternative left for them.
The following are the factors which made Africa ns in Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Guinea – Bissau, Kenya, Algeria and others to achieve independence through armed struggle.
i. The presence of many settlers in a colony (settlers dominated colony). The settlers had invested heavily in the colonies and had to safeguard their investment by preventing their mother countries from granting independence to Africa ns. For instance, in Zimbabwe the decolonization process was complicated by the dominance of settler element in the colonial economy.
The settlers sealed all hopes of peaceful transition to independence when Ian Smith unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (UDI). He banned political parties and imprisoned their leaders. The Africa n nationalist resorted to armed struggle as the only alternative to achieve meaningful independence. This has been the same as the settler attempt to snatch power in Kenya by 1923 which was stopped by minister for British colonies through Devonshire white paper.
ii. The colonial policy that governed a colony (type of colony). For the colonies which were treated by the colonizers as crown lands and overseas provinces could not by any means get independence without the use of armed forces. The Portuguese regarded their colonies as their overseas territories where they could obtain raw materials and markets for their goods. such conditions made Europeans reluctant to grant independence peacefully.
iii. Big investments and ambitious projects in the colonies. In several colonies, some Europeans engaged themselves in large scale agriculture and in mining activities. Hence, they were not able to sacrifice their investments easily. Elsewhere Europeans had constructed ambitious projects such as ports, railways, roads, cities, etc. These included Laurenco Marques (Maputo) in Mozambique and Lobito. There was also a railway line built from Rhodesia to Lurenco Marques. Under such circumstances Europeans were not ready to grant independence, thus Africa ns forced to use barrel of fun to expel them.
iv. International support from big capitalist and imperialist powers. The colonies which were rich in precious minerals such as gold, diamonds, uranium, etc enjoyed support from capitalist powers. This was due to the fact that the big power benefited from the resources in the colonies. Since most of the economic project belonged to Anglo – American monopolies. They owned mines, plantations, banks, etc whose capital they wanted to protect.
v. Banning of political parties in the colonies. The colonial governments hindered political and nationalist advancement by banning political parties and imprisoning its leaders. Under such circumstances, African nationalist were forced to operate outside their territories. For example, several nationalist organizations in Mozambique shifted their headquarters to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania towards the end of 1961 and merged to form the front for the liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) under Eduardo Mondale.
The nationalist leaders in Zimbabwe started to organize freedom fighters from Zambia and Tanzania at the end of 1972. example of political parties which were banned are NDP (1961), ZANU (PF) (1962) ZANU and PCC (1964) etc. which crated a room for the Africa n to embark on armed struggle.
vi. Assassination of nationalist leaders and their followers. Liberation through armed struggle was also facilitated and motivated by the tendency of assassinating the nationalist leaders applied by the colonialist and their agents. For instance, Eduardo Mondale who led liberation movement in Mozambique was assassinated by a parcel Bomb in Dar es Salaam in 1969. Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau who led the national liberation war against the Portuguese was assassinated in Conakry Guinea in 1973.
Steve Biko a South Africa n anti - apartheid activist was assassinated by Boers in south Africa in 1974, and Chriss Han in 1993 respectively. Massacre of people also brought armed struggle for independence. For instance, P.A.C in south Africa n launched a massive campaign against pass law. They made peaceful demonstrations in 21st March 1960 against pass law in Sharpeville in Transvaal. The sixty-nine of them in cold blood. Sharpeville massacre marked the end of peaceful protest in south Africa. It then dawned on the Africa n nationalist leaders, the only course left for liberation of the oppressed majority was armed struggle against violent minority regime.
vii. Rise of militant leaders. In the liberation struggle among African after the second world war, there was a rise of a group of leaders in the nationalistic parties, who saw that armed struggle was the best way to eliminate colonialism in their countries. E.g. Dean Kimathi, General China Maumau in Kenya, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, etc.
viii. The economic position of the colonizers. The colonial powers which lacked capital were reluctant to grant independence since the colonies were the only source of their survival. For example, Portugal was the most backward European power which lacked capital and forced to cling onto its colonies and exploit them most cruelly.
The Portuguese introduced harsh taxes to force their subjects to obtain African labourers for various sectors of economy and built of the basic infrastructure. Lack of home industries made the Portuguese to depend on their colonies for production of cash crops which they sold them to industrialized powers like America. The Portuguese failed to cope with Neo – colonialism which could enable them to exploit their colonies while at Europe. They were therefore forced to remain physically in their colonies and thus forcing African to use armed struggle to remove them.
Problems experienced during armed struggle
i. Lack of fund. The freedom fighters faced a problem of funds, because they needed funds to purchase weapons, food, medicine, and other military communications. The limited fund delayed the price of weapons of guerrilla welfare.
ii. Absence of frontiers. Armed struggle needed frontiers and volunteers who were ready to sacrifice their life for liberation. In most cases, people feared to commit themselves to the armed struggle type of fighting. This situation in fact delayed the development of armed struggle.
iii. Lack of modern weapons. African freedom fighters possessed poor weapons compared to colonial government. The colonial government used modern weapons such as jet fighter, war tanks, etc. while Africans freedom fighter used land guns which could not compete with European weapons.
iv. Lack of military training. The nationalist fighter faced problem of military training. The freedom fighters did not get serious training bases for launching of attacks. This is because some African states feared to get involved in the confrontation with colonial power.
v. Assassination and arresting of freedom fighters. The colonial government never allowed the African to win independence. Many freedom fighters were killed by colonial government. For example, the Portuguese colonial government plotted and implemented the assassination of Eduardo Mondlane by a Parcel Bomb in 1969 in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.
Lack of unity among the African. The imperialist national divided the Africa ns and support some group. This weakened the attaining of independence. E.g. UNITA in Angola got support from U.S.A and Boers. This retarded MPLA from achieving independence early.
