Portuguese commander denies massacres

By a Special Correspondent
The military commander of the Inhaminga area of Mozambique has denied in a newspaper interview, printed in Johannesburg; that his troops played any part in alleged massacres or executions in the Portuguese territory.
Colonel Rubi Marques admitted that innocent people had died in military action in Mozambique's guerrilla war, but he denied that there had been any cold-blooded killing by the army.
His denial followed claims by Dutch missionaries that earlier this year troops in the lnhaminga area, which lies north of Beira, the capital, massacred at least 200 Africans, tortured prisoners and burnt down villages. In a memorandum published in Holland, the missionaries said some prisoners were hung by their feet during interrogation and African children were given electric shock torture to obtain information about Erelimo guerrillas.
A correspondent for the Johannesburg paper, The Rand Daily Mail, said that when he showed newspaper reports of the massacre allegations to the colonel, he replied: "This is like fiction."
Portugal's military junta has promised an inquiry into the allegations made by ,the five Dutch missionaries. The Rand Daily Mail also quoted the Vicar-General of Beira, Fr Jose de Sous. as saying that 22 Africans were killed by the army in the lnhaminga district on April 26, the day after Portugal's new military junta came to power.
_ Fr de Sous said his news of the killings had come from army chaplains.
Meanwhile, reports from lnhaminga said that about half the town's population had sent a telegram to the Portuguese junta rejecting the massacre allegations.
The telegram, signed by 555 men, said the armed forces in the area were being "callously slandered" by foreign priests who had recently left the district because of disagreements with the local population.