Released missionaries allege four massacres

The two missionaries released from prison in Mozambique this week allege that four massacres of Africans occurred there in 1971, two of them involving Rhodesian troops.
Speaking at a press conference in Madrid, Fr. Alfonso Valverde Leon and Fr. ,lartin Hernandez, both aged 30, who had spent 23 months in Laurenco Marques prison, confirmed the report smuggled to Fr. Adrian Hastings in July. All the massacres took place in the Mucumbura area of Mozambique between May and November, 1971 and about a hundred people were killed, the priests said.
The missionaries conducted burial services of those who died in the incidents and after each massacre had reported them to the Bishop of Tete, the Governor and the police chief, they said.
Fr. Hernandez added: "After arresting us the police did not ask us one question about the massacres." They were accused of aiding outlawed Frelimo guerillas.
1Vell treated themselves, though only allowed two hours out of their cells a day, the priests said at least 400 other prisoners "were locked in their cells for .1 or 4 months, then interrogated. Some were tortured until they 'confessed'."
Fr. Leon said he had asked Rhodesian troops after one massacre why they had done it and they replied in English: "Sorry, Father, we thought they were terrorists." They were told by lawyers that about 10,000 prisoners had been jailed since 1967.
The two missionaries, members of the Spanish Burgos Fathers, were arrested while visiting fellow priests in Rhodesia, taken to Salisbury for questioning then flown to Tete and handed over to the police. They had on them copies of a report of the Nlocumhere massacres, later published by Fr. Hastings.
Fr. Julio Moure, a Burgos Father who has been to Mozambique and is at present studying English in London, said he was not surprised at the statements about torture; he already anew it was practised there. He did not know whether the missionaries would visit Britain, but said: "I hope they will speak about their experiences a lot."
Ile said he was sure personally that the Portuguese government would do their best to get the 12 Spanish Burgos missionaries still in Mozambique to leave.
At about the time these alleged massacres occurred, a Catholic Herald correspondent, himself an African, was travelling between Malawi and Rhodesia. His story, "Bus Ride in Mozambique" appears this week on page 4.