Word: bissau
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...took Portugal more than 500 years to acquire its African empire-and less than six months to get rid of most of it. Last week Portuguese Guinea formally received its independence under the name of Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique was granted a black-dominated government. Angola alone of the old empire remains under full Portuguese control, largely because Lisbon does not know to whom it should hand over the keys of government...
...dignitaries looking on, Portuguese Foreign Minister Mario Scares last week took a historic step for the world's oldest empire. He signed an agreement in Algiers granting independence to the 600,000 people of the West African territory of Portuguese Guinea, henceforth to be known as Guinea-Bissau. It was the first official move by Portugal to give independence to its African territories, which have been racked by guerrilla war; Angola and Mozambique will be next. And it came four months and a day after a coup in Lisbon paved the way for the end of the 500-year...
From the balmy streets of the Mozambique capital of Lourenço Marques on the Indian Ocean to the jungles of Guinea-Bissau on the Atlantic to the porticoed halls of Lisbon's presidential palace, the news announced last week by Portuguese President Antonio de Spinola was for the most part greeted with shouts and demonstrations...
...Guinea-Bissau (3,000 whites, 500,000 blacks) is the smallest problem. It will be the first territory to be given independence. The nationalist African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (P.A.I.G.C.) declared a republic last year, which is now recognized by 80 countries, including the Soviet Union. Portuguese authorities said that Lisbon will almost certainly recognize the existing government...
...Spinola, 64, the announcement climaxed a long struggle of conscience that began in 1968 when, as a brigadier general, he served in Guinea-Bissau as commander and military governor. After returning home to a hero's welcome last year, he wrote a controversial book, Portugal and the Future, in which he argued that there was "no viable military solution" to the problem of the colonies and that continuation of the war would "irremediably compromise the survival" of Portugal. The book became an instant bestseller, and Spinola was fired as deputy chief of the armed forces. A few weeks later...