UN General Assembly
1988

We expect that the consensus reached at the Ad Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean establishing 1990 as the date for the convening of the Colombo Conference will be respected. We must therefore start acting now with vigour so as to ensure its success. The sacrifices our people have made in order to defend our freedom and independence are truly enormous. Despite the generalized campaigns of terror and the crimes committed against our people, despite the destruction of social and economic infrastructures, the Mozambican people remain undeterred in the defence of their motherland and in the building of a future of peace, progress and happiness. It is in the search for attaining such goals, which ate much cherished not only by our people but also by the whole world, that we have been treading on such a hard and difficult path for about a quarter of a century.