VICE President, Cde Kembo Mohadi, is in Luanda, Angola, ahead of his visit to the Boma Shrine in Moxico Province scheduled for this Tuesday, where more than 300 ZIPRA guerrillas’ remains were interred in a mass grave after the 1979 attack.
The Vice President Mohadi touched down at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda Sunday evening and was received by Zimbabwe’s top envoy to Angola, Ambassador Thando Madzvamutse, Angola’s representative to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Baltazar Diogo Cristovao, and Angola’s Secretary of State for Administration and Finance, Osvaldo Dos Santos Varela.
He is accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Omphile Marupi, and the Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK) Chief Executive Officer, Ambassador Kwame Muzawazi.
Vice President Mohadi’s visit attests to the commitment between Harare and Luanda to strengthening the existing bilateral relations, which date back to the period of the liberation struggle.
After Angola attained its independence from Portugal in 1975, it offered ZIPRA rear training bases for specialised training.
More than 4 000 ZIPRA cadres were trained by Cuban and Angolan instructors before the camp was bombed by the Rhodesian racist regime on February 26, 1979.
The attack was a retaliatory mission after ZIPRA forces downed two Viscount planes in Victoria Falls and Kariba.
More than 300 guerrillas, including eight locals and three Cuban military instructors, lost their lives in the attack.
The visit is part of the Second Republic’s efforts to erect a befitting shrine at the site of the attack, symbolising its appreciation of the sacrifices made and Angola’s role in Zimbabwe’s struggle for freedom.
Vice President Mohadi is also expected to meet the Vice President of Angola, Mrs Esperança da Costa, and MPLA Vice President, Mrs Mara da Silva Qiosa, before touring the Museum of the Armed Forces.
