The Portuguese Massacre of Wiriyamu in Colonial Mozambique, 1964-2013

In his in-depth and compelling study of perhaps the most famous of Portuguese colonial massacres, Mustafah Dhada explores why the massacre took place, what Wiriyamu was like prior to the massacre, how events unfolded, how we came to know about it and what the impact of the massacre was, particularly for the Portuguese empire.

Spanning the period from 1964 to 2013 and complete with a foreword from Peter Pringle, this chronologically arranged book covers the liberation war in Mozambique and uses fieldwork, interviews and archival sources to place the massacre firmly in its historical context. The Portuguese Massacre of Wiriyamu in Colonial Mozambique, 1964-2013 is an important text for anyone interested in the 20th-century history of Africa, European colonialism and the modern history of war.

“The result of a decade of scrupulous and original research, [this book] is a precious contribution to the history of Portuguese late colonialism … Dhada’s work both expands and perfects historical knowledge and method. It serves as a powerful corrective to old and contemporary mystifications about the colonial modi operandi … Its content clearly exposes the previous flawed accounts, revealing their superficial, speculative, and second-rate research.” – American Historical Review

“While he has assiduously made his way through a mass of archival and other written sources, the pre-eminent original contribution of this book is the material gathered from interviews with survivors of the killings and others who had been in and around Wiriyamu at the time. These include a perpetrator who, penitent in the decades after the event, provides testimony that strengthens the case for official culpability.” – English Historical Review

“Mustafah Dhada’s important and idiosyncratic book … [is an] essential document that provides extensive lists of sources, records of census results and of the recovered names of the victims, and a roster of the individuals who provided personal testimony about one of the worst atrocities of the liberation war in Mozambique." - The International Journal of African Historical Studies

“The book is written in engaging and accessible prose … [A] valuable addition to the history of war and counterinsurgency in Mozambique … Dhada has written an indispensable account of the Mozambican war for independence.” - Journal of Military History