These nationalists were then arrested and many were tortured to death in prison. A driver for the PIDE-DGS admitted taking the bodies to be thrown into the sea. Two ex-commandos admitted having been present at the 1972 massacre of Winiyamu in Tete province, when hand grenades were thrown into a crowd of villagers. It took three days to bury the bodies." (P. 173) (The above passages are reproduced from lain Christie, Samora Machel, A biography, PANAF. An imprint of Zed Press Ltd. London and New Jersey (1989). MEETINGS I had meetings with the Minister of Justice, Jose Ibraimo Abudo, the Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Justice, Charles Almasso, the National Director of Prisons, Antonio Eduardo Munete, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior and officials of the Prison and Police Services. Summaries of some of the meetings follow. 15 December 1997 (b) Mozambicans value human rights. André Matzangaisse and Afonso Dhlakama would not deny this assertion. And it was for the promotion, protection and enjoyment of the rights of Mozambicans that Eduardo Mondlane, Marcelino dos Santos, Samora Machel, Joaquim Chissano, Alberto Chipande, Sebastiao Mabote and many others worked, fought and some of them died. From the home of Eduardo Mondlane in the then Lourenco Marques, now Maputo in 1961 through i he formation of Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique (Frelimo) in 1960_, the attainment of independence on 25 June 1975, the establishment of Resistencia Nacional Mocambicans (Renamo) and its conflict with the former, the General Peace Agreement in October 1992, presidential and legislative elections of 27-28 October 1994 to today the abiding concerns of Mozambicans have been the upholding of their dignity and their rights to self-determination and development. With these, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights identify very closely. (c) It was to contribute towards the realisation of these goals that the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Detention Centres in Africa visited Mozambique from 14 - 24 December 1997; a visit which took him to: Ministry of Justice (i)The Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Justice informed me that his Minister was in Parliament to seek apps in al of a budget which had increased allocation to prisons. As at all the mee(111.. I outlined the purpose of my mission within the context of the ACHPR and in mandate, always reminding my 16tenerc. or hosts that the Commission aims at achieving its objectives through &Mimic with States Parties. Director of the Prison Service (ii) At a meeting with the Director of the Prison Service under the Ministry of Justice on 16th December 1997 an idea was gained on issues such as prison population, the division of responsibility between the Ministries of Justice and Interior, detention of juveniles and women, health care, the judicial process, disappearances, discipline and punishment, remand, the state of prisons and plans for the future. Generally, questions and answers from me and by the Director respectively produced the account below. The Director also granted me written permission to visit places of detention which I had set out in my programme. (i) Maputo (Central Prison and Civil Pnson) (ii) Beira (Central Prison and Police Station) (iii)Nampula,(Prison and Police Station) (iv)Matola Open Prison (v) Xai-Xai (Prison and Police Station) and Macheva Prison. 8 The Director welcomed my visit, which like those of other international human rights organisations, he pronounced as necessary. Violations of human rights which Mozambique has been accused of, he explained, were the result of poor conditions in prisons and detention centres, and not the result of the lack of will to implement international standards. He stated that it was difficult to control how prison and police cells were managed because of the lack of means for regular monitoring and control of these institutions. 9