I welcome this opportunity to express my views about the situation in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau. I have long been concerned about U.S. policy regarding Portugal and the determined African nations fighting for their independence. Hopefully with the recent change in the Portuguese government a just settlement to this unfortunate situation can be achieved.

For the residents of metropolitan Portugal, April 25 promised the beginning of a new era in Portuguese history. Every aspect of life in Portugal may be reformed if the new government is committed to the development of programs that can reverse the inertia of the past decades. Portugal has been a faithful ally to all members of NATO, and she has loyally contributed to those efforts of our government that have been designated important for the interests of the United States.

Portugal's loyalty and friendship toward the United States clearly deserve continued attention from our government. However, Portugal's maintenance of three colonial territories in Africa has been a serious source of dismay both for her friends and for her antagonists. Unrelenting critics of the Portuguese policy in Africa demand immediate independence and self-determination for the millions of African citizens in those territories.

According to that view, nothing hort of an immediate pullout by Portuguese forces, and a full surrender of all properties to African control, will satisfactorily address the problem of Portugal's occupation of Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Angola.

The more moderate view held by the United States and many of Portugal's European neighbors suggests that Portugal must be nudged toward rapprochement with her colonies so that the shift to independence might be managed with a minimum of economic and political disruptions in the African systems.