 The bulk of its members were drawn from Makonde workers who had witnessed pro-independence rallies in British-ruled Tanganyika.In September 1964, FRELIMO commenced an armed insurgency against the Portuguese.Its decision to take up arms was influenced by a number of internal and external factors, namely the recent successes of indigenous anti-colonial guerrilla movements in French Indochina and French Algeria, as well as encouragement from contemporary African statesmen such as Ahmed Ben Bella, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Julius Nyerere.