An important but surprisingly neglected player in the history of the struggle for independence in the African Portuguese colonies is the Conferencia das Organizacoes Nacionalistas das Colonias Portuguesas (CONCP), an umbrella organisation uniting the Partido Africano da Independencia da Guine e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), for Guinea Bissau, the Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA), for Angola, the Frente de Libertacao de Mocambique (Frelimo), for Mozambique and the Movimento de Libertacao de Sao Tome e Principe (MLSTP), for Sao Tome e Principe. Founded in Casablanca in 1961, the CONCP was not a participant in military action, but it strengthened the movements' ideological cohesion and international diplomacy. Its most controversial goals were perhaps the settlement of internal divisions among the nationalists of Angola and Mozambique and the endorsement of the MPLA and Frelimo as the sole legitimate liberation movements in their countries. To this end, it also established a strategic relationship with specific nationalist movements in southern Africa opposing the white minority regimes and with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Liberation Committee. After its second conference, held in Dar es Salaam in 1965, the CONCP intensified its pressures to secure the MPLA and Frelimo exclusive recognition and support by the OAU, but it was successful only in the second case.
