African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 511: Chapter 189 Negotiation

”Mediation?” Ernst was only slightly surprised, but immediately, as expected, said: ”The development of the situation is more or less as we anticipated, it’s just that the British can’t sit still even though the war situation isn’t clear yet.”

Constantine asked with some concern, ”Are we really going to have a truce with Portugal?”

In Constantine’s view, Angola and Mozambique are already within reach, and to let go at this moment would be too painful.

Ernst understood Constantine’s thoughts. He himself wanted to take Portugal’s two colonies in one fell swoop, but now clearly wasn’t the time.

”There’s no way we can swallow Portugal’s two colonies whole this time. If it were just a dispute between us and Portugal, it wouldn’t matter, but this war is actually a reflection of the conflict between us and Britain. So, the British will definitely safeguard Portugal’s two colonies, as they need the Portuguese to contain our development in East Africa.”

Seeing his son say this, Constantine understood the logic behind the issue, but still felt unwilling and said, ”We cannot let the Portuguese off the hook this time. We need to make them bleed heavily to show other countries that provoking us has consequences, even with British protection.”

Ernst quite agreed with this point. The British wanting a truce now is acceptable, as East Africa doesn’t mind anyway. However, if the Portuguese don’t offer satisfactory compensation, then it can’t just go according to what the British say.

”For the two colonies, we must at least carve out a large chunk and not favor one over the other, so that East Africa’s territories appear more balanced.” Ernst was determined to handle Portugal with some rigor.

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East Africa quickly agreed to the war mediation, which greatly surprised the British. They were used to behaving domineeringly, so by their thinking, one should set conditions before accepting mediation. Was East Africa, as the advantageous party, really without demands?

Of course, that couldn’t be the case, but the initiative was in East Africa’s hands. Whether to cease the war at all depended on East Africa’s will. What couldn’t be captured on the battlefield couldn’t be gained at the negotiating table either, so East Africa planned to state conditions during negotiations, which was a display of complete confidence.

Soon, East Africa and Portugal began negotiations in the city of Dar es Salaam under the supervision of the four countries: Britain, France, Germany, and Austria.

The negotiation location was the former Zanzibar Palace, which had long been converted into a place to receive foreign guests in Dar es Salaam.

”We want all of Angola and half of Mozambique!” East African Army Chief of Staff Sivert immediately gave Portugal a shock.

In reality, according to East Africa’s war progress, most of Angola was still under Portuguese control, but important areas, including the capital Luanda, were in East African hands. Except for Cabinda, most of what remained were Portuguese plantation and mine owners in Angola, who posed no real threat in East Africa’s eyes. After all, the Angolan government had fled to Cabinda, and these civilian forces were even less capable of opposing East Africa.

”General Sivert, you East Africans are too extreme. We can’t agree to your conditions. Angola is an indivisible part of the Kingdom of Portugal,” protested Portuguese representative Adis.

In his view, East Africa’s demands were entirely unacceptable. Angola and Mozambique were arguably the two most important current colonies of Portugal, indispensable. East Africa coming in and demanding Angola and half of Mozambique, how could Portugal possibly bear it?

The British representative Hel sided at this point: ”East Africa’s demands are indeed excessive. The war hasn’t ended, and it’s still uncertain who will prevail. The Portuguese might still turn the tide.”

The representatives participating in the negotiations all gained a new understanding of Britain’s shamelessness. Could Portugal hope to turn the tide in its half-dead state? Unless Napoleon were reborn, maybe.

Sivert ignored Hel’s shameless remarks and said: ”The strength of East Africa is very clear to everyone here. If we wanted to wipe out Portugal’s two colonies from the map by force, it’s only a matter of time. Participating in the negotiations is merely for the face of the International Community.”

If it weren’t for British and French interference, East Africa wouldn’t bother with this game with Portugal and would have sent a regular army to take the two colonies straight away.

Hel said: ”Angola and Mozambique have indeed erred initially, but it shouldn’t lead to such harsh treatment of Portugal. Both sides should return to the pre-war status!”

You big-headed ghost! Sivert said with a smile: ”Mistakes must bear consequences, especially since the Portuguese clearly had prior intentions towards East African territories. This time, the Portuguese military clearly overextended themselves beyond their capabilities. As I understand, the Mozambican military previously had no more than a few thousand troops at most, but suddenly ballooned to sixty or seventy thousand before the war, clearly receiving aid from foreign forces.”

Sivert’s pointed remarks left Britain and France, whose interventions were implied, rather embarrassed.

But Britain and France, with thick skins, wouldn’t mention their meddling in the East-Portuguese War. Hel chimed in: ”No matter what, Portugal is an old power with capabilities. It’s entirely understandable for Portuguese colonies to strengthen their own armed forces, especially with some coveting Portugal’s two colonies nearby.”

Listening to Hel’s words, Sivert’s mouth twitched. East Africa indeed harbored ill intentions towards Portugal’s two colonies, but it wasn’t East Africa that started this war. It was Mozambique that handed over the excuse for war on a silver platter.

”East Africa is a peace-loving nation, always developing friendly relations with neighboring countries. But this time, Portugal provoked first, and some countries waged war unannounced, which hardly befits the label of a civilized nation. Such actions only invite ridicule.”

Sivert’s words embarrassed the Portuguese representative. But Portugal did indeed disgrace itself this time—failing even a sneak attack against East Africa—and if it didn’t handle the war properly, it might replace Italy as the new joke internationally.

Adis spoke: ”Indeed, we were at fault for this war, but this was all a misunderstanding...” Adis didn’t know how else to cover it up, so he could only use misunderstanding to mask his awkwardness.

”Alright, let’s all take a step back. Portugal made the first mistake, so of course, there must be punishment, but we shouldn’t be overly harsh on Portugal. Let’s synthesize our opinions and then decide on compensation,” the French mediator suggested.

The German and Austrian representatives naturally sided with East Africa, believing Portugal should bear the consequences of its mistakes. Otherwise, where would international justice be? East Africa might not know if international justice exists, but with enough power, what it says naturally becomes international justice.

After several rounds of bargaining, East Africa secured compensation of one-third of southern Angola and land north of the Zambezi River in Mozambique.

Although Britain and France wanted to preserve Portugal’s two colonies, the war Portugal waged this time was so poor that even Britain and France couldn’t negotiate with the Germans.

Moreover, during the negotiation period, East Africa launched several large-scale military actions, constantly pressuring Portugal, making it very uncomfortable, ultimately having to cede land for peace. Otherwise, the two colonies might truly become history.

Having lost so much territory, Portugal’s heart bled with hatred towards East Africa, despite being the initial provocateur. This further solidified its stance with Britain.