Cwr on EAST AFRICA If She Can Look up to You Shell Never Look Down on Herself

cwr ON EAST AFRICA If she can look up to you shell never look down on herself.

<& 1965, The Coca-Cola Company JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1988 AMERICA'S VOLUME 33, NUMBER 1 LEADING MAGAZINE cBFRICfl ON AFRICA

A Publication of the (REPORT African-American Institute

Letters to the Editor Update The Editor: Andre Astrow African-American Institute Chairman Uganda Randolph Nugent Ending the Rule of the Gun 14 President By Catharine Watson Donald B. Easum Interview with President Yoweri Museveni IK By Margaret A. Novicki and Marline Dennis Kenya Publisher The Dynamics of Discontent 22 Frank E. Ferrari By Lindsey Hilsum Editor-in-Chief Dealing with Dissent Margaret A. Novicki Tanzania Interview with President Ali Hassan Mwinyi Managing Editor 27 Alana Lee By Margaret A. Novicki Acting Managing Editor Politics After Dodoma 30 Daphne Topouzis By Philip Smith Assistant Editor Burkina Special Report Andre Astrow A Revolution Derailed 33 Editorial Assistant By Ernest Harsch W. LaBier Jones Ethiopia On Famine's Brink 40 Art Director By Patrick Moser Joseph Pomar Advertising Director Eritrea: The Food Weapon 44 Barbara Spence Manonelie, Inc. By Michael Yellin (718) 773-9869. 756-9244 Sudan Contributing Editor Prospects for Peace? 45 Michael Maren By Robert M. Press Interns Somalia Joy Assefa Judith Surkis What Price Political Prisoners? 48 By Richard Greenfield Comoros Africa Reporl (ISSN 0001-9836), a non- 52 partisan magazine of African affairs, is The Politics of Isolation published bimonthly and is scheduled By Michael Griffin to appear at the beginning of each date period ai 833 United Nations Plaza. Education New York, N.Y. 10017. Editorial corre- Innocents Abroad 56 spondence and adverdsing inquiries 1 should be addressed lo Africa Report. Another Famine: By Colleen Lowe Morna at the above address. Subscription Page 40 rates: Individuals: U.S.A. $24. Canada Letter from Harare $30. air rate overseas $48 Institutions: U.S.A. $31, Canada $37, air rate over- A City on the Front Lines of War 59 seas $55. Second-ctass postage paid By Andreiv Mcldrum at New York, N.Y. and al additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: If this Culture magazine is undeliverable, please send notice to Africa Report at the A Jewe! in the Smithsonian's Crown 62 above address. Telephone: (212) 949- By Howard French 5666. Copyright c. 1988 by the African- American Institute, Inc. "Sarafina!": The Music of Liberation 65 U.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by FOUR STAR News Distributors. Inc , By Daphne Topouzis 3117 12!h Street. Long Island Cily. New York 11106. Books 67 Photo Credit: The cover pho- tograph was taken in eastern Uganda by Catharine Watson. Mbaqanga Magic 1987 Index 68 Page 65 Decolonizing the Western Sahara to the process of decolonization and the about 200, 000 soldiers, and according to illegal occupation of the territory which observers, Morocco spends about $3.8 To the Editor: are the underlying issues in the Western million just for the daily maintenance of Thank you for your informative ar- Saharan conflict. As long as Morocco its trmps. ticle, "Africa's Forgotten War," by Jon continues to skirt the major issues and Third, by building such "walls," the Marks (September-October 1987). We the obstacles are not removed, it is hard Moroccan military has become a fixed are pleased with the balanced coverage to conceive of a lasting solution to the target for the Sahrawi army, allowing of the Western Saharan war from both conflict. the latter to attack anytime, anywhere. sides of the conflict and welcome the Last, the "wall strategy" is an expensive reversal of Morocco's policy of prohibit- Madjid Abdullah one, therefore leaving the advantage to ing visits by the press and other officials Office of the Sahrawi Republic the liberation movement since the latter to the territory. This demonstrates an Washington, D.C. opts for war of attrition. act of goodwill on the part of the Moroc- By reading the article, I see many cans to resolve the conflict. To the Editor: similarities between South Africa and Recently, the Moroccan government As a regular reader of your magazine, Morocco. Both regimes are challenging allowed a UN technical mission to visit allow me to congratulate you for the ob- the international community by refusing the occupied territory in preparation for jectivity with which you cover African to implement United Nations and OAU a cease-fire and referendum as man- events. resolutions. Like any other occupying dated by UN and OAU resolutions. This force, they deny the reality and the contrasts with the experience of the wishes of their peoples. They believe Swedish UN ambassador, Olof Ryd- that the use offeree is the best and only beck, who was declared persona non way to solve conflicts. And South Africa grata when he led a similar mission to T etters to and Morocco are the only two African the disputed territory on behalf of then the countries which are not members of the Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim in OAU due to the incompatibility of their 1976. E ditor policies with the OAU charter. With regard to a UN-supervised ref- Mr. Marks refers to the "apparently erendum, Mr. Marks' article quotes widespread popular approval of the war King Hassan as saying that if the Sahra- within Morocco." This reminds me of a wis voted for independence, "We will be recent interview given by King Hassan the first to open an embassy in their The article, "Africa's Forgotten in which he said: "The only political pris- capital and offer help." Although Mo- War," by Jon Marks, illuminates the nat- oners we1 have in Morocco are the ones rocco seems prepared to compromise in ure of the presence of the Moroccans in who said that Sahara is not Moroccan." order to solve the problem and is offer- the Western Sahara, which is one of oc- In other words, disapproval means ing "some form of olive branch," the ob- cupation. In the article, there is mention prison. stacles to a fair and free referendum still of the Moroccan "wall strategy" as a As a poor Third World country, Mo- exist. United Nations Secretary-Gen- "success." On this point, I would like to rocco should use its resources for the eral Javier Perez de Cuellar referred to make the following observations: development of its people instead of car- the presence of Moroccan troops and First, history has proven that this rying out a colonial war at the end of the administration during the referendum as strategy always fails, as was the case in 20th century—a luxury it cannot afford. the major obstacles to a settlement. Vietnam, Algeria, etc. Second, since In the government of Morocco's let- the strategy of the "walls" began, Mo- ter in response to Mr. Marks' story in rocco has had to double its occupation Ruben Fraser your last issue, there was no reference army in the Western Sahara, now at Silver Spring, Maryland

Africa Report welcomes comments from its readers on issues raised in the magazine and on matters relating to African political and economic development. For reasons of space, a contribution sent in the form of a letter to the editor stands a much greater chance of publication than one submitted as an article. Letters should be as brief as possible, normally between 100 and 400 words. The editor retains the right to abridge or otherwise alter letters for reasons of space or other editorial requirements. It is editorial policy to maintain a balance of views on controversial issues. All letters to the editor should bear the name and address of the sender. Requests for anonymity and non-divulgence will be respected, but such a requirement may render the letter less likely to be published.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 N THE NEWS

South African kidnap plot was until recently a major in the sanctions-busting operations—in remains shrouded in South African special forces. return for having helped to effec- mystery Frank Larsen was the key orga- tively neutralize the Seychellois On July 9. when British police nizer of the group in Britain, having opposition. first arrested Frank Larsen in the speni several years winning the In spite of the incriminating mate- lavatories of a central London hotel confidence of Seychellois opposi- rial brought together before the while on a routine homosexual sur- tion leader Pierre Ferrari, and hav- court. Attorney General Sir Patrick veillance operation, they had little ing convinced him that his merce- Mayhew suddenly decided to drop reason to suspect that they hadaeei- naries would help organize a Brit- the case against the four men in late dently stumbled across a bizarre ish-backed invasion to overthrow October, allegedly because of a lack and complex undercover affair that the Rene government. But as it of evidence. He attempted to dis- would later threaten to put Marga- turned out. Larsen and his accom- tance the British government from ret Thatcher's lory government plices were merely setting up the the plot by claiming that the docu- into real hot water. But after more Seychellois opposition, so thai once ments were forgeries and that none than six months of trying to untan- the ANC members had been kid- of the men worked for the British gle the convoluted tale—involving a napped, all suspicion would lead in security services. South African plot to kidnap promi- Iheirdirection. The police, however, admitted nent members of the African Na- that among the mass of forged docu- tional Congress and a scheme by ments Frank Larsen had in his pos- London-based exiles to overthrow session, there were some genuine Seychelles President Alherl Rene's ones, including some that were clas- government—embarrassing suspi- sified. How he gained possession of cions of British complicity remain, them was never answered. Kven af- together with a trail of other unan- ter Larsen was hurriedly deported swered questions. As one police of- to Norway, he continued to main- ficer put it. "A Smiley novel looks tain that he had been working for dead simple after this." British intelligence and that now the Following Larsen's arrest, the government had simply "left him police raided his home and found out in the cold." thousands of documents, forged Speculation has increased thai passports, British government clas- the Crown was forced to abandon silied papers, and military manuals. the case after the defense threat- There, they also unearthed the mak- ened to produce embarrassing evi- ings of an intricate plot to kidnap 10 dence implicating the British au- leading ANC members, including thorities. In any case, there is con- Solly Smith, the group's chief repre- siderable evidence that the British sentative in London. Details of a security services knew that Frank planned coup attempt in the strate- Larsen and Wheatley were posing gically vital Seychelles were also as British army officers and plotting uncovered. Rene: The target of a convoluted plot to overthrow the Rene government lour men were originally ar- If the plan had succeeded, Ferrari as far back as September 1986. but rested and charged with conspir- and other opposition leaders would did nothing to stop them. acy: Frank Larsen. a Norwegian have had their credibility destroyed Although the suspected complic- whose real name is Vigo Oerhak; and possibly have found themselves ity of British and South African in- John Larsen. who claimed to be his accused of kidnapping and murder. telligence will probably never be son, but who is also a Norwegian For the South African government. fully revealed, the possible embar- called Hans Christian DahL Jona- such a scenario would have allowed rassment caused the Thatcher gov- than Wheat ley, a former British it to score a double success. The ernment if the trial had gone ahead paratrooper; and Evan Dennis kidnappings would not only have probably explains why the Attorney Kvans. a former officer who served greatly set back the ANC's struggle General did not even charge Larsen in Rhodesia and worked for the against apartheid, but also enabled and his associates with the lesser of- South African special forces. A fifth Pretoria to improve its standing fenses of impersonating British man was Johann Niemoller. Lar- with the Rene government—a army officers, possession of forger- sen "s South African controller, who much-needed strategic ally for ies, and illegal documents. •

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 7M- Liat debacle leaves Momoh the Afro-Lebanese community that request of U.S. authorities, arising in limbo had developed under former Presi- from charges of counterfeiting When Israeli businessman Shab- dent Siaka Stevens. Liat, a company checks. In pursuing extradition pro- tai Kalmanowitch was arrested in with strong South African and Is- ceedings for both men, the FBI al- Britain on fraud charges last May, it raeli lies, had already gained enor- leged they had falsified checks caused President Joseph Saidu Mo- mous influence in Sierra Leone worth $10 million, having already nioh's government a great deal of since Momoh came to power in drawn $1.4 million on the National embarrassment. But the scandal 1985. Intact, before Kalmanowitch Bank of North Carolina, while an- also has long-term repercussions ran into his current legal predica- other $1.6 million was being depos- that could seriously affect the bal- ment, Liat seemed poised to super- ited in Kalmanowitch's New York ance offerees in Freetown. cede Lebanese businessman Jamil account when they were detained. Momoh, who had come to place Said Mohamed—once the most Kalmanowitch, who maintains his great faith in his close friend powerful and feared man in Sierra innoeence, was released on bail Kalmanowitch—managing director Leone—as the country's economic pending extradition. of the controversial Liat Finance broker. Meanwhile, news of the scandal Trade and Construction Ltd—saw Kalmanowitch and his long-time was a serious blow to the Momoh him as the key to breaking the politi- business associate, William David- government, which had expected cal and commercial stranglehold of son, were arrested in London at the Liat to use its mining and import- export expertise to help revamp the economy—particularly in the coun- The uranium trade: All try's key diamond industry. In- roads lead to Khartoum's stead, it only fueled speculation that black market Liat—with its extensive business Foi" the growing number of Third interests in Israel and South Af- World nuclear states seeking to se- rica—was ideally placed to serve as cretly acquire the necessary materi- a sanctions-busting operation. As als to make their own atomic Africa Confidential pointed out, bombs, there is no place like Khar- Liat would be able to import South toum, according to a recent British African goods into Sierra Leone, re- television documentary. "Dis- label them, and export them as Si- patches: The Plutonium Black Mar- erra Leone produce. Such an ar- ket." The trade in enriched uranium rangement would have been espe- allegedly began in the 1960s to fur- cially relevant for the lucrative ther Israel's secret nuclear projects, diamond market since both coun- and in later years, other burgeoning tries are major exporters. nuclear states such as South Africa, Jamil, who virtually ran the dia- Argentina, and Pakistan clandes- mond industry under Stevens, has tinely bought materials on the black had troubles of his own recently. Mahdi: Knows oiKhartoum's uranium trade market in Khartoum. i Since the aborted coup attempt Interest in the underground net- rity officer who had provided details against Momoh by former anti- work again resurfaced in August of the alleged uranium trade for the smuggling squad chief Gabriel Mo- 1987 when Sudanese authorities television program. Kabashi re- hamed Tennyson Kaikai in March, seized S.8 lbs. of uranium which had vealed that Israeli agents were still Jamil has been living in London apparently been smuggled into active on the black market, having with a price on his head and a war- Khartoum from an unidentified Af- bought highly enriched uranium in rant out for his arrest. Although rican country. At the lime. Prime the past year, while poorer quality prosecutors at the trial of the 16 al- Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi acknowl- material had likely been sold to leged plotters had claimed Jamil edged the existence of a black mar- Libya. Iran, and Iraq. helped finance the operation, he has ket in nuclear materials and pointed Former CIA Director Adm. vehemently denied any involve- out that a kilogram of uranium could Stansfield Turner, who also ac- ment and claims that the authorities sell for $3 million in the capital. knowledged the existence of such a had full knowledge of the arms and But Mahdi soon reversed his black market, said he believed the ammunition police subsequently stance. In early November, he de- uranium is generally stolen from found at his home. nied that Khartoum was a uranium reprocessing plants in Western Eu- The accusations made against trade center and disclosed that labo- rope's civil nuclear industry and him, says Jamil, are merely a way ratory tests revealed that the confis- sold in Khartoum. The Sudanese for the government to divert atten- cated substance was not uranium. government has yet to respond to tion from the embarrassing Liat de- The Independent of London re- these charges, but did resurrect a bacle. But with both Jamil and Liat ported that the Sudanese govern- top-level committee that had been presently out of the picture, the ment subsequently arrested Capt. set up earlier in 1987 to investigate question is: To whom will Momoh Assem Kabashi, a former state secu- the issue. • turn now'.' •

AFRICA REPORT* January-February 1988 I JUTE CHAD COTE d'lVOIRE SOUTH AFRICA The Reagan administration con- President Felix Houphouet- A major reshuffle took place re- firmed in early November that it Boigny, who has long viewed dia- cently in Umkhonto we Sizwe—the would go ahead with its controver- logue and not sanctions as the vehi- military wing of the African Na- sial decision to sell 24 Stinger anti- cle for change in South Africa, tional Congress (ANC)—which aircraft missiles and seven openly broke ranks with most Afri- may signal the beginning of a more launchers to President Hissene Ha- can countries in early November by aggressive guerrilla campaign by bre's government, as part of a $2 granting South African Airways the exiled organization. Political million deal which will significantly (SAA) full traffic rights through commissar Chris Hani was named enhance Chad's military strength. Abidjan's Port Bouet airport. to replace Joe Slovo. who resigned As a result, Chad becomes the first Although South African planes as chief of staff of Umkhonto we African country to officially obtain have been discreetly refueling in Sizwe in March 1987 todevote more the sophisticated shoulder-held, Cote d'lvoire for years, months of time to his new duties as South Afri- heat-seeking weapons, although the secret negotiations between top- can Communist Party general sec- U.S. has furnished Stingers clan- level government delegations pro- retary, while Steve Tshwete, a destinely to Jonas Savimbi's Unita duced the controversial arrange- former founder and activist of the rebels in Angola. ment that will now enable SAA to United Democratic Front, was Until now, France has been the load and unload cargo as well as elected to fillHani' s earlier post. main supplier of arms to the Habre passengers in Abidjan. Fresh South Both Hani and Tshwete are mili- government and has provided African fruit has generally been tants who are said to have consider- Chadian troops with air cover in its found in abundance in the open-air able popular support among South war with Libya. But the sale of markets of Abidjan—despite an offi- African youths. Hani served in the Stinger missiles suggests that the cial ban on goods from Pretoria— ANC's internal underground for a Reagan administration is now pre- but the upgrading in air links should number of years in the 1960s, and pared to play a more active role in effectively end any trade restric- survived several assassination at- the region, despite growing con- tions with the apartheid regime. tempts by South African agents. gressional concern that the weap- Tshwete was sentenced to 15 years ons are becoming too widely availa- imprisonment in 1964 for belonging ble and could wind up in hostile POLITICAL to Umkhonto we Sizwe. hands. POINTERS MAURITANIA MOZAMBIQUE SWAZILAND Troops loyal to President Secret contacts between Jerusa- King Mswati III established a Maaouya Sid Ahmed Ould Taya lem and Maputo over the past two special three-man tribunal in mid- thwarted the most serious coup at- years have produced a potential November to clear the way for a tempt yet against the three-year-old breakthrough in diplomatic rela- treason trial of a dozen Swazi lead- government, arresting 51 people in tions, as Mozambican President ers, including former Prime Minis- Nouakchott in late October. The Joaquim Chissano's government ter Prince Bhekimpi Dlamini, three plotters—most of them army offi- has reportedly agreed to allow Is- cabinet ministers, and several mem- cers drawn from Mauritania's rael to start a $1 million agricultural bers of the royal family who were black, non-Arab minority—had al- project in Zambezia province. The arrested last May. Prince Bhekimpi legedly planned a bloody takeover undertaking, involving the conver- and former Labor Minister Prince to put an end to the discrimination sion of an abandoned 86.000-acre Phiwokwakhe Dlamini face trial on that has made them second-class cotton plantation into a food crop- charges of high treason and sedi- citizens in their own country. producing farm, would allow Israel tion. Another cabinet member, Nat- Among those detained were to distance itself from the Pretoria- ural Resources Minister Mhambi former director of national security Renamo axis and step up its efforts Mnisi. failed to return from a visit Capt. Djibril Diop, believed to have to renew diplomatic links with the abroad following reports that he too masterminded the coup attempt, subcontinent's other African states. would be detained. and Capt. Sy Bocar, deputy direc- Chissano recently hinted that his Since the death of King Sobhuza tor of Taya's military cabinet. government's position toward the II in 1982, the country has been Former Interior Minister Col. Anne Jewish state had been altered by Is- plagued by political in-fighting Amadou Babaly was also arrested raeli moves to impose limited sanc- among factions of the Dlamini fam- for complicity, although he denied tions against Pretoria and assur- ily seeking to control the Supreme having been party to the plot. Three ances that it no longeraids Renarno. Council of State, the Liqoqo. The people were subsequently sen- But more importantly, improved re- young king returned home for a pre- tenced to death in early December lations could allow Mozambique to mature enthronement in April 1986 following a mass trial at Jreida mili- use Israeli influence to soften South in an effort to end the power strug- tary base, north-west of Nouak- Africa's support for the rebels, and gle, and later disbanded the Liqoqo chott, while many others received isolate right-wing lobbyists calling and dismissed Prince Bhekimpi. long prison terms with hard labor. on the U.S. to back Renamo.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 UP'JJt AFRICAN OUTLOOK Ben Ali tackles reforms in post- Bourguiba Tunisia When Prime Minister Zine el- about to go on trial. While the new government ruled Abidine Ben Ali announced that he When Ben Ali also got wind of out early elections, newly named had deposed President-for-Life Ha- Bourguiba's plan to dispense with government officials promised bib Bourguiba in a cleanly executed his services and to appoint Minister greater political and press freedoms coup in early November, there was of Education Mohamed Sayah as in the months to come. Baccouche a sigh of relief among Tunisians that his new prime minister, he put the said the government "was deter- the country's long-awaited political coup's wheels in motion. After con- mined to make pluralism a reality," transition had been so smooth and sulting with loyal supporters, he and that even Muslim fundamental- efficient. While there may have rounded up a dozen government ists might be allowed to carry out been some regret that the 84-year- leaders, including Sayah and Trans- political activities as long as they re- old president had not departed with port Minister Mansour Skhiri, and mained within the law. Leaders of greater dignity, the deterioration of had them placed under house ar- the main legal opposition parties, Bourguiba's mental faculties had rest. But as Hedi Baccouche, the the Social Democratic Movement seemingly left Ben Ali with no op- new prime minister put it, the ar- (MDS) and the Tunisian Communist tion but to put an end to his increas- rests were merely a "prophylactic Party (PCT), conferred with the ingly erratic rule. measure." president, and were subsequently On the day of the palace coup, In the aftermath of the coup, Ben allowed to have their party newspa- Ben Ali, a former army general and Ali made clear that while there pers back on the streets. Mean- the country's newly appointed would be no major changes in for- while, a large number of political prime minister, had assembled a eign policy, a program of liberaliza- exiles returned home, including team of seven prominent doctors to tion was necessary on the domestic former interior minister Driss Guiga sign a statement declaring Bour- front. Over the past two years, who had left the country after hav- guiba incompetent before telling the Bourguiba's rule was characterized ing been made the scapegoat for the nation that he had "become totally by repression, as he virtually shut bread riots in 1984. incapable of undertaking the duties down the independent press, muz- The Ben Ali government also re- of the presidency." In reality, the zled the once-tolerated opposition leased Tunisia's best known politi- Supreme Combatant could proba- parties, and dismantled the influen- cal prisoner, Habib Achour, the 77- bly have been certified as mentally tial trade union movement, leaving year-old trade union leader who had unfit to rule on several occasions practically no room for mainstream been at odds with Bourguiba for over the past few years. dissent. Continued on next The constitution, which allows the prime minister to take over in the event of the president's "mani- fest incapacity" to govern, enabled Niamey's army chief takes over from the Ben Ali to act swiftly and deci- sively. Bourguiba's progressively late Kountche in a family affair crazy rule became an open embar- In an unanimous vote of the rul- clear he intends to follow in rassment last October when he ing Supreme Military Council Kountche's footsteps by pursuing named three different people within (CMS) in mid-November, Army his predecessor's "ideals," and a few days to lead the ruling Social- Chief of Staff Col. Ali Saibu was went on to reassure France and ist Destour Party (PSD). confirmed as Niger's new head of other Western allies that Niger's pe- But Bourguiba's growing obses- state just four days after the death of riod of transition would be a smooth sion with severely punishing mili- President Seyni Kountche, putting one. "There will be no revolution in tants of the outlawed Islamic Ten- to rest any speculation that a long Niger," warned Saibu. "The only dency Movement (MTI) may have succession struggle loomed ahead. revolution that will take place is the been the final straw for Ben Ali and Kountche died of complications one which aims to lead the country his backers. Bourguiba was furious from a brain tumor in a Paris hospi- from its underdevelopment." that a major trial of activists in Sep- tal after having fallen seriously ill in Kountche had seized power in a tember had produced only seven late 1986. bloody military coup in 1974, de- death sentences and spared their Saibu, who rather easily defeated posing civilian President Hamani leader, Rachid Ghannounchi. On a host of other presidential con- Diori, whose government was char- the eve of his downfall, Bourguiba tenders within the top echelons of acterized by political instability and overstepped his mark, demanding the military, was Kountche's cousin widespread corruption. In the first death sentences in advance for an- and the late president's most trusted years of his rule, Kountche sur- other 12 to 15 militants who were aide. Upon taking over, Saibu made Contimwd on page 10

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 TUNISIA. . . continued Cure in sight for river blindness several years and imprisoned on Merck & Company, a leading New Jersey-based pharmaceutical firm, flimsy grounds. In early December, recently announced the discovery of a new drug that will, in time, effectively the government granted an amnesty wipe out onchocerciasis—one of the Third World's most devastating dis- to more than 2,400 prisoners, in- eases known more commonly as river blindness. The U.S. company, more- cluding 600 Islamic fundamental- over, has offered to make doses of its drug, ivermectin. available to the ists. The decree, however, fell far developing world free of charge, in an unprecedented multi-million dollar short of a general amnesty, as the donation that could help eradicate river blindness by the year 2000. group of MTI militants jailed in Sep- Described by World Health Organization Director-General Halfdan tember for plotting against the state Mahler as the "scourge of humanity since recorded history." onchocerciasis were not released. Nor did Ben AM already afflicts an estimated 18 million people and potentially threatens free other alleged MTI plotters in another 85 million, particularly in much of West Africa. Onchocerciasis is the national guard, police, and mili- caused by a parasitic worm which is transmitted to humans by the bite of the tary, who were arrested in mid-No- female blackfly, which breeds in rivers. The worm's minuscule larvae enter vember for having planned to assas- (heirvictims and mature to produce new larvae that eventually lead to severe sinate members of the government. itching, disfiguration, and occasional weight loss. At a more advanced stage, the result can be a permanent loss of vision. The Onchocerciasis Control Program, established in 1974 under the spon- sorship of WHO, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Pro- gramme, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, has spearheaded with some success a massive spraying campaign to destroy the parasite-carrying flies in a dozen West African countries. But in recent years, the insects have reportedly developed a resistance to the pesticide spray in areas where the disease is most prevalent. However, with the discovery of ivermectin, even some of the more heavily infested countries of West Africa should now be able to eradicate river blindness. As Mahler says, "Ivermectin will revolutionize the way countries face this debilitating disease." Although the drug—produced in the form of a pill called Mectizan which needs to be taken only once or twice a year—does not cure a victim of onchocerciasis, it can arrest the disease's progression and prevent the invad- ing parasites from reproducing. Because the larvae seem to survive only in humans, world health experts argue that once the drug is widely distributed, the flies that transmit the disease will have no source of new parasites, and river blindness will become a thing of the past. While the discovery of ivermectin is undoubtedly heartening news, the battle against onchocerciasis is far from over. Merck and Company developed ivermectin several years ago for treating parasitic infections in livestock, and having made large profits from its sales, the firm decided to give away all the doses needed so that poverty-stricken countries could use their limited resources on distribution and development of health facilities. But Merck has placed certain restrictions on ivermectin's distribution to minimize any negative side effects caused by improper application and to protect the drug's reputation in the profitable agricultural market. To ensure that its distribution is closely monitored. Merck is setting up an independent Bourguiba: Declared mentally incompetent panel of public health specialists under the auspices of WHO. Those coun- It thus appears that lien Ali in- tries wanting to obtain ivermectin will have to satisfy the panel that they tends to court mainstream Muslim have the proper administrative structures for administering it. opinion while cutting the ground While a number of countries should easily meet the panel's requirements from under the feet of more extreme and soon begin distributing the drug, some health experts fear that it will be groups like the Mil. But the strat- some time before several of the poorer nations can ensure ivermectin's safe egy to encourage the legal opposi- dispersal. Warned one specialist, "A lot of the countries affected have very tion to take over from the MTI as primitive health services and the people at risk are in areas difficult to reach. the primary channel for genuine dis- Setting up the public health infrastructure is going to take years and it will be sent is likely to meet with some re- costly." sistance from within the ruling party. Long accustomed to an en- litical system and share with others will be to find a way of easing the trenched position during Bour- the privileges they have acquired pressure of growing discontent in guiba's rule, PSD members may over the past 30 years. In coming the country without letting the lid vvell be reluctant to open up the po- months, Ben Ali's main challenge blow off. •

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 NIGER. . .continued tion to replace the one suspended Zinder. During a visit to the region by the military in 1974. Yet the new last March, French Minister of Co- vived two coup attempts, including charter, which is supposed to re- operation Michel Aurillac took the a major plot in March 1976 led by store a modest degree of civilian opportunity to have a long tete-a- former Transport Minister Moussa participation, leaves little doubt tete with Djermakoye on the suc- Bayere. He and his co-plotters were that the military is to remain cession problem. Djermakoye, a subsequently shot. Kountche later squarely in control, as political par- Djerma and one of Kountche's old foiled a third coup attempt in 1983 ties will continue to be banned. comrades-in-arms, was thought by when his personal adviser. Amadou Kountche, who came from the the French right to be the ideal can- Oumarou, tried unsuccessfully to small Djerma ethnic group which didate for preserving the former co- overthrow the government and was today holds many of the key posi- lonial power's interests in the re- forced to flee the country. tions in the government and the gion. Niger, in the meantime, re- army, forged alliances with other French President Francois Mit- bounded from the devastating 1969- minority tribes over the years in a terrand and his Socialist Party, 74 drought that had crippled the bid to stabilize his rule. He was thus however, were thought to favor economy, and the Kountche gov- able to restrict the power of the Saibu—a French-educated Djerma ernment was even able to enjoy the Hausa majority that makes up 60 loyalist from the late president's percent of the population. powerful family clan. With Saibu France, which has always been now in power, the French govern- concerned that a Hausa head of ment will encourage him to main- state would drag Niger into the Ni- tain close ties with France and to gerian sphere of influence at its ex- follow in the tradition mapped out pense, directly intervened in the by "Le Pere Kountche"—as he was succession struggle during affectionately called in Paris. As Kountche's year-long illness. Mitterrand himself put it, Kountche French Prime Minister Jacques was not only "one of the most re- Chirac openly backed Moumouni markable heads of state of black Af- Djermakoye, a former minister of rica," but was also "one of the most foreign affairs and current prefect of loyal friends of France." • World Bank mounts Africa rescue plan Major donor countries and inter- Africa Edward Jaycox described national aid organizations recently the meeting as a real "break- pledged a massive emergency finan- through," and emphasized it was "a cial assistance package of $6.4 bil- clear statement of support from the lion for hard-pressed sub-Saharan international community for the ef- nations with severe debt problems, forts of these countries to lift them- following two days of fruitful talks selves out of this crisis." Such a in early December. Convened by successful meeting would have the World Bank, the meeting of 17 been impossible 18 months earlier, donor countries agreed to provide claimed Jaycox. because of "aid fa- the poorest African countries with tigue," but with the forging of a new Kountche: No succession struggle ahead an additional $3 billion in bilateral partnership between donor coun- fruits of a brief economic boom in aid, to go with the $3.4 billion al- tries and international organiza- the 1970s—largely fueled by the ready committed over the next tions for channeling assistance to growing world demand and high three years. Africa's poorest, debt-distressed prices for uranium, Niamey's prin- The pledge of $6.4 billion is also countries, the outlook for the future cipal mineral resource. But another separate from the $2.9 billion that is now brighter. drought in 1984-85 and plummeting the World Bank has committed as The new African aid initiative uranium prices combined to stunt soft loans through the International first gained momentum during last Niger's economic growth, thereby Development Association, its con- summer's economic summit in Ven- undermining Kountche's efforts to cessionary lending affiliate. These ice when leaders of the major West- lead the country toward food self- new concessional, quick-disbursing ern powers publicly recognized the sufficiency. funds will be used in cofinancing urgency of assisting 20 of the poor- On the political front, Kountche with World Bank programs in the est African countries currently car- promoted a national charter which 1988-90 period, and are expected to rying out, or about to resume, ad- was overwhelmingly endorsed by play a key role in helping financially justment programs. The Venice Nigeriens in a referendum in June strapped sub-Saharan nations attain meeting called for special action to 1987 and is ultimately expected to sustainable economic growth rates. ease the debt burden of these coun- serve as a guide for a new constitu- World Bank Vice-President for tries, and proposed that steps be

10 AFRICA REPORT "January-February 1988 I JUTE taken to considerably increase low- interest lending by the IMF. Mobutu's games create chaos for UDPS In line with this change in ap- President Mobutu SeseSeko is up to his old tricks, sending the main exiled proach. President Francois Mitter- opposition movement, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress rand recently announced that (UDPS). into a state of disarray and confusion. Mobutu, who has long made France would transform into grants it a habit of toying with the fragmented opponents to his one-party rule— some of its loans to the most finan- forcing government ministers, exiles, and even political detainees, to trade cially hard-pressed African nations. places—did it again when he triumphantly named UDPS President Frederic Although Britain, Canada, West Kibassa Maliba and several opposition colleagues to the central committee Germany, and several Scandina- of the ruling Popular Movement for the Revolution (MPR) in early Novem- vian countries have already fol- ber. lowed this course of action, France Kibassa Maliba was a member of the so-called Group of 13. named for the had always opposed outright debt 13 parliamentarians who authored a document critical of the Mobutu regime forgiveness. It was therefore signifi- in December 1980. After having been released from house arrest, they had cant that Mitterrand told the formed the UDPS in an effort to fight for democratic reforms, and it rapidly Franco-African summit in mid-De- became the major opposition party. But over the past year, the Mobutu cember that France now accepted government appears to have succeeded in dividing the U DPS leadership, as that "it should be able to abandon a a first step to breaking the party's back. certain number of loans for the When UDPS President Mpinga Makanda died in Brussels last March, poorest countries, threatened with Mobutu jumped at the opportunity to woo a group of UDPS members back a fatal hemorrhage by the con- to the fold. Mobutu convened Kibassa Maliba and several other imprisoned straints of their debt payments." or exiled members to a summit meeting in his home town of Gbadolitc and Signalling what could be the start called on them to rejoin the MPR. of a similar trend by U.S. banks, the But the UDPS leaders failed to come to terms with Mobutu, demanding Bank of Boston subsequently an- their release from internal exile and the legalization of their party, and they nounced that is writing off some were then taken back to their villages where they were reportedly harassed, $200 million of its $1 billion worth of intimidated, and tortured. Three UDPS members subsequently signed docu- loans to Third World countries. In ments stating that they were leaving the opposition, while Kibassa Maliba mid-December. Kiggs National and three others later pledged their allegiance to the MPR. Corporation did the same with $27.2 Much as he had hoped. Mobutu's public announcement that several million of the $133 million in loans it UDPS leaders had joined the MPR. threw the opposition party into disarray. has outstanding to developing coun- At a September press conference in Geneva, the UDPS denied having capit- tries. It marked the first time since ulated to Mobutu. Explained UDPS Secretary and former Interior Minister the debt crisis began in 1982 that EtienneTshisekedi wa Mulumba. the party "will continue to fight peacefully major U.S. banks had written off fora pluralistic democracy in Zaire," but it will do so "within the confines of some debt—decisions which have the constitution." raised doubts whether the rigid ap- Tshisekedi said that the UDPS' pledge to respect the Zairean constitution proach that Western governments and to recognize the ruling MPR as the "unique party" did not amount to a and banks have traditionally surrender. The UDPS, claimed Tshisekedi, had merely agreed to become a adopted is likely to continue much faction within the MPR—an argument that did not wash with the party's longer. militants. In the past year, the IMF has also Some rank and file members, who admitted to being confused by Tshi- taken a more flexible approach to- sekedi's perverse sense of logic, said they failed to see how it was possible to ward low-income countries. Since reconcile respect for a constitution they opposed and the continued exist- the Venice summit, it has promised ence of the UDPS inside the MPR. to triple its Structural Adjustment The deal between Mobutu and the UDPS was also roundly condemned by Facility from $4 billion to about $12 a myriad of exiled opposition parties. When more than a dozen organiza- billion, and to distribute that sum tions, including the Congolese Democratic and Socialist Party (PDSC) and over the next three years to coun- the Congolese Liberation Party (PLC), assembled in Switzerland in Septem- tries which pursue strong, "growth- ber to set up a self-styled Zairean government in exile, they excluded the oriented" economic policies. UDPS on the grounds that it had "joined the Kinshasa dictatorship." In Through low interest, long-term rejecting the UDPS accord with Mobutu, they called for the introduction of a loans, the IMF expects that coun- multi-party system in Zaire, and the holding of free and fair elections. The tries carrying out its adjustment main objective, said the new "government." would be "to overthrow the programs will now experience a bet- Zairean dictator by any means." ter growth record than has been the case in the past. programs has been growth. . . The end of the tunnel. That's got to be As the World Bank's Jaycox pre- point is that growth is necessary and reversed. Otherwise they won't viously told Africa Report [Nov- adjustment has been going on for pursue the course. Without that vi- Dec 1987], "The main thing that has four or five years in some countries. sion of growth, we really haven't been missing from these adjustment without them seeing the light at the got anything to sell here." •

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 11 LIBYA NIGERIA MOZAMBIQUE Libya won a landmark court bat- After more than a year of tortu- Government officials from Portu- tie recently to recover $292 million ous negotiations. President Ibrahim gal, South Africa, and Mozambique of deposits that were ordered frozen Babangida's government finally met in Pretoria for two days in late by President Reagan in 1986, when reached an agreement with the Lon- November and agreed to work to- a British High Court ruled that the don Club of commercial bank credi- ward the revival of Cahora Bassa, London branch of Bankers Trust tors in late November, enabling Ni- the largest hydro-electric scheme in would have to pay back the money geria to reschedule $4.8 billion in Africa, which has been virtually because the assets were governed short and medium-term debt. The paralyzed since 1983 because of the by English law. The unprecedented accord also paved the way for a key war waged by Renamo rebels. ruling is a blow to the U.S. govern- loan facility of $320 million—pro- The giant hydro-electric plant in ment's ongoing campaign to isolate viding the government with much- north-west Mozambique was built Tripoli for its alleged link to interna- needed breathing room for its debt- in the last years of Portuguese colo- tional terrorism. ridden economy. nial rule with the intention of selling Bankers Trust had refused to re- Minister of Finance Chu power to Pretoria, but extensive pay the money following the presi- Okongwu described the deal as "a sabotage along the line in recent dential order, claiming that it would major step forward" in the govern- years has caused both Lisbon and be in breach of U.S. law. The freeze ment's efforts to cope with the Maputo to absorb heavy financial prompted the Libyan Arab Foreign country's massive external debt of losses. Portugal owns 82 percent of Bank to take legal action against $22 billion, which has proven im- the capital and has already spent a Bankers Trust, winning the right to possible to service in the midst of a total of $1.2 billion on the project. regain $131 million deposited in severe slump in oil export earnings. The ministerial-level meeting London, an additional $161 million Revenues from Nigeria's main for- pledged to set up a permanent joint that the U.S. bank had been in- eign exchange earner have fallen committee to assess the cost and structed to transfer from an account from a 1980 peak of $24 billion to a feasibility of rebuilding and protect- in New York two hours before the forecast of only $6 billion in 1987. ing the power lines. Depending freeze, and $1.9 million in interest. upon its recommendations, and Pretoria's willingness to curb Rena- mo's activities, reconstruction BOTSWANA could begin in the first half of 1988, A new $300 million joint venture making Cahora Bassa operational between the government of Bot- SIERRA LEONE by the end of the year. swana and AECL South Africa's President Joseph Saidu Momoh largest diversified chemical group, declared an economic state of emer- will in future provide Pretoria with gency in November, barring resi- SENEGAL an annual supply of 240,000 tons of dents from hoarding money and es- President Abdou Dioufs govern- soda ash, but also give the apartheid sential commodities. The unprece- ment recently launched one of the regime an ideal loophole fora possi- dented move, said Momoh. became most ambitious privatization pro- ble sanctions-busting operation. necessary not only because of the grams in Africa when it announced The deal for soda ash—which is country's grave economic situation, that 10 parastatals would be put up used mainly for manufacturing glass but also because of serious financial for sale under the auspices of the and is plentiful in the remote and malpractices involving highly Commission for State Disengage- undeveloped region of Sua Pan in placed institutions and public offi- ment. This initial divestment is part northern Botswana—will thereby cials. of a more comprehensive privatiza- allow Pretoria to cut its present de- As a result, Momoh outlined a to- tion plan involving a total of 26 com- pendence for supplies on American tal of 59 new regulations which panies to be partially or wholly sold and Furopean companies. would be put into immediate ef- off, thereby fulfilling a key Interna- One of Pretoria's main soda ash fect—with the police and army tional Monetary Fund condition for suppliers, the American Natural given wide-ranging powers to en- allocating the second tranche of a Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC), force the state of emergency. To re- structural adjustment loan totalling has urged all South African buyers lieve the country's severe liquidity SDR 46.8 million. to oppose the project, claiming that crisis, people will no longer be al- The parastatals to be privatized Botswana will be a more expensive lowed to hold more than about involve companies in the light in- and politically riskier source of sup- $6,000 cash for more than three dustry, construction, hostelry, au- ply than the U.S. But Pretoria has days, thereby forcing them to de- tomotive, tourism, and advertising condemned ANSACs threats to posit their funds in banks. Other sectors which were chosen primar- wage a price war and its attempt to emergency laws introduced include ily for their saleability. The hotels "smother" the scheme, and has as- the suspension of all diamond ex- singled out for total privatization— sured Botswana that it would, if porters" licences and measures to the Teranga, the Meridien, and the necessary, use tariffs to protect curtail the smuggling of produce Club Mediterranee—are some of theirjoint venture. and minerals. the most profitable in the country.

12 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 Your concern is Southern Africa? ARE INFORMED? You need to read SOUTHSCAN An exclusive, direct weekly news and analysis service from correspondents in the field, giving you the real, in-depth story

SOUTHSCAN was set up last year in anticipation of the worsening regional economic and political crisis and the state of emergency inside South Africa — in a bid to bring the real news out and provide essential region-wide reporting. In a short period it has established a major reputation To: SOUTHSCAN, PO Box 724, and is now required reading among journalists, diplomats, politicians, academics and businessmen London Ml 7AQ, England abroad.

SOUTHSCAN has a network of well-placed contacts on the ground, who know intimately the reality of the U Please send me one introductory issue free or crisis. It has contacts who know and understand the thinking of the government in Pretoria. And it has LJ I enclose as an annual subscription a cheque or money contacts who know and understand the thinking of the order for 5100 ($ 150 to include database access), made payable to Southscan. As an individual unconnected to an liberation movement. organisation I enclose $40. Not only South Africa but the entire region of the Frontline States is covered — because there is no country in this part of Africa which is not crucially affected, economically and politically, by Pretoria's NAME policies. ADDRESS The weekly bulletin, with European and North American editions, is mailed first class, and is also available on a database to North American subscribers, for instant access. ORGANISATION Uganda Anything else I do will be a bonus." Museveni, a westerner from the Ending the Rule Bantu cattle-keeping people called the Bahiina, remains immensely popular of two years into his presidency. A teeto- taler with modest tastes, there has never been any hint of personal corrup- the Gun tion. When the National Resistance Army marched He believes that the hope for Uganda lies in its new, upright leadership, in its victoriously into Kampala two years ago, war-weary disciplined "pro-people" army, and in Ugandans hoped for a new era of peace and stability. the resistance committees. "No force But renewed warfare by rebel forces and tensions with can defeat us," he said at Magamaga. "We are very, very strong." Kenya are jeopardizing President Museveni's efforts to Museveni began his bush war in overcome the legacy of Uganda's bloody and corrupt 1981, but its roots and those of the cur- past. rent war go back many years before. Idi Amin, who had seized power from Pres- ident Milton Obote in 1971, left a power BY CATHARINE WATSON Through "resistance committees," vacuum when he was finally driven from grassroots democracy is flourishing at [ Iganda in 1979 by Tanzanian troops and hen Yoweri Museveni and his village and parish level. The NRA, a Ugandan exile force called the Uganda W guerrilla force, the National Re- though hastily expanded to twice its National Liberation Army (UNLA). sistance Army

14 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 Acholi, Tito Okello, then became presi- tional unity, and a mixed economy. It a young Acholi woman, a herbalist and dent for seven lawless months, until the also condemns tribalism, sectarianism, spirit medium called Alice Auma, joined NRA's victory in January 1986. and corruption. the UPDA. By November, her Holy At the end of the war, the NKA num- All was quiet for the first seven Spirit battalion was launching its own at- bered 20,000. Luwero, in contrast, had months. Then several thousand ex- tacks. She left the UPDA—the UPDA lost a third of its population. The UNLA UN LA soldiers regrouped in southern says it expelled her—in mid-January af- killed about 300,000 people as punish- Sudan and northern Uganda. The at- ter two battles in Kitgum in which over ment for their support for the NKA. tacks began in Acholi areas of Gulu and 700 rebels died, running barechested at When the NKA took power, hopes Kitgum, the rebels calling themselves the NRA's bullets, smeared with her po- were high that Uganda's bloodshed was the Uganda People's Democratic Army tions. finally over. Museveni commenced a (UPDA). More than any other rebel leader, power-sharing exercise, building a coali- Museveni and his top commanders she inspired a fanatical following. Some tion by giving ministerial seats to repre- played down their significance. There 2, 000 UPDA rebels joined her. She then sentatives of all Uganda's political par- were mere "pockets of insecurity." The raided the UPDA and stole 4,000 of ties and to the four fighting groups rebels were "remnants" of the UNLA, their guns (thereby greatly assisting the which had battled Obote. He took care "politically bankrupt." with no local sup- NRA). With a hard core of 1.100 men, to balance the cabinet ethnically—be- port. They were the human rights crimi- she forcibly recruited more supporters tween the Nilotic northerners and east- nals who had massacred the people of in Acholi and further south. Those who erners and the Bantu southerners and Luwero and could not come back to refused to join were killed. Rebel cap- westerners. Initially the Bantu predomi- Uganda without facing trial. The NKA tives say her henchmen murdered 750 nated, but by early last year, balance was carrying out "mopping up" opera- men in Kitgum district alone. was attained. tions. It would all be over soon. Notebooks captured from rebel Recruitment was begun to bring Hut it was not, although it was con- camps show that she preached and prac- northerners and easterners into the tained within Acholiland for six months. ticed a strange brew of Christianity, army. The resistance committees Then in January last year, the war crept witchcraft, puritanism, and sadism. At spread throughout Uganda, except in south. Two new factors were already at least six spirits spoke through her, but the remotest parts of the Acholi north. play. One was a upsurge of rebel activity the main one was Lakwena. He told her Political schools were set up to teach in the east: Easterners were legiti- that her mission was to rid Uganda of Chilians and soldiers the NRM's Ten mately angry with the NRA for not pro- evil people. The Acholi and Baganda Point Plan. Western diplomats regarded tecting them against the vicious Kara- peoples were particularly evil; war was the schools as indoctrination centers, mojong cattle raiders, and exiled Obote good because the evil on both sides but the NRM's platfonn calls simply for politicians fanned this anger. "No force can defeat us," Museveni said a mild blend of democracy, security, na- The other was witchcraft. In August, at Magamaga, "We are very, very strong" died. never had the chance. Deep in the bush Her fighters had to follow 20 com- and forbidden by Alice from listening to mandments. Some were bizarre, such the radio, they never knew it was safe to as "Have two testicles, no more no come out. less," and "Never eat snake," (snakes Museveni calls these rebels "poor in- were to be important on judgment day). nocent chaps" and says they will not be The most lethal, however, was "Never punished for fighting with Alice. He calls take cover." She forced her men to fight Alice "a simple, ignorant village woman, upright, in broad daylight, accompanied who is being exploited by former politi- by followers singing hymns, sprinkling cians who want to return to power." water, and clapping. Seven thousand Foremost among these politicians is Lakwena rebels perished attacking the Milton Obote, exiled in Lusaka since NKA between January and November 1985. In contrast, Idi Amin, who now last year. lives in Saudi Arabia, is not maneuvering In October, the Holy Spirit Move- to return. Nor is elderly and sickly ex- ment—4,(K)0 strong—reached Bantu president Tito Okello, now living in southern Uganda. The civilians, re- eastern Sudan. membering the atrocities meted out to Other politicians heading rebel them by the 1INLA, turned on them in a groups are former Obote ministers Pe- fury. With such massive support— ter Otai, who claims to head the Uganda which had been lacking in the Nilotic ar- People's Army, and William Omaria, eas further north—the NRA routed who claims to head the Uganda National them: 1,500 rebels died, hundreds were Front. Both these groups operate in captured. The remainder rushed in dis- eastern Uganda, their leaders based in ment is dominated by westerners. They array through deep swamp and forests Nairobi. Former Obote ministers David say the resistance committees are com- to the north and the east. Alice herself Anyoti, Masette Kuuya, and Wilson munist. And they claim that the NRA is evaded capture. Okwenge also operate out of Kenya and backed by Libyan, FLO, Cuban, and Rebel captives were dazed, con- are linked with a group called Force Rwandan mercenaries and that it is fused, and severely malnourished, raw Obote Back Again. Obote's former abusing human rights. cassava their only food for months. prime minister, Otema Allimadi, and Of these claims, only the last is true. Some were naked. Most seemed im- Obote's cousin, lawyer Akena Adoko, In its July 1987 submission to the gov- mensely relieved to be in NRA hands, head the UPDA from London. ernment, Amnesty International cites safe from Alice and from the civilians The eastern rebel groups are note- over two dozen cases of Acholi civilians who wanted to lynch them. Many did worthy for their infighting and thuggery. dying at NRA hands, and it claims that not know why they were fighting. Their prime activity is stealing from ci- several thousand suspected rebels are "Only Alice knew," said James vilians and killing \illage leaders; they being held without charge in barracks Okello, 37, a press-ganged librarian. rarely engage the NRA. Never as orga- and prisons. Amnesty recognizes, how- "That was a question you could not nized as the UPDA, they suffered a ever, that the intimidation of civilians is ask," said John Odong, 38, a former sol- harsh blow in late November when the not condoned by the government and dier. Others said they were not fighting NRA captured Obote's former chief of that NRA soldiers are executed if they Museveni. "We had no problem with staff, Smith Opon-Acak, who was enter- are found to have raped or killed a civil- Museveni. We were fighting for judging Uganda from Kenya to command ian. ment, i was with Lakwena because of them. Inside Uganda, the rank and file the gospel," said Sam Anger Odwar, 22. Two small groups, the Uganda Free- rebels are fighting for numerous rea- Many said that at first they had be- dom Movement (UFM) and the Federal sons: some, like Alice's men, because lieved Alice's magic—that blessed Democratic Movement (FEDEMO), they were forced to; some, particularly stones would explode like grenades, which fought Obote in the early 1980s, around Soroti in the northeast, because that Alice's shea butter oil would protect claim to have men in southern central they perceive the NRA as a foreign oc- them from bullets. "Then I saw it did not Uganda. But the area is quiet, top mem- cupying force; some because they have work," said Mosco Opira, a 23-year-old bers of UFM serve in the NRM cabinet, criminal records. with an infected bullet wound in his leg. and top FEDEMO commanders remain But the key reason for both the lead- He said he would now like to join the in the NRA. FEDEMO may have been ers and the men in the bush is that they NRA. responsible, however, for a hand gre- have lost, power and access to state In August, the NRA had announced a nade thrown into a Kampala bar in Octo- wealth. Under the old regimes, soldiers partial amnesty for rebels and ex-sol- ber. could loot and steal with impunity. A diers. The government says 20,000 Rebel leaders in London and Nairobi minister could be openly corrupt. A dis- rebels have surrendered in the north, say they are fighting because Museveni trict commissioner could run his area as but men like Okello, Odong, and Opira is a tribalist and because the govern- a personal fiefdom —putting taxes di-

16 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 source of Kenya's displeasure with Uganda is not political but commercial. Kenyan trucking companies will lose $55 million a year now that Uganda has shifted its exports and imports to the cheaper railways. With corruption on the wane in Uganda, Kenyans are also losing out. Under former governments, lucrative coffee deals used to be shared between top Ugandan and Kenyan officials. If there is a political aspect to Kenya's anti-Uganda stance, it has to do with the serious internal dissent Daniel arap Moi's government faced last year. By focusing on Uganda as a troublemaker, Moi can rally support at home and de- flect Kenyans' attention from their own grievances. But Kenya is vital to Uganda, which needs outlets to the sea, and Museveni has no intention of falling out irrevocably

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 17 INTERVIEWED BY MARGARET A. NOVICKI economy like ours which needs habitual government inter- and MARTINE DENNIS vention to stimulate local entrepmieursliip. Therefore, you Africa Report: What is the most pressing problem you arc find that the biggest sector of the economy is in the hands of facing now? Is it national reconciliation? the peasants who produce on an individual basis. Then there Museveni: Yes, to some extent, but it is not an unmanagea- are medium-level, large-scale producers. We also have para- ble problem. I think the main problem is just to get enough statal organizations and ax>peratives. time to solve our problems. Just time, all these problems can The four of them work together. There is no problem at all. be solved with time. And they are coordinated by the central planning machinery, Africa Report: What are you doing concretely to deal with which uses different stimulants to do different jobs. For in- this problem of reconciliation? stance, if you want production, Museveni: We have set up a you increase prices or interest broad-based government and rates. So with these macro-ec- we have evolved a system of onomic tools, you can stimu- treating leniently the people late or discourage any ten- who have made mistakes, dency in the economy. And 1 whenever we can. We have see no problem at all as far as declared an amnesty. I think utilizing these four different these measures will win over forms of ownership and pro- even those elements who may duction. not have been with us to begin Africa Report: What in your with. view should be the solution to Africa Report: What is your Africa's debt crisis? economic policy for I Iganda for Museveni: My view is that the future? Is it possible to lib- some of these debts were in- eralize the economy, while curred wrongly by ourselves. maintaining a certain amount of Therefore, the African leaders state control? have a responsibility for having Museveni: We don't see any allowed themselves to incur contradiction between liberali- such debts. But having said zation and central control. The that, somehow a solution must two can go together. In fact, be found on how to extricate the combination of them is ourselves from this quagmire. very healthy. especi;illy for an Possibly one way would be to write off some of these debts or reschedule them. Any for- mula that can be used to liberate' Africa from these onerous Interview with debts will be welcome as far as I can see. But I would like to emphasize that the responsibility also lies with the African leaders who accepted these debts in the first place. President Yoweri Africa Report: You recently said that Africa's crisis is two- fold: one, a crisis with African leadership itself. In light of that, how do you view recent events in Burkina Faso, in which a Museveni young, dynamic African leader was killed, a man often compared with you as one of Africa's leaders of tomorrow? During a recent visit to the United States, Museveni: It is tragic. I don't know the internal politics of President Museveni spoke with Africa Burkina Faso, but certainly the method of changing the gov- Report about the continuing security ernment was brutal and very unfortunate. About comparing our government with that of Burkina Faso, I think that is not problems his government is facing. correct. Evaluating his two-year record, the Africa Report: I meant you and Sankara, both considered Ugandan leader also reveals a young and visionary leaders. Museveni: Yes, being young and visionary is one thing, but refreshing approach to the continent's the method of government is also crucial. The weakness of debt crisis, trade, and aid in this frank these governments which come to power through military and wide-ranging interview. coups is that there is always a problem that it may not be easy This interview tvtis conducted jointly by MargaretA. Novicki. editor-in-chief o/Africa Report, and Marline Dennis, I'N reporter far the British lirmid- Uganda casting Corporation, during I'resident Museveni's October visit to the I hiitcd States.

18 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 "There is no culture of violence as such in Uganda. But the people have not been able to accept misgovernment without a struggle" to transform a coup into a revolution. There have been some two coups which started off as coups and became revolutions in the history of Atrica. Rut coups are mere conspiracies. You get a handful ot people, you conspire, and if there is no resistance, you take over. So there is always the problem of con- solidation in my opinion. Hut ours, or if you take Krelimo in Mozambique, these were revolutionary struggles. Frelimo •lias been under a lot of stress from the South Africans, but it lias held together precisely because it was a revolutionary movement and not a coup. There is a difference between coups d'etat and revolutionary processes. Africa Report: Can you tell me how much substance there is to reports ol tensions between your country and Kenya? I Editor's note: This interview was conducted prior to Decem- ber's outbreak of hostilities along the Kenyan-Ugandan border. 1 Museveni: We have no tension with Kenya. Kenya is a whole country. Why should we have tension with Kenya? 1 don't see any reason, so if there is any tension, it is not on our side. It must be on their side. We have been complaining about some of our people who have been basing themselves in Kenya and coming to kill < >ur resistance committee members. They have been targeting mainly these villagers, members of the popular committees. We have told the Kenyan leaders that they should slop it and that is all, but 1 don't see why we should have tensions between Kenya and Uganda. Africa Report: So you think that recent reports in the press are misleading. Museveni: They must be misleading, because I have no information that there is any added tension between us and Kenya. We have already informed the Kenyans about the problems wliich we have had, and we know and they ought to know how to solve them simply by removing these bandits from near the border. If they want to stay in Kenya, they can stay there provided that they are not causing problems on the border. Africa Reporl: You don't think that they are being supported by the Kenyan government? Museveni: No, but the Kenyan government has not taken the measures it is supposed to have taken under the OAU charter. There is an OAU charter which governs the behavior of refugees in neighboring countries when they have run from their own country. That is what they have not done. But that is no reason for having tension as far as I am concerned. We can resolve this by discussion, and that's what we have been trying to do. Africa Report: But you do have troops stationed on the border with Kenya? Museveni: Yes, near the border, to control smuggling, ban- ditry, not only these opponents, but even cattle-rustling which has been there for many years. They are not aimed at Kenya at all. Africa Reporl: How would you characterize the motives of the main opposition groups lighting against your government at this time? For example, Alice Lakwena and her Holy Spirit

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 19 Movement? Museveni: Fear of prosecution for crimes committed in the past. This is the main motive, because these are remnants of the old army. They committed crimes when they were in power. Now they fear that they will be prosecuted if we consolidate our control in the country or they will be condemned to stay in exile forever because they committed crimes which they must answer for. They would not like us to follow up these crimes. But il is not easy. There are certain crimes we can forgive. The fact that you harassed people, we may forgive you, the fact that you looted people's property, we may forgive you, but committing genocide is not forgivable. Murdering people is not forgivable, nor is raping women or kidnapping people with the intention lo kill them. Those four, according to the amnesty bill which we published recently, are not excusable. Anything else we can forget about, but none of these people belong to that category. And that's their real motive. If their motives were political, this broad-based government we have formed accommodates all the political tendencies in the country—the left-wingers are there, monarchists are there, liberals are there—there is nobody who is not accommodated in this administration. But these elements cannot be accommodated because if we try to accommodate them, they shall undermine our very existence. If we forgive somebody who killed people yesterday, how can we punish those who kill people today? There is no basis. We are punishing our own soldiers severely, if they violate human rights, if they kill people. We have executed our own soldiers. Now how can we execute our own soldiers for killing people when we forgive those who killed people yesterday and the day Museveni: Yes. Power, but what for? For what reason? before? So we find ihere is nothing we can do about accommo- Power in order to guard themselves against prosecution for dating these people. crimes committed! Now as for Alice Lakwena, she represents the desperation Africa Report: Since these elements cannot be accommo- of these gangster groups. They tried to fight us before we dated in any way, it appears the solution will have to be a t(H)k power, and we defeated them. After we took power, military one. Some would say that Uganda has developed a they tried to fight us, and we again defeated them. So they had culture of violence that feeds on itself. Do you agree and is to look for a way to artificially whip up the morale of their there a way for Uganda to break out of tliis cycle of violence? defeated groups and that's when they had to resort to this Museveni: The solution does not have to be entirely mili- woman who comes along and says, "I've got some medicine tary. It can be largely political. For instance, this amnesty and if you use it, the bullet will not penetrate you. If the NKA which we published was designed to fish out as many people soldiers fire the bullets, the magic will turn around the bullets as can be reabsorbed. That's why we categorized and ex- and kill the NKA soldiers themselves." She even draws dia- cused all other crimes except these four. Even among the grams showing the curves of the bullets, turning back to kill four, if you belong to a group which was deployed to commit those who fired them! genocide against the people, but you were there not in a So it is real desperation and trying to look for a way to leadership role, but as a follower, somebody who was acting galvanize (heir defeated groups. It is not really Alice under the orders of other people, then we iish you out. You Lakwena—these witch doctors are prevalent in our society. can come. The only one we zero in on is the one who was in a They are always there. Even when I was fighting, they used commanding role, in a role of responsibility—a small group of to be in my group. They would come and tell me to do this and people, not the broader groups who are being used. We make that, I would listen to them with one ear and just ignore what a distinction between the misusers and the misused and we they were saying. Hut if you have people who are supposed to reabsorb the misused. But the ones who must answer are the be leading these groups who listen and accept what this ones who misled the others. woman is saying, then they are the ones who are responsible There is no culture of violence as such. But what is true is for the massacres which this woman has caused by throwing that the people of Uganda are relatively sophisticated, so they people in the face of bullets. The responsibility must be taken have not been able to accept misgovernment without a strug- by the political leaders of these groups. gle. This is the only difference. Otherwise, if they had been Africa Report: Their motive then is power? docile, this misgovernment would have gone on and we may

20 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 "How can we execute our own soldiers for killing people when we forgive those who killed people yesterday and the day before?" Museveni: Precisely! Those types of distortions. The American officials are a bit misinformed, but I think they have learned a bit more after talking with them. Africa Report: I assume you discussed the economic aid that the United States is providing to Uganda. Are you satislied with the level of American aid? Museveni: I didn't discuss aid really, instead I discussed trade with them. I don't emphasize aid very much because I don't believe aid can develop a country fundamentally. It can act as a catalyst if they give you some money—$50 million or so—you can use it to play some catalytic role, but strategic;illy speaking, the option that can cause development is favorable trading arrangements. That's what I was interested in and they were very receptive. I mentioned the possibility of export credit guarantees where the American government guarantees the credit that American companies will give us, so that in case we default in paying, the American government would pay the companies and then we would pay the government. That type of arrange- ment is very good and dynamic and we can cover more ground in tliis way. because then it becomes a balance between resources on our side and technology and machinery on the other side. We rind a balance of value of mutual transfers and that can cover more ground than aid, which must be limited, because nobody has enough money to boost all the countries of the world. So I concentrated on trade and I think they appreciated it. have turned nut like Haiti, where for centuries people were Africa Report: It's been two years since you became presi- slaves. Now do you think that is good? I'd rather have reaction dent. What have been your major accomplishments and disap- by I he people against misgovernment! It's g(xxl, it's dynamic. pointments? it's progressive! Museveni: As far as accomplishments are concerned, there It's unfortunate, but given the circumstances in which we are many. Peace, security, respect for human rights, the found ourselves, it was the best alternative. I wouldn't have return of refugees, return of the professionals who fled the preferred (he alternative of Haiti, would you? Where you have country, the rehabilitation efforts—repairing the roads, im- a manlike Papa Doe who kills people until he dies in his bed! It porting tnicks to transport our crops to the towns, repairing is tragic! 1 would be more concerned about I laiti than Uganda. our sugar, textiles, tea, and coffee factories. A lot of rehabili- Uganda is all right because these people know IKJW to defend tation has taken place already and more is in the pipeline. So I themselves. If you are a bad government, they fight you! am really happy with that progress. Good! That's the American tradition of George Washington! About the disappointments, the only weakness I see is lack Africa Report: What was the aim of your meeting with of cadreship. Cadres are people in each sector on whom you President Reagan? can rely, who are reliable and conscientious. Sometimes I get Museveni: ()ur aim was friendship with the American people disappointed to find somebody who could do something and and the people of the whole world. We don't know what all he's corrupt. So I think we need to pay more attention to that these struggles are for, East-West conflict, I have never element—cadreship. known the aim ot these struggles, so we want friendship with Africa Report: By political education? all people. And Mr. Reagan was very friendly, Mr. Bush, and Museveni: Yes, political education and also remuneration all the others. They understood our position. There had been which would win them from these corrupt ways, some of a lot of distortions of our position, because there is also a which they have gotten accustomed to—rewards so they tremendous amount of ignorance in some of these institutions don't have to be tempted by corruption. We are making some where people take positions without knowing the inside story. movement on that—real incomes have improved. But what So that was my main aim and I think we achieved it. can somebody buy with the salary he is making? The purchas- Africa Report: By distortions, do you mean the way people ing power of the salary needs to be somehow improved. tend to characterize your ideology and government—alter- There is more to be done. I think through a combination of nately socialist, progressive, pragmatic, nationalistic, pro- political education and better remuneration, we will be able to Qaddafy? rescue them from their corrupt ways. C]

AFRICA REPORT -January-February 1988 21 The Dynamics of Discontent Kenya The Kenyan government's reaction to protests at the University of Nairobi, riots in Mombasa, and mounting tensions with Uganda has been to cast about for enemies—both foreign and internal. Human rights has become more of an issue for Kenyans and Western donors alike.

BYLINDSEYHILSUM

n November 15th, heavily armed O riot police, backed up by the para- military General Service Unit, stormed the student residences at Nairobi Uni- versity. They did it again the following day, whooping and hollering and beating their riot shields, smashing down drs and windows, clubbing and kicking students and anyone else in their path. This was the Kenyan government's response to a campus protest which turned violent when students started throwing stones and taunting the police. 'The Kenyan government's reaction to criticism has been to hit out at those who speak it" After two days of clashes, in which 42 students were arrested and one shot in Nassir, a Mombasa member of Parlia- Kenya's security intelligence network, the ami, the authorities closed down the ment who is slavishly effusive in his reported that the seven newly elected university and sent the students home. praise for President Daniel arap Moi. officers of the Student Organization of It is debatable whether student poli- The students are not the only group Nairobi University (SONU) had said cies are a barometer of the state of the to be unhappy with an increasingly auto- that students should distance them- nation. Students are a small, distinct, cratic leadership, corruption in govern- selves from the government. and—as many less educated and impov- ment, or the heavy-handed and often Since the attempted coup in August erished Kenyans point out—privileged brutal behavior of the police. Critics also 1982, in which several students and lec- group. Nonetheless, the events which include lawyers and church leaders, and turers were implicated, President Moi provoked the protest, and the force there is considerable unease among the has kept a close watch on the universi- with which it was quashed, show that wealthy Asian business community ties. He has tried to co-opt student lead- the government takes the students which controls a significant part of the ers, inviting them on official tours and to very seriously. economy. tea at State House. The newly elected Moreover, the disturbances came At the university, trouble started SONU chairman, Robert Huke, said at less than a month after riots in the when plain-clothes policemen arrested the meeting that student politics should coastal city of Mombasa. Angry Muslim seven student leaders, dragging them be more independent, and that the stu- youths threw stones at the police who out of their beds at gunpoint in the small dents should no longer "take tea" with had stopped a religious rally, and a few hours of the morning. It seems that the the president. Such sentiments are re- days later they tried to lynch Shariff authorities were uneasy about speeches garded as "seditious" in Kenya today. the leaders had made at a student meet- The government is reluctant to ana- Lindsev Hilsum reports for the lirtlhh liroadcast- ing the previous day. Plain-clothes offi- lyze the internal dynamics of discontent, ing Corporation and lite London (iuardian/rww Nairobi. cers of the ubiquitous Special Branch, preferring to cast around for an outside

22 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 enemy. At first, the president said that Sources within the Kenyan press say members of our community are packing the students "grouped themselves with that government officials insisted that up and leaving. They have British pass- Boers who want to destroy the black the newspapers run the coup plot story, ports and they feel they have no future man." A week later, he accused West- absurd as it seemed, as front-page in Kenya anymore." em journalists, who were beaten up by news. Moi used the opportunity to wam Previously, Moi was careful to keep the police while covering the distur- the wananchi—the ordiniiry citizens— the Asians on his side. Moving against bances, of "inciting the rioters." to be vigilant about foreigners. them is popular politically, but econo- Eventually the blame was laid firmly "There is a minority of non-Kenyans mists say it is likely to rebound as the at the feet of the Libyans. Robert Buke among us who have come to our country economy suffers. The black market rate was convicted of spying for Libya and for carefully disguised purposes," he for the dollar increased from 19 shillings jailed for five years. The deputy public said. "They claim they have come to mid-year to 30 by December, as Asians prosecutor, Bernard Chunga, who han- work with us in our development ef- scrambled for foreign exchange. At the dles virtually all politically sensitive forts, but. . . their real work has been end of the year, foreign currency re- cases for the state, said that Libyan dip- sabotage and de stabilization. . . on oc- serves were down to one month's lomats paid Buke and others "to spread casion [they have] deliberately sought cover, and manufacturers reported that the gospel of socialism as understmd by to undermine the security of the state." their applications for forex to import es- Libya to the students." Despite Libyan Similarly, after the riots in Mombasa, sential raw materials were being re- denials, their charge d'affaires in Nairobi in which one man died and at least 20 jected. was expelled. people were injured, Shariff Nassir Only expatriates will complain when Buke, who had no legal representa- blamed an unspecified "foreign force." Australian honey and British chocolate tion, was convicted on his own guilty There were dark mutterings about Ira- disappear from Nairobi's well-stocked plea, and no other evidence was pro- nian fundamentalists infiltrating the supermarket shelves, but economists duced. It was the second such case in youth, but no one appears to have ad- predict that essential items, such as ve- less than a year; in April, four ex-stu- dressed the local issues which ignited hicle spares, will run short by mid-1988. dents were similarly convicted of spying the anger. The terms of a new IMF agreement for Libya and five diplomats from the Anonymous pamphlets circulating in have not been made public, but with the People's Bureau in Nairobi were ex- the predominantly Muslim town com- drop in the value of the shilling, higher pelled. plain of a "Christian bias" in the local inflation is inevitable, and economic The Kenyan government's choice of administration. The pamphlets also stringency may lead to a cutback in so- foreign devil is idiosyncratic. President mention the provocative way the admin- cial service spending. Moi is a close ally of the United States, istration broke up the Muslim rally, "The effects of what the IMF is re- allowing the American navy facilities at sending in police to disperse the crowd quiring will hit the average Kenyan quite Mombasa and receiving $fi;j million per after it had gathered, instead of calling in severely," predicts Kenyan economist year in aid. There was, therefore, some Muslim leaders to discuss the reasons Robert Shaw. He points out that social surprise when Kenya suddenly expelled for banning the meeting. sendees in the towns are already over- seven American missionaries, without The alien enemy can also be found stretched and the population continues giving notice to the U. S. embassy. within. Kenya's 60,0(X)-strong Asian to grow. "People are finding it increas- It was the strangest story of the community is conspicuously wealthy, ingly difficult to get places for their chil- year—"bizarre" was the word one ethnically homogeneous, and deeply re- dren in schools, and it is quite common American diplomat applied. In Novem- sented. Although they play no direct for someone to wait a long time before ber, Kenya's three newspapers ran the role in politics—there are no Asian he can be attended to at hospital." story of a coup plot, outlined in a letter members of Parliament or permanent Meanwhile, there are ever more unem- purporting to come from an American secretaries—they control 70 percent of ployed youths ranging the Nairobi church, urging members of the Ku Klux the urban retail sector and much of the streets. Klan to give money for the overthrow of manufacturing industry. black African governments, starting The government has clamped down with Kenya. The letter named the on Asians sending money overseas, ar- "Students are not the seven missionaries as needing funds to resting four Asian bankers and two busi- bribe Kenyan officials to further the nessmen for failing to remit foreign cur- only group unhappy coup. rency earned from coffee exports. Few with an increasingly Investigations by the State Depart- Asians deny that corrupt business prac- autocratic leadership, ment bore out the suspicions of diplo- tices exist, but they point out that Afri- corruption in mats and observers that the letter was a can civil servants in the Central Bank government, or the forgery and the alleged plot a hoax. The and the Treasury collude. Yet so far, no heavy-handed and often U.S. embassy put out a statement senior civil servants have been sacked brutal behavior of the "seeking the support of the government or brought to court. of Kenya in explaining the facts to the "We are being used as scapegoats," police." public." said one Asian businessman. "Many

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 23 Moi's relations with donor countries police questioned him after having deteriorated sharply last year. A long- forced him to strip naked and threat- planned trip to Sweden and Norway was ened to kill him. "The police seem to cancelled because Scandinavian human believe that no law governs them," he rights groups had criticized Kenya so said. severely that it would have been embar- Mohammed AbduOahi, a Kenyan rassing for all the governments in- journalist working for the BBC in Lon- volved. When the president visited the don, says: "The Kenyan police have U. S. in May, he met with criticism about been brutal all along. They have not had human rights there too and for the first the correct training, even after indepen- time, Congress made increased aid to dence. Their training program has been Kenya dependent on an improvement in one of suppressing at any cost, and this human rights. time the attitude has been: hit and hit Eleven people are detained without again." trial under Kenya's Public Security Act, There is, however, a new conscious- while more than 80 have been jailed in ness that this is an issue. The Kenyan connection with a secret anti-govern- newspapers report more cases of sus- ment movement known as Mwakenya, pects alleging torture or beating, and which was uncovered in 1986. None of while the police deny that torture is a the 80 had legal representation in court, routine part of interrogation, they have and both Amnesty International and the been forced to investigate some cases. American Lawyers Committee for Hu- The most significant is the inquest into man Rights have published evidence the death of Peter Njenga Karanja, a that many were tortured into pleading businessman who was arrested on sus- guilty. picion of involvement with Mwakenya The Kenyan government's reaction and died after 20 days in police custody. to such criticism has been to hit out at The man in charge of the team inves- those who speak it. Moi has described tigating Mwakenya, senior superinten- Amnesty International as "an agent of dant James Opiyo, denied in court that imperialism." In one of its more apoca- force was used to obtain confessions. lyptic editorials, the government-run "That would be unethical," he said. Kenyan Times referred to the BBC's re- However, photographs of Karanja's porting of human rights issues as a "sa- body, taken at the post-mortem, show it Mwakenya member for expressing dis- tanic campaign." Foreign journalists to be covered in bruises and wounds, loyal thoughts, has prevented any real who continue to cover human rights including one on the left knee which the opposition from emerging. The lone, cases have been lambasted by politi- doctor who treated him when the police frail voice of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. cians and the government-controlled brought him to hospital described as "a vice-president during the early post-in- press, and the president has threatened big crater, with the edges of the skin dependence years and now in his seven- to reduce Nairobi's international press rotten, and pus emanating." Opiyo testi- ties, was heard after five years of si- corps to a handful of correspondents. fied that the wounds "came up sponta- lence, but his attempt to emerge from Yet the issue of human rights is begin- neously." history into the present has failed. ning to come into the public domain The focus on human rights has drawn He wrote two letters to Moi, ex- within Kenya. In May, a prominent Nai- attention away from Mwakenya itself. pressing his anxiety about the decline of robi lawyer, Gibson Kamau Kuria, tried The government claims to have virtually democracy in Kenya, but the president to fileaffidavit s on behalf of two political stamped out the movement. There did not reply. He still commands a con- prisoners alleging torture. He predicted have been no incidents of sabotage for siderable following in his native Luo that if he did this, he would be arrested 18 months, although a spate of derail- area, and the people of Bondo, his himself. He was right. The Special ments in mid-1987 sparked off specula- former parliamentary constituency, Branch picked him up ten days later, and tion that the movement was becoming sent a petition to the president asking he was detained officially without trial active again. Occasionally a new docu- that Odinga be readmitted to the sole until December 12, the 24th anniver- ment condemning Moi appears, but it is political party, KANU, so that he can sary of Kenya's independence, when a crime to know of the existence of such stand in the 1988 elections. They t

24 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 ants" united against the government. Moi, by contrast, does know how to reach the people. He travels widely in the countryside and addresses local issues in his speeches. "I maintain that he's still very popular with the general mass of Kenyans," says Mohammed Abdullahi. "What he talks is development politics. This is his major appeal— that we're better than other people neighboring us, and we have been better than them because we're doing the basics: trying to improve our medical services, our education. And this is why up to now, not a single politician of any stature has been able to sway opposition against him." With Somalia and Ethiopia beset by drought, Tanzania still struggling with an economic crisis, and Uganda and Su- dan rocked by civil wars, it is not difficult for Moi to convince his people that they are better off than their neighbors. But while relations with most of these countries have improved, Moi's differences with Uganda's President Yoweri Mu- seveni have grown deeper and more acute. Museveni, the guerrilla com- mander-turned-president, has an infor- mal style, while Moi is an authoritarian figure, careful of protocol. Moi distrusts his neighbor's rhetoric of revolution and his alleged links with Libya. of our society is due to the erosion of Army security check in Nairobi, 1982: democratic traditions of our country," "Since the attempted coup, President Moi For a while, the tension between the has kept a close watch on the universi- two countries, heightened by vitriolic he wrote. ties" "The narrow and exclusivist political and for the most part unsubstantiated base upon which the government is government policies and subversion. . . scare stories in the newspapers on both We have the urgent task. . . to stem sides, seemed likely to erupt into con- this gradual slide toward tyranny and flict. The Ugandan government claimed cultism." that Kenya was supporting Ugandan The only other outspoken political op- rebels, while Kenya accused Uganda of "While relations with I>osition is overseas. Ngugi wa offering safe passage to Kenyan politi- most neighboring Tiiiong'o, Kenya's most famous novelist cians fleeing into exile. The accusations countries have and a vocal left-wing critic of Moi, has and insults Hew. and Ugandan exports improved, Moi's founded a movement called "Umoja," were held up for weeks on the border. differences with meaning liberty. Based in London, it Then in mid-December, fighting Uganda's President brings together several groups from dif- broke out between Kenyan police and Yoweri Museveni have ferent European countries. Ugandan soldiers at Busia, the main However, it is doubtful that its utter- border crossing between the two coun- grown deeper and more ances will have much influence within tries. Each country blamed the other for acute." Kenya, primarily because the rhetoric of the shooting in which live Ugandan sol- intellectual revolution is not in the vo- diers were killed. The border remained cabulary of ordinary people. Kenyans closed as Kenya expelled Uganda's two may well resent the power of an authori- ranking diplomats from Nairobi and re- working means that those who manage tarian local chief, or the greed of a politi- called its high commissioner from Kam- the affairs of state are so sensitive to cian, or the force used by the police, but pala, claiming that Uganda had insulted criticism that they cannot draw a distinc- they do not, at the moment, see them- President Moi and assaulted the integ- tion between constructive criticism of selves as "the workers and the peas- rity of the Kenyan judiciary.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 25 asked. "Are you, without the mandate of the people, sacrificing the one symbol of democracy and stability to the altar of the party? What use is a parliament where there is no freedom of expression?" Member of Parliament Martin Shi- kuku sees great danger in the decline of parliamentary debate. "There should be freedom, and there is freedom," he says. "But that freedom can get lost if you don't exercise it, if you've got to say 'Amen' to everything because it is said by so-and-so. If we get ourselves cowed down when we are afraid, then we could easily get one man or a group of people becoming dictators. But if we jolt them, we'll be safe." Shikuku is one of a dwindling number of people within the system who dare do that jolting. Known popularly as "the people's watchman," he rails against corruption and has called for the resig- nation of the governor of the Central Bank and the minister of finance follow- HINDUS RESPE ing the currency scandals involving Asian businessmen. Dissent is likely to become even more muffled during the early part of tHE CONSTlTUT/i1988, as politicians concentrate on gar- nering support in their constituencies in "Kenya's 60,000-strong Asian community is conspicuously wealthy, ethnically homoge- preparation for the elections. The date neous, and deeply resented" has not yet been set, but electioneer- Moi is equally determined to pre- ing—which involves sweeping prom- serve his own supremacy. He carefully ises of development projects, large do- "The clampdown on juggles cabinet ministers and senior civil nations, maligning political opponents, criticism, including servants, assuring that no one accumu- and extravagantly swearing loyalty to fears that one may be lates too much power. The head of the the president—has already begun. branded a Mwakenya civil service, known as the chief secre- The elections will be the test of member for expressing tary, Simeon Nyachae, was seen for a KANU power. Many politicians who disloyal thoughts, has long time as the second most powerful failed to be elected as MPs last time prevented any real man in the country, but he fell out of have since risen to high positions within favor and was pushed out of power. At the party, and they will be trying to oust opposition from the end of 1986, the government those who represent the old-style par- emerging." amended the constitution to abolish the liamentarian system. The preliminary position of chief secretary, ensuring that elections to select candidates, in which no one would accumulate such power only KANU members may vote, will be Neither side can afford such a dis- again. carried out by the queueing system. pute. Landlocked Uganda needs Ken- Similarly, when the disciplinary com- Any contender who gets more than 70 ya's ports and railways, while Kenya mittee of KANU seemed to become t percent of the vote will go forward un- needs the revenue the trade routes pro- powerful for comfort, the president sim- opposed in the general election. vide. Yet the new—and often dis- ply disbanded it. Moi has already identified some of his torted—consciousness of what is hap- Nonetheless, it is still KANU on the favored candidates, implying that they pening in Uganda serves the Kenyan ascendant, while Parliament is on the should stand unopposed. We can expect government well. The message behind wane. A Christian magazine. Beyond, a parliament with even fewer members the belligerence is clear: Uganda is in ran an article written as "A letter to Par- who are prepared to debate, and even chaos. We must preserve our peace and liament." "Is it true you are relinquish- more who listen to the president and say relative prosperity. ing your supremacy to KANU?" it "Amen." D

26 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 Under an IMF-supported recovery Tanzania program, the Tanzanian economy is beginning to emerge from years of decline. In this Africa Report exclusive, Interview with President Mwinyi answers whether his policies represent a reversal of those of President Ali his predecessor, Julius Nyerere, and explains Tanzania's new relationship with Hassan Mwinyi the U.S.

INTERVIEWED BY MARGARET A. NOVICKI

Africa Report: Many observers credit you with having re- vived the Tanzanian economy by your pragmatic economic policies, commenting that your IMF-supported austerity program represents a reversal of the "socialism and self-reliance" approach of your predecessor. Would you agree with that assessment and could you explain the immediate and longer- term objectives of the economic recovery program? Mwinyi: 1 think 1 should start by saying that when 1 assumed the presidency of my country, we were faced with gigantic economic problems. At that time, our agricultural production was very low and we could not produce enough food for our people. The volume of cash crops that we managed to produce was falling year after year—so much so that we were faced with an acute shortage of foreign exchange at a time when the food produced by the fanners could not satisfy the needs of the country. So we were forced to import massive "When I assumed the presidency, we were faced with gigantic amounts of food from abroad when we had no money with economic problems" wliicli to do that. That was one of the problems. Fortunately, we succeeded in that when we entered into an Another problem was that our economic infrastructure was agreement with the IMF. Some capital is (lowing, though in very bad disrepair. Our roads—or what used to be called very, very slowly, but something is coining in. Because of the roads—had deteriorated to just dust paths and we had to do breathing space, this is helping us. Fortunately at the same something about that. We had hospitals that had no drugs, tune, we had two successive years of good rains and our schools that had no books or teadiing aids, and our debt people managed to produce as much food as possible—so burden was mounting. So these were the problems facing my much so that now we are faced with the problems of plenty, so presidency the moment I entered into the shoes of Mwalimu much food in the country that we can't lind storage for it. Nyerere. So this is what we have been trying to do. And as I say. we Of necessity, we had to do something. We were advised by seem to be succeeding. As to whether the steps I am taking many friends, including the Americans, the Nordic countries, are a reverse of what President Nyerere used to advocate. 1 Britain, and others that the only "open sesame" was to enter think to be fair to him, it is not so. What we arc doing now is to into an agreement with the IMF. We had been negotiating carry on where he left off. Nobody can cite any example to with the IMF for the last six years. So when I entered office, prove that we have reversed this or that. We are just carrying we started an agreement. on from where he left off, because after all, I don't think any My immediate plan in doing so was to get relief by resched- government can reverse party policies. In our country, the uling our debts, and I am glad I have succeeded in doing that. party is supreme and the government is only an instrument The donors have agreed t< > reschedule our debts tor five years which implements the party's positions. Mwalimu Nyerere and in the meantime, we pay a little—2.5 percent of our before and now myself are only implementing the party's debts—until we resume our repayments. So that has given us directives. There is no change, no change whatsoever. There a breathing space. Another tiling we thought we should be may be changes in style, but no change in policy matters. doing is to see to it that production of both food and cash crops Africa Report: IMF programs focus to a large extent on increases so that we are able to feed ourselves without having increasing the role of the private sector and allowing free to import massive amounts of grain from outside. At the same market economic forces to take hold. Do you see that ap- time, we could use what little foreign exchange we'd be get- proach as consistent with your policy of socialism.' Can the ting to improve our economic infrastructure. two co-exist?

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 27 Mwinyi: Yes, I think I should make it clear that Tanzania is munity doesn't develop a concerted response to this problem? aiming at becoming a socialist country. It is not yet a socialist Mwinyi: We are respectable governments. We entered into country. We are on the road toward socialism. At the present agreements and asked for these debts of our own free will. I moment, ours is a mixed economy. We allow private enter- don't think it is fair on our part to disown them and stop paying. prise. At present, tourism for example is in the hands of both I wouldn't advocate that line of thinking, but I would certainly the public sector and private enterprise. Our agriculture is like to see our partners appreciate our difficulties and then probably 80-90 percent in the private sector because all our work together to find a solution to the problem. But to say cash crops—tea, coffee, tobacco, cashew nuts—are under- enough is enough and we are not going to pay anything—that taken by private people. Our food crops—all the rice, is not the answer. Most of us are really unable to pay our maize—are produced by private people. Sixty percent of our debts although we really want to do so. We have our own self- transport sector is in the hands of private people. respect to think of! So we have been living with this mixed economy since the Africa Report: Many Western countries are supporting time of I )r. Nyerere and we are continuing the same. If there your economic recovery program. Could you talk in particular is anything we have added to that, it is that we have allowed about the support the U.S. is giving to your program? people to help in the distribution. Before, that was done only Mwinyi: I am very happy to say that the support the United by parastatal organizations. So that is the situation as it was in States is giving to Tanzania is very encouraging. We were the past and as it is at the present moment. indebted to the U.S. government, and while the sum involved Africa Report: So you see more room for the role of the was negligible by American standards—$7 million—it pre- private sector in the economy, as there has been some discus- vented the U. S. from giving us any further loans. So for a long sion of privatizing the parastatals. time, we did not enjoy any financial support from the Ameri- Mwinyi: Some of these corporations are working efficiently. can government. Some are inefficient. There is a possibility that we shall con- Lately, as a result of our agreement with the IMF and the tinue with those which work and are efficient and do away with debt rescheduling, the Americans are now coming up with the ones that are inefficient. We did that in the agricultural very positive support, so now we loiow that they really were sector. At one time, we nationalized certain sisal estates, but prevented by the Brook Amendment! Their contribution to we did so primarily because those farmers had neglected the our recovery program is very promising and we are looking estates and they were producing very little. What we did was forward to further cooperation. Britain is also coming up posi- to step into the shoes of the absent landlords. But otherwise, tively, as are our friends in the Nordic countries. So we are no change. hoping that we will be able to come through this difficult period Africa Report: As you mentioned, Tanzania and so many in a matter of years. I can't say how many years, but the other African countries are suffering from very serious debt horizon is now clearing and a time will come when we shall problems, while export prices of their primary commodities come out of the mess we are in at the present moment. are declining. What strategy would you advocate to the credi- Africa Report: What role do your ports and railways play in tor community to address Africa's debt crisis? SADCC's strategy to reduce economic dependence on South Mwinyi: You are right, we are very much indebted to the Africa? outside world. Our debt in Africa is immense. And much as we Mwinyi: The southern African region has two alternatives. would like to pay. I don't think we are in a position to do so. One is to continue depending on South African routes to and What we would like the donor countries to do is to follow the from the harbor and the other is to go north through Tanzania. example of the Canadian government, where possible, to At the present moment, we are trying to use the railway write off these debts and if not possible, then at least to system that traverses Mozambique, but this is under constant reschedule, giving us a long time. At the moment, in our attack, and as you know, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have com- agreement with the IMF, we have had our debts rescheduled mitted troops in guarding these railways. Unless South Africa for five years, but five years is not enough. It should be a changes its ways—and that is not in the foreseeable future— minimum of 10 years, but 20-25 would be ideal, so that we the only remaining alternative now is to the north, through the could recover and then perhaps build up our economy to the Tazara railway to Dar es Salaam. To this end, we have been extent that we find ourselves in a position to repay. But as it is trying to strengthen our capability of receiving bigger volumes now, much as we would like to honor our debts, I don't think of exports and imports from the landlocked countries. we are in a position to do so. Not only are many of our We have received some assistance in developing Dar es countries unable to pay the principal of the debt, but they can't Salaam harbor, and recently the Reagan administration of- even pay the interest! fered us a substantial amount of money to strengthen the I think it would be more realistic for the countries that have Tazara railway itself, some $47 million. We should seek all lent money to Africa to also look into the possibility of decreas- assistance that we can get from friendly countries to really ing interest rates—another factor which is affecting our per- fortify the capacity of Dar es Salaam harbor and Tazara rail- formance in repaying our debts very considerably. Resched- way—as alternatives. At the present moment, some trains uling, giving us a fairly long repayment period, decreasing do get from Zimbabwe and Malawi to the Indian Ocean across interest rates, and better still, writing off some, if not all of Mozambique, but these are temporary measures, unless the them. Otherwise we shall remain in trouble! hostilities cease in South Africa. In the meantime, the only Africa Report: What are Africa's options if the donor com- reliable alternative route is Dar es Salaam and we are quite

28 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 "We know what led to President Africa Report: What is your view of President Reagan's Reagan's agreeing to the limited recent judgment that the U.S.' limited sanctions against South Africa haven't worked and therefore he has no intention of sanctions that were imposed—the adopting further measures? U.S. Congress. I don't think that for Mwinyi; We know what led to President Reagan's agreeing one moment, President Reagan to the limited sanctions that were imposed—the U.S. Con- would agree to seeing his 'allies' gress. All along he was against it. 1 don't think that for one being isolated/' moment President Reagan would agree to seeing his "allies" being isolated. As long as South Africa is an ally, the government of the United States would not like to see it suffer. Hut satisfied with the way our friends are donating to help I'm certain that sanctions do hurt and if the U.S. government strengthen the harbor and the railway. were prepared to go along with world opinion on the question Africa Report: You mentioned Tanzania's assistance to Mo- of sanctions, that would go a long way toward ending apart- zambique in its struggle against Renamo. What made you heid in South Africa. decide to commit troops to assist the Mozambican govern- Already, even with the limited sanctions imposed by the ment? United States and the EEC, we find that some cracks have Mwinyi: First, we owe our solidarity to southern Africa and begun to show in the Pretoria government. We hear of dele- especially to Mozambique. Also, we share borders with Mo- gates from the white community meeting the ANC outside zambique and if its government falls, ours will be next. So we South Africa—they've done it twice already. Why should they didn't want to wait until the situation worsens. If Tanzania has do that? They never did in the past. Why now? And who are to do any lighting, it had better do it outside the borders of these people who are doing it? They are mostly businessmen Tanzania! We know that Renamo is a surrogate of South Africa who care about their business. So even these limited sanc- and South Africa is out to destabilize all the governments of tions are beginning to bite, and if and when the world commu- southern Africa, Tanzania being one of them. So we though! nity agrees to comprehensive, mandatory sanctions on South we should assist Mozambique to withstand these dcstabiliza- Africa, I think apartheid will be dismantled. Even though Pres- tion activities by South Africa rather than waiting for our turn. ident Reagan doesn't believe in that, I hope he lives long We are helping them to reduce the impact of Renamo activities enough to see apartheid dismantled in South Africa! I hope the and to guard the railway to the ports. world will be persuaded to agree to these sanctions. Africa Report: Whal strategy would you like to see Western .Africa Report: Is the U.S. contributing anything positive at leaders adopt toward southern Africa and South Africa? Since this time toward a resolution of the southern .African conflict? efforts to impose comprehensive sanctions against South Af- Mwinyi: The American people are doing a good deal and rica haven't gone anywhere, should the locus be on strength- Africa is grateful for the solidarity being shown by American ening the frontline states? citizens. It is only the Reagan administration which to us is the Mwinyi: Well, I should like to see both, not one instead of the stumbling block, so we hope and pray that the next govern- other. There have been ideas floating around that since Mar- ment will see eye-to-eye with the rest of the world and per- garet Thatcher is adamant on the sanctions question, why not haps sometliing more positive can be done in southern Africa. concentnite on assisting the frontline states in enabling them We have no quarrel with the citizens of America. We have to withstand the pressures of South Africa? But we believe it seen what they are doing, and even the limited sanctions are in would be wrong to adhere to that strategy because we would a way a result of their activities. actually be neglecting the cause of the trouble and concentrat- Africa Report: With former President Nyerere remaining as ing on its effects and that wouldn't lead us anywhere. chairman oj Tanzania's sole political party, are you as presi- We should do something about ending apartheid, which is dent limited in full tiling your program? causing all this trouble. Since we cannot engage South Africa Mwinyi: 1 don't think for me it will be a great handicap for militarily, the only peaceful means left at our disposal is to President Nyerere to continue his day-to-day affairs as chair- advocate comprehensive sanctions against South Africa. At man because after all, as I said earlier, in Tanzania the party is the same time, we should see if Western governments can supreme and it is the organ which lays down policies for the also assist the frontline stales to withstand whatever destabili- country. The government only executes the policies of the zation activities might be mounted by South Africa. We should party. So whether the two functions are united in one person do both, but not one instead of the other. or in different persons, I don't think will make a great deal of difference. Africa Report: Is there anything else you would like to say to "Mwalimu Nyerere before and now our readers? myself are only implementing the Mwinyi: I don't have anything else in particular to say except that the United States government, a superpower, for a long party's directives. There may be time was unable to assist Tanzania because of technical rea- changes in style, but no change in sons. Now that those reasons are over, I would like to see our policy matters." relations improving more and more, so that our cooperation becomes even more intense than it is today. G

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 29 was held, President Mwinyi went to Politics After Dodoma Nyerere to ascertain his decision regarding the chairmanship. According to Tanzania party sources, Nyerere said he was "flexible." which in his own way, meant: Expected to retire from politics at the recent CCM "I am staying—sort it out." congress, former President Nyerere surprised the nation Possibly relieved that the huge burden of both the party and country were by agreeing to continue in the role of party chairman. not about to faU on his shoulders, Mwi- With "Mwalimu" remaining in a position of influence, will nyi did just that. He reported Nyerere's President Mwinyi's efforts to liberalize the economy feelings to the CCM central committee, which immediately renominated the prove short-lived? former president as sole candidate for on Nyerere to Stay," and sent it to the chairman. Mwinyi was then renomi- BY PHILIP SMITH state-run daily newspaper. Too obvi- nated for the vice-chairmanship. fter two years of speculation, ru- ous- their ploy was spiked The early announcement took every- A mor,. and intrigue throughout this Whlle sorne p:irty nillltants womed one by surprise. The delegates, vast Hast African country, former Pres- about their future, Nyerere himself had crammed into the huge cotton ware- ident Julius Nyerere made his play at the a number of factors to weigh. He had house, were overjoyed at their chair- very last minute. Dodoma, the venue of become publicly uncomfortable with the man's re-election. Deafening chants of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) country's improved relationship witli "CCM. . . CCM. . . CCM" could be party's third national conference, held the International Monetary Fund, char- heard in the far-off hills. its breath. acterizing it as the "capitalist's watch- And it was on this note that the party If the 65-year-old statesman was dog. " However, when handing over the congress began. Nyerere kept the mo- about to honor his word and retire as presidency to Mwinyi in 1985, he knew mentum going in his first address. He CCM chairman at the conference—as that his hand-picked successor's first lashed out at the growing wealthy class he had promised when handing over the step would be to sign an agreement with in Tanzania—the anti-socialist behavior presidency in 1985—a new generation the IMF. of post-Nyerere politics was set to begin By 1985, the economy was in tatters. in Tanzania. Foreign investors, bank- From the time of his 1967 Arusha Decla- ers, and donor countries eagerly ration. Nyerere had succeeded in creat- awaited his decision. ing peace and unity among his 22 million In Dodoma, an edgy group of party people, but he had failed to come to hardliners led by their ailing secretary- terms with the country's growing debt, general, Rashidi Kawawa. anxiously now at $3. til billion, and its overpriced chewed their fingernails. They had currency, the shilling. An IMF agree- more to lose than anyone, for a number ment became inevitable, but Nyerere of them would have been targeted by could not sign liis name to it. the only other possible candidate for the He was also concerned about leaving chairmanship. President Ali Hassan the political arena without ensuring that Mwinyi. his major objectives had been These hardliners have enjoyed a lav- achieved—the total integration of Zanzi- ish and privileged life in Tanzania— bar into the mainland and stability thanks to their positions in the party and throughout the country to last long after to Nyerere's personal policy of ignoring his departure. corruption as long as he himself was More than 18

30 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 of a small proportion of the community $1.22 billion in 1988. who have started to benefit from Presi- However, the trend in external pay- dent Mwinyi's economic liberalization ments points to a need for a higher level TVeiv From Ravan policies. of concessional aid Hows over 1988. In WORKING LIFE Nyerere"s broadside encompassed 1986, exports were only $347.6 million, Factories, Townships, and Popular Culture on the Rand the wealthy Asian traders (tflued to their with the difference paid by Western do- 1886-1940 radios in Dar es Salaam) who run the nors. Last year, they were expected to Lull Cailinicos country's black market economy, and a reach $411 million and $460 million in In this heavily-illustrated volume, few members of his own central and na- 1988. Cailinicos explores both the world tional executive committees who have The economy grew at 3.3 percent in of work on the Rand—industry after the mining revolution, working con- managed to glean tidy earnings from real terms in 1986, matching the popula- ditions of wage laborers, and living their privileged positions. tion growth rate, compared with only conditions in the townships—and 2.3 percent in 1985. Central Bank offi- the world the workers made: their His comments sent the usually stable lifestyles and occupations, political black market price up by 10 shillings to cials predicted 3.5 percent growth for life and working class struggles, art 85 to the dollar. Asians feared another last year. torms, and entertainments Ravan Press 263 pp. (275 + photos) economic crackdown which hit them In the midst of Dodoma's endless so- ISBN 0-86975-120-4 (pa) S21.95 hard in 1984. It was a false alarm, how- cialist rhetoric, news of a new IMF deal ever. reached Dar es Salaam. However, it GROWING UP IN A Riding high on his renomination, would have been inappropriate to an- DIVIDED SOCIETY Nyerere said the implementation of so- nounce such a deal during the congress; The Contexts of Childhood cialist policies was essential, "especially hence it was conveniently ignored. The in South Africa at times like these." He also explained new deal, which was negotiated last ed. by Pamela Reynolds the need for a capitalist sector, but and Sandra Burman July, will ensure the needed short-term foreword by Bishop added, "It must not lead to the whittling aid money. The SDR 68 million ($90 mil- Desmond Tutu away of socialism and self-reliance as a lion) structural adjustment facility will What is it like to grow up in South goal." follow Tanzania's current standby Africa today? These case studies examine the impact of health care, The capitalist sector has been piloted agreement when it runs out in Febru- education, family structure, lan- by the former prime minister and now ary. guage, and ethnic and other differ- finance minister, Cleopa Msuya. The Nevertheless, foreign bankers and ences on the experience of child- minister has earned a good reputation diplomats remain critical of Tanzania's hood in South Africa They catalog, in the words of Desmond Tutu, "the for his skills in haggling with the IMF. implementation of the ERP. The pro- colossal harm a fragmented, In June 1986, the pragmatic Mwinyi gram took a major jolt at Dodoma when caste-ridden, and polarized soci- announced a three-year economic re- the newly elected national executive ety is doing to its most valuable covery program (ERP) to revive the resource." committee decided to exclude the Ravan Press 454 pp. shattered economy. At the time, Tanza- ERP's architect, Cleopa Msuya, from 0-86975-306-1 (pa) $21 95 nians were queueing in the streets like the central committee. Muscovites for the most basic ftxicl "It was the most significant result of and from Ohio commodities. the conference," commented one West- SLAVES, SPICES, AND The KKP detailed plans to liberalize em diplomat in Dodoma. "Msuya will be IVORY IN ZANZIBAR Tanzania's inefficient, state-run econ- left to argue his complex theories from Integration of an East omy by devaluing the currency, raising the backstalls of the NKC where, quite African Commercial agricultural producer prices, liberalizing frankly, few people will understand, and Empire into the World imports, and knocking the 400-odd even less will care." Economy 1770-1873 parastatals into shapo through an anti- Msuya never suffered fools gladly Abdul Sheriff corruption campaign. Following the and his attitude, along with his theories, This pioneering study sets the rise of Zanzibar's commercial empire dur- classic IMF medicine for Africa, some finally cost him his seat on the central ing the nineteenth century within state enterprises were offered to the committee. Remaining as finance minis- the emerging world capitalist sys- private sector, interest rates were in- tem Drawing on Marxist under- ter—unless Mwinyi decides on a re- development theory as well as on creased, and credit restricted. shuffle, which is unlikely at this stage— conventional economic history, Members of the largely Asian busi- Msuya will continue to negotiate with Sheriff provides a new approach to the study of East African history in his ness community were encouraged to the IMF and pursue the government's analysis of the early stages of the use foreign exchange held overseas to liberalization policies. economic underdevelopment of bring imports into Tanzania, with the Agriculture is critical to Tanzania's ef- East Africa 320 pp. government asking no tricky questions. forts to resolve its economic crisis, This scheme provided ab< ait a quarter of ISBN 0-8214-0871-2 (Cl) S29 95 earning about 80 percent of the coun- 0872-0(pa) $15.95 the country's $1.05 billion in imports in try's foreign exchange and accounting 1986. Imports were expected to in- Ohio University Press for 40 percent of gross domestic prod- Athens, Ohio 45701 crease to $1.15 billion last year and to uct last year. Agriculture also employs

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 31 ing. Managers of parastatals, who tech- nically earn around 7(XXJ shillings a month (almost $100), often enjoy lavish lifestyles. Corruption is a way of life, from the ticket man at the bus station to the head of a large state corporation. Mwinyi has made a gallant effort to combat the problem—sacking some prominent government administrators along the way—but he will need a miracle to end the backhanding tradition. After the Dodoma conference, life returned very much to normal. Nyerere and Mwinyi dominated the newspapers like nothing had happened. However, political analysts are attempting to deci- pher what lies ahead for Tanzania. With the reformers rejected by the party hardliners who held sway in Dodoma, the socialist path will be pursued, with "moderate to hesitant" reform. With 90 percent ot the workforce. "Cotton production has doubled, with Msuya on the outs, nothing is certain in over 200,000 tons expected this season, Increased agricultural producer compared to 103,000 tons two seasons the long term regarding the IMF, al- prices and good rains resulted in ago" though the new loan is encouraging bumper crops in the past two seasons. plus to needy areas, utilizing transport news. Cotton production has doubled, with and resources which the cooperatives The big question now is who will lead over 200, (XX) tons expected this sea- lack. the new vanguard of Tanzanian politics son, compared to 103, (XX) tons two sea- Devaluation of the shilling remains into the next century. The finger has sons ago. the key economic issue. Again during been squarely pointed at Joseph Wa- However, as of early November, Dodoma, rumors were rife of a step de- rioba, present prime minister and a 159,000 tons of cotton were still sitting valuation, expected straight after the Nyerere stalwart, who, like Salim in the villages awaiting transport to gin- conference. Around 72 shillings pres- Ahmed ScUirn, is favored by the boss. neries. There is a shortage of trucks, ently buy a dollar, but by January, the However, unlike Salim, he will win uni- badly knocked around on the poor rate should be between 90 and 95. By versal appeal as a mainlander if he is roads, and huge bottlenecks at train sta- mid-year, the shilling is expected to nominated for the presidency. A com- tions. The ginneries are operating at reach equilibrium at around 140 to 150 mon theory is that this will occur in 1990 less than 50 percent of capacity due to a to the dollar. According to government when President Mwinyi finishes the lack of spare parts and electricity. officials, the step devaluation was first of his two-year terms. A major donor conference organized agreed to, but stopped at the last minute "By then, Mwinyi will be quite happy by the government and the World Bank "by the highest authority." to stand down and retire to the good was held in November to address the While President Mwinyi's moves to life," said one diplomat recently. "The problem of bottlenecks in the transport crack down on corruption and sell off the EKP might be forgotten by then as sector. One agricultural official warned loss-making parastatals have been ap- well," he added. By 1990, Nyerere too that farmers would return to traditional plauded, little has come of his promises. may be ready to leave his position as food crops if the cotton continued to be Said one aid official recently, corruption chairman and return both jobs to one left to rot, unpaid for. is institutionalized. The standard of liv- man. Many informed Tanzanians say Incentives to cotton production re- ing is well below the level in the 1970s, Nyerere views Mwinyi as a transitional ceived a further setback in early No- meaning that the average monthly wage president and Warioba as the long-term vember when the government an- is now only enough to feed a small family choice. Thus, some significant changes nounced a ban on private purchases of for five days. Somehow, money has to could be expected as early as 1990. any crops. Before, private buyers had come into the household. The president But the coming years are not likely to undercut the state cooperatives by of- has told the relevant ministries to relax be easy. While the economic reforms fering cash instead of credit. Farmers controls on petty traders who are trying have generated increased trade, there are owed millions of shillings of credit by to earn extra shillings. Cottage indus- has been little long-term investment. the cooperatives. The ban will be im- tries are increasing. Most foreign investors will want incen- possible to enforce, however, and will But it is through higher-level corrup- tives and clear guidelines—namely a only hamper a system which has allowed tion, where ministries fail to keep their foreign investment code—before com- the private distribution of food from sur- books in order, that the country is los- mitting their money to Tanzania. LJ

32 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 Burkina Special Report A Revolution Derailed In Burkina Faso during the October military putsch, our correspondent provides this exclusive report, tracing the factors which led to the death of the nation's most popular leader, Thomas Sankara. Has the Popular Front's coup scuttled prospects for greater popular participation in the process of revolutionary change?

BY ERNESTHARSCH

he same day as Burkina's bldy T military coup, several hundred peasants had assembled in the market- place of the small village of Pibaore to express their support for the four-year- old revolution. For several hours, they stood under the scorching sun, listening attentively to the speakers—whether the more polished orators who had come from Ouagadougou or the village's own representative of the Women's Union of Burkina, who, only recently literate, haltingly read out the text of her brief presentation. The crowd was not pas- sive. The peasants applauded and laughed; they pumped their fists in the air and chanted in Moore, the local language. The villagers' enthusiasm was not so much for the words of the speakers, but for the changes that had come to Pi- baore: a recently fonned peasants' union, a schoolhouse of brick and iron sheeting, a cereal bank to store surplus grain, literacy classes, several thousand newly planted trees to combat deforest- ation, improved harvests of millet and sorghum. When a speaker mentioned Thomas Sankara's name, there was applause. A number of the younger villagers wore tee-shirts bearing Sankara's portrait. As "Sankara's open manner, the ease with which he mingled in crowds, and his willingness to solicit others' views generated public confidence" in other Burkinabe villages this reporter has visited, the inhabitants of Pibaore enjoying themselves. After a while, Back in Ouagadougou the next morn- identified the revolution with their some youths listening to Radio Ouaga- ing, it was clear that the residents of the young president. "He doesn't just make dougou began hearing military music. capital felt the same way, as the news promises, like the old politicians," one As the solemn marches continued for that Sankara had been killed in the coup commented, "He gets things done." A more than an hour, their initial puzzle- spread throughout the city. Thousands moment's thought, and then he added, ment gradually turned to alarm. began pilgrimages to the tiny, weed-in- "He's shown us that we can get things Then, around 6:15 p.m. came the fested cemetery where Sankara and \2 done." stunning announcement: The "patriotic others had been hastily buried during When the rally ended, scores of vil- forces" in Ouagadougou had brought an the night. Flowers were deposited on lagers remained behind, socializing and end to "the autocractic power of Sankara's grave, also pieces of paper Thomas Sankara." For the people of Pi- with messages on them: "We will all be Ernest llarsch is a freelance journalist bused in baore, a day that had begun in jubilation New York who has written exli'iisirely on Ajricun Sankaras" and "Mama Sankara, your political developments for over a decade. now ended in grief. son will be avenged."

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 33 Everywhere, people tuned in their radios to try to rind out what was going on. All they knew was that Sankara had been overthrown and killed by some of his closest comrades, and that his longtime friend, Capt. Blaise Compaore, had taken over the presidency. The new ruling body, the Popular Front, remained shrouded in mystery. The Front's communiques only deep* ened the sense of disbelief and distrust. Sankara was vilified as a "traitor" to the revolution, a "petty bourgeois" who "consorted with bourgeois potentates" and was guided by "mystic forces," a "messianist" who ran a "one-man show," a "fascist." The late president— known for his championing of women's rights—was even branded a "paranoid tion he had been leading for over four Peasants1 rally the morning before the misogynist." years. Some observed that the charges coup: "Enthusiasm not so much for the words of the speakers, but for the Realizing that such slanders were not of bureaucratic and repressive conduct changes that had come to Pibaore" very convincing and seemed to be in- applied much more to the perpetrators creasing popular anger over the coup, of the coup than to Sankara. vious year or so, elements of it can be Compaore and his colleagues soon soft- Apparently expecting popular ac- traced to the first days after the August ened their personal attacks. Sankara, claim, the Front had called for mass sup- 4,19H3 revolution. From the beginning, Compaore said in his first national ad- port marches in the first two days after among those proclaiming support for dress on October 19, was a "revolution- the coup. Not one materialized. In a few the new government, different concep- ary comrade who went astray." His instances, people attempted to demon- tions coexisted of where the revolution death was now termed a tragic accident. strate against the coup, but were was heading and of how it should be di- Though the language shifted, the new stopped by prompt police action. Called rected. regime's accusations against Sankara to their schools for "explanation" meet- These differences were not openly remained essentially the same. ings, students shouted down the speak- expressed for the most part. Everyone Sankara, it was said, had been consoli- ers and staged walk-outs. proclaimed agreement with Sankara's dating personal power, bypassing the At the Zinda lycee, the largest in Oua- October 2, 1983, programmatic speech, other "historic" leaders and political ten- gadougou, they chanted "Sankara or no known as the "DOP" (Disamrs d'Orien- dencies within the National Council of one." The authorities quickly an- tation Palitique), which characterized the Revolution (CNR). nounced the school's closure for a the process of change as a "democratic He was charged with heading a bu- week, and when it reopened, only those and popular revolution." Differences reaucratic and militaristic tendency that students taking final exams were al- were reflected instead through varying sought to stifle democratic debate. His lowed in. The military garrison in nuances of emphasis through a myriad decisions, the accusations went, were Koudougou refused to accept the of organizational disputes and increas- becoming increasingly arbitrary and er- Front's authority, before being over- ingly over time, through different ap- ratic, leading to "social and economic come by troops sent from Ouagadougou proaches toward solving problems and chaos." With Sankara's "degenerated and P6. The Popular Front clearly had conflicts. faction" now out of the way, Compaore little popularity. Though not in a clear-cut manner, the promised that the revolution—which One key Sankara supporter com- differences also touched on the form and had "ceased to exist except in name"— mented, "They say they are revolution- degree of popular participation in the im- could get back on course. aries, that they want to continue the plementation of decisions and in the de- This reporter talked to many revolution. But how can they continue cision-making process itself. Sankara Burkinabe in the week after the coup— the revolution without the people?" and those who looked to his leadership students, teachers, members of the tended to place greater stress on ways Committees for the Defense of the Rev- ith the people or without? to involve broader layers of the popula- olution (CI)Rs), professionals, small W Though perhaps oversimplified, tion, particularly rural villagers, in the merchants, government employees. that question seems to address the ba- country's political life. Others, including With few exceptions, most could not ac- sic conflict among Burkina's leaders that some of those involved in the coup, be- cept the declarations of the Popular finally erupted in the October 15 coup. came more sensitive to the interests Front; the accusations did not match While the conflict itself had become and concerns of the small but influential their image of Sankara or of the revolu- especially sharp only during the pre- layer of state functionaries, intellectu-

34 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 framework in which young people could and anti-erosion dikes to combat deser- get together to discuss the problems of tification. their areas and organize to solve some In a country as poor as Burkina, with of them. The changes wrought by the few financial and material resources, the CDRs were perhaps most notable in the people themselves were seen as the countryside, providing an alternative major factor in economic development. source of authority to the cliiefs and el- The greater willingness of people to ders who had long dominated village life. work harder came from the realization To an extent, the CDKs also made it that their own efforts could make a dif- possible for won len to become politically ference and tliat the government in active and to take on positions of re- Ouagadougou was serious about provid- sponsibility. This was not always an ing them with whatever additional finan- easy process in a country where women cial support was available. had long been relegated to second-class Sankara's style of rule was important status and often lacked the confidence in reinforcing this belief. He projected to step forward. An important develop- himself as a man of the people, with a ment in this regard was the founding of sense of humor, who listened to what the Women's Union of Burkina (UKB) in ordinary folks had to say. His children als, civil servants, and military officers late 1985, which provided women with a went to the same public school as other concentrated in the cities. sense of mutual solidarity in confronting children. His portrait was absent from One of the most notable features of their many problems. government otlices. Burkina's August 1983 revolution was A few months later, the National Un- Similar propriety was expected of the seriousness with which the question ion of Klders of Burkina (UNAB) was other office-holders. This was vital to of popular participation was addressed. launched. This rather unique experi- overcoming the widely held view, de- Although it had its limits, the concept ment sought to win support for the gov- veloped under previous regimes, that took root that ordinary people in the vil- ernment's revolutionary programs most government officials were corrupt lages and in the poorer urban neighbor- among the older strata of society, par- and self-serving. Sankara insisted that hoods had a voice in matters that af- ticularly the traditional village elders, all top officials, starting with himself, fected their lives. who in many cases had been suspicious publicly declare their assets and sources When asked in early 1985 what he of or uncomfortable with the changes of income before a public anti-corruption considered the revolution's greatest ac- taking place. That Maurice Yameogo commission. Many of the previous privi- complisliment, Sankara said it was "the and Sangoule Lamizana, two former leges of public office, such as large gov- transformation of people's outlix)ks." presidents of the country, were able to ernment cars, were done away with. This, he said, "means that each of us play a leading role in the UNAB was Anyone caught embezzling or misman- now knows that wielding power is their likewise a gesture of political tolerance aging public funds was hauled before a business, that the destiny of Burkina that helped allay some of those con- People's Revolutionary Tribunal. Faso is the business of all liurkinabe and cerns. In fact, the relatively privileged posi- not just of some people. Kach one of us Other organizations functioned as tion of the entire civil service was chal- demands an accounting of the other." well: student and youth groups, a writ- lenged. Sankara never tired of pointing This was more of a long-term goal er's union, rural self-help associations out that the salaries of Burkina's 25,000 than an established reality, however. known as Revolutionary Village Groups, public functionaries, who comprise just With an illiteracy rate of more than 90 the newly created National Peasants 0.3 percent of the population, have tra- percent, much of the countryside iso- Union of Burkina, and cooperatives of ditionally eaten up 60 percent or more of lated by poor communications, and a many different kinds. the annual government budget. In an ef- population unaccustomed to speaking its A spirit of active mobilization and fort to partially redress the traditional mind, drawing people into active politi- community self-help was also taking imbalance in resources allocated to the cal life and debate would necessarily hold. In virtually every sector of Ouaga- (owns and the countryside. Sankara or- take some time. dougou and in all the provincial capitals, dered cuts in civil servants' bonuses and Progress in that direction was never- there are new schools, cinemas, sports salaries and mandatory contributions to theless evident. A variety of "mass or- fields, community halls, and other con- development and famine relief funds. ganizations" were established, some struction projects that were largely built This applied to the army's officer corps immediately after the revolution, others through the efforts of the local com- as well. later. These included the CDRs, wliich munities themselves. The same spirit A decree adopted in early 1987 re- were set up in every urban neighbor- was evident in many villages. Peasants quired all civil servants to wear domesti- hood and in each of the more than 7,000 in Bazega Province proudly cited the cally produced cotton suits and dresses rural villages. While their functioning new grain storage bins they liad built (known as Faso Dan Fani). This was was uneven and some were marked by themselves, and villagers in the arid intended to provide an assured market serious abuses, they provided a new Yatenga region constructed windbreaks for Burkina's peasant cotton producers,

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 35 as well as for the indigenous garment Nor did the government's anti-cor- Confederation (CSB) until 1987. industry. ruption measures sit very well with During the 1970s, a large number of Just a few weeks before the coup, some functionaries, who continued to university students, in Ouagadougou Sankara began pushing more forcefully view government employment as a li- and at French universities, were at- for administrative reform to decentral- cense for self-enrichment. Virtually ev- tracted to Maoism. But with the China- ize the government apparatus. This ery weekly meeting of the Council of Albania split, they crystallized into dif- would have included reassigning some Ministers had to deal with one or more ferent groupings: one, the Voltaic Revo- 10 percent of the employees of all minis- dismissals from the civil service for lutionary Communist Party (PCRV), tries out of Ouagadougou into the pro- cases of graft, embezzlement, or mis- following the dogmatic Albanian line, vincial towns. In the villages and prer use of public funds. There were occa- and the other, the League for Commu- urban neighborhwds, such moves, evi- sional purges in the CDRs to get rid of nist Struggle (ULC), more pragmatic in dence that the government meant what local officials who abused their positions its approach. it said about giving preference to the to extort money from the population. Meanwliile, radically inclined junior "masses," reinforced Sankara's popu- How much of a factor resentment army officers formed their own small larity. over Sankara's policies actually repre- study groups, out of which later em- Not everyone, of course, felt the sented in the coup itself is unclear. What erged the Revolutionary Military Or- same way. Opposition came from right- is clear is that the new regime has very ganization (OMR) which included the wing businessmen and traders, some quickly sought to appease such feelings. four "historic" leaders of the revolution: military officers and village chiefs, and Elimination of the Faso Dan Fani cloth- Thomas Sankara, Blaise Compaore, supporters of the ousted politicians of ing requirement, reinstatement of all Jean-Baptiste Lingani, and Henri Zongo. earlier regimes whose positions were dismissed civil servants, and scrapping During the months before and after threatened. Some of them sought sup- of Sankara's proposed civil service code the August 4, 1983, seizure of power, port from abroad, judging that Burkina's were among the first new policy steps this military current forged a de facto revolution and Sankara's denunciations Compaore announced. alliance with two of the main civilian of "imperialism" would win sympathy in groups, Lipad and the ULC, which by Europe or among the nervous rulers of nother major difficulty Sankara that time had renamed itself the ULCR neighboring states. A faced was mediating in the bitter (the "R" stood for "reconstructed"; Sankara also confronted resistance factionalism of the different left-wing or- later a tiny split-off adopted the original and opposition from some of those who ganizations and tendencies represented name, the ULC). Both were repre- proclaimed support for the revolution— within the CNR and other bodies. Al- sented within the first cabinet, along both hostility to certain specific mea- though they claimed to speak in the with others not linked to any political sures and more fundamental political dif- name of the "popular masses," all the organization. ferences over the course of the revolu- organizations of the Burkinabe left had Within less than a year, the original tion itself. Since Sankara's critics their roots in the same strata of intellec- August 1983 alliance began to break generally did not function openly, it is tuals, public functionaries, and army of- down. Lipad, using its positions within difficult to gauge the relative weight of ficers that have traditionally dominated the unions, cabinet, and administration, the different factors that led up to the the country's political life. forcefully sought to increase its power coup. But several stand out. Even though the revolution brought and influence through provocative At one level, there was resentment some of their leaders to prominent posi- actions, such as occupying the electric- and grumbling among a layer of senior tions, they remained tiny, urban organi- ity company, post office, and television civil servants and public functionaries zations, their real influence limited to director's office, seeking to physically who resented the sacrifices asked of government ministries, universities and oust the mayor of Ouagadougou, and them and in league with the leadership technical colleges, and army officers' holding a counter-demonstration to an of some public sector unions, demanded clubs. The bulk of the population knew officially sanctioned students' march. restoration of their bonuses and an end nothing of their political programs. When Sankara formed a new govern- to decrees like the one requiring them The oldest of Burkina's left-wing ment in August 1984, Lipad was to wear Faso Dan Fani. groups, the Patriotic League for Devel- dropped (except for one cabinet minis- Others resisted Sankara's efforts to opment (Lipad), was also known as the ter who distanced himself from the reassign them to the provincial towns, African Independence Party (PAD after group's main leadership), and he relied unwilling to give up the relative com- the old Dakar-based regional party from more heavily on the ULCR. One of its forts and pleasures of life in the capital. which it originally sprang in 1959. Lipad central leaders, Basile Guissou, became For example, a current leader of the looked to Moscow for political inspira- foreign minister. Popular Front, Kader Cisse, was dis- tion and maintained close relations with By the following year, two new missed from his position as president of the French Communist Party. Some of groupings had been formed: the the Revolutionary Economic and Social its members held leading positions in the Burkinabe Communist Group (GCB) Council in October 1986 after refusing public sector unions. Lipad's Ouagadou- and the Burkinabe Communist Union to take an assignment outside of Ouaga- gou chairman, Soumane Toure, was the (UCB). The GCB was composed mainly dougou. president of the Burkinabe Trade Union of dissidents from the pro-Albanian

36 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 PCRV. The UCB, likewise drawing members from the PCRV's former support circles, also had an important military component—but how important was not immediately apparent. In May 1986, the OMR, ULCR. GCB, and UCB issued a joint public declaration re- vealing that they were all represented within the governing CNR and proclaiming their intention to work toward "political and ideological unity." At the time, a central leader of the ULCR told me that while most CNR members agreed with Sankara that given the nation's minuscule working class, the revolution could not yet have a communist or socialist character, some members were becoming impatient with what they perceived as the slow pace of change. The unity projected in the May 1986 declaration never came about. Instead, a tierce factional struggle for power began to unfold behind the scenes, with the UCB a central actor. Initially founded with Sankara's concurrence, the UCB eventually escaped his control and fell under the patronage of other military officers. Capt. Pierre Oue- draogo, the national general secretary of the CDRs, became the UCB's chairman. But the greatest influence was that of Capt. Blaise Compaore, who increas- intimidation. Political debates were said "In virtually every sector, there are new ingly used the UCB as a stalking horse in to be difficult, since the UCB "milita- schools, community halls, and other projects built through the efforts of the local his developing conflict with Sankara. Ac- rists" would sometimes cut off discus- communities themselves" cording to one observer, Ct unpaore saw sion by slapping their holstered pistols. the UC B as a way to provide the military With the UCB in a significantly Sankara stressed as early as August with a political "counterweight" to the strengthened position, Compaore and 1986 that it was necessary to avoid the other left-wing organizations. his supporters pressed for the forma- emergence of a "nomenclature of un- Thanks to its powerful patrons, the tion of a single, official "vanguard party." touchable dignitaries," that is, a Soviet- UCB gradually entrenched itself. Since Such a party was to be composed of the style list of state positions that could Compaore was minister of defense and four existing groups within the CNR— only be filled by approved party appoint- commanded the elite paracommando but some suspected the real aim was a ees. This, Sankara felt, would lead to battalion in P6, the UCB was able to party dominated by the UCB and its mil- high-level jjatronage, nepotism, and solidify its base within the army. With itary backers. corruption, making it harder for people Ouedraogo as head of the CDRs, UCB Sankara strenuously opposed this. outside the party leadership to have a supporters were able to gain ascend- The established groups, he felt, were voice in public policy. ancy over other tendencies within the too narrow to form the basis of a political In June, Sankara argued within the CDRs' general secretariat and in some organization that was truly representa- CNR for the dissolution of the four provincial leaderships. At the Univer- tive of the country's revolutionary groups, to clear the way for the forma- sity of Ouagadougou, the UCB suc- forces. Many young activists did not be- tion of a broader party. Fearing that ceeded in displacing supporters of the long to any of these groups, including they might be swamped by an inunda- ULCR in the leadership of the National those who most looked to Sankara's tion of "Sankarists," Compaore, Bureau of Students. leadersliip (commonly called "San- Lingani, Zongo, and leaders of most of The UCB's gains, according to critics karists"). the groups rejected liis proposal. Then of the group, were accomplished largely Apparently having in mind the exam- Sankara tried a new tack, pushing the through bureaucratic maneuvering and ples of other official parties in Africa, idea of forming a broad front or multi-

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 37 tendency party that would include other were eliminated, the problem was a per- political forces in addition to the four sistent one. groupings. The heightening of factional tensions In two public speeches, on August 4 only complicated the matter. As the and October 2, Sankara dealt exten- UCB pushed to gain dominance within sively with the issues in this dispute. He the CDRs, it used the abuses and errors called for a "genuine unity, a militant of its political opponents to undermine unity of all the revolutionary forces of their positions, while engaging in the our country," appealing to Burkina's same methods itself. revolutionaries to "guard against mak- Late in 1986, the CDR in Ouagadou- ing this unity an empty, paralyzing, ster- gou's Sector 29 arrested several promi- ile monologue. To the contrary, we pre- nent trade unionists, among them fer an expression that is pluralist, di- Soumane Toure. Like Toure, most verse, and enriched by many different were also members of the pro-Moscow thoughts and actions, rich with a thou- Lipad. They were charged with printing sand nuances." leaflets calling for anti-government Those who favored a tightly con- demonstrations. Other CDRs issued trolled party structure were also more public statements denouncing Toure heavy-handed in employing detention or and his colleagues, employing the most intimidation against perceived "counter- virulent language, including calls for the revolutionaries." Sankara himself fa- execution of these "running dogs of in- vored firm action against those who di- ternational imperialism." rectly opposed the revolution or who Presidential aide Frederic Kiemde, were engaged in activities that were who died in the same fusillade with considered threatening to political sta- Sankara, told me the day before the bility. But increasingly he found himself coup that the detentions of the trade trying to discipline those within the mili- unionists had presented Sankara with an tary, police, and CDKs who used their embarrassing fait accompli. Sankara op- powers arbitrarily—excesses which of- posed the detentions, which Kiemde ten came from inexperience or political said, had "done damage to the revolu- immaturity on the part of young activ- tion, " particularly to its international im- ists. age. But he felt he could not publicly But the bureaucratic, intolerant ap- repudiate an initiative appearing to come proach of some of the political tenden- from the CDRs. In fact, the detentions cies also opened the way to such were carried out at the instigation of the abuses. The fact that a number of the UCB. groups openly embraced Joseph Stalin Behind the scenes, Sankara pressed in their pantheon of revolutionary he- for the unionists' release, and several of roes was not without consequence. The the lesser-known ones were let go. He greatest problems were encountered in also argued vehemently against calls for the CDRs. Almost from the beginning, their execution, including within the there were instances of local CDR activ- CNR itself. Sankara told a group of for- ists using their positions to lord over the eign journalists just a few days before population in their areas, to get rid of the coup that as a result, "There's now a personal enemies, or even to engage in campaign against me. I'm accused of be- extortion. This alienated people, making a sentimentalist." ing them less willing to become active Sankara spoke out publicly as well within the CDRs. against excessive use of repression. In a At the first national conference of the speech on August 4, the fourth anniver- CDRs in early 1986, Sankara con- sary of the revolution, he emphasized, demned CDR officials who acted like "While the revolution means repression "potentates," denouncing those who of the exploiters and enemies, for the enriched themselves and criticizing masses it can only mean persuasion, to not beaten. A beaten people means an armed CDR members who used their get them to become involved in a con- unending succession of prisons. . . For weapons abusively. Steps were taken to scious and determined manner." reactionaries, their victory is the con- purge the CDRs of such individuals and He returned to this theme two struction of the greatest number of to provide greater safeguards in the fu- months later, in a speech in Tenkodogo. prisons. That is the difference between ture. While some of the worst excesses "We need a people that is convinced and them and us."

38 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 of the leadership split. Just before Sankara spoke. National Bureau of Stu- dents President Jonas Some, a UCB "Although they claimed member, gave an address implicitly to speak in the name of countering Sankara's views on the char- the masses, all the acter of the party. A few days later, organizations of the members of the provincial government Burkinabe left had in Ilouet prepared a radio broadcast roots in the same praising Some's speech. This was seen strata of intellectuals, as an open provocation against the pres- public functionaries, ident and led to the dismissal of the officials involved. They were ousted by or- and army officers that der of the CDRs" general secretary, have dominated the Pierre Ouedraogo. who by that time had country's political life." broken with the UCB and was siding with Sankara. According to some reports, at an Oc- The coup itself was consistent with tober 8 CNK meeting, Sankara raised a their previous approach. A small group new idea: the holding of national elec- of army officers, acting in secret, chose tions to choose members of an enlarged to resolve their differences with council of 120 members. This was said Sankara through the method they knew to have alarmed Compaore and his sup- best—military force. Hardly an auspi- porters, precipitating the coup a week cious beginning for a new era of demo- later. cratic debate. "These people say they are demo- ot surprisingly, members of the crats," a primary school teacher in Oua- N UCB have emerged as prominent gadougou commented after listening to leaders and spokesmen of the new Pop- Compaore's televised address. "But ular Front. So have members of two why didn't they ever bring their charges smaller organizations, the GCB and Ka- against Sankara to the people and let us der Cisse's ULC splinter group. The decide?" OMK was dissolved by decree. Most The answer seems obvious. Sankara ULCK leaders opposed the coup, as did remained the single most popular leader many individual Sankara supporters; in the country. Whatever mistakes he some were imprisoned and others went may have made—and Sankara readily into hiding. admitted that there were many—most Since the coup, the Popular Front has people probably would have chosen his sought to portray Sankara as a propo- side in the dispute if given the opportu- nent of repression, as an intolerant auto- nity. His open manner, the ease with crat who tried to stifle the voices of which he mingled in crowds, and his will- those who disagreed with him. There ingness to solicit other people's views were two tendencies in the leadership, generated a significant degree of public Compaore maintained, a "tendency of confidence. bureaucrat ization. militarization, and The same cannot be said of the new the affirmation of personal power" rep- team in power. The relationship of trust resented by Sankara, and a "tendency of and confidence that had begun to de- democratic debate" represented by velop between the people and the gov- those in the Popular Front. ernment—and which accounted for the The facts do not fit this schema. extent of popular participation in the Within the Popular Front are those who revolution's programs—has been seri- favored greater reliance on repression ously set back, if not destroyed. and who acted in a particularly harsh Under such conditions, it will be diffi- Building a dam in Goden: "The concept manner against supporters of other po- cult for the Compaore government to took root that ordinary people had a voice litical tendencies. They also opposed continue pretending that the events of in the matters that affected their lives" Sankara's proposals to broaden political October 15 marked a "deepening of the decision-making beyond the narrow cir- revolutionary process." From their re- The events around Sankara's Octo- cles to which it has been largely con- action to the coup, it is evident that the ber 2 speech marked a rapid sharpening fined. Burkinabe people do not believe that. LJ

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 39 BY PATRICK MOSER

ukuria Damti) looked grimly at On Famine's Brink M the white clouds that hung low in Ethiopia the sky but brought no rain to his fields in Mekoy. He feared he would once As another disaster looms in drought-stricken Ethiopia, again lose his crops, and perhaps relatives, as lie did during the 1984-85 fam- donors and government officials seek to avoid the ine. delays in provision of food supplies that caused so The "great famine" killed hundreds of many deaths in 1984-85. Ethiopia's agricultural policies, thousands, perhaps even a million in Ethiopia. At the height of the tragedy, however, remain controversial, blocking the 20 people died every day at Mekoy, on development aid needed to prevent famine's the border between Ethiopia's Shoa and recurrence. Wollo provinces. If the rains don't come, Mukuria said, there would be no crops and he would again rely on food aid. He hoped that would be enough for him and his family of three. That was last August, at a time when relief officials in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa first warned of an impend- ing crisis. "We are facing an emergency situation. The famine is there," Michael Priestley, coordinator of the United Na- tions emergency team, said at the time. Now, it is becoming increasingly clear that impoverished Ethiopia may be facing a famine of similar or even worse proportions to the last one. And once again, relief may be too little, t

40 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 timely distribution and avoid the lengthy terview with a Western television net- ties, and no free trade. A farmer in a delays wliich occurred during the last work. surplus area is not at liberty to sell to a famine. But so far, only about 350.000 Relief officials hope they will be able deficit area," he said. tons have been pledged and much of it to avoid massive movements of people Even the usually liberal Swedish gov- still has to be shipped. "There could be away from their fields by prepositiomng ernment has harsh words for Mengis- mass starvation, as bad as 1984-85," food and drugs early and distributing re- tu's agricultural policies. In a recent re- said Priestley. lief where it is needed. But the plan has port, the official Swedish International In 1984, the international donor com- already run into trouble, when rebels of Development Association (SIDA) said munity came under harsh criticism for the Fritrean People's Liberation Front agricultural stagnation was "primarily having waited tw long before it reacted attacked a relief food convoy, destroy- due to lack of incentives to the fanners." to Ethiopia's appeals for help. Many as- ing 2,'i trucks and 1 (X) tons of emergency The report, which concentrated on cribed the delay to Western opposition food in October. Less than a month the southern province of Arsi—tradi- to Ethiopia's Marxist political system. In later, the rebels attacked another truck tionally the country's granary—said turn, most Western donors accused convoy transporting food and petrol for that "the government set grain prices Moscow of having done virtually nothing sale in northern Ethiopia. too low, input-output price relations are to alleviate the last famine. The two incidents increased fears unfavorable, provision of inputs is irreg- A large part of the Kremlin's aid in that relief agencies, already faced with a ular and biased toward producer coop- 1985 went to support the war effort. shortage of vehicles, may be confronted eratives and state farms, and agricul- Ethiopia now owes the Soviet Union with formidable difficulties in bringing tural extension agents are misdirected." some $3 billion, mainly for military aid. food to the affected areas. Much of Ethi- Partly as a result of the report, SIDA When Ethiopia was recently declared a opia's budget goes to fighting Africa's decided to abandon all its projects in the Soviet-style People's Democratic Re- longest war, a 2(i-year-old struggle be- province, where it had been active for public, critics said this was part of the tween Eritrean rebels and government 20 years. price Mengistu had to pay for Moscow's forces. Tigray and the desert-like Oga- "We are no longer likely to support help. den are also in the grip of continuing, Ethiopia's agricultural policy in the fu- The delayed donor response in 1984 bitter civil war. ture. We would be helping in efforts nvi:

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 41 last famine drew sharp criticism from Western governments and relief agencies, who accused the Addis government of coercion and often brutality. One donor agency called resettlement "the most controversial and counter-productive program under- taken by the Ethiopian government during the famine. It diverted vital resources from the relief effort, entailed massive human rights violations as many people were coerced into the program, and its poor planning led to death and misery," the agency said. Western relief officials said that at the height of the famine, up to 70,(XX) were moved in a month, often herded in transport aircraft and flownt o their new homes where promises of assistance never materialized. The authorities, however, denied any violence was used, with the exception of a few "mistakes." "The purpose of resettlement was to save lives. Those people gathered in the feeding camps during the drought were those who lost all hope, so to them, resettlement sounded like paradise," said Berhanu Jembere, Ethiopia's Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner. bibeba Ibrahim, 25, was one of the 600, (MX) moved during the famine, after she lost parents, children, crops, and cattle. At the height of the calamity, she and her husband joined thousands of others at one of the many famine camps in northern Shoa. She said she volun- teered to move to Horolle resettlement camp, 200 miles away. "Now we have a house again, my husband works, it is a good life," she said in the presence of RRC officials. Horolle may be one of the most viable camps, but donors agree that the program has achieved a measure of success. Resettlement camps work along collectivist lines, a factor to which the authorities attribute the good yields achieved at least in some of them. "The farmers using resources jointly are more successful than the farmer toiling alone," said Berhanu. "Every- body is given a share in accordance to a daily point system and the size of his family. Any surplus must be sold at fixed prices to avoid speculation." After all, he added, "Farmers should be farmers, not traders."

42 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 'Relief officials are determined to avoid a s(x>n have electricity. "But we did not repeat of the last disaster, but it could well ask for all this, we just wanted to stay happen if donors wait any longer" where we used to live," she said. Resettlement was suspended in De- There is clean water in the village she cember 1985, largely as a result of do- lives in—a few dozen huts lined in neat, nor pressure, but the program was dis- military-style rows, simply known as PA creetly resumed in November last year. (Peasants Association) 02. But the wa- The government, however, has no ter, the nearby model farm, and the ag- intention of halting villagization, another ricultural extension services were pro- controversial plan in which 31 million vided by a Western relief organization. people—virtually all of the country's Critics say Ethiopia simply does not farmers—are to be moved from their have the money to fulfill its promises isolated homesteads into villages. and supply the basic needs of the new Two years into the seven-year plan, villages. And donors are locked in a the scheme continues to draw sharp Cateh-22 situation: No one wants to be criticism from Western governments seen supporting villagization, but with- and relief officials who believe the ulti- out Western aid, the people will suffer. mate aim is to facilitate Soviet-style land Several Western governments are collectivization. They have also claimed not allowed to give development aid to that force was often used to move peo- Ethiopia, because of opposition to the ple from their traditional homes. country's policies. "We can and do give According to SI DA, the aims of the humanitarian aid," said Machmer, who scheme are "to advance the revolution heads AID, the largest donor in 1985. and promote its ultimate goal of collecti- "We can assist in building a road to help vization and to give the government the move relief food, but if you build a road political control it needs to ensure that to get produce to the market, that's de- the rural society is reconstructed and velopment. We ain't assist, say in com- agrarian socialism achieved." batting AIDS, that's developmental." But government officials maintain But donors agree that without devel- that the only intention is to group peo- opment, there will be famine in Ethiopia ple—who traditionally have lived far again and again. Klaus Hornetz, an offi- apart from each other—in villages to fa- cial of the Lutheran World Federation in cilitate provision of basic services such Ethiopia, is adamant: "There is no point as health, water, schools, and agricul- in saving 100,000 people during the tural services. drought and then leaving them alone. If "By villagization we don't mean col- you feed the needy, you also have a lectivization. Villagization has its own moral duty to see that they survive after aim. Ethiopia is poor and we have lim- the famine, and to help improve the so- ited resources. By bringing people to- cio-economic patterns." gether, we can use these resources col- Ethiopia was the first African country lectively," said Betru Haile, head of the to use the wheel, but its farming meth- National Villagization Ox>rdination ods have hardly changed since. Pries- Committee. tley believes what the country needs is In 1984, Ethiopia launched a 10-year time and technology, "but above all they plan which envisaged the collectivization need money. They don't have the ca- of 50 percent of all land over the plan pacity to modernize their agriculture period. But three years into the plan, 94 without money." percent of farming is still private. "It is Mukuria Damto gazed at his fields not because the country has failed to mournfully. "If the rains don't come, we collectivize according to plan that we vil- will have no water. Our irrigation comes lagize," said Betru. from the rivers, the rivers are fed by the Waraki Arbijye, a wiry 90-year-old rains. It has always been like this, with grandmother who was recently moved no rains, no water, and no crops." from the nearby hills to a village in Me- The tragic irony is that the water ta- koy, said her husband still tilled the land ble is less than two meters below his alone. No one forced him to join the fields. But he did not know this, nor did neighboring cooperative. The govern- he know how to dig a well or to irrigate ment has promised that her village will his fields. •

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 43 with many calling for a "safe passage" agreement be- Eritrea: The Food Weapon tween the Ethiopian government and the EPLF. On Octo- ber 27, the EPLF released a statement outlining its policy he Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) burst of "not obstructing relief activities." Its call for a "safe pas- into the headlines last October following its attack on T sage" resolution was rejected oy the Ethiopian govern- an international relief convoy carrying food to the parched ment, which does not comment on the fighting in Eritrea. Ethiopian province of Tigray. Some 450 tons of U.S. and UN-donated food were de- Then on November 12, the International Committee of stroyed, sending a clear message to the international the Red Cross (ICRC) launched an "Open Roads for Sur- community as it prepared to launch a new relief effort: The vival" campaign, calling for a "de facto commitment by any war in Eritrea cannot be ignored as it was during the 1984- forces involved in the area not to attack, destroy, or disrupt 85 emergency. Indeed, the war may overshadow this vital supply lines, and to allow humanitarian aid convoys year's relief effort. free access to civilians where they live." The ICRC's main "Drought is a natural disaster, but famine is man- objective is to allow for food distribution to people where made," explained Hagos Ghebregiwet, the EPLF repre- they live, thus avoiding the agony of a "mass exodus and sentative to Washington. 'The Ethiopian government is the creation of overcrowded camps." using the situation once again to further its own political One week after the ICRC proposal was released, the agenda. We are saying nothing should be given to the U.S. government signed on in support of the plan, and government. Most of the people in need live out of their Interaction, the umbrella organization for U.S.-based hu- control and relief aid should be given to independent manitarian agencies, drafted a similar proposal. agencies who can ensure delivery to those in need." Ironically, it was the U.S. government that sought to de- No single EPLF battle has drawn such widespread pub- emphasize the war during the 1984-85 famine, opposing licity to the Eritreans' 26-year-old war against rule from such "safe passage" resolutions. With Washington's ulti- Addis Ababa. State Department spokesman Charles mate foreign policy objective to woo Ethiopia back into its Redman called the destruction of the food convoy "an fold, the U.S. was reluctant to antagonize the Ethiopian outrageous action." UN Secretary-General Javier Perez government by focusing on the Eritrean conflict. de Cuellar joined in the condemnation. Although some American relief aid was sent to the Eri- Defending its action, the Front said the destruction of trean Relief Association (ERA) to be shipped across Su- the convoy resulted from Ethiopia's "mixing relief work dan's borders into EPLF territory, the tonnage was small with military activity," claiming that the convoy included given the needs of the people living in areas controlled by Ethiopian government trucks carrying military supplies. the EPLF. And it was only a small percentage of the total In a series of statements entitled "U.S./UN Dilemma amount of food donated to Ethiopia. Unresolved (Conflict and Famine in the Horn)," the EPLF With its foreign policy objectives basically unchanged, lashed out at its critics. Pointing an accusing finger at the the U.S. has only "reluctantly acknowledged" the war as a UN, the Front's representative there, Bereket Habte Se- primary obstacle to relief and development, according to a lassie, wrote, 'Few have dared to condemn Ethiopia for its ranking American government official dealing with refu- record of devastation of property and disruption of the gee affairs. According to the official, "It has not come to full lives of millions of Eritreans and its stubborn pursuit of a consciousness that any safe passage resolution should military solution to the Eritrean problem." apply to areas that are not accessible to the Ethiopian Selassie continued, "The war policy of the government, government." which continues to reject the EPLF's proposal for a peace- "While the safety of the convoys is extremely impor- ful settlement, has been the cause of more casualties than tant,"' says Karen Hauser of the Eritrean Relief Commit- drought. And the silence on this fact is tantamount to com- tee, the ERA'S partner agency in the U.S., "it is only part of plicity." the problem." Hauser notes that the problem of access to The October EPLF attack did elicit a response from the the majority of Eritreans—living in EPLF-controlled terri- Washington Post. In its lead editorial on October 28, the tory—is more significant than safe transport. "These 1.2 Post wrote, "The time is long overdue to see its [Eritrea's] million Eritreans could not be reached by the Massawa agony as essentially political in origin. The UN federated food aid convoys even if the trucks were rolling," she says. this former Italian colony into Haile Selassie's Ethiopia in "The only way to reach most Eritreans is via cross-border 1952. He absorbed it by force in 1962, and the Eritreans operations from Sudan." have been struggling for independence ever since—first With another famine unfolding, it remains to be seen against the American-oriented Emperor Selassie and whether the U.S. and the UN will ensure that food is not now against Soviet-oriented Mengistu Haile Mariam." used as a weapon, thereby contributing to a peaceful res- The Post's editorial concluded, "Relief crises of one sort olution of the Eritrean conflict, or whether they will turn a or another are likely to recur with terrible regularity in Eri- blind eye, dooming the region to continued bloodshed and trea so long as the political sources are not addressed." recurring famine. D With international food supplies ready to roll, safe trans- —Michael Yellin port has become a primary concern of relief agencies, New York, New York

44 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 BY ROBERT M. PRESS The other two major parties, the Demo- cratic Unionist Party (I)UP) and the Na- ccording to recent reports, the Prospects tional Islamic Eront (NIK), did not sign. A vSudanese government held se- Garang hopes that at any preliminary cret peace talks with representatives of peace talks, those "absentees" will at- the Sudanese People's Liberation Army for Peace? tend. He said preliminary talks are the (SPLA) in London in December—the most likely route, rather than those in first known discussions since July 1986. the form of a constitutional conference, Although the two sides failed to come to Sudan as proposed by Prime Minister Sadiq al- an agreement to end the civil war, re- Mahdi. ports indicated that the SPLA had been • Full peace talks/constitutional confer- flexible on key issues, leading to hopes Recent secret peace talks ence: For these to occur, Garang does that a solution may be found. between the SPU\ and have preconditions—no state of emer- Earlier last year, in detailed state- gency, an end to foreign military pacts, ments by rebel leader John Garang in an the Sudanese government and an end to Islamic "sharia" law. interview with this writer and in subse- on an end to the civil war These [joints, he says, are essentially quent interviews with a ranking Suda- show that the two sides those agreed to in the Koka Dam Decla- nese diplomat in Nairobi, both sides ap- are closer than previously ration. peared to be closer on conditions for The Sudanese government subse- peace talks than has been generally rec- thought on many key quently showed some new flexibilityo n ognized. issues. these points. In an interview with this Without peace, Sudan's economy is writer, Ali Yousif Ahmed, acting Suda- likely to continue its downward spiral— nese ambassador to Kenya, said the fol- in spite of any IMF agreement—and Garang had just completed a round of lowing: pressure will continue to build for a mili- talks in Addis Ababa, Kampala, and Nai- • On the state of emergency: Until now, tary takeover, as frustration with gov- robi with leaders of various southern po- the government had tied this to an end ernment inaction grows. litical parties. They had agreed on the to the fighting. But, said Yousif, "There In early November, the Sudanese need for peace talks between the rebels is a possibility that the state of emer- government convened a meeting of am- and the government, Garang was hop- gency can go without a ceasefire." bassadors from a number of nearby Afri- ing the agreement with the southern • On an end to foreign military pacts: can nations to discuss prospects for parties would strengthen his hand in The Sudanese Prime Minister has al- peace. But at almost the same time, the calling for discussions with the govern- ready announced the abrogation of a mil- SPLA seized the small town of Kurmuk, ment. itary pact with Egypt. Although there is on the Ethiopian border, about 400 Hut his travelling diplomatic initiative no formal pact with Libya, said Yousif, miles southeast of Khartoum. was a bit like preaching to the con- Libya has given military aid in the past "This was something of a blow to the vinced. The southern parties already and may continue to do so. Yousif said, peace initiative," said Ali Yousif Ahmed, wanted an end t< > the war. And the miss- however, "If there is mutual trust and acting Sudanese ambassador to Kenya. ing figure, obviously, was the Sudanese aspiration for peace, these treaties The takeover, after Sudanese military government. So nothing came of the in- should not be a block" to the peace talks. personnel withdrew, followed bombard- itiative. In an hour-long interview, • On ending Islamic law: This has been a ment of the town. The Sudanese gov- (iarang made it clear that he is more real stumbling block, (iarang is "not ernment claimed that the shelling bid flexible in his conditions for negotiations helping us" move the peace process for- come from the Ethiopian side of the bor- with the Sudanese government than is ward, said Yousif, by continuing to press der and was not by the SPLA, but by the generally thought. He outlined two for this. | Editor's note: Reports of De- Ethiopian military. ways of addressing the problem: cember's peace talks indicated that the • Preliminary peace talks: (iarang said SPLA may have dropped this demand. | that the major political parties and the The NIE is not likely to agree in advance John Garang, leader of the SPLA, Sudanese People's Liberation Move- of talks that Islamic law be abolished. came out of the bedroom of his suite at ment (SPLM) should be invited to such But Yousif said agreement on abolish- the Intercontinental I lotel in Nairobi and talks. Often described as having precon- ment might win majority support at a sat somewhat formally on the sofa. He ditions, he said plainly that he had none if national constitutional conference. was wearing a light-colored suit instead the talks were aimed at mapping out Whereas both Garang and Mahdi of his usual military fatigues. Two aides how to proceed in formal, full peace ne- want to do away with the current so- sat nearby; two others sat in the hall- gotiations. called September Islamic laws, passed way, near the door. Eor such preliminary talks, he re- under former President Gaafar al-Ni- ferred to the model of the 1986 Koka meiry, the Prime Minister wants to re- Based m Nairobi, Robert M. Press is a staff Dam Declaration, signed by the SPLM place them with some kind of modified writer Jur the Christian Science Monitor. and the Prime Minister's Unima Party. Islamic laws, applied only to Muslims.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 45 Garang wants them replaced with a uni- versal code of non-Islamic law. "The Prime Minister," Garang con- tended, "certainly wants a military victory, " seeing the continuation of the war as a way to remain in power. But most analysts agree that a military victory by either side is unlikely. Garang accused Mahdi of wanting to "Arabize" southern Sudan, pulling out a document which he said was from one of the Prime Minister's earlier writings on the future of Arabism in Sudan. The SPLA leader said Mahdi has called for an "Islamic Arab republic in Sudan." Mahdi, said (iarang, "thinks he's a prophet. He tliinks he can remake history. " (iarang is adamantly opposed to Is- lamic law. He rejects the idea that non- Muslims are protected under Islamic law, saying he does not need nor want that kind of protection. Sudan's future law "has to be secular," he insists. Moving to other topics, Garang did not deny there are differences of opinion on some issues within the SPLA. "In any organization there are problems," he said, "but there are no differences that would lead to a divorce" between SPLA elements. There are fears among some south- em tribes that a peace settlement in which the Dinkas are given a controlling voice in running the south would be det- rimental to non-Dinkas. Dinkas provide the backbone of the SPLA. Garang answers such fears by saying that "the SPLA is not a Dinka organization." He went on to name the commanders of the various SPLA military sectors, pointing out that many of them are not Dinka. He said it was SPLA strategy to bring "outsiders" into the various areas that have been taken militarily by the SPLA. Local tribes "have traditional hatreds among themselves," so the outsiders help keep a balance and control over local conflicts, he said. Often, brief summaries of what the SPLA is righting for have focused on an end to Islamic law or autonomy for the southern region. But (iarang stressed that his aim is bigger than that. "We are not fighting for autonomy in the South. We are fighting for a restruc- turing in Khartoum. We envisage a system where power is (given| to the re- Old Mosque, Khartoum: One of the major stumbling blocks is the ending of Islamic law

46 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 gions." He added that he wants autonomy for all regions and limited central "Without peace, government control. Then he re- Sudan's economy is marked: "Eventually we [the SPLA| plan to take the whole of Sudan." likely to continue its He then resumed his description of downward spiral—in his vision of Sudan's future. "We are spite of any IMF fighting a cultural, political, and eco- agreement—and nomic war." He wants a united Sudan, pressure will continue but the key, he stressed, is the type of to build for a military unity. The "old view of a united Su- takeover." dan"—the government's view—is based on the power of a few families, said Garang. "Our united Sudan is de- just one Sudanese; he can go. I am one void of that." Sudanese; I can go." In July 1986, Mahdi and Garang held Is pressure growing for a military about nine hours of face-to-face talks for takeover—by the Sudanese army—in the first and only time thus far. "There the face of the crumbling economy and was communication, "(iarang said, but it no end to the war? Yes, he thought so, ended when the SPLA shot down a Su- as do a variety of others this writer dan Airways plane that month, killing talked to in Khartoum last summer. some 60 civilians on board. "I came out "I would expect a military man to take lof the talksj with the impression that over. But he will find a lot of problems. Sadiq is a prisoner of history," said The economy will only improve if there Garang. "He is fossilized," he con- is peace," said Garang. Perhaps at least tended. on that point both sides can agree, and Then, for the second time in the in- with the beginning of peace talks in De- terview, he referred to the fact that cember, perhaps the Sudanese people leaders come and go. "He [Mahdi 1 is may have grounds for hope. Q

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AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 47 What Price Political Prisoners? Somalia evaluation. The aging president of So- malia, many argue, is doing just that. The long-awaited trials of Siad Barre's eldest son, Maslah Mo- several former hamed Siad, a comparatively inexperi- enced soldier fond of the good life, has government ministers and recently been propelled to unparalleled officials detained since prominence. It is barely a year since 1982 are scheduled to Maslah was promoted brigadier-general. Although a successful and wealthy take place in February. contractor, he has very little military or Their outcome may prove political command experience. Even so, decisive in resolving the at the probable instigation of the president's influential senior wife, Khadidja ongoing "Somali Ma'alin, a formidable new command has succession" crisis, as well been created for him. as in unifying opposition The structure of the 77th Sector, which controls all units in the capital and to the aging Siad Barre's the surrounding region, has been re- regime. vised and expanded, endowing it with maximum influence over national secu- BY RICHARD GREENFIELD rity—and indeed potentially over the whole government. This move is clearly hough once an outspoken oppo- designed to protect the position and T nent of tribalism and an inspiration wealth of Siad's family and leading mem- to most Somalis, President Mohamed bers of the small Marehan clan currently Siad Barre is now visibly aging and ill. in power, but a corollary has been con- On October 21, the anniversary of his siderable resentment, expressed by 1969 coup d'etat, hundreds demon- others interested in the wider but not strated against his regime in many cities unrelated issue of the "Somali succes- throughout the world. sion. " But septuagenarian autocrats are sel- dom easily led to relinquish power. AH the President's Clan Rather, they tend to clamp down on human rights and encourage uncertainty Since the fateful car accident in May by petty, devious, arbitrary, and often 1986, Siad Barre's health has remained President Mohamed Siad Barre: "He will vindictive decisions and frequent gov- problematic. It is quite remarkable that never again enjoy the stamina to single- ernment reshuffles. Sadly, at such he recovered at all, but doctors insist handedly balance the varied interests in times, the fate of possible successors— that he will never again enjoy the stam- the Somali nation" all too often maligned as political oppo- ina to singlehandedly balance the varied Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Sulayman Abdulla, nents and incarcerated in wretched po- clans and interests in the Somali nation, minister of interior, have lost some of litical prisons—hangs on the finest of which he has done with consummate their previously considerable influence. threads. skill and often ruthlessness for many Samatur is no longer referred to on Ra- In Somali culture, few things are years. Today government decisions are dio Mogadishu as first vice-president, more admired than an alliterative verse fiercely contested by rival groups and but only as "first" or "prime" minister, or an apt proverb. It is said, for exam- families and are by no means invariably nor has he retained the vital portfolio of ple, that "a desire for perfection in kins- initiated by him. Increasingly they re- defense. A new minister has yet to be men will foster isolation"—in other flect local rivalriesan d more generally, a announced, but Siad has appointed words, when assessing one's relatives, dangerously narrowing power base. three vice-ministers. Neither Samatur one should relax normal standards of As predicted in Africa Report (May- nor Abdulla are Marehan, although the Richard Greenfield, a member <>t Oxford Univer- June 1987), Siad's constitutional succes- latter is the president's son-in-law. sity's International Development Centre, was po- sor, Lt.-Gen. Mohamed Ali Samatur, The Marehan are seriously divided litical adviser to the Somali government from 1977-86. and those who support him, including and factionalism is rife even within the

48 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 the passing months will present a built- minister of defense and chief of staff of in dynamic for instability. the armed forces. A man of considerable Siad is nearly 80 years old and as with status, his detention illustrates that most military regimes, there is no clear much of the "palace politics" in Moga- successor. The potential for civil distur- dishu revolve around attempts to free or bance is very apparent—witness out- to incarcerate potential allies or political breaks of stone-throwing in Mogadishu opponents. last August, which greatly alarmed the Perhaps the best known of the promi- government, not to mention foreign nent prisoners—because he once stood missions, some of which counseled for secretary-general of the OAU—is against the customary violent reaction. Omar Arteh Ghalib. Now 58 and unfor- tunately for him, an Isaak by clan, his The Politics of Detention health is failing under the rigor of his imprisonment. The Isaak are the main- Several formerly prominent minis- stay of the rebellion in the north led by ters and national leaders languish in So- the Somali National Movement (SNM). malia's primitive prisons. The best Ghalib was a long-serving minister of known is probably Mohamed Aden higher education and then of foreign af- Sheikh, who is reputedly in one of the fairs. He was displaced in the early worst—Labatan Jirow. A medical doc- stages of the Ogaden war by Dr. Ab- tor by profession, he was president of durahman Jama Barre. A tall and articu- the Somali Academy of Sciences and late man, Ghalib served in the presi- sometime minister of information and dency and was elected member of Par- national guidance, and is often consid- liament. At the time of his arrest in June ered the intellectual behind Siad's "sci- 1982, he was first deputy speaker of the entific socialism" period. National Assembly. A devout Muslim A Marehan liimself, he fell from fa- and a nationalist, the charge that he too vor, was arrested with five other parlia- was guilty of treason and espionage for mentarians in June 1982, and charged an unsjjecined foreign government bor- with treason. It is currently rumored ders on the ludicrous. that he will be made- out to have been a Soviet agent. That Sheikh for a period was close to the Italian Communist "Siad is nearly 80 Party, which has unsuccessfully lobbied years old and as with for his release, is well known. But most military regimes, Sheikh has never been to the Soviet Un- ion, and any such charge will lack popu- there is no clear lar credence, the more so since several successor. The of his alleged fellow "conspirators" were potential for civil much more right-wing in their views. disturbance is very president's own family. Siad's first wife Although feared by his secretaries for apparent." bore him four sons and his second gave a few outbursts occasioned by high birth to 10 children. Then there are un- blood pressure, Sheikh is more usually ties and in-laws. Inside the extended remembered as a genial, popular, and More senior even than Ghalib is an- family circle, powerful men and a few articulate nationalist. Many Somalis are other detainee, Maj.-Gen. Ismail Ali women—including the two wives—eye watclung his fate with foreboding. He Abokor. Abokor, an outspoken, effi- each other with the gravest suspicion. and his colleagues have been adopted by cient, and incorruptible administrator, Siad's half-brother, Dr. Abdurahman Amnesty International as "prisoners of was a graduate of Sandhurst Military Jama Barre, minister of foreign affairs conscience," and the Council of the Academy, assistant secretary-general since 1977, also aspires to leadership of American African Studies Association of the ruling Somali Revolutionary So- the family, the clan, and the nation. has recently included his name and that cialist Party, and third vice-president. Outside, most leaders of other, often of Abdi Ismail Yunis. formerly dean of He, too, is Isaak. much larger clans and subclans are ap- education at the National University, in Ghalib, Abokor, and others antici- parently content to look on for the time an appeal relating to imprisoned African pated the present crisis over succession being. But several harbor resentment at academics. and privately suggested that it might be being dispossessed and persecuted in Another imprisoned Marehan is prudent for their aging president to con- the past. If economic stagnation wors- Maj.-Gen. Omar Haji Mohamed, for- sider giving up that office, or at least ens, as seems likely, and tension rises, merly minister of health and also acting secretary-generalship of the party, to

AFRICA REPORT -January-February 1988 49 "Neither the World Bank nor IMF have waxed sympathetic over the economic crises which are the day-to-day experience of all but a few Somalis" make way for a younger man. That is widely believed to have been the real cause of their arrest. Sheikh, Mohamed, Ghalib, Abokor, Col. Osman Mohamed Ghelle (a former minister of livestock), Mohamed Yusuf Weiran (a former minister of finance), and 14 other officials are now said to be charged on counts varying from "orga- nizing a subversive organization" to "conspiracy against the state," "ban- ditry, " and "possession of seditious material," all of which carry a mandatory death sentence. Forty young persons—doctors, professionals, and students, alllsaak—who had founded a self-help organization and were arrested in 1982 around Hargeisa, are also to be tried. It has at last been announced that trial of the parliamentarians will commence on February 1, 1988, at 9 a.m. sharp. It is not clear, however, whether members of other clans will be tried at the same time as the Isaak.

The Unsettled North

The number of security incidents in northern Somalia has increased in re- Following the embarrassing leakage Western agencies. cent months. Demonstrations have led early last year of a secret policy paper to curfews in the towns of Hargeisa, advocating oppressive political and eco- Economic Paroxysm Berbera, and Hurao and more recently, nomic measures, Morgan may be hard Borama. The military, under the com- put to fend off his rivals' efforts to have More significant, however, is the fact mand of Maj.-Gen. Mohamed Saeed him transferred from command of the that neither World Bank officials nor the Hirsi, nicknamed Morgan, is greatly ex- 26th Sector northwest. Maj.-Gen. Mo- IMF have waxed sympathetic over the tended by the demands of a deteriorat- hamed Hashi Gani, before his appoint- economic crises which are the day-to- ing security situation. He has ordered ment as vice minister of defense, Mor- day experience of all but a few Somalis. his troops to destroy Isaak settlements gan's predecessor as "viceroy" of the Nor have repeated devaluations of the if it seems the inhabitants are in support north, is a particular critic. Somali currency and the introduction of of the SNM. Wells have been sealed and Several meetings have recently taken currency auctions proven the hoped-for crops burnt. Nomads have been har- place between leading members of the palliative. Indeed, the exchange rate has assed. "Marehan committee" and the Isaak el- again been pegged and auctions recently In the townships, suspected persons ders, although the latter, of course, ad- stopped. Officials close to the govern- and curfew breakers have been arbitrar- mit no connection with the SNM. Filial ment report that as a further economy ily arrested and released, if at all, only relationships being what they are, how- measure, a number of civil servants are on the payment of a "ransom." Mer- ever, the Isaak elders will be in a difficult to be suspended and certain embassies chants suspected of sympathizing with position if Siad is planning, as is strongly abroad closed. the SNM have had their property and rumored, to demand their cooperation In January, the cabinet is also ex- vehicles sequestered and their bank bal- against the SNM in return for commut- pected to be reshuffled again and much ances frozen—although some have ing death penalties on their political lead- reduced in size—perhaps to some 10 or been able to cash checks through ers and their articulate youth—fla- 12 ministers. While relatives of the rul- friends of the regime, albeit at a ten or vored, doubtless, by the promise of de- ing Marelian families still manage to greater percentage discount. velopment projects financed by maintain villas in Washington and other

50 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 markets. The Gulf war also continues to disrupt the import of essential petro- leum products, causing sudden short- "Opposition in Somalia ages which by themselves are politically is clearly fraught with unsettling. Over the years, such difficul- hazard, but opposition ties have often been resolved by "beg- movements have yet to ging trips" to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. establish a wide Aid in the form of cash grants is pre- enough platform to ferred by the regime, only partly be- provide an alternative cause the civil service, although im- to the ruling regime proved over the years, still lacks the and Marehan plans for infrastructure to process the quantity of a 'dynastic supporting paperwork demanded by succession.' " most donors. However, when Siad attended the emergency Arab summit on the Gulf war in early November, his request for a substantial handout was re- Opposition in Somalia is clearly jected as untimely, even tactless. fraught with hazard, but opposition movements have yet to establish a wide Blood Money enough platform to provide an alternative to the ruling regime and Marehan In mid-1987, in a supposed good will plans for a "dynastic succession." The gesture for the Muslim festival of Id al- Somali National Movement is active, Ahda—but actually in recognition of but although it has made several at- Saudi interest in the case—Siad com- tempts to appear truly national, it is still muted death sentences passed secretly largely associated in the public mind by the National Security Court on nine with the Isaak. Moreover, based in mullahs accused of possessing anti-gov- Ethiopia, it is facilely accused of being ernment literature. He substituted in- completely in the hands of the Ethiopian definite imprisonment. In Somalia, the intelligence services. preventative detention law of 1970 le- Siad has also successfully played off galizes indefinite detention without the Ogadeen clan, who are still fairly capitals, such is the shortage of foreign charge or trial. powerful in the Somali military, against exchange that Somali diplomats in many If they are found guilty as expected, it the Isaak, even while himself subtly countries have remained unpaid for long is rumored that an attempt will soon be degrading Ogadeen power as an obsta- periods and one frustrated landlord even made to barter the lives of the accused cle to any unpopular deal he may feel locked up the offices of the Somali Mis- high officials in return for aid from the pressured to make with Addis Ababa. sion to the United Nations in New York. Gulf states. As architect of Somalia's Against such a scenario, the vexing Indeed, the state of the national econ- joining the Arab League, Omar Arteh but delicate issue of human rights may omy remains quite desperate. In a para- Ghalib is particularly well-liked by sev- yet provide a common platform for the graph of unusual candor in a confidential eral Gulf leaders. Survival aid and an ec- growing number of Somalis who are de- briefing paper issued in August, the So- onomic package may again be re- manding that their country return to de- mali government frankly admitted that quested, despite recent negative re- mocracy, free elections, and consensus "annual debt service payments stand at sponses. politics. The February trials, if they are 167 percent of export earnings." Soma- There is no doubt that execution of riot once again postponed, cannot but lia's crippling debts are by no means all respected figures can prove a last provide a focus for the many strands and owed to OECD countries and multila- straw. Many prayers are being offered tensions in the unstable Somali political teral agencies. Among others, they infor political prisoners in Somalia today. scene. clude commercial borrowing from For their friends—and for all friends of Indeed, there is another Somali prov- Credit Lyonnais at high repayment the Somali people—these are anxious erb that says that if one's sandals be- rates. Such debts were neither wisely times. For even if a stay of execution is come seriously fouled, it may be wise to incurred nor properly utilized and do not granted, and the Somali government is discard them completely. One false prove easy to reschedule. once again bailed out financially by the move could prove disastrous for the Not only have climatic factors and the Arab states, the impression may well family, and likewise for many of the fac- crisis in the north disturbed the live- remain in the West that only time has tions currently jockeying for position in stock industry, but there is mounting been bought. Future patterns remain and around the ailing regime in Moga- competition in Somalia's traditional meat obscure. dishu. D

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 51 The Politics of Isolation BY MICHAEL GRIFFIN f the Islamic Republic of the Com- Comoros I oros Islands did not actually exist, a latter-day Jonathan Swift would almost Coup attempts, mercenaries, and a controversial certainly have been obliged to invent it, for the country's political evolution since relationship with Pretoria have given the Perfume independence in 1975 bears a startling Islands a rather notorious reputation. Attempting to resemblance to didactic, comic fiction. address its economic woes, President Abdallah's After the first month of freedom, President Ahmed Abdallah was un- government is now caught between ties to France and seated by Ali Soilih, a French-trained to its new commercial partner, South Africa. agronomist whose far-sighted structural reforms of the islands' fledgling economy foundered when he attempted to suppress the tradition of "Grand Ma- nage." This epic potlatch which, in the space of a week, can consume the family's entire inheritance, lies at the heart of the islanders' religious and social fab- ric, and also partly accounts for the archipelago's low level of economic activity. The three islands now share an uneasy federalism in which President Ab- dallah, restored to popular acclaim in 1978, is simultaneously the head of state and the chief executive of the country's largest import-export company. His personal security is provided by a black- shirted presidential guard commanded by 30 aging European mercenaries married to local women and to their place in the late afternoon sunshine due to a profession which, elsewhere in the continent, suffers from chronic unemployment. Lapped by the Indian Ocean currents and scented by the perfumes and spices which are their sole exports, the islands are tenuously linked to the outside world by two telephone wires. Accord- ing to one Western diplomat, there have been 13 coup rumors in the last four years. But behind the country's colorful public unage is an economic and social co- nundrum which is proving impossible to resolve. Adrift in the ocean with few natural resources and a market too small to support a manufacturing base, the Comoros are almost entirely dependent upon imported g

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 East African neighbors, but there are few employers outside the government and the triumvirate of companies, including the president's, which control the import and export trades. Economic expansion over the past decade has barely kept pace with population growth which is already one of the highest in Africa. Many of the best- trained minds of the past generation have moved to France, which hosts a 40, (H)O-strong community, while a large number still live around the Malagasy city of Mahajanga. Export revenues from its main cash crops, vanilla and cloves, have oscillated wildly, putting an additional strain upon an economy whose budgetary deficits are regularly absorbed by cash injec- tions from France, the former colonial power. According to the World Bank, total external aid amounts to $40 million per year or 80 percent of total public expenditure and more than half annual GDP. In late November, a tripartite mission composed of representatives of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the African Development "Economic expansion over the past dec- country'.-, gt-ograpliical isolation by im- Bank visited the islands in a bid to define ade has barely kept pace with population provements in transport and communi- a structural adjustment program suit- growth, one of the highest in Africa" cations and it is a period that officials still able to the islands' precarious economy. takes place, a figure that will rise to point to as evidence of the progress Minister of Economy and Finance Said $10.5 million by 1990. achieved during President Abdallah's Ahmed Said Ali described the \isit as Noticeable by their absence from the first mandate. "preparatory" and denied reports in the preliminary meetings were representa- Per capita incomes rose from $170 in Paris-based Indian Ocean Newsletter tives of the Arab funds, particularly the 1978 to $350 in 1985, while economic that talks between the World Bank and Kuwaiti Fund, the Abu Dhabi Fund, and growth averaged between 4-5 percent the government had broken down. the Islamic Development Bank, all of over the same period. A new airport The Bank is due to present proposals whom are considerably extended in the was constructed, the road system dou- to the governing body by Christmas and islands. Reports of a rupture between bled in size, and on each island, a ring of then to the several funds concerned by the government and these traditional, tarmac makes most villages accessible early January. Diplomatic sources say conservative backers of the regime to motor transport. But the World Bank that despite the longer time-frame en- have yet to be confirmed, though it is argues in its 198H report. The Needs of visaged by the government, a consen- clear that repayments over the past Adjustment, that this apparent growth sus on adjustment is likely to emerge year have not been as orderly as was unreal, being subsidized by the im- before the end of this financial year, thus planned. World Bank sources say that ports required to fuel the modernization permitting the Comoros to draw on a agreement on structural adjustment program. modest standby facility posted by the measures could help influence the atti- Expansion has been concentrated in IMF for 1987. tude of the Middle Eastern banking the construction and commerce sectors Further pressure is provided by the community. alone. There are new roads, but few islands' critical debt situation. External Indebtedness has risen sharply since agricultural products travel along them borrowings amount to $150 million, of the beginning of the decade when repay- to market. There are new power sta- which $68 million is owed to multilateral ments stood at just li percent of ex- tions, but no manufacturers to tap the organizations and $49 million to Arab ports. The present situation is the result flow of electricity which is more expen- funds. Though minuscule by African of an investment program with an unfa- sive than in France. The deepwater har- standards, debt service will consume $8 shionable accent on the creation of infra- bor of Mutsamudu, built at a cost of $45 million or over 50 percent of export structure at the expense of agriculture. million, is still not finished and may earnings this year unless a rescheduling The government goal was to end the never prove commercial, but the gov-

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 53 ernment has already started to repay its meeting of producers and buyers held in ciency, but this is no more than a "pipe- loans. Paris in March. The Comoros was then dream" in the words of one international The interplay of politics and com- allocated a 250-ton quota, but this re- agency director. Local production is less merce in the Comoros is rarely far from mains a moral, not a binding contract, as than a third of demand and local farmers the surface. The island's main trading current sales testify. Traders say they are powerless to meet the needs of a houses clearly benefited from the gov- have neither the stock nor the cash to population that is likely to grow to ernment's focus on prestigious, capital- match Madagascar's offer, which takes 700,000 by the end of the century. intensive schemes to the detriment of advantage of its 1,000-ton stockpile and The Grand Comoros enjoys abundant the nation's farmers and its educational the low producer prices paid in its incon- rainfall, but the volcanic rock supports and health services. A presidential eco- vertible currency. In the Comoros, pro- no permanent streams and its inhabit- nomic adviser counters that the coun- ducer prices were fixeda s high as $7 per ants resort to water cisterns to meet try's primitive port-handling facilities kilo in what many view as a pre-election their daily needs in the dry season. An- meant that insurance alone accounted sop by President Abdallah. jouan, an island of misty peaks and for 35 percent of all import shipping The loss of the vanilla market has had seemingly lush valleys, is currently on charges to the isolated archipelago. repercussions at every level of society. the threshold of an ecological catastro- Mutsamudu was essential, he says, if Left with a product that no one seems to phe that has already diminished the wa- the Comoros were to trade in this mod- want, the three main exporters have ei- ter-table and reduced total forest cover ern world. ther burned their fingers on rising bank to less than 1,(KH) hectares. "With ev- Though opinions differ as to the value charges or simply postponed payments ery rainstorm, six centuries of topsoil of these investments, the government, to vanilla farmers. This has led to dimin- rush down to the sea," comments one in principle, agrees on the need for ad- ished demand for rice, sugar, and other expert. Donors are now seeking $50 justment. The writing has been on the imported foodstuffs. Since 40 percent of million to fund an intensive program of wall since the collapse of the vanilla mar- all civil servants depend on vanilla reve- reforestation covering 3,500 hectares ket in 1984, when exports sank to less nues for their salary, many were kept each year, but it may already be t late. than $10 million, and revenue, 70 per- waiting for up to three months before The sole gleam of light in an other- cent dependent on buoyant vanilla sales, finally being paid off in October. wise grim prospectus is tourism, but plummeted. When it emerges, the adjustment there are diplomatic and commercial The following two years showed a program is likely to dampen economic drawbacks to the enterprise. A reputa- marked improvement, according to the activity even further, for its priority tar- tion for instability and external pressure Central Hank annual report published gets will be overmanning in the civil ser- to eschew links with .South Africa have early last year. Wage freezes on civil vice, inefficient parastatals, and cuts in prevented the archipelago from making service pay were introduced in 1986 and public investment. The government will a name in the industry. In 1982, a devel- continued through 1987, while revenue attempt to delay the program for as long opment plan by Sun International was collection, long depleted by corruption as possible, as unemployment has be- scotched following objections by France and favoritism at the ports, has been come a key issue among an electorate and South Africa, and arrivals remain tightened up. Imports fell by 22 percent that already feels cheated following the stagnant at l,5(X)-l,8(>0 each year. But in value, enhanced by declining world government's heavy-handed rigging of since the election of Jacques Chirac as prices for rice, fuel, and cement. legislative elections in March last year. Prime Minister, France lias stifled its Hut the argument for self-regulation But a far more essential plank of gov- resentment of increasing South African does not go far enough to meet the re- ernment policy and the sine qua non of influence in the islands. quirements of the World Bank, and the internal stability is the annual rice pur- Nouvelle Socotel, a South African-led Comoros is not strong enough to walk chase, varying between 27-30,0(X) consortium with a 35 percent govern- away from these negotiations. Rice tons, which consumes as much as 50 ment interest, is now completing work prices have risen by 40 percent since percent of the country's export reve- on a 190-room resort hotel on Grand 19H6 in the wake of a global shortfall and nues. The World Bank claims that ONI- Comoros' northern coast, with addi- in wtiat seems like a replay of the bitter COK, the state agency that took control tional plans for hotels on Anjouan and experience of 1984, the vanilla trade is of rice-buyingwhe n President Abdallah Moheli. Sun International, which is to once more in crisis. Less than eight tons came to power, charges three times its provide an undisclosed amount of the 25 of a 200-ton harvest have been sold this purchasing price in Thailand, Burma, million rand capital, will also manage the year, compared to 257 tons last year and Pakistan, but to tamper with food chain, which is to be marketed as Orchid when the value of the dollar was as- imports is to jeopardize the very founda- Hotels. Nouvelle Socotel anticipates sured. tions of government authority. Faced 12,000 visitors in the first year of opera- Dealers like Kalfans et Cie., the is- with a trade-off between public sector tion and a second South African Airways land's largest vanilla exporter, blame redundancies or a cut in rice imports, flight will be launched when the hotels the current situation upon Madagascar's the government will not hesitate to open next August. sharp practice of offering discounts of up adopt the former option. There is certainly a market to be to 20 percent on the fixed price of The administration is publicly com- tapped for the Perfume Islands, particu- $72.50 per kilo agreed at the annual mitted to a policy of food self-suffi- larly in South Africa, which is starved of

54 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 shorthaul holiday destinations. But with ration by white mercenaries. The presi- "There is certainty a tourist market to be the high cost of living, guests will be dent has since clawed his way back to tapped for the Perfume Islands, particularly in South Africa, starved of short-haul corralled in the luxury ghetto and there regional respectability, but he depends holiday destinations" are unlikely to be many opportunities for upon OAU votes each year for the rit- local enterprises. The government has ual—if justified—condemnation of already agreed to reduce import taxes France's continued occupation of May- for alcohol consumed on the hotel prem- otte, the fourth Comoros island which "Commandant Charles," who allegedly ises and most consumer items will be voted to remain under French adminis- represented French interests, ended imported directly from South Africa, ei- tration in 1975. with the latter's expulsion in late Octo- ther by the SAA service or the freighter The two nations have played leapfrog ber. Was it coincidence when, a few that calls from Durban every six weeks. over the affair for \2 years without injur- days later, a Paris court finally opened At this late date, the official attitude to ing their special relationship, founded on hearings on Denard's involvement in the the scheme is deeply ambivalent. "You France guaranteeing the island's safety death of 58 people in the Benin coup seem to take a mad pleasure in present- from invasion. But since November attempt 10 years earlier? If found guilty, ing the tiling with a view to bringing dis- 1986, when Prime Minister Chirac an- Denard faces arrest in French territory. grace or to tarnish the name of the gov- nounced a one billion franc investment "Bob makes the law in this country," ernment, " exclaimed Said Ahmed Said program for Mayotte, the links have be- confided one member of the proscribed All, minister of economy and finance, come more strained. Observers regard opposition. "He is the King. It has noth- when quizzed about the South Africa the Sun International scheme as just the ing to do with justice. It's Bob and no project. Mauritius, Seychelles, and to a most visible emblem of France's declin- one else." The aging Denard may in- lesser extent, Madagascar are all recon- ing interest in the archipelago and a sign deed play puppet-master to President ciled to the commercial reality of sharing that the Comoros have already become Abdallah. but it is becoming increasingly the same ocean with the continent's su- an asteroid in South Africa's firmament clear that it is Pretoria, no longer Paris, perpower, with regard both to tourism of client states. who pays Bob. The Indian Ocean and shipping links. Defense Minister Magnus Malan and Newsletter asserts that his network of The Conn >ros g( tvernment, how- "Pik" Botha, the minister of foreign af- mercenaries currently costs some $3.6 ever, remains supersensitive to the fairs, have both made personal visits million per year to support. Whatever opinions of mainland Africa, recalling bit- over the past 18 months. A tussle for the outcome of the current talks on the terly its ignominious expulsion from the control of the presidential guard be- Comoros debt, this is one service indus- 1978 OAU conference in Khartoum in tween Durban-based Bob Denard, who try that the World Bank will be unable to the wake of President Abdallah's resto- masterminded the 1978 coup, and trim. •

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 55 Anxious to take advantage of educational opportunities not available at home, African students benefiting from "scholarship diplomacy" often find life in the Soviet Union somewhat different from what they had anticipated.

Innocents Abroad

Education

goods from West Berlin as he is at per- forming surgery on a cow. "Most of us come out of here much better capitalists than we were at the start," he laughed—half-seriously. Scholarship diplomacy is as old as the superpower game. Apart from the loftier goal of enriching cultural diver- sity, it's a way of gaining influence with the world's most promising minds— more often than not, tomorrow's leaders. The Unesco statistical yearbook for 1981 shows that foreign student intake in the Soviet Union increased by 125.5 percent between 1970 and 1978, while that for the United States rose by 82.4 percent over a corresponding period. In 1985, the U.S. government announced that it intended to increase scholarships BY COLLEEN LOWE MORNA Patrice Lumumba University, Moscow: by 50 percent, in a bid to "catch up with "Scholarship diplomacy is as old as the Communist bloc countries in training the superpower game" ou're having trouble making it into youth of the developing world." Y the local university, and then sessions to younger brothers and rela- Said the then-administrator of the presto, a scholarship comes along. It tives, in anticipation of better times Agency for International Development: could be to Washington or to Moscow— ahead. "They art; taking full advantage of these you don't really care. Fact is, you've had He arrived in the Soviet capital at the scholarships to shape young minds and your big break, and there are only a few start of winter, wearing a thin cotton increase their influence in the develop- days to pack. What's one of the first suit and carrying "a little parcel of ing world. These young people are re- tilings you do? clothes," only to find that a pair of jeans, turning to their countries, not only with Like many other African students in at least in those days, cost 200 rubles new skills, but with ideologies as Moscow looking back on those days, (about $;I3O). "I almost died," the jolly well. . . America has some way to catch Stephen Tagoe, a Ghanaian, remem- veterinary science major said in a recent up." bers giving away most of his few pos- interview. According to official Soviet statistics, Five years later, Tagoe (a pseudo- over 2 million Third World students Collem Lowe Mornn,

56 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 foreign students in the country. sics—a loaf of bread in Moscow costs dents finally get the hang of Russian af- Western propaganda centers, says 11 kopecks, a fat textbook goes for 2 ter their first-year intensive language one handbook, "keep spreading the lie rubles, and you can ride anywhere on course. But as Joshua Ngwenya, a Zim- that Soviet universities are training Red the immaculate Moscow subway for a babwean philology student at Patrice terrorists, Kremlin agents, etc." The mere 5 kopecks. Lumumba University, puts it, "It is no Soviet Union, it says, does not seek any But although jeans (which are now joke." "unilateral advantages, either political or manufactured locally) have halved in Then there is the general suspicion of economic" through scholarship pro- price, clotliing, gadgets, electronic foreigners which pervades society here. grams. goods, and any other "luxuries" remain "It's not so much a function of socialism liul, the pamphlet admits, the Soviet exorbitant. SaysTagoe, "On 90 rubles a as it is a result of their historical back- Union invests considerably in the train- month I can feed myself, but I can't buy ground, " explained Ndaba Dube, a post- ing of personnel from developing coun- utensils, and if I had a visitor, I'd have to graduate student at Moscow Institute of tries. "And we stand to gain from this: fast for a few days." Steel and Alloys. "The Soviets have we win new trade partners. And the African diplomats point out that for- been fighting for survival from the time strengthening of peace and friendship is eign students get twice as much as their of the civil war, through to the second also to our benefit," the pamphlet Soviet counterparts and almost as much World War, and then the Cold War. The states. as some professors each month. A Zim- general feeling is that they have to be on Wliile both superpowers clearly har- babwean diplomat recalls how one stu- guard." bor ulterior motives, and there are un- dent came to the embassy to complain But it does increase tension. Most doubtedly long-term benefits, sociolo- that he had to ride to school by subway, students are aware that extensive files gists warn that the returns from schol- while liis friend in West Germany drove are kept on them by university authori- arship programs are not necessarily around in a BMW. ties. And while there is little direct evi- automatic or immediate. "Familiarity But most African governments con- dence of any student being expelled be- breeds the right to be critical," writes cede that it's a tight squeeze for foreign cause of his beliefs, African students J.M. Mitchell in his book, International students and pay a supplementary sti- tend to watch what they say to their Cultural Relations. "Foreign students pend, usually in the order of $li() to $50 a roommates. usually find some fault with their host month, made available in coveted hard Interestingly, Ngwenya was the only country of education and by so doing currency. interviewee who reported "very good they help to maintain their own sense of Officially, at the bank a dollar is worth relations" with his Soviet counterparts. identity in a status of tutelage." three-fifth of a ruble. Unofficially, on the He pointed out that Patrice Lumumba According to an East African diplomat thriving "parallel" market, the green University, which was built in 1960, ca- here, who studied in the Soviet Union buck fetches a tidy four rubles. Though ters primarily to foreign students, and himself for several years, many African of course it's not part of the plan, few specifically those Soviet students being students abroad are first generation students bother to go to the bank under primed to travel abroad. "They study scholars who come from poor, peasant the circumstances. foreign languages and learn to live with families. "Their immediate concern," he Even more common—because they us," he said. maintains, is not so much with ideology have more latitude than the average So- But a myriad of regulations can ham- as with "how to break free from squalor viet student to travel to the West— per relations. A Soviet student wisliing and poverty." most African students take the occa- to invite v, foreigner home has to get Most of the African students inter- sional trip to West Berlin or Bonn, use permission to do so, and often it's not viewed in Moscow had a pretty hazy their savings to buy clothing or elec- worth raising questions. Similarly, for- idea of what to expect when they first tronic goods, smuggle them in, and sell eign students have to obtain authoriza- arrived. But all of them anticipated a them for six times the price in rubles. tion to receive visitors. All the inter- quick rise in their material living stan- While Soviet officials know what's go- views for this article were conducted dards. ing on, they tend to turn a blind eye, off-campus, and although students "I expected that I would be going to explained one African diplomat, "be- spoke openly and freely, most preferred visit a superpower, very developed in cause unwittingly the students help to not to be named. Permission is also re- the scientific and other fields," said a satisfy local demand." quired to undertake trips within and out- Kenyan political economy major at Mos- On campus, most students share four side the Soviet Union. cow Suite University. "I expected a to a room—always a mixture between Because most Soviet men have g(x>d life, a comfortable time. So natu- Soviet and foreign students. It's hard served in areas which are considered rally I was surprised when I found that I enough, says a Zimbabwean student, to security-sensitive, they are not allowed had to hassle just to get money to buy get four people to agree "to a common by law to marry foreign women. Fewer clothes." code of behavior at the best of times." Soviet women find themselves in this Students on government grants here It's even harder when your perceptions predicament, and a fairly high propor- receive a stipend of 90 rubles a month to are continents apart. tion of African male students have So- take care of all their needs apart from For starters, there is a new language viet wives. actual school fees. It covers the ba- and alphabet to be learned. Most stu- Courtships are not always easy and

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 57 marriage can present hard choices. If a Though it's not an everyday occur- ford a house, heating, and basic food- Russian girlfriend lives off campus, she rence, most said that they had been stuffs. What one person has, the other must receive a letter of invitation, for called a monkey. "When I first came," has the capacity to acquire." which approval must be obtained, be- said Tagoe, "I used to get angry and But, he says, this has been accompa- fore she can come over. Visiting hours furious. Now I'm used to it." Tagoe has nied by an undesirable level of control. are usually no later than 10 pm. Staying found his own way of dealing with the "In addition, the Soviet system has not over involves a complex process of brib- problem. "They told me I was a mon- given due attention to the human being ing the doorman and negotiating with key, so I let my tail wag," he said. Now, in his or her social context," he said. roommates. when he meets a Soviet citizen, he ex- Others, most of whom felt that some To get married, the foreign spouse plained, he introduces himself as a sort of balance was needed between so- must prove through various documents "monkey," putting them in an embar- cialism and capitalism, criticized the in- authenticated in his home country that rassing and defensive situation. herent inefficiencies in the system. Said he is not already married. Housing for Regardless of what discipline they are a medical student attending university in married couples on university campuses pursuing, students at Soviet universi- the southern town of Rostov: "I've is scarce, particularly if they don't at- ties study tliree areas: social sciences grown so used to shortages that I no tend the same institute. ()ften, the new- (including Soviet history and scientific longer know what I'm missing and what lyweds have to live apart initially. socialism), general science, and finally I'm not." It's no good having free medi- In general, foreign students are not "subjects which determine the type of cine, he added, "if you have to bribe the allowed to stay in the Soviet Union once specific qualification." doctor for treatment." they complete their studies. Thus a So- African students vary in their assess- "I've lived with queues for six years viet woman married to an African stu- ment of how free they are to be critical now," another student in the room dent has the choice of giving up her citi- in the first of these categories, but one griped. "But I still can't get used to zenship and going to Africa, or shuttling sums up the general consensus thus: them." back and forth on a temporary passport. "As long as you remain within a certain Still, very few African students throw range of ideas, you are free to say what in the towel. Interestingly, when chal- you want." lenged with some of the stereotype im- "While both And most note that with the advent of ages of Soviet education back home, glasnost and peristroika, the intellectual they become quite defensive. They ar- superpowers clearly atmosphere is gradually opening up to gue eloquently, for example, in favor of harbor ulterior more debate. For example, a group of oral exams, which are the main form of motives, and there are African students at Moscow State Uni- testing in Soviet universities, but are undoubtedly long-term versity recalls how one teacher came considered a no-no in the rather rigid benefits, sociologists into class, upset over an article in French and British educational systems. warn that the returns Pravda, the widest circulation daily, ex- It is not true, they add, that everyone from scholarship posing prostitution in Moscow. Such who gets into Soviet university writing, she reportedly argued, would passes—a perception perhaps borne of programs are not show up the "imperfections of social- the fact that students who fail to make it necessarily automatic ism." into local universities still manage to get or immediate." The students countered that if the degrees overseas. Certainly, they say, Soviet Union indulged in its own self- it's no easier than going through an criticism, they'd effectively silence the American college. Inlaws aren't always supportive ei- critics outside. "Foreign journalists will Indeed, predicts Tagoe, when most ther. According to one African student have nothing to say, because you will African students get home, they will married to a Soviet woman, his inlaws have said it all yourself," one African probably be far milder in their criticism. boycotted the wedding. "They have student told the teacher. This, he reflects, is perhaps the genius grown up with their own prejudices and And among themselves, the students of scholarship programs. naturally they are afraid of how this talk freely. "The economic strides made The sponsors know, he said, "that might affect relations with the neigh- by the Soviet Union in 70 years are we ultimately can't afford to talk nega- bors, " he said. nothing short of impressive, especially tively about our stay, because to do so Virtually every student interviewed when you consider that in between they would be to reflect negatively on our complained he had experienced racism fought a war which cost 2 million lives," own achievements." at some time. The Kenyan political says Gandhi Mudzingwa, a fourth-year It is quite probable, he admits, that economy student said that during his political economy candidate at Moscow generations of ill-prepared, excited one-year intensive language study in the State University, and publicity secre- youngsters will continue landing at Mos- southern town of Astrakhen, "White tary of the Zimbabwe Students Union. cow airport to minus zero tempera- students often huddled on one bench, Equally, he continued, "the distribu- tures, clad in summer suits, looking for leaving me all alone in the lecture tion of material wealth makes a very the pot of gold at the end of the rain- room." pleasant picture. A common man can af- bow. •

58 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 epic filmabou t a nation with many paral- A City on the lels to their own. The Zimbabwean government invested 18 percent of the film's $39 million total cost and hopes Front Lines of War not only to reap profits from it, but also to promote Zimbabwe's budding film industry. Letter from Harare "Cry Freedom!" has inspired a Zim- babwean film-making team to produce a The filming of Richard Although no one has been charged in more serious documentary about Biko. the incident, the Mugabe government "We presumed there were political gaps Attenborough's "Cry has blamed South African agents, and in the Attenborough filman d so we situ- Freedom!" in Zimbabwe, police sources say that their investiga- ated H within the Biko legacy," said along with recent cases of tions have led them to two white South Mark Kaplan of the Capricorn Video Africans who have since Hed the coun- Unit which wrote and produced the doc- South African-backed try. umentary. espionage and sabotage, Just as Paul Simon's controversial The hour-long film, entitled "Biko: have brought about a "Graceland" tour briefly focused inter- Breaking the Silence," features international attention on majority-ruled Zim- views with several of Biko's contempo- transformation in the babwe last year, Attenborough's raries and examines the roots of his mood of the capital city. movie—most of which was filmed Black Consciousness Movement, ex- Harare, says our here—has also shone a spotlight on the plaining how its pliilosophy fits into the correspondent, is bracing country. But what has been illuminated current situation in South Africa. is a nation beset by bombs, spies, and "That political issue pivots around the for the onset of war. violent rebel movements—all of them question of whether or not there is a backed by South Africa. role for whites in the anti-apartheid BY ANDREW MELDRUM "We heard that car bomb go off from struggle," said Kaplan, a Zimbabwean miles away," said the British official be- who spent several years working in s they entered the theater in fore the "Cry Freedom!" screening. "I South Africa. A downtown Harare, those attend- think it shook everyone, not just for the "Many say that the Black Conscious- ing the gala world premiere of "Cry damage it did, but also because it ness Movement was just a phase black Freedom!" were confronted with gap- brought home the realization that little activists had to go tlirough. We showed ing holes in the lobby where plate glass Harare may be the target for more such activists who were close to Biko and windows had once been. It was tropi- terrifying incidents." who are now associated with the United cally hot that night, and the diplomats At the Harare opening, Sir Richard Democratic Front LUDF) and therefore and government ministers who came to Attenborough said he had made the working shoulder to shoulder with see director Sir Richard Atteiiborough movie in Zimbabwe because the South whites against the apartheid system. and Prime Minister Robert Mugabe African authorities would not have per- The UDF embraces the non-racial posi- open the filmabou t South African activ- mitted him the freedom he required to tion of the African National Congress ist Steve Biko seemed not to mind that make a strong anti-apartheid film. Fur- LANCJ." they were standing in the open air. ther, Zimbabwe had many similar lo- The opposing view of Biko's legacy, But they could not help but comment cales and the landscape to give the film said Kaplan, comes from interviews on the wide-open spaces left when the authenticity. with "members of Azapo [Azanian Peo- window panes were shattered by a pow- Answering criticisms that the movie ple's Organization] who have never erful car bomb which injured seven peo- was more the story of Donald Woods really allowed whites any place in the ple, including two well-known anti- than of Biko, Atteiiborough said, "This struggle. Where Biko would stand today apartheid activists. is not THE movie about Steve Biko. It is between Azapo and the outlawed ANC "This him is about what the South a movie about the friendship between is still open to question. That is the key Africans did 10 years ago and it looks two men. One happens to be black and political cjuestion we explore in the doc- like they are still at it," said a British the other white and the film shows the umentary. " diplomat, leaning on the window sill and varying degrees of suffering that the ob- In the film, the ANC's director for looking down at the asphalt parking lot scenity of apartheid causes." information, Tliabo Mbeki, reveals that where the remote control bomb had left "The definitive movie about Steve Biko was in contact with the ANC a six-foot crater. Biko will have to be made in a free South shortly before his death in police deten- Africa by an African," declared Attenbo- tion. "It seems clear, "said Kaplan, "that Andrew Mehirum, an American journalist who has been based in Zimbabwe jar six years, reports rough. Biko was trying to dovetail the efforts of on southern Africa for'Y\w Guardian of London, Black and white Zimbabweans alike the Black Consciousness Movement A Franve-Presse, and the Voice of America. have lined up at the box office to see an within South Africa with the efforts of

AFRICA REPORT* January-February 1988 59 the ANC from outside." naked body some 700 miles in the back third of them under 18 years of age. Another aim of the film is to docu- of a land-rover to a hospital in Preto- Much of the testimony at the confer- ment continuing torture and deaths in ria—the rough journey resulting in Bi- ence could not be reported in South Af- detention, the medical profession's role ko's death. rica because of restrictions on both local in covering up those abuses, and the It took eight years before the South and foreign journalists. Just as Donald limited avenues for legal redress. The African Medical Council held an official W(XK1S had to flee South Africa in 1977 informative documentary mixes those inquiry into the conduct of the doctors to get the facts out about Steve Biko's interviews, many of them shot in South who treated Biko and two doctors—one death, other concerned South Africans, Africa, with archival material about of them, Dr. Ivor Lang, district surgeon both black and white, must travel out- Biko, interviews with Attenborough and in Port Elizabeth—were merely repri- side their country to publicize the harsh WtHKis, and footage from "Cry Free- manded for professional negligence. facts of widespread detentions without dom!" At a recent international conference trial and mistreatment of thousands of Just as Attenborough made the life of in Harare entitled, "Children, Repres- men, women, and children. Indian nationalist Mnhatma (iandhi into a sion, and the Law in Apartheid South commercially successful him, his "Cry Africa," Dr. Wendy Orr, who worked Freedom!" has utilized sweeping with Dr. Lang, described how treat- As Attenborough's film premiered in scenes of life in South Africa to make a ment of prisoners has remained essen- Zimbabwe, Harare was fascinated by powerful anti-apartheid statement. As tially unchanged from the time of Biko's another South African-related story: the in "Gandlii," most effective are the epic- death in 1977. trial of a young, white South African scale, crowd scenes of mass rallies, fu- Dr. Orr told the conference delegates woman who admitted she had been spy- nerals, and the police attack on the that while she was working under I )r. ing on the ANC in Harare for the Preto- Crossroads squatter camp. Lang in 1985, she treated hundreds of ria government. The two-and-a-half hour film lags detainees, more than half of whom com- Odile Harrington, '11, came to Zim- somewhat in the second half, after Biko. plained of police assaults. She said that babwe in October 1986. Declaring her- convincingly played by Denzel Washing- they had injuries consistent with such self an anti-apartheid activist, she ton, dies from injuries received while in assaults, some of them serious. Many sought refugee status and within police custody. At that point, the movie complained of torture during interroga- months was living in a house with four shifts focus to depict the flight of Donald tion and again displayed wounds consist- ANC members. She was caught send- W(XKIS, played by Kevin Kline, from ent with such mistreatment. ing out information on the whereabouts South Africa to publicize the circum- Dr. Orr told Dr. Lang that she was of ANC members and offices in Harare stances of Biko's death. worried about the injuries. "He said we that could have been used in South Afri- Although all the tension-building tech- should treat the symptoms and that the can attacks. The fact that the ANC of- niques of the escape genre are skillfully causes of such injuries were not our fice was bombed and a sabotaged televi- employed, it is hard for the viewer to business," she said. She then began sion set exploded killing the wife of an remain as engaged in the Woods family's compiling documentation of security po- ANC meml>er in Harare last year made predicament as in that of Biko and the lice brutality against detainees. After the threat of further attacks very real. other black South Africans in the film. she appealed publicly for a halt to such In court, Harrington coolly described Attenl>oi'ough as much as admits that mistreatment, she was promptly taken her espionage activities as "her duty" to the Woods escape tk the film to a cul- off any duty in which she would come her government. She criticized the de-sac, and he uses an unconvincing into contact with detainees. ANC for "using landmines to blow up flashback to end the film with its most "1 became discouraged when I iniKx;ent diildren," but when she was compelling scene, the 1976 Soweto stu- thought of all the doctors and other confronted with the proposition that in- dent uprising. medical personnel in South Africa who nocent Zimbabweans may well have However, Harare viewers were ex- have not spoken out against the police died in a South African attack caused by cited by seeing schoolchildren in Bula- atrocities that they have seen," said Dr. her information, Harrington said, wayo's Mijojxtma township reenact the Orr. "Why is mine the only voice against "Those things happen in war." Soweto uprising. Biko's funeral was this?" She then appealed to the interna- While Zimbabwe and South Africa are filmed at (iwanzura stadium in Harare's tional community to strike the Medical not officially at war, that has not stopped Highfield township and the city's Association of South Africa (MASA) the Pretoria government from sending Kpworth settlement became the infa- from all international medical organiza- other young, white women like Har- mous Crossroads squatter camp. Most tions. rington to gather information. In 198H, were also sadly aware that the anti- South African lawyers and psycholo- Olivia Forsythe was traveling through apartheid struggle depicted in "Cry gists gave detailed accounts of how the Zimbabwe doing "research" on the Freedom!" is now even more intense— thousands of children detained under Southern African Development Coordi- spiralling to engulf the neighboring South Africa's current state of emer- nation Conference when she was ex- countries. gency have been systematically brutal- posed as a spy and disappeared, some Attenborough's depiction of Biko's ized and denied basic legal and medical say into the protective custody of South death in i«>lice custody was effectively care. According to figures presented at Africa. underplayed and factual. A South Afri- the conference, more than 30,000 peo- What was surprising about Har- can doctor had given the police permis- ple have been detained during South Af- rington's case is that she was sent to sion to transport Biko's unconscious and rica's current state of emergency, one- Zimbabwe with virtually no training and was caught very easily. Harrington was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 25 years in prison because of her "unre- pentant" attitude. New Yorker Films At the same time, the story of another sort of espionage came to light in Harare, when Zimbabwean citizen Vn- tricia Hanekom was released after spending three years in a South African prison. In December 1983, she and her husband, Derek, and a friend. Roland Hunter, were discovered c< Electing d< ic- uments which proved that the South Af- rican Defence Force (SADF) was training and supplying Mozambique's Re- nanio rebels. Hunter was a corporal in the SADF and became personal assistant to Col. Cornelius van Niekerk, director of the army's destabilizau'on projects. THE AFRICAN COLLECTION Shortly after her release, Hanekom ANGOLA SAMBIZANGA. 1972. Directed by Sarah Maldoror A powerful spoke to the press in an effort to publi- film of oppression in Angola, realized through the story of a cize the damning evidence she and her young woman searching for her jailed husband colleagues had collected. She said that CONGO THE LION HAS SEVEN HEADS. 1970 Directed by Glauber Rocha Hunter had documents showing that he Stylized allegory attacking colonialism, made by the acclaimed had paid large salaries to Mozambican Cinema Novo director rebels who were being trained in South IVORY FACES OF WOMEN. 1985. Directed by Desire Ecare. Politically Africa. She said he had invoices showing and stylistically adventurous film exploring the links between feminism, economics, and tradition in modern-day Africa that he had arranged montlily airlifts of COAST thousands of AK-47 automatic rifles and BLACK GIRL. 7965 Directed by Ousmane Sembene Landmark rounds of ammunition into Renamo ba- SENEGAL African film about an uprooted Senegalese servant girl m France ses in Mozambique. There were also CEDDO. 1977 Directed by Ousmane Sembene Far-ranging destabilization programs aimed at Zim- national epic centering on a political kidnapping to stop Moslem babwe and Lesotho, she revealed. expansion m the 19th century. These incidents have given I larare a EMITAI. 1972. Directed by Ousmane Sembene A clash between very new atmosphere—that of a city on French colonialists and a mystical African tribe in the closing days the front lines of war. Since indepen- of World Warli dence in 1980, Zimbabwe has proudly JOM, The Story of a People. 1989. Directed by Ababacar Samb and militantly declared itself a frontline A rousing West African fresco that illustrates and illuminates the continuity of Senegalese history. state. But now, the spy cases, incidents of sabotage, and growing security MANDABI. 1968 Directed by Ousmane Sembene. An intimate threats—from Renamo along Zim- sage of modem life in Dakar, about a man who encounters an mtimdating barrage of Third World bureaucracy babwe's eastern border and from dissidents in southern Zimbabwe—have NJANGAAN. 1974 Directed by Mahama Johnson Traore The added a threatening, sinister air. story of one of the many boys enslaved by marabouts purportedly teaching them the Koran Many Zimbabwean viewers watching "Cry Freedom!" found themselves re- XALA. 1974 Directed by Ousmane Sembene A Third World acting very emotionally to the Him, be- paragon topples ignomimously social comedy in the great tradition cause of its relevance to their situation. "I found myself sobbing throughout the movie. I had a lump in my throat," said a For more information on the New Yorker Films library, call or write (or white Zimbabwean man. "Thinking our free catalogue. about it afterwards, I thought that the story in South Africa is not over and neither is Zimbabwe's. We are living through something very historic and it will affect us all. Southern Africa now is like Europe just before World War II. "D 16West61stStrcet,NewYork,N.Y. 10023(212)247-6110 A Jewel in Culture the Smithsonian's Crown

At last, centuries of African cultural masterpieces have found the home and the critical recognition they deserve in the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African Art.

BY HOWARD FRENCH

• • T n matters of religion, as of art, A. there are no 'simple' peoples, only some peoples with simpler technol- ogies than our own. Man's 'imaginative' and 'emotional' life is always and everywhere rich and complex." This epigraph, taken from the catalogue of the "African Art in the Cycle of Life" exhibition at the Smithsonian's Ceremonial stool, Akan peoples, Ghana new National Museum of African Art, fairly sums up one of the driving ideas Hill in 1964. After several years of lob- the mall and sustain the interest of aca- that brought the creation of this institu- bying in Congress to have the collection demics and others already familiar with tion to its belated fruition. absorbed into the Smithsonian, visitors the terrain. Little studied and under-appreciated to the national museum's mall now have in the West, African art merits nothing access to another jewel: a promising al- less than the serious treatment that only loy of high quality exhibits, spacious fa- "Little studied and a museum devoted entirely to it can cilities, and ambitious staff brought to- promise. gether to show off Africa's artistic gran- under-appreciated in With the opening of this new deur. the West, African art Smithsonian museum, the first in the Under the direction of Sylvia H. Wil- merits nothing less Western world dedicated solely to the liams, former curator in the Department than the serious appreciation and study of black Africa's of African, Oceanic, and New World treatment that only a artistic contributions to world culture, Cultures at the Brooklyn Museum in museum devoted the continent is finally getting some New York, the National Museum of Af- entirely to it can measure of its due, and fittingly so in rican Art has assembled five major exhi- Washington, the capital of the country bitions which will greet visitors during promise." with the world's second largest black its initial months of operation. population. Ample borrowing from major collec- The new museum flows out of the tors and museums in the United States The museum's permanent exhibition, heroic efforts of Warren Robbins, a and in Europe have allowed the small which draws on about 80 pieces taken former foreign service officer whose de- group of academics and museum profes- from its own holdings, including some votion to African art led him to assemble sionals working with Williams to aug- previously unshown recent acquisitions a modest collection of works in an ill- ment the new institution's still modest plus some 20 masterpieces loaned by suited series of town houses on Capitol holdings of 6, (XX) objects with enough major private collectors in the United art of consistently high quality to dazzle States, serves as a general introduction Howard French, a reporter for The New York Times, lived in Cote d'hoire for six years. the uninitiated visitor wandering in off to African art.

62 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 Visitors to the gallery, which is lo- cated on the upper level of the two- story underground structure, are wound through the major art-producing regions of black Africa. Beginning in West Africa and meandering through the Congo River basin and dense rain forests of Central Africa, the tour ends with a few well chosen samples taken from the somewhat less prolific regions of East and southern Africa. The items shown here, a stone-hewn Nomoli doll from Sierra Leone, Akan fertility figures, a Benin "bronze," and a wonderfully abstract bullet-eyed war- rior statuary from Zaire, among many other works, are displayed in an unob- trusive manner with a minimum of di- verting literature, with the intention it would seem to wow the uninitiated with the sheer esthetic power and range of the continent's art. As the first black director of a Smithsonian museum and one of only two black woman directors of major museums in this country, Williams has con- ceived the National Museum of African Art, and the permanent exhibition in particular, with two missions in mind: to elevate museology in her field to the Headrest, Zande peoples, Zaire same level of professionalism as any other, and to make the shining products of African genius accessible to a wider adulthood, marriage, procreation, and tively rare subjects in African art. Child- audience. passage to the afterworld—is reflected hood figures in this collection in the "What this country is all about is the or celebrated in art. masks and sculptures used in the initia- contribution of its many peoples," Wil- Appropriately, the exhibition excels tion ceremonies that mark the passage liams said. "We as blacks have waited a in its treatment of infancy and procre- into adulthood. In so many societies, longtime for this." ation; two complementary themes that this transition is performed during a pas- For those seduced by the permanent in traditional African societies take on a sage of several weeks or months in a exhibition who are moved to explore transcendental importance. forest encampment, where hunting, further, the museum offers four finely Infancy is portrayed with an ample first aid, the significance of tribal ritual, tuned installations that focus on specific selection of mothers with child. Exam- and often an apprenticeship into "magic" forms or themes. ples ranging from a 12th century terra are taught to segregated groups of Perhaps the grandest of all, "African cotta from Mali to more recent wood, young men and women. Art in the Cycles of Life," uses a diver- ivory, and soft stone carvings from Fearsome-looking masks that are of- sity of forms to give visitors an apprecia- Zaire, Ghana, Angola, and elsewhere ten "danced" during the initiation period tion of the rites of passage that are rec- show variations on the classic form of a are featured in this module of the ex- ognized and celebrated, albeit in widely mother breastfeeding her infant. hibit, along with brief, but detailed texts varying ways, throughout much of the Some of the works celebrate child- that allow the viewer to understand continent. hood, some are meant to promote fertil- their significance. The show is divided into four sepa- ity, and still others are meant to mourn "Toward a Secure World" is a collec- rate modules that each illustrate a par- death in childbirth, but all reinforce the tion of masks and sculptures dealing ticular "phase" in life. Beginning with near-sacred position of the child, with- with the communal celebration of sea- "Continuity," and proceeding through out whom a society obviously could not sonal agricultural rites, and divination "Transition," "Toward a Secure World," survive and in whose absence a woman and occult practices meant to assure and "Departure," the collection gives a cannot achieve completeness in so prosperity and protection from malevo- sense of how each particular station in many traditional African cultures. lent forces. life—birth, childhood, adolescence, Beyond infancy, children are rela- Here some of the most sublime ob-

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 63 jects in the entire museum are assembled: an Elek, or ritual head from Guinea, whose long and graceful line, perched in seeming precarity on a cylin- drical pedestal, combines human features, a bird's beak, and crocodile jaws; a Guere mask from Cote d'lvoire, whose form evokes some alien horror, draws together animal forms, teeth, raf- fia, and a broad bloodied nose, quite plausibly capable of scaring away the forces the might menace a village; a Yuo, or wooden female bust from Burkina Faso, whose neat, classical lines are redolent of the sculpture of the ancient Mediterranean; a Mumuye statuary figure from Nigeria, shrouded in a helmet, eerily foreshadows with its abstract surrealism the "Darth Vader" character of Star Wars fame. The finalcycl e of the exhibit, "Depar- ture," is an artistic treatment of death, which in much of Africa lacks the sense of finality that it holds for Westerners. The deceased must be given the proper send-off, because in the afterworld he retains a tangible importance in the unfolding lives of the still-living. The "Departure" module includes some of the earliest surviving example of terra cotta and wood sculpture from the continent, from 500 B.C. and the 10th century, respectively, as well as several hauntingly beautiful funerary objects from Gabon, Zaire, and Nigeria. Three other modules in the installa- tion, "Governance," "Status and Dis- play, " and "Imports," seem somewhat arbitrarily included, as they don't directly relate to the central theme of rites of passage. Nevertheless, the felicitous selection of works makes them a welcome addition. The visitor is treated to exquisitely executed objects that symbolize the Plaque, Edo peoples, Nigeria of traditional West African strip weav- prestige and power of their owners, or continent's many art forms. Their ma- ing, "Patterns of Life," and "Objects of alternately, a few pieces made to order jestic classicism makes them the ideal Use," a collection of tools, implements, by foreigners—primarily by Portu- standard bearer for a continent whose and pieces of furniture that were de- guese traders in the 16th and 17th cen- esthetic achievements have too often signed for use in traditional settings. turies—that depart from traditional been treated as exotic curios or sub- forms. In botii of the installations, the imagi- jected to purely ethnological tradition. A third show, "Royal Benin Art," native design and consummate execu- draws together a collection of 21 classic The copper alloy panels and busts on tion of objects meant for everyday use Benin lost wax bronzes, mostly donated display here lend themselves to the im- illustrate a common point: In the conti- to the Smithsonian by the renowned art mediate appreciation of even the most nent's traditional societies, where art collector, Joseph Hirschhorn. unfeeling viewer, striking a familiar for art's sake is an unthinkable concept, chord for the Westerner. esthetic excellence permeates even the The Benin works are perhaps the functional. Q best known—and rightfully so—of the The finaltw o exhibits are a collection

64 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 Harassment, torture, and detention begin to unfold as part of the children's "Sarafina!": daily routine. A boy whose father is attacked by security police dogs asks: "What would you do if your father came The Music of Liberation home with no pants and blood dripping down his legs?" Culture Sarafina begins to emerge as a serious and committed activist with little No other play about South Africa has had as much time for teenage play and carefree fun. impact on its audiences as Mbongeni Ngema's In a solemn voice, she tells the story of "Sarafina!" A brilliant interplay of mbaqanga—the music the savage rape of a black woman by a white police officer and launches a fron- of the townships—dance, and song, combined with a tal attack on apartheid: "This whole powerful political message, the production is preparing place is filthy," she says with a stone- to take Broadway by storm. cold expression on her face. "It smells of the burning bodies of the informers. It smells of the government lies. It stinks BY DAPHNE TOPOUZIS opened at the Market Theater in Johan- of their jails. It stinks < >f their army. It nesburg. stinks of their state of emergency." tanding on an armored truck be- New York was next. The play was Flashbacks into the history of the Shind a chain-link fence topped with almost immediately sold out at the Lin- black struggle eventually lead to the barbed wire, four musicians, dressed in coln Center Theater and is now going story of Victoria Mxenge, a human South African military gear and armed strong at Broadway's Cort Theater. rights attorney and member of the with guitar^ and trumpets, open fire Critics predict "Sarafina!" will be Broad- United Democratic Front whose de- \\'"'••> a slick mbaqanga tune. Next, 20 way's hit of the season. fense work in the Natal treason trials t>v":igu s in black and white school uni- The year is 1976. The setting is the cost her her life, murdered in August I'i'iins and spiffy bowler hats fill the Morris Isaacson High School, the "par- 1985 in front of her children by "un- stage to defy apartheid with a dazzling liament" of black students in the town- known masked men." display of song and dance. ship of Soweto. As an ordinary school Sarafina's vivid account of Mxenge's Written and directed by Mbongeni day begins, we are gradually introduced tragic fate is only matched by the cast's Ngema ("Woza Albert!" and "Asina- to the main characters of the play, most reenactment of the Soweto uprising of mali!," see Africa Report, July-August of whom are addressed by mischievous June 1976, when, after refusing to ac- 1987), with music by Hugh Masekela, nicknames: Colgate, Crocodile, Silence, cept Afrikaans {"the language of oppres- "Sarafina!" has been acclaimed as onr of Florsheim, Teaspoon, and Schoolmis- sors") as the medium of instruction, the most original, exuberant, ard ine- tress "It's a pity." hundreds of schoolchildren were massa- sistible shows to reach New Yt >rk City. Their laughter, teenage sensibility, cred by the South African police. Subtitled "The Music > -i Liberation," the and playful fighting are irresistibly en- And yet, "Sarafina!" is not merely a play celebrates the spirit of resistance gaging and infectious. Initially, the hero- play about oppression—oppression is and resilience of South Africa's black ine, Sarafina, comes across as a "pretty the context, n->t the focus of the show school children, using mbaqanga, the mama," the most sought-after girl in the and certainly not its final word. With music of the townships, as the medium. school—a girl who has boys on their "Sarafina!," Ngema has taken "Asina- The idea for the play crystallized dur- knees singing, "You break me heart in mali!" one step further, leaving apart- ing a conversation between Ngema and pieces. You make I wanna cry," heid behind in order to bring out the Winnie Mandela, in which the resistance The jovial and carefree atmosphere of power, positiveness. and resilience of leader underscored the strength of the the classroom is regularly and brutally the children of South Africa. The fact children in South Africa's liberation interrupted with the grim realities of that the story line is somewhat thin is struggle. Subsequently, in a small Lon- apartheid: security identification check- virtually irrelevant. don studio, Hugh Masekela and Ngema ups before class and the beating of the began working on a score revolving mistress, under an absurd pretext, for " 'Sarafina!* celebrates around the power of mbaqanga music. "subversive" teaching. Colgate wittily Upon his return to South Africa, the recounts how the omnipresent armed the spirit of resistance playwright set up auditions throughout soldiers have taken the place of educa- and resilience of South the country to select his cast. Nine boys tion inspectors and have- rewritten the Africa's children, using and eleven girls aged 16 to 20 were cho- school syllabus. The smell of gunpow- mbaqanga, the music of sen, and after eight months of training in der "has become our perfume," he adds the black townships, as voice, acting, and dance at the old Plan- with a smile that fails to hide the tragic the medium." tation Hotel in Fordsburg, "Sarafina!" expression on his taut face.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 65 "Their laughter, teenage sensibility, and row, " their fists clenched in the air. edly lies in the fact that it has introduced playful fighting are irresistibly engaging Sarafina is detained and tortured a new dimension to a familiar, though by and infectious" twice, only to return stronger and more no means exhausted, subject. Like In fact, what is remarkable about this committed to the cause. On her initia- other South African plays, "Sarafina!" is play is that the music and dancing com- tive, the class chooses to devote the narrated rather than dramatized, but it municate the story tine with even more annual school revue to Nelson Mandela, is narrated through every song and intensity and passion than any script with Sarafina as the protagonist. Mase- through each child's body, movement, could have. Mbaqanga both reinforces kela's "Bring Him Back Home" is sung and voice. It is not acted out, but re- the spirit of resistance and smoothes out in melodic whispers while the spotlight enacted by children who have lived the grief and frustration of the school- rests on her as she delivers Mandela's through what they are communicating. children's uneasy endurance of apart- homecoming speech. Yet, if "Sarafina!" succeeds in com- heid. Similarly, dance is used not only to As tension recedes, the cast per- municating a grim reality with humor, communicate the children's vitality, but forms an explosive version of "Wololo," infectious optimism, and uplifting spirit, to articulate what is not explicitly stated. which sets in motion every muscle and the spectator does not leave with his The unfailingly uplifting feel of the every musical note available. Both conscience at rest. The continuous bat- music and the pulsating dancing carry a times I saw the play, the audience in- tle between the tragic truth and the clear message all by themselves. In one vited itself to dance and applaud through youthful conviction that change is of the most moving parts of the play, the this last number, mesmerized by this around the corner remains troubling— children cast off their uniforms and slip bewitching blend of music, dance, and for the cast and the audience alike. The into colorful traditional African dress to energy. children's burden cannot help but be- perform "Freedom is coming tomor- The originality of this play undoubt- come the spectator's guilt. •

66 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1988 1980 have been transformed into the vi- Review olent physical attacks on collaborators Learning from witnessed over the past few years. By the time that Finnegan walks into After all, as Finnegan points out in an his classroom to find hand-painted ban- epilogue that packs in more overtly po- His Pupils ners proclaiming "Down with gutter ed- litical data than is sprinkled throughout ucation!", we have come to understand the body of the book, just two years enough of the particular and often am- after he left, a Cape Coloured township William Finnegan, Crossing the Line: A biguous niche carved by apartheid for not far from the school where he taught Year in the Land of Apartheid, Scranton: the black minority classified as Coloured served as the site of the launching of the Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1986, to appreciate the euphoria of the boy- most broadly based, legal anti-apartheid 418pp, $22.95. cotting students, but also to grasp the movement since the founding of the now inevitability of many (also Coloured) banned African National Congress. teachers turning against the boycott in Surely, many of the students Finnegan BY JULIE FREDERIKSE order to protect their jobs. taught are now adults somehow aligned William Finnegan's Crossing the Line: As the students plot strategy while to the United Democratic Front, but A Year in the Land of Apartheid is not their teacher prepares lessons for the Crossing the Line doesn't enlighten us only well written, but clearly authored "awareness sessions" that have re- greatly about that continuity. by someone who cares for those he was placed classes, we are offered a rare However, as I noted at the outset, writing about—by a teacher who man- insight into the process—rather than Finnegan's brok is about his own politi- aged to learn from his students. That simply the effects—of politicizatbn. cal education as much as that of his stu- distanced journalistic or academic tone My only complaint about the book re- dents and he asks, and attempts to an- that marks so much of what we read flects the concerns of one trying to un- swer, the questions that occur to him in about "the crisis of apartheid" is refresh- ravel the political motivations behind the that process. ingly absent from Finnegan's prose. forces of resistance to apartheid. Finne- He himself observes that while a The very fact that this account of en- gan's descriptions and perceptions often black student activist friend sees "a counters that took place more than offer tantalizing clues that he does not world to be unmade, and a brave new seven years ago cannot be dismissed as go on to flesh out. world to be made", he sees "something dated reveals the essential validity of I wanted to hear more of his students' infinitely more static and fixed—a place the author's motives—to chronicle ex- critique of the black consciousness phi- to be contemplated, understood and de- periences that changed lives, those of losophy, to trace their shift from a race- scribed. " Finnegan fulfills his own goals his students, and also his own. based to class-oriented analysis, to un- nobly, and for the Airicanist as well as Finnegan portrays himself as a travel- derstand how the murmurings against the uninitiated, Crossing the Line is a ing surfer who stopped off in South Af- "sell-outs" that Finnegan was privy to in rewarding read. • rica to earn a bit more cash, en route to

Fast Africa from the Far East. His pur- STAIEMENT OF OWNERSHIP. MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION

ported motivation: the conjuncture of AFRICA REPOST HT III ' •''""" "the perfect wave" and air-conditioned 0 1.1 1 ..1 ll .1 "1 , r,, pizza parlors offered on the Cape coast. "Bill came for pizzas and stayed for New roi-Ji. Hav inrfc 11)017 the boycott," was the headline of a re- i *ULL wuif$AhPCDMP(.Frf HA)U^*DCrird^ PUBLISHER EDilOfc AhLHUhACirvOCDlTOn inn in— MVST POT*raumt) cent review in Johannesburg's indepen- FH.UK C. Ftrrari. -LUt COMF1 (TG UAILIH^ ACOflEa African American inniLi n • * Ultimately, what is most instructive about Crossing the Line is the parallel * KgBSr'SE™'™.."'.".1,1 '.: .'.::. tliat emerges between the 27-year-old ' i . •. vr university-educated American fillinghi s slate at the same time and with the same enthusiasm as his teenaged Coloured high school students.

Julie Frederikse, author of South Africa: A Dif- H E ferent Kind of War (Beacon Press, 1987/ and ™«™iSSiL?,", J"',"," '.'.•;;'.":, „«», 5 JO Ulib

None but Ourselves: Masses vs. Media in the 16» Making of Zimbabwe (Penguin, 1984), is based c iu [si : : iit E,*;:™."jf,™-r " "" '"' " """ i»l in Harare, Zimbabwe, and reports Jor National Public Radio.

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1 certiFy that (h* ilittiTWti nwdtby n* abov* sra correct and cOAp'tif 1987 Index AUTHOR INDEX Adam, Gordon. "Behind Barclays' pull-out," May-Jun 23 Maren, Michael, "Review: Assignment Africa," Mar-Apr Adedeji, Adebayo, "A year after the special session," Nov-Dec 68 20 "The sins of Paul Simon," Jul-Aug 22 Adero, Malaika and Barbara Summers, "Africa's Nobel laure- Marks, Jon, "Western Sahara: Africa's forgotten war," Sept-Oct ate," Jul-Aug 46 16 Akhalwaya, Ameen, "South Africa: Covering the white tribe," Masekela, Barbara, "The ANC and the cultural boycott," Jul-Aug Mar-Apr 22 19 "Apartheid in the classroom," May-Jun 41 Meldrum, Andrew, "At war with South Africa," Jan-Feb 28 "Interview with Albertina Sisulu," Sept-Oct 39 "Malawi: Banda in a bind," May-Jun 47 Akhalwaya, Ameen and Margaret A- Novicki, "Interview with "Zambia: Going it alone," Nov-Dec 40 Hugh Masekela," Jul-Aug 26 "Interview with President Kenneth Kaunda,' Nov-Dec 43 "Interview with Duma Ndlovu and Mbongeni Ngema," Mgxashe, Mxolisi, "A conversation with Ray Phiri" (interview), Jul-Aug 36 Jul-Aug 31 Allen, Caroline, "Botswana: An African success story,' Jan-Feb Momoh, Prince Tony, "Nigeria: The press and nation-building," 22 Mar-Apr 54 "Brothers and neighbors," May-Jun 37 Morna, Colleen Lowe, "Zimbabwe Preparing for war," Jan-Feb Astrow, Andre, "Interview with Armando Guebuza, Minister of 55 Transport and Communications, Mozambique," Jul-Aug "SADCC and the private sector." May-Jun 34 64 "Doing business in Beira," Jul-Aug 61 Astrow, Andre and Alana Lee, "Togo: In search of friends," Mar- "Zimbabwe: What road to growih?", Nov-Dec 35 Apr 51 Morrison, J. Stephen, "in Washington: The battle for Mozam- Battersby, John D., "Sanctions: A war of attrition," Jan-Feb 4 bique," Sept-Oct 44 Berger, Carol, "Eritrea: The longest war," Mar-Apr 30 Mukela, John, "Zambia: The IMF fallout," Jan-Feb 65 Bourke, Gerald, Cote d'lvoire: A tarnished miracle," Nov-Dec Novicki, Margaret A., "Quett K.J. Masire, President of Bot- 62 swana" (interview), Jan-Feb 11 Breslau, Andrew, "Media: Demonizing Qaddafy," Mar-Apr 46 "Maria Eugenia Neto" (interview), Jan-Feb 31 Browne, Robert S., "Debt: Resolving the crisis," Nov-Dec 56 "Roundtable: The press in South Africa" (interview), Buckoke, Andrew, "Assessing the OAU summit," Sept-Oct 28 Mar-Apr 15 Clark, Colin S., "Sudan: The vanishing famine," Jan-Feb 68 "Gouara Lassou, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cunha, Antonio-Gabriel M., African debt: A light at the end of Cooperation, Chad" (interview), Mar-Apr 44 the tunnel?" May-Jun 26 Lam Akol Ajawin and Justin Yaac Arop" (interview), de St. Jorre. John, "Big business in a siege state" (book review), May-Jun 53 Sept-Oct 69 "Interview with Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Secretary of Doucet, Lyse, "Nigeria: Quest for a new polity," Sept-Oct 65 Education and Culture, Ghana," Jul-Aug 14 "Austerity Nigerian-Style," Nov-Dec 53 "Interview with King Ampaw," Jul-Aug 53 Edlin, John, "Perils of the profession," Mar-Apr 27 "Burkina Faso: A revolutionary culture," Jul-Aug 57 Everett, Richard, "South Africa: Breaking out of the cocoon," "Interview with Babacar N'Diaye, President, African Sept-Oct 31 Development Bank," Nov-Dec 14 "Privatization: A case study," Nov-Dec 59 "Interview with Edward V.K. Jaycox, Vice President, Africa Fauntroy, Walter E., "The Congress and SADCC," May-Jun 17 Region, the World Bank," Nov-Dec 47 Fitzgerald, Mai y Anne, "In defense of the fourth estate," Mar-Apr "Ghana: Adjustment with a new face," Nov-Dec 47 24 "Interview with President Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique," French, Howard, "Mazrui's continent," Jan-Feb 77 Nov-Dec 65 "On the newsstands," Mar-Apr 48 Novicki, Margaret A. and Ameen Akhalwaya, "Interview with Gerhart, Gail M.. "Documenting a decade" {book review), Jan- Hugh Masekela," Jul-Aug 26 Feb 79 "Interview with Duma Ndlovu and Mbongeni Ngema," Giffard, C. Anthony, "Closing the gap: The New World Informa- Jul-Aug 36 tion Order," Mar-Apr 61 Phillips, Jetfery, "Egypt: Mubarak ir the middle," Sept-Oct 61 Gordimer, Nadine, "Censorship of 'The Word'," Jul-Aug 50 Roberts, Hugh, "Algeria: In troubled waters," Sept-Oct 52 Greenfield, Richard, "Somalia: An embattled Barre," May-Jun Schechter, Danny, "How we cover southern Africa," Mar-Apr 4 65 "Artists united against apartheid," Jul-Aug 42 Griffin, Michael, "Madagascar: Ratsiraka's volte-face," May-Jun Shultz, George P., "Southern Africa: Hopes for the future" (docu- 50 ment), Jan-Feb 15 Henderson, George, "Qaddafy's Waterloo," Sept-Oct 24 Simon, Paul, "The Senate's new African agenda," May-Jun 14 Herbstein, Denis, "Namibia: Labour's last chance," Jan-Feb 51 Smith, Timothy H., "South Africa: The corporate connection," "Simon Tshenuwanr Farisani: A political priest," May-Jun 43 May-Jun 19 "The hazards of cultural deprivation," Jul-Aug 33 Summers, Barbara and Malaika Adero, "Africa's Nobel laure- "Namibia special report: The propaganda war," Sept-Oct 35 ate," Jul-Aug 46 Hill, Fred. "Africa in the new Senate," Jan-Feb 20 Watkins, Robert, "Sudan: Over the rainbow," Jan-Feb 71 Hirschoff, Paula, "Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf" (interview), Jan-Feb Wauthier, Claude, "PANA: The voice of Africa," Mar-Apr 65 73 Wood, Carl, "Ngugi wa Thiong'o: The writer as dissident," Jul- Howard, William, "We are the world," Jul-Aug 40 Aug 48 Hyden, Goran, "Debt: The development trap," Nov-Dec 24 Isaacman, Allen, "In Machel's footsteps," Jan-Feb 25 SUBJECT INDEX "Mozambique: Chissano's friends and enemies," Sept-Oct Aid, economic; see also IMF and World Bank 48 Update, Jan-Feb 38; Mar-Apr 33,36; May-Jun 9; Jul-Aug 8; Sept- James, Franziska, "Chad: Habre's push north," Mar-Apr 41 Oct 13; Nov-Dec 12 "Habre's hour of glory," Sept-Oct 20 "Ethiopia: On the razor's edge," by Mary Kay Magistad, May-Jun Laurence, Patrick, "A 'new Lesotho?", Jan-Feb 61 61 "South Africa: To tetl the truth," Mar-Apr 9 "We are the world," by William Howard, Jul-Aug 40 Lee, Alana and Andre Astrow, "Togo: In search of friends," Mar- Apr 51 Aid, military MacDonald, Susan, "Tunisia: An uncertain future," Sept-Oct 57 Update. Jan-Feb 38,43; Mar-Apr 33,35,38; May-Jun 9; Jul-Aug Magistad, Mary Kay, "Ethiopia: On the razor's edge," May-Jun 9; Sept-Oct 7,8 61 Maier. Karl, "Chissano's challenge," Jul-Aug 67 Apartheid see South Africa Makoni, Simba, "SADCC's new strategy," May-Jun 30 Manga, Amrit, "South Africa: Flexing labor's muscle," Nov-Dec 67 Culture Music "Interview with Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Secretary of Educa- "The ANC and the cultural boycott," by Barbara Masekela, Jul- tion and Culture, Ghana," Jul-Aug 14 Aug 19 "The ANC and the cultural boycott," by Barbara Masekela, Jul- "The sins of Paul Simon," by Michael Maren, Jul-Aug 22 Aug 19 "Interview with Hugh Masekela," Jul-Aug 26 "The sins of Paul Simon," by Michael Maren, Jul-Aug 22 "A conversation with Ray Phiri" (interview), Jul-Aug 31 "Interview with Hugh Masekela," Jul-Aug 26 "The hazards of cultural deprivation," by Denis Herbstein, Jul- "A conversation with Ray Phiri" (interview), Jul-Aug 31 Aug 33 "The hazards of cultural deprivation." by Denis Herbstein. Jul- "Artists united against apartheid," by Danny Schechter, Jul-Aug Aug 33 42 "Interview with Duma Ndlovu and Mbongeni Ngema," Jul-Aug 36 "Burkina Faso, a revolutionary culture," by Margaret A. Novicki, Organization of African Unity Jul-Aug 57 Update, Jan-Feb 35; Mar-Apr 34; Jul-Aug 7 "Assessing the OAU summit," by Andrew Buckoke, Sept-Oct 28 Economies "Zambia: The IMF fallout," by John Mukela, Jan-Feb 65 Press "The Congress and SADCC," by Walter E. Fauntroy, May-Jun 17 Update. Jan-Feb 35,36,40; Mar-Apr 39 "South Africa: The corporate connection," by Timothy H. Smith, "Mazrui's continent," by Howard French, Jan-Feb 77 May-Jun 19 "How we cover southern Africa," by Danny Schechter, Mar-Apr 4 "Behind Barclays' pull-out," by Gordon Adam, May-Jun 23 "South Africa: To tell the truth," by Patrick Laurence, Mar-Apr 15 "African debt; A light at the end of the tunnel?" by Antonio-Ga- "Roundtable: The press in South Africa" (interview), Mar-Apr 15 briel M. Cunha, May-Jun 30 "South Africa: Covering the white tribe," by Ameen Akhalwaya, "SADCC's new strategy," by Simba Makoni, May-Jun 30 Mar-Apr 22 "SADCC and the private sector," by Colleen Lowe Morna, May- "In defense of the fourth estate," by Mary Anne Fitzgerald, Mar- Jun 34 Apr 24 "Malawi: Banda in a bind," by Andrew Meldrum, May-Jun 47 "Perils of the profession," by John Edlin, Mar-Apr 27 "Madagascar: Ratsiraka's volte-face," by Michael Griffin, May- "Demonizing Qaddafy," by Andrew Breslau, Mar-Apr 46 Jun 50 "On the newsstands," by Howard French, Mar-Apr 48 "Doing business in Beira," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jul-Aug 61 "Togo: In search of friends," by Alana Lee and Andre Astrow, "Algeria: In troubled waters," by Hugh Roberts, Sept-Oct 52 Mar-Apr 51 "Egypt: Mubarak in the middle," by Jeffery Phillips, Sept-Oct 61 "Nigeria: The press and nation-building," by Prince Tony Mo- "Big business in a siege state" (book review), by John de St. moh. Mar-Apr 54 Jorre, Sept-Oct 69 "Liberia: Muzzling the media," by Lewis Smith, Mar-Apr 58 "Interview with Babacar N'Diaye, President, African Develop- "Closing the gap: The New World Information Order," by C. An- ment Bank," Nov-Dec 14 thony Giftard, Mar-Apr 61 "A year after the special session," by Adebayo Adedeji, Nov-Dec "PANA: The voice of Africa," by Claude Wauthier, Mar-Apr 65 20 "Assignment Africa," by Michael Maren, Mar-Apr 68 "Debt: the development trap," by Goran Hyden, Nov-Dec 24 "Interview with Edward V.K. Jaycox, Vice President, Africa Re- Refugees gion, the World Bank" Nov-Dec 30 Update. Sept-Oct 16; Nov-Dec 8 "Zimbabwe: What road to growth?" by Colleen Lowe Morna, "Brothers and neighbors," by Caroline Allen, May-Jun 37 Nov-Dec 35 "Zambia: Going it alone," by Andrew Meldrum, Nov-Dec 41 Religion "Interview with President Kenneth Kaunda,' Nov-Dec 43 Update. Jan-Feb 36,37,39,41,44; Mar-Apr 37; May-Jun 12; Jul- "Ghana: Adjustment with a new face," by Margaret A. Novicki. Aug 11; Sept-Oct 7,11; Nov-Dec 7,8,11 Nov-Dec 47 "Simon Tshenuwani Farisani: A 'political priest'," by Denis Herb- "Austerity Nigerian-Style," by Lyse Doucet, Nov-Dec 53 stein, May-Jun 43 "Debt: Resolving the crisis," by Robert S. Browne, Nov-Dec 56 "Privatization: A case study," by Richard Everett, Nov-Dec 59 Sanctions "Cote d'lvoire: A tarnished miracle," by Gerald Bourke, Nov-Dec Update, May-Jun 7; Sept-Oct 11 62 "Sanctions: A war of attrition," by John D. Battersby, Jan-Feb 4 "South Africa: Flexing labor's muscle," by Amrit Manga, Nov- "The Senate's new African agenda," by Paul Simon, May-Jun 14 Dec 67 "The Congress and SADCC," by Walter E. Fauntroy. May-Jun 17 "The corporate connection," by Timothy H. Smith, May-Jun 19 Famine "Behind Barclays' pull-out," by Gordon Adam, May-Jun 23 Update, Nov-Dec 12 "Sudan; The vanishing famine." by Colin S. Clark, Jul-Aug 68 Theatre "Sudan; Over the rainbow," by Robert Watkins, Jan-Feb 71 "Interview with Duma Ndlovu and Mbongeni Ngema," Jul-Aug 36 Him "Interview with King Ampaw," Jul-Aug 53 Transport "Update, Mar-Apr 39; Jul-Aug 8; Sept-Oct 11 Human rights "Interview with Armando Guebuza, Minister of Transport and Update, Jan-Feb 36,41; Mar-Apr 37,38; Jul-Aug 7,11; Sept-Oct Communications, Mozambique," Jul-Aug 64 9); Nov-Dec 7,9,11 Unions International Monetary Fund see also World Bank Update, Jan-Feb 42; Mar-Apr 39; Jul-Aug 7.10,11; Sept-Oct Update, Jan-Feb 38.39,43,44; Mar-Apr 36,37; May-Jun 13; Jul- 13,14; Nov-Dec 5,11.12 Aug 8,12; Sept-Oct 9,14; Nov-Dec 8,10,12 "South Africa: Flexing labor's muscle," by Amrit Manga, Nov- "Zambia; The IMF fallout," by John Mukela, Jan-Feb 65 Dec 67 "African debt: A light at the end of the tunnel?" by Antonio-Ga- briel M. Cunha. May-Jun 26 United Nations Update. Jan-Feb 43; May-Jun 6,7; Jul-Aug 12 Literature "Closing the gap: The New World Information Order," by C. An- "Africa's Nobel laureate," by Barbara Summers and Malaika thony Giffard, Mar-Apr 61 Adero, Jul-Aug 46 "The sins of Paul Simon," by Michael Maren, Jul-Aug 22 "Ngugi wa Thiong'o: The writer as dissident," by Carl Wood, Jul- "A year after the special session," by Adebayo Adedeji, Nov-Dec Aug 48 20 "Censorship of The Word'," by Nadine Gordimer, Jul-Aug 50 Women Media see Press Update, Sept-Oct 10 "Maria Eugenia Neto" (interview), Jan-Feb 31 Ghana "Interview with Albertina Sisulu," Sept-Oct 39 Update, Mar-Apr 34,35; May-Jun 7,8; Jul-Aug 7; Sept-Oct 13 "Interview with Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Secretary of Educa- World Bank see also International Monetary Fund tion and Culture," Jul-Aug 14 Update, Jan-Feb 43,44; Mar-Apr 36,39; Jul-Aug 8; Sept-Oct 14 "Interview with King Ampaw," Jul-Aug 53 "Interview with Edward V.K. Jaycox, Vice President, Africa Re- "Adjustment with a new face," by Margaret A. Novicki, Nov-Dec gion," Nov-Dec 30 47 "Ghana: Adjustment with a new face," by Margaret A. Novicki, Nov-Dec 47 Guinea Update, May-Jun 13; Jul-Aug 5

COUNTRY INDEX Kenya Algeria Update, Jan-Feb 37,39; Mar-Apr 33,37.38; Jul-Aug 7,9; Sept- Update, Jan-Feb 42; May-Jun 8; Sept-Oct 14 Oct 9 "Western Sahara: Africa's forgotten war," by Jon Marks, Sept- "Ngugi wa Thiong'o: The writer as dissident," by Carl Wood, Jul- Oct 16 Aug 48 "In troubled waters," by Hugh Roberts, Sept-Oct 52

Angola Lesotho Update, Jan-Feb 38; Mar-Apr 33,40; May-Jun 5,7,9; Jul-Aug 8; Update, May-Jun 6; Jul-Aug 7; Nov-Dec 12 Sept-Oct 7; Nov-Dec 12 "A 'new Lesotho'?" by Patrick Laurence, Jan-Feb 61 "At war with South Africa." by Andrew Meldrum, Jan-Feb 28 "Maria Eugenia Neto" (interview), Jan-Feb 31 Liberia Update, Mar-Apr 33; May-Jun 9; Jul-Aug 7; Nov-Dec 12 Benin "Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf" (interview), Jan-Feb 73 Update, Jan-Feb 35; Sept-Oct 9,14 "Muzzling the media," by Lewis Smith, Mar-Apr 58

Botswana Update, Sept-Oct 11 Libya "Quett K.J. Masire, President of Botswana" (interview), Jan-Feb Update, Jan-Feb 35; May-Jun 8; Jul-Aug 9,12 11 "Chad; Habre's push north," by Franziska James, Mar-Apr 41 "An African success story," by Caroline Allen, Jan-Feb 22 "Gouara Lassou: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation" (interview), Mar-Apr44 Burkina Faso "Demonizing Qaddafy," by Andrew Breslau, Mar-Apr 46 Update, Jan-Feb 36; Mar-Apr34; May-Jun 5; Sept-Oct 10,13,14; "Habre's hour of glory," by Franziska James. Sept-Oct 20 Nov-Dec 5 "Qaddafy's Waterloo," by George Henderson, Sept-Oct 24 "A revolutionary culture," by Margaret A. Novicki, Jul-Aug 57

Burundi Madagascar Update, Jan-Feb 39; Nov-Dec 8 Update, Jul-Aug 7 "Ratsiraka's volte-face," by Michael Griffin, May-Jun 50 Cameroon Update, Mar-Apr 33; Jul-Aug 7; Nov-Dec 12 Malawi Update, Jul-Aug 7 Central African Republic "Banda in a bind," by Andrew Meldrum, May-Jun 47 Update, Jan-Feb 40 Mali Chad Update, Jan-Feb 36,44; Mar-Apr 34; Nov-Dec 6 Update, Jan-Feb 35; Mar-Apr 34 "Habre's push north," by Franziska James, Mar-Apr 41 Mauritania "Gouara Lassou, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation" Update, Jan-Feb 44 (interview), Mar-Apr 44 "Western Sahara: Africa's forgotten war," by Jon Marks, Sept- "Habre's hour of glory," by Franziska James, Sept-Oct 20 Oct 16 "Qaddafy's Waterloo," by George Henderson, Sept-Oct 24 Mauritius Comoros Update, Jul-Aug 7; Nov-Dec 7 Update, May-Jun 8 Morocco Congo Update, Jan-Feb 44; May-Jun 5,8; Sept-Oct 9 Update, Jan-Feb 35: Mar-Apr 39; May-Jun 7; Sept-Oct 14; Nov- "Western Sahara: Africa's forgotten war," by Jon Marks, Sept- Oct 16

Coted'lvoire Mozambique Update, Jan-Feb 44; Mar-Apr 33,34,35; Jul-Aug 7.12; Sept-Oct Update, May-Jun 8; Jul-Aug 8,9,12; Sept-Oct 8,9 10,13,14; Nov-Dec 12 "Doing business in Beira," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jul-Aug 61 "A tarnished miracle," by Gerald Bourke, Nov-Dec 62 "Interview with Armando Guebuza, Minister of Transport and Communications," Jul-Aug 64 Djibouti "Chissano's challenge," by Karl Maier, Jul-Aug 67 Update, May-Jun 10 "The battle for Mozambique," by J. Stephen Morrison, Sept-Oct 44 Egypt "Chissano's friends and enemies," by Allen Isaacman, Sept-Oct Update, Jan-Feb 43; Jul-Aug 7,12; Nov-Dec 12 48 "Mubarak in the middle," by Jeffery Phillips, Sept-Oct 61 "Interview with President Joaquim Chissano," Nov-Dec 65

Ethiopia Namibia Update, Mar-Apr 38; May-Jun 6,10; Sept-Oct 12; Nov-Dec 7 Update, Mar-Apr 40; May-Jun 7; Jul-Aug 7 "Eritrea: The longest war," by Carol Berger, Mar-Apr 30 "Labour's last chance," by Denis Herbstein, Jan-Feb 51 "On the razor's edge," by Mary Kay Magistad, May-Jun 61 "The propaganda war," by Denis HerDstein, Sept-Oct 35

Gabon Niger Update, Mar-Apr 39; Sept-Oct 14 Update, May-Jun 13; Sept-Oct 19 Nigeria Sudan Update, Jan-Feb 40; Mar-Apr 33,36; May-Jun 12; Sept-Oct Update, Mar-Apr 36; Jul-Aug 9: Sept-Oct 10; Nov-Dec 8 10,13; Nov-Dec7 "The vanishing famine," by Colin S. Clark, Jan-Feb 68 "The press and nation-building," by Prince Tony Momoh, Mar- "Over the rainbow," by Robert Watkins, Jan-Feb 71 Apr 54 "Lam Akol Ajawin and Justin Yaac Arop (interview), May-Jun 53 "Africa's Nobel laureate," by Barbara Summers and Malaika Adero, Jul-Aug 46 Swaziland "Quest (or a new polity," by Lyse Doucet, Sept-Oct 65 Update, Jul-Aug 7 "Austerity Nigenan-style,' by Lyse Doucet. Nov-Dec 53 Tanzania Rwanda Update, Jul-Aug 9; Sept-Oct 9,14 Update, Jan-Feb 41 Togo Sao Tome and Principe Update, Mar-Apr 35; Jul-Aug 7; Sept-Oct 10,13 Update, Jan-Feb 38 "In search of friends," by Alana Lee and Andre Astrow, Mar-Apr 51 Senegal "Privatization: A case study," by Richard Everett, Nov-Dec 59 Update, Jan-Feb 44; Mar-Apr 33,36; Sept-Oct 10 Tunisia Sierra Leone Update, Jan-Feb 42; Mar-Apr 39; May-Jun 10; Jul-Aug 1V Nov- Update, Mar-Apr 36; May-Jun 11 Dec 7,11 "An uncertain future," by Susan MacDonald, Sept-Oct 57 Somalia Update, Mar-Apr 37 Uganda "An embattled Barre," by Richard Greenfield, May-Jun 65 Update, Jan-Feb 38; Mar-Apr 38; May-Jun 8,13; Jul-Aug 7,9; Nov-Dec 7 South Africa Update, Jan-Feb 35,38,43,45; Mar-Apr 33,40; May-Jun United Stales 5,6,7.13; Jul-Aug 5,10; Sept-Oct 7.8.9.11; Nov-Dec 9 Update, Jan-Feb 38,39,43; Mar-Apr 33.35,37,38,39,40; May- "Sanctions: A war of attrition.1 by John D. Battersby. Jan-Feb 4 Jun 5,7,8,9.13; Sept-Oct 7.14 "Quett K, J- Masire, President of Botswana" (interview), Jan-Feb "Southern Africa: Hopes for the future" (document), by George 11 PShultz, Jan-Feb 15 "In Machel's footsteps," by Allen Isaacman, Jan-Feb 25 "Africa in the new Senate," by Fred Hill, Jan-Feb 20 "Angola: Ai war with South Africa," by Andrew Meldrum, Jan- "How we cover southern Africa." by Danny Schechter, Mar-Apr 4 Feb 28 "Chad: Habre's push north," by Franziska James, Mar-Apr 41 "Namibia: Labour's last chance," by Denis Herbstein, Jan-Feb "Gouara Lassou, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, 51 Chad" (interview), Mar-Apr 44 "Zimbabwe: Preparing for war," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jan- "Demonizing Qaddaty," by Andrew Breslau, Mar-Apr 46 Feb 55 "The Senate's new African agenda," by Paul Simon, May-Jun 14 "A 'new Lesotho?'," by Patrick Laurence, Jan-Feb 61 "The Congress and SADCC," by Walter E. Fauntroy. May-Jun 17 "How we cover southern Africa," by Danny Schechter, Mar-Apr 4 "South Africa: The corporate connection," by Timothy H. Smith. "To tell the truth," by Patrick Laurence, Mar-Apr 9 May-Jun 19 "Roundtable: The press in South Africa" (interview), Mar-Apr 15 "Ethiopia: On the razor's edge," by Mary Kay Magistad, May-Jun "Covering the white tribe," by Ameen Akhalwaya, Mar-Apr 22 61 "The Senates new African agenda," by Paul Simon, May-Jun 14 "We are the world," by William Howard, Jul-Aug 40 "The Congress and SADCC," by Walter E. Fauntroy, May-Jun 17 "Artists united against apartheid," by Danny Schechter, Jul-Aug "The corporate connection." by Timothy H. Smith, May-Jun 19 42 "Behind Barclays' pull-out," by Gordon Adam, May-Jun 23 "The battle for Mozambique," by J. Stephen Morrison, Sept-Oct "SADCC's new strategy," by Simba Makoni, May-Jun 30 44 "Apartheid in the classroom." by Ameen Akhalwaya, May-Jun 41 "Simon Tshenuwani Fansani; A political priest'," by Denis Herb- Western Sahara stein, May-Jun 43 "The ANC and the cultural boycott," by Michael Maren, Jul-Aug Update, Jan-Feb 44: May-Jun 8 "Africa's forgotten war." by Jon Marks, Sept-Oct 16 22 '"Interview with Hugh Masekela," Jul-Aug 26 Zaire "A conversation with Ray Phiri" (interview), Jul-Aug 31 Update, Jan-Feb 43; May-Jun 5,13; Jul-Aug 7.8; Sept-Oct 7 "The hazards of cultural deprivation," by Denis Herbstein, Jul- Aug 33 Zambia "Interview with Duma Ndlovu and Mbongeni Ngema," Jul-Aug Update, May-Jun 7,13; Jul-Aug 8 36 "The IMF fallout," by John Mukela, Jan-Feb 65 "Artists united against apartheid," by Danny Schechter, Jul-Aug "Perils of the profession," by John Edlin, Mar-Apr 27 42 "Going it alone," by Andrew Meldrum, Nov-Dec 40 1 "Censorship of The Word ," by Nadine Gordimer, Jul-Aug 50 "Interview with President Kenneth Kaunda," Nov-Dec 43 "Breaking out of the cocoon." by Richard Everett, Sept-Oct 35 "The propaganda war," by Denis Herbstein, Sept-Oct 35 Zimbabwe "Interview with Albertina Sisulu," Sept-Oct 39 Update, Jan-Feb 45; May-Jun 8,13; Jul-Aug 6,12; Sept-Oct 8,14; "Big business in a siege state" (book review), by John de St. Nov-Dec 10 Jorre, Sept-Oct 69 "Preparing for war." by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jan-Feb 55 "Flexing labors muscle," by Amrit Manga, Nov-Dec 67 "What road to growth?" by Colleen Lowe Morna, Nov-Dec 35 Good morning, America! There's a good chance "f your morning cup of coffee started as a coffee bean grown in the Ivory Coast. And it's almost certain your favorite chocolate bar has its roots in West Africa, too. Africa produces one third of the world's coffee and 90% of its cocoa.

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