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Order your "Free at Last-The Mandela Special from South Africa Now at $14.95 1-800-922-3827 AMERICA'S jANUARY-FEBRUARY 1991 VOLUME 36. NUMBER 1 LEADING MAGAZINE ON AFRICA

A Publication of the RT African-American Institute

Update The Editor: Daphne Topouzis African-American Institute r: Cote d'lvoire Chairman A New Broom? 13 Maurice Tempelsman By Gerald Bourke President France/Africa Vivian Lowery Derryck The Gallic Paradox 17 By Kaye Wiiiteman Publisher Frank E Ferrari Senegal The Secessionist South 21 Editor-in-Chief By Peter da Costa Margaret A. Novicki Out of Africa? Page 17 Benin Managing Editor The Velvet Revolution 24 Alana Lee By Vivian Lowery Derryck Production Editor Iiberia Joseph Margolis The Power Vacuum 27 Assistant Editor By Mark Huband Daphne Topouzis Sudan Editorial Assistant The Crisis of Survival 31 Russell Geekie By John Prendergast

Contributing Editors Economies Michael Maren The Ripple Kffect 34 Andrew Meldrum By Andrew Meldrum Art Director War and Famine Mozambique Kenneth Jay Ross Page 31 Back to the Stone Age 37 By Ruth Amah Ayisi Advertising Office 212 949-5666, ext. 728 Economies Knticing Investment 40 Interns James D. Beaton By Colleen h)we Morna Gongalo L. Fonseca Agriculture Jessica M. Forsyth Carolyn B. Gray Relying on Rice 44 Lee Kruvant By Daphne Topouzis Ellen Riefenberger Daniel Levinson Wilk South Africa Piety and Politics 47 Africa Report (ISSN 0001-9836), a By Charles Villa-Vicencio non-profit magazine oi African affairs, is published bimonthly and is sched- The Man You Can't Ignore 50 uled to appear at the beginning of Man of Many Faces each date period at 833 United By Peter Tygesen Nations Plaza, New York. N.Y. 10017. Page 50 Editorial correspondence and adver- Libel or Liability 54 tising inquiries should be addressed to Africa Report, at the above By Philippa Garson address. Subscription rales: Individ- uals. USA $24, Canada $30, air rate Lesotho overseas $48. Institutions. USA $31, Canada $37, air rate overseas $55, Trie King Is Couped 57 Second-class postage paid at New By Colleen Lowe Morna York, N.Y and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: If this maga- zine is undeliverable, please send Zimbabwe address changes to Africa Report at Alienated from Africa 61 833 UN Plaza, NY. NY 10017. Tele- phone: (212) 949-5666. Copyright © By Andrew Meldrum 1991 by The African-American Insti- tute. Inc Culture Waaw!.. AVOW! 64 Photo Credit: The cover photographs were By Daphne Topouzis taken by Camerapix, Betty Press, Africa in New York Annual Index 68 and Ernest Harsch. Page 64 Tunis CEUTA

Bamako ^J I Niamey BURKINA FASO ' GUINEA •) • juuagadougou Conakry )—^L< f~—TV BENIN

Antananarivo / } MAURITIUS

Port Louis REUNION

LESOTHO Maseru

Copyright © 1984 by the African-American Institute. Inc N THE NEWS Habre Falls After Three-Week Rebel Offensive The eight-year-old government of with Chad, supplying it with large between the rebels and the remnants of Hissene Habre" collapsed in early quantities of Redeye and Stinger mis- the Habre government, right after the December without even putting up a siles, as well as having an 1,800-strong former entered Ndjamena. In early fight against the rebel forces of the contingent in the country, did not inter- December. France announced that it Patriotic Salvation Movement (PSM) vene to support Habre's forces, thereby would maintain its contingent in Chad led by Gen. Idris Deby, who immedi- sealing his fate. The French argument to ensure that the new government does ately proceeded to dissolve Parliament, was that the conflict was an internal not fall victim to foreign aggression. suspend the constitution, promise a dispute and personal vendetta between multi-party democracy, and declare U.S. and Habre Accuse Libya himself president. Deby also appointed The U.S., which, according to an himself chairman of a 33-member state Agence France-Presse report had council in an interim administration pledged full support for Habre. claimed that included three of Habre's minis- that Deby was backed by Libya. There ters, but set no timetable for free elec- have been several reports confirming tions. According to a state council that Col. Qaddafy indeed supplied member, the interim government could Deby with arms, vehicles, and light stay in power for at least a year. armored cars. As a result of the Libyan Deby has accused Habre of detain- connection, the State Department has ing and torturing thousands of Chadi- not formally recognized the new gov- ans, stealing vast amounts of interna- ernment. tional aid, and leaving the coffers of the Much speculation surrounded the treasury empty. "It was persecution that U.S. secret airlift of several hundred imposed on us the decision to take up Hissene Habre: A French casualty? Libyan dissidents (originally prisoners arms." he said in a radio broadcast. Habre and Deby, and it almost went as captured by Chadian forces during an Promising peace, justice, and freedom far as denying any Libyan involvement. earlier Libyan offensive) to Nigeria in of association, opinion, religious wor- "Arms deliveries are no! enough to early December, an act which Libya ship, and the press to a nation torn by define a case of downright military immediately denounced as piracy. civil strife over the last 20 years, he aggression," said Jean-Pierre Chevene- Libya had occupied northern Chad in added. "I stress that there cannot be ment. France's defense minister. 1986. but was forced to withdraw the democracy without political pluralism There have been reports, however, following year, and a peace treaty was and secularism." hinting that the real reason behind this signed between the two countries. It is Deby was Habre's chief military aloofness is that President Mitterrand is now believed that Qaddafy is taking aide in the 1982 coup d'etat which no longer willing to perpetuate France's advantage of the Persian Gulf crisis to brought the former president to power, role as Africa's policeman. "The time make a comeback and reassert his influ- and defense minister until April 1989 has passed when France could pick and ence in Africa, and this has become evi- when he tied the country, after being choose the governments in these coun- dent in his support of Charles Taylor in charged with plotting to overthrow the tries, change them, or maintain them as the Liberian civil war, of Touareg rebels government. He formed the PSM last it wished," argued Foreign Minister in Niger, and more recently of Deby's March, grouping political organizations Roland Dumas. There are rumors, how- forces in Chad. and guerrilla groups that reportedly ever, that relations between France and Tripoli has argued that the rebel favored a multi-party system, and has Habre had been uneasy of late, while invasion in Chad was "a tribal conflict consistently denied having ties with the French Socialist Party and academic and a civil war between the Azakawas Libya or Sudan. Deby has also urged a circles were openly sympathetic to the tribe represented by Deby and the reconciliation with former president rebel leader. Gorane tribe represented by Habre," but Goukouni Oueddei, whom he helped Elysee did send an additional 150 the former president accused Libya and oust in 1982, and who is now exiled in paratroopers to Chad to bolster its Sudan of "duplicity and determination Libya. forces in late November, but only in to destabilize." There were also rumors order to protect its expatriate communi- that the insurgents were Chadians from French Neutrality a Decisive Factor ty. It was even reported that French sol- Habre's region and that two garrisons in This was the first time that France, diers ensured a smooth handover of southern Chad had defected to the which has a military cooperation pact power by being present in the talks rebels by mid-November.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 The Rebel Offensive Sporadic fighting—the first since last May—broke out in mid-November U.S. Boosts Africa Aid by 40% near the Sudanese border between some Despite predictions that the urgency ever, reports that Mobutu has diverted 2,000 rebels and the National Armed of economic reconstruction in Eastern huge sums of money as a result of his Forces (FANT). The attackers invaded Europe and the crisis in the Persian connections with Washington and from Darfur in Sudan and Ouenad in Gulf would plunge U.S. aid to Africa to amassed a personal fortune of $2.5 bil- Libya, and first captured the region of new depihs. in a surprise and last- lion, along with the massacre of 12 stu- Tine in eastern Chad. The rebels minute move in early November. dents at Lubumbashi University last claimed they wiped out two-thirds of Congress raised African aid by $240 April, have put his reputation at an all- the government's army in Tine". This million or 40 percent over the $560 mil- time low and discredited his role as a was confirmed by Radio France Inter- lion mark originally appropriated by the regional peace mediator, "What jeopar- national, which reported that by the end Bush administration. dizes the prospects of regional stability of November, FANT had lost 2,500 "I think that the most important rea- is the existence of a kleptocracy in men. son that Congress increased the devel- Zaire that has driven the standard of liv- Next, the rebels occupied Iriba, opment fund for Africa is that a lot of ing lower than it was at the lime of Gue're'da, and Adre". Reports cited clash- congressmen have visited Africa, are independence three decades ago," es some 27 miles inside Sudan, during very close to events there, and feel that argued Congressman Stephen J. Solarz, which Deby's men ambushed a Chadi- the need is so overwhelming they they the Brooklyn Democrat. an government column, leaving had to do more. Added to that is the fact Kenya has to meet four conditions in between 300-400 dead according to that most African countries right now order to qualify for future military aid: official sources, or 700-800 according are going through some very wrenching It has to charge or release all prisoners, to French sources. Government forces economic reforms and and leaning improve its treatment of prisoners, and briefly claimed to have recaptured the toward free-market economies and restore the independence of the judicia- three towns and to have taken full con- democracy, and we feel that some extra ry and freedom of expression. Tentative trol of the situation, but the turning aid at this point in time may really help reforms were announced in early point in the rebel offensive was the them make that step," said Scott Span- December, including the elimination of seizure of the strategic town of Abeche, gler who manages disbursement of aid the unpopular queueing system, but 500 miles north of Ndjamena, after to Africa at the U.S. Agency for Inter- they have failed to satisfy Kenyans and which the road to the capital was clear. national Development (U.S. AID). have not met U.S. conditions. Vice At that point, the offensive had In addition, Congress suspended all President George Saitoti recently acquired such momentum and events military aid to standing allies Mobutu argued that "Kenyans will not allow were moving so rapidly that there was Sese Seko of Zaire and Daniel arap Moi themselves to be dictated as to what no time for France or the U.S. to recon- of Kenya, but also to Liberia, Somalia, change-; to undertake," but government sider their position or effectively sup- and Sudan. New guidelines were voted critics contend that eventually, these aid port Habre. FANT soldiers deserted en upon on how the aid will be disbursed, cuts will have a positive effect and masse as news of Deby's advance and although democracy as such was pressure the regime toward political toward the capital spread. Habre and not identified as one of them, it is cer- reforms and accountability. eight of his ministers fled to neighbor- tainly one of the underlying forces along Except for $50 million which has ing Cameroon, and there were reports with support for free markets. Accord- been allocated to the Southern African of looting in the capital. ing to Spangler, Liberia, Somalia, and Development Coordination Conference Sudan were cut off from regular devel- and $3.5 million to assist South A Libyan Victory? opment assistance by law because of Africans in private enterprise develop- Tripoli unilaterally suspended nego- their debt arrears to the U.S. In the case ment, the $800 million development tiations over the Libyan-occupied, min- of Zaire, the decision was reached partly fund will be allocated to U.S. AID. eral-rich Aouzou strip in northern Chad due to the country's poor human rights "We are going to use much of it to scheduled for late November, pointing record and allegations of corruption. support improvements in the social sec- to the fact, according to Radio Ndjame- Congress' decision to cut aid to tors, many of the programs that we na, that "the Chad-Libya conflict had Zaire caused much controversy in already have in effect: health, education, entered a decisive phase." It is believed Washington. While the $4 million in and family planning. Where we have that Libya will now reassert its claim to military aid that the Bush administra- experience and expertise and we have the territory, citing a World War II tion had requested was turned down, successful programs underway, we are treaty between Italy and Vichy France. economic aid amounting to $40 million going to expand them and make them, if Deby claims he is willing to fight for was made available on condition that it possible, more equitable and more sus- the Aouzou strip. It remains to be seen is funnelled through non-governmental tainable. I cannot be more specific about what kind of relationship the two coun- organizations that had no connection where the extra money is going because tries will forge. Some analysts believe with Mobutu. The U.S. State Depart- we are in the process right now of con- that Deby's swift release of 400 Libyan ment, which does not see eye to eye sulting with individual African coun- prisoners of war and the heavy Libyan with Congress on this issue, contended tries and with our missions there to activity in Ndjamena by mid-December that the Zairian regime's reforms of the make sure we understand where the aid point to the fact that the interim presi- political system and the press might be can be absorbed and where it will have dent owes Col. Qaddafy plenty. • jeopardized by the cut-off of aid. How- the most effect," added Spangler. •

AFHICA REPORT • January-February 1991 9 DOTE

C.A.R. NIGER A virtual general strike was launched A five-day general strike—the for 48 hours in late November by the longest ever in the country—was Central African Republic (CAR) Work- launched by the National Trade Union ers' Trade Union, following the break- Federation in early November, pressing down of negotiations with the govern- for the introduction of a multi-party sys- ment over salary increases, the regular tem, the holding of a national confer- payment of wages, and improved work- ence, and an end to economic austerity ing conditions. Some 6,000 teachers, ANGOLA measures imposed earlier this year in who have been on strike since mid- In the recently published Vnita: accord with the World Bank and the October for the same reasons, were Myth and Reality, Italian journalist IMF. Budget cutbacks being protested joined by over 20,000 workers from the Augusta Conchiglia sets the record included personnel retrenchment, a public and private sectors. The opera- straight on rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. freeze on financial benefits accruing tion of businesses, factories, and public long portrayed by Washington as a from civil service promotions, and legal transport was brought to a halt, while freedom fighter, who over the past 30 action against the officials responsible health care, electricity, and water ser- years has been fighting for a "truly for the February crackdown on student vices were only minimally available. To independent" and democratic Angola. strikers, during which three students date. President Andre Kolingba has Conchiglia depicts Savimbi as a were killed and 33 were injured. refused union appeals to arbitrate. compulsive liar and megalomaniac, and The general strike, which was the cul- Anti-government protests have been provides documentary proof that his mination of a wave of protests that mounting in CAR since last May. when party was a willing instrument, first of began 10 months ago, virtually para- the opposition requested that Kolingba the Portuguese colonial government, lyzed trade, banks, insurance companies, restore the multi-party system he and then of South Africa. It is argued the airport, and road transport. Uranium scrapped after taking power in a coup that Savimbi's desire to free Angola production and most financial services d'etat in 1981. Widespread looting and from the Portuguese was at best sec- were stopped. Although the protest was violence broke out in early October in ondary to his thirst for power, that he let peaceful in Niamey, several thousand Bangui, when the coordinating commit- the colonial government use him to striking demonstrators attacked the tee for the convening of a national con- attack the MPLA in the hope that the police station in Maradi, Niger's eco- ference on the country's political latter would be destroyed, and that he nomic center. The Nigerien authorities future, gathering most of the country's conspired with the South African army declared the strike illegal, claiming that illegal opposition parties, was barred by during its 1975 invasion. the strikers' demands have already been the police. "Unita's guerrilla war—made possi- met. but in mid-November, President Ali ble by Pretoria's logistical and military Saibou conceded to the adoption of a TOGO support, and fought in tandem with multi-party system and the holding of a Following the October anti-govern- direct aggression by the South African national conference, once political par- ment demonstrations in Lome—report- army based in Namibia, obliging the ties have been created. edly the most violent since indepen- Angolan forces to focus their efforts on dence—that left between four and 17 that main front—bears very little CONGO people dead, 34 wounded and 170 resemblance to a 'people's war.'" After fiercely resisting pressure for detained. President Gnassingbe Eyade- argues the report. "Horrendously mur- democratization, President Denis Sas- ma has agreed to the creation of a multi- derous and destructive, it reflects sou-Nguesso has acquiesced to a new party system, the revision of the consti- Unita's military strategy of concentrat- constitution to be adopted in January, tution, and a constitutional referendum ing on the sabotaging of civilian targets which will abolish the leading role of the to be held in December 1991. The riots and the intimidation of the population." ruling Congolese Workers" Party (PCT), followed brutal police action against The report also documents how even legalize 22 registered political parties, demonstrators protesting the trial of within the ranks of Unita, Savimbi is and replace the all too powerful office of Logo Dossovi and Doglo Agbelenko, seen as a tyrant who has not hesitated to the president with that of prime minister who were charged with inciting the army torture or kill his own men on account in a transition government. The army to rebellion and were sentenced to five of dissent. will relinquish its political role, while an years" imprisonment without their Post-independence Unita is por- amnesty law is also being considered. lawyers present. The two men were par- trayed as a small, unpopular rebel force, The reforms follow a wave of strikes, doned by the president in mid-October. which would not have succeeded were which has been attributed by the opposi- Meanwhile, a nationwide transport it not for substantial military aid from tion to "the crisis of confidence among strike—reportedly the biggest move- South Africa, the U.S., and various the people toward the regime." Schools ment of social unrest in Togo since right-wing organizations around the and colleges were closed down in early Eyadema took power in 1967—which world. Conchiglia argues that Unita November, and an official communique began in late November deteriorated owes much to its extensive public rela- reported violence and looting in several inlo violent clashes between truck and tions campaigns, particularly with towns. The following month, the prime taxi drivers, and security forces, in regard to Jamba, the organization's minister resigned from his post and Sokode. north of Lome, leaving 30 peo- headquarters, which was turned into a from the PCT. over differences on how ple injured. model town for foreign journalists. to solve the country's political crisis.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 AFRICAN OUTLOOK Mubarak Wins Fair Elections Virtually Unopposed In what was described as the cleanest cal purposes. On the whole, the elec- dominated by personalities rather than election in years, some 2,500 Egyptian tions ran smoothly, and for the first issues, and the fact that the NDP had candidates contested 444 seats in a new time. Mubarak ordered judges to over- monopolized the electoral campaign Parliament in late November. The oppo- see electoral procedures. Some violent both as a result of financial resources sition abstained, accusing the govern- incidents did occur, leaving five people and access to the media reportedly con- ment of routinely rigging elections, and dead and 92 were injured, with the tributed to the cynicism and apathy of demanding constitutional changes and worst violence in the port of Damietta the voters. While many Egyptians dis- the abolition of emergency laws, thereby in the north. miss Parliament as a rubber stamp, leaving the ruling National Democratic Egyptian elections have long been Continued on page 11 Party (NDP) virtually unchallenged. Franco-Moroccan Relations Sink A political crisis between France secret garden," according lo the same and Morocco that erupted in mid-Octo- source. The book also praised the ber following the publication of a new human rights group France-Liberte"s, French book that accuses King Hassan headed by Daniele Mitterrand, for its II of blatant cruelty and systematic anti-Moroccan stand, and described repression threatened to cut coopera- grim prison conditions of political pris- tion agreements as well as diplomatic oners. lies between the two couniries, which In a speech, the king said: "More or have traditionally enjoyed close rela- less, they have accused me of being tions. The situation deteriorated further crazy. If that is true, all Moroccans in early November, when the king can- must be crazy." Reuters reported that celled his trip to Paris, accusing France over half a million Moroccans sent tele- of a massive defamation campaign. President Mitterrand's wife, who was to accompany a humanitarian aid convoy to Polisario refugee camps in Tindouf, western Algeria, had to cancel her trip, Hosni Mubarak: Winner by default? but her subsequent meeting with the wife of a Polisario leader fuelled ten- Out of 16 million voters, only 30 sions once again. percent voted in Cairo, but 70 percent turned out in the countryside. The NDP Gilles Perrault's Notre ami le roi won by a clear majority, and out of 71 (Our Friend the King), which is rapidly contested parliamentary seats, 18 were rising on the best-seller charts, reveals taken by independents. In the last elec- in chilling detail the ruthlessness of the tions of 1987, the NDP won 70 percent 30-year-old regime, whose history, it is of the vote and 338 out of 448 seats in argued, is replete with repression and Parliament. The leading opposition fraud. Under the pretext of democracy bloc, which includes the right of center (which includes a multi-party system New Wafd Party, the Muslim Brother- and a free press), the book discloses hood (which is outlawed but tolerated how the Moroccan government has by the government), the left of center routinely resorted to emergency laws, Socialist Labor Party, and the centrist electoral fraud, censorship, political tri- King Hassan II: In search of friends Liberal Party, occupied some 90 seats als, torture, kidnaping, and assassina- grams to French leaders in protest over in the outgoing Parliament. tion, according to the influential Le the book. In addition, French newspa- Mubarak's latest electoral victory is Monde Diplomatique. pers were banned in Morocco, a cultur- significant both because it legitimized King Hassan II, a self-proclaimed al festival in France was cancelled, and his claim that Egypt is a bedrock of modern statesman, has effectively ruled television broadcasts were discontin- political stability in spite of the crisis in like a sultan, and when Amnesty Inter- ued. the Persian Gulf, and also because it national visited Morocco last February, The French government tried to somewhat discredited the opposition's the king admitted to most of the human patch things up by issuing a statement claim that the president is using multi- rights violations, which he justified by confirming that King Hassan II was a party rhetoric to further his own politi- saying that "each head of state has his Continued on page 11

8 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 : XAJRIAN OPPOSITION LEADER, ETIENNE TSHISEKEDI tienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumha, a law graduate, has Tshisekedi: The immediate impact will be the decline of the been involved in Zairian politics for the past 30 years. standard of living of Zairians, which will permit the people to E From the mid-1960s to 1977, he served as minister of recognize that Mobutu is at the center of the country's prob- interior affairs, minister of justice, minister of planning, and lems and will also allow the opposition to sensitize the peo- vice-president of the National Assembly. He was first impris- ple—because after all it is our people who have to chase oned in December 1980 for publishing a letter to Mobutu Mobutu out of power, not foreigners. Even though as a result calling for democratic reforms. Upon his release in 1982, he of these measures, the Zairian population will suffer, it will co-founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress not be the first time it faces hardship; Zairians have been suf- (UDPS), which has stood for the introduction of a multi- fering for a long time. party system, free elections, and an end to corruption. Since The reason why I came to the U.S. is to meet with then, he has been arrested, imprisoned, and banished contin- Congress and the U.S. government, whose attitude toward ually. Almost every time, his release came after pressure from Mobutu we. the opposition, do not quite understand. We have Amnesty International, the U.S. Congress, or the intervention the impression that the U.S. Congress will be the last in the of President Mitterrand of France and Prime Minister Mul- world to understand that Mobutu is at the root of Zaire's ills. roney of Canada. In late September 1990, he announced that Africa Report: What kind of scenario do you foresee for he will be the presidential candidate of the UDPS. Zaire's political future? Tshisekedi: Zairians will unanimously demand Mobutu's Africa Report: It was reported that on November 4, govern- resignation. The process of democratization in Zaire is con- ment troops attacked the I DPS as party supporters were gath- tingent on his resignation because as long as he is there, he ering lor a peaceful rally in Kinshasa. What exactly happened will keep diverting us and the country will never have a that day? chance to strive toward democracy. Next, we will need a Tshisekedi: After much juggling, on October 6. Mobutu final- transitional government led by the opposition, and especially ly decided to abolish the law which regulated political life and the UDPS. We will rule along with other opposition parties, came around to our demands of liberalizing political parties. but we will have to exercise caution because Mobutu has Our militants then for the tlrst time convoked a peaceful meet- financed a host of so-called opposition parties, which are in ing in Fikin, Kinshasa's International Fair Grounds, where the reality Mobutist parties. UDPS was supposed to address its members and reply to their After 25 years of Mobutism. this transitional government questions. I repeal, this was not a demonstration, but a first will have as its first objective organizing political parties, contact between leaders and party members. According to our holding meetings, and educating the people so that they schedule, the leaders would gather at 10 am. but from 8 am, become familiar with the new values of democracy. Follow- Mobutu's militants—the Infamous Division Speciale Presi- ing this, legislative elections will take place. This will allow dentielle, with which they tried to fool the public by dressing the people to elect real representatives, and it is at that point them up in soldiers' uniforms—arrived with bayonets, and that we will see which parlies actually represent the people. It proceeded to harass people, so as to prevent them from gather- is those newly elected representatives who will elaborate the ing for the meeting. Some 30 people were wounded and at constitution of the third republic. least 10 were reported missing. A few days later, three dead In addition, the transitional government will have to take bodies were found in the bush near Kinshasa International Air- urgent economic measures because Zaire's economy is now port. Under these circumstances, the meeting was not held, but in a lamentable state and it is important that we regain the the incident became known all over the capital. confidence of foreign investors, so that we can begin redress- Africa Report: What is the political climate in Kinshasa at the ing the economy. Our view is that Mobutu no longer has the moment? right to draw up a timetable for change and elections. He no Tshisekedi: The climate is favorable to us for many reasons: longer has the righi to speak in the name of the people. The social climate is very tense due to high inflation. Every- Africa Report: Do you think there is danger of a civil war in thing is very expensive—even staple foods. And because of Zaire as has unfolded in Liberia? Ihe scarcity of foreign exchange, I fear that food shops will be Tshisekedi: 1 exclude that possibility because unlike Liberia, nearly empty by Christmas. All this points to the fact that the we, the opposition in Zaire, have opted for non-violence. We end of the year threatens to be the last one for this government. do not see who Mobutu will fight with. But it must be said Africa Report: Is the opposition united against Mobutu? that under the pretext of peace, Mobutu has killed thousands Tshisekedi: It is difficult at this time to speak of a united oppo- of people for political reasons. It is against this repression sition against Mobutu because the so-called opposition con- that the UDPS has fought and called the people to confront sists of a great number of parties financed by the president. For the dictator. We think that political pressure from the people this reason, it is too early to speak of opposition unity. At the will chase Mobutu out and not necessitate an armed conflict. moment, we do not know who constitutes the opposition: For Africa Report: How much time do you give Mobutu? example, the Christian Party's vice president is also minister of Tshisekedi: Early this fall, I had anticipated he would fall health in Mobutu's government. within five to six months. Now, I do not think he will last Africa Report: In early November, the U.S. Congress sus- more than two months or so. Over the past year, he has pended military assistance to Mobutu and stipulated that future stopped coming to Kinshasa and has sought refuge in Gbado- economic assistance must be funnelled through private volun- lite. To give but one example, he could have profited from tary agencies, in view of flagrant human rights abuses and the passage of Nelson Mandela through Kinshasa, but he did rampant corruption. What in your view will be the impact of not even come to the capital for that occasion. Clearly, what this measure? Mobutu fears most at present is his own people. •

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 UP'ZM- One Settler, One Bullet, One Step Closer to Talks The death of the revered Pan- PAC presidency, supports negotiations It is not yet certain what sort of Africanist Congress (PAC) president, with the government, which recently agreement can be worked out between Zephania Lekoane Mothopeng. in late invited it to join in the talks. This stance the PAC. which broke away from the October marked the beginning of a cru- was reinforced when the head of the ANC in 1959, and its more popular cial period in the 31-year-old anti- PAC's Harare office, Ramudi Michael rival group. The radical PAC has been apartheid group, leading up to its Maphai. was arrested in Zimbabwe for more reluctant to compromise than the national conference in Johannesburg in attempting to smuggle almost $20 mil- ANC over issues such as land and December. More will be at stake than lion worth of Mandrax tablets from nationalization, but both groups have the vacant leadership position. The India into South Africa in November. agreed that an interim government is organization has promised to take a The bust confirmed allegations made needed in South Africa while a new stand on negotiations with the white by both PAC and ANC sources that constitution is being created. government and reexamine its relation- some PAC officials were involved in The ANC's information officer ship with the rival African National the drug trade. Two years ago, the Zim- Sakkie Macozoma said, "There are Congress (ANC). babwean government reportedly chose ways in which differences can be de- The likeliest choice to succeed "The to privately reprimand PAC officials for emphasised and the commonalities Lion of Africa" is Miami Clarence possession of the same drug. According emphasised...the constituent members Makwetu, who was chosen as vice- to Southscan, the harsher action taken of any front would maintain certain fea- president of the PAC after il was by the government this time signals that tures of their own strategies." unbanned on February 2 1990. The for- the PAC will not be able to rely on the Largely as a result of the Inkatha mer president of the Pan-Africanist diplomatic protection it once received presence at Mothopeng's funeral, Movement (PAM), the banned PAC's in Zimbabwe. reports were circulating in November front organization, was initially The PAC's external wing has also that the PAC and the conservative supported by PAC general secretary been affected by the South African gov- Inkatha were planning an alliance. This Benny Alexander. ernment's original refusal to grant tem- was seen as a means to counter the At the Preferential Trade Area porary indemnity to 14 of the organiza- political threat that the more popular (PTA) conference in Swaziland in tion's external leaders to attend the ANC poses as negotiations with the November, Makwetu said that the PAC December conference. The government government get underway. Reportedly, was ready to join in an alliance with the only reversed its decision in the begin- Inkatha's Transvaal youth leader Them- ANC. At the same conference, Nelson ning of December, granting indemnity ba Khosa said that the two groups were Mandela expressed optimism for the to 18 external PAC members. closer to each other than to the ANC formation of a united front between the The youth league of the Pan- and that there was a good chance that ANC, the PAC, and the Azanian Peo- Africanist Congress, the Azanian Youth they would form an alliance. The gener- ple's Organization. The alliance would Unity (Azanyu), has offered the stiffest al secretary of Azanyu, Carter Seleke. pressure the government to accept a resistance to talks with the de Klerk rejected the reports and emphasized constituent assembly elected by univer- government. If the PAC maintains its that the PAC has been dealing with all sal franchise as the means to creating a traditional stance of rejecting negotia- organizations, including Inkatha, as it post-apartheid constitution. Mandela tions, however, it risks being marginal- seeks peace in South Africa. feels that with Makwetu as leader of the ized as the possibility of a negotiated The funeral of the uncompromising PAC there is a chance for such a front. settlement becomes greater. If it accepts anti-apartheid leader, who had served to The British weekly, Southscan, negotiations, it risks losing its generally hold together the PAC, highlighted the recently reported a rift in the internal more radical support. resistance and divisions the PAC faces PAC between followers of Makwetu Five days before Mothopeng's from within, as it adapts to the climate and the hardline Alexander, possibly as death, a faction of the external PAC of political change created by de a result of the former's comments about calling itself the Sobukwe Forum Klerk's February 2 speech. The ANC's a united front with the ANC. The PAC's declared that the internal leaders of the Joe Slovo was initially met with jeers of internal spokesman, Philip Dlamini, PAC, who constituted the PAM, includ- "One Slovo, one bullet,"—a play on the asserted the day after Makwetu's ing Benny Alexander, were not the "one settler, one bullet" slogan usually remarks that a decision on a united legitimate PAC. One of the groups attributed to the PAC. The Inkatha dele- front would not be made until the con- members, A.B. Ngcobo, returned to gation was greeted by shouts of "col- ference. South Africa in November in an laborator," but the hostile slogans were Alexander recently expressed that an attempt to "reactivate the original replaced with cries of "War against the alliance between the PAC and another Sobukwe PAC." The break away group enemies, peace among the Africans," liberation movement must include the strongly supports improved relations by the end of the day, suggesting that encouragement of struggle, including with both the ANC and Inkatha, as well despite the militancy of the PAC youth, armed struggle, and non-collaboration as negotiations with the government. the desire to find common ground is with government-created structures. The PAC's representative in Harare, present. The majority of the external wing of Thobile Gola. dismissed the claims It remains to be seen whether this the PAC, led by chairman Johnson made by the forum that the current PAC can also be applied vis-a-vis negotia- Mlambo who also reportedly seeks the leadership was not properly constituted. tions with the government. •

10 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 Egypt Continued there is now hope that independents Safe Haven for Liberians in the U.S. will revitalize it. President Bush recently signed a bill giving the attorney-general discretion to The elections were fixed after an designate groups of aliens living in the U.S. as protected from deportation, under October vote for a national referendum which safe haven status could be granted for some 14,000 Liberian nationals in the to dissolve the Parliament found it had U.S. for the next 18 months. As the situation in their country continues to be unsta- been unconstitutionally elected by the ble, Libcrians have been reluctant to return home and have had a great deal of Supreme Constitution Court in May. trouble receiving special dispensation to remain in the U.S. for an extended period The referendum, which was hailed by of time. Mubarak as marking the dawn of a new The only protection currently given to Liberians is a program initiated by a era in Egyptian political life and whose cable that Commissioner Gene McNary of the Immigration and Nationalization timing reflected the president's rising Service (INS) issued to local officials last July, in which he asked them to treat popularity resulting from his tough anti- requests from Liberians for voluntary departure status "sympathetically." This sta- Iraqi line, was called a day before the tus, which allows for a six-month stay in the country with temporary employment assassination of the Speaker of the Par- authorization, is preferrable to political asylum, a lengthy process which requires liament, Rif at al'Mahgoub. and five of refugees to renounce their citizenship. his escorts, while driving in Cairo. Unfortunately, due to the vague nature of the cable, its condition that requests {While the assassination remains be considered on a case-by-case basis and the fact that it was not widely circulated unsolved, police have severely cracked account for the fact that INS officials have for the most part either ignored it or down on the Jihad, a Muslim funda- denied that it exists. As of December, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, mentalist group which was responsible a New York-based organization representing Liberians, had not heard of more than for the assassination of President two or three requests for voluntary departure being granted. Anwar Sadat in 1981. They believe that The INS has granted protected status to other nationalities in the past. Most with some outside help, the Jihad was recently, following the massacre in Tiananmen Square, Chinese nationals were trying to kill Interior Minister Muham- only required to fill oui a single form that granted them both a three-year stay and mad Abdel-Halim Mussa, but mistak- work authorization. Why the INS could not use a similar procedure for Liberians enly shot Mahgoub. The group has is not clear. Liberia has enjoyed a special relationship with the U.S. since it was denied involvement in the slaying, but a founded by freed American slaves and has been a strategic ally in West Africa. spokesman said Mahgoub deserved to Binaifer Nowrojee of the Lawyers Committee attributes the less than adequate die for his refusal to recognize shari'a response of the INS toward Liberian nationals to "elements of racism and neglect [Islamic law].) that typify U.S. policy in Africa." Allen Siegal, an attorney with the Liberian Mubarak introduced new electoral Emergency Center, also blames the "apathy and shock within the Liberian com- laws abolishing the party-list system, munity and the fact that the African-American community has shown no support thereby allowing independents to run. for the Liberians." As a result of these factors. Liberians have not been able to get However, the fact that he did not con- jobs and have been forced to depend on friends and relatives, or to work illegally. sult with the opposition bloc infuriated Some have found it increasingly difficult to survive. the latter. In addition, the opposition To remedy this problem, the House of Representatives passed a bill giving insisted that the interior ministry with- "temporary protected status" with work authorization to aliens whose native coun- draw from supervising the elections and tries are victims of armed conflict, natural disaster, or other conditions that are claimed that the new electoral laws did deemed temporary. The bill also specifically designated Liberians. as well as Sal- not provide adequate safeguards against vadorans, Lebanese, and Kuwaitis as having temporary protected status over a rigging. Smaller opposition parties, three-year period. The deadline for application for voluntary departure under the however, have accused the bloc of boy- current arrangement is January I, 1991, and the voluntary departure status itself cotting the elections because they expires for all Liberians on March 30. so the attorney-general must act soon to feared they would not win the 100-odd designate Liberians as protected under the new act or else most Liberian exiles in parliamentary seats under the new sys- the U.S. will be left in limbo. tem of direct elections, Observers have pointed out that, in fact, the boycott only harmed its instigators and virtually International in late November argues eliminated the possibility of" a represen- MorOCCO Continued that several hundred civilians, most tative Parliament. "good friend of France," and that his from the south of Morocco and the While Mubarak's victory in the gen- country was "an element of stability Western Sahara, currently under eral elections will temporarily boost his amid a turbulent Arab world." reported Moroccan control, disappeared image domestically as well as interna- the French weekly Marches Tropicaux between 1975 and 1987 after being tionally, many analysts fear that a et Mediterunneens. French Foreign arrested by the Moroccan authorities, severe economic crisis is looming over Minister Roland Dumas said in mid- and might still be held. However, the Egypt and that if austerity is deemed to November that Franco-Moroccan rela- Persian Gulf crisis and King Hassan's be the only antidote, it might well tions were "strongly rooted" and that tough anti-Iraqi stance have again won imperil the country's seeming political they "should be protected from any him widespread support in the West and social stability, and re-ignite calls passing incident." and have largely overshadowed the for Islamicization. • A new report released by Amnesty regime's continuing abuses. •

AFRICA REPORT - January-February 1991 11 GHANA SOUTHERN AFRICA Ghana has taken an important step in A just released report on South its effort to boost its economy by Africa by the Syracuse, New York- launching Africa's fifth stock exchange based Political Risk Services projects in mid-November. Although the con- that the climate for international busi- cept of a stock exchange was proposed ness will continue to decline in the near in 1971, it was not implemented until future. If the present talks between the July 1989, when it was established as a African National Congress (ANC) and private company limited by guarantee FOREIGN AID the de Klerk government proceed (which essentially means that it is a About $8 billion in concessional aid unhindered, chances are that it will not non-profit corporate body that docs not was pledged in early November by a be too long before a pragmatic ANC pay its members dividends). In a bid to group of multilateral organizations and leadership takes the helm in South restore business confidence, 33 compa- wealthy nations to help 21 severely Africa. According to the report, howev- nies and one individual raised 170.5 indebted sub-Saharan African countries er, there is a 40 percent chance of this million cedis (over $500,000) in early carry out structural adjustment pro- scenario prevailing, and this could November to finally activate it. grams over the next three years. The diminish further if the negotiations Trading began in government stocks World Bank, which will coordinate dis- show no real signs of progress. and securities of the 17 listed public lia- bursement of the funds, announced that The prospects for a conservative bility firms and was handled by the the money will be used to fund the sec- backlash over the next 18 months or for three registered brokerage firms. A 10- ond phase of the Special Programs of a more radically-inclined ANC govern- member council, headed by former Assistance (SPA-2), which were estab- ment are dangerously close to the 40 Finance Minister Gloria Nikoi, set up lished in 1987 to aid severely indebted percent mark, while the likelihood of a the regulations for the Ghana Stock African countries redress their repressive conservative government Exchange Market, which include two economies, particularly with regard to stands at 30 percent and that of a radical trading days a week; a requirement for imports of goods and services to ANC government at 25 percent. a minimum capital level of $50 million improve infrastructure, agriculture, The most anxious observers of these to be stated by companies desiring to be education, and health facilities. developments are the foreign and listed; and a rule that prohibits firms According to Edward Jaycox. the domestic business sectors. A pragmatic which, on their first listing supply less Bank's vice-president for Africa, SPA ANC government would bring in a than $30 million worth of public shares programs have helped boost economic fresh stream of foreign investment, or, on their second listing, furnish less growth by 4 percent in several African while a radical black government might than $15 million. countries. I percent higher than the aver- undermine business confidence and The stock market's small size has age population growth. Some countries, instigate a massive outflow of skilled not hindered its prospects for expansion including Ghana, Kenya, Togo, and the workers. and incorporation of other tradable Gambia, might soon not need further Even in the case of the former sce- stocks, such as corporate debt bonds. SPA assistance, according to the Bank. nario, however, the ANC government's Reflecting on the impact of the stock The second phase of the SPA will focus commitment to tear down hundreds of exchange. Ebenezer Aryee, managing on long-term goals such as strengthening years of inequality will force it to main- director of the National Trust Holding human resource development, improv- tain a substantially larger budget Corporation, said: "The stock exchange ing governance, and reducing poverty, as deficit. The ANC has already made is going to give industrialists and the well as continuing to alleviate the debt clear its intention to nationalize certain commercial sector the opportunity to burden and assisting economies adverse- key industries, placate the powerful raise capital for expansion programs. ly affected by the Persian Gulf crisis. black trade unions, and institute a com- Hitherto, they had resorted to bank bor- In addition to the $8 billion, the prehensive land reform program. In rowing with punitive interest rates for International Development Association, addition, it is expected that the educa- expansion." the concessional lending affiliate of the tion, health, and urban renewal expen- Perhaps an even greater future lies in World Bank, will contribute $3.5 billion ditures will send the ANC budget into the revitalization of the gold industry. A to SPA-2, and the International Mone- arrears. Nevertheless, the unleashing of program of rehabilitation and an influx tary Fund a further $1-2 billion, for a black entrepreneurship, the freeing of of foreign investment from Western total of about $13 billion, or $2 billion the labor market, and the release of countries has led to the highest produc- in excess of pledges made three years black consumption will invigorate the tion rate since 1973. Two new foreign ago by a similar donor gathering. South African economy. companies, Teberibie and Canadian Meanwhile, the World Bank and the Whether this will be sustained or not Bogoso Resources, are expected to pro- IMF are in the process of reassessing will depend heavily on the willingness duce a combined total of 100,000 their programs of technical assistance of Western investors and donors to pour ounces each in 1991. The total projected to developing countries. In the case of money into the country despite the output for 1991 is 828,000 ounces, up sub-Saharan Africa, where there are volatile atmosphere that is likely to pre- by 30 percent from this year. Ghana more expatriate consultants today than vail. |For further information contact: hopes to reach an annual rate of 1.5 mil- under colonial times, the Bank reported Political Risk Services, 407 University lion oz. by 1993, making it the eleventh that only three out of 19 such programs Ave., Suite 107, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210, largest gold producer in the world. have been successful. tel: (315)472-1224.]

12 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 f/

After unprecedented strikes and street protests last year, President Houphouet-Boigny eventual- ly acquiesced to opening up the political system. In the first-ever multi-party elections, the ruling PDCI swept back into Parliament with a I j New landslide victory in November. But the party's promise to undergo a "renewal"—streamlining the bloated civil service and fighting corrup-' tion—may alienate PDCI stalwarts who have By GERALD BOURKE benefitted from years of Houphouet's patronagfe.

REPORT • January-February 1991 ighty-five year- especially since the participants demanded higher pay and better old President were widely perceived to be express- working conditions. In most cases, Felix Houphouet- ing legitimate grievances. Houphouet-Boigny promised that Boigny's reelec- Although the government finally their requests would be given favor- tion for a seventh relented on the issue of pay cuts, the able consideration. consecutive five- discontent had already assumed a However, the man appointed by year term on strong political dimension. The presi- the president to chair the newly ere- Betty press October 28 and dent and other prominent members the ruling Parti Democratique de of the PDCI began to be vilified as Cote d'lvoire's (PDCI) sweeping vic- self-serving autocrats who had tory in the legislative elections on shown scant regard for the well- November 25 have given life to the being of ordinary Ivorians during the fundamental political changes which three decades since independence. have occurred in recent months. But Calls for the legalization of opposi- they have also shown that the road to tion parties became increasingly stri- genuine democracy will be a long dent. one. While Houphouet-Boigny contin- Frustration with almost a decade ued to insist that any opening up of of economic austerity caused by the the political system to include parties steady slide in cocoa and coffee other than the PDCI would raise the prices boiled over last February specter of tribalism and undermine when government plans to raise national unity, he was finally forced income taxes on public and private to capitulate. On April 30, the govern- sector workers were leaked. There ment announced that underground followed three months of sporadic opposition parties would be officially but often violent strikes and street recognized. The ossified oligarchy protests. For a country long regard- had crumbled; unanimity was no ed as one of the continent's few longer the absolute political value. oases of stability, the demonstrations Cote d'lvoire now has no less than 25 were unprecedented in their scale registered opposition groupings. and intensity. Nonetheless, the PDCI's formal The PDCI's popularity and credi- commitment to multi-partyism failed ated ministerial commission charged with drafting a plan to restore order to the wayward public finances quickly made it clear that no such concessions could be made. Alas- sane Ouattara, the 48-year-old gover- nor of the Banque Centrale des Etats de 1'Afrique de l'Ouest, announced that while the planned tax hikes would not be introduced, there could be no pay increases until significant progress had been made in turning the economy around. Meanwhile, the newly legalized opposition began to hold Thl^d rallies and meetinSs- Sur" to genuine prisingly, many of their democra- leaders heaped praise on cywiiibe Houphouet-Boigny, a long one ^ ° J ' bility were eroded further by the sys- to temper the ardor of the street dwelling heavily on Cote tematically ruthless and heavy-hand- protesters or put an end to the public d'lvoire's relative stability and pros- ed manner in which the security vilifications of its barons. Army and perity under his stewardship. This forces dealt with the demonstrations, air force recruits, police and firemen, led to suggestions that a large pro- portion of the new groupings were Gerald Bourke is a freelance journalist based in customs and prison officers staged Abidjan. separate strikes during May. All creations of the PDCI. Nevertheless, others, including 14 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 the left of center Front Populaire elections was dispersed by soldiers than one party—the PDCI sought to Ivoirien (FPI), Parti Ivoirien de Tra- and riot police using truncheons and bolster its dwindling popularity. vailleurs (PIT), Union des Socio- teargas. High-level delegations were dis- Democrates (USD), and Parti Social- The previous evening, a commu- patched into the interior, promising iste Ivoirien (PSI), roundly con- nique from the president's office that the party would undergo a demned the PDCI and its record. declared the planned demonstrations "renewal" to enable it to meet and Disaffected PDCI members illegal and described its organizers head off the challenges posed by the defected to the opposition, especially as "troublemakers" bent on "destruc- opposition. the FPI, in considerable numbers. tion, looting, and violence." However, The PDCI's shortcomings were The FPI's popularity derived to a the Ivorian Human Rights League eloquently highlighted in a so-called large extent from the personality of issued a statement condemning what "Renewal Manifesto" drafted by a Laurent Gbagbo, its general secre- it called "the systematic recourse to group of senior party officials. With tary. Gbagbo, a 43-year-old history refreshing and uncharacteristic professor who had spent most of the directness, it said the PDCI was 1980s in self-imposed exile in For a country bedeviled by laxity, nepotism, and France, has long been the govern- generalized corruption. It also con- ment's most consistent and vocal long regarded demned repression over the years critic. as an oasis of against dissidents and nascent oppo- However, the PDCI's commitment sition movements and acknowledged to meaningful democracy remained stability, the that there was an "obvious risk of highly questionable. Numerous FPI political and electoral ruin...if the rallies were violently broken up by demonstra- opposition can cultivate our lost val- the security forces, ostensibly tions were ues and show that they can behave because they posed a threat to public responsibly." The document called order. On September 6, for the sec- unprecedent- for a "thorough and sincere self-criti- ond time within a week, a march ed in their cism" to expose the "mistakes of organized in Abidjan by the FPI, PIT, political orientation, economic USD, and PSI to call for the dissolu- scale and choice, and national resource man- tion of the government and the con- intensity. agement" vening of a national conference to These recommendations were designate an interim regime to run quickly acted on. During the October the country until the end of year force to prevent peaceful demonstra- congress of the PDCI—a gathering tions." convened every five years just prior The complaint had little effect. to general elections—far-reaching Receiving the leaders of 19 opposi- changes were made in the party's tion parties in Abidjan at the end of structures. Houphouet-Boigny set September, Houphouet-Boigny the tone of the meeting on the open- alleged that some of them—whom ing day. He promised that if he was he did not specify—had orchestrated reelected as head of state and the a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul PDCI won a majority of seats in the II during his visit to Cote d'lvoire ear- National Assembly, he would relin- lier that month. The next day. Cardi- quish the chairmanship of the party nal Bernard Yago, the country's and the post of prime minister. Deci- Roman Catholic Primate, acknowl- sion-making organs in the party edged that a young Beninois national were scrapped or replaced. The had admitted being party to such a congress was something of a victory plot. However, he insisted that the for younger members determined to man had in no way implicated any have a say in the way the country is opposition party and roundly con- run after a generation of rule by the demned the president's "political old guard. use" of the episode. Electioneering began long before With the presidential, legislative, the formal opening of the campaign. and municipal elections looming— PDCI rallies, meetings, and marches the first ever to be contested by more throughout the country during Man selling spices (left) and woman September and October were given working in Abidjan (opposite page, top): extensive coverage in the official What will the "thorough and sincere self- media. Fraternite-Matin, the govern- criticism" called for in the PDCI's "Renewal Manifesto" bring for them? ment-controlled daily newspaper,

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 15 predictably heaped praise on tions closely estimated that despite tainly be Cote d'lvoire's next presi- Houphouet-Boigny. Unctuously syco- the PDCI's malpractices, Gbagbo dent—assuming he is reelected phantic editorials variously high- still managed to poll 30-40 percent of speaker of the Parliament. The same lighted what they saw as his wisdom, the votes cast. day, the Assembly modified the Con- vision, munificence, experience, and The more radical reformers with- stitution to create the post of prime his love of liberty, as well as his advo- in the PDCI were encouraged by the minister—to which Alassane Ouat- cacy of peace, dialogue, and the need outcome of the elections, interpret- tara promised that a new govern- for national unity. ing it as a vote for change. The old ment would soon be named and said Laurent Gbagbo, the only other guard on the other hand was severe- that its members would be chosen presidential candidate, was merci- ly shaken by Gbagbo's relatively on the basis of their "competence, lessly vilified by the paper. His good performance. The staunchly rigor, self-sacrifice, and responsibili- party's activists were unfairly dis- conservative barons were acutely ty." missed as "adventurers, dreamers, aware that the parliamentary poll As canvassing for the parliamen- and demagogues" who reduced polit- would be a test of the party's—rather tary elections got under way in ical debate to "slogans and war than the president's—record. Frater- earnest, opposition party activists cries." Editorials lamely attempted to nite-Matin acknowledged that many claimed that the PDCI was resorting trash the FPI's proposals to raise sitting deputies were "unpopular and to the same kind of unsavory tactics farmers' income, introduce wide- out of touch with the realities of their it had used in the run-up to the presi- ranging health insurance and pen- dential poll. In the event, the PDCI sion schemes, and embark on a vig- won a landslide victory, taking 163 of orous industrialization drive based the 175 seats in the National Assem- on the processing of local agricultur- The more radi- bly. The FPI won nine seats, the PIT al produce. one, and two so-called "independent" A decree passed by the National cal reformers candidates were victorious. Assembly on October 10 obliging within the PDCI Apathy appears to have played a presidential candidates to advance a large part in the ruling party's suc- deposit of CFA 20 million was widely were encour- cess. Officially there was only a 40 interpreted as an attempt by the percent turnout—compared to 64 PDCI to discourage prospective con- aged by the out- percent for the presidential— tenders other than Houphouet- come of the although the real figure was proba- Boigny. No deposit was required at bly much lower. Analysts said that previous elections. There was also a elections, see- many would-be voters had trouble controversy over the government's ing it as a vote differentiating between the 19 con- insistence that African immi- testing parties, while others feared grants—who, at some 4 million for change. intimidation or violence. strong, constitute about one-third of With the PDCI's parliamentary the country's population—should be majority secured, Ouattara named granted the right to vote. The FPI his government on November 30. He claimed that immigrants were orga- locality." In the event, many of them reduced the number of ministers nized into national associations affili- were not nominated by their local from 2$ to 19, seeing off several of ated to the PDCI. Ironically, Ivorians branches to stand again. Houphouet-Boigny's staunchest living abroad were denied the vote. On November 6, three weeks allies within the party and replacing According to the official figures, before legislative elections, the them by and large with young—and Houphouet-Boigny polled 81.68 per- National Assembly unanimously mainly unknown—technocrats. cent of the valid votes cast in the adopted a bill altering article 11 of However, Ouattara and his minis- presidential elections, while Gbagbo the Constitution to allow its speaker, ters are destined for a fiery political took the remaining 18.32 percent. in the event of a sudden presidential baptism. His pledge to streamline The FPI, however, cried foul. It vacancy, to become head of state and the bloated public service and wage claimed that ballot boxes had been complete the five-year term. Previ- a war against corrupt officials will illegally stuffed with votes for ously, the Constitution stipulated that win him few friends among the Houphouet-Boigny and that tens of the assembly's speaker would only wealthy and influential party barons thousands of its supporters had been become interim head of state and who have profited immensely from omitted from electoral lists or issued would have to organize fresh presi- the president's patronage over the with polling cards deliberately invali- dential elections within 45-60 days. years. For a man without any political dated by the authorities. It also The change means that 58-year- constituency, such a path, coura- alleged widespread intimidation of old Henri Konan Bedie, long regard- geous and laudable though it may voters by PDCI partisans. Western ed as Houphouet-Boigny's own be, is likely to be fraught with haz- diplomats who monitored the elec- choice as successor, will almost cer- ards. O

16 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 THE GALLIC PARA X

By KAYE WHITEMAN

The special relationship between France and its former African colonies has undergone a transi- tion in the last few years, as francophone countries felt the "wind of change" sweeping across Eastern Europe.While swearing not to abandon his auto- cratic allies, President Mitterrand has nonethe- less changed the rules of the game, by refusing to put down disturbances in Gabon and Cote d'lvoire and standing by as Cha- dian rebels swept away the Habre government. n May 1988, Francois Mitter- the first to crack. A series of coup the impact was considerable in many rand was elected president of attempts, the banking collapse of late other countries, where democracy France for a second seven- 1988, and the strikes and demonstra- became the vogue word, and the year term. At the time, it tions of January 1989 were all hated secret police were dubbed seemeI d appropriate to question the harbingers of the crack-up and the "Securitate" and "Stasi." future of France's Africa policy. Even increasing unworkability of Benin as Gabon's President Omar Bongo, then, it was possible to observe a a nation-state. whose country was one of the earli- double paradox of Gallic dimensions: In 1989, two external factors then est to be touched, was quoted as say- that Mitterrand, having come to added their own potent chemistry, ing "the wind from the East is shak- power in 1981 on a wave of expecta- which eventually caused the move- ing the coconut trees." In January tions of change, proved to be the ment for change to extend beyond and February 1990, there was unrest great consolidator of France's sphere Benin. One, curiously, was the bicen- in Gabon, Niger, and Cote d'lvoire. of influence. tenary of the French revolution. Once Benin held a national confer- Then, as the grim 1980s plowed to While its exact influence is difficult ence (in the manner of the Etats a close, Africa's economic collapse to assess, the contradiction of Mitter- Generaux in France of 1789) which seriously affected France's own eco- rand's commemoration of, for exam- effectively unseated Kerekou, leav- nomic posture, because there was a ple, the Declaration of the Rights of ing him almost a figurehead, the decline in both trade and investment, Man in the presence of some of its currents seemed to become a tide. as well as an erosion of the success- most flagrant violators did not go Gabon followed in April, with a ful position of the franc zone, seen in unnoticed. And the French revolu- national conference which adopted liquidity crises and banking collapse. tionary tradition, although diluted in multi-party ism (although Bongo pro- It began to seem as if Mitterrand, in Paris, still works dangerous magic tected his own position much more his second term, could very well pre- wherever French culture is found. effectively). And in Cote d'lvoire, side over the unravelling of France's The street demonstrations, tracts, after a series of demonstrations by high-profile sphere of influence in and oratory of Cotonou and Porto different "social groups," even the Africa. Novo draw directly on that tradition. elderly Houphouet-Boigny, one of In the course of 1989 and the first And even if the totems of the left the greatest nemeses of multi-party- half of 1990, this trend appeared to have been brought down (the ism, followed suit. demonstrators in Cotonou stoned an be accelerating dramatically. Even as The risks of opening Pandora's Belly Press the 1989 trade figures suggested a unveiled statue staunching of the economic drain of Lenin—now away from Africa (and the champi- removed alto- ons of the special relationship did gether), it was, their best to imply that the worst was ironically, the over), the political consequences of underground the economic and social crisis began Dahomey Com- to be felt. munist Party The pioneer country in this move- which was cen- ment was Benin, always in the fore- tral to the major front of experiment, a unique combi- anti-Kerekou nation of economic disaster and demonstrations over-developed political conscious- of December ness. In the 1960s, Benin had been a 1989. prototype of the chronically unviable The second African micro-state. It was only the factor which breathing space offered by neighbor- had a direct and ing Nigeria's two oil booms of the seminal influ- 1970s that permitted Mathieu Kere- ence all over Africa, but nowhere Gabon's President Omar Bontfo; "The kou to consolidate his power base of more than in the francophone coun- wind from the east is shaking the coconut a purged army and to adopt Marx- tries, was the upheaval in Eastern trees" ism-Leninism, temporarily placating Europe. Although the media in box were clear, and France's high- and distracting the country's urban Africa tended to play down the density African relations were soon elite and intellectuals, over a remark- events of Berlin and Bucharest at the called into play. In Gabon in May, able 17-year power span. end of 1989, the continent was entire- when there were riots in Port Gentil But with the downturn of the ly conversant with what was happen- when an opposition leader was found 1980s, Benin was inevitably one of ing mainly through shortwave radio dead in mysterious circumstances, broadcasts. Benin took the cure the French sent 300 troops to rein- Kaye Whiteman is editor-in-chief of West Africa magazine in London. more directly and immediately, but force the 600 already there, ostensi-

18 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 bly to protect French nationals. The in the franc zone. There was increas- ly when everyone else, the British intervention may also have bolstered ing evidence of what was called and the Americans included, had Bongo's wobbly regime, but that was "Afro-pessimism," a modern version already written it off as marginalized ever the case with such interven- of the Cartierist philosophy of disen- (a reference to Mitterrand's periodic tions, ostensibly with limited human- gagement and hostility to develop- comments that Africa would "not be itarian or limited national interest ment aid which was current at the marginalized"). motives. time of decolonization in 1960. This was Afro-pessimism at its What was perhaps more surpris- Afro-pessimism took different toughest and most miserable, but ing around the same time was Mit- forms, but all found outward expres- while one may question some of the sion, to the point that people started points, it must be said that the think- blaming the French media for its dis- ing is not too far out of line with An atmo- aster complex, for building a prob- some of the current international sphere of lem into a crisis. Magazines came up positions on the need for a new politi- with "dossiers" on "Africa's ship- cal conditionality, alongside the eco- uncertainty wreck," of synoptic continental nomic strings of structural adjust- doom, basing themselves on the vari- ment assistance. and disarray ous protest movements and reacting On a different level, those who built up to the unpopularity of leaders funded saw the possibilities of a new shot at and propped up by France's Africa reforming the French "cooperation" toward the policies. system, as had briefly been tried in Franco- One of the most telling pieces the early 1980s, were mobilizing. appeared in Le Monde at the end of Former ambassador Stephen Hessel, African sum- February 1990, under the title "What who had always favored enlarging mit in La to do about black Africa?", by Victor the field of France's overseas devel- Chernault, pseudonym of an "expert opment assistance, produced a Baule in June. on African questions," obliged to report for the office of Prime Minis- remain anonymous probably ter Michel Rocard, an unusual because he was a highly placed func- expression of interest from this quar- terrand's refusal to comply with a tionary. The article, which carried ter. request from Houphouet in Cote the authority of an insider, said that "Cooperation," especially in d'lvoire to intervene following a Africa was "doomed," as a "conserva- Africa, had always been considered "mutiny" of army conscripts, who tory of the ills of humanity," and not the reserved domain of presidents temporarily seized the airport in because of problems with the terms throughout the Fifth Republic. protest at their conditions. Even if it of trade or indebtedness. Although Hessel's actual recommen- was a somewhat lightweight affair, Indeed, said Chernault, there was dations were modest, the fact that which it might have been reasonable no real debt, because the personal the report existed at all was its signif- to suppose that forces in the country, fortunes of Africa's elites outside the icance. It worried the old "coopera- including at least 800 French troops, continent were greater than the tion" lobby, both in Paris and in would have been enough to handle if debts of the countries in question. In Africa, and to this day, although necessary, the refusal was still seen 1988, he said, the Bank of France heavily leaked, it has not been pub- as a diplomatic rebuff. had to buy back 450 billion CFA lished. Afro-pessimists also pointed The same month saw serious francs ($1.8 billion) in bank notes, to the likely diversion of resources signs of restiveness in Cameroon, for the most part money transferred following the opening up of Eastern where pressure for new political par- fraudulently in "full suitcases and Europe which could well exacerbate ties led to arrests in Douala in diplomatic bags." The article also the disengagement trend. March, and to six youths being killed quoted a recent interview given by The atmosphere of uncertainty after a successful if illegal rally of a the ex-president of Burundi who said and disarray built up toward the new party in anglophone Cameroon. he had known only five honest Franco-African summit in La Baule At the congress of the ruling party in African leaders—Kaunda, Nyerere, (a Breton seaside resort) in June. On June, a process toward multi-party- Museveni, Mugabe, and Sankara. the one hand, there was the feeling ism, as well as a relaxation of the Commented Chernault, "The only that any francophone African govern- "security state," was begun, albeit francophone was assassinated." ment was now vulnerable, allied to cautiously. The article went on in this vein, uncertainty over France's commit- Evidence of pending upheaval in pinpointing much of the blame on ment (fuelled by statements that mili- the three richest and most influential Western countries for wasting their tary aid was only given to protect countries in francophone Africa aid ("our money is a reward for fail- French nationals and not to prop up proved as demoralizing in Paris as ure"), but above all reproaching regimes). Some leaders were also the earlier signs of business decline France for still taking Africa serious- incensed by increasingly strong

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 19 signs that aid was going to be linked which ruling parties managed to sur- The French had little love for to democratic practices and human vive, may have given heart to incum- Habre, even while backing him. rights. Even those that conceded bents in general that multi-partyism They have been especially critical of multi-partyism, whether from street need not be a disaster. his human rights record. Once it or donor pressure or both, showed Moreover, on the economic front, became clear that their support was little sign of believing in what they apart from modest signs by mid-1990 withdrawn, his replacement was were doing, and might even be of recovery in the position of both rapid and was carried out fairly surgi- tempted to manipulate things to Franco-African trade and the franc cally. Significantly, one of Deby's first show that what they were being zone, the Gulf windfall of rising oil statements was to opt for multi-party- forced to do would not work. prices was instantly beneficial for ism. Chad had always been an area On the eve of La Baule, there Cameroon, Congo, and Gabon, even where France's Africa policy has con- were also curiously strong rumors while increasing hardship for most of flicted with its Arab policy. Even so, that the parity of the CFA franc the rest. It was surely going to help the visible lack of support for a presi- might be altered, to the point that the transform the 1990 performance of dent, even with all France's high mili- week of the summit, the Bank of the franc zone. A surplus in the Cen- tary profile, is likely to be discourag- France suspended exchange transac- tral African Bank area could possibly ing for many others on fragile tions in CFA. Needless to say, noth- put the whole zone back into surplus thrones. ing of the kind happened and new for the first time in five years. Even Francophone leaders, looking at commitments to protect parity were so, rumors of impending devaluation 1990, might congratulate themselves made. In many other directions as have persisted. that the year did not end worse. By well, the summit was an anti-climax France's security commitment early December, only one, Habre, for those who believed that a major was also further tested, and if it was had actually fallen from office, even if shake-up was imminent. In fact, it not found wanting in Rwanda, the Kerekou's presence at the helm in would have been quite the wrong same could not be said of Chad. In Benin looks notional. The democra- place for it, as the whole tenor of the former, after the invasion of cy question, if it has not gone away, these summits is intended to rein- exiles from Uganda in October, appears more containable than it did, force the "family" atmosphere of the France joined Belgium and Zaire in partly because of recourse to the special relationship. sending troops, ostensibly to protect diversion of the Senegalese model of All the usual noises which have French nationals, but the collective pseudo-multi-party ism. And the Afro- dominated Franco-African relations effort effectively bolstered the Hab- pessimists have been countered by over the past 30 years were made; yarimana government. activists such as Jean-Pierre Mitterrand swore not to abandon the In Chad, the French military oper- Prouteau, head of the French continent and tried to defuse the ation Sparrowhawk was reinforced Employers' Center for Investment in argument about political strings with from 1,200 to 1,800 troops, following Black Africa, who believes that even the oracular phrases "no democracy an incursion from Sudan by the if sub-Saharan Africa is still possibly without development, no develop- forces of Chad's leading dissident, risky (but rewarding to risk-takers), ment without democracy," declining Idris Deby. This looked like a repeat the potential of the Maghreb and of a to examine which might come first. performance of what had happened reformist South Africa could com- One was told that the one-party hard- in April 1990, when a similar incur- bine to help turn around the conti- liners such as former President sion caused the French to suddenly nent as a whole. Hissene Habre of Chad and Presi- reverse the scaling down of Spar- Franco-African special relations, dent Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo rowhawk and provide some logistic as I predicted in 1988, may still be in were still disgusted at France's atti- support for Habre's eventual pushing for a much greater shake-up in the tude. Houphouet-Boigny and Mobu- back of the invading force. This time, wake of integration moves in the tu, normally pillars of such occa- however, despite the reinforcements, European Community. Both the 1992 sions, were conspicuously absent. the French troops stood by while single market and the impending While both could plead troubles at Deby's troops shattered Habre's monetary union arc bound to have home, neither had any desire to be army at an ambush at Iriba. implications for such a close connec- lectured. When garrisons in the south tion. Restructuring, at the very least, La Baule, by design or by acci- declared for Deby, and the latter cap- is inevitable. In addition, the ending dent, seemed to buy time for France, tured the key town of Abeche, Habre of the careers (intertwined for 40 even if the continuing tide forced fled to Cameroon, blaming the years) of Mitterrand and Houphouet- concessions in the latter part of the French for plotting with the Libyans, Boigny, even if they do not coincide, year in other formerly rigid one- while the French sanctimoniously is sure to change a relationship so party states, such as Togo, Congo, said that they did not prop up gov- bound up with personal connections. Central African Republic, and Niger. ernments, and this was an internal Who knows, therefore, how long the The experience of the October elec- Chadian affair. Supply of arms did present holding operation can contin- tions in Gabon and Cote d'lvoire, in not constitute "an aggression." ue? O

20 AFRICA REPORT - January-February 1991 The army is waging a fierce campaign against a tiny force of guerrillas who seek secession for Casamance, Sene- gal's southernmost—and richest— province. While the tough general in charge says he intends to nip separatist activity in the bud, a militaristic approach to the problem may not be the solution. The Secessionist Ray Wilim/World Bank South

By PETER da COSTA

n September 21, heli- copters and troops of the Senegalese army descended on the small towOn of Kanaw, which sits astride Senegal's border with its neighbor, the Gambia—their purpose, to flush out members of a secret guerrilla movement believed to be waging a campaign of secession against the central government. Witnesses testi- fied that after interrogating and assaulting several villagers, the sol-

In stark contrast lo the bone- dry Sahelian north, the province hns fer- tile land which boosts the nation's food pro- duction

4. 1 diers rounded up five men. Their strength is a subject of much specu- Since 1982, MFDC leaflets have bodies, charred and bullet-ridden, lation. been in circulation demanding inde- were found a short distance away. All A concentrated effort by security pendence. The literature has often were members of the minority Diola services led to the arrest of some 40 been accompanied by public demon- ethnic group which claims the south- suspects who are currently in deten- strations. A pointer to the current ern region of Casamance as its tion in Dakar. Other alleged sympa- violence came when in December ancestral land. thizers have subsequently been that year, a protest in the regional The Kanaw flashpoint symbolized picked up and are in custody pend- capital, Ziguinchor, culminated in the the extent to which the Mouvement ing appearances at the State Security Senegalese flag being burned and a des Forces Democratiques de la Court. If precedent is anything to go radio station attacked. Christmas has Casamance (MFDC) has driven the by (between 1982 and 1989 hundreds become the focus of independence government of President Abdou of Casamanc^ais were rounded up), protest, as it is a time of traditional Diouf and served as a dangerous the latest detainees are likely to be Diola festivals. During the festive warning of escalated conflict charged with compromising state season in Ziguinchor, the town's pop- between the forces of law and sepa- security and being members of an ulation is augmented by large num- ratist guerrillas. Since April 1990, a illegal organization. bers of soldiers. spate of lightning attacks—on gov- Doyen of the detainees is 62-year- Diamacoune has openly acknowl- ernment officials and civilians old Catholic cleric Father Augustin edged his leadership of the move- alike—has been blamed on the Diamacoune Senghor, whose self- ment, though he is unlikely to be MFDC, eliciting a strong-arm proclaimed leadership of the MFDC commanding the armed wing. "I told response from the capital, Dakar. adds to the mystical nature of the them [the government] that I would The ensuing hunt for the enigmatic separatist phenomenon. A vocal pro- not hesitate to shed my blood for a guerrillas has contributed to a toll ponent of independence for free and independent Casamance...it which is currently estimated at 80 Casamance, Diamacoune is no was not a wish to engage in politics, I dead and several hundred injured. stranger to incarceration: In Decem- just wanted to speak the truth. I have Casamance is divided from north- ber 1983, he was sentenced to five told them they can kill me if they ern Senegal by the sliver of land that years' imprisonment for anti-state wish, that I will be more powerful is the Gambia. The province, in stark activities. after my death...the truth triumphs contrast to the bone-dry Sahelian The MFDC has its roots in the over lies. It is God who gave us this north, has fertile land which boosts pro-independence movement, and land." the nation's food production. Agricul- was formed in 1947 by nationalists, Religion and language are signifi- ture employs some 70 percent of the notably Emile Badiane, Victor Diata, cant factors in the insularity of the country's work-force, and agro- and Ibou Diallo. Wooed by Leopold Diola people, the region's largest eth- nomists believe the region's virtual Sedar Senghor into the Bloc nic group. Mainly animists or self-sufficiency in rice could be Democratique Senegalais (BDS) in Catholics in a predominantly Islamic extended country-wide. This, togeth- 1948, Casaman^ais leaders were state, they have clung fiercely to er with game parks, a burgeoning instrumental in the fight for indepen- their languages and shunned the tourism industry, and the prospect of dence from France achieved in 1960. nationally spoken Wolof. Central gov- large petroleum deposits makes MFDC sympathizers claim Senghor ernment, ever-sensitive to accusa- Casamance a region central to the promised land rights and autonomy tions of tribalism and clientelism, has future economic development of to his southern allies, promises made provisions in the administra- Senegal. which they say were subsequently tion for Diolas: Interior Minister Since the escalation of separatist shelved. Famara Ibrahima Sagna and Trans- activity—in the form of ambushes on Diamacoune, whose father was port and Housing Minister Robert commercial transport and raids on active in the BDS struggle, has Sagna are both from Casamance. customs outposts and local govern- accused Senghor—leader of Senegal However, a government scheme to ment headquarters—the national for 20 years—of betraying the people increase agricultural productivity in army and paramilitary gendarmerie of Casamance. "When he became the region has irked locals, who has reinforced its numbers in successful," claimed the cleric, "he claim the land is being turned over to Casamance. On June 6, Defense neglected those who were ready to northerners the ministry sees as Minister Medoune Fall brought vet- do anything to ensure his success. being more market-oriented. eran commander Gen. Mamadou This is why the people of Casamance Attempts to quantify the MFDC's Abdoulaye Dieng out of retirement have not been happy." Letters to both guerrilla numbers have been difficult and installed him as military gover- Senghor and his successor, Diouf, because of the group's hit-and-run nor of the area, signalling an offen- demanding that the record be set tactics and the Diola culture of sive against a group whose armed straight, were responded to by silence. Senegalese journalists aggression and detentions, the report that there are 300 fighters Peter da Costa is a freelance journalist based in Banjul. MFDC leader added. organized in three cells who harry

22 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 the hugely superior and numerically intelligence that money to buy arms The fear is and has been that seces- secret government forces. Gen. is being channelled to the MFDC via sionist elements or invasion forces Dieng's approach to the separatists their embassy in the Gambia's capi- might launch attacks from the Gam- has been purely militaristic. He has tal, Banjul. They charge that Senegal bia, whose immense border is virtu- publicly said his intelligence sources is giving succor to FLAM, an African- ally impossible to adequately police. know the ex-servicemen and desert- Mauritanian dissident movement A pillar of Senegalese foreign poli- ers among the MFDC's ranks, opposing the torture, murder, and cy has been to achieve some kind of repeating his mandate to nip sepa- illegal expulsion of African-Mauri ta- union with its tiny neighbor. Since ratist activity in the bud. Other quar- nians by the Arab-Mauritanian major- 1960, various forms of cooperation ters, however, have advocated dia- ity. and union have been explored, partly logue. Amnesty International has report- with UN assistance. An attempted Asked about the government's ed on torture and extrajudicial coup in 1981 by Gambian Marxists position, a high-ranking official who killings in both Mauritania and Sene- was quickly crushed with Sene- declined to be named hinted that the gal. In May 1989, the organization galese help and resulted in a confed- state would be willing to open discus- presented President Diouf's govern- eration that crumbled in September sions with the MFDC while voicing ment with a 13-page memorandum 1989. Since then, diplomatic efforts the impatience that Gen. Dieng's bel- detailing allegations of torture in have concentrated on guaranteeing ligerent military offensive repre- Casamance, and later that year sent a mutual security through formal sents. "We are prepared to talk to delegation to Dakar to discuss its structures. Gambian interior min- them, but the time is getting late," he findings. The government pointed to istry sources say provisions do exist said. "What is clear is that bartering a June 1988 amnesty which led to the for hot-pursuit operations of the type over the sovereignty of Casamance is release of most Casamance detain- that the Senegalese army has adopt- out of the question. It is part and par- ees, but refused to launch an official ed, the condition being that Gambian cel of Senega!...and their attacks inquiry. soldiers take up the chase once sus- show that they are real terrorists. If Senegal's reputation as a defender pects have crossed the border. they fail to stop, they will be dealt of human rights will continue to be Internally, Dakar is going out of with as terrorists are usually dealt eroded by reports of torture of its way to alleviate Casamance com- with." MFDC suspects, a damaging factor plaints of marginalization. Agricultur- While some of Senegal's 16 politi- which analysts of the situation see as al policy-makers have curbed the cal parties have spoken out against a heavy price to pay for what they transfer of farming land in the south the MFDC, others demand the argue is a small-scale internal prob- to northern entrepreneurs. And a release of the detainees as a precon- lem. Some even theorize that there is decision to make Ziguinchor the sec- dition for talks. Community leaders no concerted guerrilla separatist ond venue for the 1992 Africa Cup have articulated the futility of contin- campaign, merely isolated incidents soccer tournament which Senegal is ued resistance; a recent attack on an of banditry, a claim repeated time to host will, say economists, pump Islamic Gamo festival in Ziguinchor and time again by Casaman^ais vil- much-needed cash into the local led to imams calling for an immedi- lagers and former detainees. economy. An amnesty has been ate end to violence. Casamance If the MFDC is indeed an under- declared guaranteeing the liberty of deputies have toured the region try- ground organization seeking inde- MFDC guerrillas who hand in their ing to convince the guerrillas to lay pendence or at the very least some weapons, but analysts say little is down arms and negotiate. Hut the form of autonomy, its demands are likely to be achieved while the mili- attacks show no sign of abating. generally acknowledged as unrealis- tary keeps its high profile in What is clear is that the MFDC tic. Were the region to secede, argue Casamance. fighting wing is a well-armed clique experts, there would be little or no Ziguinchor residents predict that trained in bush warfare whose inti- qualified manpower to govern or December 25 will be a day of protest mate knowledge of the terrain con- administer. Others identify the con- and demonstration to highlight the tinues to frustrate army attempts at flict as originating from a small area independence demand, as is becom- containment. 'Hie official line is that within the region radiating from the ing the norm—so troops are unlikely the separatists may be backed by mouth of the 150-mile-long Casa- to leave just yet. It remains to be Mauritania. Relations between Sene- mance river. seen whether 1991 will be character- gal and its northern neighbor have Senegal's overtly militaristic ized by an escalation of separatist been strained since April 1989 when approach to the separatist problem is activity or the end to a potentially a border dispute led to bloody clash- a knee-jerk reaction that highlights damaging conflict. Much will depend es and mass murder followed by the historical paranoia about security on the fate of Fr. Augustin Diama- repatriations of their expatriate citi- engendered by the existence of the coune Senghor and his fellow zens. Gambia—which Senghor, referring detainees, whose future is inextrica- Mauritanian diplomatic sources to its geographical position, once bly linked to the solution of Senegal's deny the contention by Senegalese described as "the thorn in our side." perplexing problem. O

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 23 •r The Velvet By VIVIAN LOWERY DERRYCK

Umcef

After 17 years of iron-fisted Marxist rule under President Kerekou, tiny Benin has undergone a revolution, smoothly and peacefully transforming its political sys- tem into a multi-party demo- cracy. The nation's innova- tive methods to encourage President Mathicu Kerekou, top, and Heninois villagers at a rural health center: "II faut que quelque chose change" citizen participation in the n francophone West Africa, virtual economic collapse. multi-partyism has raced Disaffected civil servants, process may provide a model through nations like the har- school teachers, and thou- for other African countries mattan, leaving a fine silt of sands of private sector chasteneI d governments, burgeoning employees had simply in political transition. non-governmental organizations, given up going to work. and embryonic political parties. The government, unable Hastily called elections have to pay its workers, owed three with Mathieu Kerekou, Benin's iron- changed the landscape of civic life. months' back salaries by the end of fisted president for the past 17 years. Almost lost in the fascination with that year. Group spokesperson Robert Dossou, I-aurent Gbagbo's challenge to Presi- The country, in economic grid- dean of the Law Faculty at the Uni- dent Felix Houphouet-Boigny in lock, only functioned at all thanks to versity of Benin and an elected mem- Cote d'lvoire, stirrings of change in the informal economy and the ber of the legislature, told the presi- Togo, and the Economic Community Lebanese merchants. Nowhere was dent that he represented a coalition of West African States' (Ecowas) Pope John Paul's often-quoted obser- of concerned legislators and citizens francophone/anglophone split over vation, "II faut que quelque chose who wanted to work for reform. Liberia, is the magnificent non-vio- change," more prophetic. And Kerekou, sensing the volatility of the lent revolution going on in Benin, a remarkably things did change situation, appointed Dossou as his revolution that was codified in the —through a literal people's revolu- new minister of planning. Dossou constitutional referendum of Decem- tion. then worked with the coalition to ber 2,1990. In June 1989, a group of Beninois bring needed changes to the table. By September 1989, Benin was in leaders who were dismayed by the The seven months from July 1989 Vivian Lowery Derryck is president of the economic and political turmoil and to February 1990 were a period of African-American Institute. emboldened by their frustration, met evolutionary change designed and

24 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 implemented by ordinary citizens—a newly appointed Minister of Plan- tive aspects of government going classic case of people's power. Dos- ning Dossou to determine the again, and most importantly, prepar- sou and company got Kerekou's groups to be included and the num- ing for national elections for a new agreement to hold a national confer- bers of persons each constituency civilian administration. Delegates at ence to discuss the country's decline could send. This thankless job the national conference wanted to and to develop a plan for recovery. earned him the undying enmity of give the interim government two Individual citizens seized the initia- many of the major actors in the pro- months to organize elections so that a civilian government would be in place by May l990. After heated discus- sion, the interim adminis- tration was given one year, until April 2, 1991, a Revolution date that is inviolate. tive and organized the response, cess. Nevertheless, the process con- The interim government was to charting the future of Benin. tinued and eventually nearly 500 peo- be headed by a prime minister who As in so many developing nations, ple assembled from February 19 to would have the traditional powers only a few institutions had survived 28, 1990, to chart the future of the and responsibilities associated with the rigors of a Marxist economy: the country. the office. Nicephore Soglo, the new military, the church, and the univer- This was truly a velvet revolution. Beninois prime minister, is a compe- sity. The military remained in the A country of 4.7 million informally tent, confident technocrat. A former barracks and its leaders let it be agreed on the legitimacy of almost World Bank official, he was chosen known that they would not intervene 500 persons from all sectors of soci- for his ties with the international to prop up the regime. The church ety and agreed to abide by the con- banking and foreign donor communi- played an active role through the ference's decisions. ties. Widely viewed as apolitical and Catholic Bishop of Cotonou, Msgr. Realizing that such a number was untainted by deep association with Isidore de Souza. The university unwieldy to make decisions, the con- any of the past regimes, Soglo offered the reformers the intellectual ference quickly appointed a 28-per- assumed office on March 1, 1990. and spiritual safe-haven and vocal son High Council of the Republic One of the most controversial constituency that change advocates (HCR). The council in turn was aspects of the proposed new constitu- require. handed a two-part mandate. First, tion was the age limits set for the Kerekou's role was pivotal. Had the HCR was charged to oversee the presidency. Lower and upper age lim- he decided to resist calls for reform, changeover to an interim govern- its of 40 and 70 respectively were the story might have evolved differ- ment. Second, since the conference widely viewed as an effort to elimi- ently. But Kerekou was responsive. had decided to scrap the old constitu- nate the possibility of the ancien The Beninois maintain that he is not tion, the HCR's next task was to write regime—pre-Kerekou presidents a malevolent man. Dismayed by the a new one. Hubert Maga, 74, Justin Ahoma- degeneration and incapable of A constitutional drafting commis- degbe, 73, and Fmile-Derlin Zinsou, responding, he saw that his best sion was formed and the group took 72—running for office again. alternative was to work with the only three months to draft a new gov- The age limitation proved to be would-be reformers. While Kerekou erning document for the country. the hottest item in the new constitu- remained in office as head of state, a The commission proposed a presi- tion—so hot that the final referen- prime minister was selected to run dential system in which the chief dum offered three ballots. The "oui the country and administer the day- executive would have broad powers. blanc" supporters advocated adop- to-day affairs of government. He would be aided by a cabinet cho- tion of the constitution as written, It is thus that Beninois leaders sen from the National Assembly. The while the "oui vert" partisans were can boast that Benin has added a proposed constitution made no provi- pro-constitution without the age pro- new solution to the question of deal- sion for a vice president, for reasons vision, and the "nan" advocates (red ing with the leadership of a discredit- that were variously explained as fear ballot) urged voters to reject the pro- ed regime. Traditionally, one of three of rivalry or redundancy. posed new constitution altogether fates has befallen deposed African The HCR also proposed a 15- and demand a rewrite. leaders: imprisonment, exile, or member interim government to be Referendum Day, December 2, death. Benin's leaders maintain that led by a prime minister. The new 1990, dawned bright and clear. Even they have added a fourth—depar- government was carefully defined as though the referendum had been ture with honor and dignity. a transitional administration, postponed twice, through diligent The Beninois decided to organize charged with three major tasks: revi- organization, every aspect of the vote for change through a national confer- talizing the economy insofar as possi- was ready. The Ministry of the Interi- ence for reconstruction. It fell to ble, getting the domestic administra- or was charged with organizing the

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 25 election. Minister Felicien Feliho, craftsmen, the contest infused age citizens through the mass media having received criticism about the money into the economy and simul- enabled rural and urban, literate and glitches in the local elections and taneously reminded people of the ref- illiterate, rich and poor to have equal knowing the sensitivity of the issues, erendum—grassroots civic educa- access to information and thereby enlisted his brother-in-law, Nathaniel tion. feel invested in the process. The Bah, a high school history teacher, While the debate over the neces- unprecedented accommodation of as the director of the ministry's cabi- sity of the secret ballot and closed the old regime allowed for a smooth net and charged him with the organi- voting booths rages from Senegal to transition by letting the president zations of the elections. Director Kenya, the Beninois solved the prob- retain his dignity and self-respect. Bah's attention to detail paid off, as lem by having every voter use an Finally, while not unprecedented, it the referendum proceeded without "isoloir" or isolater, a portable voting is unusual that ethnic and regional technical flaws. booth of heavy cardboard. A gift conflict were subordinated to the Each citizen had a registration from the government of Canada, the national interest. card with four perforations, one each isoloirs were lightweight, reusable, Enormous difficulties remain. for the referendum, local elections, and cheap. Beninois are now looking The economy is in shambles. The legislative, and presidential balloting. to manufacture the collapsable World Bank estimates that it will take Voting urns, the three ballots (yes booths. seven to 10 years to restructure without amendment, yes with Fully 27 parties have registered basic financial structures. Govern- amendment, and no), registration with the government, so the natural ment workers are still owed three lists, indelible ink, and other election question is one of ideological group- months of back pay from 1989. With paraphernalia were delivered to the ings and possible coalitions. At pre- average per capita GDP of $305, local mayors' offices on Saturday sent, the parties are basically non- Benin is one of the poorest countries evening. ideological with the notable in Africa. The new administration Voting bureau officials at the exception of the Communist Party. In will have to rapidly address these 4,038 polling stations reported to the discussions with political leaders, stubborn problems. Inevitably, after polls by 6:30 am. At 7:00 sharp, the their views vary little between social all the constructs of democratic deci- president of the voting station democratic and liberal philosophies. sion-making are in place, intractable opened the urn, turned it upside Questions about conservatism as a economic problems will continue to down to demonstrate that it was political philosophy are met with plague the new leadership. More- empty, and locked it with a bright scoffs and guffaws. One politician over, newly empowered citizens, red lock. The polling had begun. mockingly asked what there was filled with a sense of their own effica- Lines quickly formed by 7:30 am in worth conserving of the past 17 cy, are impatient, demanding more the urban areas. Voters waited years. rapid and visible economic progress patiently, registration cards in hand. In many ways, the Benin revolu- and social change. Once inside, the procedure took tion is a classic and in many ways, it But perhaps Benin will avoid about three minutes from presenting breaks new ground. It is classic in these pitfalls. With a vibrant intelli- the card to an official, signing the that the underlying causes and pre- gentsia, strong ties with the franco- registry, obtaining the three ballots, cipitating factors were economic; phone community, mutual respect going singly into one of two isoloirs classic in that the army's decision to among Ihe military, the government, in most stations, to finger-printing cooperate with the challengers and and the HCR, and an impressive and retrieving individual voter regis- not turn on the citizenry permitted track record in reform, Benin, with tration cards. success; classic in the crucial role of strong international financial sup- Voter turnout was heavy, estimat- the Roman Catholic church in medi- port, has a bright future. Most ed immediately after the election as ating between dissidents and the important, the Beninois have faith 72 percent. The "out blanc," yes with- beleaguered regime; classic in the and pride in their own abilities. out amendment, won handily, thus immediate post-change proliferation Pointing to Benin's volatile histo- insuring a presidential election free of newspapers and the profusion of ry—10 coups between independence from the haunting memories of the political parties; and classic in the in 1960 and the Kerekou ascendancy past. The next steps are promulga- choice of a technocrat and not a in 1972—a skeptic queried whether tion of the electoral code and setting politician to lead to government dur- officials would be able to organize the date for the legislative and presi- ing the transition. and hold two national elections for dential elections. But Benin is an African success the most important offices in the The beauty of the Benin referen- story filled with new twists as well. country in time to meet the April 2 dum lies in the innovations used to The unprecedented degree of citizen deadline. Beninois leaders respond- encourage citizen participation. A participation in choosing the repre- ed that they had kept to the timetable contest among local carpenters and sentatives for a national conference thus far, and after all, this was Benin. woodworkers determined the design may be a model for other nations. The harmattan will have ended by of the ballot boxes. Involving local The sustained involvement of aver- April. O

26 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 THE HuDert/Sygma

POWER By MARK HUBAND After the Bamako cease-fire VACUUM agreement, the interim govern- ment led by Dr. Amos Sawyer is nominally running Liberia, but it controls only a few square miles of the capital, protected by the Ecowas military force which installed it. The two other armed fac- tions vying for the leadership, led by Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson, both have their eyes on the prize, promising a protracted power struggle.

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 27 iberia's disintegration into Bala of having been too close to the known to be wary of Sawyer's gov- separate enclaves of mili- dead president and declared that he ernment. Sawyer and at least four of tary power has dragged would not allow them into the coun- the government's leaders are former the country toward inter- try as members of the interim admin- members of the left-wing Movement minablLe political chaos and ethnic istration. He also banned former for Justice in Africa (MOJA). Others conflict for which none of the current Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sir- have links with organizations which leaders is capable of finding a solu- leaf, based on his mistaken belief laid plans for the overthrow of Doe tion. Despite a cease-fire agreement that she was also a member of the during the late 1980s, but whose between the forces of Charles Tay- government. efforts were largely hijacked by lor, Prince Johnson, and the late Johnson is unlikely to accept a Charles Taylor and the National President Samuel Doe, hammered role which he perceives as sec- Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). out at the Bamako summit in late ondary to the interim administration. Their involvement in the interim gov- November, peace remains tenuous, Since August, when a conference of ernment has been interpreted as an famine rages unabated, and chances exiled Liberians met in Banjul, the attempt at taking political power, for a political settlement appear slim. Gambia, to form the government, under the protection of the Ecowas More than a month after the inter- Johnson has said that he will accept force, by sidestepping Taylor. The im government of Dr. Amos Sawyer its authority and will "go back to the United States has criticized the inter- 5 finally installed itself in Mon- im government's claim that it is rep- | rovia, the balancing act between resentative by reminding its mem- | political reality, military power, bers that it will be truly credible only ^ and the ambitions of those when Taylor becomes a part of it. involved have ensured that any Before the interim government rapid attempts at either was set up, Taylor was strongly criti- confronting or solving the coun- cal of those he described as "political try's tragic crisis of identity are gurus" who refused to join him. Dur- still a long way off. ing the years before the invasion of For Sawyer, there are three December 1989, Taylor traveled main political considerations throughout West Africa looking for determining the course of his backers, determined that his own government of national unity. invasion would be the only success- Having installed himself in a city ful one, with himself as leader. This which is divided between Prince Johnson's rebels, the late President barracks"—unless it takes a course Samuel Doe's troops, and the peace- with which he disagrees. His refusal keeping force sent by the Economic to recognize a role for all politicians, Having Community of West African States however closely associated to Doe installed (Ecowas), Sawyer has stepped into a they may have been, is the first sign military minefield. of strain. himself in a Prince Johnson, the rebel leader The threat to peace is made divided city, who agreed in September to pull his greater by Johnson's own view that forces out of the city center if the he is the rightful commander of the Amos Doe forces did the same, has Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), the remained consistent in his demands national army whose disastrous mili- Sawyer has for multi-party democracy and elec- tary campaign led to Doe's defeat. stepped into tions overseen by the interim gov- Johnson's volatility makes him a haz- ernment. But at the same time, he ardous contender for the post, a military has used his position as the only though it is a post difficult to refuse minefield. effective Liberian (as opposed to the him. foreigners who make up the peace- As protector of the interim gov- keeping force) military power in ernment, the Ecowas force (Eco- isolated his political adversaries with- Monrovia to dictate the make-up of mog) has taken on the responsibility in the anti-Doe camp and set the the interim government. of using pure military force to install stage for the current crisis of rela- Johnson accused the former Doe an administration which has only a tions between Taylor and the Liberi- foreign minister, Bacchus Matthews, limited claim to being truly represen- an political establishment, which had and the leading Democratic Party tative of the current political climate been largely sent into exile by Doe (NDPL) activist and Doe adviser Bai in the country. and which is strongly represented in Liberia's main financial backer of the interim government. Mark Huband is a freelance journalist based in Abidjan. the last 10 years, the United States, is While the Sawyer administration

28 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 Patrick Robert/Sygma -*-: m Liberia on August 24— too far on this promise, his troops Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, would feel cheated. At the same time, Sierra Leone, and Gam- the regional powers would find it bia—have to bear the very difficult to deal on any long- domestic political conse- term basis with Taylor as president quences of their decision to after the military campaign which become involved in some- has been waged against him. body else's war. On October 21, Taylor installed Ecowas casualty figures himself as president of his own inter- are not clear, but hundreds im government at his capital Gbarn- of foreign troops are ga, in central Liberia. The make-up of thought to have died. With his government reflects the current its control of only a few state of relations within the NPFL. square miles of Monrovia, The rebel movement's leading its limited political repre- Mano, Samuel Dokie, was only given sentation, and its reliance the position of internal affairs minis- on foreign troops to protect ter, while the vice presidency went to it, the pressures on the a Taylor protege, Enoch Dogolea. interim government to Taylor has become increasingly resolve the conflict quickly estranged from the Gio and Mano are as intense from the whose traditional conflict with Doe's internal Liberian viewpoint Krahn was what provided him with a as they are from the region- ready-made, if untrained army pre- al perspective. pared to overthrow Doe. Taylor's This pressure is in- bodyguard is made up of Ghanaians, creased by serious divisions Gambians, and soldiers from Burki- within the NPFL, which are na Faso. Such is his distrust of the threatening to draw sur- Gio and Mano that even ministers rounding countries further from these groups are searched into the civil war. Ethnic before being allowed to see him, one links across national bound- senior NPFL member has said. aries and a potential clash With the death of Doe on Septem- Dr. Amos Sawyer, left, and National between rebel forces and Liberian ber 9 at the hands of Prince Johnson, Patriotic Front of Liberia rebel, above: Muslims are pushing the tides of the the Gio and Mano have lost much of Solving the routry*s tragic crisis of identi- war throughout West Africa, increas- ty is still a long way off their reason for fighting, particularly ing the determination of regional with Taylor at their head. The NPFL continues to hold the view, in public leaders to destroy Charles Taylor's is from the Americo-Liberian back- at least, that Taylor is welcome to army before the conflict spreads fur- ground of those who were over- join it and then fight the election it ther. thrown by Samuel Doe, with the sup- intends to oversee, there is no expec- Evidence that Taylor is coming port of all indigenous Liberians, in tation that this will happen. Mem- into serious conflict with his own 1980. Taylor has received over $1 bers of the interim government who forces has led to his taking drastic million from Americo-Liberians in were previously involved with the action to secure his own position as the United States to finance his cam- NPFL in the mid-1980s, before Tay- NPFL leader. Distrust between Tay- paign, though many of them with- lor took over the organization, are lor and his Gio and Mano fighters, drew their support as the war wary of his intentions after experi- who make up the bulk of the NPFL dragged on. encing his attempts to outmaneuver force, has led to his making exten- As early as March 1990, Taylor is potential rivals to ensure that when sive use of non-Liberians within the said to have confided to close col- the invasion happened, he would be army, many of them dissidents from leagues that he did not trust the Gio able to take the lead. Following the neighboring countries. This has led and Mano to support him through- Bamako summit, Taylor, noting that to increased concern among the out the campaign. Similar sentiments the cease-fire accord did not provide regional powers that if Taylor ever about the NPFL leader are reported for a political settlement, said that becomes president, he will allow to have been expressed at the same Sawyer's interim administration was Liberia to be used as a base for dissi- time by at least one leading Gio who "null and void." dents trained during the war. is still fighting with Taylor. For its part, the interim govern- To the bulk of his army, Taylor Since the beginning of the cam- ment is increasingly aware that the has promised the ultimate prize of paign in December 1989, Taylor's five countries who sent troops to leadership. If he were to compromise fear of being overthrown by his own

AFRICA REPORT - January-February 1991 29 army is believed to have resulted in begun using rebel-held territory in foreign minister, Omar Sey, Qaddafy the execution of leading NPFL mem- Liberia as a base for planning the said he supported peace proposals bers who could have overthrown destabilization of their countries. put forward by Ecowas. This sug- him. Two separate accounts of the Up to 65 Sierra Leoneans who had gests he is reviewing his support for death of the former NPFL comman- been fighting with Taylor were Taylor. der Elmer Johnson now suggest that arrested in Guinea in November Taylor's moves against possible Taylor's men may have been respon- while attempting to cross the border rivals within the NPFL have also sible. Johnson was ambushed out- as refugees. Taylor has threatened to forced the conflict across the bor- side the rebel-held town of Buchanan attack Freetown international air- ders by leading to large-scale defec- in June. Government forces claimed port, from which fighter jets from the tions from his movement. John they had killed Johnson. At least one peace-keeping force have launched 'Prince' Quiwonkpa, whose brother eyewitness to the killing says it was attacks on NPFL troops in Liberia. Thomas led a failed coup attempt Taylor's men who attacked Johnson So seriously does Sierra Leone take against Samuel Doe in 1985, is said and then allowed the death to be the threat that it closed all its bor- to have deserted with up to 2,000 Gio claimed by government troops. ders to refugees fleeing Liberia and fighters across the border into Cote Senior members of the NPFL dispatched extra troops to guard the d'lvoire in October. The Ivorian gov- have also confirmed that Taylor frontier. ernment has facilitated Taylor's war ordered the execution of the Gio Taylor's main backer, Libya, has since last January by providing the politician Jackson F. Doe. Doe, who also been a haven for dissidents from NPFL with access to supplies across was no relation of the late president, Sierra Leone. Both political dissi- the border, although at the Bamako was recognized as the victor in dents and members of the Muslim summit, both Cote d'lvoire and Bur- Liberia's 1985 presidential election, hierarchy in the country have kina Faso pledged to cease their sup- which Samuel Doe rigged in his own received assistance and asylum in port to Taylor. favor. Taylor accused Jackson Doe of Libya since the military government The Ivorians have so far been being in contact with rebel leader of President Joseph Momoh took silent about the influx of rebel Prince Johnson, and had him execut- power in 1985 and severed links with deserters, though the fear that the ed last August. It is believed four of Libya. war could spill over borders has his close associates, also Gios, were Taylor is known to have last visit- always influenced Ivorian policy. The executed with him. ed Libya in September in the hope of deserters' presence is thought to Members of the NPFL who retaining military support for the have been behind efforts by franco- remained with Taylor when the orga- NPFL. Since then, the Libyan leader phone countries in West Africa to nization was turned from a political has received two delegations of seek a peaceful settlement, despite body led by Liberian exiles into a Liberian Muslims hoping to end his having provided support for the fighting force led by Taylor in 1989 support for the NPFL. Many Liberi- NPFL's military campaign for most have also become victims of the an Muslims are from the Mandingo of the past year. internal power struggle. Cooper group. The Mandingos have a long Senior diplomats from the five- Teah, who sent untrained Gios to association with Samuel Doe's nation peacekeeping force have Libya for Taylor in 1987, was execut- Krahns. The NPFL has carried out declared their intention of making ed on September 19, NPFL sources the same kind of revenge killings the NPFL an "untenable military said. Moses Duopu, who was chair- against both tribes, forcing many force," ostensibly to force Taylor to man of the NPFL, a position Taylor Mandingo to flee to Guinea from negotiate. But negotiation does not claimed for himself after the out- where they originally came. appear to be an easy option for Tay- break of war in December 1989, was Several hundred Mandingo are lor, and it is unlikely he would sur- killed in June while visiting Taylor's now reported to be gathering in vive as NPFL leader if he failed to camp, NPFL sources now confirm. Guinea on the Liberian border. Led take the presidency. Other NPFL fighters who trained by two Liberian Muslims, Al Hadji As Liberia's neighbors were with Taylor—first in Libya then in Kroma and his brother Lansana, they drawn into the conflict. West African Burkina Faso—have also been exe- are believed by senior Liberian politi- military leaders became more deter- cuted. cians to be planning a reprisal mined to hit Taylor hard before fight- This growing distrust has led to against the NPFL rebels for the ing spread across borders. This Taylor's use of dissidents from other killing of Muslims during the con- threat is ever-present, even as the parts of the region and has in turn flict. It is not yet clear how this will tenuous cease-fire holds. "The become of increasing concern to the affect Taylor's relations with Libya. Liberian problem is no longer a countries who have sent troops as However, a delegation of West Liberian problem. It's a regional part of the peace-keeping force. African foreign ministers visited problem, and the countries of the Political exiles from Gambia and Colonel Qaddafy on November 19 region are dealing with it as they Sierra Leone who have joined the and asked him to stop his support for would deal with their national prob- NPFL are believed to have already Taylor. According to the Gambian lems," Dr. Sawyer has said. O

30 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 THE C SIS oV SlJRV as a result ofthe BesHirigovernment's sup- port for Saddam Hussein in |he Gulf crisis, the people of Sudan continue to suffer from starvatjppM warfare, with a massive howic looming on theJpMzon. Donor governments should b^in countering ifronomic sanctions a\the only remaining lever ft) push the Khartoum gov< jnt onto the of peace.

By JOHN PRENDERGAST

n the aftermath of Iraq's inva- countries, the Sudanese military backlash has been unified and dev- sion of Kuwait, few countries junta has compounded its problems astating. Beshir has lost any thread have suffered as much as by being one of a handful of coun- of support he had from Egypt, the Sudan. Besides the inevitable tries to line up in Saddam Hussein's United States, Saudi Arabia, and skyrocketing energy bills and lost corner. other Middle Eastern countries. remittances from the 20,000 expatri- Outside of Libya's attempts to There are reports that the Saudis ates who used to work in the two ameliorate the repercussions of Gen. have actually thrown their resources Omer Hassan al-Beshir's decision to to the insurgent Sudan People's Lib- John Prendergast is author of The Struggle for Sudan's SouL support Hussein, the international eration Army (SPLA). Further, the,

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 International Monetary Fund issued transported southward with no carried out a campaign of aerial a declaration of non-cooperation for resources. intimidation of civilian areas in SPLA- Sudan, which joins Liberia as the Individual and community coping held territory, the SPLA launched an only two countries on that dishonor mechanisms are fast being exhaust- offensive in both Upper Nile and roll. ed. Livestock prices plummet as Bahr al Ghazal. All of this could not have come at grain prices soar, cash crops on To buttress his traditional Iraqi a worse time for the people of Sudan. small-holder plots weren't planned or and Libyan supply lines, Beshir has With up to 11 million people at risk failed, firewood and charcoal sources left no stone unturned in his quest of starvation, and the south and west are greatly diminished, and for resources to fuel continued mili- of the country engulfed in war, the employment opportunities in agricul- tary operations. With a military bud- crisis of survival has reached epic tural labor are limited due to poor get of nearly a billion dollars (accord- proportions. yields in the mechanized sorghum ing to Africa Economic Digest), The Famine Early Warning Sys- areas. drastic measures had to be taken. tem figures assert that 4 to 5 million Operation Lifeline Sudan II has First, nearly all grain reserves were people are already "entirely depen- delivered nearly 70,000 tons of grain, sold to earn foreign exchange for dent" on food assistance. The UN but has recently slowed to a trickle. weapons purchases. These reserves Food and Agriculture Organization's In late September, the International would have been critical in prevent- preliminary report has found a 1 mil- Committee for the Red Cross sus- ing famine in 1991. Secondly, the lion ton grain deficit for 1991. To put pended all flights because of difficul- government has rapidly increased this figure in perspective, it is ten ty in getting clearance to land in the money supply to pay for the war, times the amount of grain moved in SPLA-held areas. Bor, Torit, Ler, devastating the value of the the relief operation in 1989 which Kongor, Waat, and Ayod have all Sudanese pound and contributing to ended Sudan's most recent famine been bombed by the government, hyperinflationary conditions. Third- that killed over 250,000 people. disrupting relief operations and driv- ly, Beshir has gone to China, Japan, A number of different population ing populations into the bush. Non- and other countries in search of any groups and geographic areas are governmental organizations have kinds of aid for any purpose, in the most at risk of starvation. First, local- constantly been harassed, trains and hopes that new money can replace ized famines are occurring through- barges have been immobilized, resources redirected for the war out southern Sudan. Failed crops flights have been interfered with, effort. and government bombing in SPLA- and access to certain areas has been held territory, and uncertain supply regularly denied. War in the West lines to hostage populations in gov- The U.S. has placed stern condi- Two particularly ugly conflicts are ernment-held towns, account for tions on its full involvement in relief being played out in the western most of the suffering. operations in Sudan. If these condi- province of Darfur. In the far west, a Second, most of the small-holder tions are met, the U.S. has pledged to group of nearly 2,000 armed Chadian farmers and herders in Kordofan, provide one-third of all assistance dissidents set up a staging base for Darfur, and Red Sea provinces are that can be channelled through relief incursions into eastern Chad, and in close to exhausting their survival agencies. The U.S. also says that it the last week of November launched strategies after suffering from two will reject all proposals for new con- a final offensive which pushed the consecutive droughts and plunder- tracts for concessionary wheat sales government of Hissene Habre out of ing Arab militias. Third, an area that to Sudan. power. Chadian government forces traditionally has not experienced The first condition the U.S. has had been pursuing the rebels at least acute food shortages is the central pushed for is that the Sudanese gov- 90 miles inside Darfur. During the region and its main cities. Hunger in ernment must declare a food emer- last year, the head of the Chadian these areas has resulted from rapidly gency and make a normal request for national military police was killed, escalating grain prices and a break- assistance from the international the commander-in-chief of the Chadi- down in marketing systems. community, which has not been done an army was wounded, and rebel Fourth, 30,000 new refugees have yet. In response, Col. Salah el Din leader Hassan Djamous was cap- recently arrived in the Ethiopian Karrar, chairman of the economic tured and killed, leaving Idris Deby camp of Itang. Malnutrition and affairs committee for the junta, said, as the leader of the opposition forces. death rates are very high, and indi- "We will never accept any food assis- The Patriotic Salvation Movement's cate the situation may be even worse tance, even if famine is declared." platform had included a call for a fed- in the areas of southern Sudan eral, nonreligious state, and Deby where these people came from. War in the South announced his intention of holding Fifth, the internally displaced south- The ruling Command Council and democratic elections as soon as pos- erners and westerners in the 27 the SPLA are as far away from the sible. camps around Khartoum are being negotiating table as they ever have An interesting element in this sce- forcibly removed and told to go or be been. As the government air force nario is the future role of Col. Muam-

32 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 mar Qaddafy in the region. Libya one modern weapon for every 16 and a myriad of logistical items. In was heavily involved in Darfur with men, and that a Kalashnikov rifle terms of SPLA areas, Bishop Paride its Islamic Legion militia, with the cost the same as a calf. Africa Watch Taban of the New Sudan Council of full support of Beshir. Humiliated by has pointed out that "the manner of Churches and others are advocating Chad in the "Toyota war," Qaddafy the raiding [by the Murahalnn mili- a relief and rehabilitation operation was looking for another route to get tias] indicates that the intention was for southern Sudan independent of at deposed President Habre. Large not merely looting and brigandage, Operation Lifeline II, and hence gov- convoys of Libyan lorries had been but making villages uninhabitable ernment approval. seen crossing from Libya into Dar- and driving the farmers from their On the issue of overall U.S. policy fur. Libya was distributing weapons land." toward the Beshir regime, Roger to numerous Arab Muslim tribes, Three NIF politicians in Darfur Winter, director of the U.S. Commit- such as the Zaghawa, Masolit, and defected from their party in January tee for Refugees, testified in front of Baggara. This ensured easy transit 1989, claiming that there was a con- the House of Representatives Africa of anti-Habre rebels from Libya spiracy between the Libyan and subcommittee that economic sanc- through Sudan to Chad. Now that Sudanese governments to depopu- tions against the Sudan government Deby's Libya-supported movement late Fur areas in order to open the are one option that must be consid- has consolidated its position in Ndja- areas up for Arab settlement. ered to help isolate Beshir from mena, and Libyan ally Beshir is hold- Qaddafy has constantly talked about external support for his war efforts. ing on in Khartoum. Qaddafy's opening up the Sahara Desert for The Bush administration replied that dream of regional unification may be this purpose. Africa Watch conclud- Sudan has no economy to embargo. closer lo reality than ever. ed that the problem in Darfur "is not The State Department is overlooking Libya's troubles with Chad stem a tribal one: The Fur may defend two important conduits for re- from the contested, coveted Aouzou their land as a tribe, but the Arabs sources, though. Strip, and Qaddafy's now-achieved attack as a militia force. The attacks First, a company in Bahrain has desire to impose a more favorable are intended to render the Fur tribe contracted to buy all of Sudan's regime in Ndjamena. To complicate politically powerless, so that Arabs export crops, most notably cotton, matters further, some analysts con- with allegiances to Libya and the cur- for the next ten years. Second, the tend the U.vS. and Chad had been rent Islamic fundamentalist govern- Sudanese economy relies on two training a "contra" force of Libyan ment in Sudan come to dominate the Islamic banks almost exclusively for POWs to fight Qaddafy. region." its foreign exchange, the Faisal and In addition to the Chadian/Libyan The London-based newsletter Bakara Islamic banks. These two entanglement, Darfur has its own Africa Confidential has reported that institutions were given a monopoly two-year-old civil war. The above- a Fur-based political movement has by Sudan's minister of finance to mentioned Arab troops armed by the begun to arise which includes an market all of Sudan's produce. Con- governments of Libya and Sudan armed militia. Beside the Fur, the sequently, they were primarily have repeatedly attacked the villages group includes Messalit and Reize- responsible for the export of the all- of the Fur people, the largest non- gat Arabs. The movement is appar- important grain reserve in 1990, Arab group in western Sudan. Gov- ently split between those who seek which the FAO estimates was ernment troops are now involved autonomy and an alliance with the 300,000 tons, and the Indian Ocean with the militias in destroying Fur SPLA, and those who want an Newsletter believes was twice that villages and detaining leading Fur alliance, or even integration, with amount. Both Faisal and Bakara are chiefs. The governor of Darfur has Chad. Saudi-based banks. moved his headquarters from El As two of the primary beneficia- Fasher to Zalingei, in the center of Policy Debates ries of the U.S. troop build-up in the the disputed area, and has arrested The U.S. has outlined stiff condi- Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain could Fur leaders under the pretext that tions upon which its full commitment help make Winter's call for multilat- they are supporting the SPIA to any relief operation is contingent. eral sanctions an important lever in The situation began heating up The problem with this approach is encouraging change in the Sudanese after the famine in 1984-85, when that every week that large donations regime's position toward the wars economically devastated Arab of food are delayed, and more people and famines raging throughout the groups began migrating southward come closer to the brink of starva- country. Many NGOs believe that it into Fur areas in search of grazing tion. Africa Watch has appealed for a is already too late to avoid thousands patches and land for farming. The "twin-track" approach, which would of deaths, but it may not be too late ensuing land disputes were often deliver large amounts of grain even if for the hundreds of thousands that bloody, but heavily favored the Arabs a famine is not declared by the gov- could survive if strong and coordi- because many possessed automatic ernment, while continuing to negoti- nated steps are taken immediately by weapons. The Al Ayyam newspaper ate with the government over issues donors seeking to avoid a repeat of estimated that in Darfur, there was such as access, NGO involvement. previous famine relief fiascos. O

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 33 Soaring oil prices stemming from the Persian Gulf crisis have dealt a blow to southern Africa's precarious economies, as limited resources earmarked for other areas have had to be diverted to pay inflated fuel bills. While only Angola stands to benefit from rising oil costs, other countries, particularly war-torn Mozambique, will need infusions of economic aid from donors if their hard-pressed budgets are to survive another setback.

outhern Africa may where the higher cost of fuel means invaded Kuwait on August 2. But the appear far distant that less emergency aid can be deliv- United Nations trade embargo from the turmoil of ered to the war-torn country's hun- against Iraq and occupied Kuwait the Persian Gulf cri- gry thousands. extended to that Kuwaiti oil in sis, but certainly its Angola's rich supplies of oil make Yemen and the UN ruled the oil economic effects it the only country in the region to could not be delivered. have hit the region hard. Drastic benefit from the higher prices for the The southern African countries hikes in the price of fuel have precious black commodity, but that appealed the decision, and in late ensured that the region's man in the financial bonus does not appear to be November, the UN agreed that as street has quickly felt the pinch of helping the country move signifi- the oil had been ordered and partial- how a far-away news event can affect cantly closer to a peace settlement. ly paid for before the invasion, it him. Southern Africa first saw how the could be delivered. The UN commit- Most southern African countries Gulf crisis would directly affect the tee stipulated that final payment must import all their petroleum region when a shipment of oil des- must be paid to the Kuwaiti Oil Com- requirements, and the increased tined for five countries was impound- pany's London office. The cost of the international oil prices have badly ed in Yemen. The order of 200,000 oil is set at pre-invasion prices, so the exacerbated Zambia and Zimbabwe's tons of Kuwaiti oil had been placed southern African countries will save economic troubles. The most tragic by Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and the Indi- on sky-rocketing oil costs. consequences are in Mozambique, an Ocean islands of Mauritius, Sey- Unfortunately, it is obvious that Andrew Meldrum, a contributing editor to chelles, and the Comoros. this one oil delivery will not solve the Africa Report, is an American journalist who The oil was purchased from the fuel shortages and economic prob- is frontline editor of the Johannesburg Weekly Mail. Based in Harare, he also writes for The Kuwaiti Oil Company and was sent to lems throughout southern Africa Guardian oflMndon. Yemen to be refined before Iraq caused by the Gulf situation. The dis-

ECONOMIES The Ripple

By ANDREW MELDRUM astrous effect of drastically higher oil (IMF). Finance Minister Chigaga leader of South Africa's Transkei prices on Zambia's continuing eco- stated that Zambia will aim for a 3 homeland, Gen. Bantu Holomisa. nomic problems and therefore its percent economic growth rate in Kaunda had hoped for more heads of political problems was made painful- 1991, up from the 2 percent decline state, but leaders like Zimbabwe's ly clear in the new 1991 budget. registered in 1990. Chigaga also Robert Mugabe and South African "Sharp increases in oil prices have hopes to reduce the inflation rate President FW. de Klerk declined. diverted resources away from other from 80 to 40 percent. He said gov- The breakfast featured a star turn needy areas to meet the soaring ernment income would be increased by Pik Botha, who asked all present to imports bill," Finance Minister Gib- by new taxes. stand and hold hands. He then dra- son Chigaga told the Zambian Parlia- Chigaga admitted that large-scale matically stated, "Apartheid is over," ment when presenting the budget in external help is needed to resolve as if his declaration could wipe away late November. Zambia's oil bill went Zambia's money troubles. "Zambia the continuing discrimination and vio- up from $100 million in 1989 to $180 will need substantial foreign assis- lence in South Africa. Botha's counter- million in 1990, and the cost is still tance on the most concessional part in the African National Congress, soaring. A scries of hikes have terms possible, to support the adjust- Director of Foreign Affairs Thabo already sent the consumer price of ment program," said Chigaga to Par- Mbeki, appealed at the breakfast for petrol up nearly 400 percent. liament. improved communication between The unexpected fuel price rises Clearly, Zambia's economic hard- the two sides, but it was clear that the have made a precarious economic ships are set to continue, which pleasantries spoken at the breakfast balancing act look nearly impossible. means that Kaunria will have difficul- table did not herald any breakthrough Zambia's miserable economic perfor- ty in winning the elections set for in the South African situation. mance is at the root of the popular October 1991, in which he will face With the prayer breakfast, the demand for the end of 17 years of opposition from other parties for the first such event held in Africa, Kaun- one-party rule by President Kenneth first time in 17 years. Yet, by a differ- da once again managed to bask in Kaunda's United National Indepen- ent token, the budget did not appear the journalistic limelight and pro- dence Party (UNIP). Sadly, Zambia's tough enough, as diplomats in Lusa- mote his image as a leading African dwindling copper deposits and bur- ka said it would not win the confi- statesman. In the past, Kaunda has geoning debt mean that there is no dence of potential donors. been able to put forward his reputa- easy answer to the country's eco- Fver the political showman, Kaun- tion as a key player in regional poli- nomic crisis. The $7.2 billion foreign da offered a bit of light relief for Zam- tics to deflect criticism of the coun- debt gives Zambia's 7.5 million peo- bia's dire economic and political out- try's slipshod economic management. ple claim to one of the world's high- look by holding a highly publicized But as Zambia's economic crisis has est debt per capita ralios. prayer breakfast for African leaders deepened, the prayer breakfast could Despite his political troubles, on November 7. bring only the most temporary relief. including food riots in which at least The heads bowed in prayer In comparison, Zimbabwe's econ- 26 people were killed in June, Kaun- included Mozambican President omy is relatively healthy, but the Gulf da has stuck to the economic Joaquim Chissano, Ugandan Presi- crisis has forced a 45 percent con- restructuring program designed by dent Yoweri Museveni, South African sumer price hike for fuels, with bus the International Monetary Fund Foreign Minister Pik Botha, and fares raised by 22 percent. More Effect hikes were expected by the begin- The only glimmer of hope for the prices are good news for the Angolan ning of 1991, which will further fuel millions of hungry and suffering government, which has foreign the country's inflation rate, already Mozambicans is progress toward debts of nearly $7 billion. But even estimated to be more than 20 percent hammering out a ceasefire between the windfall of significantly higher oil annually. President Joaquim Chissano's gov- prices will not be enough to solve Before the Gulf crisis, Zimbab- ernment and the right-wing Renamo Angola's economic problems, as cur- we's oil supply had remained steady, rebels. Five rounds of peace talks rently a whopping 70 percent of the with the country getting 643,000 tons have been held in Rome, but government's revenue goes to the of petroleum through its pipeline progress has been grindingly slow. war effort. from Beira, Mozambique, in the first Chissano skillfully pushed the The rounds of peace talks in Lis- nine months of 1990, compared to peace process along by reinvigorat- bon between President Jose Eduardo the 593,000 tons received in the ing the country's democratic process dos Santos' MPLA government and same period for 1989. The supplies and getting a new constitution writ- Jonas Savimbi's Unita rebels came may be adequate, but the rising costs ten, which came into effect on tantalizingly close to achieving a of oil products are expected to give a November 30, ending the one-party peace, but did not produce the con- hard knock to Zimbabwe's new trade rule of his Frelimo party and estab- crete agreements needed to bring liberalization program. lishing a free market economy. about a ceasefire. However, in mid- It is war-torn Mozambique, how- These were the two major demands December, after a series of meetings ever, where the Gulf crisis has had put forward by Renamo, leaving the in Washington between the Soviets, the most devastating effect. With rebel movement only one thing to Americans, Savimbi, and the more than 2 million displaced people complain about—the presence of Angolan government, a tentative in the country and millions more some 7,500 well-armed, well-fed Zim- agreement was reached to set a date dependent on food aid, the increased babwean troops supporting Chis- for free elections and the signing of a fuel price means that the cost of sano's rag-tag army. ceasefire accord. Both the U.S. and delivering emergency food aid has That issue was settled in the Soviet Union will halt military assis- become unbearably high. As Ren- Rome talks at the start of December tance to their respective allies once amo attacks have made road trans- when both sides agreed that the the ceasefire is signed. portation impossible, the Mozambi- Zimbabwean forces would be with- Following the lead of the Mozam- can government must fly food drawn to the two transport corridors bican government in rewriting its assistance to virtually all corners of that link landlocked Zimbabwe to constitution to pave the way for a the country. The oil price hikes Mozambique's Indian Ocean ports. peaceful settlement, President dos mean that it now costs $1,000 to air- An eight-nation team, including U.S. Santos has led Angola's creaking lift a ton of maize to the famine- and Soviet representatives, will moni- MPLA party to reform itself. The stricken areas of central Zambezia tor a ceasefire along the two trans- MPLA leadership has agreed to province, up from $580 per ton last port corridors, the 180-mile route to rewrite its constitution to allow for year, according to UN sources. The Beira port and the 320-mile railway multi-party politics and a free enter- maize itself costs $140 per ton. stretch along the Limpopo River to prise economic system. Those Dependent on foreign assistance, Maputo. changes, expected to be ratified by Mozambique cannot afford this fuel Mozambique edged even closer to the MPLA Congress in mid-Decem- bill increase and the end result is a ceasefire when both government ber, were necessary preconditions that less food will be provided to the and rebels agreed in Rome to respect for a settlement with Savimbi's ever-growing numbers of hungry the neutrality of the Red Cross to rebels, and it appears they helped people. Officials gloomily warn of carry emergency assistance to the bring about the December agree- widespread famine and starvation in country's brutalized civilian popula- ment. If all goes well, the bitter war, the first few months of 1991. tion. Such progress brings Mozam- which has eaten up Angola's oil for- Mozambique currently receives bique to the brink of a negotiated set- tune, may soon be over, allowing the the bulk of its petroleum products tlement. Even then, massive foreign government to spend its oil rev- from the Soviet Union at very favor- assistance will be needed to repair enues on repairing the country's able rates, but that agreement will infrastructure, restore the rural shredded infrastructure and reha- end in May 1991. Struggling with its areas to normalcy, and of course, pay bilitating the traumatized popula- own array of economic crises, the the country's soaring oil bill. tion. Gorbachev government may not be Mozambique's Portuguese-speak- Southern Africa has more than able to offer another special oil deal. ing African cousin, Angola, is also enough problems of its own—wars, Mozambique may have to begin pur- war-torn and threatened by large- famines, and collapsed economies— chasing oil on the open market and scale famine, but Angola is cush- but it is painfully clear that the con- conservative estimates are that its ioned by the proceeds of its current tinuation of the Gulf-inflated oil bills fuel bill will double from $75 million production of 450,000 barrels per day will only exacerbate those problems, to $150 million. of high-quality oil. The rising oil with potentially tragic results. O

36 AFRICA REPORT - January-February 1991 Back

Zambezia province used to be the breadbasket of Mozambique, supply- ing half the country's export earnings. Now, after years of civil war and Renamo destruction, it is a wasteland, refuge for tens of thousands of homeless, starving people. As a settlement of the war appears closer than before, Western nations must resist donor fatigue, and increase emergen- cy relief until the Mozambican people can get back on their feet i

nee a thriving reduced to a burned-out shell of a emergency food relief for their sur- commercial cen- town. The health center has no vival. ter in the agricul- medicines to give the emaciated M'Bauane is typical of many rural tural heartland patients milling around its doorstep, areas in Zambezia affected by of Mozambique's and since April, a swelling population Mozambique's 15-year-old war. The fertile Zambezia of at least 3,000 people gathered here food supplies are too little, they province, M'Bauane has been have been completely dependent on arrive too late, and signs of severe malnutrition are evident among both no tools or land to cultivate. Life here ing gone back to the Stone Age," said children and adults. While no exact is twisted with the anger that lives in Latham. "These people have no records are kept, people are dying of this land." clothing, they have no tools, they starvation and preventable illnesses. Before April 1990, the people of have no implements, utensils. They In October, for example, measles M'Bauane were living under the con- can construct a roof over their head killed at least 60 children already trol of the rebels of the Mozambique using simple local materials, but they weakened by hunger. National Resistance Movement (Ren- have nothing else. They are totally Some of the stronger children, amo) who have been battling against dependent on outside help to sur- however, attend a new primary President Joaquim Chissano's Fre- vive. Some of them have been living school built by parents and made limo government. But like many in such wretched conditions that completely out of local material— regions in this northern province of they die before outside help can get mud and reeds. "It took us two Zambezia, the government army, to them." months," said Elias Calima, a teach- with the help of a traditional mili- The war has indirectly caused the er. "But we need more classrooms, tia—known as Naprama—liberated deaths of 900,000, according to the books, and more teachers." Another M'Bauane this year. UN Economic Commission for 200 children are waiting for a place at Ironically, the military successes Africa. It is estimated that 350 of the school, and some 50 of the 220 have worsened the already critical every 1,000 children die before pupils do not have books or pencils. emergency situation in the country reaching the age of five, giving All the pupils were raggedly by bringing huge numbers of people Mozambique one of the highest child dressed—many just in tree- under government control for the mortality rates in the world. While bark—went barefoot, and showed first time in several years. Their the level of malnutrition varies dra- signs of malnutrition. But what is plight offers just a taste of what is in matically throughout the country, in possibly more disturbing is the suf- store if the government and the some areas it affects as many as 40 fering that most of the children rebels implement an effective cease- percent of the children. endured. fire throughout this vast, yet sparsely Maria Ernesta walked for three Like the other children, Lucas populated southeastern African hours carrying her five-year-oldboy , Joao, 13, lived in the area when it was country. Joao, to the health center in the dis- under rebel control for two years. "I The war has pushed 4 million peo- trict capital of He, in Zambezia did not go to school at that time," he ple from their homes inside Mozam- province, "I noticed he wasn't playing said quietly. "I just stayed inside my bique and 1 million more into neigh- with his friends anymore," said the home all the time. The bandits killed boring countries, and a peace deal 20-year-old mother, sitting beside her my father, so I just stayed with my will unleash a massive return of peo- child on the hospital spring-bed with mother in the house." His two sisters ple to their land of origin. Interna- no mattress. and brother died of illnesses during tional aid requirements will be huge, But there was no milk at the hos- that time. Now Joao hopes for a bet- since the returnees will need every- pital to give Joao. He was deteriorat- ter future. "I would like to leave the thing—from seeds and tools to cook- ing daily. Joao's spindly legs could no countryside when I grow up," he ing utensils and medicines. Most of longer support his swollen belly that said. "I would like to be a driver in all, though, they will need food until was covered in sores and looked like the city." they can clear the land and harvest it was about to explode. Joao just sat The adults too have grown weary their first crops. staring into space, occasionally of relentless misery. "Since we "Peace is something that every- whimpering for his mother to arrived here, we have suffered so body is devoutly hoping for. But, for scratch his back. much from hunger and exposure," the emergency program, peace could "He's my only child, and his father said 20-year-old Bonefacio Chale, in fact be a disaster," said Mark Lath- is a soldier. I haven't seen him for a who, like everyone else here, was am, the director of operations for the long time," said Ernesta. "I just want dressed only in a piece of bark World Food Programme in Maputo, food to arrive so my boy will get bet- wrapped around his waist. "I would the capital. ter." prefer to go somewhere else, but it is Once the immediate emergency Joao's chances of survival seem not possible. So we are here always needs are met, then the bigger task slim. The new kits of emergency sup- suffering from hunger, exposure, of reconstruction must begin. The plies of milk, oil, and sugar had not and lots of deaths. I have my wife rebels have destroyed hundreds of arrived at the hospital, and the nurse here, but other members of my fami- schools and health centers set up by had no idea when to expect them. "It ly have died of illnesses since they the government after independence makes our job difficult," said Augus- arrived, including my nephews and from Portugal in 1975. Hundreds of to Aniva. "We just have to watch on. my uncle. I would like to return teachers and nurses have been kid- We feel helpless." home and farm again. Here, we have napped. The social fabric of entire There are many reasons why the regions has been ripped apart. apparently simple life-saving help Ruth Amah Ayisi is a freelance journalist based in Maputo. "It has been referred to me as hav- does not arrive. First, the S136 mil-

38 AFRICA REPORT - January-February 1991 lion United Nations emergency of the relief operation, said Peter and tractor which cleared the way. appeal last April underestimated the Simkin, the UN coordinator for the Yet fuel for road transport is also amount of aid needed in Zambezia by emergency. For example, the cost of in short supply, and when peace about half. Ironically, Zambezia, air-lifting food from the ports into the comes people will disperse, making twice the size of California and the districts has shot up to about $1,000 it even more difficult to feed them country's most populous province, per ton, not counting the expense of than before, when hundreds of thou- was once known as a breadbasket, bringing it from Europe and the Unit- sands were concentrated in accom- supplying over 50 percent of the ed States to Mozambique. "So maize modation centers. country's export earnings. which is only worth about $120 per There are no plans for another The UN appeal for Zambezia ton is costing about $1,400 to emergency appeal. Mozambique is province was for only about 429,000 move—that is plainly very bad eco- already in its fourth year of emergen- people, whereas more than double nomics," Simkin said. "We are wor- cy, and analysts believe that "donor that figure in the province are now ried about the effect increases in oil fatigue" has set in. Usually an emer- dependent on emergency food aid, prices will have on this operation." gency appeal lasts only for two years, largely as a result of the new tide of Today, 120,000 to 200,000 people, and now with the needs of Eastern military victories by the government mostly in Zambezia and neighboring Europe, the Gulf crisis, and famines army and Naprama militia. The Sofala province, rely on air-lifts for in other parts of Africa, such as Naprama soldiers, using only spears their food supplies because the war Sudan, emerging, the international against the standard Renamo has made road transport impossible community is unlikely to see Mozam- weapon, the AK-47 assault rifle, have bique as a priority, however great the brought into accommodation centers country's needs. hundreds of thousands of people Instead, the Mozambiean govern- uncounted in the appeal. Mozambique is ment, in coordination with the Unit- Naprama's leader, 28-year-old ed Nations and the World Bank, Manuel Antonio, said his army already in its planned to issue an overall develop- receives spiritual protection against fourth year of ment appeal in December in Paris, Kenamo's bullets from God. Antonio which would include a statement of explained that he died of measles two emergency— emergency needs. years ago and had risen from the the usual The emergency relief needed to dead to liberate the country from support the estimated 5 million peo- war. appeal is two ple coming out of the bush, from 'The rebels run away when they years—and refugee camps in neighboring coun- see us coming," said a Naprama sol- tries and accommodation centers, is dier, carrying a double-headed spear, analysts likely to dramatically exceed any pre- barefoot, and dressed only in shorts. vious amount. Mozambique is one of "They are frightened of us." believe that the poorest nations in world, and the Much of what was pledged by "donor fatigue" war has eaten up about 35-45 percent international donors has been arriv- of government expenditure in recent ing behind schedule. Often the has set in. years. delays are due to the weak transport The government, NGOs, and the system, lack of trucks, and govern- UN agencies in Mozambique hope ment red tape. There have also been to many of the districts. But with the that the international community will increasing reports of theft of food at military gains and the peace process, get caught up in the euphoria of a the port of Quelimane, the provincial more roads have opened up. peace settlement and will be more capital, and by soldiers escorting In late November, for example, willing to support Mozambique convoys. In Pebane, home for thousands of lives were saved when when they see that there is a chance 200,000 displaced people—the a convoy of 18 trucks carrying 54 for the country to develop a self-sus- largest concentration in the coun- tons of food aid got past several taining agricultural economy. try—poor organization by the Euro- damaged bridges to the Zambezian "I sound optimistic, because I pean Economic Community has town of Murrua. But it was a daring don't think the world will like to see caused at times severe delays in venture. A staff member from the people just piling up and dying," said deliveries of the 2,000 tons of maize non-governmental organization, Emmanuel Owusu, the UN High per month which the EEC has fund- World Vision, drove a motorcycle Commissioner for Refugees repre- ed. In August, for example, Pebane ahead to see whether the trucks sentative. "It is a moral obligation for received 900 tons of maize and in could get through. He returned safe- the world to come to the aid of September only 250 tons. ly, reporting that three out of the six Mozambique and to help them to The Gulf crisis, too, is having a bridges needed to be repaired. The solve this problem which has gotten harmful impact, escalating the cost trucks drove behind a bulldozer out of hand." O

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 39 ECONOMIES Enticing INVESTMENT

By COLLEEN LOWE MORNA

oreign investment is no tially open doors to much needed has sent a mission to the U.S. in longer a dirty word in technology markets and expertise. search of business. Africa. On the contrary, it Global developments have added Newly independent Namibia has has become one of the a sense of urgency. Events in Eastern lost little time in jumping on the mosFt sought after—and scarce— Europe, coupled with the planned bandwagon. Despite the fact that commodities on the continent. emergence of a European Common companies like De Beers and Ross- "It is as though everyone is dress- Market in 1992, have jerked many ing (uranium) flagrantly violated UN ing up for a beauty contest," says African governments into realizing bans on the exploitation of the coun- Ariston Chambati, executive director that unless they become competitive, of TA Holdings, the largest locally the continent will be doomed to stay owned company in Zimbabwe. behind forever. But, notes the Zimbabwean busi- The most dramatic turnarounds nessman, who recently toured the have occurred in former Marxist and U.S. with a group of entrepreneurs socialist countries like Mozambique, from the continent under the aus- Angola, and Tanzania, where govern- pices of the African Development ments have introduced new invest- Bank in an effort to drum up invest- ment codes and centers, and have ment, the response is still lukewarm. launched aggressive overseas cam- "There is a lot of curiosity," he said, paigns. "but many foreign businessmen Other staunchly nationalistic remain cautious. They are still not countries like Zimbabwe, which has sure that their investments are safe experienced a net outflow of foreign in Africa, and that they will get the investment since the country return they are looking for." became independent in 1980, have This, he says, is disappointing, also changed their tune. As part of a given the massive effort that African homegrown structural adjustment governments are making to woo program, Zimbabwe has introduced investors, previously regarded with a new investment code and center. considerable suspicion for fear that The Confederation of Zimbabwe they would wield too much power Industries (CZI) has hosted two over fragile governments and milk major conferences in London and poor countries through the remit- Paris to show off the country's tance of profits. wares. But the debt crisis has served to Conservative African countries, highlight the advantages of direct which have long welcomed foreign foreign investment as opposed to investment, are also sprucing up commercial or even concessional their act. Togo, Cameroon, and borrowing. For countries struggling Kenya, for example, are setting up to increase their manufactured export processing zones. Malawi is exports in order to narrow trade drafting a new investment code, and gaps and reduce their dependence on aid, foreign companies also poten- Major new and proposed investments include the rehabilitation of Maputo's Colleen Lowe Morna is a Zimbabwean free- world-famous Polana Hotel by the South lance journalist based in Harare. African-owned Karos Hotel Group Margaret A Novicki 40 try's natural resources, the new gov- la, Zimbabwe, and Botswana— willing to invest in the continent. ernment has welcomed these compa- signed up with the bank's Multilat- Soon afterward, MIGA sponsored nies and is holding a major invest- eral Investment Guarantee Agency an investment conference in Ghana; ment conference early in the new (MIGA), and the U.S. government's the U.S. Agency for International year to woo more. Overseas Private Investment Corpo- Development paid for delegations The last year has also witnessed ration (OPIC) launched a $30 mil- from Malawi, Swaziland, and Mauri- an unprecedented number of conti- lion "Africa Growth Fund" aimed at tius to address American business- nent-wide initiatives by multilateral providing capital for corporations men in Washington and the ADB set agencies in support of Africa's efforts. The African Development Bank and International Herald Tri- Ifter decades of reticence, African govern- bune earlier this year hosted a con- ments are putting a lot of effort into wooing ference on foreign investment in Africa in London. Late last year, the foreign investors, but businesses are playing International Finance Corporation's hard to get, put off mainly by uncertainty over Financial Advisory Service (FIAS) organized a symposium on foreign repatriation of profits. African governments investment in Africa to coincide with the IMF and World Bank annual con- have to learn how to create a favorable invest- ference. ment climate, as well as specifically target the During the conference, four new African countries—Swaziland, Ango- enterprises they want to attract. up an African Businessmen's tors they rated most highly in deter- Roundtable (of which Chambati is a The incen- mining whether or not to invest in member) to visit the U.S. in April. Africa is whether they can repatriate A few African countries, notably tives profits without restrictions. Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius, Swazi- offered in A few African countries, like land, Cameroon, and Nigeria (largely Malawi and Lesotho, guarantee full because of its oil) have started to new invest- remittance of dividends, though it experience inflows of foreign invest- ment codes might take some time for the money ment, ranging in quantity from about to pass through the pipeline. Some $24 million per annum in Botswana, do not countries, like Zimbabwe, only guar- to about $300 million per annum in antee full remittance if the dividends Nigeria. amount to accrue from recent investment, or if In Zimbabwe, the new Investment much. the enterprises are wholly export-ori- Center reports that it has received ented. pledges of $40 million in new direct On the economic side, structural The unfavorable perception of cli- foreign investment—about two-fifths adjustment programs have undoubt- mate also continues to dog many of total inflows for the entire first ten edly paved the way for foreign countries. A study carried out by the years of independence. But this is investors by making exports more World Bank in Zimbabwe, for exam- still small, compared to the vast competitive via devaluation, increas- ple, concludes that even before the potential of the country. ing access to foreign exchange for new investment code came out, the In other countries, the picture is vital inputs, removing price controls, country provided foreign investors dismal. In Ghana—which has one of and reducing government's involve- with ample incentives to make a the oldest structural adjustment pro- ment in the productive sector good profit. The main inhibition to grams in Africa—the London Finan- through privatization programs. foreign investment was "the actual or cial Times reports that the country But some of the effects are contra- perceived risks of doing business in has experienced a net direct flow of dictory. In Ghana, for example, the Zimbabwe, especially for foreign foreign investment of $100 million IMF-imposed restrictions on money firms," the report says. since 1980, most of it negotiated supply, while helping to hold down According to Rory Beattie, man- before the start of the IMF and inflation, are causing a severe credit aging director of Olivine Industries, a World Bank-sponsored structural squeeze. joint venture between Heinz (USA) adjustment program. Neighboring The banking sector is in a mess; and the Zimbabwean government, Togo—one of the most free market- as IFC president Sir William Ryrie and one of the few post-1980 minded countries in Africa, has been conceded at the IFC meeting in investors here, the company has getting a pitiful $10 million in new Washington, "financial sector reform been "pleased with our Zimbabwe foreign investment annually. has been a late starter in the adjust- investment in every respect." On the French private investment in ment process." For many African other hand, he noted, the company Africa, which used to average $1 bil- countries, domestic markets are made a conscious decision to invest lion a year in 1981-1983, dropped to small, buying power is weak, and in Zimbabwe, after shopping around $53 million in 1985, and then to a net regional cooperation has not yet in many African countries. Few com- outflow of $824 million in 1988, reached a level where it can offer big panies would bother to do that, espe- according to a February 1990 report companies large enough markets to cially with the many options open to issued by the French Employers make business worthwhile. investors these days, he said. Council. Often, despite sounding good on One of the main lessons to be Overall, the ADB/International paper, the incentives offered to busi- learned from the Far East according Herald Tribune conference heard, nessmen in new investment codes do to Ryrie, is that welcoming tones the net inflow of foreign investment not amount to much. In most cases, have to come not just from govern- to Africa is running at only $200 mil- weak revenue bases demand that ment officials but also in the newspa- lion to $300 million annually. Yet, for African governments continue to tax pers, airport procedures, and all that Africa's fragile recovery to be sus- companies heavily—usually at the goes into making up an "investment tained, the IFC estimates that this rate of 45 to 50 percent, except in a climate." will need to increase tenfold, to $3 few cases, like Lesotho (where com- Recent studies also suggest that billion a year. pany tax is only 15 percent) and Africa would benefit from being The problem, according to one Botswana and Mauritius (35 per- more targeted in its approach to for- prominent foreign businessman, "is cent) . eign investment. Since the U.S. that in Africa you still find a confusing A recent survey of U.S. business- placed restrictions on textile imports combination of inducements to men carried out by the U.S.-based from Far East countries, for example, investment on the one hand, and con- Center for Strategic and Internation- some of the more enterprising straints on investment on the other." al Studies showed that one of the fac- African countries, which have prefer-

42 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 ential access to the U.S. market, are wanese firms. Ghana and Malawi, there. Growing interest by South advertising themselves as an ideal among others, have sent delegations African businessmen is evident in location for Far East textile con- to the Far East in search of business Mozambique (see sidebar), Angola, cerns. partners. and to a lesser extent Zimbabwe. "It Recently, for example, Hong Kong In southern Africa, a major new may sound ironic," says a western Company Cha Chi Ming bought a development is the courtship of diplomat in Luanda, "but the textile firm in Togo, and Losotho has South African businessmen by coun- Angolans trust the South Africans garnered pledges of $40 million in tries in the region, following more than they trust us. They are a new investment mostly from Tai- improvements in the political climate known quantity here." O OLD ENEMIES, NEW INVESTORS Ask any Mozambican official today what is minister of industry and energy, Octavia wrong with foreign investment, and you are Muthemba. likely to get a blank look. "The more of it we can Echoing a theme now common among South get, the better," says Dr, Augusto Sumbarane, African politicians as they seek to gain interna- director of Mozambique's foreign investment tional credibility through improved economic promotion center, known by its Portuguese relations with neighboring states, Fernando acronym, GPIE, Sumbana, director of the Mozambican office in According to Sumbarane, between 1985 and charge of import programs, alluded to the need September 1990, the foreign investment office to cooperate in the face of global develop- has approved 82 projects worth $233 million. ments. The largest chunk, 44,4 percent, are in agricul- With the prospect of a European Common ture, followed by hotels and tourism (37.2 per- Market in 1992, he told the conference—which cent); petroleum and gas (7.1 percent); and was attended by 120 senior South African execu- transport and communications (4.6 percent). tives—"South African investors, Mozambicans, Countrywise, Britain, with $18.5 million worth and other business people from the southern of prospective projects, is the largest investor African region should get together and try to (most of these are accounted for by Lonrho, organize themselves to face the business envi- which has sizable agricultural and mining inter- ronment that is coming in the next couple of ests in Mozambique), Next in line are the U.S., years." Holland, South Africa, Portugal, and Spain in For their part, South African busi-nessmen— that order. like many white Zimbabweans when the Beira Of particular significance has been the GPIE's Corridor Project was launched in Mozam- efforts to solicit investment from South Africa. bique—are excited by the prospects of reviving With 16 approved projects, valued at $7.9 mil- an old historical relationship, as well as making lion, South African investors are only fourth in fat profits. rank. Mozambique's "proximity to South Africa, the But since the signing of the Nkomati peace nostalgia many South Africans hold for Lourenco pact between Pretoria and Maputo in 1984, Marques (the colonial name for Maputo), the Mozambique has been making a concerted large Portuguese community in South effort to woo South African business back to the Africa—many of whom had business interests war-torn country. Recent political reforms in there—plus the vast natural wealth.. .will encour- South Africa, coupled with President Joaquim age the bold investor," comments a South Chissano's declaration that he believes South African business newsletter circulated during the Africa is no longer formally aiding Renamo investors' conference. rebels, have paved the way for more cordial Major new and proposed investments include relations. the rehabilitation of Maputo's world-famous At a seminar for potential South African Polana Hotel by the South African-owned Karos investors held in Johannesburg in June, Mozam- Hotel Group, a joint venture between the South bican officials stressed that for historical and African Pulp and Paper Industries and the geographical—if not political—reasons, South Mozambican government for a huge forestry Africans ought to be leading the way. project, and an agreement between Trans Natal "The closeness of South Africa to Mozambique, Coal Mining Corporation, Lonrho, and a Brazil- the economic power.. .of South African ian company to mine coal in Moatize, Should entrepreneurs, and the cultural ties between peace be restored, Anglo American Corporation Mozambican and South African people" should is waiting in the wings with $200 million worth of help South Africa to "reach the position it mining and agriculture projects. • deserves, at the top of the list," said the deputy —C.L.M. Neglect of a Food Crop in the words of one Ivorian, the "civil Part of the reason why rice has servants' staple," and its vital role in been neglected is that until recently, the West African diet was largely it was widely assumed that Asia's underestimated. A recent study, how- Green Revolution could be easily ever, found that the poorest third of replicated in Africa through technol- urban households in Ouagadougou ogy transfer. This assumption proved obtained one-third of their cereal- By DAPHNE TOPOUZIS to be misleading for a variety of rea- based calories from rice and spent a sons: Asian rice varieties demand large part of their food budget on reliable rainfall or irrigation, while in this staple. In cities like Dakar, rom Mauritania to Nigeria, Africa, drought periodically affects where subsidies on rice are being rice is the staple food of at most of the sub-region and irrigation removed in compliance with struc- least 65-70 million West is a relatively new development that tural adjustment programs, the ones Africans, or 40 percent of goes back only 30 years. Rice vari- who suffer most are the poorest thFe region's population, by conserva- eties that were resistant to certain urban dwellers. Sharp rises in the tive estimates. Over the last decade, constraints in Asia did not withstand price of rice have directly threatened per capita rice consumption in the African conditions in a similar way the livelihood of the urban poor, trig- region has doubled from 26 to 52 and technologies developed in Asia gering riots in several cities in the lbs., yet production has grown at an were often inadequately tested in the sub-region during the 1980s. annual rate of only 3.3 percent, bare- various West African eco-systems. In Rice imports have markedly ly exceeding population growth. addition, African farmers, unlike widened the gap between supply and Relying on Today, rice consumption is growing faster than any other food crop in West Africans are extraordinarily reliant on West Africa except wheat (which the region does not produce), and is rice as a staple part of their diets, even though gradually replacing traditional sta- ples of the West African diet, such as production of the crop has been neglected by sorghum, millet, and maize. governments and development: planners, caus- To keep up with demand, rice imports have been growing by a ing massive annual increases in imports. In staggering 30 percent each year, or Bouake, Cote d'lvoire, the West Africa Rice 250 percent over the last 10 years, costing West African states over $500 Development Association is working hard to million in scarce foreign exchange. encourage new technologies and farmer incen- Clearly, any attempt to address food self-sufficiency and security in the tives so that one day the region can be self-suf- region will necessarily involve rice. And yet, this staple food crop has ficient in one of its most important foodstuffs. been neglected by donors and devel- opment planners alike. Thus, despite their Asian counterparts, do not demand in two ways: Cheap rice has some costly investments in rice grow only rice, but are mixed crop been imported on a massive scale development projects, the unit costs farmers—intercropping or rotating mostly from southeast Asia, then of producing rice in West Africa are rice with maize, yams, vegetables, subsidized and sold at a fraction of among the highest in the world (sig- and other crops—and have little, if the price of locally produced rice, nificantly higher than the cost of any, access to inputs. making it virtually impossible for importing rice), and yields per unit Yet another factor that has con- African farmers to compete. More area are among the lowest, and tributed to the relative neglect of rice significantly, because it is so inexpen- therefore economically unviable for as a staple food is that until recently, sive, imported rice has radically the farmers and for most countries in rice was generally thought of as a changed the West African diet and is the region. predominantly urban, luxury food, or rapidly becoming a staple of low-

44 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 income families not only in urban, farmers, rice production can in- rice environments in West Africa, but also in rural areas. crease dramatically," he added. produced and distributed foundation And last but not least, the absence This is in effect Warda's objective: seed, and identified appropriate pest of up-to-date empirical studies on the to develop the technologies that will control methods. However, by the economics of rice production in the improve productivity and to provide early 1980s, Warda became stifled by sub-region accounts for the lack of local governments with information management, governance, and consensus on basic questions relat- and recommendations so as to influ- research-oriented problems, which ing to whether rice should be pro- ence policy-making and boost incen- ils current management frankly moted at all, and if so, how it should admits to, and which nearly resulted be done and where. in the death of the organization. In 1986, however, the institution Self-Sufficiency in Rice? was revived and became a full- Given West Africa's present fledged member of the Consultative dependence on imports, it may come Group on International Agricultural as a surprise to note that only a few Research (CGIAR), a network of 13 years ago, several countries in the international agricultural research sub-region were nearly self-sufficient centers, monitored by the World in rice. Sierra Leone once produced Bank, that focuses research on food enough rice to export to Liberia and rather than cash crops. What this Guinea, but today imports nearly meant in effect was that the organiza- 100,000 tons annually. Nigeria was tion underwent a radical shake-up in terms of direction, governance, and staff. In mid-1988, Warda moved its headquarters from Monrovia to Bouake, Cote d'lvoire, and it is now building its own research station at nearby M'Be. Rice The organization's focus is "to pro- vide and strengthen a growing West importing the lowest quantity of rice tives to rice farmers. An inter-gov- Rice field in Af-rican capability in in the region before the mid-1970s. ernmental association, Warda was liberia: To the science, technol- Today, Nigeria, Senegal, and Cote founded in 1970 to assist member keep up with ogy, and socio-eco- demand, West . r . d'lvoire rank among the highest rice countries to become self-sufficient in Africa will have nomics of rice pro- importers in the world, averaging rice, with help from the United to produce duclion that will over 300,000 tons annually. Future Nations Development Programme, more rice as consumption improve and sustain forecasts anticipate rice consump- the Economic Commission for rises. the livelihood of tion to keep rising dramatically Africa, and the Food and Agriculture small-holder farm throughout the region, but in view of Organization, and financial support families (Warda's principal target scarce foreign exchange, the avail- from a variety of donors, including group), increase the opportunities ability of imported rice is likely to the African Development Bank, the for rural employment, and contribute plummet. To keep up with demand, European Community, and the World to increased food security in the the region will have lo produce more Bank. Today, the organization com- region," said Terry. The principal rice. prises 16 West African countries areas of activity are research, train- The realization that Asia's Green (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, The ing, and communication with the Revolution was not going to be repli- Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bis- national agricultural research pro- cated in Africa as originally anticipat- sau, Cote d'lvoire, Liberia, Mali, grams still being the principal ed brought into sharp focus the Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, clients. need to adapt rice research to the Sierra I^eone, and Togo) and recent- "Our scientists will be working specificity of West African condi- ly Cameroon has also expressed a directly with the national programs tions. The question remains, howev- desire to join. and the farmers to understand their er: Can West Africa become self-suf- needs and problems," said Dr. Antho- ficient in rice? "Without any New Focus on Research ny Youdeowei, director of communi- hesitation, 1 have to say that it can," Until recently, Warda was fore- cations. "Training complements argues Eugene R. Terry, director- most a development association, research, for it is only through train- general of the West Africa Rice working to support the national agri- ing that research results can be prop- Development Association (Warda). cultural research programs of its erly utilized. A mechanism is needed "With the right type of technologies member-states. It introduced im- to transfer information to farmers; and the right incentives to local proved rice varieties into the various otherwise research remains

AFRICA REPORT-January-February 1991 45 shelved," he added. As an interna- agement, farm mechanization, and it blocked trade between the two tional organization, Warda will also appropriate technology.) countries. be able to bring to the rice farmers Warda's approach is that the Banning imports in a carefully technologies developed in other national agricultural research pro- planned and systematic fashion, parts of the world from which they grams should be part and parcel of investing in research and in inputs, are often cut off. the organization's activities. To this and subsidizing rice farmers until Research activities prioritize the effect, an integrated information dis- such time as they have the capacity three distinct rice growing environ- semination service is being intro- to produce rice cheaply are essential ments of the sub-region: the duced to link scientists from the steps in encouraging rice production upland/inland swamp continuum, member countries who are often in the region, argued Terry. "If you the Sahel irrigated rice environment, working in isolation and ensure a give a farmer a fair price for his com- and the mangrove swamp environ- two-way flow of information relating modity, there is no doubt that he will ment. Dr. Peter Matlon, director of to research findings and problems. A produce it," he added. This view has research, pointed out that research technical newsletter, manuals for increasingly gained ground among is now shifting from maximum yield- trainees, occasional papers, and a experts and African policy-makers ing rice varieties to varieties more research highlight newsletter are alike, as a result of the controversy resistant to stresses, such as drought also in the process of being intro- surrounding PL-480, a major compo- and pests. There is also increasing duced in both English and French. nent of U.S. foreign aid in Africa, concern about developing environ- Warda's training program suf- which has been widely criticized for mentally sustainable technologies fered a serious setback as a result of being used as a political instrument. that will not upset West Africa's frag- the civil war in Liberia, where its ile ecosystems. training headquarters were located. Investing in Research a Necessity Research needs in all three More importantly, a germplasm After a three-year transition peri- ecosystems are enormous. "To give bank was also lost along with a costly od, Warda is now ready to concen- you but one example, we believe we post-harvest technology unit and trate on specific research targets, still do not quite understand the other equipment. An effort is under- which include the development of Sahel," said Terry. "We do not yet way, however, to assist Liberian farm- improved rice varieties and produc- know what factors are having an ers by giving them rice seeds so that tion methods and the investigation impact on the Sahelian environment: they can begin planting. "This is a into ways of reducing post-harvest Is it only heat? Is it heat and mois- case where we are of direct service losses, increasing the impact of new ture? Is it salt? We need to know how to the African farmer," said Terry. "In technology, and analyzing policy the big irrigation schemes, such as an emergency situation such as this options, with an emphasis not on rice the one in Manantali, Senegal, work one, we can immediately produce the per se, but on the small-scale rice and how they affect rice production. seeds that will help Liberian farmers farmer. In the future, Terry would We are now conducting a study of get on their feet again, because we like to see Warda's role expand fur- the environment, not only the physi- know which varieties they like and ther to include involvement in food cal, but also the biological and socio- which can be grown in Liberia." crop production, with an emphasis economic environment, to find out on rice. things like the types of investments Incentives for Rice Producers Warda's work as a rice research farmers make and assess if they can While research can improve the institute is only just beginning, as manage an irrigation system, if they technologies available to rice farm- research and training under the have enough money to pay for the ers and help make the operation CGIAR system are commencing in water, etc." more cost-efficient and increase earnest this year. However, at pre- One of Warda's strong points has yields, local governments have to sent, the organization is encounter- been its contribution to training give farmers a good price in order to ing formidable obstacles in attaining extension workers and scientists in encourage production. Nigeria and its modest budget of $10 million a the region. Trained manpower in Cote d'lvoire have attempted to elim- year needed to build its permanent rice science is alarmingly scarce: inate and gradually curtail rice facilities and meet its ambitious pro- Only three in 16 countries have more imports to improve production incen- gram. than two full-time rice scientists. tives, stimulate local production, and As rice becomes the staple food Since 1973, Warda has trained just save foreign exchange. The former for an increasing number of West under 2,000 West Africans in rice stuck to it and rice production Africans and rice imports place addi- research and production. Courses, increased substantially in Nigeria, tional strains on struggling West seminars, and workshops cover all even though the move was interpret- African economies, Warda's contri- areas of rice production, technology ed as an unfriendly act by the U.S., bution to food self-sufficiency and transfer, and research (including (which supplies rice to most of the food security in the sub-region post-harvest technology, seed sub-region under the controversial becomes all the more urgent and multiplication, integrated pest man- Public Law 480), on the grounds that worthy of support. O

46 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 SOUTH AFRICA

PIETY AND POLITICS By CHARLES VILLA-VICENCIO While South Africa edges closer to the threshold of majority rule, the Afrikaner church is still agonizing over whether apartheid is a sin. And as Afrikaner hegemony begins to crumble, the church's efforts to find a way not to antagonize either conser- vative Afrikaners or blacks demanding demo- cratic government pro- vides a window on the soul-searching of South Africa's white population. he agonizing soul of the largest and most representative gath- about to happen. Then came equivo- Afrikaner church was ering of churches since the famed cation and disappointment. "What we exposed for all to see in a Cottesloe conference met in the have witnessed here," suggested a five-day conference in early wake of the Sharpeville massacre in conference delegate, "is a parable of TNovember held outside Rustenberg, 1960. The attempt was to have the what South Africa is all about. One a small rural town in the western church, long divided over apartheid, moment we're filled with expecta- Transvaal. The occasion was the speak with a united voice as South tion, the next with disappointment." Africa prepares itself for a new politi- Charles Villa-Vicencio teaches at the University cal era. At one point, there was a The Euphoria of Cape Town. He is presently a visiting scholar sense of expectation that this was at Georgetown University. The expectation came when Pro-

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 47 fessor Willie Jonker, a delegate of that it has reflected other changes in 30,000 members and 60 ministers in the white Dutch Reformed Church government policy over the years? response to a much milder attempt (DRC), interrupted his prepared Willing to accept the personal con- to distance itself from apartheid in speech to state: "I confess my own fession of Jonker, most black dele- 1986. P.W. Botha, the retired state sin and guilt and my personal gates remained skeptical concerning president, in turn, phoned both responsibility for apartheid," adding the position of the church as an insti- Jonker and Potgieter to warn them of that he was also confessing the sin tution. "We've heard this stuff the peril they faced and insist that for the DRC and the Afrikaner peo- before!" retorted an angry, veteran they withdraw their confessions. ple as a whole. His authority, he said, campaigner of the "Coloured" Dutch The shades of Cottesloe were all was derived from the new policy Reformed Mission church. "They've too obvious. On that occasion, a simi- statement of the DRC synod which come close this time, but again seem lar church gathering cautiously met in Bloemfontein in October. to have fallen short of what is rejected apartheid. Dr. Hendrik Ver- The Bloemfontein synod had required," suggested a delegate from woerd, prime minister at the time, indeed gone further than any previ- one of the English-speaking church- rebuked the DRC delegates to the ous synod in rejecting apartheid, es. conference, accusing them of allow- while a careful reading of the com- But then came the turn of the ing themselves to be influenced by plex wording of the policy statement newly elected moderator of the DRC, the liberal ideology of the World reveals a measure of ambiguity that Professor Pieter Potgieter. For a Council of Churches. He reminded has left some critics skeptical of the while at least he seemed to have them of their duty to the Afrikaner true intentions of the DRC. Affirm- stunned his critics, by officially asso- nation, ordering them to recant. ing the right "to remain true to one's ciating the DRC with Jonker's state- And recant they did. The DRC, own cultural heritage," the statement ment, and the euphoria was near together with the more conservative continues: complete when Archbishop Tutu Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk "The Dutch Reformed Church rose to accept the confession "on (which refused to even attend the had not sufficiently perceived that in behalf of those who have been Rustenburg conference), immediate- its struggle against integration, sinned against." His cautionary word ly resigned from the World Council apartheid had inter alia also received was to come a full 12 hours later, of Churches. Beyers Naude, who an ideological and ethnological when he observed in a television refused to accept the submissive basis...The church made the error interview that the confessions by position of his church, was driven of allowing forced separation and Jonker and Potgieter were important out of the DRC. division...to be a biblical impera- but only the beginning of a process But things have changed since the tive...Apartheid began to function in which he hoped would ultimately 1960s. The homogeneity of Afrikan- such a way that the largest part of lead to reconciliation between the erdom has given way to fragmenta- the population of the country experi- long estranged churches. tion, the ruling party is waiting for enced it as an oppressive system... Others insisted that the white more space in which to move, and "Any system which in practice church was now obligated to give the DRC is looking for acceptance functions in this way is unacceptable expression to its words in deeds. from the other churches. So this in light of the Scriptures and the 'The expectation from the majority time around, the recantation did not Christian conscience and must be of the people," said Frank Chikane, come—although the moderature of rejected as sinful. Any attempt by a general secretary of the South the church did blink. They recog- church to try to defend such a sys- African Council of Churches, "is that nized the danger, from the tem biblically and ethically must be there must be a reparation or an perspective of Afrikanerdom, of mov- seen as a serious error, that is to say, effort to undo the damage that has ing too quickly. it is in conflict with the Bible." been done by apartheid." "Is the If religion (in additional to all else) The debate is long and complex. DRC now ready to join the other be the spiritual aroma of the nation, Does this mean that apartheid need churches in calling for the scrapping the Rustenburg event provides an not necessarily be oppressive? Is of all apartheid laws? Is it ready to important window into the soul of there still room to speak of an under- prepare the nation for majority rule? the Afrikaner people and church as standing of apartheid (by whatever This is the ultimate litmus test of the first year of the de Klerk reforms name) within which people can be repentance," insisted a later speaker. comes to a close. Turmoil and con- separate but equal? Is the ground flict, the burden of history and the being prepared for a new South The Agony fear of further division, the desire for Africa based on "voluntary" ethnic The battle had only started. Dr. ecumenical affirmation and the long- divisions through group representa- Andries Treurnicht, leader of the ing for acceptance, as well as the tion in a second parliamentary cham- right-wing Conservative Party, quest for spiritual integrity and moral ber? Does the DRC statement simply rejected the DRC's statement. decency are all struggling to come reflect the de Klerk regime's Rumors were rife of further resigna- together. reformist policy, in the same way tions from the DRC, which had lost What was enacted in Rustenburg

48 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 is a microcosmic reflection of where tical South African politician knows the character of the statement. Con- South Africa is at the present time. that if one side fails to win the sup- sensus seemed, in turn, to emerge Afrikaner hegemony is crumbling port of the churches, some other around a key sentence in the pream- from within. There is a reluctance party will. They cannot be ignored. ble to the Rustenberg Declaration: among Afrikaners within the ruling Simply stated, without suggesting "Some of us are not in full accord bloc, whether to the left or the right, that the churches control the politi- with everything said in this confer- to fuel the fires of schism any fur- cal inclinations of their members, the ence, but on this we are all agreed, ther. churches do have access to a large namely the unequivocal rejection of English-speaking South Africans, portion of South African society— apartheid as a sin." who have long condemned the which makes them influential politi- After the conference, it was clear Afrikaner style of politics (rather cal players. that the assumed consensus had not than too much of the substance), are fully held. The DRC moderator told a as hesitant and reluctant to opt for The Disappointment press conference that while the DRC unqualified change as any Afrikan- This is why, when the DRC balked stood by its confession of guilt, his er—and their churches were as in response to the Rustenburg Decla- delegation did not know what the severely condemned by speakers ration, the euphoria which marked declaration's "unequivocal" rejection supporting the liberation process as the earlier part of the week gave way of apartheid meant. He also stated were the Afrikaner churches. Blacks, to disappointment. In discussions that the call by the conference for a in turn, are becoming increasingly behind the scenes in open debate, "democratic elective process based skeptical about the cautious and the DRC delegates had shown an on one-person, one-vote," was a mat- reluctant nature of the spirit of openness to change and the mem- ter for politicians, not "the church." reform and the timidity of the bers of the black and non-racial Potgieter did not say it, but his churches, as they demand the trans- churches a desire to accommodate problem lay in the pews and pulpits fer of political power to a democrati- of his church. It is estimated that as cally elected government. many as one-third of the white The urgency of this encounter Perhaps church's 1.5 million members belong placed a large variety of issues on the to the Conservative Party. It is going agenda of the conference, including because of to be traumatic enough for the the transfer of land, the redistribu- the threat of Afrikaner people to share in their tion of wealth, and the importance of religious leaders' self-abasing admis- a new economic system. "The real cataclysm, sion of guilt, let alone to embrace a issues were debated here with more South Africa statement coming from a gathering candor and honesty than what I per- of churches which they have long ceive in political circles," suggested a is an overtly been conditioned to believe is sub- reporter from a Umdon-based news- jected to an anti-white, leftist political paper. "To ignore the churches in religious agenda. South Africa is to make a grave politi- country. The DRC has taken a cautious cal error," he added. step forward, but there is still a long There are several reasons why way to go before the church speaks the church is important in this situa- their fears and concerns. "You have with one accord in South Africa. tion. One, nearly 80 percent of the created expectations which you can- "They have found it difficult to go the population professes to be Christian. not afford not to fulfill," a leading whole way with us," said Chikane. (More than 90 percent of the coun- DRC delegate was told. "To retract "We have nevertheless started a pro- try's churches were represented at now could have implications for your cess and I just hope the DRC will be the conference.) Two, they do more church for decades to come." The willing to move further down the than profess their Christianity. In the major concern was for honesty to road with us. I understand their con- white population, especially among prevail, any suggestion of duplicity to straint. They have to account back to the Afrikaner majority, everyday life be sidelined, and cheap reconcilia- their constituents." This kind of is characterized by a measure of tions to be excluded. response in itself reflects a new will- God-fearing devotion; and among All this seemed possible when the ingness for dialogue in South Africa. blacks, the white missionaries have DRC delegation informed the confer- The less accommodating response of laid a solid foundation for a deep- ence that they would identify the spe- Sam Buti, the moderator of the black seated religious piety. cific clauses in the statement with DRC, is equally reflective of the Three, perhaps because of the which they disagreed. The confer- response of black Christians: 'Their shifting sands of political certainty ence was, in turn, ready for compro- confession of guilt is cheap...you and the threat of cataclysm, South mise, despite the objections coming simply cannot trust them." South Africa is an overtly religious country. from some of the delegates that the Africa is a complex society—the two Four, even the more religiously skep- DRC was being allowed to determine responses are not contradictory. O

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 49 The MAN You

By PETER TYGESEN Can't

Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, leader of the KwaZulu homeland and the Ignore Inkatha Freedom Party, is a para- dox. At one moment, he is the suave international statesman, jet- ting to conferences and meeting heads of state. Then, he is the Zulu warrior of royal blood, delivering fiery speeches, and verbally attack- ing the African National Congress. As he tries to gain a foothold in negotiations on the nation's future, Buthelezi's supporters wage a fierce and bitter war against ANC sympathizers, costing thousands of lives and setting back the peace process.

50 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 ighting tooth and turn up Prince Buthelezi Avenue concentration and is soft-spoken to !nail, Chief Mango- takes you straight to the two govern- the point of seeming shy. Yet ask a suthu Gatsha Buthe- ment buildings where the chief min- question he perceives as controver- lezi has worked his ister rules. Typical of modern South sial and he explodes in rage: "You're way into the center African government architecture, the stupid!" he yells. Again, you are of South Africa's futuristic buildings sit amid this declared stupid for asking him to political scene. Aside solemn landscape like a set of hostile clarify one of his vague answers: "If from Nelson Mandela and Oliver aircraft carriers, with their cold, you don't want to understand that, Tambo, no other black South African reflecting windows and weather- you are stupid!" he snarls and has managed to stay above the shift- worn glossy finish. Meant to impress recedes deeper into his chair, waiting ing sands of the country's volatile the natives at inauguration day, but for your next move. political situation. Buthelezi has also not to cost the white taxpayers too At 62, Buthelezi has come a long managed to gain ground and the dearly, homeland capitals invariably way since the early 1950s when he African National Congress (ANC) is look shabby and drab only a few defeated his brother in a struggle for still battling to find its response to his years later. the chieftainship of a small Zulu sub- challenge. But the Ulundi government quar- tribe. Today, he is chief minister of To visit Buthelezi, one drives out ters are neat. The manicured lawns the KwaZulu self-governing territo- of white-ruled Natal's lush green and trees lining Prince Buthelezi ry; he is spearheading the Inkatha cane fields, up the long, rocky moun- Avenue bear witness to the discipline movement's foray into other organi- tain slopes, and into the increasingly and will that characterize his gover- zations' traditional home turfs, and dry and depressingly barren high- nance in yet another striking contrast he has an international standing land that constitutes KwaZulu. After to the rest of the homeland capitals. highlighted by the fact that he is the hours of penetration into this African Inside the hall, nobody loiters, only black South African to be thirstland, prefab matchbox dwell- and the quiet and stillness are over- received in the White House by ings suddenly pop up behind yet whelming. Security guards urge you every president since Richard Nixon. another windswept hill. This is the through the metal detectors with a He claims to have the same objec- KwaZulu capital, Ulundi. whisper. A plainclothes officer then tives as the ANC, dresses his Inkatha Passing the turnoff to Prince leads you past a huge display of the members in the same green-black- Mangosuthu Buthelezi Airport, a royal Zulu family tree which features gold colors, and has even had a gold Buthelezi with the same prominence coin produced with Mandela's por- as the legendary warrior King Shaka trait on one side and his on the other. of the last century. Deeper into the ANC members claim that by bathing vaults of the building, his anteroom in the light that shines from the fame is lined with awards and portraits of their organization and its martyrs, and the air is hot and stuffy, filled Buthelezi is trying to steal the legiti- with importance. There are no win- macy he lacks as a "genuine" black dows. The hushed conversations liberator. between the receptionist and Since it was legalized in February, Buthelezi's two male personal secre- the ANC has consequently tried to taries are hardly distinguishable rally all other black organizations above the hum of a fluorescent tube, behind it and to isolate Buthelezi's lighting the royal purple decor. Inkatha. Mandela's lieutenants have Buthelezi receives you in the door- insisted that the ANC leader should way to his huge, circular, black not meet Buthelezi on a one-on-one leather-chaired boardroom. The basis. This would boost Buthelezi's walls are adorned with pictures of for- strength further, they argue. As ChiefGatsha eiSn dignita- events have unfolded, it is clear that Buthelezi, top:"A ries, each of this "isolation at all costs" strategy man without a policy them with Bu- has fatally backfired for the ANC. and with an , , . ^, The two organizations have been unquenchable thirst ttieiezi. 1 nere engaged in a low-key, but insidiously for power" are no win- brutal war since 1987. Five thousand Left, Zulus near dows. lives have been lost in this battle, Soweto hunting down Answering "enemies" : 'To most . originally fought for control over the blacks, Buthelezi is questions, dismal townships and overcrowded not a moderate, but a Buthelezi clos- shantytowns of Natal province, but since exported to the nation's indus- Peterradica Tygesenl warmonger is the southern" e gAfrica his eyecorrespon-g jn dent of the Danish Berlingske group of papers. trial hub around Johannesburg as

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 51 the power struggle took on a wider, ed by you on that," he said, when To most blacks, however, national significance. asked about how to solve the intri- Buthelezi is not a moderate, but a Today, the ANC badly needs an cate problem of resettling the hun- radical warmonger. Nowhere else in agreement with Buthelezi to stop the dreds of thousands of blacks forcibly South Africa has bloodshed taken factional fighting between support- removed from their land as a result place on such a scale as in ers of the respective organizations. of Grand Apartheid schemes. "These Buthelezi's Natal, and by exporting Every morning, new horror stories issues will be decided upon by the this conflict to the Witwatersrand, he of blacks hacked or burned to death negotiations" is his standard reply to has plunged South Africa's most pop- surface from this township or that any such trying questions. ulous area into horrifying carnage. mine hostel, and fear of another After the interview, Buthelezi The vast majority of blacks squarely major blow-up like the one in August- relaxes and even displays some of put the blame on Buthelezi, as the September which took 800 lives is his acclaimed charm. But as one ANC has been operating everywhere ever-present. The constantly chilling loosens a sweat-dampened tie while for decades without such conflict. thought that another one is just rolling down Prince Buthelezi Equally, if the fighting in the Witwa- around the corner puts a serious Avenue, a general impression keeps tersrand was grounded in tribal damper on the entire process toward nagging: Buthelezi is basically a man rather than political reasons, why peace and a democratic future. without a policy and with an then, people are asking, did we live The confusion and despair this delay is causing in the black commu- nity takes a heavy toll on the ANC, which has promised results from its talks with the government and its decision to lay down arms. As Buthelezi has not been included in any talks, he thus has no disillu- sioned supporters to appease. On the contrary, he is still in a position to issue promises for free. Buthelezi can capitalize on being isolated. For every additional organi- zation that lines up behind the ANC, Buthelezi has yet another argument for his claim that the ANC intends to dominate the country and introduce Zulu gathering at Thokoza: "The carnage unquenchable thirst for power. of the Witwatersrand broke loose with a one-party system. Buthelezi mar- He does not have much national the coordination and ferocity of a con- kets himself tirelessly as a strong popular support either, and opinion certed campaign" alternative to this monolithic power polls conducted through the 1980s in peace for generations? bloc. As the ANC's isolation strategy indicate that it is even fading on his Buthelezi's supix)rt is consequent- rumbles on, he will make a virtue out home ground. But numbers do not ly dwindling. A recent survey con- of standing as the only alternative. as yet count in South African politics; ducted by the Markinor polling agen- He seems to have precious little to that is for a majority rule future. cy and published in the Johannesburg offer a black constituency in return Today, mainly muscle and the tactics daily, Tlie Star, lends strength to this for this position. While the ANC is with which muscle is applied or with- conclusion. Polling blacks all over working hard to map out policies for held matter. In this light, Buthelezi South Africa about their political alle- the future, and has already published needs neither a policy nor a large giance, Buthelezi came out badly suggestions for key areas like the number of followers. bruised, receiving a dismal 2 percent economy and land issues, Buthelezi The ANC and its allies have plenty outside Natal. This is far below the apparently has little idea of how the of muscle, but it is basically a power support blacks gave "their" white coming transition to the much of disruption, stoppages, strikes, and President F.W. de Klerk, who attract- talked-about "new South Africa" destruction. It is a might which must ed 7 percent. The ANC got 53 per- should be financed, managed, or be applied with great caution, in tiny, cent. shaped. concentrated drops in order to The survey is consistent with pre- "Who am I to dictate this?" he nudge the process ahead. The South vious polls, all of which strongly indi- replied, when asked about his sug- African peace process is still mired in cate that far from all Zulus inside his gestions on how to finance the white fears of "black radicalism." homeland support Buthelezi, and improvement of the neglected black Perceived by them as a "moderate," most Zulus outside the area do not education system. Buthelezi is above the ANC's dilem- support him. For this very reason, in "I am not willing to be interrogat- ma. June, Buthelezi transformed his

52 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 Inkatha movement, originally cuit, speaking at the Highveld corpses to stand on in order to be formed as a Zulu cultural organiza- Regional Association of the seen as leaders," he recently wrote in tion closely linked to the govern- Transvaal Society of Chartered a letter to The New York Times. ment of the KwaZulu homeland, into Accountants annual meeting and the Buthelezi also fights with a national political party, renamed Kuromoney Conference on Econom- weapons, the ANC claims. The car- the Inkatha Freedom Party. ic and Financial Prospects for the nage of the Witwatersrand broke In promoting his new platform, he Country among others. loose with a coordination and feroci- has spent no time wooing blacks— Will it work? "Buthelezi probably ty that bore all the signs of a concert- apart from addressing supporters at has a very small role to play as soon ed campaign, it charges. But the Inkatha rallies where a heavy pres- as a new constitution is in place," his organization has not yet been able to ence of armed warriors scares off right-hand man through 14 years, furnish the necessary proof to win anybody not Zulu. Instead, Buthelezi Oscar Dhlomo, says. Dhlomo left the moral high ground on this issue. has embarked on a tireless cam- Inkatha earlier this year to set him- Some attempts have been outright paign, daily addressing whites at lun- self up as an independent commenta- disastrous, and Buthelezi has imme- cheons and seminars in South Africa, tor and power-broker, apparently dis- diately lashed back and won. and visiting Europe and the U.S. hot gusted with Buthelezi's infamous To Natal's poor rural Zulus, on the heels of Mandela and de temper and his unwillingness to take Buthelezi has restored tribal pride by Klerk. counsel. "His power base is too building Zulu institutions. To this White South Africans have known small, it does not reach beyond Zulu- end, there seems to be two Buthelezi for a long time. They have land." But in the interim, Buthelezi Buthelezis. One is the chief with overcome their initial fear of this "is a man you cannot avoid," con- royal blood, clad in the traditional loud-mouthed, but well-mannered cludes Dhlomo. "He does have a con- leopard skin attire and with fiery ora- Bantu, and during the 1970s came to stituency, whites have faith in him, torical talents. The second Buthelezi see him as someone they could cut a and he wields power. He is not to be is the one that engenders additional deal with. In contrast to the deeply ignored." awe in his supporters by wearing corrupt, uneducated, and brutal With a majority-rule constitution, business suits and jetting around the despots of other homelands, numbers will finally count and world shaking hands with leaders of Buthelezi stood out by being univer- alliances become important. mighty nations and giant corpora- sity-educated and urbane, and no one Buthelezi's chances of attracting tions. For this, he is dressed impec- has ever suggested that he has used nationwide support and forging the cably in the international statesman's his position as chief minister for per- necessary ties depends on his ability uniform of tailored suits and golden sonal gain. to appear as the alternative. He cufflinks. Whites were soothed further by accordingly provokes, irritates, and "There might even be a third statements such as "my ideal is one- attacks the ANC, and so far the orga- Buthelezi," suggests Professor Ger- person, one-vote in a unitary state, nization's ability to form a quick, hard Mare of the University of Natal. but I have always said we cannot coherent response is paying his way. "Outside Inkatha circles, people in afford to destroy the country in seek- While the ANC takes a daily beat- Natal firmly believe that Buthelezi ing that." More than that, while loud- ing from the frightened white busi- has a personal hand in the war ly rejecting independence for ness community for its adherence to against them. They are convinced KwaZulu, he nonetheless avoided socialist principles and nationaliza- that his public peace talk is followed rocking the scheme of Grand tion, and painstakingly tries to by closeted war talk." Apartheid by ruling and controlling explain any backtracking to its hun- Buthek-zi does little to dispel such the territory as if it were an "inde- gry, impoverished mass of support- rumors. Nobody has ever been able pendent" homeland like Transkei, ers, Buthelezi is waiting for the festi- to link him directly to the violence in Ciskei, Bophuthatswana, and Venda. val feeling of Mandela's release to Natal, but an alarmingly high num- But the violence in Natal has taint- recede. He is waiting to take advan- ber of his Inkatha MPs, cabinet ed his image in the white communi- tage of the ANC's mistakes. members, KwaZulu police, and local ty. After de Klerk legalized the ANC His war against the ANC is fought Inkatha leaders—the so-called war- and released Mandela, whites began with skill. When he lashes out at the lords—have been convicted of mur- to reconsider their attitudes toward government for not speeding up der, instigation of violence, and the ANC. Their fear of the "commie negotiations, he knows that this assaults on ANC supporters. terrorists" began to ebb and their attack is equally aimed at the ANC. It Buthelezi has always supported confidence in the ANC surged with is fought with a masterly command these men to the very end and his each successful round of talks with of language: "Our black experience rhetoric is regularly peppered with the government. Buthelezi seemed has instilled a wisdom into our minds crude threats: "The same hand which to be relegated to the sidelines. which tells us that we must avoid at is held out in friendship is the hand of But he is back in the center now, all costs being made cannon fodder a people with warrior blood," he says. eagerly working the conference cir- by people who want to use our "Violence is not alien to us." 3

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 53 LIBEL OR LIABILITY?

By PHILIPPA GARSON

Sarah-Jane Poole Were the hit-squad "confessions" of renegade police captain Dirk Coetzee just a product of his "fertile imagination," as the Harms Commission ruled, or were they "plausible," as a South African civil court judge has maintained? Therein lies the key to a libel suit which pits the respected head of the police forensic laboratories against two inde- pendent weekly newspapers which printed revela- tions about South Africa's secret death squads.

hile the Harms involved in one of several police hit Dirk Coetzee, above: "Discredited by the Harms Commission" Commission squads which murdered ANC Max du Preez, opposite page: "Vrve inquiry into activists and, perceiving itself above Weekblad has repeatedly targeted for its police and mili- the law, was capable of various provocative approach" tary hit squads crimes such as illicit diamond smug- towards solving the mystery of the has effectively gling and theft. Coetzee claimed that countless murders and disappear- swept the dirt under the National poison and "knock-out drops" to aid ances of scores of anti-apartheid Party's carpet, a dramatic civil trial in with abductions and assassinations activists, including human rights Johannesburg threatens to cast new of activists were supplied by Neeth- lawyer Griffiths Mxenge, renowned doubt on exonerated security force Hng, who saw fit to provide his drugs anti-apartheid stalwart David Web- officials. for lethal experimental purposes, and ster, high-profile Swapo member The head of the South African in so doing, further his career in the Anton Lubowski, and a string of less police forensic laboratories. General police force. Coetzee also alleged well-known activists. Ix>thar Neethling, has sued the two that Neethling would "spike" bottles The findings of the Harms Com- left-wing (and cash-strapped) news- of whiskey to be sent to ANC mem- mission have been described by papers, Wrye Weekblad and Weekly bers in neighboring states. human rights activists as a "white- Mail, for a combined amount of R1.5 While the outspoken Afrikaans wash." Both Minister of Law and million for defamation. The state is weekly, Vrye Weekblad, broke the Order Adriaan Vlok and Minister of paying his legal costs. story in November 1989, splashing Defense Magnus Malan are as firmly Last year, both newspapers pub- Coetzee's macabre story across seated around the cabinet table as lished the "confessions" of renegade pages and pages, the Weekly they were in the days of the "total police captain-turned-African Nation- Mail—like several other newspa- onslaught" reign of P.W. Botha. And al Congress member Dirk Coetzee, pers—published extracts of what the same goes for hordes of security who claimed he was intimately then seemed to be, beyond doubt, officials who will never be brought to incriminating testimony. Coetzee's book. Philippa Carson is a reporter for the Weekly story at last seemed to go some way Not all the exoneration can be Mail in Johannesburg.

54 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 placed at the door of Justice Louis them was in South Africa. And the Harms however. While he made a bulk of evidence concerning police much-criticized judgment that police hit squads (Dirk Coetzee's testimo- hit squads did not exist, he did make ny) concerned cross-border raids a finding that underground military and abductions. For human rights cells—known as Civil Cooperation organizations like Lawyers for Bureaux (CCBs)—were operating. Human Rights and the Independent And he has referred a murder case Board of Inquiry into Informal (of the Ribiero couple who were Repression (IBIIR)—legal represen- killed in 1986), three cases of con- tatives of many of the families of the spiring to kill activists, and other dead—the matter is by no means minor charges to the attorney-gener- over. Says IBIIR researcher Chris al for prosecution. Orr, "We will continue our investiga- In his report. Justice Harms point- tions, we are following these people, ed out that the minister of defense and also we are hoping something "is of course politically responsible will come out of the various prosecu- for his department and that includes tions." the CCB." While it emerged that R27 When General Neethling last year million was spent annually on the notified the two newspapers of his covert cells and luxury benefits for intent to sue for publishing his secret agents, Malan, however, alleged involvement in the elimina- claimed the report excused him. He tion of activists, few thought that the denied all knowledge of the secret small-time operations would stand a organization and put the blame on a chance: First, the case was stale- few baddies in the force. This, it backed, and secondly, the colorful seems, was enough to absolve him. testimony of Dirk Coetzee—contain- But the public is far from satisfied. ing allegations against Neethling— People are wondering whether this was discredited by the Harms Com- would have happened in many other mission. so-called democratic countries, Coetzee told Vrye Weekblad jour- whose principles the South African nalist Jacques Pauw he had visited government claims to uphold. And both the general's laboratory in Pre- what Harms did acknowledge was toria and his house, to fetch poi- that the commission had failed to sonous substances and that it was achieve one of its main aims, "to common knowledge in the police restore public confidence in a part of force that the formidable officer was the state administration." Whether referred to as "Doper Neethling." He coming from the left or the right, told of an incident when two activists whether perceiving the hit squads as were shot and burned to ashes after legitimate or not, few seem to doubt poison administered to them had no their existence. effect. The Harms Commission was up Justice Harms found the ex- against an extremely uncooperative police captain Coetzee, who is security force, with missing files, now working for the ANC in A "mystery destroyed records, and security offi- London, to be an unreliable witness cials turning up in disguise to give witness, with a "fertile imagi- evidence, leading Harms to conclude nation" and "psychopathic ten- prompted the that "their conduct before and dur- dencies." judge to com- ing the commission creates suspi- But the startling about-turn cions that they have been involved in came in November when Jus- ment that the more crimes of violence than the evi- tice Johan Kriegler, presiding case had all dence shows." over the the civil case, fre- Furthermore, it was inherently quently intimated that he had the elements limited in its jurisdiction—confined closely examined Coetzee's to examine those alleged hit-squad evidence and found parts of it of a le Carre activities within South Africa's bor- completely plausible or diffi- spy thriller. ders. While the CCB had operational cult to disprove. structures in six regions, only one of Justice Harms threw out

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 Ellen Elmendorp/Alrapix Coetzee's testimony because he said great media interest and prompting babwean prisons and never brought he could not separate the truth from the judge to comment that the case to trial, is planning to sue the South the lies, but Kriegler, who has been contained all the elements of a le African Defense Force for abandon- able to examine his story in full, has Carre spy thriller, was brought by ing him after his cover was blown. said things in court which leave no the newspapers' defense. Leslie Meanwhile, the Vrye Weekblad doubt as to the fact that he is "wor- Lesia, 54, who was released from staff are waiting in anticipation for ried" by some of Coetzee's consisten- detention in Zimbabwe a few months the judgment which could cripple cies. If he was telling a tissue of lies ago, after serving a three-year jail them financially and possibly force about his and others' active involve- term, claims he was recruited by closure of the newspaper. Their pub- ment in brutal slaughters, how did South African military intelligence to lishers are also footing the bill for the he know of incidents of which he eliminate activists. He says he was Weekly Mail's legal costs. would normally have no knowledge, approached by two men posing as Vrye Weekblad has been repeated- if stationed as a regular officer at the United States consulate officials, who ly targeted by the authorities for its police farm al Vlakplaas, instead of trapped him into becoming an agent provocative approach and exposes of travelling around southern Africa in by promising to finance his ailing government and right-wing scandals. pursuit of activists on the hit-list? arts school in Bloemfontein. One of 'I"he Neethling case marks the nine- Why was he in possession of the the men, known as "Brown," spoke teenth time the newspaper has been general's private work telephone with an American accent. brought to court and legal expenses number, which was not listed in the After allegedly committing a have now soared way above operat- police directories, and how indeed string of atrocities such as supplying ing costs. Says Weekblad's editor, was he able to describe certain activists in Mozambique and Russian Max du Preez, on the Neethling minute details of Neethling's office? embassy officials in Botswana with case: "Any individual has the right to These are problems which are poisoned liquor and booby-trapped sue, it's a healthy practice. But we undoubtedly bothering the television sets, he was apprehended are extremely unhappy that he judge—he has gone as far as to say in Mozambique. He was traced as [Neethling] does it with state funds. so. He recalled an analogy of a beg- the supplier of a television set he That is wrong. In any democratic gar suspected of being a German spy gave to someone in Maputo, which country, there should be a rule who for 15 years behaved as a beg- Zimbabwean authorities claimed was against it. gar but on one occasion was heard to the same set which killed the wife of "We feel that the evidence we put speak German. "The rest is all irrele- an ANC official in Zimbabwe. before the court has convinced the vant," Kriegler concluded, intimating A gun, silencer, and poisons were South African public of the fact that that the inaccuracies of Coetzee's confiscated from a secret compart- police hit squads did indeed exist story may well be undermined by ment in his car by the Zimbabwean here and in neighboring countries. the minute detail he so often recalls. authorities, according to the defense, Whatever the outcome, we feel we Neethling, the 55-year-old foren- which produced photographs of the have scored a moral victory." sic expert who came to South Africa secret compartment. Lesia, who has Du Preez believes the civil case as a German war orphan, who has a several criminal convictions, claims has proved itself to be a more vigor- string of qualifications and decora- he visited Neethling's laboratory to ous test of the credibility of hit-squad tions and a high standing both here fetch poisoned liquor once and that allegations than the Harms Commis- and abroad, denies ever having the general had been pointed out to sion. Tliere is undoubtedly a vendet- known Coetzee, let alone supplying him by his handlers, who described ta against his two-year-old newspa- him with poison. him as the "big boss who helped with per, he adds, which despite its youth He has time and again lost his the stuff." had had more charges laid against it temper in the highly charged court- Lesia's story was "blatant fabrica- than any other. room, its benches filled with security tion," said a hot-tempered Neethling "While the strategy of the govern- officials clad in grey suits and shoes, from the witness box. ment in the mid-80s was to close donning sunglasses as they leave Aspects of his account have been down the newspapers, it now drags Johannesburg's Supreme Court each discredited under cross-examination. them to court. We feel we should not day. Neethling's defense, led by 84- However, that he was a paid military not allow the state to get us down," year-old Willie Oshry, has argued intelligence agent arrested with a he adds. "Even to a small number of that Coetzee, who had mentioned his gun in a secret compartment is not people, we have become a symbol of desire to write a book about his expe- under dispute. And he has scores of resistance to Afrikaner hegemony, riences, wanted to introduce poison travel documents to corroborate his Afrikaner nationalism, and white into his story to make it more inter- story. Whether Neethling was in fact domination. Also we have become a esting. "The only poison in the case implicated is less clear and is unlike- symbol of hope to elements in the was that written by the 'poison pen' ly to sway the case in either direc- black community. We have shown of Vrye Weekblad"said Oshry. tion. that Afrikaners are not all nasty, A "mystery" witness, sparking Lesia, who was tortured in Zim- thick-crusted 'kaffir'-bashers." O

56 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 The uncMtnbnious sacking of King Moshoeshoe II after years of rivalry with Lesotho's military ruler has nil

LOWE MORNA the focus on Major-General Just! Lekhanya's authoritarian gover| ment. Even as he quickly placedh tain kingdom's undemocratic rule, questioning the sincerity of Lekhanya's pledge to hold multi-party elections in 1992.

King Moshoeshot Ilf "The role of ceremonial; head state never satis- Red the urbane monarch? usty winds swirled, A few days earlier, Nulasa had on which Lesotho is reliant for half but the rain refused issued a statement saying that no its jobs and 95 percent of its imports, to fall. It wasn't just matter what the justification, as a result of his support for the fear of yet another Lekhanya and his six-member mili- African National Congress and the drought that con- tary council did not have the right to opening of Eastern bloc embassies in cerned the citizens sack the king without so much as a Maseru. of this tiny mountain kingdom that is referendum. Following a 12-day blockade—one completely surrounded by South Many Basotho, especially in the of the most blatant cases of South Africa. The gods, elders said, were urban areas, did not especially like African destabilization against a not happy with the way the political the former king, whom they saw as neighbor—Lesotho fell to Lekhanya, winds are blowing. opportunistic and hypocritical, a who was known to have close ties On the surface, things seemed to respected local analyst explained. On with Pretoria, and who immediately have resolved themselves rather the other hand, he maintained, the deponed a batch of ANC refugees in well. Following a long history of con- deposition of the king was just "a return for a lifting of the blockade. flict between ruler and monarch, continuation of the undemocratic tra- While the 1970 coup restored a Lesotho's military leader, Major- ditions here that do not augur well civilian to power—albeit undemo- General Justin Lekhanya, had for 1992." cratically—the 1986 coup put a mili- deposed King Moshoeshoe II, then Lesotho, he predicted, is destined tary man at the helm, making in exile in London. to move "from one crisis to the next," Lesotho the only military govern- However, cognizant of the support as the tiny country—the only one in ment in southern Africa. To legit- the monarch still enjoys in rural the world completely surrounded by imize his rule, as well as to appease Lesotho, Lekhanya replaced the king another—gropes for an appropriate Moshoeshoe, Lekhanya conferred with the king's son, the well-built Let- political system in the context of sie David Bereng Seeiso, who swore mounting calls for democratization in on a large black bible that he would neighboring South Africa and the "abstain from involving the monar- world at large. The 1986 chy in any way in politics." The institution of the monarchy, coup made At a press conference after the created by the British on the logic colorful affair, held beneath the stat- that if it can work in London, it can Lesotho the ue of Moshoeshoe I—the illustrious work in Maseru, has undoubtedly founder of the Basotho nation—a added to the confusion in this strife- only military self-assured Lekhanya outlined his ridden country, which also ranks as government plans for restoring the country to one of the poorest in the world. constitutional rule by 1992. Political Unlike Swaziland, which has a in southern parties, he said, would be unbanned monarchical tradition, and where the Africa. by mid-1991, with elections following king enjoys executive powers, a year after. The army, he pledged, Lesotho had only a paramount chief, would go back to the barracks. "We whom the British elevated to the sta- miss that place," he laughed. tus of titular monarch before Lesotho Yet even as Lekhanya talked, the became independent in 1966. The on him legislative and executive pow- high court was hearing allegations of role of ceremonial head of state ers, though decisions were to be army involvement in the murder of never satisfied the urbane Moshoe- taken on the basis of advice from the two former ministers, which evoked shoe II, an Oxford-trained lawyer military council. bitter memories of the major-gener- with a sharp mind and relentless pen. Tensions soon began to surface. A al's own shooting of a student at the Trouble between the ex-king and major source of misunderstanding, agricultural college on grounds that the government first surfaced in according to Moshoeshoe's writings he was trying to prevent a rape from 1970, when he opposed the bloody from London, were the close ties taking place. coup that reinstated Prime Minister between Lekhanya and Pretoria. The Concurrently, a government com- Leabua Jonathan after he had lost an two rivals publicly disagreed, for mision of inquiry into "indiscipline" election to the opposition Basutoland example, over the decision by Lek- at the country's only university—one Congress Party. After refusing to hanya to call in South African troops of the oldest and most respected in endorse the state of emergency to curb opposition guerrillas intend- southern Africa—recommended that which Chief Jonathan introduced ing to disrupt a papal tour in 1988. the National University of Lesotho's (and is still in force in Lesotho), Later that year, conflict between Academic Staff Association (Nulasa) Moshoeshoe had to take temporary the two again surfaced when be banned (see sidebar). refuge in the Netherlands. Lekhanya refused to obey the king's In 1986, Chief Jonathan found order to step down pending the out- Colleen Lowe Morna is a Zimbabwean free- lance journalist based in Harare. himself in trouble with South Africa, come of a court case in which

58 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 I^ekhanya was charged with murder- court, angered Lesotho's military At his press conference, Lekhanya ing George Ramone, a student at the ruler, who stripped the king of his told reporters that Moshoeshoe, now Lesotho Agriculture College. executive and legislative powers, known simply as Bereng Seeiso, is Initially, Lekhanya's bodyguard forcing him to go on a trip officially free to come home and participate in agreed to take the rap. But under described as a "sabbatical" to Lon- politics as an ordinary citizen. pressure in court, Lekhanya pleaded don in February. In an interview with the BBC in guilty to the murder, saying that he That ended in November when London, the former king has hinted had shot the student while on a visit Lekhanya issued another military that he may return, and some specu- to the university one night when he order deposing the king, who said in late that he will try to form his own heard a female student, about to be a message from London that he political party. "For as long as the raped by Ramone, shouting out for would only return to Lesotho if the people of Lesotho continue to be help. Lekhanya was acquitted on the present government, and the largely denied their civil liberties, it grounds of "justifiable homicide." government-appointed National Con- behooves everyone to stand up and New wounds were opened when stituent Assembly, formed to review be counted," Moshoeshoe said. court proceedings began into the the constitution in preparation for But many Basotho are distrustful murder of two ministers, Vincent multi-party elections in 1992, are dis- of the king's sudden preoccupation Makhele and Desmond Sixishe, banded. with restoring Lesotho to multi-party soon after the 1986 coup. Sensitive to a possible outcry by democracy. "Why didn't he talk Sources close to the government rural Basotho who were shocked by about this when he was here?" one say Lekhanya initiated the case in the deposition, Lekhanya moved Mosotho asked. "I think he is just order to get back at two of the king's with record speed to name Moshoe- jumping onto the multi-party band- relatives, Thaabe Letsie and shoe's son as successor. wagon." Sekhobe Letsie, who are said to have It was a cunning move. According Lekhanya is obviously under pres- spilled the beans about the Ramone to church leaders who were with the sure to do the same. The advent of affair, and are alleged to have been king in London—trying to negotiate the F.W. de Klerk government in involved in the murders. In their his return—at the time of the deposi- South Africa has "marginalized the court testimony, however, the Letsie tion, a shattered Moshoeshoe found securocrats that Lekhanya used to brothers have implicated lekhanya, himself with little choice but to rely on," the Lesotho analyst noted. whom they say had initially wanted a accept the decision as his best Political changes in South Africa, cover-up of the affair. chance of keeping the title within the where half of Lesotho's men work, In the meantime, Moshoeshoe's family. Moshoeshoe's son, now are having ripple effects in the coun- refusal to endorse a removal of the known as King Letsie III, reluctantly try, where ex-mineworkers are Letsie brothers from the military accepted to become what one increasingly seen as the nucleus of a council, and support for a fired min- Mosotho analyst describes as a "toy "third force" that does not derive its ister who challenged Lekhanya in king." legitimacy from either the king or

Maj.-Gen. Justin lekhanya: "Acquitted on grounds of justifiable homicide" dormant opposition parties from told reporters that this will now hap- the government under the watchful before. pen in the middle of 1991. eye of the military. The growing insistence of Western But many Basotho are deeply dis- When asked what he personally donors on political reform as a prereq- trustful of the process. The church, has in mind for the future, I>ekhanya uisite for aid is also having an impact for one, has refused to back the was quick to respond that "should on Lesotho, which is heavily reliant on National Constituent Assembly, people wish me to serve, I will be external support. 'There is a general which is 80 percent appointed and so prepared to serve." feeling in the air that aid should be far has not got beyond trivia. Critics Many wonder if they will have any given to countries which have good say that the impunity with which the choice. Earlier this year, when stu- government," says a Western diplomat military deposed the king—however dents tried to demonstrate in support in Maseru. "We are not saying what unpopular he might have been— illus- of teachers striking for better pay, they that should be, but we in the West trates the vast powers that the mili- were met with teargas and rubber bul- would obviously be most comfortable tary still has in the transition process. lets. At least two youths were shot. with a multi-party democracy." Despite Lekhanya's glib remark The Ramone affair, apart from tar- Such sentiments, analysts say, about returning to the barracks, the nishing the major-general's image, account for Lekhanya's decision to set military is also seeking to introduce has instilled a deep fear among ordi- up a National Constituent Assembly, a clause into the constitution which nary Basotho as well as destroyed which is reviewing the 1966 indepen- would secure a special role for the much of the confidence in the legal dence constitution for implementa- military in a civilian government. system. "We don't say anything tion in 1992. In an apparent softening Analysts at the University of Lesotho because we are afraid of the gun," of his previous stance that the ban on who have followed this issue say that says a teacher in rural Lesotho. She opposition parties would only be lifted Lekhanya favors a Pinochet-style hastened to add: "That doesn't mean just before the elections, I,ekhanya government in which civilians run we don't feel anything." O ACADEME VS. THE ARMY Conflict has been mounting between university sion of inquiry into "instability" at the university. and government authorities in the tiny southern The commission, which comprised a judge, African mountain kingdom of Lesotho. In late businessman, and retired professor appointed by November, the National University of Lesotho the government, identified Nulasa as a destabiliz- Academic Staff Association (Nulasa) strongly con- ing agent, and singled out its president and pub- demned the findings of a government-appointed licity secretary as the main culprits. commission of inquiry into the university which Saying that public opinion is now the only recommends a banning of the association and weapon left in the union's hands, Senjanamane suspension of two members of the faculty. vowed that Nulasa would "resist any attempts by According to Nulasa chairman Mafa Senjana- the government to tamper with the union and any mane—one of the two faculty named in the of its officials." report—the association "rejects the report in total." The move, he maintains, is aimed at silencing It was a disappointment, he said in an interview, academics and students in the run-up to multi- "that anyone should be willing to append their sig- party elections which the military government, nature to such a report." under pressure because of changes in South Trouble started late last year when faculty boy- Africa and Eastern Europe, has said it will permit cotted the annual graduation ceremony to protest in 1992. the hiiing of a staff member in the politics depart- Many academics are distrustful of this move ment by the university's vice chancellor before the and have said so openly. For example, in early post had been advertised, and without the con- November, when the military council deposed the sent of the dean of faculty. country's King Moshoeshoe II, who has been call- In a public address, the minister of education. ing for a multi-party democracy from London Dr. L.B. Machobane, charged that owing to the where he has been in exile since February, Nulasa activities of a few faculty "committed to the desta- condemned the move as unconstitutional and bilization of the university," the institution had undemocratic. become "ungovernable." Several members of the faculty have been He further announced that the government had involved in community groups which are likely to amended the University Act of 1976 to make it evolve into political parties when the ban on party possible for the three top university officials to uni- politics is lifted, • laterally suspend faculty, and set up a commis-

60 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 ZIMBABWE *• ALIENATED FROM AR By ANDREW MELDRUM

What have the whites bequeathed inde- pendent Zimbabwe after 100 years of settierdom? Most of the 90,000 whites still left in the country are alienated from black aspirations and culture. What is needed for true reconciliation, analysts say, is a sustained program to educate whites to abandon racism—an example that South Africa could learn from.

n September 13, 1890, mounted police, and 16 civilians, the Union Jack was first mainly prospectors. Rhodes funded raised at Fort Salisbury the expedition to take control of the Polo grounds in Harare: "The white to mark the British set- territory for gold-mining. population has retreated to its exclu- tlemenOt of the Mashonaland territo- The spot where the flag was hoist- sive sports clubs" ry by Cecil Rhodes' Pioneer Column. ed became Cecil Square, named after Inset: "The war was a tragedy that The heavily armed column consisted cut across the whole spectrum of Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, who Zimbabwean experience" of 212 mercenaries paid by Rhodes, was British prime minister in 1890 350 British South Africa Company and for whom the city was also Parliament House, the Anglican named. Laid out like a Union Jack cathedral, and the city's grande- Andrew Meldrum, a contributing editor to Africa Report, is an American journalist who with sidewalks forming the cross and dame hotel, the Meikles. is frontline editor of the Johannesburg Weekly diagonals, the square was the center One hundred years later, the Mail. Based in Harare, he also writes for The Guardian ofhmdon. of colonial Salisbury, surrounded by square is still the hub of Harare, with

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 the new name African Unity Square. despite 90 years of oppression, it has made us greedy," said the writ- In September, the park floats on a including a bitter and bloody 15-year er ruefully. 'Too many Zimbabweans cloud of cool purple, as it is ringed by war. But in fact, the reconciliation think independence simply means lushly flowering jacaranda trees, begun by Robert Mugabe in 1980 chasing money." imported by the colonialists. has never gone very deep, particular- But Zimbabwe's blacks do have a Businessmen with briefcases, ly as far as the whites are concerned. firm moral guideline which the shoppers, and tourists stride along Although the most offensive public whites do not have, said Hove. Many the sidewalks. White, and a growing displays of racism are nearly gone, blacks measure recent political, number of black, "madames" haggle the white population has simply social, and economic events against with the flower sellers over the retreated to its exclusive sports the long war for majority rule. They chrysanthemums, roses, and other clubs, BMWs and braais (barbe- question if current trends are worthy blossoms for sale. There are always cues). They do not like mixing and of the sacrifices made by so many for scores of young black men reading their racist attitudes persist, if only in independence. newspapers and discussing the private. "The Willowgate scandal was our issues of the day in the square, evi- "In some ways, the losers were watershed," said Hove of the 1988 dence of Zimbabwe's alarming the winners," said a Danish journal- uproar when top government offi- unemployment problem. ist here. "The whites have retained cials were found involved in an illegal Not surprisingly, pickpockets and their economic privilege and luxuri- car-selling racket. "When the corrup- beggars also frequent the square. ous lifestyle, and 1980 liberated them tion in cabinet was exposed, it was Recently, a grizzled white man was from any responsibility." clear to all that the ministers were seen requesting money from a well- Zimbabwean novelist Chenjerai just chasing money. People asked, 'Is dressed, high-heeled black woman, Hove says the whites have that why we fought the war?'" who wryly smiled as she carefully "marginalized themselves culturally." Hove, a former school-teacher, dipped into her black patent-leather Like many others, Hove refers to won the prestigious Noma award for handbag for a few coins. most whites as Rhodesian, with only African literature in 1989 for his The square has adapted to its new those who have accepted and novel Bones, which is about the war circumstances in independent Zim- become a part of change qualifying and its effect on the lives of everyday babwe, but 100 years after the first to be called Zimbabwean. Hove said Zimbabweans. Ten years after the settlers raised the British flag, how the reason that whites have con- war. Hove finds that whites still do have the whites themselves adapted? tributed so little to independent Zim- not grasp the hardships and What is the legacy of 100 years of babwe's cultural development, par- tragedies that blacks endured to win whites in Zimbabwe? ticularly literature, is because "most their independence. The centenary of the settlers' Rhodesians don't have an emotional "When I judged a national theater arrival was not celebrated or even attachment to this place. They are competition, I stayed out in a white noted in Harare, except for three alienated, outside the real dynamics, farming district at the home of a bunches of roses—left anonymously the tragedies and dramas of life white farmer. He told me that per- at the square's flagpole—which with- here." haps there would be some rude ered quickly in the heat. Hove recently wrote an essay remarks from other people when I The country's white population, about how Zimbabwe's whites have was speaking, because many white most of them immigrants from always distanced themselves from families had lost children during the Britain and South Africa, reached its the country. He aptly titled the piece war. He said they are bitter and they peak at 250,000 in the mid-1960s. "100 Years of Colonial Solitude." might not like the idea of a black The war for majority rule prompted "They are here physically, but not man standing up in front of them and many whites to leave Rhodesia, so spiritually," commented Hove. "Just making remarks about their play," there were about 200,000 whites liv- as the Pioneer Column came to said Hove. ing in the country in 1980. The prospect for gold, most whites are "I told him that a lot of families, steady stream of emigrants contin- here only to extract something for black and white, lost children in the ued so that 10 years after majority themselves. Their lives here are eco- war, so what makes them think only rule, about 90,000 whites live among nomic ventures, not spiritual ones." their children died? So you can see, a total population of nearly 10 mil- That materialism is the whites' even up to now, the whites do not lion. Even in their dwindling num- bequest to black Zimbabweans, realize that the war was a tragedy bers, the whites wield considerable according to Hove. "If you go into a that cut across the whole spectrum influence as they virtually control the black middle-class home, you will of Zimbabwean experience. They country's economy and commercial find the same furniture that Rhode- still believe it was their own personal farming sector. sians have, the same type of curtains, experience." For years, Zimbabwe has been the same pictures and copper Another critic of the continued renowned for the lack of overt antag- plaques on the walls. We aspire to narrow, racist view of most of Zim- onism by blacks against whites, the same things the whites have, and babwe's whites is Reg Austin, the

62 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 only white member of the KiO-person ing campaigns to wean whites away infrastructure was expected to serve central committee of Robert from their negative attitudes, like the 100 percent of the population, it Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African British and American programs to failed miserably. Only if the develop- National Union-Patriotic Front encourage democracy in Germany ment were to help democratize the (Zanu-PF). Austin said that racial and Japan," said Austin. "The need population can it be judged as meri- reconciliation has been successful in for a comprehensive, long-range pro- torious. So their boast of bringing one way, but expensive in another gram like that to break down the development is a bit hollow." way, because "the myth of white whites' 'laager' mentality is an impor- Zambia's infrastruetural decline supremacy has not been destroyed. tant lesson for South Africa. Our could happen in Zimbabwe, accord- It's still strong among the whites, experience shows that a change in ing to Austin. 'TTie only way to pre- they still believe in it." attitude will not simply come with vent Zambia's slide from happening An unfortunate aspect about rec- time, whites need to be educated and here is to bring blacks in to keep onciliation was that it was never firm- encouraged to abandon racism." things up. Black Zimbabweans have ly spelled out to the whites what Raised in colonial Rhodesia's per- always been very impressed with their part of the bargain should be, vasive racism, Austin credits his how the Rhodesians developed the said Austin, a law professor at the growth away from racist beliefs to infrastructure here. They admired it University of Zimbabwe. his education at the University of and now they are trying to maintain "The whites should have been Cape Town, particularly courses it and extend it. A great told that while the government taught by Jack Simons, a well-known entrepreneurial spirit developed would ensure peace by meeting the member of the African National among the blacks, but the Rhode- black population's aspirations in edu- Congress and the South African sians prevented them from using it cation, health and land, it would be Communist Party. by keeping them out of all com- the job of the white economy to actu- As a young lawyer working in the merce. As a result, it is touch and go ally invest in jobs," said Austin. attorney-general's office in 1958, whether we will go the Zambian "There should have been a much Austin came in contact with Joshua route." more specific quid pro quo pro- Nkomo and other African national- Austin feels it is too early to deter- claimed at the time of indepen- ists in detention for demonstrating mine the legacy of whites in Zimbab- dence." against racial injustices. we. "I suspect the outcome of 100 Unlike Hove, Austin feels that "I spent many afternoons talking years of whites interchanging with many Rhodesians do love the coun- with these guys in the corridors and Zimbabweans won't be known for try and believes that more might the cells. That started opening my another 100 years. Certainly we can't have been done since independence eyes," said Austin. "I learned a lot see what has happened in 10 years," to build up that patriotism among from them and they began to trust said Austin. "In very important whites. The Rhodesian government me." respects, things are immensely dif- had a psychological secretariat and From that point, Austin became a ferent and better, but somehow there the army a psychological operatives supporter of the nationalist move- is a continuity with the Rhodesian unit which, through several intensive ment and a member of Joshua past that is worrying." public relations campaigns, instilled Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Ultimately the whites' contribu- a tenacious sense of racial superiori- Union (Zapu). He was one of a hand- tion to the country will be judged on ty to which many whites still cling ful of the country's whites who allied how successfully the economic today. themselves with the African national- infrastructure can be adapted to An intriguing possibility, suggest- ist cause, in contrast to the more sig- serve the majority, said Austin. ed in 1980 but not implemented, was nificant numbers of white South "As long as the whites can live like to appoint Sir Robert Burley lo over- Africans who are active in the anti- kings, then they'll stay," said Austin. see a program to effect full reconcili- apartheid movement. "But to justify their continued privi- ation and to steer the white commu- Zimbabwe's whites often point to lege, they must transfer technology nity away from their closed, racist the technological development they to the majority to allow the economy attitudes. Burley was the head of brought to the country in 100 years to expand. The business community Britain's prestigious Eton College as a contribution which benefitted is beginning to realize that must be and had headed the de-Nazification the whole population and as a justifi- done. For the first five years of inde- program in post-war West Germany. cation for their minority rule. Austin pendence, the white businesses did He also had a Rhodesian connection, agrees that the whites did a good job nothing, apart from appointing black as he had been part of the commis- of transplanting technology to serve personnel managers and non-execu- sion which in the 1950s proposed the what was then 5 percent of the popu- tive directors. Now they are begin- foundation of the University of lation. ning to realize that they must really Rhodesia. "It was a very impressive achieve- bring blacks to positions of responsi- "No doubt he would have come up ment for that limited purpose," he bility. That is the test of what kind of with many sophisticated, far-reach- said. "But immediately when the legacy the whites will leave." O

AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 63 CULTURE

Move over, Paris—African bands are trying to make New York the cyno- sure for their music. The first such combo based in the Big Apple, Waaw!, is winning over New Yorkers with its own mix of Senegalese

• Novickl m'balax, mandingo Mor Dior Seek and Magette Fall: "A tight and infectious con- coction of Afro-pop" music, and Afro-pop.

By DAPHNE TOPOUZIS

ver the past 20 to attract a small nucleus of accom- temporary, unabashedly mixing years, Paris has plished musicians who are eager to Senegalese m'balax with Afro-beat been a musical establish a base in the U.S., make and Mandingo music. M'balax is a mecca for West African music palatable to American complex amalgam of distinct layers African artists, tastes, and win over the U.S. market. of interlocking rhythms developed from Toure New York's first African band calls by Youssou N'Dour and the Super Kunda to Salif itself Waaw!, (which is Wolof for Etoile de Dakar. Mandingo music, on Keita—so much "yes") and boasts of top talent from the other hand, which goes back so that every aspiring West African West Africa's most celebrated bands: hundreds of years and is played musician at some stage in his career ex-Baaba Maal musicians Amadou across West Africa, features the kora, makes the French capital his home. Boly Ndiaye on guitar and M'Baye the balafon and the djembe drums. In New York, on the other hand, has Niasse on drums; former Super Dia- an interview with Africa Report, mostly served as refuge for a handful mono keyboard player Abdou Abdou M'Backe explained that what of exiled South African musicians, M'Backe; Mar Gueye on the sabar Waaw! is trying to do is to take tradi- such as Hugh Masekela and Dollar drums from Doudou N'Diaye Rose; tional djembe rhythms and translate Brand. Yet, as the African communi- and Mor Dior, former lead singer of them into modern rhythms, while ty in New York grows, it is beginning the Senegalese National Orchestra. also recreating the sounds of the Add to this impressive list Sene- kora and the balafon through the Previous page: "Flowing boubous and galese tama (talking drum) master synthesizer, "always keeping a bal- dazzling acrobatic dance routines by ance between the traditional and the guitarist Amadou Ndiaye made the Magette Fall, Joshua Roseman, an show a rare event" American of Jamaican origin on modern, the African and the West- horns, and Wesley Wirth on bass ern." Below, Joshua Roseman, Abdu M'Backe, and Wesley Wirth: "A band and you have a band of a kind not The result is a tight and infectious of a kind not seen before in Nortii seen before in North America. concoction of Afro-pop, which, judg- America" Waaw!'s music is vibrantly con- ing from the number of hips swaying on the Kilimanjaro dance floor at The only thing left was to find a bands. "New York is the center of their New York premiere, instantly singer, and Mor Dior was flown in popular music that has audiences won over the Senegalese and Ameri- from Senegal. worldwide and being here, we can can audience. "Even we, the band, The lyrics of the songs relate the learn from rock, jazz, and soul musi- were surprised at our success that cians," he said. night," said Amadou Boly Ndiaye. Waaw! has already written enough "We knew we had worked hard and songs to fill up two records and had something new to offer both the "The challenge wants to set up its own production African and the American audience, is to fuse a company. But there is still more but the enthusiasm of the crowd work to be done, said Ndiaye, to took us all by surprise." variety of make the beat of m'balax more acces- The band effortlessly moved in beats and sible to an audience that is not used and out of a variety of musical styles, to multiple layers of beat and inter- from the traditional m'balax, to more styles, so as to locking rhythms. The main thing, funky tunes, a jazzy instrumental the band believes, is to develop a song, and rhythms which fused ele- appeal to as beat that can be delivered with a ments of Super Diamono, Baaba wide an audi- message that will strike a chord in a Maal, and Doudou N'Diaye Rose all generation of Americans who are in one glorious melange. Flowing ence as possi- ready to listen closely to African boubous and dazzling acrobatic ble, without music. Waaw! recognizes that lan- dance routines by Amadou Ndiaye guage plays an important role in the made the show a rare event. Even ever forgetting accessibility of the songs and Ndiaye more importantly, the fact that the mentioned that the band would soon band was clearly enjoying itself one's own cul- start to sing in English, maybe even added to the am-biance. tural heritage Spanish. However, what The band is also considering get- seemed like a sponta- and roots." ting an American singer on a perma- neous and effortless nent basis, in an effort to move merging of talent on toward a total fusion of African and stage was in effect the experiences of Africans in New York, American music. "The challenge is to result of hard work especially why they leave Africa to fuse a variety of beats and styles, so over the past year, as come to the U.S. A favorite theme is as to appeal to as wide an audience as the band came togeth- adventure. "Adventure encompasses possible, without ever forgetting er only gradually. Ndi- everything," said Ndiaye. "In the one's own cultural heritage and aye and Niasse came to beginning you do not know where roots," said Ndiaye. M'Backe the U.S. to pursue a exactly you are going and what you explains: "If we wanted to do African musical adventure of are going to find in a new world, but music for Africans, we would have sorts—"to develop con- if one is optimistic and has faith in stayed in Africa. The whole point tacts with the music what one does, things work out." about being in the U.S. is to make world in North Ameri- The band is convinced that New music for an international audience." ca and help us develop York can one day become like Paris, Wesley Wirth put it even more suc- an original, internation- a center for African music. "Music cinctly: "Right now we sound more al style," said Ndiaye. does not have frontiers anymore," or less like an African band. I would Mar Gueye joined said Ndiaye, "and there is a certain like to see us fusing sounds existing next, Magette Fall decentralization taking place at the here in North America, more partic- (who plays the tatna or moment. African musicians are look- ularly the funky beat of pop music, talking drum) fol- ing for new horizons to develop their with the intensity and complexity of lowed. When Abdou talent and New York might well African sounds," he said, admitting M'Backe came to New become one of them. It can spread that the objective was very ambitious York for a recording like wildfire by word of mouth, but more than that, very tempting. session, he met with because people today listen to all While New York's nascent African Amadou Ndiaye at the kinds of music. If one band succeeds band has a long way to go, it has cer- Kilimanjaro where here, more will follow." M'Backe tainly had a dynamic and promising Ouzin Ndiaye, Youssou pointed out that being based in a start. A U.S. tour is in the works and N'Dour's chefd'orchestre, New York is a real challenge because more concerts in New York are was playing, and it was the U.S. is what he called "virgin ter- forthcoming. Will this original exper- then that the idea of ritory" for African musicians, while iment work? The answer might well - v the band solidified. Paris is cluttered with dozens of be Waaw! O \f 67 1990 Index AUTHOR INDEX Akhalwaya. Ameen, "Joe Slovo: The Communist Party manifesto," "President Kenneth Kaunda: Seeking solutions in southern Sept-Oct 43 Africa," Mar-Apr 32 Arnold. Guy, "Southern Africa's elder statesman," Mar-Apr 36 "The Reverend Smangaliso Mkhatshwa: A theologian of the peo- "Zimbabwe: The land dilemma," Mar-Apr 58 ple," Jul-Aug 17 Ayisi, Ruth Ansah, "Mozambique: The workers' demands," May-Jun "Simba Makoni: A decade ol regional cooperation," Jul-Aug 34 58 "David Zausmer, Managing Director, Beira Corridor Group," Jul- "Mozambique; The price of education," Nov-Dec 43 Aug 36 Ayisi, Ruth Ansah and Karl Maier, "President Joaquim Chissano: "The man and his music [Jonnny Clegg]," Sept-Oct 66 Creating conditions for peace," May-Jun 53 "A conversation with Baaba Maal." Sept-Oct 70 Bourke, Gerald, "Houphouet's heavy hand," May-Jun 13 "Obed Asamoah: A new role for Ecowas," Nov-Dec 17 Burkhalter. Holly and Rakiya Omaar, "Human rights: Failures of Novicki, Margaret A. and Daphne Topouzis, "Ousmane Sembene: State," Nov-Dec 27 Africa's premier cineaste," Nov-Dec 66 Carver. Richard, 'Malawi: The dangers of dissent," Jul-Aug 57 Omaar, Rakiya and Holly Burkhalter. "Human rights: Failures of Cater, Nick, "Forecasting Africa's future," Mar-Apr 47 State," Nov-Dec 27 "Slaughter in the South," May-Jun 21 Prendergast, John and Isata Nabie. "Sudan: A land divided," Sept- "A catalogue of repression." May-Jun 24 Oct 58 "Sudan's economic woes mount," Jul-Aug 9 "The battleground of Chad," Sept-Oct 62 Cole, Gregory, "Conversation with Mahfouz," May-Jun 65 Roberts, Hugh, "Algeria: A new face for the FLN," Mar-Apr 41 Garson, Philippa, "South Africa: The killing fields," Nov-Dec 46 Schechter, Danny. "Why we didn't see Wembley." Jul-Aug 64 Hartley, Aidan, "Comoros: Paradise Lost," Mar-Apr 37 "11 days in June," Sept-Oct 48 "Kenya: A political murder?," May-Jun 17 "Mandelamania," Nov-Dec 53 Heinlen, Margaret, "A test in Tanzania," May-Jun 38 Schissel, Howard, "Mali: A national treasure," Mar-Apr 64 Huband Mark, "Doe's last stand," Jul-Aug 47 Shapiro, Nina, "Zimbabwe's women writers." Jul-Aug 70 Imanyara, Gilobu, "Africa through blinkers," Sept-Oct 17 "Homeless in Harare," Nov-Dec 63 Joseph, Richard, "Partnership not patronship," Sept-Oct 28 Shields, Todd, "Kenya: Lawyers vs. the law," Sept-Oct 13 Kelly, Sean, "Namibia: Constructing a new nation," Jul-Aug 28 Topouzis, Daphne, "Cinema from the Sahel." Mar-Apr 62 Lancaster, Carol, "Reform—or else?" Jul-Aug 43 "Buchi Emecheta: An African story-teller," May-Jun 67 Lardner, Tunji. Jr., "Nigeria: The Babangida blues," Jul-Aug 50 "The feminization of poverty," Jul-Aug 60 "Liberia: An African tragedy," Nov-Dec 13 "Margaret Courtney-Clarke: The home as canvas." Jul-Aug 67 Laurence, Patrick. "De Klerk's Rubicon," Mar-Apr 13 "Baaba Maal: Peulh troubador." Sept-Oct 67 "South Africa: Marked for murder," Mar-Apr 22 "Wangari Maathai: Empowering the grassroots," Nov-Dec 30 "South Africa: The politics of persuasion," Jul-Aug 13 "Demystifying French colonialism." Nov-Dec 69 "South Africa: Comrades and capitalists," Sept-Oct 39 Topouzis Daphne, and Margaret A. Novicki. "Ousmane Sembene: Lone, Salim. "Challenging conditionality," Sept-Oct 31 Africa's premier cineaste," Nov-Dec 66 Maier, Karl, "Mozambique: The quiet revolution," Nov-Dec 39 Tygesen, Peter, "South Africa: A family reunion," Mar-Apr 26 Maier, Karl and Ruth Ansah Ayisi,"President Joaquim Chissano: "Mandela's mandate," May-Jun 32 Creating conditions for peace," May-Jun 53 "Major-General Bantu Holomisa: The homelands rebellion," May- Meldrum, Andrew, "The Africa Watch agenda," Mar-Apr 44 Jun 39 "Mugabe's folly?," Mar-Apr 54 "South Africa: The right's show of might." Jul-Aug 21 "South Africa: Shoring up the frontline," May-Jun 35 "South Africa: Pitfalls to peace," Nov-Dec 50 "South Africa: The assassination bureau," May-Jun 42 Verbaan, Mark, "Namibia: Opening a new chapter," May-Jun 25 "A tribute to Willie Musarurwa," Jul-Aug 11 Villa-Vicencio, Charles, "South A'rica: Options for the future," May- "Apartheid's long arm," Jul-Aug 25 Jun 29 "Zimbabwe: The one-party debate," Jul-Aug 53 Ward, Brian, "Johnny on the spot," Sept-Oct 63 "Zambia: The coup that wasn't," Sept-Oct 19 Wells, Rick, "The lost of Liberia," Nov-Dec 21 "Angola: The American connection," Sept-Oct 55 "Sierra Leone: The costs of collapse," Nov-Dec 23 "Pluralism: A new wind of change," Nov-Dec 36 Minter, William, "Behind the Unita curtain," May-Jun 45 SUBJECT INDEX Morna, Colleen Lowe, "Namibia: The development challenge," Mar- African National Congress, see South Africa Apr 29 "A new development compact?," Mar-Apr 50 Agriculture "Zimbabwe: The land dilemma," by Guy Arnold, Mar-Apr 58 "SADCC's first decade," May-Jun 40 Update. Mar-Apr 8; May-Jun 7, 8. 12: Jul-Aug 12; Nov-Dec 12 "Zimbabwe: Swords into plowshares," May-Jun 61 "Namibia: Women's new equality," Jul-Aug 31 Aid, economic "Angola: Ready for peace?," Jul-Aug 39 "Sudan: Slaughter in the south," by Nick Cater. May-Jun 21 "An appeal for war's victims," Jul-Aug 42 "Angola: An appeal for wars victims." by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jul- "Nyerere's turnabout." Sept-Oct 23 Aug 42 ••President AN Hassan Mwinyi: Debating the future," Sept-Oct 26 "Reform—or else?," by Carol Lancaster, Jul-Aug 43 "Togo: Africa's Switzerland?." Sepl-Oct 36 "Partnership not patronship." by Richard Joseph, Sept-Oct 28 "Pluralism: A luxury no more," Nov-Dec 33 "Challenging conditionality." by Salim Lone, Sept-Oct 31 "Namibia: No place at home," Nov-Dec 59 Update, Mar-Apr 8,10,12; May-Jun 11; Jul-Aug 8, 9; Sept-Oct 5, 6, "Reactionaries and reconciliation," Nov-Dec 62 12: Nov-Dec 6, 8, 11, 12 Nabie, Isata and John Prendergast.'Sudan: A land divided," Sept-Oct 58 Aid, military "The battleground of Chad," Sept-Oct 62 "Angola: The American connection," by Andrew Meldrum, Sept-Oct N'Diaye, Mamadou, "France/Africa: The horse and the jockey." Sept- 55 Oct 33 Update. Nov-Dec 5. 11, 12 Novicki, Margaret A., "Nelson Mandela: A hero's welcome," Mar-Apr Apartheid, see South Africa 4 "The Reverend Allan Boesak: The people's demands," Mar-Apr Children {see also Education) 17 Update, Nov-Dec 6, 9

68 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 Culture Mining "Cinema from the Sahel," by DaphneTopouzis, Mar-Apr 62 Update. Mar-Apr 8, 12: May-Jun 5, 9, 12; Jul-Aug 10, 12; Sept-Oct "Mali: A national treasure." by Howard Schissel, Mar-Apr 64 12; Nov-Dec 7, 12 "Conversation with Mahfouz," by Gregory Cole, May-Jun 65 Oil "Buchi Emecheta: An African story-teller," by Daphne Topouzis. May- Jun 67 Update, Mar-Apr 9, 12; Sept-Oct 12; Nov-Dec 5,10,12 "Margaret Courtney-Clarke; The home as canvas," by Daphne Organization of African Unity Update. Sept-Oct 5 Topouzis, Jul-Au 67 "Zimbabwe's women writers." by Nina Shapiro. Jul-Aug 70 Pluralism "Johnny on the spot," by Brian Ward, Sept-Oct 63 "The one-party debate," by Andrew Meldrum, Jul-Aug 53 "The man and his music [Johnny Clegg]," by Margaret A. Novicki, "Nyerere's turnabout." by Colleen Lowe Morna. Sept-Oct 23 Sept-Oct 66 "A luxury no more," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Nov-Dec 33 "Baaba Maal: Peulh trouhadour," by Daphne Topouzis. Sept-Oct 67 "A new wind of change" by Andrew Meldrum, Nov-Dec 36 "A conversation with Baaba Maal," by Margaret A. Novicki. Sept-Oct Update. Nov-Dec 7, 10 70 Refugees "Ousmane Sembene: Africa's premier cineaste," by Margaret A. Novicki and Daphne Topouzis, Nov- Dec 66 "The lost of Liberia." by Rick Wells. Nov-Dec 21 "Demystifying French colonialism." by Daphne Topouzis, Nov-Dec 69 Update, Mar-Apr 8; Jul-Aug 7; Nov-Dec 7 Update, Sept-Oct 11 Religion Economies (see also Update, passim) "The Reverend Smangaliso Mkhatshwa: A theologian of the people," by Margaret A. Novicki. Jul-Aug 17 'Namibia: The development challenge." by Colleen Lowe Morna, "Apartheid's long arm." by Andrew Meldrum, Jul-Aug 25 Mar-Apr 29 'Sudan: A land divided," by Isata Nabie and John Prendergast, Sept- "A new development compact?" by Colleen Lowe Morna. Mar-Apr 50 Oct 58 "SADCC's first decade," by Colleen Lowe Morna. May-Jun 49 "A decade of regional cooperation: Simba Makoni. Executive Update, Mar-Apr 7, 9; Jul-Aug 9; Sept-Oct 7, 9; Nov-Dec 5, 7 Secretary, SADCC," by Margaret A. Novicki Jul-Aug 34 Sports "David Zausmer. Managing Director. Beira Corridor Group." by Update. Sept-Oct 10; Nov-Dec 10 Margaret A. Novicki, Jul-Aug 36 "Reform—or else9." by Carol Lancaster. Jul-Aug 43 Tourism "Nyerere's turnabout," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Sept-Oct 23 Update. May-Jun 8; Sept-Oct 12; Nov-Dec 5 "Partnership not patronship." by Richard Joseph, Sept-Oct 28 Trade unions "Challenging conditionally," by Salim Lone, Sept-Oct 31 Update, Mar-Apr 7, 11; May-Jun 5, 9 "Togo: Africa's Switzerland?." by Colleen Lowe Morna. Sept-Oct 36 "South Africa: Comrades and capitalists," by Patrick Laurence, Sept- Transport Oct 39 "Simba Makoni; A decade of regional cooperation." by Margaret A. 'Obed Asamoah: A new role for Ecowas," by Margaret A. Novicki, Novicki, Jul-Aug 34 Nov-Dec 17 "David Zausmer. Managing Director, Beira Corridor Group," by Margaret A. Novtcki, Jul-Aug 36 Education Update. Mar-Apr 11: Sept-Oct 12 "Sierra Leone: The costs of collapse," by Rick Wells, Nov-Dec 23 "Mozambique: The price of education." by Ruth Ansah Ayisi. Nov- United Nations Dec 43 Update. Mar-Apr 7, 10: May-Jun 7. 8; Jul-Aug 5. 12; Sept-Oct 5, 7; Update. Mar-Apr 9; Jul-Aug 6.11; Nov-Dec 9 Nov-Dec 6, 10 Environment Women 'Forecasting Africa's future," by Nick Cater. Mar-Apr 47 "Namibia: Women's new equality," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jul-Aug "Wangari Maathai: Empowering the grassroots." by Daphne 31 Topouzis. Nov-Dec 30 "The feminization of poverty." by Daphne Topouzis. Jul-Aug 60 Update. Mar-Apr 12: May-Jun 8,12; Jul-Aug 10. 12 "Zimbabwe's women writers," by Nina Shapiro, Jul-Aug 70 Famine World Bank Update, May-Jun 7; Nov-Dec 11 "A new development compact?." by Colleen Lowe Morna. Mar-Apr 50 Update. May-Jun 8: Jul-Aug 5. 9; Sept-Oct 5; Nov-Dec 5, 9 Health Update. Jul-Aug, 5. 6; Nov-Dec 6 COUNTRY INDEX Human rights Algeria "The Africa Watch agenda," by Andrew Meldrum, Mar-Apr 44 "A new face for the FLN," by Hugh Roberts. Mar-Apr 41 "Sudan: A catalogue of repression." by Nick Cater. May-Jun 24 Update, Jul-Aug 5, 6; Sept-Oct 7, 9; Nov-Dec 5, 7 "Behind the Unita curtain," by William Minter, May-Jun 45 Angola "Malawi: The dangers of dissent." by Richard Carver Jul-Aug 57 "President Kenneth Kaunda: Seeking solutions in southern Africa.' "Kenya: Lawyers vs. the law," by Todd Shields, Sept-Oct 13 by Margaret A. Novickt, Mar-Apr 32 "Failures ot State." by Holly Burkhalter and Rakiya Omaar. Nov-Dec "Behind the Unita curtain." by William Minter, May-Jun 45 27 "Ready for peace," by Colleen Lowe Morna. Jul-Aug 39 Update. Mar-Apr 10: Jul-Aug 7, 8; Sept-Oct 7; Nov-Dec 8 11 "The American connection," by Andrew Meldrum, Sept-Oct 55 International Monetary Fund Update, Mar-Apr 7; May-Jun 7; Jul-Aug 6 7, 10; Nov-Dec 5, 11, 12 Update, May-Jun 9; Jul-Aug 5, 9; Sept-Oct 5, 12; Nov-Dec 5, 12 Benin Update. Sept-Oct 8 Literacy Update. Jul-Aug 6. 11 Botswana Update. Jul-Aug 5. 6, 11; Sept-Oct 12: Nov-Dec 12 Media Why we didn't see Wembley," by Danny Schechter, Jul-Aug 64 Britain "Africa through blinkers," by Gitobu Imanyara, Sept-Oct 17 "Why we didn't see Wembley," by Danny Schechter, Jul-Aug 64 "11 days in June." by Danny Schechter, Sept-Oct 48 Update, Mar-Apr 11: May-Jun 9, 10; Sept-Oct 11 "Mandelamania." by Danny Schechter. Nov-Dec 53 Burkina Faso Update, Mar-Apr 12; Jul-Aug 11; Nov-Dec 8 Update. Sept-Oc! 8

AFRICA REPORT - January-February 1991 69 Cameroon Madagascar Update, May-Jun 8; Jul-Aug 6; Sept-Oct 8, 10; Nov-Dec 5, 10 Update, Jul-Aug 7,11 Cape Verde Malawi Update, Mar-Apr 8. 9, "The dangers of dissent." by Richard Carver, Jul-Aug 57 Central African Republic Update, Sept-Oct 8 Mali "A national treasure," by Howard Schissel, Mar-Apr 64 Chad Update, Sept-Oct 8; Nov-Dec 7 "The battleground of Chad," by Isata Nabie and John Prendergast, Sept-Oct 62 Mauritania Update, Jul-Aug 6, 9; Sept-Oct 8 Update, Mar-Apr 7; Jul-Aug 6. Sept-Oct 7; Nov-Dec 5 Comoros Mauritius "Paradise Lost," by Aidan Hartley, Mar-Apr 37 Update, Mar-Apr 12; Jul-Aug 5, 6 Update, Sep-Oct 8 Morocco Congo Update, Mar-Apr 9; Sept-Oct 7, 9; Nov-Dec 5 Update. Sept-Oct 8; Nov-Dec 5 Mozambique Cote d'lvoire "President Joaquim Chissano: Creating conditions for peace," by "Houphouefs heavy hand," by Gerald Bourke, May-Jun 13 Ruth Ansah Ayisi and Karl Maier, May-Jun 53 Update, Mar-Apr 8; May-Jun 8, 12; Jul-Aug 6, 7; Sept-Oct 5, 8 "The workers' demands," by Ruth Ansah Ayisi, May-Jun 58 "Simba Makoni; A decade of regional cooperation," by Margaret A. Cuba Novicki, Jul-Aug 34 Update, Mar-Apr 7; Nov-Dec 11 "David Zausmer, Managing Director, Beira Corridor Group," by Djibouti Margaret A. Novicki. Jul-Aug 36 Update, Sept-Oct 8; Nov-Dec 5 "The quiet revolution," by Karl Vlaier, Nov-Dec 39 "The price of education," by Ruth Ansah Ayisi, Nov-Dec 43 Egypt Update, Mar-Apr 7; Jul-Aug 6, 7, 10; Sept-Oct 7; Nov-Dec 12 "Conversation with Mahfouz," by Gregory Cole, May-Jun 65 Update, Mar-Apr 9; Jul-Aug 5; Nov-Dec 5 Namibia "The development challenge," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Mar-Apr 29 Equatorial Guinea "Opening a new chapter," by Mark Verbaan, May-Jun 25 Update, Sept-Oct 8 "Constructing a new nation," by Sean Kelly, Jul-Aug 28 Ethiopia "Women's new equality," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Jul-Aug 31 Update, May-Jun 12; Jul-Aug 5, 6; Nov-Dec 5; "No place at home," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Nov-Dec 59 "Reactionaries and reconciliation," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Nov-Dec France 62 "The horse and the jockey" by Mamadou N'Diaye Sept-Oct 33 Update, Mar-Apr 8,12; Jul-Aug 7; Sept-Oct 7; Nov-Dec 9,11.12 Update. Mar-Apr 12; May-Jun 11; Jul-Aug 8; Sept-Oct 8 Niger Gabon Update, Jul-Aug 5, 6; Nov-Dec 7 Update. Jul-Aug 5. 6; Sept-Oct 8; Nov-Dec 5, 7 Nigeria Ghana "The Babangida blues," by Tunji Lardner, Jr., Jul-Aug 50 "Obed Asamoah: A new rale for Ecowas," by Margaret A. Novicki, Update, Mar-Apr 7; May-Jun 8; Jul-Aug 5,12 ; Sept-Oct 8; Nov-Dec Nov-Dec 17 5. 12 Update, Mar-Apr 12; Jul-Aug 6. 11; Sept-Oct 8 Rwanda Guinea Update, Jul-Aug 7; Nov-Dec 7 Update, Mar-Apr 8 ; Jul-Aug 7; Sept-Oct 5, 12 Sahel Guinea-Bissau "Cinema from the Sahel," by Daphne Topouzis, Mar-Apr 62 Update, Jul-Aug 5 Update, May-Jun 12; Sept-Oct 12 Indian Ocean Sao Tome and Principe Update, Mar-Apr 11 Update, May-Jun 7 Kenya "A political murder?," by Aidan Hartley. May-Jun 17 Senegal "Lawyers vs. the law," by Todd Shields, Sept-Oct 13 "Baaba Maal: Peulh troubadour," by Daphne Topouzis, Sept-Oct 67 "Africa through blinkers," by Gitobu Imanyara. Sept-Oct 17 "A conversation with Baaba Maal," by Margaret A. Novicki, Sept-Oct "Failures of State," by Holly Burkhalter and Rakiya Omaar, Nov-Dec 70 "Ousmane Sembene: Africa's premier cineaste," by Margaret A. 27 "Wangari Maathai: Empowering the grassroots." by Daphne Novicki and Daphne Topouzis, Nov-Dec 66 "Demystifying French colonialism," by Daphne Topouzis. Nov-Dec 69 Topouzis, Nov-Dec 30 Update, Mar-Apr 7. 12; Jul-Aug 5, 11; Sept-Oct 8; Nov-Dec 5, 6 Update, Mar-Apr 12; Jul-Aug 6, 12; Nov-Dec 8 Lesotho Sierra Leone Update, May-Jun 10; Jul-Aug 5 "The cost of collapse," by Rick Wells, Nov-Dec 23 Update, Jul-Aug 6; Sept-Oct 5, 12 Liberia "Doe's last stand," by Mark Huband, Jul-Aug 47 Somalia "An African tragedy," by Tunji Lardner, Jr., Nov-Dec 13 Update, Mar-Apr 10; Jul-Aug 5,6. 11 "Obed Asamoah: A new rote for Ecowas," by Margaret A. Novicki, South Africa Nov-Dec 17 "A hero's welcome." by Margaret A. Novicki, Mar-Apr 4 "The lost of Liberia." by Rick Wells, Nov-Dec 21 "De Klerk's Rubicon," by Patrick Laurence, Mar-Apr 13 "Failures of State." by Holly Burkhalter and Rakiya Omaar, Nov-Dec "The Reverend Allan Boesak; The people's demands," by Margaret 27 A. Novicki, Mar-Apr 17 Update. Mar-Apr 8; Jul-Aug 7; Sept-Oct 5 "Marked for murder," by Patrick Laurence, Mar-Apr 22 Libya "A family reunion," by Peter Tygesen, Mar-Apr 26 Update, May-Jun 9; Jui-Aug 5. 9; Sept-Oct 6; Nov-Dec 5. 7 "Namibia: The development chal enge," by Colleen Lowe Morna,

70 AFRICA REPORT • January-February 1991 Mar-Apr 29 Zimbabwe "President Kenneth Kaunda: Seeking solutions in southern Africa." "Mugabe's folly?," by Andrew Meldrum. Mar-Apr 54 by Margaret A. Novicki, Mar-Apr 32 The land dilemma," by Guy Arnold. Mar-Apr 58 "Namibia: Opening a new chapter." by Mark Verbaan, May-Jun 25 "Shoring up the frontline." by Andrew Meldrum. May-Jun 35 "Options lor the future," by Charles Villa-Vicencio, May-Jun 29 "Swords into plowshares," by Colleen Lowe Morna, May-Jun 61 "Mandela's mandate." by Peter Tygesen. May-Jun 32 "Simba Makoni: A decade of regional cooperation," by Margaret A. "Shoring up the frontline," by Andrew Meldrum, May-Jun 35 Novicki, Jul-Aug 34 "Major-General Bantu Holomisa: The homelands rebellion," by Peter "The one-party debate," by Andrew Meldrum, Jul-Aug 53 Tygesen, May-Jun 39 "Zimbabwe's women writers," by Nina Shapiro. Jul- Aug 70 "The assassination bureau." by Andrew Meldrum. May-Jun 42 "Pluralism: A new wind of change." by Andrew Meldrum. Nov-Dec 36 "SADCC's first decade." by Colleen Lowe Morna, May-Jun 49 "Homeless in Harare," by Nina Shapiro, Nov-Dec 63 "The politics of persuasion," by Patrick Laurence. Jul-Aug 13 Updale, Mar-Apr 12; Jul-Aug 5, 6, 10, 11; Sept-Oct 7. Nov-Dec 5, 6, "The Reverend Smangaliso Mkhatshwa: A theologian of the people." 7, 12 by Margaret A. Novicki. Jul-Aug 17 "The right's show of might." by Peler Tygesen, Jul-Aug 21 •Apartheid's long arm," by Andrew Meldrum, Jul-Aug 25 "Namibia: Constructing a new nation," by Sean Kelly, Jul-Aug 28 "Simba Makom: A decade of regional cooperation," by Margaret A. Novicki, Jul-Aug 34 "Comrades and capitalists," by Patrick Laurence. Sept-Oct 39 "Joe Slovo: The Communist Party manifesto." by Ameen Akhalwaya, Sepl-Oct 43 •Johnny on the spot," by Brian Ward, Sept-Oct 63 The man and his music [Johnny Clegg]," by Margarel A. Novicki, Sept-Oct 66 "The killing fields," by Philippa Garson. Nov-Dec 46 "Pitfalls lo peace," by Peter Tygesen. Nov-Dec 50 Update, Mar-Apr 5, 7, 8. 10, 11; May-Jun 5, 10. 11, 12; Jul-Aug 5, 7, 10,12; Sepl-Oct 11. 12: Nov-Dec 9,12 Sudan 'Slaughter in the south." by Nick Cater, May-Jun 21 "A catalogue of repression." by Nick Cater, May-Jun 24 "A land divided," by Isata Nabie and John Prendergast, Sept-Oct 58 Update. Jul-Aug 7, 9; Nov-Dec 5 STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP V A NAG EM EN T AND CIRCULATION Tanzania

"A test in Tanzania." by Margaret Heinlen, May-Jun 38 Afr ca Report. "Nyerere's turnabout," by Colleen Lowe Morna, Sept-Oct 23 Blm inthly "President Ali Hassan Mwinyi: Debating the future." by Colleen Lowe £24.01) Morna, Sept-Oct 26 an U Update. Mar-Apr 12: May-Jun 7; Nov-Dec 7 nited Nationa Plana , Ne * farlt NV 10017 .* Togo 85! Iinilpd Nat ions Pla^ii , PJc Yo rk NY 10017 •Africa's Switzerland?," by Cofleen Lowe Morna. Sept-Oct 35 CvnfHE Update, Mar-Apr 12; Sept-Oct 8 833 united Nation/piaza , Ne < York NV 10017

Tunisia M.ir rt United Nations Plaza . Ne York NV 10017 Update. Jul-Aug 5. 6; Sept-Oct 9. 12; Nov-Dec 5 en * < ^hrlU Ala Afcic a Feiiort Uganda 833 11 nited Natio na Plaza . Net Yo rV r* Update. May-Jun 7; Jul-Aug 6, 7; Nov-Dec 5, 6, 7 «-> ™ "• —

United States Conn "Why we didn't see Wembley," by Danny Schechter, Jul-Aug 64 _IO.Q. "11 days in June." by Danny Schechter. Sept-Oct 48 "Angola: The American connection," by Andrew Meldrum, Sept-Oct 55 nr 'Failures of State." by Holly Burkhalter and Rakiya Omaar, Nove-Dec Ito! in 27 none "Mandelamania." by Danny Schechter. Nov-Dec 53

Update, Mar-Apr 7, 8, 11; May-Jun 6; Jul-Aug 12; Sept-Oct 5, 6: Nov- li 4«« Dec 8. 11 U.S.S.R. n 10 Update. Mar-Apr 11; Sept-Oct 6, 12; Nov-Dec 11, 12 """"

Con-It '•<• 6900 Western Sahara S2 5 Update, Sept-Oct 7 •M>i •be "njr J720 374 5 Zaire .7 4245 4270 Update, Jul-Aug 5, 6, 8; Sept-Oct 12; Nov-Dec 5 D 3426 1494 ££:; .M"5I» Zambia ™* <_» 56J1 5764 1154 "President Kenneth Kaunda: Seeking solutions in southern Africa," "i'f,"4, d «»«. .It.r 1136 by Margaret A. Novicki, Mar-Apr 32 75 0 "Southern Africa's elder statesman," by Guy Arnold, Mar-Apr 36 " .« *-„ 69130 6900 "The coup that wasn't," by Andrew Meldrum, Sept-Oct 19 "Pluralism: A new wind of change." by Andrew Meldrum, Nov-Dec 36 ma ibo o-r ringlet. -.-.,,-^1- Update, Mar-Apr 12, Jul-Aug 7. Nov-Dec 5, 7, 12 - * - .

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