AMERICA'S LEADING MAGAZINE ON AFRICA Our good taste isn't just in our beer. t the Adolph Qxirs radio show bringing news Company, our concern for for and about the Black good taste doesn't end with community. our beer. So watch for the high- By getting together with quality events and programs organizations like the Cleo Coors has in store for you. Parker Robinson Dance And the next time someone Ensemble, weYe helping to mentions the great taste of bring a refreshing taste of Coors, yoif 11 know theyVe Black American culture to reallv said a mouthful. an ever-larger audience. In fact, maybe youVe already noticed the Qx>rs name at top concerts, sporting events—even on a national ©1987 Adolph Coors Company, Golden Colorado 80401 MARCH-APRIL 1988 AMERICA'S VOLUME 33, NUMBER 2 LEADING MAGAZINE (BFRICfl ON AFRICA A Publication of the <REPORT African-American Institute The Letters to the Editor African-American Institute 4 Chairman Update Randolph Nugent Editor: Andre Astrow 5 President Donald B. Easum South Africa Interview with the Reverend Frank Chikane 13 Publisher By Margaret A. Novicki Frank E. Ferrari Editor-in-Chief Commonwealth Margaret A. Novicki After Vancouver 17 BySirShridathRamphal Managing Editor Churches in Crisis Alana Lee Page 13 Britain Assistant Editor The Lady Has a Plan 20 Andre Astrow By Dems Herbsteln Acting Managing Editor United Nations Daphne Topouzis Interview with Brian Urquhart 23 Editorial Assistant By Margaret A. Novicki W. Labier Jones Media Art Director 27 Kenneth Jay Ross South Africa: Where Did the Story Go? By Danny Schechter Advertising Director Barbara Spence Remembering Percy Qoboza 32 Marionette, Inc. By Ameen Akhalwaya and Les Payne (718) 773-9869.756-9244 Interns U.S. Policy Joy Assefa A New UN Role? Interview with Howard Wolpe 35 Elizabeth Ferber Page 23 By Margaret A. Novicki Alexander Neff Lobbying Against Apartheid Judith Surkis By William Howard 40 Opinion Africa Report (ISSN 0001-9836). a non- Angola: War, Politics, and Famine partisan magazine of African affairs, is By Jeffrey Clark and}. Stephen Morrison 42 published bimonthly and is scheduled to appear at the beginning of each dale Western Europe period at 833 United Nations Plaza, New York. N.Y. 10017. Editorial corre- Putting Pressure on Parliaments spondence and advertising inquiries By Jan Nieo Scholten 45 should be addressed to Africa Report, at the above address. Subscription rales Individuals: U.S.A. $24, Canada Across the Continent $30, air rate overseas $48. Institutions: A Challenge to Action 48 U.S.A. $31, Canada $37, air rate over- By Julie Frederikse seas $55. Second-class poslage paid at Now York, N.Y. and at additional News "•"'" "--'— - 53 mailing offices. POSTMASTER: if this The People's Sanctions magazine is undeliverable. please Black-out Page 27 By Ernest Harsch send notice to Africa Report at the above address. Telephone: (212) 949- South Africa 5666 Copyright c 1988 by the African- 56 American Institute, Inc. A Boycott That Works By Caroline Allen U.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by FOUR STAR News Distributors, Inc., A Conversation with Piet Koornhof 59 3117 12th Street, Long Island City, New Vork 11106. By Margaret A, Novicki Interview with Tony Bloom 62 By Ameen Akhalwaya Zimbabwe United We Stand 66 Photo Credit: By Andrew Meldrum The cover photograph was taken in South Africa by W. Angola's Famine 69 Campbell Sygma. Books Ptige 42 To the Editor: Letters stirred international emotions. The media I cannot ignore and let pass by the ar- is full of explanations, some based on con- ticle "What Price Political Prisoners?" to the jecture and others intended to serve politi- Ganuary-February 1988) written by Rich- cal objectives. It is nonetheless regretta- ard Greenfield and full of fabrications, innu- ble that only a few are able to see beyond endoes, and misrepresentations to satisfy Editor the mirage and give proper explanations of hi.s personal war against the Somali gov- Moreover, as predicted, President Siad the measures that need to be taken. ernment—for which he once worked— had to bow to international pressure on In my view, drought and famine are nat- and to mislead your readers about Somalia. February 11 and commute the death sen- ural as much as they are man-made. One This article is the latest in a series he has tences to life or 24-year terms of imprison- can be sudden, creating an emergency sit- written in the same fashion with the same ment, to be served only in the case of the uation, while the other could be a product personal motivations. former vice president and foreign minis- of an interplay of a host of factors. Where In this article, as before, Greenfield ter, under house arrest. Yet according to this interplay of factors operate in a re- sensationalizes Somalia's economic diffi- Amnesty International, all the accused gressive direction affecting production, culties which are part of the conditions pre- were prisoners of conscience, innocent of subsistence agriculture—as is the case in vailing not only in most of Africa, but in any criminal offense. Moreover, at least Ethiopia—fails to shield the population Latin America and elsewhere. The Somali three prisoners were observed to be seri- from its combined effects. Unless remedial government is working hard to stimulate ously ill and letters smuggled out by oth- measures are taken with the longer view in its economy domestically—through sound ers, in my possession, make very credible mind, dependence on food aid becomes a agricultural incentives, budgetary and allegations of torture—naming names. chronic problem and thus underdevelop- monetary policies—and externally with The ambassador may opine about my ment a permanent feature. the cooperation of international organiza- motives, as he has of all who have spoken Cognizant of this fact, Ethiopia has pri- tions such as the IMF and the World Bank, out about the human rights situation in his marily chosen to tackle the root causes of as well as bilaterally with friendly govern- country, but that is irrelevant. Nor have I underdevelopment with a view to doing ments. ever made any secret of the fact that my away with the regressive forces by taking The people he listed as being impris- appointment as political adviser was arbi- such measures as land reform and imple- oned are not a news item, for their case is trarily and retrospectively terminated as a mentation of agrarian policy consistent well-known. Their arrest was not secret, consequence of my urging proper trials with the country's aspirations for acceler- the government having announced it over and humane treatment for political pris- ated development. Progress in this direc- the radio and published it in the newspa- oners. tion obviously requires time and arduous pers. Their trial is before the court which What is relevant is that so-called "pro- efforts. In addition to the challenges posed will pass judgments on the merits of evi- Western Somalia" is fast becoming a prison by underdevelopment, common to all de- dence submitted by the prosecutor and state. Today, hundreds of mostly young veloping countries, environmental degra- counter-arguments presented by the de- people languish in confinement solely on dation, adverse changes in climatic condi- fense lawyers. At the time that the court account of their political beliefs and clan tions, the arduous task of reorienting the date was established, the defendants were loyalties. To boast that such a situation is peasantry, and scarcity of development as- given the right to acquire their own law- "stable" is to mock every democratic sistance have been serious problems. yers. value. Sadly, my conclusions have been It is with this backdrop that Ethiopia's Somalia is one of the most stable coun- quite independently corroborated by other experiment at development must be tries in Africa. Its president is healthy and observers. See, for example, the report of viewed. Ethiopia's efforts have not been well, conducting government business the human rights committees of the Na- given a chance. For example, the three- normally and contrary to the wishes of en- tional Academy of Sciences and the Insti- year agricultural development strategy, emies of the Somali nation and their tute of Medicine, "Scientists and Human which already is in its second year, was agents. There is no "Somali succession cri- Rights in Somalia," published in Washing- launched with the objective of making the sis," as wistfully depicted by the writer. ton in January. country self-sufficient in food by the begin- Likewise, other allegations in the article ning of the next decade. While integrated are either misrepresentations or pure fic- Richard Greenfield measures were undertaken and about $1 tions and fantasies created by the author Oxford University billion allocated to assist selected surplus- who has lost, in my view, any credibility Centre for International producing districts, a severe lack of rain because of his blind crusade of a personal and Development Studies this year became the most crucial factor vendetta against the Somali government. To the Editor: hampering agricultural work. In spite of It is very unfortunate that Greenfield so this, however, and perhaps for less stated For a long time now, Africa Report has often finds magazines like yours to lend reasons, government policy is often criti- made appreciable efforts to report exten- themselves to be used for his ends. cized for generating the present crisis. sively on developments in Africa, including its intractable problems. If only, however, As indicated on several occasions in the Dr. Abdullahi A. Addou it could become more rigorous in its sifting past, natural catastrophe may be contained Ambassador of the Somali Democratic Re- of what is being promoted by some quar- through relief assistance.