Basic HTML Version
16
The
PLAIN TRUTH
March,
1970
than that of one major U. S. educational institution, the Mas–
sachusetts Institute of Technology!
In 1966 the nations of the world
spent
40% more on
military programs than on .eublic education. World military
budgets amounted to
$
L50 bi llion, whercas only $111 billion
wus budgeted for pubJic education.
Military expenditures exceed those for public education
in about half the countries of the world, induding the U. S.
$4 T r illion Sacrificed to War
In the first half of the 20th century, warring mankind
sp~nt
fom· triltion dollars
on war or preparation for war. But
military expenditures in recent times have been skyrocketing.
A recent survey reveals that, at the current cate, the world is
going to spend another four trillion dollars on the military in
just the next ten years! This enormous sum, reports
Scientific
American,
"far excceds the total valuation of all U.
S.
land,
buildings, machinery, business and cash."
The Awesome Toll of Life
At the 2 Lst International Congress of the Red Cross in
Istanbul, it was reported that more than 90,000,000 people
have been killed in warfare since the century began. Said Jose
Barroso of Mexico, chairman of the Red Cross League:
"If
we continue on the road of violence ... our century will fig–
ure in history as the most humiliating in thc existence of thc
human race."
Many have forgottcn the borrors of wars our century has
witnessed.
According to various estimates on war casual ties, around
20 million military and civilians were killed in World War
l ,
directly or by indirect war-related causes. World War
11
wit–
nessed the horror of 50 to 60 million killed - this time more
civilian deaths than military.
In the Korean War, over one million military personnel
wcre killed, whilc five mi!lion civilians lost their l ives due to
warfare, disease, or other causes attributable to war. The
Vietnam conflict is harder to estimate. Possibly one million
civilian and military lives have been snuffed out.
The tragic record of modern warfare points out a dis·
turbing trend: wars are more and more involving
civilia11
populations rather than just military personncl.
*
*
*
*
*
e
Africa in TÚrmoil
•
Tbe Nigeria-Biafra war is only onc of many ugly ínter–
tribal and interracial conflicts in Africa.
Today, fourteen years after black Africa began the
transition from colony to independent statc, turmoil is still
the rule, not the exception.
In tbe Sudan a little-publicized seven-year civil war
has claimed an appalling 500,000 lives. Arab and Nubian
tribes in the north, containing two thirds of Sudan's 6fteen
million people, control the national government. In Sudan's
three soutbern provinccs, ten thousand black tribesman guer-
rillas control much of the couotryside. The rebels, however,
lack the modero weapons to overthrow Sudanese army control
of the major cities in the region.
More than 160,000 soutbern blacks have fled the Sudan,
often to find unfriendly troops of neighboring countries wait–
ing on the other side of the bordee. No end appears in sight
to the racial conflict which has been smolderiog off and on
for centuri<.:s.
To the west, in nomadic northern Chad, we see a similar
yet strangely reverse situation. Traditional enmity has led
Mos lem Arabs (who comprise 55% of tbe oation's 3.5 mil–
lion people) to rebel against national rulership exerciscd by
the black Christian tribes of the south.
Guerrillas of the poorly equipped "Chadian National
Liberation Front" reportedly roam the huge nation nearly at
will. Reports
f
rom the parched and isolated, sparsely popu–
lated country indicate that up to four thousand terrorists peri–
odically raid villages, steal cattle and kili innocent bystandcrs.
Early last year the former French colony requested mili–
tary support from París to bolster its meager 4000-man army.
So
far the French have added
l
500 elite shock troops to the
900-man garrison already stationcd there. But the clusive
guerrillas are proving difficult to control.
In Africa's south, tiny Portugal has been forced to main–
tain sorne 150,000 troops
in
its two big territories of Angola
and Mozambique to counter insurgent terrorist bands. And in
Portuguese Guinea, 614 rebel troops were killed in anti–
guerriiJa activity during 1969.
The list of African nations facing violent upheavals does
not even end hcre. The Moslem-Christian battle also affects
Ethiopia where the Damascus-based Eritrean Liberation Front
has hijacked or bombed Ethiopian Airways' planes, attacked
convoys, and raided plantations. In neighboring SomaJia,
President Shermarke was assassinated on October 15, 1969.
Six days later a military coup took over the nation, suspendiog
all civil liberties.
Dahomey is presently trying out its tenth governmcnt in
the last nine years.
In
Zambia, tribalism has rockcd the ruling party, forcing
President Kaunda into a wholesale reorganization of the
party structures. And Uganda continues the state of emer–
gency declared in Buganda in 1966 due to royalist tensions
and attempts on the life of Prcsidcnt Milton Obote.
In all, newly independent black Africa is wandering lost
and somewhat helpless in the tidcs of tribalism. Revolutions,
coups, and political repression are at most the status quo. Ten
nations - Mali, Upper Volta, Togo, Nigeria, thc Central
African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa),
Sudan, Burundi, aod Somalia live under military rule. They
comprise
47%
of the 200 million people of formerly colonial
A
frica.
Ten political assassioatioos have rocked
this
region since
the era of independence began in 1956. And the governments
now in power seem totally incapable of coping with any of
these problems. For a full report on Africa's problems, read
the articlc beginning on page 3.