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jority-rule plan in September 1976.)
Instead, the Kremlin is giving fu lf
support to the " Patriotic Front"
guerrillas who have vowed to figbt
on against Rhodesia's black-major–
ity government now being formed.
In South West Africa (Namibia),
Moscow is backing the South West
Afri ca People's Organizati o n
(SWAPO) guerrilla movement to
the hilt in its effort to wrest control
of the territory by force, circum–
venting another peaceful solut ion
that would keep Namibia in the
free-world orbit.
To better accomplish the above
objectives, the Soviets recently es–
tablished a secret training camp in
war-ravaged Angola to train 25,000
African guerrillas who will forro ar–
mies to attack Rhodesia, South
West Africa and Zaire.
Britain's noted geopolitical expert
Lord Chalfont sums up the Red
push in this manner: "What we are
faced wi th in Ethiopia is the latest
phase in a carefully coordinated
Russian plan. What happened in
Angola [in 1975-1976] is now hap–
pening in the Horn of Africa. If it
succeeds there as it succeeded in
Angola, the next t arget will be
southern Africa; and there is little
reason to believe that the West will
have any clearer idea of how to de–
fend its interests there than it has
had up to now."
Llmpld West
How has the United States, as well
as the rest of the free world, reacted
to these startlíng developments?
With hardly a whimper.
The most the United States has
said officially about the Kremlin's
naked power grab in the Horn is
Presid ent Carter's astonishingly
mild assessment tbat , once the de–
feated Somali troops leave Ethio–
pia's Ogaden region, a pullback of
Cuban troops and Soviet advisers in
Ethiopia "should begin."
But not only have the Cubans not
pulled out , additional thousands
have apparently arrived since the
President's "warning." These troops
are poised to help Ethiopia crush
the Eritrean rebellion along its Red
Sea coast, thereby securing key port
cities for use by the Soviet navy.
(Two of the Eritrean rebel groups,
ironically, are Marxist-oriented-
6
one of them, up until now, quite
pro-Cuban.)
lt
is into this rapidly deteriorating
situation that the United States–
with its newly unveiled African pol–
icy- has at last decided to venture.
President Carter's recent visit to Ni–
geria and Li,beria- the first by an
American president in office to
black Africa-reftects this new ap–
proach. But how effective will it be?
An editorial in the
Daily Tele–
graph
of London (April 1, 1978) ex–
pressed serious reservations: "Mr.
Carter and his principal officers un–
fortunately do appear to be making
a wrongheaded approach. All the
evidence is that they think the best
way to counter Russian and other
Communist penetra tion into Africa is
to compete for favour witb tbose
countries most likely to welcome such
penetratíon, rather than by actively
supporting those most likely to resist
it. Thus Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia,
Mozambique, evenAngola, are in the
American sights as desi rable objects
of loving courtship. Zaire (formerly
an American favou rite), Kenya,
Senegal, Ivory Coast, Malawi and
others, who are distinctly opposed to
Russian and Cuban penetration, are
seen as undeservingofblandishment.
This policy can be seen a t its most
glaring-and potentially disastrous–
in connection with the tussle for Rho–
desia."
Woolng Nlgerla
One cornerstone of America's new
African policy is cementing a favor–
able relationship with Nigeria, black
Africa's most populous (80 million)
state and one of its most prosperous.
Nigeria has become the second lead–
ing oil exporter to the United States.
On his recent three-day visit to
Nigeria, Mr. Carter did nothing to
dispel the not ion that he was com–
ing as a supplicant, currying that
nation's favor. He stressed to his
host, Nigeria's strongman Lt. Gen–
eral Olusegun Obasanjo, America's
growing dependence upon Nigerian
oil, adding tha t "more and more the
economic well-being of Americans
depends on the growth of the devel–
oping nations."
Mr. Carter, however, got almost
nothing out of General Obasanjo by
way of condemnation of Soviet and
Cuban military adventurism on the
continent. If anytbing, Nigeria tends
to bend the other way on the So–
viet/Cuban questíon. The Nigerian
government has said it does not op–
pose Cuban troops in Africa pro–
vided they are used to suppor t
legitimate, even though Marxist-ori–
ented, African governments, such as
those in Ethiopia or Angola. Nige–
ria 's ambassador to the United Na–
tions, Leslie O. Harriman, says:
"Unquestionably, Cuba is an impor–
tant leader of the nonaligned bloc
and a constructive force at the
United Nations."
General Obasanjo, on the other
hand, sternly lectured the President
on the importance of the United
States cutting trade and investment
links with South Africa as proof of
America's sincere intentions toward
black Africa. According to a report
in London's
Daily Telegraph,
Mr.
Carter "barely resísted pressure"
from General Obasanjo, who wants
to see a total economic blockade on
South Africa. The President replied
tha t the U.S. and the Western pow–
ers couldn't move in this direction
"at this time."
Of course, the Nigerian military
strongman didn't mention a little se–
cret: Nigeria covertly trades with
South Africa through third parties.
Nearly all of black Africa trades
with South Africa either openly or
under the table; two-way trade be–
tween South Africa and members of
the Organization of Afri can
Unity- which officially has slapped
Pretoria with trade sanctio ns–
amounts to $ 1.7 billion ayear!
Dangerous Course
In Lagos, and later in Monrovia,
Liberia, Mr. Carter mostly told
Africans wha t they wanted to hear.
He delivered impassioned pleas on
human rights, majority rule and an
end to " the towering wa ll of
racism"- in southern Africa.
The President denounced the in–
t e rn a ) settlement on majority
rule in Rhodesia reached by Prime
Minister Ian Smith and three mod–
erate black leaders as being "ille–
gal." He called for a new round of
consulta tions between the Salisbury
"internalists" and the leaders of the
two " Patriotic Front" guerrilla ar–
mies who are intent on gaining
(Continued on page 41)
The
PLAIN TRUTH June/July 1978