Basic HTML Version
These and other moves are serving
notice on the West that a new, neu–
tralized alignment of forces may be
underway in southern Africa.
Moscow's'Goals
The Soviet Union, unperceived to
.most in the West who see the strug–
gle in southern Africa in purely a
social or racial light, has two princi–
pal objectives in its Namibia policy.
First, in backing SWAPO to the hilt,
it aims
~o
turn another emerging na–
tion into a client state, claiming an–
other victory in the "international
class struggle."
Second- and far more impor–
tant- a Marxist Namibia would pro–
vide a new springpoard for terrorism
directed at South Africa. The over–
throw of the capitalist, Western–
oriented government in Pretoria re–
mains Russia's ultimate objective in
Africa, as stated time and again in
Soviet strategic readings. The prima–
ry purpose in this regard is to deprive
the Western world of the region's
vast mineral wealth, or to hold it
hostage at high ransom.
·
A recent American intelligence re–
port reaching the White House
warns that in the case of four strateg–
ic minerals-chromite, manganese,
vanadium and platinum- the Soviet
Union would become the dominant
supplier if Soutb Africa were out of
the market.
An editorial in the April 23, 1979
issue of
Aviation Week and Space
Technology
said this: "The President
of Somalia, situated on the strategic
Horn of Africa, recently told top-level
British officials that Soviet leaders had
made it bluntly clear to him when he
was their temporary ally that their
current policy had two goals:
"'First, pinch off the oil of the
Middle East from the economic sys–
tems of the West.
" 'Second, disrupt and deny the
mineral resources of Africa on which
the Western industrial nations are
dependen
t.' "
While the Soviet Union portrays
itself as the champion of the op–
pressed, its professed concern for the
welfare of the African people is hyp–
ocritical in tbe extreme. Its aims are
purely geopolitical, and because the
West is paralyzed over South Afri-
42
ca's interna! affairs, it has a relative–
ly free hand to stir up trouble.
The naive societies of the West
apparently can no longer recognize
who their real enemy is.
Africa's "Common Market"
Few people realize how closely inter–
twined the economies of the nations
of southern Africa really are-and
why the Communists want to break
things up to their advantage.
The facts of geography, natural
resources and national development.
moreover, dictate that the economic
pulsebeat of the entire region be the
Republic of South Africa. It is the
transportation and communications
hub of the entire subcontinent (from
Zaire's Shaba province southwards).
It supplies the bulk of necessary
foodstuffs and manufactures.
Even outside the region, the much–
maligned country plays an indispens–
able economic role. Nearly all the
nations of black Africa trade with
the "colossus of the South," either
openly or covertly.
The imposition of trade sanctions
against South Africa, as a result of
the Namibian impasse or for any
other reason, would send the econo–
mies of many black African nations
reeling. Most of them would sulfer
far more than the largely self-suffi–
cient republic.
Namibia itself is tied into the
Soutb African economy in literally
thousands of ways. South Africa pro–
vides many of its skilled managers
and technicians.
It
provides the ma–
jor source of capital investments as
well as guaranteeing markets and
marketing services for the bulk of
Namibia's exports. Pretoria subsi–
dizes Namibia's budgetary deficits
and directly funds costly irrigation
and hydroelectric projects.
It
oper–
ates vital services such as telecom–
munications, railways, the postal sys–
tem, scbools and health services. Is
all of this to be jeopardized on the
altar of revolutionary politics?
Authors Duignan and Gann,
quoted earlier, say this about Namib–
ia 's future-and by extension, the fu–
ture of many of the countries in this
part of the world: "The country's
economic and social advance has
been impressive. American academi-
cians would certainly have made
much of this progress bad it been
achieved in a social ist country under
socialist auspices... . No future Na–
mibian government can cut the
South African connection then with–
out incurring speedy and perhaps ir–
reversible economic disaster."
Age of Unreason
The outlook for peace in southern
Africa in general and Namibia in
particular is not good. An editorial in
the newspaper
Die Vaderland
states,
rather gloomily:
"If
a compromise
[over Namibia] is worked out sensi–
bly there is still hope- but then one
probably has to remember that we
live in a wor ld in which there is not
often room made for a reasonable
point of view."
How true. We live in an age of
unreason, of intractabiJity in many
quarters. This is, as readers of
The
Plain Truth
know, not God's world,
but Satan's. And everywhere Satan
is stirring up the wrath of "nation
against nation" (Matthew 24:7).
This is happening with increased in–
tensity the closer we cometo the end
of this world and the dawning of the
wonderful world tomorrow, the reign
of the Kingdom of God.
"The greatest lesson in the events"
unfolding in southern Africa, noted
one observer, " is that there can only
be mutual advantages if there is eco–
nomic, technical and otber coopera–
tion."
Again, very true. All peoples of
this troubled region must learn to live
together in harmony and mutual re–
spect. The alternative is, to borrow
the phrase of former South African
Prime Minister John Vorster, "too
ghastly to contemplate."
Another very apt saying concern–
ing the human complexities of south–
ern Africa goes like tbis: "You can
shoot a zebra in either a white stripe
or a black stripe-but the animal
dies neverthelcss."
Tragically, one senses that we will
have to wait for the world tomorrow
in order for southern Africa to
achieve the utopía sorne of the re–
gion's economic theorists have long
envisioned.
It
certainly won' t occur
under the brutality of Communist
totalita rianism. o
Tlle
PLAIN TRUTH June-July 1979