Listen Here; Joseph Palmer: The New Africa

I think I've been asked to introduce Homa is our third Helmsley lecture because we share a common interest in African questions. Though. I must say. That Joseph Palma assistant secretary of state for African Affairs has known Africa much better and much longer than anyone and all of us. He's one of the few really experienced members of the State Department. Who has spent most of his active career in dealing with African questions. He was formerly the director general of the Foreign Service which is indeed a cover of the post within the foreign service in the State Department. Former ambassador to Nigeria. And I think has very many interesting things to say on Nigeria. And one of the most experienced people we have in this country dealing with African affairs. I think it's for this. The reason that we're particularly

pleased to have him here at Brandeis University as the third Helmsley lecturer and you know the help of the lecturers were established by a grant from the Herbie Helmsley Lectro fund to help reduce barriers separating races creeds and nationalities. Joseph poem has been very busy recently dealing with stuck with her as well as all other African questions. We're very lucky to have him helping us to understand Africa today. May I introduce your poem. It's. Thank you so the. Thank you very much indeed. This is Morgan thought. It's always a great pleasure to have an old friend introduce you and particularly the one who is as

distinguished an African ist is Ruth Ruth Morgan. I would like to say what a very great pleasure it is for me to be here with you this evening. It's great to get out of Washington to get out of the bureaucracy to get into an academic atmosphere. I always remember the some years ago we had a very distinguished young lawyer who worked for the State Department with a very distinguished name his name was Mike Cardoza. Mike had a little small five a six year old son who was going to kindergarten and they had one of these programs I think they called it tell all where the child was supposed to get up and tell what his father did and tell about the family life. And one little boy got up in the class and said start off by saying my daddy works in the State

Department where that Mike's little boy couldn't stand it any longer and he got to his feet and said that's not and he said my daddy lives in the state park. So I think that all of us there kind of feel sometimes as if we live there and it is a great pleasure indeed to be able to come out and and to talk to you and to get your insights and your feelings for so many of the problems that we have dealing with. We have to deal with. I am particularly on a do be have been invited to participate in the Harry B Helmsley lecture series and I know that you will understand me when I say that as a public servant with a passion for anonymity to use Franklin Roosevelt's words I'm not a little overawed to be following such an impressive list of distinguished philosophers and educators and religious leaders as those who have been on this platform before me.

Nevertheless I am comforted by the fact that I am speaking in the area in which I grew up and which I therefore know to be traditionally a gala Terry and south books so I know that you will make to discount for me. I'm also particularly pleased to be able to speak to you tonight on the new Africa continent of change at Brandeis University. I think this is particularly appropriate because this great institution has in a very short period of time acquired a well degree a well-deserved reputation for a sensitive understanding of the need for change and for creative thinking both of which are so essential to a comprehension of present day Africa. I would like to say again somewhat they are somewhat parents that a claim that I was given a little latitude in choosing my title

and I was quite pleased with the title I'd chosen of the new Africa cotton out of change till I got off the plane that Logan Airport this afternoon and discovered that my counterpart the assistant secretary for American republic affairs was just like and Gordon was also on the same plane with me so we greeted each other as we got off and I said Link What are you doing out here. And he said always and I'm giving a speech. And I said Well so am I. I said What are you speaking on. He said I'm speaking on Latin America a continent of change. So any of you who are interested in comparative government I don't know you might have a look at the two texts. The emergence of 35 nations in 15 years is as the mathematicians might say the outward and visible sign of a progression of change in Africa which is reaching

geometric and even exponential proportions. The full dimensions of this change are as allusive to calculate as the definitive value of pi. Yet if we really do understand the new Africa this change is so all important that we must attempt to factor it however imperfectly our methodology may be. In the comparative isolation of colonialism over the period of generations the African sorry himself and his world in a peculiar optic in a changing world he found the certainty of his time honored traditions lost at least a portion of their relevance. Well many of the colonial innovations failed satisfactorily to change them to change the verb to replace them. To change the verb tense of the title of a book by the Nigerian writer chin were a J.B. things

fell apart. One of the most striking elements of the new Africa however is the re discovery by Africans of themselves reflected most eloquently and writings of poet and political leader labels and Gore. The African has found a new dignity in his freedom in his history and in his color is a fascinating coincidence that in these same year is the evidence is mounting that Africa may well be the cradle of the earliest man the African thus finds himself in a sense the oldest and the newest of mankind. Coinciding with the achievement of African independence and the revitalization of an African personality there has been opened up to the people of this continent the new world of education and technology. The revolution of

Independence brought an explosion of education a three fold increase in literacy in those 15 years the influx of ideas has so stimulated the change in Afghan minds. The span of generations as far as Outlook is concerned has become as short as four or five years. All of this has involved an acceleration of aspirations with respect to almost every aspect of human life. Individual rights economic growth national goals Continental unity international understanding and will peace. This is hardly surprising particularly when one takes into account the past isolation of Africa from progress in these fields. But what independent people can justified in themselves or the others for going the fruits of the great intellectual and material advances which are the common

heritage of all mankind. Or a failing to make their own unique and important contributions to these challenging developments. The fact that these many nations obtain their independence in such a short period of time represents retrospectively the end of three major colonial empires the British the French and the Belgians. Although the process of decolonization is not yet completed the die is been cast and the significance of this great historical process belongs lodging largely if not yet completely to the past in a far more meaningful sense for the present. The end of this colonialism marks the beginning of thirty five major experiments in the government of man. This experimentation is bound to produce its share of problems along

with its share of successes. It is plagued by contradictions and disappointment along with its consistencies and its achievements. Ingest is an older independent society as the process of adapting to change will be a neverending one. In spite of a bewildering variety of developments there seem to be three trends which predominate in Africa today. Together they give the continent a distinctive pattern which will probably condition its political life for some time to come. First the dialogue between the modem and the traditional in political life has entered a new phase both on the national and at the local level of these new nations. In the eyes of the new nations the colonial officials here the two

the purveyors of the moden have suddenly become old fashioned overnight new powers and responsibilities were acquired by those assuming political responsibility. New goals was set and intensive sorting out began of what was really important in the body politic the political leaders were no longer constrained to rule under benevolent governance or impelled to agitate as opponents of a foreign power. They were free to govern and propelled by the very nature of this societies to transform their governments into wind instruments which reflected the mores of their own peoples. This brought into a new perspective the modern and the traditional The National and the tribal and the efficient and the less

effective. But quite understandably there was been no single clear answer to these conflicts. Instead the dialogue has already provided a variety of responses. For example monarchies have been renewed in some cases parliamentary responsibility has continued in others while presidential executives in various forms have flourished in still others but under all these institutional rubrics indigenous political systems are undergoing far reaching transformation to evolve institutions that are African in their inspiration and expression. This leads to a second post independence development which I believe characterizes the Africans for self-expression in most of the new nations. A one party system in one form

or another has consolidated its power. But even here the Patten has not been rigid and it has ranged from the highly authoritative authoritarian structure which existed in Ghana under in Cooma the far more flexible system obtaining in states such as Zambia. It's no surprise therefore that the debates on the merit of this change have been widespread. For example President Auraria of Tanzania has persuasively defended the establishment of a single party in terms of the need for fully utilizing all available leadership in the development of his country and almost everywhere the African respect for dissent has fostered an atmosphere for exposing and debating opposing ideas. Thirdly another manifestation of change has been the emergence of the military as a dominant force in a number of new nations

except in Algeria. Independence came with relative speed and with minimal organized fighting. The leaders of almost all of the other states came from civilian professions for many reasons however the military elements in a number of the new nations lost confidence in their civilian leaders. In some cases they disapproved of corruption or became frustrated because of inefficiency in other cases they were unprepared to accept restrictions on their position and still others personal elements in a struggle for power were undoubtedly important. In the eight countries where this is taking place however there has been no single pattern of development. One military government has yielded to some civil

power to have yielded to other military regimes. Some have retained important elements of the civilian government while at least one has clearly expanded rather than restricted the political powers of civilian elements in the country. There is little reason to believe that this process of experimentation in government and in politics is any more than just begun. I want to lie on this point. I need only refer to the concluding chapter of the study of political parties and French speaking West Africa written by a distinguished African is Mrs. Morgenthau in which she notes both the dynamics which develop within the parties during the surge toward independence and the implications for the future inherent in this change. While economic change in the New

Africa or is in some ways been less dramatic than the political transformation simply has not been less complex in the period of decolonization political preparation for independence was increasingly compressed in time to crash programs of progressive self-government. The pace of economic advancement was never commensurate with this trend and the resulting situation confronting the new leadership confronted the new leadership with a tremendous GAC in the task of modernising largely subsistence low product low productive and highly vulnerable economies. The nature of Africa's economic problems can be illustrated if not solved by looking at the changing pattern of its production its communications and its trade. In the period of colonial dominance dependence

the patten of African production was asymmetrical in that the economic life was not directed toward the whole needs of the country. For example one of the largest and most advanced activities consume the production of subsurface resources with little relationship that they use in Africa. Thus the copper diamond iron ore and other minerals were produced in terms of external use by a multiple. And alongside this more than exploitation of Africa's resources plantation crops received heavy emphasis as part of export activity. Now it is true that all of this production for foreign markets produce the foreign exchange required to import consumer goods. But there was little incentive for the colonial power to encourage the manufacture of even the simplest of these locally and we still have the anomaly

of a potentially rich agricultural continent having to import a considerable amount of its food needs. With the advent of independence a new symmetry of economic activity is emerging one which continues a basic emphasis on the exportation of mineral and agricultural resources but which also emphasizes right which also recognizes the changing situation within Africa itself. Agriculture for example. Is slowly and sometimes on evenly being transformed from subsistence to cash crop production. Greatest stress is being placed on indigenous food production and the need for correcting dietary deficiencies in crop concentration. One needs only see the products available in remote markets. I watch the cattle coming from hundreds of miles to be sold

at central points to mock the increase of the money economy throughout the continent. Also noteworthy is the expansion of manufacturing in the New Africa trend in production from simple to more complex consumer goods is already evident followed by the beginning of heavier industry and basic processing of raw materials. Similar changes flowing from independents can be found in other areas of economic activity. The lines of communication for example formally oriented to the needs of the colonial power telegraph and telephone lines went to the métropole instead of two neighboring countries. Roads and rail road nets tended to be developed in conformity to the geography of political control rather than on an economic or regional basis. With independence the need for communication among Africans has become

imperative. Hence new African nations are most eager to link that telecommunications communications and to enlarge their transportation facilities with each other. No more dramatic example can be cited than the preoccupations of Zambia and Tanzania with their road rail and pipeline links. The patten of African trade traditionally developed within the framework. Of colonial purchases preferences and investment. Hence the new African nations now find themselves not only seeking to achieve freedom from over dependence upon a particular external power but they see an agent need to develop economic relationships amongst themselves a common market for the whole continent may in fact be a goal which will take decades to reach. But as an aspiration it

is high on the list of African does that arise out of the building of new nations as all of us. I know as Americans will recognize is a hazardous business. African leaders in particular must carry with them the burdens of an onerous past suffering for long periods of Indonesia seen warfare and drained of generations of manpower through slavery. Much of Africa has undergone a colonial occupation which entailed among other things a division of peoples and regions on the basis of Great Power Politics. The resultant boundaries of course were a blend of diplomatic compromise and of imperial conquest. They serve purposes that will primarily extraneous to Africa and they not only disregarded the elemental principles of tribal cohesion cohesion

but they became linguistic walls between French and English speaking areas trading barriers between otherwise complementary economies and sources of discord among governments in people in the new Africa. They pose so many problems. The sheer complexity of trying to give the continent sensible front is make it necessary for African statesman to affirm their sanctity. In fact one leader is reported to have remarked the bond breeze of African countries was so absurd that it was impossible to consider changing. In spite of this advice however the question affronted is has a rapid into several disputes on the continent. The most notable of been the longstanding differences between Ethiopia and Somalia which spill over to the south with respect to Kenya and on the north with respect to

French Somaliland and then there has been the Bondra dispute between Algeria and Morocco. But these merely highlight the exceptions to the general rule. On the whole the Africans deserve great credit for their mutual forbearance in accepting present borders. The pull of the past however. Is much more than the patchwork quilt of international front he is. It also derives from tribal inheritance which in its original form sought to regulate the entire life of all its members. Shaken by missionary efforts both Christian and Islamic baffled and often broken by colonial administrators and finally penetrated by modern communication from pressed transistor radios tribalism is frequently able to resist change. But it is really able

to provide an enduring alternative. And Sid is tended to Tampa rather than to help Africans in their task of nature nation building while tribal virtues and tribal loyalties are frequently of value to the individual and his personal life. Collectively they tend to be resistant to the integrative imperatives of the modern nation state. Nevertheless progress is being made and for every identifiable case of tribal resistance resistance to national integration. There is a large number of lesser publicized cases where the transition is successfully taken place. The problems of the past and I've mentioned only to a much larger number. Have been particularly Honora's to many of the members of Africa leaders of Africa whose aspirations have been equaled only by the

pressures for change which have been placed upon them. Exhilarated by the momentum of rapid independence impelled by a desire. For quick and general success Boyd up by a faith that their leaders could move these mountainous problems quickly. The people of many new nations quickly found out what many of their leaders already understood namely that independents did not. In an op ed cites in and of itself provide ready answers to their pressing problems. It is under these circumstances that the glamour of panaceas has sometimes been irresistible. In the case of several nations there was another pressure on the leadership of the new Africa which is often overlooked. It might be called the klieg light approach to both foreign and domestic affairs with communications much more rapid than anyone

imagined. A few years ago. And with travelers journalists international committees and diplomats in every part of the globe a struggling leader with real problems of nation building has no alternative but to work them out. In a not in circumstances in which each on toward development is instantly reported and usually interpreted for a vast world audience of Monday morning quarterbacks. My objective in saying this is to emphasize how important it is for recipients of these reports to keep these problems in perspective and to provide an opportunity for the same considered approach to this solutions that older nations enjoyed at a time when the communications problem was not as compounded as it is at the present time.

Despite these problems there is every good reason I believe to view the political prospects of nation building in Africa with much more than just forbearance. Given the speed of Independence the limited size of administrative Codders and the centrifugal forces which we have mentioned the record of achievement is impression is impressive. If the problem of cohesion within the new states is not yet solved and that of transitioning from one government to another. Is not always peaceful. We must recognize that these are problems which have long played plague mankind in its effort to govern itself equitably and efficiently. Economic growth in Africa results where is connected with the eternal triangle of man his soil and his productive

capabilities while in many ways Africa was no different in this respect than the rest of the world. It has five particular characteristics which hold promise of beneficial change. First it's subsoil resources a substantial and assuming a new importance within the context of independent Africa. As Geological Surveys are extended the prospects in many parts of the continent are therefore bright for earning the foreign exchange resources which is so badly needed for economic development. For example production is rapidly increasing in the copper from Zambia in the Congo. The iron ore from Gotbaum in Liberia the Block site from Guinea in Ghana and most dramatically the oil from Algeria Libya and Nigeria. Along with its agricultural production these minerals have helped Africa triple its

exports since the independence movement got underway. Second the problem of overpopulation is not as yet as acute in Africa or as in other parts of the world. Even though some countries such as Burundi are directly afflicted and signs of large unemployment in urban centers of multiplying the continent has at least a limited period of grace before the population increase threatens to overtake its economic expansion. We should not be complacent however for Africa's birth rate is the highest of any of the underdeveloped continents. Its death rate is bound soon to drop and sanitation and health measures such as mass inoculation programs become more effective. And as we prepare a program of smallpox eradication and measles control for 100 million people in West

Africa which is presently about to be undertaken it will be important that the states of the area will also begin thinking about the basic issues of population control. Thirdly the question the population question underlines the paramount importance to Africa of a genuine agricultural revolution. During the past 30 years Africa has changed from the next boarding area in food products to an in porting continent of even such necessities as grain and rice. Having some advantages over other parts of the world. In the nature of his land ownership and exploitation. Africa nevertheless must achieve basic land reform. Apply scientific knowledge often available in the research station but not known to the pharma counteract the frequent droughts and overcome the widespread poverty

of the soil. Only by such fundamental changes and is most important of all economic activity can the continent expect to advance its economic growth rate faster than its population increase. Fourthly the Exton all assistance to Africa during the past five years is totaled about seven point eight billion dollars which is a higher per capita assistance than elsewhere in the underdeveloped world measured in terms of need of course. This is assistance has only begun to meet Africa's problems. Nevertheless externally he's done his major share in preparing the base in a number of African countries for a significant growth its expansion is necessary if Africa was to obtain the essential infrastructure and capital and capital asset which it needs for

development. As the president of the IBRD Mr. George Woods wrote in Foreign Affairs. The underdeveloped countries are seeking to end of the 20th century. But many of them in some respects have not yet reached the 19th he warns the developed nations that it would be unthinkable for the rich and nations by their inaction to let the developing world lose hold of its hard won gains and lose sight of its goals. Fifth they the substantial increase in education is one of the most heartening developments in the new Africa. For example salt of the sun how our universities have multiplied the past decade from a handful of small colleges a few universities to some 25 fully qualified institutions of higher education. Equally important

secondary education has almost tripled during the same period. Exciting aspects of this new in changing Africa was the intellectual ferment which has accompanied its a merchant's and which is pacing its growth. I have always mentioned I have already mentioned Leopold's and gor as a prophet of Negritude but he should also be described as a president and as a nation builder. In addition to his poetry which in its glorification of one people is also speaking more widely of mankind and sindoor as you know. Sender is as you know the president of a new nation and one of the great leaders seeking to achieve a synthesis of what is good in both European and African civilization. We should also recall the Jomo Kenyatta was an anthropology anthropologist before he was caught up in politics moving from prison to Presidency in Kenya. He

has also brought with him the encouragement of learning and the support of multiracial concepts of government in Tanzania. President Julius to rarey is a political scientist and a practical humanist who is one of the most articulate exponents of Achan ideals is also the translator of Shakespeare into Swahili. In unofficial spheres of African life we see a burgeoning of many kinds of artistic expression. Interesting and interestingly enough this is reflected in our own interests in Africa not only has a Museum of African art opened in Washington recently but Howard University presented a special the exhibit of the I. Nigerian sculptor for K. and the Harmon foundation in Philadelphia is presently sponsoring a major exhibition of Africa not one of the most contemporary aspects of our admiration of Africa scientistic

creation is the discovery by American women by America's fashion industry of African designs and colors and fabrics. The most exciting display of the artistic upsurge of the new Africa however was the first World Festival of Negro arts which was held at Dak car last April. Over 10000 visitors gathered for almost a month to immerse themself in the dance drama and poetry of the African continent. The world also saw how it owed a deep artistic debt to Africa. The American participation included some of the most remarkable loudest in music in literature and when they performed they spoke for both caught us. I believe that a continent as diverse as Africa cannot but help it can it cannot help but have a dynamic

future. The problems which is thirty nine nations will face in their many interrelationships could not possibly all be anticipated. Let alone discussed in a single evening I would like however to pick out two important challenges which are increasingly facing the cot. That of continental cooperation more frequently called the challenge of unity and secondly the problems of capital on Africa. Just as there developed during the emergence of independent Africa aspirations concerning human dignity political freedom and economic well-being there also developed an affinity among Africans and a common need to support each other in their aspirations.

Bust the desire for African Unity became part of the struggle for national independence. If there had been a cloying for all African nationalists it might well have had the national leader on one side while the reverse would have been a map of the entire continent. It should be added that while the most obvious manifestation of this conference has been the series of political conferences beginning in the late 50s the U.S. has also extended to the economic area where human rights and racial dignity were projected onto the continental screen. The Organization of African Unity established a data Sobber in May 1963 was the practical result of this movement. It appropriately dedicated So both to the defense of national sovereignty and to the achievement of continental unity. It made an eloquent

appeal to the conscience of mankind in the area of human rights described by the con by observers at the conference as a remarkable feat of the nearly impossible the OAU the Organization of African Unity is a reflection of both what unites and divides the continent. In spite of crises of various sorts ranging from who will participate at particular meetings to territorial disputes the OAU has thus far shown both in durance and adaptability. And each of its annual summit meetings and through its more frequent many meetings of foreign ministers the OAU is generally strengthened its organization and increased its capability to deal with disputes and has acted as the conscience of the continent on a number of issues. Having rejected the panacea error of elite Confederation it is

nevertheless tried repeatedly and with considerable success to develop consensus and cooperation in matters of deep importance to the people of Africa. The economic card Apoc for of of African cooperation is the UN Economic Commission for Africa with its headquarters also a that is solvable. Born in 1958 this body has the exceptionally difficult task of trying to chart and guide the economic growth of the car moving with some difficulty in part because this budget does not come directly from its members but from the United Nations. The commission has sought to strengthen institutional cooperation throughout the continent. One offshoot of this effort has been the development instituted back while another recent effort is the African Development Bank whose

headquarters has been opened at opposition. The African approach to cooperation is above all pragmatic. A realisation that welfare is not subject to territorial boundaries. African leaders moreover are interested in working together in many different ways. The US under the ECMA auspices sub regional economic communities are being planned for different parts of the cot under UN auspices and series of River Basin groups being developed for several of the great Indian waterway arteries of Africa. In the east where there continues to be a common services organization which may well eventually provide the basis for an East African Federation in one form or another in the north ma grabby and unity remains more of a

vision than a reality. But elements of increased cooperation are present on an ad hoc basis. Other plans for regional institutional development in other parts of the continent such as West and Central Africa. Are proceeding in spite of language and historical differences. The theme often heard of African solutions for African problems is thus a challenge for the cooperative efforts of the new nations of this changing climate. The same theme has rather special relevance to the second challenge of the future of Africa which I have mentioned the problems of cap of Capricorn Africa the African rather he is a student meeting you over coffee. With a foreign minister meeting you in his office or a clerk in a local bank is likely to get around sooner rather than later to

the problems in the southern sixth of his continent. These countries those countries and territories lying near the Tropic of Capricorn opposed to the African the most basic issues affecting his life his country and his race. There was a clash between the political and economic aspirations which motivated him as an individual and the tenets of the authorities that are governing those areas. There was the denial of principles which underlie the emergence of there was a done denial of principles in Southern Africa which underlies the emergence of his own nation. There was a challenge to accepted standards of human equality and dignity which have been written into the charters of the world community. There is the dilemma

of peaceful or violent change in each of the particular problems of the Southern sixth of the continent. In view of these common problems the African naturally tends to consider the questions of Southern Rhodesia the Portuguese territories South West Africa and South Africa as all part of the challenge to the existence of his new Africa in Rhodesia. He views the domination of 94 percent of the population by a white minority of 6 percent of the population as an affront to the principle of racial equality and of majority rule in Angola and Mozambique. Portuguese colonialism appears to the new Africa as an example of the past frustrating the hopes for the future. In an effort to reverse direction. In southwest Africa the new

African looks with hope on the recent U.N. decision terminating South Africa's mandate over this international territory and expects the realisation of the territories an alien born in alienable right to self determination in South Africa. He sees a bastion of officially sponsored political inhuman inequality which is also a principal source of strength for the perpetuation of minority rule in nearby territories. Finally he does not believe that these problems and these dilemmas. He is alone. He sees them as the common responsibility of the world conscience. So I am glad to be able to say that as the United States the New Africa has been preoccupied with its own national and Continental problems. But this does not mean that it has had no interest

in the rest of the world. In fact one of the dramatic results of the independence movement in Africa was to change drastically its representation in the United Nations for thirty nine members. The African leaders however faced a new role in the world with a minimum of training and a maximum of handicaps. Having little prior experience in the field of foreign affairs they had to pull men from all professions to represent them abroad and to train additional stuff almost simultaneously with many problems of rapid change and even instability at home. These do diplomats and their leaders found themselves called upon to deal with some of the major international issues of all time. In choosing a foreign policy the Africans of

all elected nonaligned. Admittedly this means many things to many leaders but it is certain common elements essentially non-alignment is sought to do for things. It is tried first to achieve on a continental basis. What President Washington advised early in our own history on a national basis and avoidance of entangling alliances. It has been concerned second with obtaining the time and the opportunity for African nations to concentrate on their own internal political and economic development. It is search third for an African consensus with respect to a court and world issues. While most African nations wish to avoid individual alignment they have not sought neutrality or isolation.

Instead they want to exercise together an influence which they know that they cannot expect to observe as single States. It is hoped for to obtain for the Continent a certain immunity from dangers to its existence through such arrangements as a nuclear free zone. I have this evening tried to give something of the feel of the new Africa in a changing climate. In so doing I have deliberately avoided the specifics of our policies toward the continent in turning from these comments to my conclusion however I would like to recall to you certain essential themes which President Johnson elaborated last May on the occasion of the third on the anniversary of the Organization of African Unity. First that there is a close identity between the

people of the United States and those of Africa in their aspirations for freedom equality justice and dignity. Secondly that there is a very proximate bond between our two continents in our common experience with political development economic progress and search for human rights. Thirdly that we wish to see Africa succeed in the tasks that Africa is setting for itself and that we stand prepared to assist it in this great undertaking. Responding to the best of our ability to African hopes to African aspirations the president proposed that we strengthen our assistance to Africa in those areas such as regional organization telecommunications transportation education and agriculture. We have a special contribution to make and which are also

essential for the advancement of the African continent is as a whole as a fervent hope that together with other nations which wish Africa Well we can effectively assist the New Africa to achieve its goals and to realize its full potential as a vital and dynamic force in a world of change. Thank you very. Thankful. Thank you very much Mr. Palmer for this overall view of the problem of the continent. I know that you are filled with questions so the floor is open to questions both specific in general to Mr Palmer the question is would you comment on the future of the OAU. I think well the OAU is having a

rather rough time right now to over the events of the of the past few days as the result of the gun again the dispute and again its face at the summit with a very high degree of absenteeism. I think on this particular occasion the only 11 heads of state that are present however I think we do have to realize that the whole process of building any institution of this kind. Inevitably is fraught with difficulties and mistakes are going to be made that there are going to be disputes that will be that will be destructive. But this is the reason the organization is there. Now it is quite true that the French West African states

plus the Malagasy Republic have formed their own organization. This is not unknown in other contexts and Latin America for example. You have other different organizations within the general framework of the Organization of American States. I just feel that that the OAU I think is an organization organization is responsive to something that Africans do want to try to achieve on a continental basis. And although I'm sure they'll continue to have their growing pains They'll also have to have their successes and. And I myself feel that the prospects for the future of the organization despite occasional setbacks of this kind

remains bright in the same sense that I think experience has shown in other contexts particularly in the Latin American context that with experiment experience and experimentation they can evolve cooperative forms that meet the needs of the Christians. Yes. Whether Mr. Palmer would care to comment. Between the disparity between official condemnation of apartheid in South Africa and the refusal to discourage investment in South Africa. Well. Let me start by relating condemnation of apartheid in South Africa. Not not only to the question of investment but also to a very firm position that we have

taken which as a matter fact we took shortly before the United Nations reached a decision on this. And this is the arms embargo towards South Africa. Ah denial of Bonds has really been more comprehensive than that. And I think tighter than that of most other members of the United Nations so that I think this is a comprehensive measure of all of us. Carrying out in practical terms what we say when we say we've been down apartheid. Now with respect to investment we do have a separation in this country between between business and government. We have no legal means at all by which we could stop American investment to

South Africa for them along the amount of new American investment going into South Africa is very very small indeed. I'm saying this from memory but I think I remember correctly that it has been a new investment going in has been in the neighborhood of 7 million dollars over the period of the last five years. Well that is not to say that there isn't substantial and very substantial American investment in South Africa and that this in turn produces profits within South Africa which are then reinvested. In South Africa. But those are matters within South Africa's own only jurisdiction. Given the relationship between the government and business generally the United States is never neither encouraged nor discouraged investors and the investor who comes in to talk to

us about the situation in South Africa we tell them frankly what the situation is and what the policy of the United States government is but is then up to him to decide what he wants to do under those particular circumstances. Other questions. Would you like to produce a crystal ball. And see Africa. In 2000 both politically and economically socially as well you know it is. I would think that one of the major forward looking steps that probably would be taken the year 2000. Is to build toward an at least regional common markets. I myself would not think that by the year 2000 this would yet be translated into terms of

political unity. I believe that it will take a longer period of time. I remember a very wise African one saying to me that the way to build political unity is to stop with the economic and and social and cultural cooperation at the base and then building it like a pyramid toward political unity. At the apex.