The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MR. MacNeil: Good evening. Leading the news this Tuesday, agreement was reached at the German unity talks to secure Poland's borders. The death toll rose to more than 230 in yesterday's Philippine's earthquake, the U.S. trade deficit rose in May. We'll have the details in our News Summary in a moment. Jim.

MR. LEHRER: After the News Summary, we have a report from the German reunification talks [FOCUS - ONE GERMANY], a News Maker interview with the President-elect [NEWS MAKER] of the drug troubled nation of Colombia, a look at the push for democracy in the Africa nation of Kenya [FOCUS - CONFLICT IN KENYA], and our Tuesday night essay [ESSAY - FIELD OF DREAMS], Roger Rosenblatt on an unusual wheat field in France. NEWS SUMMARY

MR. LEHRER: The German-Polish border question was settled today. Poland got a guarantee that a united Germany would accept the current border. The agreement was worked out in Paris in talks with the two Germanys and the four World War allies, the so-called two plus four talks. West Germany also agreed to begin talks on giving economic assistance to Poland. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said all major obstacles to German unification are now gone. He said elections for a united German parliament would probably take place in December. We'll have a further report on the Paris talks right after this News Summary. Robin.

MR. MacNeil: The death toll from the Philippines earthquake rose to at to at least 234 today. About half of the casualties were in a town called Baguio. We have a report narrated by Tom Brown of Worldwide Television News.

MR. BROWN: The quake's epicenter was North of the capital around the mountain resort of Baguio, where 22 buildings, including 4 luxury hotels, were ripped apart, trapping around 1,000 people. The Hyatt Hotel sustained the worst damage when the terrace front collapsed into the lobby, killing 50. Around the main Lousan Island, it was a similar story, bewildered residents, torn buildings and rescuers trying to beat the clock to save survivors and bury the dead. Reporters at the scene described a war zone as more than a dozen aftershocks rumbled through the region, hampering emergency efforts and raising the death toll. Officials are now pleading for blood and medical supplies. For those who lost relatives, there was little consolation. This woman identified her husband at a makeshift outdoor mortuary. Since the quake struck, volunteers have been trying to dig through the rubble. As more bodies were pulled out, the nation went into mourning and Pres. Aquino declared a state of emergency in the affected areas.

MR. LEHRER: American engineers and medics from the Clark and Subic Military bases in the Philippines flew to the earthquake area to help with the rescue work.

MR. MacNeil: More Cubans sought political asylum in Havana today. Four people climbed ont to the roof of the Italian ambassador's residence. Cuban police dragged another man away from the U.S. intersection. Last night 12 others who had taken refuge at Czechoslovakia's embassy gave themselves up to authorities. The surrender followed a fight among the Cubans in the compound. They had been holding several Czech diplomats as hostages.

MR. MacNeil: There was more ethnic violence in the Soviet Union. It happened last night in the Central Asian republic of Kirghizia. Soviet troops were sent in to stop the fighting. The Soviet news agency Tass said 27 people were injured in 18 separate clashes between Khirgiz and Uzbeks, two Moslem groups. According to Tass, young Uzbeks threw gasoline bombs at several buildings as well as a militia post. It said police used night sticks and fired warning shots in the air to stop the fighting. In Eastern Kirghizia near the Chinese border, 40 mountain climbers died in an avalanche which happened last Friday. Officials said today only three members of an international climbing group survived the accident. The group was camped at a popular camp site at the 19500 foot level in the Panier Mountains when the avalanche engulfed them. Officials said it was triggered by an earth tremor. It was the worst climbing accident since 1952 when 40 people died on Mount Everest.

MR. LEHRER: The U.S. trade deficit rose to 7.73 billion dollars in May. That's 5.8 percent higher than April's trade figures. The Commerce Department reported oil imports accounted for almost half of the increase.

MR. MacNeil: The Senate voted today to limit debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1990. The bill is designed to overcome discrimination in the work place. Today's 62 to 38 vote prevents a filibuster by opponents who said it would impose hiring quotas on U.S. businesses. White House Chief of Staff John Sununu said today the President would veto the bill in its present form. That's it for our News Summary. Now it's on to German reunification, the President-elect of Colombia, problems in Kenya, and our Tuesday night essay. FOCUS - ONE GERMANY

MR. MacNeil: First tonight the historic agreement reached today in Paris between the four victors of World War II and the two Germanies. It settles Poland's Border with Germany and opens the way to complete German reunification by the end of this year. Nik Gowing of Independent Television News reports on the rampant sequel to yesterday's dramatic Soviet Agreement to accept membership in NATO for a United Germany.

MR. GOWING: Germany basked in Glory today. Chancellor Kohl back at home, Foreign Minister Genscher in his car criss-crossing Paris in a Euphoric mood. On cloud 69 as one source out it. First off was U.S. Secretary of State James Baker for breakfast and a rare few words in English.

MR. GENSCHER: I was a bit surprised but I am very satisfied.

MR. GOWING: In advance of today's two plus four talks yesterday's sweeping Kohl, Gorbachev agreement had not only raised still further the pace of German reunification. For the two Germanies and the four allied powers it hastens the solutions to the outstanding legal problems still to be agreed by these six foreign ministers. When it comes to life in Eastern Germany once Soviet troops have left and what is now clear will be no more than four years from now it became clear that Moscow had given more ground than any in the West thought possible. Bundesver troops will be stationed in East Germany after Soviet troops go and Moscow accepts that many could be under NATO command thus extending NATO's operational area beyond the former Iron Curtain.

DOUGLAS HURD MP, British Foreign Secretary: Well the immediate situation for three or four years that there will be Soviet forces remaining there and there will be German forces there but not other NATO forces and the German forces there will not be integrated with the NATO Command. After that period it will territory which is part of NATO in the ordinary way.

MR. GOWING: Even after the weekend success with Mr. Gorbachev, West German Foreign MInister Genscher's work was not finished. At the Polish Embassy he called on Foreign MInister Scubashevsky to allay tense Polish concerns that a United Germany will not respect the existing German, Polish Border. A product of Stalin's carving up post war central Europe where there is no formal peace settlement which has left the Poles wondering whether Germany will one day try to reclaim land east of the current border. The two Foreign Ministers emerged to confirm that there will be an immediate treaty to confirm an existing border with a POlish, German friendship treaty to follow soon after. Mr. Scubashevsky have you received the assurances that you wanted on the Polish Border.

KRZYSTOF SKUBIZEWISKI, Polish Foreign Minister: Well the assurances and the resolutions of the two Parliaments go very far.

MR. GOWING: Is that adequate for you?

KRZYSTOF SKUBIZEWISKI, Polish Foreign Minister: It is adequate but we still need a treaty to give these assurances a legal forum.

MR. GOWING: And you are expecting that from Germany now?

KRZYSTOF SKUBIZEWISKI, Polish Foreign Minister: Germany never questioned the idea of a treaty.

MR. GOWING: Behind it all is it hoped that you will get war reparations behind it all?

KRZYSTOF SKUBIZEWISKI: We do not intend to deal with war reparations and that treaty.

MR. GOWING: So Poland joined the Euphoric band here. The two Germanies soon to be one, the four allied victories powers soon to abolish themselves. The time table now looks like this. In September final Two plus Four details will be settled in Moscow. In October there is likely to be a treaty. In November a Pan European 35 nations European Security Conference. In December an all German elections and by the end of the year full reunification.

SECRETARY BAKER: I think that it would be fair to say our aim is ambitious but none to ambitious for this new age of European hope and freedom. Our aim of course is to facilitate the peaceful and democratic unification of Germany and well as the reconciliation of Europe. And today. I think, we draw much nearer to that target.

MR. MacNeil: Soviet Foreign MInister Shevardnadze said today will go down in history as the day the Polish border has been settled to the satisfaction of our Polish friends. In Washington President Bush told a News Conference that way to the German agreements was paved at the Washington Summit.

PRESIDENT BUSH: President Gorbachev and I discussed this in Washington. We discussed in considerable dept on that Saturday at Camp David and in our joint press conference I said I thought we both agreed that Germany should be free to chose the alliance that it would belong to. President Gorbachev if you remember didn't challenge that and we all thought that was a good sign then. The Soviets have been positioned then against Germany in NATO but it didn't challenge the idea that they ought to choose the alliance they want to be in. We also had to show him that the NATO Alliance was not his enemy but was a force for stability that could indeed adapt, could indeed change, adapt to the new realities in Europe. And that is wy the recently completed NATO Summit was so important where all of our colleagues agreed to our proposals for the transformed alliance. Then yesterday President Gorbachev commented and here is what he said. Quote, without the very important impulse from the London declaration it would have been difficult to make headway." So the Soviets viewed the NATO Agreement as something that was very important to them and demonstrated less of a threatening mode on the part of NATO. Both Kohl and Gorbachev have displayed, I think, exceptional qualities of leadership during this challenging period. I must say that I take pride in the way Europe is moving in this way of freedom. It is a goal that we Americans have worked long to achieve. We still have some very important problems that lie out there ahead of us but it is a challenging and very exciting time to be President of the United States and I expect my other co leaders in the Alliance would feel that way. And I am not sure that Mr. Gorbachev feels that way yet but isn't it exciting when you think back a year and a half ago to where we stand today.

MR. MacNeil: Still ahead on the News Hour Colombia's President elect, The Push for Democracy in Kenya and a Rosenblatt Essay. NEWS MAKER

MR. LEHRER: Now a News Maker interview with Cesar Gaviria, the man who next month becomes President of Colombia the South American nations torn by violence and death over drugs. JUst last night Mr. Gaviria and the incumbent, President Barco, announced they would extradite two more drug dealers to U.S. Courts. Judy Woodruff has more on Colombia and its new President.

MS. WOODRUFF: In a country that has recently become synonymous with drug murders and political murders it was an assassination that thrust Cesar Gaviria to the Presidency of Colombia. Last August Louis Carlos Galan the Candidate of the ruling Liberal Party was murdered at a political rally by hired gunman of the Colombian Cocaine Cartel. At Galan's funeral the mantel of leadership of the Liberal Party was transferee to Gaviria. He had been Galan's campaign manager. Gaviria vowed to fight the drug lords and to stamp out what he calls narco terrorists but killings continued. Two other presidential candidates, judges, police office journalists. Anyone who the cartel considered a threat to its multi billion dollar business of distributing cocaine from the Andes Mountains to consumers in the United States and Europe. Faced with continued death warnings from the cartel Gaviria and other Presidential Candidates rarely campaigned in public and when they did they traveled in armored cars and were surrounded by body guards. Mainly they tried to reach voters by radio and television. In May in an election marked by low turnout Gaviria was elected to succeed fellow Liberal President Barco. At 43 the economist and former Finance Minister will become Colombia's youngest President. But even his big victory carried some storm warnings. A leftist Guerrilla group finished 3rd with 13 percent of the vote and while Gaviria has vowed to fight the drug cartel he has said his country needs more than U.S. Military aid. He has called on the U.S. and other industrialized nations to reduce their drug consumption and also to open their markets to such Colombian products as coffee and flowers. In Washington as part of a pre inaugural trip the President elect met with President Bush at the White House on Friday. I talked with him that afternoon. Mr. Gaviria thank you for being with us. With your meeting with Mr. Bush did you hear what you had hoped to hear from him?

MR. GAVIRIA: Well, really, I think I heard what I expected to hear. First of all he was really very kind and he expressed the will of the U.S. to help Columbia. I would say that U.S. has not found many ways to help Colombia in the last year in which we had made so many efforts to confront terrorism and U.S. has not found many ways but I hope in the Bush Administration we will find a way. Basically not commercial aid. Some commercial aid would be useful for some of the agents of the government but for free trade for Colombia and that is basically the thing that we are looking for.

MS. WOODRUFF: When you say the United States has not found many ways to help Colombia in the last year what are you referring to specifically. There has been aid and military assistance?

MR. GAVIRIA: Yes there has been military assistance, some military forces and that is it. We have had some conflicts the ending of the coffee agreement, duties to flowers. The opposition of the U.S. to Colombia belonging to the Code of Subsidies to GAT. Most of them conflicts haven't been help at all. The U.S. has found no ways to help Colombia I think.

MS. WOODRUFF: I think that is very strange for some people to hear because what they think they have heard is that we have been helping you some how in the fight against the drug war but it sounds like you are saying there hasn't been any help?

MR. GAVIRIA: It is rhetorical help. They are saying all the time that we are very courageous that we are taking an extraordinary effort that we have been killed. We have no help not from the U.S. not from other countries. Some equipment but that is it.

MS. WOODRUFF: Why do you think that is particularly on the part of the United States?

MR. GAVIRIA: Well I really don't know why they have not found ways and the problem is really not that but people in Colombia are getting very upset about this. We are on the front line we have lost so many lives. thousands of lives. of judges of magistrates of policemen, of soldiers, of political leaders. Three Presidential Candidates have been killed in the last year and our survival is at stake all of the time. Really we have problems of international solidarity.

MS. WOODRUFF: How much difference does it make to Colombia that we don't have the coffee agreement that there haven't been any solutions on flower imports and so forth? How much difference does that really make to your country?

MR. GAVIRIA: It makes two kinds of differences. First of all think about this. We have lost about 1 billion dollars last year. That is 2 percent of the Gross National Product and besides that we lost we lost something like 500 million dollars, it depends what happens at the end of the year, with the coffee agreement. Think that is a lot of money for Colombia. That is a lot of effort for Colombia and we are just waiting from the International Community free trade. But we are waiting for the U.S. to find a way.

MS. WOODRUFF: Did you say this to President Bush?

MR. GAVIRIA: Yes that is exactly what I said to President Bush.

MS. WOODRUFF: And what was his reaction?

MR. GAVIRIA: Well he was constructive. He thinks that the U.S. will find a way. We are interested in the Americas initiative we think that is a good idea. I think that it would be the most important action that the U.S. could take in the next years to help Latin American countries and not only help but it would be good for everyone, for U.S. too.

MS. WOODRUFF: You are referring to the free trade agreement?

MR. GAVIRIA: We can have a free agreement with the U.S. That would be a good way to help the Colombian economy which is basically a very good economy. The only economy in Latin America that grew in the last decade. We have no debt problem.

MS. WOODRUFF: But President Bush was in office when all these decisions were made that you said didn't help Colombia. Do you expect him to turn around?

MR. GAVIRIA: Yes. I think they have the will and they will find a way to help Colombia.

MS. WOODRUFF: Why? I mean what has changed. Why should the attitude be different now from what it was last year?

MR. GAVIRIA: Well I think that they have to recognize that it is not only the Government of Colombia deserves some help and needs some help the public opinion on Colombia needs some help. Let's face it we can not go on with out international solidarity. We hope they will find a way. I hope they will find away.

MS. WOODRUFF: On the drug question and there are so many pieces to that. How much progress do you think that your country has made just in the last year in combating the drug war?

MR. GAVIRIA: Well we have made a lot of progress. We confront this problem. This large criminal organization which are the wealthiest criminal organizations in the history of the world. They have thousands of millions of dollars, billions of dollars for these criminal purposes, and we have dismantled some of the cartel organizations. We have had problems with terrorism, great problems. We still have a lot of bombs and we have got some results, but we have to recognize that we have not got all the results we were expected to get, but of course, this is the kind of problem U.S. had in the 1920s with the gangs of Chicago. It is not a result we will get overnight. It takes time. It takes a lot of effort. People are intimidated. People need time to get information to the authorities. It takes them time.

MS. WOODRUFF: You said people are intimidated. Do you feel that the Colombian people still have the will to fight this war? You, for example, in your election received 45 percent of a turn out that was only 41 percent. So in essence, you've had only 20 percent of the vote. Do you think that gives you a mandate to really push forward with this?

CESAR GAVIRIA, President-elect, Colombia: In terms of Colombian politics, that's a mandate. I mean, only 50 percent of Colombians vote. Like the United States, something like 50 percent of people, of citizens vote in any election. I think that's a clear mandate, 47 of the total vote and the other countries altogether got something like I got, but you have to realize my policy was a hard policy, hard line policy, but people in Colombia think that I didn't want for my policy against narcotics trafficking but despite my policy, at the end, the policy was not so popular, I mean, people were really upset about the bombing. People were thinking the dialogue should not provide any more and I think this policy was becoming unpopular and basically that is happening because they do not feel we have international solidarity.

MS. WOODRUFF: What is your view on extradition of the drug lords? Pres. Barco has used it has his principal instrument in fighting this war. Do you feel the same way?

MR. GAVIRIA: We will continue to extradite these criminals. We are thinking in a way that this is not the main or principal issue. We have to will the judicial system in Colombia to take these traffickers, to have a trial and put them in jail, in Colombian jails. There has to be a balance of the two things because we cannot just have the idea, we cannot make that, that's very -- we have to face that problem and I think we will face them. We will adopt a judicial system that has the efficacy just to sanction these people.

MS. WOODRUFF: So extradition, there are other instruments besides extradition?

MR. GAVIRIA: Besides extradition, but we'll continue to do that because it has to be complementary instrument and not the main instrument.

MS. WOODRUFF: There are many Americans who look at a political system like yours in a country like Colombia and the dangers that you and other political leaders put yourselves in every day. They marvel at your willingness to really put your life on the line. Do you think about that?

MR. GAVIRIA: Yes. I am taking all those risks and many Colombians have taken all the risks and I feel that right now the cartels are paying 2 million pesos for the policemen and they have killed nearly 300 policemen in the last problem, the kind of problem we have, and that's why international community has to wake up and to understand that we cannot make this effort alone and without any help and without any solidarity just having some words that you are very courageous, and you are taking many risks. I mean, this is not only a problem of Colombia. Now U.S. is making some efforts, important efforts for the interdiction of trafficking, but I don't think the results, I don't know if the results are really encouraging.

MS. WOODRUFF: Some people think that you are putting your own life on the line and it's policemen and it's other public feelings but that it's you as well for Presidential candidates.

MR. GAVIRIA: Yes, Yes. Nearly six Presidential candidates, seven and three were killed so half of the Presidential candidates were killed in the campaign.

MS. WOODRUFF: So why do you go through this?

MR. GAVIRIA: Because that's the country. We have to live, have to face our problems. Colombia is a good economy. We have a good economy, the best economy of Latin America, the only one who grew consistently in the last decade, the only one who has been paying the international debt, the most vigorous economy of Latin America. We have a nice country. This is just a problem and we have to confront the problem, we have to solve the problem. It's not only our problem but the part of the problem we have to confront, it's a matter of principles, it's a matter of survival, and we are doing our best. We are making much more effort than any other country in the world to control this problem, but we expect the international community, the U.S., the European community, just to understand the effort Colombia's making and do something to recognize that. I mean, the Colombia people are pretty upset at not receiving anything. We have conflicts. I mean, right now in the last year the U.S. we only have conflicts, not really help at all.

MS. WOODRUFF: But you think that's going to turn around?

MR. GAVIRIA: Yes, I hope so.

MS. WOODRUFF: You really do?

MR. GAVIRIA: I hope so. FOCUS - CONFLICT IN KENYA

MR. LEHRER: Now the coming of democracy fever to Kenya, a longtime U.S. ally in Africa. It is a development spiced by the involvement of the American ambassador, Smith Hempstone. He told a group of businessmen there Congress would give more economic aid to countries that "nourish democratic institutions, defend human rights, and practice multi-party politics." His comments drew an angry response from the Kenya government of Daniel Arap Moy. We pick up the story there with this backgrounder from Independent Television News. The reporter there is Richard Downden, the Africa editor of the British newspaper, The Independent. Much of his footage was shot in Kenya with a hidden camera.

MR. DOWNDEN: This is where it all began. Last Saturday afternoon, people began to gather on this piece of open ground near the center of Nairobi. They had come to demand the end of one party rule in Kenya and protest against the detention of leaders of the multi- party movement. A new wind of change is blowing in Africa. Pres. Daniel Arap Moy's government is under threat.

REV. DR. TIMOTHY NJOYA, Leading Presbyterian: That is the spirit of democracy that cannot be crushed. You cannot dam a river. A flowing river, you can only control it, but you cannot dam it.

SUSAN MATIBA Daughter of former Cabinet Minister: There's widespread discontent in the country with the present situation. The economy is very depressed. That's making itself felt amongst the people. There's a widespread feeling that the mismanagement and corruption in the government has gone beyond any acceptable level. People have been unable to express their opinions in any way.

MR. DOWNDEN: But the people did gather to express their feelings for the first time in years. Armed police were sent in to break up the rally and open fire. It turned into a riot. The riot police have been deployed into the center of town to protect the plush tourist hotels and businesses which have given Kenya the image of a rich, successful country. Kenya is a popular holiday destination. Until this week, thousands of tourists flocked to its game parks and coastal resorts for out of Africa style adventures in the sun. Kenya is usually described as politically stable, pro Western and democratic. It is the biggest recipient of British and American aid in Africa. Mrs. Thatcher describes President Moy as a good friend. The reality is somewhat harsher. Barely 10 minutes from the center of Nairobi are slums like these, where thousands of people live on the margins, a time bomb ticking away close to the heart of the capital. President Moy rules the country with paternalist authority, suppressing any hint of criticism of his regime. Dissidents have been detained and some brutally tortured. In his 11 year rule, he's steadily drawn all the strings of power into his own hands. In February, Kenya's foreign minister, Robert Uko, was found murdered, his body mutilated and burned. No arrests have been made. When two former cabinet ministers, Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubier, launched a campaign for multiparty democracy last month, the President denounced them as traitors and said he would hunt down his enemies like rats. The police even seized cassettes of pop music whose lyrics mocked the government. Mr. Matiba was put under 24 hour surveillance. Then on June 13th, his house was broken into by about 15 men and his wife and daughter severely beaten.

SUSAN MATIBA, Daughter of former Cabinet Minister: They were professional. They had surrounded all possible sources of help. There are other people on the farm. They had surrounded them in their houses. Nobody could come and bark. The dogs didn't bark. The watchmen were beaten up. They knew what they were doing, these men. They weren't ordinary thieves.

MR. DOWNDEN: Mr. Matiba was finally arrested, along with several other leaders of the pro multiparty democracy movement. The others went underground, moving from house to house around Nairobi dodging the secret police. One of them is Gibson Kuria, a leading human rights lawyer and winner of the Kennedy Award for the Defense of Human Rights.

GIBSON KURIA, Human Rights Lawyer: The one party system which has been enforced into law since 1982 and, in fact, since about 1989, has been demonstrated by the experience to be unworkable, and so there's no theoretical model and that has been, has come at a time when Africa has got many dictatorial regimes and economies that are doing very badly, and it happens that Kenya is one of those countries who have an economy and the political order are doing very badly, and so people see in the multiparty system a means of solving very accurate problems in the country.

MR. DOWNDEN: Another supporter of multiparty democracy is Paul Muite, a leading advocate and Mr. Matiba's lawyer, who is also on the run.

PAUL MUITE, Ken Matiba's Lawyer: The signs so far appear to be that the present regime is prepared to cling to power at all costs and that is worry.

MR. DOWNDEN: What does that mean for Mr. Matiba and Mr. Rubier and other people who have been detained?

MR. MUITE: I cannot see that the government's determination to cling on to dictatorship is in itself going to stop the movement in the long run.

MR. DOWNDEN: On Sunday, religious leaders throughout Kenya joined in the debate, criticizing one party rule and calling for the release of detainees. The churches are very influential in Kenya and even mild criticism by them will weaken the government further. The Rev. Timothy Njoya was the man who first called for multiparty democracy in a sermon on New Year's Eve.

REV. DR. TIMOTHY NJOYA: The spirit of democracy once mobilized cannot be suppressed. It was impossible to put it down. It was impossible in South Africa. It was impossible in Kenya in the past, and it will be impossible in its place in any time, because once people become conscious of the enfranchisement of their democratic rights and they want to participate, there's nothing you can do.

MR. DOWNDEN: The government accuses the multiparty movement of being a cover for tribalism and it is true that many of its leaders are Ku Kuyu people who feel they are excluded from power by President Moy. He says the alternative to one party rule is anarchy, but his opponents believe that the time for multiparty democracy has come and they are refusing to be intimidated.

MR. LEHRER: We get three perspectives now on the Kenya story. One of the men we saw on the tape, Gibson Kuria, is a human rights lawyer and activist in Kenya. When he was threatened with detention, he gained refuge in the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. He's now in Washington, and today met with members of Congress. Congressman William Gray, Democrat of Pennsylvania, is the House Democratic Whip, and among a group of House leaders urging the Bush administration to freeze U.S. aid to Kenya until the human rights situation improves. He will join us in a moment from Capitol Hill. Michael Johns is a policy analyst for third world and African affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He has written on those issues for numerous newspapers and journals. Mr. Kuria, first to you, why did you go to the U.S. embassy in Nairobi?

GIBSON KAMAU KURIA, Human Rights Activist: Well, I went there because lawlessness on the part of the Kenya government had assumed a dangerous formed. I've been a human rights lawyer in this country. I saw, I've been acting for people detained without trial. I've acted for people charged with sedition. I've now been advising some of the key supporters of the restoration of the multiparty system, and it became virtually impossible for me to practice as a lawyer having policemen stationed outside my office to ensure that some clients do not come to my office, trying to find out what others are doing. I saw my life in danger.

MR. LEHRER: Physically in danger you mean?

MR. KURIA: Physically in danger because I did all that I could to stop lawlessness through the courts. I have filed a suit on behalf of my friend, Mr. Paul Muite. I'm asking court injunctions to exclude police officers from his office. I've given notice of my intention to sue the attorney general to exclude police officers from my office. I have been actively assisting and have learned the police say that I am harassing them, while they are the ones harassing lawyers, journalists, musicians and others, and I felt that this time around they would not only detain me, they would get rid of me, and once and for all make sure that I don't practice human rights law.

MR. LEHRER: How did Amb. Hempstone get you out of the country?

MR. KURIA: He negotiated my exit with the Kenya government which has refused to return my passport since 1987. I don't understand its logic. It doesn't like me and yet it refuses to give me a passport. It still refuses to give my wife and children passports. It doesn't like us, but I think that explains the thinking of the Kenya government.

MR. LEHRER: But you got out, and we're here in Washington. We're sitting here talking. You met with members of Congress today. What did you tell them? What's the message you have for the United States of America?

MR. KURIA: I have two main messages. The first one is to draw the attention to a very worrying situation in Kenya. This warring situation is created Pres. Moy's refusal to accept multiparty system immediately, and therefore, setting himself at odds with the very great support of the cause for the multiparty system. I have no doubt that many more lives are going to be lost unless political change is introduced immediately.

MR. LEHRER: In other words, they're being killed for just being in favor of a multiparty political system?

MR. KURIA: That's correct. The other point I've been trying to tell is that the Kenya government does not listen to reason given by Kenyans, so it's only outsiders who can actually assist Kenyans to the government to understand the grave situation in which it finds itself and that there is a need to put the situation right, so I've been suggesting to the Congress to encourage the emergence of democracy in such ways as curtailing aid to the Kenya government and hopefully making it realize that clinging to dictatorship isn't acceptable not only in Kenya but Africa as a whole.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Johns, do you believe the United States should do that, should be sending messages to the government of Kenya?

MICHAEL JOHNS, African Affairs Analyst: Well, I think it's evident that Amb. Hempstone and Nairobi and the Bush administration are already doing that. There clearly is a very grave problem in Kenya right now. What wasn't mentioned and what I think needs to be pointed out is that the basis of the conflict clearly is over multiparty democracy but there is a feeling by Pres. Moy, rightly or wrongly, that multiparty democracy will lead to ethnic tension and conflict in Kenya. A large number of those pushing for multiparty democracy are affiliated with the Ku Kuyu tribe in Kenya, and there's a need right now for the Bush administration to try to convince the government in Kenya and Pres. Moy that democracy can be the best recourse for these tensions and that there is a great need right now in Africa, not just in Kenya, but throughout the African continent, for African governments to begin moving away from one party dictatorships and to a greater political freedom. There is also a need for economic reform and economic stability, therefore, I think it might be a mistake for the United States to terminate its assistance to Kenya right now.

MR. LEHRER: In other words, the suggestion has been made, I'm going to talk to Congressman Gray about that in a moment, he has joined us on the Hill, he and others have urged that U.S. aid be frozen until Kenya gets it's human rights and political act together. You do not support that, is that right, Mr. Johns?

MR. JOHNS: If the United States terminates its assistance to Kenya, it will isolate itself, it will remove its influence from Kenya, and it will essentially take itself out of the picture. There's a need right now for the United States to keep its foot in the door in Kenya, and to continue pushing Moy in the democratic direction. This can only be done if the United States remain engaged.

MR.LEHRER: Congressman Gray, do you disagree with that?

REP. WILLIAM GRAY, [D] Pennsylvania: Yes, I do. I think that base rights, landing rights, should not take precedence over human rights and civil rights. We've seen democracy sweeping the world based upon our principles and we've always supported democratization of political systems, whether in Eastern Europe or in Southern Africa, where we argued essentially the reverse of what Mr. Johns is saying, and that is there are those who argued that we had to stay involved in South Africa, that we couldn't apply economic pressure. There are many of us in Congress who are alarmed at what is happening in Kenya. We think there has to be one standard and that standard has to be applied also to Kenya when we look at the violations of human rights, the detentions, the deaths and detentions that are going on there. We give that country a sizeable portion of United States aid and I think it is incumbent upon us when we see a country moving toward authoritarian, totalitarian rule in opposition to democratization that we have to say we are for democratization. If you're going to outlaw and ban opposition, we are not going to support that, and so a group of us have written to the President and to the Secretary of State urging that further aid for this fiscal year be withheld until there's a review and that no aid be given in fiscal year '91 until there is a complete review and a change in the behavior of Kenya.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Kuria, do you think that would work? Do you think that would have an effect?

MR. KURIA: I agree with him and not the suggestion for instance that tribalism will come when multiparty system is introduced. In fact, Pres. Moya has been saying that it will bring civil war. He can't tell when these wars existed, when they were declared, when they came to a head, where they were fought in Kenya, and how many people are killed; it's just not true.

MR. LEHRER: He's just made it up.

MR. KURIA: He has made it up, and that's not the only thing he has made up. He is also saying that Africa is unique and therefore political pluralism is not there. He does not indicate how unique it is, and what one wonders is why Kenya and other African countries which are opposed to political pluralism claim that they are equal, their intent to be in the community of nations, and yet don't want to subscribe to international standards. I can't see the business for claims of uniqueness.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Jones, what about that? Congressman Gray made a point that Anthony Lewis made this morning in a column in the New York Times that the United States and other Western countries have complained and pushed South Africa to clean its act up in terms of human rights abuses, that it's white versus blacks there, but it's blacks versus blacks in Kenya and other nations in Africa, why shouldn't we do the same thing?

MR. JOHNS: Well, I think unfortunately all the attention that's been paid on South Africa has been done largely at the expense of black Africa. Pres. Moy clearly is wrong when he says democracy can't work in Kenya. It can work and Mr. Kuria is right when he suggests that it is the only out for Kenya. The question is how to achieve that. Congressman Gray has supported sending foreign aid to one party dictatorships in Mozambique, in Zambia. Increasingly, there's concern about the direction of the government in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. There is a need now for the United States to send a message by one yard stick without exception that we do support the march of democracy, and Amb. Hempstoneis clearly correct when he suggests that foreign aid to African governments will be endangered if these governments are not moving in that direction.

MR. LEHRER: Congressman Gray, what about that, that you're not being consistent? You've chosen Kenya, but what about the other black African countries that he's also mentioned?

REP. GRAY: Obviously Mr. Johns doesn't know my record. I am the one who pressed for sanctions against Uganda. I am the one that has supported sanctions against Zaire. I am now talking with the administration about applying pressure in Liberia. And in fact, I was one calling for pressure in Liberia and a reversal of our policy long before the outbreak of civil war there. When I went with Pres. Kaunda in February, we discussed the movement there toward a one party system and talked about the fact that it was going against the grain of what America stood for. So I think that Mr. Johns doesn't really know what my record really is and I'd like to help him clarify that by saying I have consistently said that we want to support democracy and we want multiparty participation. I've sent that message to Mr. Mugabe in Zimbabwe as well. I think what we have got to recognize and often the administration fails to recognize is that we decide that our strategic interests are more important than democratic interests, and as a result, we decide that the Naval bases are more important than what is going on and so we overlook that. I think what we've got to be willing to do is apply the one yardstick, as Mr. Johns says. We haven't been doing that, and I think one of the ways you can do it is say to a country we're not going to provide you economic and military assistance which you are using to oppress the population with, and obviously, what is happening in Kenya is a movement to democratization beyond one party rule, and I think we've got to basically say to that nation, that is what we stand for and you can't expect us to produce and provide aid. Our ambassador has verified that. Human rights organizations have verified that, and so I think it's very clear wherever we see this kind of movement, American policy must be clear. We must be clear in Poland, we must be clear in Czechoslovakia, we must be clear in Southern Africa, we must be clear in Zaire. We must be clear also in Kenya.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Johns, are you suggesting Kenya be an exception?

MR. JOHNS: Clearly not, and I think the point I'm making is that we make a mistake if we signal Kenya out. Kenya is a friend of the United States. The facilities that Congressman Gray has alluded to are very important for U.S. interests. Additionally, Pres. Moy has helped us in famine relief efforts in Southern Sudan that have saved tens of thousands of lives. There is a need to push Moy in the democratic direction. If we surrender our leverage in Kenya, the United States will essentially remove itself from that debate, and I feel that Moy will be further intransigent in his position.

MR. LEHRER: Let me ask you about what the U.S. ambassador, Mr. Hempstone did, in helping Mr. Kuria to get out of the country. Do you think that was a proper thing to do, Mr. Johns?

MR. JOHNS: It absolutely was the right thing to do. Amb. Hempstone has really been depicted as a lightning rod among African ambassadors, but he is a conservative and in fact, has --

MR. LEHRER: He was a newspaper columnist for years, wrote a very conservative newspaper column.

MR. JOHNS: And I would think there is a need right now for Amb. Hempstone's viewpoints on African democracy to be taken very seriously throughout the African continent, and I think most importantly, there is now a unique opportunity for a bipartisan consensus in Congress and in the intellectual community, et cetera, for the United States to play a leading role in the march of democracy in Africa. That clearly has to be the objective. The only question that needs to be worked out is whether the United States is part of the problem or part of the solution. In implying and suggesting that our aid be terminated to Kenya, we're suggesting that that aid is fueling dictatorship. It is, in fact, helping build a stable economy in Kenya. It is also helping us keep our foot in the door where Amb. Hempstone and others can continue to have a voice in the future of Kenya.

MR. LEHRER: Congressman Gray, we know your position on the aid question, but --

REP. GRAY: It is also helping to keep a government in power that is willing to violate human rights. You don't add that to the equation. I think that I agree with Mr. Johns that we've got to come up with a strategy to leverage there ,but the strategy is not simply let's have discussions and urge you to do the right thing when you've had over 1400 people detained without charge in just recent months. I don't think that's the way to go when the situation is critical. I think what you have to do is not only talk as our ambassador is doing very strongly, helping people out as our ambassador --

MR. LEHRER: Do you support him in that, Congressman Gray? Do you think that the Ambassador is doing the right thing?

REP. GRAY: Yes, I do. I think he is doing the right thing and I think that that's what our country stands for and I think also we've got to give that ambassador some tools so that when he walks in to negotiate with the foreign minister and with the president of that country, he says look, we're not going to continue to provide you with one of the largest aid packages of any sub Saharan African country if you continue to do this, and therefore, what many of us are saying is we've got to apply that kind of pressure, and if he won't change his behavior, if the President of Kenya won't change his behavior, then we have to go to the step of beginning to cut back that foreign aid or totally removing it, since a lot of it is security assistance.

MR. MacNeil: Mr. Kuria, let me ask you this question. Did you and others who are part of the dissident movement, the pro multiparty movement in Kenya, do you see the United States as being on your side? Is that the reason you went to see the ambassador, or being on Moy's side?

MR. KURIA: I would say that we thought that from what was available to us we thought that the United States of America was the most sympathetic to those who believe in human rights and those who support democracy, and that's why I went to the ambassador for assistance. I could also add to the claim by the Kenya government that it is one ethnic group, the Ku Kuyus, support a multiparty system is not correct. The people detained, the names of the people charged, indicate clearly that this is a national support. The places where the demonstration in support of pluralism took place showed clearly that it is a national support.

MR. LEHRER: All right. We have to leave it there. Gentlemen, all three, thank you very much for being with us. ESSAY - FIELD OF DREAMS

MR. MacNeil: Finally tonight, our Tuesday essay. Roger Rosenblatt of Life Magazine has some thoughts about a recent French publicity stunt.

MR. ROSENBLATT: Only a country that installs an erector set tower among dark and ancient buildings and plants a glass Egyptian pyramid in the Louvre could plant a wheat field on the Chanz Elise to make a point. The 2 1/2 acres of waving grain stretching from the Arc De Triumphe, grown on pallets and trucked into Paris, constituted a publicity stunt to trumpet the cause of European farmers. One in five French farmers has abandoned the soil in the past decade, partly because of stagnant prices. The astonishing sight of the countryside in the middle of the city was to suggest that the true elision fields like outside Paris. But the Parisian publicity stunt made a philosophical point along the way, not just for France and Europe, but for the modern Western world. The modern Western world has been at odds both with farmers and country life for a couple of hundred years. Since the onset of the industrial revolution, the ideal of an agrarian society, once thought the only society, has diminished from something necessary to something quaint, to something at active opposition with modern, progressive life. The farmer, once considered the symbol of dignified human pursuits, has become a kind of outlaw, shouting in the wind. France saw this hostility when police and farmers went at each other's throats. We have seen the hostility between farmers and city folk in our own country again and again in recent years.

FARMER: We have fought in every war to save the other people's land. Now let's fight this war to save our own.

MR. ROSENBLATT: Farmers curse out bankers threatening to foreclose on mortgages. Farmers, in an ugly mood, drive tractors and threshers into Washington to make a stand, a stand for themselves and their way of life, giving way to an industrial revolution which will not lose momentum. In the 1980s, Hollywood made movies about the twilight glories of the agrarian way of life. Whenever sentiment is applied to cover over realities, it is almost always a sure sign the realities have already prevailed. Those city folks who wept freely at the sight of Sally Field struggling to make a go of it on her family farm, bravely swimming against the tide and swimming, those same city folks emerged from the movie theaters into the world as it is, a cluster of steel towers, each containing offices, many of which deal with farming, but as big business. Yet, the juxtaposition of the Paris wheat field in the rest of Paris reminds people how long they have been divorced from the land. There are stiff penalties for that divorce, spiritual penalties related to the modern separation from nature in general. People feel that absence of nature. It may be one of the impulses behind the environmental movement. They feel a connection to the land, even if there isn't much anybody can do about it. When the instant wheat field went up in Paris, children ran to play in it, lovers took strolls in it, and policemen, when they weren't fighting farmers, stopped to touch the wheat with their hands. For a moment, it looked as if the industrial revolution were reversing itself. But that's a field of dreams. I'm Roger Rosenblatt. RECAP

MR. MacNeil: Once again, this Tuesday's top stories, the German unity talks produced an agreement guaranteeing Poland's border with a united Germany, the death toll from the Philippines earthquake rose to at least 234, the U.S. trade deficit in May rose by nearly 6 percent, and tonight the House of Representatives defeated a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget. The margin was seven votes short of the 2/3 needed for passage. Good night, Jim.

MR. LEHRER: Good night, Robin. We'll see you tomorrow night with a look at why the Fedand others have some jitters about the U.S. economy. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.