One positive result of the controversy concerning the mission of the African Studies Association has been the formation of the Committee on Current Issues. The Committee arranged several important panel discussions during the 1971 Annual Meeting in Denver, and it was agreed at that time that a special effort should be undertaken to promote a wider understanding of the situation in southern Africa. The 1972 election campaign provides a unique opportunity for discussion of the emerging crisis in southern Africa and for exploration of useful U.S. responses to that crisis. Richard Sklar, chairman of the Committee, was authorized by the Committee to appoint a subcommittee to plan such an effort for the 1972 election campaign. The work of the subcommittee—referred to as Politics ’72 — constitutes the subject of this article.

On 27 and 28 February 1972, the news media carried reports from Addis Abada that the Government of the Sudan and the South Sudan Liberation Front had reached an agreement settling the problem of the southern Sudan. The importance of this news to the Sudan, Africa, the Organization of African Unity, the Arab world, and the United Nations lies in the fact that an armed uprising in the largest state in Africa seems to have come to an end by peaceful means.

Before Sir Alec Douglas-Home made his extended visit to Salisbury in November 1971, an advance British team led by a noted lawyer, Lord Goodman, had made at least four trips to Rhodesia to discuss with the Smith regime the general points which would then form the basis for a settlement. With both Britain and Rhodesia eager to settle the six-year old dispute which had caused injury to the former’s international image (particularly within the commonwealth) and had brought Rhodesia to the brink of economic disaster, Goodman’s mission seemed destined to succeed. In fact, during and following his talks, a lot of optimism said to be founded on leaks of information from well-placed sources in both Salisbury and London was expressed.

Between December 24, 1971, and January 5, 1972, I visited the Rhodesian cities of Bulawayo, Gwela and Salisbury, and the African rural districts of Essexvale, Gwanda, Filabusi andSeke. I met with chiefs, community and civic leaders, African Members of Parliament, one African lawyer and one African doctor, several businessmen and many ordinary country people. I attended meetings, beerhall sessions and church services. I also came into contact with Europeans at the University of Rhodesia, at the office of the Chief Native Commissioner, top officials in the Ministry of African Education, one Native Commissioner and several lesser European government officials.

The Nixon Adminsitration’s decision to sign an executive agreement covering U.S. access to Azores military facilities reflects the moral and practical bankruptcy of this Administration’s policy toward the white-governed territories of southern Africa. If there is to be any improvement in the social and political situation of nonwhites in Angola and Mozambique as a quid pro quo for our commitment of development funds and symbolic support, no signs of it appear in the news reports of the agreement. Whether or not any of the development projects are to be in those territories, U.S. support will contribute in a major way to the stabilization of Portuguese political control there.

“Yes, of course we are neo-colonialists. The proof lies in the fact that we are trying to help this country: we are granting her financial aid. If that is neo-colonialism, then long live neo-colonialism.”

This outburst of French indignation occurred in January 1972 at a press conference in Fort Lamy. Georges Pompidou had just been asked by a journalist to comment on the slogans which appeared throughout the Chadian capital accusing the French of being neo-colonialists. President Pompidou’s first trip to Chad was drawing to a close, and French troops continued to work with government forces under President Tombalbaye in combatting guerrilla action led by Moslems in the north. The press conference also afforded the opportunity to protest earlier broadcasts from Radio Libya which had urged the people of Chad to boycott Pompidou’s visit. “Those broadcasts bordered on insults,” the President declared. (Le Monde, January 30-31, 1972)

Economic planning in America, while not promoting socialism, did at least prevent officials and Africanists in the U.S. from being caught short by the wave of African independence which broke in 1960. Indeed, such planning seems to have insured that the U.S. would be present in Africa at that historic moment.

Commenting on the work of Portuguese clerics outside Portugal, a former Minister of Overseas Territories referred to the government’s understanding that missionary work could not be separated from the high interest of the State. While Portuguese officials have long appreciated the support of the Church in Africa, the Church itself has been silent regarding the identity of interests between Portuguese colonial policy and church evangelization. This silence—sign of the acquiescence of Portuguese bishops to the colonial regime—led the White Fathers to speak-out, denouncing policies supported by the Church in Mozambique.

The planning of United States policy toward Africa is no different from the planning of United States policy toward the other major areas of the world, for which the five regional bureaus of the Department of State have responsibility. Africa competes with Europe, East Asia, Latin America, the Near East and South Asia, for personnel, for resources, and for the attention and energies of those who are involved in the policy flow.

African-American relations at present are characterized by a situation in which the United States government and United States investors take more resources out of Africa than they put in. There is a negative balance of payments in the flow of aid, trade, and other resources. Consequently, Africans are disappointed in America and have little faith in the ability of this Western power to make even a modest contribution to the resolution of African problems by African means.