Zaire fighting for its future

Press, 9 April 1977, Page 10

Zaire fighting for its future

As the invasion of| 1 the copper-rich province , of Shaba, formerly Ka-j tanga, continues. Zaire; is fighting for its life-; hlooti. Since 1965 the , huge central African i country has depended; largely on its earnings' from copper. Much of its resources] have gone into a huge hydro-electric project which will eventually enable the smelting of copper within Shaba. Fighting has continued in: the province for several' weeks, led by former Katangan gendarmes who fled to] Angola in 1963 when the war of secession ended. I The country’s present; dependence on the former; rebel province became) acutely apparent when the world copper price slumped l drastically in 1974 and 1975,' and Ziare’s domestic economy was drastically affected, ; The war in Angola and; the troubles in the rest of j Southern Africa aggravated the recession, which was! compounded by the rise in I; oil prices. Ziare became cut) off from its usual outlets. Miss Althea Campbell, a New Zealander working for; the Church of Christ in Zaire’s capital, Kinshasa, re- ] called the hardship., of the | last few years when she was home on leave recently. I “Copper is 60 per cent ofb Zaire’s earnings,” she said.; “When foreign earnings suddenly slumped imports were cut and this caused a drop! in production of industries!’ just getting started, and a' slow-down in many big agri-)' cultural programmes.” UNEASY 11 Ziare was, she said, “very’ determined” to be com-li pletely neutral. It had]; always been uneasy about) the presence of the Russians |i and the Cubans in Angola. ) “Ziare wants to be friends L with everyone,” she said, i “But it doesn’t want to be? pushed around by any of thei super-Pow ?rs. Communism ( i is totally foreign to Africa’s h own way of thinking, but ; economic necessity can get. African countries into situ- ! ations they hadn’t antici- j pated, and then they find)

Themselves tied up.” ■ Miss Campbel! believes]' that because most African] I countries are in the Western I ;economic sphere the affluent) i nations are in an ideal post-1 ’ tion to foster peaceful devel- ] opment in the continent. ; “They should be considering whether they should ; not be doing more to give; support to the younger! nations so that they can go] their own way, without; ; being pushed into one camp 'or the other.” she said. Ziare was receiving aid from many countries. Chi-i jnese agricultural missions; were doing experimental) ■work. Already the rice crop! had been doubled. It was; (hoped the country would be; I self-sufficient in rice by] ! 1980. Big development pro-' ,'jects in cash crops such as] I palm products, coffee, and; i rubber were under way. j ! The Inga Dam complex] Iwa planned in four stages. | Its full capacity of 30,000 m w. i would make it the largest in (Africa, enabling the exploitation of Zaire’s im-l intense agricultural and min'eral potential. Stage two of. j the project comes into oper- : ation later this year. j “When it was begun in' 11967 a lot of people said it 'was too big for the coun- ; try’s needs,” said Miss] -Campbell. “But President] (Mobutu was determined to 'go ahead with it. “Stage one required prac-l itically ail of the country’s! resources, because finance) I was not forthcoming. Only! 115 per cent came from out-]; -side sources. When stage! lone was completed, everyone] Iwanted to come in.” • The project was now; being financed largely' by a (Belgian, Italian, and American consortium. A high-ten- ] sion line is being built from I the site in the south-west, p near the Atlantic coast, i 1500 km to the mining region (in the south-east. h j “This will be finished to I I coincide with the completion ; of stage two,” said Miss 1 .Campbell. “With this new ( source of power the mining j industry will be more econlomic and will expand ' -rapidly.” Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and I Poland were also contrib-] (uting to aid programmes in 'Zaire. The Russians, said

Miss Campbell, maintained a| large embassy, but "we don’t ] see anything they have done' for the country.” Zaire had friendly rela-j tions with the United States,] from which it received considerable aid. But President Mobutu was not going to be; a “yes man” to America. Miss Campbell said it was ■ considered in Kinshasa that the Americans were “caught lon the wrong foot” over Angola. She believes this happened because the then ;Secretary of State, Dr Henry’ Kissinger, was otherwise oc-i icupied. “If the Americans] ! had anticipated events in ■ Angola, the Russian moves' i could probably have been' (prevented,” she said. ] ] The Americans had also] moved too late in Rhodesia.; ;Miis Campbell was sceptical ■about the willingness of the Rhodesian Prime Minister | (Mr Smith) and his Government to negotiate a settlement genuinely acceptable to the black Rhodesians. She I said her view that the RhoI desian Government was determined to “keep white privileges” is commonly-held] in black Africa. “In Africa everyone knows I that Smith never really intended to negotiate, and probably never will. A state; lof war exists there now. (There has to-be a transfer of power. If the whites would face up to that and do it in jan orderly fashion now there(may be some hope. If not,] I it’s hard to see how a blood- ; (bath can be avoided,” she] said. I Miss Campbell wishes] New Zealanders had more | access to information about Africa which would enable] them to see Africans as “people just like us, struggl-i ing to get along and tol make a better life for them-] selves and their children.” | I She regards Zaire as much like New Zealand, dependent on the policies of the industrialised world. “I feel we should have done better out of our products,” she said,] “but we have been exploited because we don’t have enough power to negotiate on our own terms. “Producing countries don’t | have any say in the prices for the raw materials they 'export, and yet they have to pay more and more for their imports from the industrialised countries.”

| The “tremendous inflation” in Zaire had caused j huge increases in the price lof basic foods. Milk powder land soap prices, for instance. had risen tour-fold. A large sack of rice which 'two years ago had been $5 ilwas now Sl6. Zaire also had to cope with rapid urbanisation. At independence in 1960, only : six per cent of the popu- ' 1 ation lived in cities. Now ; the rate was 24 per cent. The population of 23.3 M was (youthful, and outside the (cities was scattered over an (area as large as Western 'Europe. Improvement in I communications, particularly 'to aid agriculture, was a.top (priority. ADMIRATION ' Miss Campbell described Zaire as politically stable. She has considerable admiration for President Mobutu Sese Seko, who took power /’in 1965. An intense African nationalist, his foreign policy has been pro-Western, and his political beliefs anti-com-imunist. Mobutu has been described as a vain, courageous, dedicated leader, burning with ambition for hirnI self and his country, who • has changed the worst chaos in modern African history ' that was the Congo into . Zaire, which he rules personally through a centralised (Government and single-party (system. I Miss Campbell believes • (that General Mobutu’s style lof Government is best for •Zaire. “Even though he has Jmade mistakes, he is prepared to admit to them, and .|the stability he has brought ;is better than constant (change,” she said. J "he equates his governJment with the traditional (African system of leadership , based on the authority of ; the chief, who consulted with his people then made the final decision and held the ultimate responsibility. 'Moves were now being made (at the village level to in- ! crease the people’s participation. Self-determination I would evolve in an African ; way. The idea of a loyal opposition was simply foreign to the African tribal system. Miss Campbell is hopeful about economic co-operation between the former French-' speaking African colonies.