USSR
and
countries
of
AFRICA
General Editor E. A. Tarabrin, Dr. Sc. (Hist.)
Progress Publishers
Moscow
[3]Translated from the Russian by David Fidlon and Stanlslav Ponomarenko
Designed by G. Gubanov
__EDITORS__ E. A. Tarabrin (General Editor), Anatoly A. Gromyko, V. G. Morozov, G. V. Smirnov, V. V. Snegirev Preface to the English translation by Anatoly A. Gromyko __AUTHORS__ Introduction---E. A. Tarabrin; Chapter I---G. A. Nersesov; Chapter II-N. I. Vysotskaya (§ 1, § 4), Y. I. Gouk (§ 2), M. M. Sumsky (§ 3), M. V. Rait (§ 5); Chapter IIIV. I. Gusarov and I. A. Yusupov; Chapter IV---V. P. Loginova and L. 0. Nizskaya (§ 1), M. V. Rait and N. A. Shcherenko (§ 2), L. N. Pribytkovsky (§ 3), N. I. Gavrilov (§ 4); Chapter V---Y. I. Gouk; Chapter VI---V. S. Baskin; Chapters VII and XII---D. D. Degtyar; Chapters VIII and IX---V. V. Lopatov; Chapter X--- G. G. Bagramov; Chapter XI---G. I. Rubinshtein; Chapters XIII and XV---Y. M. Ilyin; Chapter XIV---CCCP H CTPAHbl A<DPHKH
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0604010000 ~ [4] CONTENTS To the Reader ..................... 6 Introduction ...................... 9 Part One Political Cooperation ............ 21 Chapter I. The Soviet Union and Colonial Africa (1917--1945) 23 Chapter II. Assistance to the Newly Free African Countries in Their Efforts to Strengthen Political Independence and International Positions....... 52 Chapter III. USSR and North African Countries...... 78 Chapter IV. Relations with the Countries of Tropical Africa 106 Chapter V. The Soviet Union and the Liberation of Southern Part Two Africa ............... 127 Economic Cooperation............ 137 Chapter VI. Specific Features of the Economies of Independent African Countries.............. 139 Chapter VII. Economic Cooperation: Basic Principles, Trends and Results ................ 151 Chapter VIII. Cooperation in Prospecting for Mineral Resources and Their Development........ 162 Chapter IX. Soviet Assistance in the Development of National Industries............ 176 Chapter X. Assistance in Developing Agriculture in Africa 187 Chapter XI. Soviet-African Trade Relations........ 202 Chapter XII. The Development of Economic Relations: Problems and Prospects........... 221 Part Three Scientific and Cultural Ties......... 229 Chapter XIII. The Basis for Scientific and Cultural Contacts ................. 231 Chapter XIV. Cooperation in Education.......... 241 Chapter XV. Scientific Cooperation............ 259 Chapter XVI. Cultural Contacts............. 279 Chapter XVII. Assistance in Promoting Public Health and Physical Culture ................ 302 Conclusion....................... 308 Name and Subject Index ................ 316 [5] __ALPHA_LVL1__ TO THE READERThis is a revised and supplemented edition of a book which was published in Russian in 1977. Its authors are research workers of the Institute of Africa, the USSR Academy of Sciences, and other institutes and also specialists with good knowledge of Africa acquired through their work in diverse Soviet state organisations and institutions.
The authors do not intend to give a detailed account of the history of multiform diplomatic, political, economic and other relations between the peoples of Russia, and then the Soviet Union, and the peoples of Africa. This monograph is above all a socio-economic study of present-day SovietAfrican relations with occasional references to the past. The authors proceeded from the fact that the long-standing Soviet-African friendship and cooperation developed at an especially rapid pace after Africa became independent. They also took into consideration that the roots of contemporary events lie in all the preceding processes.
Consequently, they operate with historical facts to refute allegations in certain Western publications that the Soviet Union ``discovered'' Africa only in the 1950s. The authors bring to light certain general regularities and sources of the relations between the USSR and African states. They analyse Soviet policy towards colonial countries and peoples in the interval between the two world wars, and beginning with this historical period investigate individual aspects f the Soviet Union's cooperation with the continent's newly free states.
6In recent years much more attention is being paid in the USSR to the study of the modern history of the former colonies, including the newly free African states. Books on this subject examine the more important problems of socio-economic and socio-political development in the liberated countries, their foreign policy and international relations and their struggle against racialist and colonial regimes. They also criticise bourgeois-reformist, nationalist conceptions and show that real socialism has turned into a factor of the national independence of countries which had thrown off colonial oppression.
Some books and articles deal with individual aspects of the establishment of relations between the world's first socialist state and the developing countries.
This book is the first comprehensive study containing an analysis of the development, trends and prospects of the multiform Soviet-African relations and their interconnections. It shows that ever since its establishment the Soviet Union has approached the national liberation movements [of the oppressed peoples and [independent countries from strictly class positions. The ^authors note that in the course of the development of relations with the majority of independent African countries the Soviet Union has accumulated considerable experience in establishing international cooperation which is basically new as regards its content and forms, and, above all, in terms of its objectives.
The publication of this study in foreign languages is theoretically and practically important and expedient for several reasons. Among them are the increased importance of the Soviet Union's political, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation with African countries in broadening the scope of national liberation revolutions, the mounting positive influence of independent Africa on all present-day international relations and its growing role in world development. Moreover, the present publication will help progressive forces to provide well-argumented replies to anti-Soviet bourgeois-reformist and neo-Maoist falsifications of Soviet policy towards African countries.
The authors based their analysis of Soviet-African relations on Marxist-Leninist theory and combined theoretical propositions with facts, and statistical and other data. They endeavoured to unite a wide range of theoretical 7 aspects of the given problem within the framework of an integral conception and took into consideration that the Soviet Union's relations with African countries and national liberation movements are in a state of continuous development.
We hope that having read this book the reader will come to appreciate the lucid and consistent nature of Soviet policy vis-a-vis Africa, that on the African continent as elsewhere the USSR does not pursue a "conflict strategy" but is on the side of the forces working for national independence, social progress \and democracy. The authors clearly show that the USSR is against the preservation of the vestiges of colonial oppression and racialism in Africa and that it opposes neocolonialism and racialist regimes.
The book acquaints the reader not only with theory, but also with the practical results of the Soviet Union's economic cooperation with African countries. It demonstrates that the establishment, extension and deepening of economic, commercial, scientific, technical and cultural links with the USSR helps the developing countries to do away with backwardness, build up their own independent economy and achieve social progress.
Prof. Anatoly Gromyko
Director
The Institute of Africa
USSR Academy of Sciences
A salient feature of our epoch is the progress of the national liberation movement, which, after the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, became an inalienable part of the world revolutionary process. Comprising as they do a dynamic contingent of this movement, the young independent African states and the revolutionary liberation organisations in Southern Africa play an important role in the struggle for peace and for a democratic reorganisation of international political and economic relations.
The fact thai the newly free countries play an increasing part in world development is a direct consequence of their growing friendship and cooperation with world socialism and, primarily, with the Soviet Union. History has confirmed this. In his report on the~60th anniversary of the October Revolution, Leonid Brezhnev said: "It was the victory of the October Revolution that really awakened the political consciousness of the colonial peoples and helped them to achieve such great success in their fight for liberation from oppression by imperialism.''^^1^^
The first enactments of the Soviet state---the Decree on Peace, the Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia, and the appeal To All the Working Moslems of Russia and the East---evoked a great response in the African colonies. The distinguished African leader Amilcar Cabral wrote that the Great October Socialist Revolution not only changed the _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow, 1977, p. 21.
9 life of the peoples of Russia but also indicated the path of revolutionary struggle to millions of oppressed people and contributed to the successful development of the national liberation movement in the whole world.Naturally, one of the main trends of Soviet foreign policy is that of supporting the peoples fighting against colonial oppression. This is recognised by many foreign observers. The American Edward Wilson, for example, notes that in the period between the two world wars Moscow did much to convince "Africans that national independence was not beyond their reach".^^2^^
The collapse of the colonial empires in Africa resulted from the rapid upsurge of the African national liberation movement. In many respects this upsurge was stimulated by the defeat of nazi Germany in which the USSR played the^decisive role. The rout of nazism destroyed the conception of racial superiority which justified the domination of some^nations over others. As more and more independent countries appeared on the African continent, the USSR began to furnish extensive moral, political, diplomatic and material support to the young states in their efforts to strengthen independence and promote national revival.
The desire to cooperate with all anti-imperialist forces in the world, the socialist states in the first place, is a distinguishing feature of the foreign policy pursued by the majority of newly free states. The establishment and maintenance of good relations with the African countries is also an important trend in the foreign policy of the USSR. In his report to the 25th CPSU Congress Leonid Brezhnev said that the Soviet Union's ties with countries that had liberated themselves from colonial dependence had multiplied and strengthened.
African countries which had cast off colonial dependence differ in terms of their social systems, type of international ties, and level of economic development. But on the international scene the overwhelming majority of them are united in their mounting struggle against imperialism, for political and economic rights, real sovereignty and social progress. These criteria in assessing their stand on international _-_-_
~^^2^^ Edward Thomas Wilson, Russia and Black Africa Before World War II, Holmes & Meier Publishers, New York, London, 1974, p. 297.
10 issues point to their positive contribution to the common struggle for international peace and security.Soviet foreign policy is a class policy. The Soviet Union's relations with developing African countries rest on its desire to promote their complete decolonisation and, consequently, further envigorate the anti-imperialist struggle and strengthen the militant unity of all its participants.
In its relations with the developing countries and those which have not yet freed themselves from racial and colonial oppression, the Soviet Union adheres to the principles of international solidarity with peoples fighting against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism. These principles stem from proletarian internationalism whose importance today was emphasised by Leonid Brezhnev in his report to the 25th CPSU Congress, and' from the humaneness of socialist foreign policy.
The USSR consistently implements Lenin's idea of worldwide cooperation between the forces of socialism and national liberation. "The foreign policy of the proletariat is alliance with the revolutionaries of the advanced countries and with all the oppressed nations against all and any imperialists,'' Lenin wrote.^^3^^
The main content of this policy at the contemporary stage was defined in the decisions of the 24th and 25th CPSU congresses, plenary meetings of the CC CPSU and in the speeches and statements by Leonid Brezhnev, and consists in the following:~
---active support for all forces fighting against imperialism, for the abolition of the remnants of colonial systems, against neocolonialism, racialism, apartheid and Zionism, for political and economic independence, for true equality in the international division of labour, for full sovereignty over their natural resources;
---equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries;
---non-recognition and resolute condemnation of racialist regimes, anti-popular dictatorships and military juntas, and participation in all sorts of boycotts and sanctions against them;
_-_-_~^^3^^V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1974, p. 87.
11---priority assistance to states that have taken the progressive path of development and, first and foremost, to the socialist-oriented countries.
The last point reflects the revolutionary character of the Soviet social system to which ideological and political indifference is totally alien. Leonid Brezhnev said in his report to the 25th Party' Congress: "We do not conceal our views. In the developing countries, as everywhere else, we are on the side of the forces of progress, democracy and national independence, and regard them as friends and comrades in struggle.''^^4^^
Since independent African countries have different political, economic and social systems, it is only natural that their relations with the USSR are also different. The substance of relations and cooperation depends on the degree of independence enjoyed by each African country. Practice shows that the USSR has broader relations with states which adhere to revolutionary-democratic ideology and which increasingly assimilate the ideas of scientific socialism. At the same time the Soviet Union seeks to extend cooperation with states which are ruled by other political forces, including the national bourgeoisie. The Soviet Union's contacts with countries whose sovereignty is still limited due to various reasons, are based on the letter's longing for full independence, and its attainment is undoubtedly promoted by their cooperation with the socialist states.
In a'word, the Soviet Union's concept of relations with the African countries is to assist in every possible way full decolonialisation and independent development, and to consolidate a new type of equitable and mutually beneficial international relations on the basis of non-interference in one another's internal affairs. "It is an immutable principle of our Leninist foreign policy,'' Leonid Brezhnev emphasised, "to respect the sacred right of every people, every country, to choose Hs own way of development.''^^5^^
The Soviet Union's cooperation with the young independent African states promotes the solution of the basic problems of the national democratic revolutions, and is designed to support the developing countries in their efforts to _-_-_
~^^4^^ Documents and Resolutions, XXVth Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1976, p. 16.
~^^5^^ Ibid.
12 reorganise their relations with the industrial capitalist states on a just and democratic basis.The aims and content of this cooperation are: in the political sphere---to consolidate the independence of the developing states, politically and diplomatically to uphold their interests in international organisations, ensure their right to choose their own path of social development, and abolish inequality in international relations; in the economic sphere---to assist in building up the national economy, getting rid of imperialist exploitation, neocolonialist diktat and dependence, asserting sovereignty over natural wealth and securing equality in the international division of labour; in the ideological sphere---to support the struggle against the ideological expansion of neocolonialism, help to assimilate the ideas of scientific socialism, and to expose bourgeois and social-reformist theories of socio-economic development which are modified conceptions of national and racial oppression; in the scientific and cultural sphere---to help promote national science and culture, train personnel, and establish national art and literature through cultural exchange; in the military sphere---to strengthen the defensive capability of the independent states, create conditions for repulsing imperialist and neocolonialist aggression, and to protect them against military pressure or direct aggressive and expansionist acts of imperialism.
The past twenty years abound in examples illustrating that such a course is indeed fruitful. In 1960, on the initiative of the Soviet Union, the UN adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, in 1963 it adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and in 1973 a declaration condemning apartheid. Since 1967 the USSR has been waging a consistent political and diplomatic struggle in defence of the just cause of the Arab peoples. At the Sixth and Seventh Special and at the 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd regular sessions of the UN General Assembly and at the Fourth UNCTAD, the Soviet Union resolutely supported the developing countries which demanded complete sovereignty over their natural resources and the restructuring of their economic relations with the capitalist countries on an equitable and just basis.
The USSR and other socialist states have been furnishing substantial assistance, including military, to all truly 13 national liberation movements resisting racial and colonial oppression, and to peoples fighting against aggression and for their national liberation. This policy is rooted in Lenin's teaching about just and unjust wars. The struggle waged by the peoples of colonies and dependencies for liberation and an armed rebuff to aggression are always just. This has been borne out by the events in Angola where fraternal assistance from the USSR, Cuba, and other countries of the socialist community overturned the plans of the neocolonialists. The Angolan patriots achieved a magnificent victory, and its President, MPLA Chairman Agostinho Neto expressed his gratitude to the Soviet people, the CPSU and the Soviet Government for their solidarity with the struggle of the Angolan people for full independence.
The USSR fully supports the struggle for liberation from racialist regimes waged by the African patriots of South Africa and Namibia. In an interview for the French newspaper Le Monde, Leonid Brezhnev said that the peoples of the African continent "are fighting against the shameful phenomena of racism and apartheid. This is a just struggle and my country has always supported and will support such a struggle".^^6^^
The victories of the peoples of Mozambique and Angola, the revolutionary events in Ethiopia and other African countries are also a result of the enormous influence exerted on the course of world development by£ the policy of peaceful coexistence and detente, which, as the final document of the Conference of the Communist and Workers' Parties of Europe (Berlin, June 1976) states, "in no way mean the maintenance of the political and social status quo in the various countries but, on the contrary, create optimum conditions for the development of the struggle of the working.class and all democratic forces as well as for the implementation of the inalienable right of each and every people freely to choose and follow its own course of development".^^7^^ These factors have a positive impact also on the Soviet Union's relations with African countries, since they give them fresh opportunities to speed up their advance towards genuine independence.
The Soviet Union's cooperation with the developing African countries is a complicated process. It implies goodwill _-_-_
~^^6^^ Moscow News, 25 June 1977, Supplement, p. 9.
~^^7^^ For Peace, Security, Cooperation and Social Progress in Europe, Moscow, 1976, p. 31.
14 of the sides concerned, their ability to see the whole international scene and take^into account the main trends of historical development. An indicator of the realistic nature of the policy currently pursued by the independent African states is their desire to strengthen political links and contacts with the USSR. It reflects the objective fact that the main contradiction in the newly-free countries is the antagonism between their interests and those of state-monopoly capitalism; the further development of these countries along the path of national independence can only take place in the course of struggle against neocolonialism.Foreign policy is always consistent with the state's social structure and the nature of the forces standing at its head. "In the land in which the small-proprietor population greatly predominates over the purely proletarian population, the difference between the proletarian revolutionary and petty-bourgeois revolutionary will inevitably make itself felt, and from time to time will make itself felt very sharply. The latter vacillates and wavers at every turn of events,'' Lenin wrote.^^8^^ This tenet fully applies to the young African states today. It is strikingly confirmed by the zigzags in foreign policy of each one of them which unavoidably influences their relations with the USSR.
Serious transformations in domestic life are a typical feature of the majority of independent African countries. They step up the struggle against imperialism for economic independence and social emancipation and carry out deepgoing progressive changes. Here, too, the young states are very considerably assisted by the Soviet Union.
The USSR has signed agreements on trade, economic and technical cooperation with over 30 African countries. With Soviet assistance more than 400 various projects have either been completed or are under construction on the continent; 70 per cent of them are government industrial enterprises. The creation_ of the state sector with Soviet aid strengthens the economic and political independence of the African states.
The Soviet Union's economic cooperation with African countries and the scientific and technical assistance which it gives them, differ basically from their economic relations and links with the capitalist states, though at first glance _-_-_
~^^8^^V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 276.
15 they might seem identical since they also include economic and technical support, the sharing of know-how, help in training national personnel, trade, and so forth. The difference is in the purpose of this aid and its results.The economic measures of the USA, Japan and West European states in Africa are an element of neocolonialist strategy designed to retain the continent's newly free countries within the world capitalist system of economy and turn them into an industrial and raw materials branch of the monopolistic industrial centres so as to continue exploiting these countries in the changed conditions and impose new forms of dependence upon them hy resorting to new methods.
The Soviet Union's economic relations with independent African countries rest on full equality. It helps them promote their economic growth and build up national economic complexes and key branches of production on the basis of modern technology. The following figures are indicative: as of 1 January 1977, contracts signed with the USSR ensured the following annual production growth: electricity ---2.9 million kw, pig iron---2.75 million tons, steel---4.4 million tons, iron ore---3.5 million tons, oil products---2.65 million tons, and cement---1.65 million tons. Just to compare, in 1970 all developing countries produced some 15 million tons of pig iron and 20 million tons of steel. The Soviet Union backs the African states which nationalise the property of foreign monopolies. This was emphasised by Leonid Brezhnev. "The Soviet Union,'' he said, "fully supports the legitimate aspirations of the young states, their determination to put an end to all imperialist exploitation, and to take full charge of their own national wealth.''^^9^^
Soviet economic assistance to independent African countries is not conhned to the industrial sphere alone. It takes into account that their economy is chiefly agrarian. Though agriculture is their most backward branch, about 80 per cent of the population are engaged in it. Its reorganisation is therefore extremely important for promotingkeconomic growth in general, and for solving the acute problem of food supply, in particular.
Agricultural projects occupy an important place in the total volume of Soviet aid to Africa. With Soviet assistance about 70 agricultural projects have been built or are under _-_-_
~^^9^^ Documents and Resolutions. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 17.
16 construction on the continent. They include irrigation systems, cattle farms, grain elevators, farm machinery repair shops and factories processing agricultural products.Trade between the USSR and African countries is developing on a mutually beneficial basis. From 1960 to 1978 the number of countries with which the USSR had trade agreements increased sixfold. There was a similar growth in trade turnover in this period. Industrial goods, transport facilities, machines and plant account for more than 90 per cent of Soviet exports. In exchange the USSR receives not only traditional African exports, but, and this is important, certain types of industrial consumer goods as well. This sort of trade plays an important role in promoting the economic growth of the young states, and broadens the market for their commodities.
Thus, the Soviet Union's economic cooperation with free Africa, however diverse its trends and forms may be, is chiefly designed to help the young states to cope with key problems of economic development.
A major role in strengthening relations between the USSR and African states is played by scientific and cultural ties which promote mutual understanding between peoples, the development of science and the creation of new cultural values. As the national liberation revolutions gained in depth and scope the African public came face to face with the acute problem of achieving cultural decolonialisation, including the liquidation of almost 100 per cent illiteracy, the training of national personnel and the promotion of science, art and literature. Now, after long years of colonial oppression, the African peoples have entered the stage of cultural revival. Having won independence Africa destroyed the closed system of social relations tied up to home countries. Today the young states are anxious to do away with cultural backwardness inherited from colonialism as quickly as possible, and gain access to the achievements of world technological, scientific and socio-political thought.
As they promote scientific and cultural links with African countries the CPSU and the Soviet Government are guided by the principles of proletarian internationalism. The aims the USSR pursues by establishing and expanding such ties are clearly defined in the CPSU Programme, which says: "The Party considers it necessary to expand the Soviet Union's cultural relations with the countries of the socialist __PRINTERS_P_17_COMMENT__ 2--0763 17 system and with all other countries for the purpose of exchanging scientific and cultural achievements and of bringing about mutual understanding and friendship among the peoples.''^^10^^
Scientific and cultural cooperation not only supplements Soviet economic and technical assistance to the African countries, but also plays an important role of its own. Thanks to exchange in this sphere African peoples are able to familiarise themselves with the many aspects of Soviet culture, which is national in form and socialist in content, and come to appreciate the internationalist, profoundly humane character of the Soviet people. On its part the Soviet public gains a better understanding of the cultural and psychological features of the different African peoples. Such mutual understanding is particularly important in conditions of the acute ideological struggle in the modern world.
``In order to create an atmosphere of trust among states, so necessary for a lasting peace, peoples must get to know and understand each other better. This is the starting point from which we approach all cultural exchanges and human contacts,'' said Leonid Brezhnev in his speech at the Conference of the Communist and Workers' Parties of Europe in Berlin.^^11^^
An essential requisite for the successful struggle of the African peoples for the consolidation of their independence is the establishment of national networks of colleges and universities and scientific institutions. African countries must have their own specialists in all fields of knowledge in order to surmount economic backwardness. In many respects this task is being solved as a result of the expansion of scientific and cultural ties of the African states with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
For instance, as of 1977, about 100 educational institutions had been or were being built with Soviet assistance, including 14 higher and 13 secondary schools, and 72 vocational training centres. The number of African students in the USSR increased twelvefold from 1961 to 1978. Annually 3,000 scholarships are designated for their education. Moreover, nearly 200,000 specialists and skilled workers were trained, in the course of construction and operation of industrial and other projects in the African countries _-_-_
~^^10^^ The Road to Communism, Moscow, 1962, pp. 578--79.
~^^11^^ For Peace, Security, Cooperation and Social Progress in Europe, Moscow, 1976, p. 14.
18 themselves, and also in I heir educational centres which were built with Soviet assistance, and some 5,000 African engineers and technicians underwent after-graduation training at leading Soviet industrial enterprises.Practice shows that objective difficulties sometimes do crop up in the Soviet Union's relations with African countries in view of their specific features. However, the main thing which has to be borne in mind is that the strengthening positions of world socialism and its tighter links with newly free countries accelerate progressive changes in Africa, involving more and more democratic and national liberation forces. On the whole, events of the past several years on the African continent confirm the correctness of the Soviet Union's foreign policy course.
The newly free African countries have made considerable progress towards real national, economic and social independence. But freedom fighters have a long and difficult road to traverse, and face a very broad range of problems which can be solved only in conditions of durable world peace, equality of peoples, and extensive and mutually beneficial cooperation of all states. It is this course in international relations which the Soviet Union upholds.
Soviet-African cooperation in the struggle for international peace and security is a major condition for the developing countries in their efforts to overcome backwardness and more effectively to implement their economic and social programmes, and has a most benign influence on contemporary development as a whole.
Africa welcomes the Soviet Union's determined struggle for disarmament. The African peoples are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that stopping the arms race would facilitate their countries' economic development, by opening good prospects for obtaining economic aid through cuts in arms spending by the industrialised countries. At the same time the general shift of material means from the military to the civilian sphere stimulates the participation of the developing countries in international economic cooperation and trade.
It is also important that the Soviet Union provides African countries with more than just an example of how their peoples can practically get rid of social and national oppression and surmount backwardness. The relations between the Soviet Union and African countries show that world 19 socialism influences the course of world developments in two ways, first by its successes, might and force of example, and second, by its purposeful policy. The first influences their choice of social orientation, while the second helps them to solve national problems.
The Soviet Union's unremitting support for independent African countries and national liberation movements is acknowledged by those of their leaders who have kept their sense of reality. They manifested their attitude with fresh force in congratulatory speeches and messages on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution. All of them stressed that were it not for the Soviet Union's material help and moral support many victories over imperialism would have not been achieved.
In spite of difficulties, temporary setbacks in some sectors and zigzags in the policies of individual developing states, the national liberation movement in Africa is on the upsurge. Soviet-African relations are also expanding, particularly their political content, inasmuch as progressive revolutionary change in the former colonies and dependencies can only become all-embracing if they strengthen their solidarity with the socialist world. Internationalism is not merely an obligation of some revolutionary contingents to others. It is a question of revolutionary conscience. History shows that any kind of isolation of developing countries from other streams of the world revolutionary process handicaps the struggle and sometimes leads to defeat. And, on the contrary, reliance on the socialist community and interaction with the USSR and other socialist countries ensures the biggest successes for the national liberation forces.
As regards the Soviet Union, it is a reliable friend of the young African states and is prepared to give them every assistance and support in their progressive development.
The Soviet Union, said Leonid Brezhnev, is convinced that "no power on earth can wipe out the results of the heroic liberation struggle of millions upon millions of people in the former colonies and semi-colonies of imperialism. The cause of the peoples' liberation is indomitable, the future belongs to it. The light kindled by the October Revolution shall not fail on this front of world history, either.''^^12^^
_-_-_~^^12^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, p. 23.
[20] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Part One __ALPHA_LVL1__ Political Cooperation __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter I __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE SOVIET UNIONUntil the middle of the 20th century almost all Africa was a colonial domain of the imperialist powers. In order to keep its colonies out of reach of the influence of socialist ideas, imperialism erected barriers to prevent contacts between African countries and the Soviet Union. Yet the decades preceding the disintegration of the colonial system are not to be excluded from the history of Soviet-African contacts. They were a period when the first steps were taken to build the foundations of friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and the fighting peoples of Africa.
Rapprochement between the USSR and the African countries is rooted in the international significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution. It opened the road to social and national liberation before the whole of humanity, and weakened the positions of imperialism, both in the home countries and in the colonial periphery. This led to the crisis of the colonial system, which developed as a part of the general crisis of capitalism, and created favourable conditions for an upsurge of the national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America. By defeating the whiteguards and foreign interventionists, Soviet Russia showed all the oppressed peoples that it was possible not only to fight against imperialism, but to defeat it as well.
The way Soviet rule solved the national question powerfully stimulated the liberation struggle of the African peoples. The Marxist-Leninist principles of equality and sovereignty of peoples and their right to self-determination up to secession and the establishment of independent states were legislatively secured in the Declaration of Rights of the 23 Peoples of Russia^^1^^ adopted in November 1917. They were implemented in the national policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government and formed the basis for the voluntary alliance of the peoples of tsarist Russia, whom the revolution had liberated, into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The rapid political, economic, social and cultural development of the numerous nations and nationalities in the Soviet Union, which had been oppressed by tsarism, laid bare the political insolvency and the reactionary nature of the notorious imperialist doctrine about the inferiority of the colonial peoples and their inability to build their own life and develop modern political institutes, economy and culture. The experience of the multinational Soviet Union convinced African countries that the aims of their liberation struggle were quite realistic.
Even people who could not even be suspected of attempting to overestimate the significance of the way the national question was being solved in the USSR had to admit this. For instance, the prominent French diplomat Jean Herbette, a representative of a country which had colonies in Africa, said back in 1925 that the Soviet Government was the first to put the solution of the national question on a foundation that was satisfactory for all nationalities and that this fact in turn made the Soviet Government extremely popular among all the oppressed nationalities.^^2^^
Another circumstance which greatly stimulated SovietAfrican relations was that in the person of the Soviet Union a great power appeared on the international scene, a power whose government proclaimed its solidarity with the world anti-imperialist liberation struggle. This was a drastic turn in world politics and in the entire system of international relations.
Prior to 1917 the peoples of African and other colonies were alone in their struggle against the world capitalist system. In spite of all the contradictions within this system and the vicious struggle between the imperialist states for the division and repartitioning of the world, they were _-_-_
~^^1^^ See Collection of Statutes and Instructions of the Workers' and Peasants' Government, No. 2, Petrograd, 1917, p. 21 (in Russian).
~^^2^^ See USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. VIII, No. 19, Moscow, 1963 (in Russian),
24 united in their desire to consolidate colonialism and imperialist exploitation.The October Revolution created a totally different situation. For the first time in history a great state came out against imperialism and colonialism in general and not merely against an individual power or a group of powers. For the first time the demand to liberate the colonial and dependent peoples was proclaimed a principle of state policy.
This was done by Soviet Russia in Lenin's famous Decree on Peace approved at the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets on 26 October, 1917. Calling upon all countries involved in the world war to immediately begin talks on a just and democratic peace without annexations and contributions, the Soviet Government defined annexation in the following words: "In accordance with the sense of justice of democrats in general, and of the working classes in particular, the government conceives the annexation or seizure of foreign lands to mean every incorporation of a small or weak nation into a large or powerful state without the precisely, clearly and voluntarily expressed consent and wish of that nation, irrespective of the time when such forcible incorporation took place, irrespective also of the degree of development or backwardness of the nation forcibly annexed to the given state, or forcibly retained within its borders, and irrespective, finally, of whether this nation is in Europe or in distant, overseas countries.''^^3^^
This meant that Soviet Russia came out for the liberation of all enslaved countries. The further existence of colonial regimes, according to the Decree on Peace, was proclaimed "annexation, i.e. seizure and violence''.
The Decree on Peace contained another point which stated that the reluctance of any nation to submit to foreign rule could be expressed by various means, beginning with demands in the press and mass meetings and ending with uprisings. Thus, the Decree underscored that a national liberation movement in any form, including armed struggle, was both legitimate and just.
The Soviet Government resolutely upheld these principles at the peace talks with the Central Powers^^4^^ which began at _-_-_
~^^3^^V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 250.
~^^4^^ Central Powers---countries opposed to the Allies in the First World War, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.
25 Brest-Litovsk in December 1917. In keeping with the Decree on Peace and the programme of peace talks which Lenin had drafted in furtherance of this document,^^5^^ the Soviet delegation issued a declaration saying that the principle of the self-determination of nations should be extended to the colonies.^^6^^ The Soviet government made a similar demand in an appeal to the Allies of 17 (30) December 1917.^^7^^Naturally, the Soviet Government harboured no illusions that the imperialists would voluntarily surrender their possessions. It issued a revolutionary appeal directly to the peoples living in colonial or semi-colonial oppression. The historic appeal To All the Working Moslems of Russia and the East of 20 November (3 December) 1917 was addressed to the oppressed peoples of Asia and Africa regardless of their race, nationality or religion, to all "whose heads and property, whose freedom and motherland were bought and sold in the course of centuries by the greedy predators of Europe''. The whole world heard the naming words of the appeal: "Then overthrow these predators and enslavers of your countries.... Cast out these age-old invaders of your lands. Do not let them plunder your smouldering ruins any longer. You must be the masters of your country. You must build your life according to your own image and liking. You have this right, for your future is in your own hands.''^^8^^
The appeal from Soviet Russia was heard on all continents. The liberation struggle gained momentum in African countries, too. From 1919 to 1921 the biggest rebellions took place in Egypt since its occupation by the British in 1882. Quite often the Egyptian fellahs called the revolutionary organs which they established in the course of revolutionary events in 1919 by the Russian name ``Soviets''.
So powerful was the onslaught of the revolutionary masses of the Egyptian people that British imperialism was forced to make concessions: it abolished the protectorate that was established over Egypt in 1914, and in February 1922 proclaimed Egypt's nominal independence, but in fact retained its control over the country.
_-_-_~^^5^^ See V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, pp. 349--50.
~^^6^^ USSR Foreign Policy Documents. Vol. I, No. 33, Moscow, 1957; Brest-Litovsk Peace Talks. Vol. T, Plenary Meetings of the Political Commission, Moscow, 1920, p. 12 (in Russian).
~^^7^^ USSR Foreign Policy Documents. Vol. I, p. 38.
^^8^^ Collection of Statutes and Instructions..., No. 6, pp. 95--96.
26In 1921 the rebel Riff tribes set up an independent state in Morocco. A correspondent of the French newspaper L'Oeuvre who managed to cross the frontline interviewed one of the closest associates of the Riff leader Mohammed ben Abd el Krim and quoted him as saying that Russia had freed itself of the oppressors and that they were doing the same.^^9^^ For five years the Riff Republic fought heroically against the superior forces of the Spanish and French colonialists and set an inspiring example to other colonial peoples.
The Russian words ``Soviet'' and ``Bolshevik'' were widely used by forward-thinking workers in South Africa. The strikes of Transvaal miners---first African (in 1920) and then white (in 1922) which developed into an armed uprising--- were among the most powerful revolutionary upheavals on the continent in that period.
The Communist Party of South Africa was founded in 1921. Its Manifesto underscored the historic significance of the October Revolution. This first victory, said the South African Communists, predetermined political developments throughout the world. It is clear to everyone that all will have to follow Russia's example.^^10^^ A Communist Party was also founded in Egypt in the early 1920s, and sections of the French Communist Party were opened in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Madagascar (in the 1930s and 1940s sections of the French Communist Party in Maghreb became independent Communist parties).
In the eyes of the African peoples the very existence of the Soviet state was an earnest of their liberation and they endeavoured to help it in its struggle against imperialism. During the years of foreign intervention against Soviet Russia progressive Africans took part in the movement of the working people of the world in support of Soviet Russia. They demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from its territory, and helped it materially during the famine of 1921--1922. Africans were also among the revolutionary sailors and soldiers who started a rebellion in the French Fleet in the Black Sea in the spring of 1919.
_-_-_~^^9^^ See M. P. Puvlovich, "Latest Developments in the East'', The New East, Nos. 8-9, Moscow. 1925, p. XXXI (in Russian).
~^^10^^ See The Comintern and the East. Struggle /or Lenin's Strategy and Tactics in the National Liberation Movement, Moscow, 1969, p. 503 (in Russian).
27Delegates from fighting Africa attending Comintern congresses and other forums of the international working-class and national liberation movement invariably expressed feelings of fraternal friendship towards the Soviet people. One of the first forums of this kind was the Congress of the Peoples of the East in Baku in September 1920. Among its foreign delegates were those representing Egypt. In its resolution the Congress emphasised the role "of the Russian working-class revolution which awakened the working people of the colonies and dependent territories to struggle for liberation".^^11^^ The voice of the struggling African peoples resounded loudly at the World Congress of the Friendsof the Soviet Union which met in Moscow in November 1927. The leader of the Sierra Leone Railwaymen's Union Ernest Richardson, who was elected to the Congress presidium, said that the October Revolution was particularly near and dear to them, the black slaves of capital. He also noted that the October Revolution for the first time in history proclaimed the establishment of a united front of the world proletariat of all races and colour of skin.^^12^^
The international Anti-Imperialist League^^13^^ that functioned in the late 1920s and the early 1930s, and whose membership also included organisations of the communist, working-class and the national liberation movement of the African countries (Egypt, the French colonies, Union of South Africa, etc.) proclaimed its solidarity with the USSR. The Manifesto adopted at the League's inaugural congress in Brussels in 1927 noted that the Russian revolution had given a powerful stimulus to the world national liberation movement. "The world historic example of the establishment on the ruins of the system of oppression of a State of Labour which rests on a free alliance of peoples and tribes,'' the Manifesto stated, "like a torch illuminates the road of the liberation struggle waged by oppressed and enslaved peoples.''^^14^^
_-_-_~^^11^^ See First Congress of the Peoples of the East in Baku, 1-8 September, 1920. Verbatim Report, Petrograd, 1920 (in Russian).
~^^12^^ Pravda, 6-7 November 1927.
~^^13^^ Officially known as the League Against Imperialism, Against Colonial Oppression and for National Independence.
~^^14^^ Das Flammenzeichen vom Palais Egmont. Offizielles Protokoll des Kongresses gegen koloniale Unterdriickung und Imperialismus. Brussel, 10.-15. Februar 1927. Herausgegeben von derLigagegen Imperialismus und fur nationale Unabhangigkeit, Neuer Deutscher Verlag, Berlin, 1927, S. 246.
28In 1928 Soviet trade unions began to participate in the League's activities and played an important role in strengthening the international anti-colonial front. The Second Congress of the Anti-Imperialist League which took place in Frankfort on the Main in 1929 noted that the accession to the League of the workers' organisations of the country of proletarian dictatorship was a fact of primary importance.
A major role in broadening the Soviet Union's links with the peoples of Africa was played by the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers which existed in the same period. The Committee repeatedly emphasised the significance for the oppressed colonial masses of the October Revolution, the solution of the national question and the building of socialism in the USSR. This was also mentioned at the First International Conference of Negro Workers convened by the Committee in July 1930 in Hamburg. The Conference urged the peoples of Arica and all Negro workers in the countries of the Western hemisphere to give every support to the worker-and-peasant republic in staving off the threat of a new crusade by the imperialist powers.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. Internationalism in ActionLenin and the Bolshevik Party thought very highly of the colonial peoples' anti-imperialist battles as a powerful factor deepening the general crisis of capitalism. Lenin pointed out that the intensification of the national liberation struggle in colonies and dependencies lent the international revolutionary movement a truly world-wide nature.^^15^^ In his theses to the Second Congress of the Comintern Lenin said: "A policy must be pursued that will achieve the closest alliance, with Soviet Russia, of all the national and colonial liberation movements.''^^16^^
Referring to the mounting revolutionary activity of the masses in the colonial countries, Lenin mentioned the events in Africa. In May 1922 he wrote: "In these twenty years^^17^^ the revolution has developed into an invincible force in countries with a total population of over a thousand million (the whole of Asia, not to forget South Africa, which _-_-_
~^^15^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 41, p. 454 (in Russian).
~^^16^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 146.
~^^17^^ Since the rise of Bolshevism.---Ed.
29 recently reminded the world of its claim to human and not slavish existence, and by methods which were not altogether `parliamentary').''^^18^^There is a note which Lenin wrote to his secretary L. A. Fotieva (not later than 8 May 1920), asking her to get " Waltman's report on South Africa"^^19^^ for him. One of the founders of the South African Communist Party S. P. Bunting, who attended the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, wrote in his memoirs that Lenin had read the manuscript of his article on colonial issues.^^20^^
Lenin also took an interest in the revolutionary events in Egypt. On 25 April 1919 he read a memo of the Eastern Department of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs about the situation in that country. Later he referred to Britain's method of ``solving'' the Egyptian question in 1922 (recognition of Egypt's formal independence coupled with the preservation of occupation regime and the actual rule of British imperialism) in order to criticise the LloydGeorge method of "truncated revolution".^^21^^
The development of the national liberation movement in Africa found its reflection in a number of documents of the Bolshevik Party. For instance, in its resolution on the Report of the Central Committee, the 14th Congress of the CPSU specially mentioned the uprising of the Riffs in Morocco calling it one of the biggest revolutionary acts in the countries of the East. The Congress noted that the entire system of imperialism had been undermined by the awakening colonial and semi-colonial peoples (China, India, Syria, Morocco), whose movement, which in places had assumed the form of national liberation wars, had attained immense, formerly unheard-of dimensions.^^22^^ Five years later, the 16th Congress of the CPSU pointed to the further _-_-_
~^^18^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 351.
~^^19^^ Lenin Miscellany, Vol. XXXVII, Moscow, 1970, p. 203 (in Russian). An opinion exists that this could have been a report drawn up by M. Y. Wolberg. a participant in the Russian revolution of 1905 who lived from 1913 to 1919 in South Africa under the assumed name of Welmont. In the spring of 1920 he visited Moscow as an emissary of the South African socialists.
~^^20^^ S. P. Bunting, "Lenin: Personal Impression'', The International Johannesburg, 25 January 1924.
~^^21^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 42, p. 393.
~^^22^^ See The CPSU in the Resolutions and Decisions of Its Congresses, Conferences and Plenums of the Central Committee, Vol. 3, Moscow, 1970, p. 244 (in Russian).
30 weakening of imperialism's positions as a result of the intensification of the national liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples of Asia and Africa.The Soviet people repeatedly demonstrated their solidarity with the national revolutionary movement in African countries. When, after suppressing strikes and uprisings in 1922, the South African authorities instituted judicial and police repressions against the Transvaal miners, Soviet workers actively joined the international campaign in support of the working class in the Union of South Africa. The Fifth All-Russia Congress of Trade Unions which took place in September 1922 in Moscow sent a telegram to the South African workers condemning the measures of the South African reaction and British capital. "The Congress protests,'' the telegram read, "against death sentences passed on the leaders of the strike in South Africa and supports the determined protest of the international proletariat against the infamous repressions instituted by the bourgeois judiciary.''^^23^^
The fresh pressure which Britain brought to bear on Egypt at the end of 1924 and which virtually resulted in a coup and the institution of a reign of terror against the national democratic forces there, evoked a wave of indignation in the USSR. A campaign of protest against the measures of British imperialism was launched in the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Georgia and other Soviet republics. On the initiative of the newspaperj/sTommamsi, a mass meeting took place in Baku on 28 November 1924 at which the working people of Azerbaijan and representatives of other peoples of the Soviet East (Daghestan and Central Asia), and also of Iran and Turkey decided to set up a HandsOff-Egypt society.
On behalf of 50,000 Baku miners, the Presidium of the Central Board of the Azerbaijan Branch of the USSR Union of Miners issued an appeal to the workers of Britain: "We vehemently protest against the action of the [British] Government designed to shamelessly exploit the working people of Egypt, and urge you to raise your voices against the _-_-_
~^^23^^ Documents of Proletarian Solidarity. A Collection of Documents on the Solidarity of the Working People of the Soviet Union with the Working People of Asian, African and Latin American Countries. 1918--1961, No. 7, Moscow, 1962 (in Russian).
31 violence committed by the Baldwin Government against the defenceless toiling population of Egypt.''^^24^^Millions of Soviet citizens expressed their solidarity with the heroic struggle of the Riffs. In June 1925 there were demonstrations and meetings of working people in Moscow which were addressed by Communist Party leaders, workers, office employees, students, soldiers and Comintern leaders. Resolutions were adopted which urged the international proletariat actively to support the struggle of the Moroccan people for independence and prevent the dispatch of foreign troops and materiel to Morocco.
Ali Yata, the leader of Moroccan Communists, recalled the stand of the USSR towards the uprising of the Riffs in a statement on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia. "Our country,'' he noted, "was one of the first to feel the fresh wind which the October Revolution brought into the international working-class movement.... And if at that time the October Revolution was unable to furnish material assistance to the uprising of the Riffs, it gave it great moral support.''^^25^^
The USSR rendered increasing, many-sided aid to the national revolutionary struggle of the African peoples. For instance, the Soviet government provided young people from Africa, Asia and Latin America with an opportunity to study in the USSR. Back in the 1920s and 1930s a group of revolutionary minded young people from colonial countries, some of whom subsequently played a prominent part in the African working-class and national liberation movement, studied at Soviet institutions of higher learning, chiefly at the Communist University for Toilers of the East.
Soviet diplomacy effectively aided the national liberation movement in African countries. Opposing the colonial system as a whole, it never missed an opportunity to unmask and criticise concrete forms and manifestations of colonialism.
Immediately after the October Revolution the government of Soviet Russia annulled all secret treaties concluded by the tsarist and Provisional governments, including agreements on the partitioning of colonies and spheres of influence. The secret London agreement, signed by the Entente _-_-_
~^^24^^ Trud (Baku), 9 December 1924.
~^^25^^ The Great October and the World Revolutionary Movement, Moscow, 1967, pp. 478--79 (in Russian).
32 and Italy on 20 April 1915 in keeping with which Italy was promised territorial ``compensations'' in Europe, Asia and Africa for entering the war against Germany, directly affected the interests of the African countries. This agreement was made public in November 1917, and the disclosure of this backstage deal showed the colonial peoples, including African, the real reason why the imperialist powers had inveigled them in the world carnage.^^26^^The Soviet Government's condemnation of the shameful system of capitulation and its renunciation of all rights and privileges connected with the extraterritoriality which tsarist Russia enjoyed in some Asian and African countries, was a serious blow at colonialism. Of fundamental significance for all the colonial peoples, including African, were Soviet Russia's agreements with sovereign Eastern countries based on equality and support for their anti-imperialist struggle.^^27^^
Soviet foreign policy played an important role in the struggle against the mandate system whose sponsors tried to portray as concern for the "prosperity and development" of the population of the former possessions of the Ottoman Empire and German colonies. Actually, however, the establishment of mandated territories was a new variety of colonialism designed to cover up the imperialist recarving of the colonies after the First World War. The essence of this system, to quote Lenin, was the "handing out mandates for spoliation and plunder".^^28^^ That was why he did not exclude the mandated territories from imperialism's colonial periphery where 70 per cent of the world population lived. "These are the colonial and dependent countries whose inhabitants possess no legal rights, countries `mandated' to the brigands of finance,'' he noted. "For the first time in world history, we see robbery, slavery, dependence, poverty _-_-_
~^^26^^ See Izvestia, 15 (28) November 1<J17.
~^^27^^ The agreement with Turkey of 16 Marcli 1921, for instance, included the following point: "The two Contracting Parties, noting the link between the national and liberation movement of the peoples of the East with the struggle of the working people of Russia for the establishment of a new social system, unconditionally recognise the right of these peoples to freedom and independence and equally their right to choose their own forms of government." USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. Ill, No. 342, Moscow, 1959 (in Russian).
~^^28^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 159.
__PRINTERS_P_33_COMMENT__ 3--0763 33 and starvation imposed upon 1,250 million people by a legal act.''^^29^^Time and again the Soviet Government stressed that the system of mandates was in effect an outright usurpation of power over the mandated territories and that the imperialist powers which held mandates under the League of Nations trampled upon the rights, freedom and independence of peoples. "The Government of Russia,'' said a Soviet note of 18 May 1923 to the British Government, "does not recognise this new form of the international situation.''^^30^^
At international conferences in the early 1920s attended by Soviet Russia it submitted a programme for the eradication of colonialism. On the eve of the 1922 Conference of Genoa, the demand to apply "the `Irish' solution to all colonies and dependent countries and nations"^^31^^ was designated as one of the main points in the directive for the Soviet delegation. This was done on Lenin's suggestion which was approved by the Communist Party Politbureau.
At the Genoa Conference the imperialist powers did their utmost to confine discussions to economic matters. Nevertheless, at the very first plenary sitting on 10 April 1922 the Soviet delegation put forward a broad political programme which linked the national colonial issue with the problem of disarmament. Having tabled a motion to convene a world congress on general disarmament and the establishment of universal peace, the Soviet delegation emphasised that it should take place "on the basis of full equality of all peoples and recognition of their right to determine their own future".^^32^^
In its struggle against colonialism Soviet diplomacy also used the Conference of Lausanne (1922--23) on the Middle East. Prior to the Conference, Soviet Russia in a note to the British, French and Italian governments of 2 November 1922 stated outright that, being a friend of all oppressed peoples and proclaiming the right of all nations to self-- _-_-_
~^^29^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, pp 223--24.
~^^30^^ Izvestia, 22 June 1923.
~^^31^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 42, p. 397. The reference to the "Irish solution" applied to the winning of state sovereignty by Ireland which was given the status of a dominion in December 1921 (with the exception of Ulster).
~^^32^^ USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. V, No. 108, Moscow, 1961.
34 determination, it considered "itself duty-bound to adhere to the same principles" at the Lausanne Conference.^^33^^The Soviet delegation in Lausanne sharply criticised the onerous Treaty of Sevres that was imposed upon Turkey in 1920 by the Entente, including those articles in it which recognised Britain's colonial rule over Egypt and the Sudan, France's over Morocco and Tunisia, and Italy's over Libya. Largely thanks to the Soviet delegation's firm anti-colonial stance, the imperialist powers refrained from including into the Treaty of Lausanne articles on the formal recognition of colonial protectorate in North Africa and the AngloEgyptian condominium in the Sudan (although some articles of the Treaty indirectly confirmed the fact of imperialism's colonial domination in the North-African countries).
Describing the Lausanne Conference, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR G. V. Chicherin called it an extremely important diplomatic clash between the awakened East and Western imperialism, in which "the Soviet republics perform their historical role of a friend of the downtrodden peoples fighting against oppression by imperialism".^^34^^
The Soviet Union resolutely opposed the efforts of the imperialist powers to disarm the national liberation movement in African and other colonial countries under the cover of the League of Nations. The USSR declined to attend the Geneva Conference of 1925 sponsored by the League of Nations, at which a convention was adopted for the control of the international trade in arms, munitions and implements of war. According to the convention the colonial administration alone had the right to import arms into the colonies. At the same time a large part of the African continent was included into the list of so-called closed zones where the import, storage and use of weapons were subject to particularly rigid control. It should be mentioned that though the regime of such zones did not extend to the North African countries, Morocco, on France's insistence, was also proclaimed a closed zone in order to prevent arms shipments to the fighting Riffs.
The Soviet Government's refusal to attend the Geneva Conference and sign the Convention adopted on 17 June _-_-_
^^33^^ Ibid., No. 301.
~^^34^^ Ibid., Vol. VI, No. 175, Moscow, 1962.
__PRINTERS_P_35_COMMENT__ 3* 35 1925, deprived it of any practical meaning. As a result, the majority of signatory countries did not venture to ratify it and the convention never entered into force.A detailed explanation of the reasons behind the Soviet Government's attitude to the Geneva Conference was given by Chicherin in a speech at the Third Congress of Soviets of the USSR on 14 May 1925. He stressed that one of the main reasons for the Soviet Union's negative attitude to the Convention for the Control of the International Trade in Arms was the desire of its authors to intensify imperialist oppression of the enslaved countries, particularly those which had been included in closed zones. "We declined to participate in that conference, which under the guise of regulating arms trade, actually intensified to the extreme the domination of the imperialist powers over the weaker nations.''^^35^^
Two years later, at the May 1927 International Economic Conference in Geneva, the Soviet Union submitted a programme that envisaged the "abolition of the system of protectorates, withdrawal of troops from the colonies, and freedom of political and economic self-determination of all peoples".^^36^^
The Soviet delegation incisively criticised a draft plan for transition to "free international trade" (including the abolition of national customs tariffs), formulated shortly before the Conference in the so-called bankers' manifesto (October 1926). This draft mirrored the desire of British and US monopoly capital to clear the way for their expansion in the economically underdeveloped countries. Suffice it to say that the manifesto made the point that there was no reason to promote the development of national industry in those countries since it had no real economic roots.
The Soviet delegation emphasised, however, that it held a totally different view. "We consider it necessary,'' said the Soviet delegate, "that all countries, including colonies, should have the opportunity for free economic development.''^^37^^ He made the following proposals:
``1) recognise the need to establish the sovereignty of the colonial countries over customs tariffs;
_-_-_^^35^^ USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. VIII, No. 140.
^^36^^ Ibid., Vol. X, No. 113, Moscow, 1965.
^^37^^ Ibid., No. 116.
36``2) recognise the special interests of the Eastern and colonial countries in customs policy, since their underdeveloped industry makes the lowering and stabilisation of tariffs impossible.''^^38^^
But faced with the opposition of the capitalist delegations, these proposals were turned down.
The Soviet delegation had been consistently opposed to colonialism in the Preparatory Commission for the Disarmament Conference since 1927. Countering the efforts of the Western powers to emasculate the idea of disarmament and even a reduction of armaments, Soviet diplomats, among other things, criticised the imperialists' designs against the colonies. There was a sharp clash between the Soviet and French delegations over the question of the air forces. The French delegation suggested that the colonial powers should have the right to indicate or not to indicate in the convention for the reduction of armaments the strength of their air forces deployed in the home countries and the colonies. France's ``solution'' in fact left the question of the deployment of air forces in the colonies out of the sphere of international control, which, naturally, constituted a direct threat to the interests of the colonial peoples.
Addressing the 6th session of the Preparatory Commission on 25 April 1929, the head of the Soviet delegation Maxim Litvinov declared that since the principles of Soviet foreign policy were contrary to the principles of the colonial system, the USSR in general was opposed to the deployment of armed forces and military materiel of the home countries in the colonies inasmuch as they could be used against the colonies themselves. As a minimal measure the Soviet side proposed that fixed limits to the air forces in the colonies should be worked out. The bloc of imperialist powers turned down this proposal, and the USSR delegation in its declaration stated that it categorically objected to the decisions of the Preparatory Commission concerning the problems of the colonial countries.
At the Disarmament Conference in 1932 the Soviet delegation once again condemned the refusal of the imperialist powers to reduce the strength of the colonial troops. "The Soviet government,'' declared the head of the delegation during the discussion of a draft resolution summing up the _-_-_
~^^38^^ Tzvestia, 20 May 1927.
37 results of the conference's first session, "could not have acceded to a document formally sanctioning methods of imperialist and colonial policy.''^^39^^Accordingly, the Soviet delegation refused to participate in the Special Committee (officially called Special Subcommittee for Overseas Personnel) that was set up by the Conference in 1933, inasmuch as it had a different approach to the limitation of the armed forces in the home countries and in the colonies.
The Soviet Union with fresh force emphasised its intolerance of colonialism when it joined the League of Nations in September 1934. The Soviet Union joined this international organisation being fully aware of its defects, but it did not want to miss even those limited opportunities which the League could offer (especially after militarist Japan and nazi Germany had withdrawn from it in 1933) to avert the approaching world war. Examining the question of the Soviet Union's entry into the League, the Communist Party Central Committee decided in December 1933 that it could accept the invitation to join the League only with certain reservations most of which concerned the national and colonial question. In its resolution the Central Committee said in part that the Soviet Union had a negative view of Article 22 of the League's Covenant which established the mandates system, and that it favoured the inclusion of a point on the racial and national equality of all its members. These conditions were set forth by the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Litvinov in a speech at the 15th Assembly of the League on 18 September 1934, i.e., when the USSR joined the League. The Soviet Union also refused to have a representative on the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League.
Commenting on Litvinov's statement, Izvestia made the point that the Soviet Union bore no responsibility for the League's earlier activity against the colonial peoples. "This means,'' the newspaper concluded, "that the USSR will not only refrain from taking part in such activity, but, will actively oppose it.''^^40^^
_-_-_~^^39^^ USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. XV, No. 294 Moscow 1969.
~^^40^^ Izvestia, 20 September 1934.
38 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. First ContactsThe Soviet Government paid a great deal of attention to setting up friendly contacts with African countries that were invested with state sovereignty. The first Soviet-- Egyptian diplomatic contacts were established shortly after the proclamation of Egypt's nominal sovereignty in 1922. Patriotic and progressive forces in the country were most interested in establishing relations with the USSR. In January 1923, during the Lausanne Conference, a delegation of the Egyptian National Party visited the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Chicherin and spoke out in favour of establishing links with the Soviet Union. The delegation stated that now (after the abolition of the protectorate) Britain had no legal grounds to prevent Egypt from establishing relations with the USSR.
Nevertheless, it was necessary to reckon with both the formal aspect of the matter and the fact that Egypt was still dependent on Britain. The Soviet Government, however, did all it could to establish diplomatic relations with Egypt already at that time. It decided, in spite of all the obstacles set up by the British, to enter into direct contact with the Egyptian Government. This mission was assigned to the Soviet representative in Italy V. V. Vorovsky who was a member of the Soviet delegation at the Lausanne Conference, and after his tragic death, to his successor N. I. Jordansky. In January 1924 the latter sent an official letter to the Egyptian Foreign Minister Vassif Gali Bey which said: "It is the opinion of the Soviet Government that the time has come to approach the Government of Egypt with a proposal to establish political and trade relations between our two countries, particularly in view of the firm economic ties that for many years have linked Russia and Egypt, and the profound sympathy of the peoples of the Soviet Union for the Egyptian people.''^^41^^
The Egyptian Government did not respond to the Soviet initiative because of the pressure brought to bear by British imperialism. Still, in the following years there were semi-official talks between Soviet and Egyptian diplomatic representatives in third countries. In 1926 such talks were _-_-_
~^^41^^ "The Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between the USSR and Egypt. Documents'', International Affairs, No. 6, 1964, p. 159 (in Russian).
39 conducted in London by Soviet and Egyptian charges d'affaires. The Soviet side confirmed its negative attitude to the capitulation regime and its preparedness to affirm its relinquishment of extraterritorial rights and all other privileges enjoyed by tsarist Russia in Egypt.Though up to 1943 the USSR had no diplomatic relations with Egypt, the Soviet Government consistently pursued a policy of promoting equitable and mutually beneficial trade links in the interest of both countries. In the mid19208 a campaign to invigorate trade with the USSR was launched in Egypt. This campaign was reflected in parliamentary debates, newspaper articles and diplomatic activity. Egyptian diplomatic representatives in Britain and Turkey repeatedly suggested that the Soviet Union should buy Egyptian cotton. The Egyptian Charge d'Affaires in London noted that since there were considerable fluctuations in the price of cotton in Egypt it would have liked to sign a long-term contract on cotton deliveries to the USSR.^^42^^ The Egyptian Charge d'Affaires in Turkey informed a Soviet Embassy adviser that Egypt was most interested in establishing contacts between its cotton plantations and the Soviet textile industry.^^43^^ Egypt was also highly interested in purchasing Soviet commodities, particularly oil and oil products. In 1932 a campaign was launched in Egypt for purchasing Soviet oil products in order to get rid of the domination of oil trusts which kept on raising prices.
The Soviet Union acceded to these requests in spite of the efforts of Egypt's British ``patrons'' to inhibit the growth of Soviet-Egyptian trade.'For instance, the^USSR placed large orders for Egyptian cotton at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s when cotton-growing, the leading branch of Egyptian economy, was very seriously affected by the drop in prices of cotton and the demand for this product particularly due to the world economic crisis. Soviet purchases somewhat eased the crisis in the Egyptian cotton market and objectively were a form of assistance to fthe Egyptian economy as a whole.
In the early 1920s efforts were made to establish official relations with two independent African states, Liberia and Ethiopia. In 1924 the former Liberian envoy in _-_-_
~^^42^^ USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. IX, No. 127, Moscow, 196'i-
~^^43^^ Ibid., Vol. XI, No. 153, Moscow, 1966.
40 Russia Matzenow sounded out the Soviet Union's position as regards re-establishing diplomatic relations with his country. In response to his inquiry the Soviet Government said that it was ready to hold talks on the issue. But there were no follow-up developments. In view of Liberia's dependence on US monopolies which controlled not only its economy but political activity as well, its independent foreign policy moves were invariably countered by the USA.A similar situation developed four years later when the Liberian envoy in Paris hinted in a conversation with his Soviet counterpart V. S. Dovgalevsky that it was worthwhile to consider the establishment of diplomatic and trade relations between the USSR and Liberia.^^44^^
Replying to Dovgalevsky's communication about his meeting with the Liberian envoy, Chicherin wrote: "I doubt that in the given circumstances thel possibility of establishing official relations with Liberia could be regarded as realistic.'' Yet he instructed Dovgalevsky to find out, if he could, whether there was a chance of "establishing any relations in general".^^45^^
)The development of relations with Ethiopia followed approximately the same pattern. Meeting its request to set up contacts with the USSR, the Soviet Government suggested in 1924 that the two countries should establish diplomatic relations. In 1925 the possibility of Soviet-- Ethiopian talks was examined by thejconsuls of both countries in Hejaz. The Ethiopian consul made it clear that the main obstacle hindering the normalisation of Ethiopian-Soviet relations was the hostile attitude of the Entente Countries. But he pointed out that "the people of Ethiopia regard the Soviet people with 'great [respect and affection.... The Abyssinians know that the Bussian people have cast off the age-old yoke of absolutism.''^^46^^
Soviet-Ethiopian contacts were resumed in the early 1930s, but this time in the economic field. Ethiopia began to show an interest in trade with the USSR. And when reports to the effect that Ethiopia and some other countries on the Red 'Sea 'wanted to buy Soviet oil and oil products reached Moscow, an official representative of the Soyuzneftexport, a Soviet oil exporting organisation, was sent to that _-_-_
~^^44^^ Ibid., No. 285.
~^^45^^ Ibid., No. 209.
~^^46^^ Ibid., Vol. VIIT, No. 113.
41 country in 1931. As a result of his talks an agreement was signed on the delivery of consignment of oil products and ther Soviet commodities to Ethiopia. __ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. In Defence of the Victim of AggressionThe Soviet Union's consistent anti-colonial stand during the Italo-Ethiopian war" of 1935--36 evoked a broad response in Africa and played an important role in promoting Soviet-African rapprochement.
Italy prepared and carried out its aggression against Ethiopia with direct or indirect encouragement by other imperialist states. Just before the war, in January 1935, French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval signed a secret agreement with Mussolini which gave Italy freedom of action in Ethiopia. Italian aggression against Ethiopia was backed by nazi Germany and militarist Japan. The British Government put an embargo on Ethiopian purchases of British weapons, and US Congress passed a neutrality act in 1935 which prohibited the delivery of arms and materiel to the belligerents. By taking this step the USA put the aggressor and its victim on the same plane.
The policy of the Soviet Union was in direct contrast to the actions of the Western powers. It took Ethiopia's side from the first days of the Italo-Ethiopian conflict, upholding its right to national independence and working for the introduction of effective measures to curb the fascist aggressor. In December' 1934 Pravda warned that "the Italian policy towards Abyssinia is once again turning to methods of direct aggression''.^^47^^ At the same time the Soviet public condemned the tactic of concessions to fascist Italy on the part of Britain and France.
The Soviet people firmly and consistently urged the consolidation of the world's anti-fascist and anti-war forces. The Seventh Congress of the Comintern which met in Moscow in July-August 1935 drew up a programme for a united front of the working class and all democratic forces against fascism and war. The speakers at the Congress angrily protested against imperialist encroachments on the independence of the Ethiopian people and called upon all peace-- _-_-_
~^^47^^ Pravda, 25 December 1934.
42 loving and anti-fascist forces in the world to bar the way to the Italian colonialists.Soviet diplomats defended the interests of Ethiopia in the League of Nations when fascist Italy was making preparations to assault that country and in the course of the war. As soon as hostilities began the USSR delegation in the League of Nations demanded that Italy should be immediately qualified as an aggressor and subjected to sanctions envisaged in the League's Covenant. It emphasised that the partial economic sanctions established by the League in October 1935 (in effect they were introduced only at the end of the year) were inadequate,^^48^^ and insisted on the adoption of oil sanctions. Speaking on 19 October Litvinov told the League's Coordination Committee which was set up for the purpose of formulating sanctions that the Committee "had not exhausted all possible economic sanctions".^^49^^
Taking up the problem of sanctions, the Soviet Union emphatically condemned the pretensions of the Italian imperialists that were based on a racial doctrine and their claims that the Covenant of the League of Nations did not extend to the Italo-Ethiopian war. "The Soviet Government,'' stated the USSR People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in a note to the Italian Government of 22 November 1935, "regards as incorrect the premise that Abyssinia should be an exception, and should not avail itself of the same rights that are granted by the League of Nations to its other members. From the point of view of the Soviet Government, all members of the League irrespective of racial or other distinctions should enjoy full equality in the event of an attack.''^^50^^
Just as vigorously the USSR condemned the HoareLaval plan^^51^^ which was drawn up in December 1935 to counterpose the idea of broader sanctions. According to this plan, the main condition for ending the war in Africa was annexation of nearly a half of Ethiopia and its transformation in an Italian colony (either directly, or as a zone _-_-_
~^^48^^ They did not envisage more effective forms of economic pressure on Italy, such as an embargo on deliveries of oil and oil products.
~^^49^^ USSR Foreign Pnlict/ Documents, Vol. XVTTI, No. 384, Moscow, 1973.
~^^50^^ Ibid.. No. 413.
~^^51^^ In 1935 Laval became Franco's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Samuel Hoaro was Britain's Foreign Secretary.
43 of Italian economic expansion and colonisation). In effect this was tantamount to complete liquidation of Ethiopia's sovereignty. The Soviet representative in the League V. P. Potemkin was instructed to turn down the HoaroLaval plan as incompatible with the League's Covenant. On 19 December Potemkin told a closed meeting of the League's Council that the Soviet delegation could under no circumstances endorse the Western powers' draft as basically unsound.^^52^^The Soviet Union's resolute attitude doomed the scheme hatched by the proponents of abetting aggression from the very beginning. The Hoare-Laval plan was turned down by Ethiopia and condemned by progressive public opinion in other countries, including Britain and France. But the stand of the Western powers towards the Italo-Ethiopian war remained basically unchanged and they continued to refrain from imposing oil sanctions. As regards the British Government, it flatly refused to close the Suez Canal, Italy's key link with the theatre of military operations. "We could not do that: it would mean that Mussolini would fall!" declared John Simon, one of the leaders of the British Government.^^53^^
The Soviet Union alone continued to uphold the independence of the Ethiopian people, furnishing them diplomatic and moral support and material assistance through the Soviet Red Cross. The Second Session of the USSR Central Executive Committee in January 1936 extensively discussed the Italo-Ethiopian war and sharply criticised the attitude of the Western powers and the League of Nations, which took no steps to avert the war. The Soviet Government reiterated its resolute opposition to the imperialists' colonial policy and firm determination to uphold Ethiopia's equality and independence.
Committed to the principle of self-determination of nations, the Soviet Government emphatically refused to recognise the colonial annexation of Ethiopia proclaimed by Italy on 9 May 1936. The Soviet press noted that the Ethiopian people had not reconciled themselves to colonial slavery and that the country was in the grip of a guerrilla _-_-_
~^^52^^ Soo Jzvestia, 20 December 1935; USSR Foreign Policy Documents, Vol. XVIII, No. 452.
~^^53^^ A. L. Rowse, Appeasement. A Study In Political Decline. 1933-- 1939, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1961, p. 20.
44 war against the invaders. The Soviet public held up to shame the policy of the fascist colonialists who were subjecting the Ethiopian patriots to bloody repressions which became especially brutal after an attempt on the life of Italy's Viceroy of Ethiopia Rodolfo Graziani on 19 February 1937.^^54^^ Pointing to the importance of these statements which mobilised world public opinion against the domination of Italian fascists in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Herald wrote on 8 July 1944 that the Ethiopian people had not forgotten the protests and feelings of indignation which were expressed by the press and the leaders of the Soviet Union during the terrible slaughter committed on Graziani's orders in 1937.The Soviet public severely censured the British-Italian "gentleman`s'' agreement of 1938, under which Britain promised to obtain the League of Nation's recognition of Italian rule in Ethiopia. Pravda wrote that the British Government assumed the unsavory mission of legalising the Italian seizure of Abyssinia, and that in general the agreement was "a striking manifestation of Britain's capitulatory policy".^^55^^
The Soviet delegation in the League of Nations resolutely countered the attempts to prevent the Ethiopian delegation from taking part in discussing the question of recognising the seizure of Ethiopia which was submitted by Britain in May 1938. The Soviet representative Maxim Litvinov also opposed the proposal that the Ethiopian delegation should only "be present at the meeting" of the League Council but without voting rights. As a result of this firm stand the Ethiopian delegate was invited to take part in discussing the question submitted by the British Government.
In view of the demand of the Ethiopian delegation not to recognise annexation, the undeviating stand of the Soviet Union and the sweeping wave of opposition to the British project by progressive world public opinion, its official approval became impossible. In these circumstances the Western powers did not put the British proposal to a vote and the discussion ended in a closing resume by the Chairman of the League Council Vilhelms Munters who suggested _-_-_
~^^54^^ See Pravda, 20 February 1037; Fziwstia, 23 and 27 February 1937
~^^55^^ Pravda, 18 April 1938.
45 that the League members should decide for themselves whether or not to recognise the annexation of Ethiopia.This formula in effect untied the hands of those who favoured a deal with fascist Italy and was justly qualified hy the USSR as yet another concession by the League to the aggressors.^^56^^
The efforts of the Soviet Union in the League and elsewhere to uphold Ethiopia's right to be free and independent, strengthened the confidence of the Ethiopian patriots in the righteousness of their cause.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 5. The Significance of the Soviet Union'sAfrica's role in world economy and politics increased considerably during the Second World War. Although the scale of fighting in Africa was smaller than in Europe or Asia, African peoples played a significant role in the war. More than one million Africans were conscripted into the armed forces, and from 1,200,000 to 1,800,CCO (in different years) took part in building military bases and airfields and strategic roads for the belligerent aimies. Africa acquired special importance as a key source of raw materials and food for the western flank of the anti-Hi Her coalition (USA, Britain and other countries).
The fascist bloc failed to win over the population of the African countries to its side. Together with all freedom-loving people, the progressive forces in Africa actively fought against fascism. It is a noteworthy fact that after France's capitulation nazi Germany failed to subjugate its African colonies. Some of them even became strongholds of the "Free France" movement. In the course of the 1942--43 campaign in North Africa the local population effectively assisted the troops of the anti-Hitler coalition. The Ethiopian people liberated in 1941 as a result of the combined operations of the allied troops and local patriots, delivered a powerful blow at the occupying forces of fascist Italy.
_-_-_^^56^^ See Izvestia, 14 May 1938.
46Africans fought against the fascists not only in Africa but also in Europe and Southeast Asia. There was a particularly large number of them in the French Army. Right up to the summer of 1944 Africans comprised more Ihan 50 per cent of the "Free France" fighters.^^57^^ African peoples made their own contribution, in blood and sweat, to the victory over nazism.
The anti-fascist character of the war stimulated the political activity of the African peoples and heightened their national self-awareness. Africa's progressive forces linked the struggle against fascism with the struggle for national rights and interests, and believed that the wargenerated liberation wave would enable them to get rid of colonial oppression. The participation in the war of a great socialist, state which fought under the banner of national self-determination of peoples and resolutely opposed colonialism tremendously boosted the national liberation aspirations of the peoples.
Throughout the war the Soviet Union demonstrated its fidelity to the ideas of social and national liberation. In a declaration on 24 September 1941 announcing the USSR's accession to the Atlantic Charter, the Soviet Government specially emphasised its adherence to the principle of selfdetermination of nations. "Proceeding from this principle,'' the declaration stated, "the Soviet Union upholds the right of each nation to state independence and territorial inviolability of its country, the right to set up a social system and choose the form of government which it considers expedient and necessary for the economic and cultural burgeoning of the whole country.''^^58^^
The Soviet Union was not merely a participant in the anti-fascist coalition---it played a decisive role in the victory over nazi Germany. It bore the brunt of the blows of the fascist military machine and in bitter battles inflicted a shattering defeat on Hitler's hordes. This titanic struggle which has no parallel in history and which demanded incredible sacrifices and heroism on the part of the Soviet peoples, rid mankind of the fascist plague and opened new horizons before all peoples.
_-_-_~^^57^^ Revue militaire d'information, Paris, 25 March 1956, p. 62.
~^^58^^ USSR Foreign Policy in the Period of the Great Patriotic War, Documents and Materials, Vol. I, Moscow, p. 146 (in Russian).
47 __FIX__ Blemishes on this page.The sympathies of the freedom-loving peoples of the world for the Soviet Union increased during the war. Its great military feat enormously enhanced its prestige on all continents, including Africa. Therefore, il was only natural that shortly after the rout of the nazi invaders at Stalingrad the governments of Ethiopia and Egypt expressed their wish to establish diplomatic relations with the USSR. Agreements to this^ effectjwere signed in April (with Ethiopia) and in August (with Egypt) 1943. In tne course of SovietEgyptian negotiations the Soviet Government conlirmed that it had relinquished alJ extraterritorial rights and privileges in Egypt. In a letter/ oit 26^ July 1943 to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mustafa al-Hahhas Pasha Soviet Ambassador in^Britain Ivan^Maisky underscored that the USSR, from the moment of its4establishment and of its own accord and in keeping with the principle of equality of all nations, had forever nullified all unequal treaties and relinquished capitulation and other special privileges of the tsarist government. Obviously, this applied to Egypt as well.
It was clear to the peoples of Africa that the expulsion of fascist invaders from African countries and the creation of conditions for a fresh upsurge of the national liberation movement were directly connected with the successes of the Soviet armed forces, and that the destinytof humanity for decades to come was being decided in the East of Europe.
The Soviet Union fought for a better lot for the whole of humanity, including the peoples of the colonies and dependencies, not only on the battlefield. In its diplomatic activity connected with the discussion of the post-war set-up of the world, the Soviet Union insisted that all oppressed countries and peoples should have the right to national self-determination and independence.
The main debates on colonial problems took place at the San Francisco Conference, which opened on 25 April 1945 shortly before the end of the war in Europe and ended after Hitler Germany's capitulation. In the course of a debate on the draft UN Charter the Soviet delegation demanded that this document should stipulate the right of nations to self-determination and national equality, and repudiate racial discrimination. Accordingly, it tabled amendments to the definition of UN aims and principles which was adopted at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944. Among other things, these amendments stipulated that international 48 relations should be based on respect for the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples, that international cooperation should promote respect for human rights, particularly the right to work and education, and also ensure basic freedoms for all without discrimination on the grounds of race, language, religion or sex. The resolute stand of the Soviet delegation helped to incorporate these principles in the UN Charter and thus received recognition in international law.
The organisation of the trusteeship system evoked heated debates in San Francisco. In their drafts of this system the biggest colonial countries in effect wanted to transform it into a variety of colonialism. The Soviet Union presented its own proposals which envisaged that one of the basic objectives of the United Nations should be to prepare the trust territories not only for self-rule but also for selfdetermination and thus hasten their achievement of full state independence. The Soviet draft also envisaged that the preparations for self-rule and self-determination should be conducted with the active participation of the population of the trust territories.
Expounding the meaning of its amendments to the Chapter "Purposes and Principles" of the UN Charter and its stand towards the trusteeship question, the Soviet delegation made the point that the Soviet Union always attached primary significance to the principles of equality and self-determination of nations. The Soviet Government believed that the proclamation of these UN principles would attract the special attention of the colonial peoples and accelerate their implementation. As regards the question of trusteeship, the Soviet delegation noted that it was the duty of the United Nations to be concerned in- the first place with helping the dependent countries take the road of national independence as quickly as possible.^^59^^
The Soviet delegation's irreconcilable attitude towards colonialism and the support for this stand by some noncolonial states compelled the imperialist powers to give in on the question of the objectives of the trusteeship system. The final version of article 76 para b of the UN Charter reads as follows: "The basic objectives of the _-_-_
^^59^^ See USSR Foreign Policy in the Period of the Great Patriotic War, Vol. Ill, Moscow, 1947, pp. 253--55.
__PRINTERS_P_50_COMMENT__ 4-0763 49 trusteeship system, in accordance with the purposes of the United Nations laid down in Article 1 of the present Charter, shall be: ... to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories, and their progressive development towards selfgovernment or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as may be provided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement.''^^60^^Thus, on the initiative of the Soviet Union, the UN Charter secures the right of nations to self-determination and proclaims not only self-government but also independence as the ultimate objective of the trusteeship system. These provisions were important for all colonial peoples because they stimulated the national liberation movement and facilitated the anti-colonial struggle of the world progressive forces led by the Soviet Union.J
Even the bourgeois press conceded that while the USA and other imperialist states defended the last-century slogans by refusing to grant the colonies the right to selfdetermination, the Soviet Union's stand had turned this right into a symbol of struggle for the oppressed nations.
After the Second World War the balance of forces between capitalism and socialism sharply tilted in favour of socialism. The war and its aftereffects resulted in a new stage of the general crisis of capitalism. The rout of the shock detachments of world imperialist reaction---Hitler Germany, fascist Italy and militarist Japan---was a heavy blow to the system of imperialism in general. Such leading imperialist powers as Britain and France were greatly weakened in the war.
At the same time socialism strengthened and developed as a system. The capitalist chain lost some more of its links in Europe and Asia. A great community of socialist states came into being. The development of the world working-class and communist movement scored fresh successes. This historical situation paved the way for an _-_-_
~^^60^^ A Collection of Operative Treaties, Agreements and Conventions Concluded Between the USSR and Foreign Countries, Issue XII, Moscow, 1956, pp. 36--37 (in Russian). The words in italics are stipulations included in the UN Charter, as demanded by the USSR elegation.
50 upsurge of the national liberation movement. Anti-imperialist revolutions flared up in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The colonial system began to disintegrate.As they intensified the struggle for independence, the peoples of African and other colonial countries struck powerful blows at imperialism, thus contributing to the success of the whole world revolutionary process. In their turn the socialist countries and the revolutionary working class in capitalist countries increased their support for the national liberation movements. And the colonial system, no matter how hard imperialism tried to preserve it, could not withstand the onslaught of this united front of the three main revolutionary streams.
The irreversible process of the collapse of the colonial system and the formation, on its ruins, of young sovereign states, first in Asia and then in Africa, set in.
__PRINTERS_P_52_COMMENT__ 4* [51] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter II __ALPHA_LVL2__ ASSISTANCE TO THE NEWLY FREEWhen they develop in conditions of detente, international relations acquire a democratic content, a circumstance which has a direct bearing on the developing countries as well. Detente helps the newly free national states to strengthen their international positions and thus broadens their chances for solving urgent problems of social progress. There are many pertinent examples, such as the Sixth and Seventh Special Sessions of the UN General Assembly (the spring of 1974 and autumn of 1975) which studied the problems of raw material resources and economic development. They had to be convoked in view of the struggle of the developing countries against inequality in international economic relations, particularly against imperialist exploitation, because unless these problems are solved, it is impossible to surmount economic backwardness and raise living standards, i.e., to achieve the goals arising right after the attainment of political independence. But it proved possible to hold such sessions only in the conditions created by detente. The intense confrontation at these sessions was yet another indication of the imperative need to set up an international economic order that would equally take into account the interests of all countries.
Addressing the Sixth Special Session of the UN General Assembly, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko said: "Our country was the first in the history of international relations to renounce the advantages arising from inequitable treaties which tsarist Russia had enjoyed. We are still resolutely opposed to more powerful states, on the basis 52 of superiority in their level of development, in practice imposing inequitable cooperation on countries which are less developed economically.''^^1^^
Consistently applying this key principle of its foreign policy, the Soviet Union supports the anti-colonial struggle and also helps the newly independent states to strengthen their positions in the international arena.
The struggle to democratise international law. For the majority of African countries the attainment of political independence and admission to UN membership inaugurated their independent participation in international affairs. But as soon as they emerged on the international scene they had to wage a determined struggle for equal participation in solving international issues. The success of this struggle largely depended on the nature of international law.
The rapid democratisation of international law which started after the founding of the UN consolidated progressive principles of international intercourse and interaction as fundamental and universally recognised. But these principles have yet to be fully carried into effect. Experts in international law note that there are diametrically opposite and mutually exclusive views of some principles regulating international relations. For example, some bourgeois theorists claim that equality in relations between states is generally impossible, while others allege that some peoples, in view of the fact that they have always been objects of international law, cannot be its subjects.
Obviously, there are still many people in the West who would have liked to belittle the political independence of African countries. And if we take into account that the policy makers of many imperialist states either sabotage or hinder the application of progressive principles of international law, it becomes clear that the struggle for their translation into reality is not an idle issue. For the peoples of the African continent it includes the need constantly to assert their sovereignty, prove the legitimacy of fighting arms in hand against the oppressors, and uphold their _-_-_
~^^1^^ Official Records of the General Assembly. Sixth Special Session Plenary Meetings, 9 April-2 May 1974, 2210th Plenary Meeting, 11 April, United Nations, New York, 1976, p. 7.
53 right freely to choose any form of government, socio-- economic, political and cultural model of development.It is very important that in this struggle the African states can rely on the support of the socialist countries which demand strict observance of UN principles and resolutions.
The political and international law basis of the Soviet Union's assistance in strengthening the international positions of the African countries is its recognition of the right of nations to self-determination. It was only thanks to the resolute efforts of the Soviet Union and of all anticolonial forces that this principle was included into the UN Charter.
The inclusion of the principle of equality and self-- determination of nations into the UN Charter as one of the basic principles of international law, for the first time in history provided the^colonial and dependent peoples with political and legal grounds to demand and assert their right to self-determination and independence. Legal experts connect this with the liquidation of the "presumption of legality" applied to the colonies. But the recognition and assertion of the peoples and nations of colonial countries as subjects of international law became possible not only as a result of their struggle, but also thanks to the consistent and determined diplomatic activity of the USSR and other socialist countries.
A major role was played by Soviet initiatives which led to the adoption of documents asserting the equality of all states in international law and depriving the more powerful states of their dominating status.
One of the more important aspects of Soviet diplomatic activity directed towards strengthening the equality of the young states in the system of international relations are its efforts to establish the legality of military forms of the national liberation struggle. Lenin noted that a Marxist's attitude to the national-colonial question should not be confined to a mere recognition of the right of nations to self-determination. It was his duty, he said, to make the most determined efforts to support the revolutionary elements of the national liberation movements both morally and materially.^^2^^
_-_-_~^^2^^ See V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 22, p. 151.
54In supporting the right of the African peoples to wage an armed struggle against colonialism and racialism the Soviet Union proceeds from the Marxist-Leninist definition of just and unjust wars. Such an approach by no means signifies that military methods are preferable to a political settlement. But when the colonialists and racialists reject all proposals to settle controversial issues peacefully, the enslaved peoples are forced to wage an armed struggle for liberation. It would be appropriate to recall that the decisive role in bringing about the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire was played by the armed struggle of the peoples of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique which began long before 25 April 1974, when the fascist dictatorship was overthrown in Lisbon.
Economic independence and full sovereignty over natural resources. The struggle of the African peoples for genuine liberation is acquiring today an increasingly pronounced social content. Now that the destruction of the capitalist colonial empire has been completed in the main, the former colonial world has entered a new phase in its development: the struggle not only for national, but, and this is the main thing, also for social liberation, is moving more and more into the forefront.
On the international scene this struggle is reflected in the African states' increasing opposition to neocolonialism, in their fight against multinational corporations and the domination of foreign capital, in their demands for assistance without political strings attached to it and so forth. But there can be no success in the struggle for social emancipation without the achievement of economic independence, which in present-day conditions depends first and foremost on the recognition and application of the principle of sovereignty of the newly free states over their natural resources, a principle which is an inalienable part of the right of nations to self-determination.
In his speech at the Sixth Special Session of the UN General Assembly, Andrei Gromyko noted that respect for the sovereign right of each state to dispose freely of its natural resources was one of the fundamental principles of relations between states and included the right to nationalise and establish control over the activities of foreign capital.^^3^^
_-_-_~^^3^^ Official Records of the General Assembly. Sixth Special Session..., p. 7.
55There is no disagreement between the theory and practice of Soviet foreign policy. The USSR took an active part in formulating the principles governing international trade relations and trade policies which were endorsed by UNCTAD in 1964 and by the 28th UN General Assembly Session in 1973 (in a special statement delegations of the socialist countries reaffirmed their policyTof encouraging socioeconomic progress of all countries). Firmly adhering to this course, the Soviet Government in 1965 unilaterally lifted customs duties on imports from developing countries, and is steadily increasing economic and technical assistance to them.
Soviet assistance to African countries in their efforts to attain economic independence as quickly as possible is also of primary importance in strengthening their international positions. It should be borne in mind that some people in the West continue to believe that the foreign policy of the African states should be viewed only from the standpoint of the interests of "the mighty of the earth'', and that the claims of these states to equality in the contemporary world should be "cut short''. Certain circles in the West still suffer from nostalgia for the vanished colonial past. But unfortunately the remaining bonds of national dependence are also quite strong. The collapse of the colonial system did not demolish the economic basis for plundering the dependent peoples, and a mechanism of collective neocolonialism in the form of multinational corporations, has been set in motion. Foreign capital now plunders Africa under new conditions.^^4^^
An important aspect of USSR efforts on the international scene that has a direct bearing on the achievement of genuine independence by the developing African states, is the exposure of the exploiting role of the multinational corporations by Soviet diplomats and scientists.
The activity of the multinationals in the developing world constitutes a serious threat to their budding economy. The monopolies resort to such forms of technological and economic mimicry which best conceal their exploitative nature.
_-_-_^^4^^ For details see Africa and Neocolonialism in the 70s, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1978.
56In its Economic Declaration the Fourth Conference of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Countries which took place in September 1973 in Algiers had this to say about the transnational corporations: "The Heads of State denounce before world public opinion the impermissible practices of the transnationals which encroach upon the sovereignty of the developing countries and violate the principles of non-interference and the right of nations to self-determination that are the basic conditions for the political, economic and social progress of these countries.''^^5^^
The adoption of the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States by the 29th Session of the UN General Assembly was a blow at the economic expansion of imperialism. There is no doubt that this document, approved thanks to the joint efforts of socialist and developing countries, will help the latter to strengthen their international positions.
__FIX__ Phrase at beginning of next sentence is a LVL!The policy of non-alignment. Soviet scholars who have written many works on this subject as a rule regard it not only as a movement, but as a principle of foreign policy. Let us examine only one aspect of this problem, namely how the attitude of the Soviet Union to the policy of nonalignment of African states strengthens their positions in the system of international relations.
In spite of different interpretations of non-alignment principles and varying degrees of commitment to them, the policies of independent African countries have certain common principles: non-participation in blocs; anti-- colonialism and effective support for the national liberation struggle; mounting anti-imperialist tendencies; increasing participation in world affairs; desire to restructure international economic relations on a democratic and equal basis and unite efforts with other developing countries; and support for the process of detente.
In many respects these principles coincide with the foreign policy principles of the Soviet Union. This similarity objectively accounts for the Soviet Union's positive attitude to the African non-alignment policy. Taking into consideration that in present-day conditions non-alignment strengthens the sovereignty of the developing states, the Soviet Union welcomes the constructive prospects for the _-_-_
^^5^^ El-Moud}ahtd (Algiers), 10 September 1973.
57 implementation of this principle. Difficult as the international situation of the African countries may be, nonalignment enables them to play an active role in world affairs. The bigger the successes of the anti-colonial struggle, the broader are the tasks of the non-alignment movement which is becoming increasingly anti-imperialist. The Fourth Summit of the Non-Aligned Countries clearly stated that "imperialism is still the main obstacle to the liberation and progress of the developing countries".^^6^^Assessing the results of that forum and the intention of its participants to fight resolutely against imperialism, colonialism and racialism, for freedom, independence and peace, Leonid Brezhnev noted that "this position and its consistent implementation will be conducive to the further growth of the non-aligned countries' influence in the world".^^7^^
The common stand of the socialist countries towards the non-alignment policy is recorded in the Communique of the Conference of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty States which took place in April 1974: "The participants in the Conference have noted the heightened role of the non-aligned movement in international affairs, expressed their positive attitude to the antiimperialist trend of the policy of non-aligned countries, and welcome their growing contribution to the struggle for detente, against war and aggression, for peace and national independence of peoples.''^^8^^
The Soviet Union's positive attitude to the non-aligned movement strengthens the sovereignty of the developing states and upholds their independent foreign policy which, in turn, creates favourable conditions for broad interaction between socialist and developing countries on the world scene. There are numerous instances of joint action by socialist and non-aligned countries in the UN on disarmament, prohibition of testing and use of nuclear weapons and their non-proliferation. Non-aligned leaders are becoming more and more aware that disarmament and regulation of the legal mechanism of the collective security system in the UN and similar measures are essential for strengthening the international positions of the independent _-_-_
~^^6^^ El-Moud}ahid, 10 September 1973.
~^^7^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Following Lenin's Course, Moscow, 1975, p. 291.
^^8^^ Pravda, 19 April 1974.
58 states and securing the consistent application of democratic principles of international law which stipulates the full equality of all members of the international community. __ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The USSR and the African Countries in the UNMomentous changes have taken place on the African continent since the founding of the UN in 1945. At the First Session of the UN General Assembly out of its 50 members only Egypt, Ethiopia and Liberia (not counting the Union of South Africa) represented Africa. Today this international organisation embraces more than 150 countries of whom 50 are African states.
Not so long ago, in the cold war period, the UN was largely subject to the diktat of the imperialist powers, and the majority they commanded followed a course in the interest of the aggressive grouping. At the time virtually no African problems were discussed in the UN. In the first 68-page annual report of the UN Secretary-General, there were only two sentences about Africa.
But with the growth of the international prestige of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and the unprecedented upsurge of the national liberation movement, the nature of UN activity began to change. A substantial role in this was also played by the increase in the UN membership as more and more newly free countries joined it. As a result of sharp political debates on many issues, the UN began to adopt decisions which were in line with the spirit of the times, the efforts to strengthen world security and promote disarmament and with the struggle for the final abolition of colonialism. The UN began to pay considerable attention to African problems. Forty-two per cent of the report of the Secretary-General presented at the Sixteenth UN General Assembly Session, was devoted to African problems, 20 per cent of the resolutions passed at the Session directly concerned African questions, and another 12 per cent were related to them.^^9^^
As the proportion of African membership in the UN increased, the continent's countries became more and more involved in discussing and solving international problems. _-_-_
^^9^^ See Thomas Hovet, Jr., Africa in the United Nations, Northwestern University Press, 1963, p. 4.
59 At the same time cooperation between the African countries and the Soviet Union in UN is strengthening from assembly to assembly, mainly due to the Soviet Union's consistent and undeviating stand in the struggle for Africa's vital interests.Soviet and African representatives in the UN began to broaden their contacts most intensively after 1960. That year the 15th UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples which had a profound impact on the situation in Africa. Assessing the Soviet Union's role in raising this question, the Moroccan UN representative said at the time that colonialism was a perpetual threat to international peace and security and that that anachronism had to be eliminated without delay. He also thanked the Soviet Union for raising this issue and demanding the adoption of a solemn declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples. The Soviet initiative, he emphasised, was an historical landmark in the development of the human society.
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser wrote as follows about the Soviet Union's influence on events in Asia and Africa: "The national revolutionary movement of the peoples of Asia and Africa against imperialism and backwardness, which has become a typical feature of our epoch especially in the momentous post-war period, in many respects owes its victories to the existence and might of the Soviet Union which has become an effective factor bridling imperialism and creating an exceptionally favourable opportunity for the national revolution to play a most extensive role in the struggle for independence and progress.''^^10^^
The growing prestige of the African countries in the UN had a favourable effect on the entire activity of that organisation, heightened its role in resolving basic international problems and was one of the reasons that encouraged it to raise questions of vital importance for the whole of humanity whose discussion was simply out of the question in the past. For example, after an acute political struggle the 25th Jubilee Session of the UN General Assembly adopted the Programme of Action for Complete Realisation of _-_-_
~^^10^^ USSR and African Countries, Vol. II, Moscow, 1963, p. 627 (in Russian).
60 the Declaration on Decolonialisation that was drafted by Afro-Asian countries with the active support of the USSR and other socialist countries. The Programme included points designed to achieve the complete abolition of colonialism, including recognition of the right of the colonial peoples to fight for liberation with all the means at their disposal. The Programme proclaimed that the further preservation of colonialism in any form was a crime against humanity and a violation of the UN Charter, the Declaration on Decolonialisation and principles of international law. The resolution containing the Programme of Action received 89 votes in favour (including the USSR), five against (the UK, the USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand), and sixteen countries which followed America's and Britain's cue abstained, among them Lesotho and Malawi (on some issues the latter states and occasionally Swaziland, did not act in a bloc with the other African countries on all matters evidently owing to their economic dependence on South Africa).In general the Programme of Action was anti-colonial and anti-imperialist and sufficiently defines the UN's role and tasks in promoting decolonialisation. It stimulated the anti-colonial struggle in the UN and contributed to the fall of the Portuguese colonial empire.
At the same Session the overwhelming majority of African states were behind the Soviet .Union on such items on the agenda as "The Situation in the Middle East'', " Withdrawal of United States and All Other Foreign Forces Occupying South Korea under the Flag of the United Nations" and "Question of the Reservation Exclusively for Peaceful Purposes of the Sea Bed and the Ocean Floor, and the Subsoil Thereof, Underlying the High Seas Beyond the Limits of Present National Jurisdiction, and the Use of Their Resources in the Interests of Mankind''.
International detente and peaceful cooperation of states on the basis of improved and radically restructured relations in conformity with the principles of peaceful coexistence were in centre of attention at the 28th through 32nd UN General Assembly sessions. The main political result of these sessions was that they endorsed all the key initiatives of the Soviet Union. The overwhelming majority of African countries formed a united front with the USSR and other socialist countries.
61The community of interests of the Soviet Union and African countries was bound to make itself felt on the voting in the UN on basic international issues. At the 15th UN General Assembly Session in 1960, 75.2 per cent of the African votes coincided with the votes of the Soviet representatives (19 per cent with the USA, 22.1 per cent with the UK, and 20.2 per cent with France). At the next sessions this percentage continued to rise: 80 per cent at the 28th and 81.6 per cent at the 31st. Since the foreign policy of any country always reflects its social system, then, taking into account the social and political differentiation of the African countries, their attitudes far from always coincide on all questions. And, of course, their point of view does not always coincide with the Soviet Union's line in the UN. But on the main issues---real decolonialisation, equality and sovereignty---the Soviet Union and African countries have attained a generally high and stable level of cooperation in the UN and other international organisations.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Joint Efforts of the USSR and theThe struggle for peace and disarmament has always been a key element of Soviet foreign policy. Back in 1916 Lenin in an article entitled "The `Disarmament' Slogan" wrote: "Disarmament is the ideal of socialism.''^^11^^
But the Soviet Union has never viewed the struggle for peace and disarmament in isolation from the policy of supporting national liberation movements, including those on the African continent. This means that by doing everything it can to help African countries win independence, and striving to develop and strengthen its political and economic ties with the newly free countries, the Soviet Union consistently works for peace and security of the peoples of all continents. Acts of aggression and the threat of force towards the independent African countries have _-_-_
~^^11^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 95.
62 always caused the Soviet Union to voice its protest and aroused its desire to curb the aggressor and support the liberation struggle. At the same time the Soviet Union persistently works for an end to the arms race and for stronger international peace and security. The Soviet Government attaches great significance to the solidarity and cooperation of Soviet and African delegations in the UN and other international organisations.The 14th UN General Assembly Session (1959) adopted a Programme for General and Complete Disarmament which provided for the disbandment of all armed forces, scrapping of all types of weapons and prohibition of their production, dismantlement of military bases and missile launching pads on foreign territories, abolition of military service, war ministries and general staffs, and cessation of. all allocations for military purposes. This Programme was widely acclaimed and supported by African and all other peoples. The Resolution on General and Complete Disarmament was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly.
In 1960, when the deterioration of the international situation caused by US aggressive actions created a threat to world peace,^^12^^ Presidents Tito, Nasser, Nkrumah, Sukar no and Prime Minister Nehru requested the 15th Session of the UN General Assembly to consider the need for a normalisation of Soviet-American relations. They believed that this normalisation would ease world tensions in general. It is a noteworthy fact that two of the five sponsors were from Africa.
At the same Session 12 African and Asian countries submitted a draft resolution whose content coincided with the basic principles of the Soviet conception of universal disarmament. The draft envisaged the elaboration of guidelines for attaining agreement on disarmament which would be carried out in stages, and the establishment of a system of control and inspection. But, in spite of wide support from socialist and non-aligned countries, the UN General _-_-_
~^^12^^ A reference to the breakdown of the conference of the Heads of Government of the USSR, USA, Britain and France in May 1960 in Paris as a result of the provocative act of the US Government which sent a U-2 reconnaissance plane into Soviet air space.
63 Assembly did not approve the draft because of counteraction by the Western powers.Obviously, the majority of African and Asian countries attached the greatest importance to the disarmament problem. Undeterred by the General Assembly's rejection of the draft resolution, nine African countries and Sri Lanka submitted a draft Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons for consideration by the 15th Session of the UN General Assembly. In many respects this declaration coincided with the Soviet proposal, tabled back in 1946, on the non-use of nuclear weapons. The initiative of the African countries, however, received no support from the NATO countries.
At the next, 16th UN General Assembly Session in 1961, eight African and two Asian countries tabled a draft resolution which on the whole was a repetition of their proposal at the preceding session. Its sponsors once again insisted on the adoption of the Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons and on the convocation of a conference at which a corresponding convention would be signed. This time the combined efforts of the socialist states and other peace-loving forces yielded positive results. The draft resolution was endorsed by the General Assembly in spite of serious opposition by the USA, Britain and their supporters.
The approval in 1961 of the Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons led to the conclusion in 1963 of the Moscow Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Tests in three media.
The question of turning Africa into a nuclear-free zone is also directly connected with disarmament. The idea of creating nuclear-free zones was first put forward by the socialist countries in 1957. In 1960 African representatives in the UN proposed that Africa should be turned into such a zone and that foreign military, bases on'! the continent should be dismantled. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries gave their full backing to this proposal, but owing to the resistance of the Western powers the 15th UN General Assembly adopted no decision on it. The African group raised this question again at the 16th General Assembly. It was only as a result of close interaction of the neutral and socialist countries and compromise on the part of the African countries (the point on the dismantlement 64 of military bases was deleted from the draft resolution) that the resolution proclaiming Africa a nuclear-free zone was adopted.
At the 26th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1971, the Soviet Union proposed that a World Disarmament Conference should be convoked. This motion was supported by independent African countries.
On the initiative of the Soviet Union, the 27th General Assembly discussed the question on the non-use of force in international relations and permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons. The majority of UN memberstates, including African countries, voted for the Soviet proposal.
The positive changes on the world scene seriously influenced the proceedings at the 29th General Assembly in 1974. It examined a range of problems connected with disarmament and adopted 12 resolutions. During the debates it became clear that the majority of the delegations, including virtually all African states, were in favour of terminating the arms race and achieving disarmament and durable international peace and security.
The Session also approved the Soviet motions to discuss the question of drawing up a convention for the prohibition of action to influence the environment and climate for military and other purposes incompatible with the maintenance of international security, human well-being and health. The overwhelming majority of the delegations, and almost all African delegates, voted in favour of the draft resolution recommending the Geneva Committee on Disarmament to start work on an agreed text of convention on this question with account for the Soviet draft.
The General Assembly also endorsed the definition of aggression which included all the main points set forth in a document that was submitted by the USSR in 1969. It was approved by all UN members with the exception of the People's Republic of China. The approval was another step towards the creation of legal guarantees and principles strengthening universal peace.
An important role in the struggle for stronger peace and termination of the arms race was played by the 30th Session of the UN General Assembly. The UN SecretaryGeneral Kurt Waldheim had every reason to call it a disarmament session. Twenty-seven resolutions on __PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__ 5-0763 65 disarmament and on restraining the arms race were adopted at it.
A major victory of the proponents of detente and peaceful coexistence was the approval hy the UN General Assembly of the Soviet proposals on prohibition of development and manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction and of new systems of such weapons and conclusion of a treaty on the complete and general prohibition of nuclear weapon tests. The first proposal won 112 votes and the second 94. A considerable number of these votes were cast by African countries.
The 30th UN General Assembly Session voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution welcoming the results of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other efforts to assert the principles of peaceful coexistence in international relations. Representatives of African and other non-aligned countries noted that the success of the policy of cooperation in Europe should be regarded as an example for other continents to follow. This is a logical attitude since the ideas of the Helsinki Conference and its decisions extend far beyond Europe's boundaries and are backed by the most diverse social strata in African, Asian and Latin American states.
The 31st UN General Assembly Session examined 18 questions relating to disarmament and adopted 22 resolutions on this issue. At this session, too, most of the UN African delegates approved the course of promoting detente. jQThe results of the 32nd UN General Assembly Session in 1977 show that crucial issues of contemporary world development are detente, ending the arms race and averting a nuclear war.
The proposals on these crucial issues tabled by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries were strongly supported by the overwhelming majority of UN members, including African states, and were incorporated into many of the more than 20 resolutions that were adopted at the Session.
The General Assembly unanimously approved the Declaration gon the Deepening and Strengthening of Detente which urged the extension of detente to all parts of the world and the implementation of the principle of the nonuse of force in international relations.
Representatives of 126 countries voted for a resolution containing the Soviet Union's proposal that a treaty on 66 the complete and general prohibition of nuclear weapons tests should be signed.
Broad support was given to the Soviet proposals on the conclusion of a world treaty on the non-use of force in relations between states, on the prohibition of the development and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, on the convocation of a special UN General Assembly Session on Disarmament in May 1978 and a World Disarmament Conference. The Session also endorsed resolutions on the prohibition of chemical weapons and new types and systems of weapons of mass destruction, and a number of other documents.
On the initiative of African countries the UN General Assembly voted for an embargo on arms shipments to South Africa. Besides, the UN delegates resolutely condemned the attempts of the South African racialist regime to make its own nuclear weapons.
The coincidence or closeness of the positions of the USSR and African countries on the basic issues of war and peace are strikingly demonstrated by Soviet-African joint documents signed as a result of visits to the USSR of heads of African states and also visits to Africa by Soviet leaders.
The Soviet-Nigerian Communique signed in May 1974 urged the speedy implementation of the resolutions of the 27th UN General Assembly concerning the non-use of force and permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons.
The Soviet-Libyan Communique (May 1975) noted that the two countries had specially studied the problem of disarmament, fully aware of its great importance for the struggle for strengthening world peace and security, and declared that it was necessary to convene a World Disarmament Conference as quickly as possible.
The Soviet-Tunisian Communique (May 1975) said that in the course of the negotiations both sides favoured vigorous and effective measures to end the arms race and achieve general and complete disarmament. It also pointed out that the Soviet Union and Tunisia were in favour of the earliest convocation of a World Disarmament Conference.
The need to strengthen world peace and security and intensify joint efforts in the struggle for general and complete disarmament was also emphasised in the joint documents signed during the visits to the USSR of a Party and Government delegation from Guinea-Bissau in February __PRINTERS_P_67_COMMENT__ 5* 67 1975, the President of the Republic of Gambia in March 1975 and the President of the People's Republic of the Congo in March 1975.
Timely and emphatic calls to promote international detente and take effective measures to terminate the arms race and rid mankind of the threat of a thermonuclear war were made in the Joint Soviet-Mozambique Statement (May 1976), Joint Sao Tome Communique (October 1976), Joint Soviet-Angolan Statement (October 1976), Joint Soviet-Tanzanian Statement (March 1977), Joint Soviet-Zambian Statement (March 1977), Joint SovietMozambique Statement (April 1977) and Joint SovietEthiopian Communique (May 1977).
So far no solution has been found to the problem of disarmament because of the intrigues of the enemies of peace and progress. But the leaders of independent African countries are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the threat to the security of their countries will continue to exist until this problem is solved. They also fully appreciate the need to establish still closer cooperation with the socialist countries, including the USSR which consistently works for peace and friendship among nations.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and the USSR Council of Ministers appealed to the peoples, parliaments and governments of all countries to join efforts to preserve peace and eliminate the threat of another war, stop the arms race, settle explosive conflicts and liquidate the seats of international tension. This appeal which expressed the vital interests of all peace-loving countries and peoples was widely acclaimed in Africa.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. The USSR Works to StrengthenThe problem of African unity is being dealt with by various representative public and pan-African organisations and centres of trade-union, women's and youth movements, regional economic alliances, cultural and educational associations, etc. All efforts undertaken on the continent 68 to achieve unity are coordinated by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
The Soviet attitude to the OAU was expounded in a message from Alexei Kosygin to the Chairman of the Third Conference of Independent African States. "The Soviet Union'', it said, "regards the idea of African unity with understanding.... The realisation of this idea which was conceived in the course of the African peoples' struggle for liberation has the sympathy and support of all champions of peace and friendship among peoples.''^^13^^
This assessment of the significance of African unity has been fully confirmed in the past years. It has played a fruitful role in the solution of inter-African problems. The joint efforts of African states have thwarted many attempts of the imperialists to interfere in the affairs of the continent and of its individual countries, and made the assistance to the national liberation movement more effective.
In spite of the inconsistency exhibited by some African governments, the political solidarity of African states mobilises forces for defence of the gains of the national liberation revolution. At the same time the principle of unity does not restrict initiatives to extend foreign relations because it does not involve the establishment of a closed system of international relations.
The idea of African unity was born at the end of the 19th century. Slogans of solidarity reflecting the common lot of the African peoples, the affinity of their cultural traditions, and the identity of their socio-economic objectives became very popular in the period of the upsurge of the national liberation movement. The rise of a large number of sovereign states did not weaken the urge for unity of action, and this became an important requisite for a success in the struggle for complete liberation of the African continent. In order to cope with the difficulties of building a solid foundation for their political gains, African countries had to strengthen their anti-imperialist unity. It was obvious to the more farsighted African leaders that the process of the national liberation of the African _-_-_
~^^13^^ Quoted from: Organisation of African Unit;/ (Genesis and Activity], Documents, Moscow, 1970, p. 35 (in Russian).
69 countries was not confined solely to fighting for the liquidation of direct foreign domination.The Soviet Union expressed its positive attitude to the unity of African peoples and highly assessed the OAU's role in a message to the Chairman of the 10th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU members. "The creation of the Organisation of African Unity'', it noted, "is a major political achievement of the African peoples. Having united on a continental scale, the African countries for the first time in history received the opportunity jointly to resolve the problems confronting them.''^^14^^
Since its establishment the OAU has been attaching major importance to the struggle against colonialism and racialism. The absolute loyalty to the cause of complete liberation of the continent and the elimination of all forms of colonialism in Africa which is written down in the OAU Charter is implemented through the Liberation Committee on the continent proper, and also through the African group in the UN and other international organisations. As they assist the national liberation movements, work towards political and economic isolation of the colonial and racialist regimes, and bring ever greater pressure to bear upon the chief imperialist allies of South Africa, OAU memberstates rely on all-round help and support from the Soviet Union.
This help has been highly acclaimed by representatives of national liberation movements and leaders of independent African states. In an article specially written for the Soviet weekly Za Rubezhom, the OAU Assistant Secretary-General P. Onu pointed out that unity of action of independent African states and countries of the socialist community was vital for the struggle against the evil forces of colonialism, neocolonialism and imperialism. This unity repeatedly manifested itself in the UN and other international forums. Onu went on to say that the Soviet policy of supporting the efforts of African peoples to shatter the yoke of colonialism and racialism merited all-round approval, that the USSR was wholly on the side of the liberation movements and that its assistance was of great importance.
_-_-_^^14^^ Pravda, 25 May 1973,
70The need for African unity is dictated not only by internal political factors, but also by many external factors, chiefly by the strategy and tactics of imperialism. African leaders are wide awake to the danger of neocolonialism which wants to trap Africa in a new net of financial and economic dependence. Now that Africa faces increasingly urgent social and economic problems, African leaders are especially worried about the economic expansion of neocolonialism and its strategy of interfering in Africa's social processes in order to impose capitalist relations there. The methods employed by neocolonialism today can only be countered by collective efforts, and the struggle against it has become an aspect of OAU activity.
At the contemporary stage of Africa's development the principle of African unity reflects (perhaps more fully than any other principle of the policy of African states) the desire of the most diverse strata of African society o get rid of foreign domination.
Indeed, it is the masses which have the biggest stake in promoting the anti-imperialist tendencies of African unity. It should also be noted that the growth of national self-awareness helps to broaden the social base of this movement. At the same time an increasing role in strengthening these tendencies is played by the growing cohesion of the consistent supporters of unity who are also the most active opponents of all forms of neocolonialism. / The noble tasks and the peaceful aims of the OAU have placed this organisation among the world's leading anticolonial and anti-imperialist forces. Thanks to the unity and solidarity of the African states, Africa now plays a much more important part in world politics. When the 28th UN General Assembly discussed the report of UN SecretaryGeneral Kurt Waldheim on cooperation between the UN and the OAU, the Soviet representative mentioned the latter's outstanding contribution to the struggle against colonialism, racialism and apartheid and for strengthening the independence of young African states. He spoke of the OAU's contribution to the fight for peace and against imperialist aggression, and pointed out that the stands of the USSR and the OAU countries on key aspects of UN activity were either identical or very close.
The consolidation of the anti-imperialist unity of African peoples opens fresh realistic prospects for broadening 71 international interaction of African and socialist countries in the interests of all peace forces and all nations.
After the Portuguese colonies in Africa won independence, the number of socialist-oriented states in the OAU increased. This enhanced the progressive potential of the Organisation, and invigorated its policy towards the racialist regimes in Southern Africa. The Soviet Union is confident of the constructive nature of African unity and is prepared to support all positive steps of the OAU aimed at normalising relations between African states in keeping with the spirit of peaceful coexistence and prevention of conflicts. __ALPHA_LVL3__ 5. The Soviet Union's Contribution toA typical feature of almost all African states is that they have preserved the borders which had been fixed by the European metropolitan countries during the colonial partitioning of the continent. In their rivalry for possession of Africa's wealth the imperialist powers established the borders between their colonies with utter disregard for natural, geographic, economic or ethnic features. Moreover, in furtherance of their selfish interests the colonialists repeatedly readjusted the borders of the territories they had seized. That explains the tension between some African states, which sometimes leads to armed conflicts.
Conflicts arising from border and territorial disputes began to gain in intensity in 1963. Hence, the timely nature of the Soviet Government's message of 31 December 1963 to the heads of state and government of all countries proposing the conclusion of an agreement on the non-use of force in the settlement of territorial and border disputes. "In the current situation,'' the message says, "it is possible to raise and solve the problem of excluding the use of force in territorial disputes between states from international relations.''^^15^^
The Soviet Government also mentioned the situation that developed in Africa in connection with border conflicts: _-_-_
~^^15^^ The Foreign Policy of the Soviet Union and International Ttelations.^Collection of[ Documents, 1963, Moscow, 1964, pp. 343--57 (in Russian).
72 ``The question of the borders between states in Africa, which has remained as a heritage of colonialism, is very complicated and confused.... The recent events in North Africa clearly show that the cause of strengthening and development of independent African countries is greatly impaired whenever one such country resorts to armed forces against another in order to satisfy its territorial claims".^^16^^ The Soviet Government directly pointed to the threat of interference by imperialist powers and said that conflicts between African countries were a godsend to the more powerful states which had not abandoned hope of somehow retrieving a part of what they had lost.The Soviet Government's message contained a reminder that in the OAU Charter, which was adopted in May 1963, the heads of state and government of African countries unanimously reiterated that territorial disputes should be resolved by negotiation. The Soviet Union's firm and clear stand on the question of territorial and border disputes and its proposal to conclude an international agreement on the non-use of force in resolving territorial and border disputes was widely welcomed in Africa.
Significantly enough, the conflicting African states of Algeria and Morocco, Ethiopia, the Somali Republic and Kenya were the first to respond to the Soviet initiative. The message was published on 4 January 1964 in Pravda and on the following day the Sunday issue of the Algerian newspaper Le Peuple printed a detailed summary of it. The paper emphasised that the new Soviet proposal was in keeping with the spirit and letter of the OAU Charter which envisaged a peaceful solution of such disputes. In an editorial on 9 January, the Voice of Ethiopia noted that the Soviet proposals to prohibit the use of force in territorial disputes merited great attention, particularly in some parts of Asia and Africa. It made the point that if the states did not renounce force as a means of implementing their policy, local disputes could develop into serious international conflicts.
Vice-Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Kenyan Parliament Fritz de Suza said that he welcomed the appeal not to resort to force in resolving border _-_-_
~^^16^^ Ibid., p. 352.
73 problems. He noted that the borders of many Asian and African countries had been delimited to suit the imperialists. The desire to use force in solving these problems, he continued, played into the hands of the imperialists, and the incitement of hostility undermined African unity. Peaceful talks and, if necessary, international mediation, were the only way to resolving these issues. The Somali newspaper Unione wrote that the Soviet proposal was made at a time when border and territorial disputes created an explosive situation in some parts of the world, and that the message could be compared to a jet of water aimed at a blazing fire.In their replies to the Soviet Government the majority of the heads of African states expressed their approval of this new peace initiative.
Since the situation in some parts of Africa remained tense, the Soviet Union continued its efforts to localise territorial and border disputes and time and again made concrete proposals to the conflicting sides. For example, when in February 1964 the tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia exploded into direct hostilities, the Soviet Government sent messages to the heads of both states. It pointed out that the military clashes which led to human and material losses ran counter to the interests and aspirations of both sides and that it was necessary to search for a peaceful settlement of such problems. The Soviet Government urged Ethiopia and Somalia "to take all necessary measures and make every possible effort to secure a ceasefire on the Ethiopian-Somali border and prevent the flames of the border conflict from turning into a war conflagration between Ethiopia and the Somali Republic".^^17^^ The Soviet Government's messages to the heads of state of Ethiopia and Somalia which coincided with a similar appeal of the Emergency Session of the OAU Foreign Ministers had the desired effect: on 16 February fighting ended on the SomaliEthiopian border.
In its efforts to help remove friction in relations between African states, theJSoviet Union welcomed the termination of the Algerian-Moroccan conflict. It sent messages saying that in connection with the agreement reached _-_-_
~^^17^^ Pravda, 12 February 1964
74 between the governments of Morocco and Algeria to resolve their border conflict by peaceful means, the Soviet Government extended sincere congratulations on its own behalf and on behalf of the Soviet peoples.^^18^^The Soviet Government's messages further noted that the use of force in territorial disputes ran counter to the interests of all countries and that armed conflicts over territorial issues "merely made it easier for the imperialists to plot against the peoples of the newly free countries.'' In conclusion it made the point that "the peaceful settlement of the Moroccan-Algerian conflict in the spirit of the OAU Charter instils the hope that it will set a good example for other states in facing similar problems".^^19^^
In the years that followed the Soviet Union initiated international agreements with the view to strengthening international peace and security. Its efforts were met with approval in Africa and stimulated the development of interAfrican cooperation and Soviet-African relations. In 1965, for example, the 20th UN General Assembly endorsed the Soviet-sponsored Declaration on Inadmissibility of Intervention in Domestic Affairs of States and Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty. In 1966 the USSR Foreign Minister sent a letter to the Chairman of the 21st General Assembly proposing that the Assembly's agenda should include an item on the follow-up action. A corresponding resolution which included the basic proposals of the Soviet delegation was adopted.
At the 25th UN General Assembly in 1970 Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Polish, Czechoslovak and Mongolian delegations submitted a draft Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security. It said, among other things, that it was necessary "to settle all disputes by peaceful means and, to that end, make fuller use of the procedures and methods provided in the Charter".^^20^^
_-_-_~^^18^^ Pravda, 1 March 1964.
~^^19^^ Ibid.
~^^20^^ Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organisation. 16 Jniip 1070--15 Juno 1971. General Assembly. Official Records: Twenty-Sixth Session. Supplement No. 1 (A/8401), United Nations, New York, 1971, p. 67.
75At the request of the USSR the 27th Session of the General Assembly included into its agenda the item " NonUse of Force in International Relations and Permanent Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons''. On 29 November 1972 the General Assembly adopted Resolution 2936 which on behalf of the UN member countries solemnly proclaimed "their renunciation of the use or threat of force in all its forms and manifestations in international relations, in accordance with the Charter, and the permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons.''^^21^^
The Peace Programme which is being energetically pursued by the Soviet Union objectively urges the peaceful solution of disputes, including territorial and border issues, in Africa. In 1975, in the debate on the dangerous conflict between Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania over Western Sahara, in the Security Council and at the 30th Session of the General Assembly the Soviet representative emphasised that the peoples of Western Sahara had the right to self-determination. The Soviet Union reiterated this stand in the Joint Soviet-Algerian Communique of 15 January 1978.
In the summer of 1977 an explosive situation developed in the north-east of Africa when hostilities broke out in the eastern and southern regions of Ethiopia between the invading regular units of the Somali army and the Ethiopian forces. In contrast to the imperialists and other reactionary forces which frenziedly tried to aggravate the conflict between these two African states, the USSR, from the very outset, did its best to help Somalia and Ethiopia to reach a negotiated settlement and secure firm and lasting peace on the Horn of Africa. This attitude was made public in a TASS statement of 14 August. But the chauvinistic and expansionist feelings in the Somali Government prevailed over ordinary common sense. It not only continued its aggression against neighbouring Ethiopia, but unilaterally ended the Soviet-Somali Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of 11 July 1974. But history shows that aggression always _-_-_
~^^21^^ Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organisation. 16 Juno 1972--15 Juno 1973. General Assembly. Official Records: Twenty-Eighth Session. Supplement No. 1 (A/9001). United Nations, New York, 1973, p. 25.
76 ends in defeat, and such was the lot of the chauvinistic circles in Somalia. On their part the USSR and other socialist countries, including Cuba, once again demonstrated their fidelity to internationalism. __*_*_*__The Soviet Union's contribution to the consolidation of the international positions of the African states not only stimulates Soviet-African relations, but also tremendously helps all developing countries in their efforts to cut short imperialism's aggressive plans and bring peace and security to all the peoples of the world.
[77] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter III __ALPHA_LVL2__ USSR AND NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]Diplomatic relations and political cooperation between the Soviet Union and the countries of North Africa have been developing for several decades already. The Egyptian journal Al-Talia wrote several years ago: "In its first foreign policy documents after the October Revolution, the Soviet state demonstrated its desire to establish new relations with the peoples of the East. The Soviet Union's assistance to the national liberation movement of the peoples of the world is an expression of the principles of its policy, of its strategic course towards joint struggle against imperialism.''^^1^^
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 1. Support for Egypt's Progressive ForcesHistory proves that departure from a progressive course, from solidarity with the socialist world inevitably develops into a severe trial for the people of the country which does this. It is all the more important, therefore, to recollect the fruitful nature of Soviet-Egyptian cooperation in the period when Egypt was led by true revolutionary democrats who were determined to build a society free of exploitation. Naturally, at the time Egyptian progressive forces received every assistance and support from the USSR--- moral, political, economic, organisational and military. Let us refer to facts.
In the turbulent summer and autumn of 1956 the Egyptians and all other freedom-loving peoples of Africa and Asia received further confirmation of the Soviet Union's sincere and friendly attitude to Egypt which had _-_-_
^^1^^ Al-Talia, 30 January 1975.
78 nationalised the Suez Canal. Having exhausted all means of economic, political and psychological pressure, the imperialists resorted to force in order to return the canal to its former owners. Israel, Britain and France attacked Egypt. Before and after the imperialist aggression the US attitude was clearly dual. State Secretary John Foster Dulles, for instance, insisted that nationalisation should be confined only to assets that were not connected with international interests. Otherwise, he did not rule out international intervention. And this was what Israel, Britain and France actually did at the end of October 1956. Such was the essence of the US attitude towards the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company from the very beginning.The USA brought pressure to bear on Egypt and tried to bring it to its knees with the help of an economic blockade and hunger. As President Nasser noted at the time, "the United States tried to use other means to attain what they failed to attain by aggression".^^2^^
The USSR supported Egypt at all stages of the Suez crisis. In a statement on 9 August 1956 the Soviet Government qualified the hostile moves of the Western powers towards Egypt as a direct challenge to the cause of peace. The statement evoked a broad response, and the Egyptian press assessed it as an indication of the USSR's full support for Egypt.
At the London Suez Conference^ (16--24 August 1956) and during the debate in the UN Security Council in September 1956 Soviet diplomats exposed the antiEgyptian intrigues of world imperialism. In a statement to the Security Council, the Soviet Government declared that "military preparations of the United Kingdom and France, conducted with the support of the United States, for the purpose of exerting pressure on Egypt over the Suez question, were grossly at variance with the principles of the Charter and could not be regarded otherwise than as an act of aggression against Egypt, which had exercised its legitimate rights as a sovereign State in nationalising the private Suez Canal Company".^^3^^
_-_-_~^^2^^ International Affairs, No. 10, 1957, p. 122 (in Russian).
~^^3^^ Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organisation. 16 June 1956--15 June 1957. General Assembly. Official Records: Twelfth Session. Supplement No. 1 (A/3594), United Nations, New York, 1957, p. 5.
79Firmly and consistently the Soviet Government insisted that the Suez question had to be resolved by negotiation and urged the UN to take serious measures against those UN member-states which threatened to resort to military intervention in Egypt. When, in an attempt to disrupt the passage of ships through the Suez Canal and thus prove that Egypt could not operate it, the former Suez Company recalled the foreign pilots working on the canal, the Soviet people helped Egypt to surmount the difficulties which were deliberately created by the imperialists. Egypt's invitation to pilots in friendly countries to work on the Suez Canal was enthusiastically received in the USSR and many other countries. The response of the Soviet seamen was immediate. Literally within a few days after the publication of the Egyptian invitation, the Egyptian public was extending a warm welcome to the first Soviet pilots to arrive in the country. By their hard work they helped Egypt to surmount the sabotage of the former owners of the Suez Canal Company and successfully cope with yet another severe trial inspired by the imperialists.
The Soviet Union came to Egypt's defence from the start of the three-power imperialist aggression. On 31 October the Soviet Government issued a statement condemning the attack on Egypt and emphasised that the Security Council should take immediate measures to put an end to the aggression of Britain, France and Israel against Egypt and secure the immediate withdrawal of the interventionist troops from Egypt.
At the Security Council meetings on 30 and 31 October 1956 and at the Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly the Soviet Union demanded the immediate termination of the intervention in Egypt. This demand was unanimously supported by the Soviet people who expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the Egyptian people. Imperialist aggression against Egypt was unequivocally condemned in statements issued by the governments of all the republics of the USSR. On 2 November 1956 Pravda published an editorial entitled "Hands Off Egypt''. On behalf of the peoples of the Soviet Union the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee issued an address to the people of Egypt. "Brothers and sisters, friends and comrades, the freedom-loving people of Egypt,'' it said, "in this hour 80 when world peace is put to the test the peoples of the Soviet Union are with you.''^^4^^
On 2 November 1956 the Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly by an overwhelming majority passed a resolution demanding the termination of military operations and the withdrawal of foreign troops from Egypt. But in spite of the clearly expressed will of the peoples of the world, the governments of Britain, France and Israel continued their armed intervention. At a plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 3 November, the Soviet representative pointed out that the flames of war kindled by the aggression against Egypt by France, Britain and Israel threatened to engulf the entire Middle East and jeopardised international peace and security.^^5^^
The Soviet Government deemed it necessary to take effective measures in order to cut short the imperialist intervention in Egypt. In messages issued on 5 November it sternly warned the British, French and Israeli governments. It also proposed to the US Government to cooperate with the view to putting an immediate end to aggression and bloodshed. At the same time it sent a cable to the Security Council Chairman On the Non-Fulfilment by Britain, France and Israel of the Decisions of the Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly of 2 November 1956 and on the Introduction of Immediate Measures to Cut Short the Aggression of These States Against Egypt. Attached to the cable was a draft Security Council resolution demanding the British, French and Israeli troops to end within 12 hours (following the adoption of the resolution) military operations against Egypt and withdraw their troops from the country within three days. The draft envisaged that if Britain, France and Israel did not fulfil the adopted resolution, ``the Security Council, in keeping with Article 42 of the UN Charter, would deem it necessary that all member-states, primarily the United States and the Soviet Union as permanent members of the Security Council which possess powerful Air Force and Navy, provide armed and other assistance to the victim of aggression, Egypt, by sending air, naval and other military _-_-_
~^^4^^ Pravda, 2 November 1956.
~^^5^^ Official Records of the General Assembly. First Emergency Special Session, 1-10 November 1956, Plenary Meetings and Annexes, United Nations, New York, 1956, p. 62.
__PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__ 6-0763 81 units, volunteers, and instructors and by extending other forms of aid".^^6^^ The Soviet Government pointed out in the cable, that it was prepared to "contribute to curbing the aggressors, protecting the victims of aggression and restoring peace by sending necessary air and naval units to Egypt".^^7^^The USSR's energetic moves had a sobering effect on the aggressors. On 6 November 1956 the British Government, and on 7 November the French Government informed the UN that they had ordered a cease-fire in Egypt. On the same day the Israeli Government also agreed to a ceasefire. Military operations came to a full stop.
In a speech made during his visit to the USSR in 1958, Egyptian President Nasser said: "When our country was living through difficult days, the peoples of the Soviet Union helped us with weapons, they extended a hand of friendship in our struggle against the economic blockade and the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression. The Soviet Government extended a hand of friendship and assistance to our country.''^^8^^
Soviet assistance and support for Egypt's struggle against the British-French-Israeli aggression helped the Egyptian people to consolidate and extend the gains of the July Revolution.
In the early 1960s Egypt carried out domestic socioeconomic reforms and broadened its contacts with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. These important developments took place at one and the same time. In 1960 Egypt launched the construction of the Aswan hydropower complex with Soviet assistance.
Drawing attention to the exceptionally^mportant role played by the USSR in Egypt's industrialisation and in the restructuring of the country's economy in conformity with the proclaimed progressive social development, the then Egyptian Minister for Industry Aziz Sidki said in January 1963 that "no other state provides the United Arab Republic such great and effective assistance as does the Soviet Union".^^9^^
_-_-_~^^6^^ Izvestia, 6 November 1956.
~^^7^^ Ibid.
~^^8^^ Suetskii kanal (The Suez Canal. Facts and Documents), Moscow, 1959, p. 26.
~^^9^^ Pravda, 29 January 1963. (For Lmore details on Soviet-- Egyptian economic cooperation and Soviet technical assistance in the development oi the Egyptian economy see Part Two of the present volume.)
82All that the Egyptian people had attained in the building of a new life was placed in jeopardy by Israel's aggression against Egypt and other Arab countries in June 1967. The Soviet Union emphatically condemned this criminal act. On 5 June 1967, as soon as it learned of Israel's attack on Egypt and other Arab countries, the Soviet Government issued a statement urging Israel immediately to cease fire and withdraw its troops to their initial positions behind the cease-fire line. On 7 June, after Israel had refused to fulfil the UN Security Council cease-fire resolution, the Soviet Union demanded convocation of another emergency session of the Council. The Soviet delegation submitted a draft resolution insisting that the governments concerned should, as the first step, cease fire and all military operations by 20.00 hours Greenwich time on 7 June 1967. This draft was endorsed by the Security Council.
On 9 June a meeting of the leaders of Communist and Workers' Parties and also of the governments of a number of socialist countries was held in Moscow on the initiative of the CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet Government. Having analysed the situation created by the aggression, the leaders of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia signed a statement which said in part: "In this difficult hour for the states of the Arab East the socialist countries declare that they are wholly and fully behind their just struggle and will help them to repulse aggression and safeguard their national independence and territorial integrity.''^^10^^
The participants demanded that Israel should immediately stop hostilities against the neighbouring countries and withdraw its troops behind the cease-fire line. The statement also made it clear that if the Israeli Government did not stop its aggression, the socialist countries that had signed the document would do everything necessary to help the Arab peoples to deliver a resolute rebuff to the aggressors and restore peace in that region. The Moscow meeting confirmed that the Arab peoples and the national liberation movement have reliable friends and allies in the person of the socialist states and Communist and Workers' Parties.
_-_-_~^^10^^ USSR Foreign Policy and International Relations. Documents, 1967, Moscow, 1968, pp. 154--55 (in Russian).
__PRINTERS_P_83_COMMENT__ 6* 83On 1Of June 1967 the Soviet Government decided to sever diplomatic relations with Israel. Committed to Lenin's principle that support for national liberation movements should not be confined to "a bare recognition or proclamation of the need for closer union between the working people of the various nations'',^^11^^ it also warned the USA that if Israel would not terminate its military operations, the USSR would not hesitate to resort to military measures. This resolute step cooled the heads of the aggressor and his patrons, and 22 hours after the message had been conveyed military operations were halted.
The question of the speediest liquidation of the dangerous consequences of the Israeli aggression was taken up at the Fifth Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly which was held in June 1967 on the initiative of the USSR. In his speech on 19 June the head of the Soviet delegation, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin condemned Israel's aggression. He demanded liquidation of its consequences, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli troops behind the 1949 ceaselire line and full compensation for the damage caused by the aggressor to Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
The peoples of Egypt and other Arab countries closely followed the work of the Emergency Session. Egypt was aware that the Session was the scene of struggle between the anti-imperialist forces led by the Soviet Union, on the one hand, and the forces of neocolonialism and reaction whose aspirations were supported by the imperialist circles of the USA and Western Europe, on the other. But owing to the obstructive stand of the USA and its allies the key issue on the Session's agenda---the withdrawal of the Israeli troops from all occupied territories---was not settled. The Soviet Union continued to work actively for the elimination of the consequences of the Israeli aggression and the settlement of the Middle East crisis. The matter was examined at a Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee in July 1967. The meeting qualified Israeli aggression as a conspiracy of the reactionary forces of world imperialism against one of the contingents of the national liberation movement, against progressive Arab states which had _-_-_
~^^11^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 146.
84 taken the road of progressive socio-economic transformations in the interests of the working people and were pursuing an anti-imperialist policy.In July the leaders of the socialist countries met again, this time in Budapest, to discuss the Middle East situation. They demanded the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from all occupied territories in Egypt and other Arab countries.
In those difficult days for the Arab East, the socialist countries did everything they could to help Egypt and Syria safeguard their sovereignty and independence. At their meetings in Moscow and Budapest in June and July 1967 the leaders of the European socialist countries decided to provide urgent political, economic and military assistance to the Arab countries---victims of the Israeli aggression. Manufactured goods and food from socialist countries began to arrive in Egypt. In August the UAR Minister for Economy and Foreign Trade said that in that period the socialist countries led by the USSR extended special purpose loans to help Egypt promote economic development.^^12^^ The Soviet Union also began to restore Egypt's defensive capacity, and from July to September 1967 it sent modern military equipment to the country.
In a speech on 1 May 1970 President Nasser spoke very highly about Soviet assistance to Egypt in its hour of need: "We say that were it not for Soviet assistance after the June 1967 events imperialism would have subjugated our country, all our aims would have been trampled by the boots of the invaders, and executions and assassination would have become the legal actions of those who sought to command the destiny of the Arab nations.''^^13^^
In the ensuing period the Soviet Union consistently and energetically worked for a political settlement of the Middle East crisis, for the liquidation of the dangerous consequences of the Israeli aggression and for a just peace in that part of the world. It also continued to assist the UAR, thus objectively contributing to the creation of a material basis for its independent development. The construction of the High Aswan Dam which President Nasser called "a living symbol of creative assistance and boundless opportunities _-_-_
~^^12^^ A l-Gomhourii/a, 12 August 1907.
~^^13^^ Al-Kateb, November 1970. p. 177.
85 of Arab-Soviet friendship"^^14^^ points to the fruitful nature of Soviet-Egyptian economic cooperation.President GamallAbdel Nasser whose sudden death occurred on 28 September 1970 was an active proponent of EgyptianSoviet friendship. He believed that its expansion would ensure the success of the anti-imperialist struggle and enable all Arab peoples to consolidate national and social emancipation. The late President gave a fitting rebuff to internal reaction and imperialism which at times heavily pressured the Egyptian Government. "We are united by our concerted stand in the sacred international struggle for humanism, against imperialism and exploitation,'' he said. "We are bound by common, mutual interests and cooperation, by the need for continuous unification, which has made our friendship powerful and sincere.''^^15^^
In its decisions the 24th Congress of the CPSU noted that a just and lasting settlement in the Middle East and the liquidation of seats of war is one of the main aims in the struggle for peace, freedom and independence of peoples. Firmly abiding by these decisions and Leninist principles in its foreign policy, the Soviet Union showed in October 1973 that its desire for a peaceful settlement of conflicts also meant that it was prepared to render every assistance to peoples fighting for the consolidation of their independence, for national liberation and social emancipation, and to counter all encroachments on their sovereignty. It was the Soviet Union's decisive contribution to the restoration of Egypt's military and economic potential and the deliveries of Soviet weapons that enabled Egypt and Syria to carry out such effective operations in the October war (1973) against Israel which forever dispelled the myth of its invincibility and undermined the confidence of the Israeli leadership in the absolute impunity of their aggressive acts.
The Soviet Union's stand in the course of the October war heightened its prestige in the Arab countries and strengthened Soviet-Arab relations. Addressing the Egyptian National Assembly on 8 December 1973, the then Deputy Prime Minister of the republic A. H. Khatem said: "The _-_-_
~^^14^^ Al-Ahram, \ July 1970.
~^^15^^ G. A. Nasser, "Speech at a Special Session of the National Assembly on the Occasion of a Meeting with A. N. Kosygin, 17 May 1966'', Works, Vol. 5, Cairo, 1967, p. 579 (in Arabic).
86 political and economic assistance which we received from the Soviet Union, the Soviet weapons with which we countered aggression will always be one of the most durable factors of our friendship.''^^16^^The emergent process of international detente stimulated the efforts to put an end to Israeli aggression. Heeding the joint Soviet-US proposal the UN Security Council adopted resolutions 338 and 339 on a cease-fire in the Middle East. The Soviet Union also endorsed the resolution to send UN peace-keeping forces to that part of the world. In compliance with Egypt's request the USSR sent its representatives to observe the implementation of the cease-fire resolution. The principled character of the Soviet Union's policy and effectiveness of the assistance which it provided, when it was most needed, once again showed the Arab peoples that the Soviet Union was their loyal friend and ally.
In the period after the July Revolution (1952) in Egypt and until President Nasser's death in 1970 Soviet-Egyptian relations made noteworthy progress. This was not to the liking of the opponents of Soviet-Egyptian friendship for it obstructed their plans of leading Egypt away from the road of deep-going social and economic transformations and making it give up its socialist orientation and progressive foreign policy course.
After Nasser's death the reaction temporarily gained the upper hand in Egypt. Forces hostile towards the USSR became more^'active and the Egyptian! President Sadat became their leader. A manifestation of this policy--- and Sadat pursued it for a long time---was Egypt's decision to terminate the 1971 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the USSR. The TASS Statement issued in this connection said that the responsibility for the Egyptian leadership's policy towards the Soviet Union in recent years and the repudiation of the Treaty rested wholly on the Egyptian side. At the same time the Statement pointed out: "The Soviet Union has pursued and will continue to pursue a principled, consistent policy aimed at promoting friendly relations with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Egyptian people.''^^17^^
Public opinion and the press in the Arab East sharply condemned Sadat's decision as detrimental to the national _-_-_
~^^16^^ A\-Ahram, 9 December 1973.
~^^17^^ Pravda, 16 March 1976.
87 interests of the Egyptian and other Arab peoples. In Egypt itself his move evoked a negative response. For instance, member of the Egyptian National Assembly Ahmed Takha, who voted against terminating the Treaty, said in his statement that Soviet-Egyptian relations were a "model of international relations''. He also noted that it would be wrong to forget about Soviet weapons which were given to Egypt free of charge in 1967, i.e., about very real assistance, and mainly about the Soviet Union's economic and technical aid without which Egypt would have had no heavy industry, the basis of its economic growth.The future will definitely show that multiform cooperation and friendship with the USSR are above all consistent with the vital interests of the Egyptian people.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. On the Side of the Algerian PeopleOn 1 November 1954 a national liberation struggle began in Algeria. The Algerian patriots were inspired by the successes of the national liberation movements in Egypt, Syria, Morocco and other Arab countries which made the disintegration of the colonial system of imperialism more profound. The USSR, like other socialist countries, was on the side of the Algerian people from the very outset of ' their struggle. It sent consignments of weapons, ammunition and military equipment to the Algerian National Liberation Army, and food, medicine and clothes for refugees from war-ravaged regions.
The Soviet Government backed the proposal of a group j of Asian and African countries to have the Algerian question ! included in the agenda of the Tenth Session of the UN General Assembly. At a plenary meeting of the Session, the Soviet representative said: "We consider that the United , Nations cannot ignore events in Algeria. It is the General Assembly's duty to consider the Algerian question in order to bring about, in accordance with the principles of the I United Nations Charter, a peaceful settlement in keeping with the interests of all concerned, and, first and foremost, with the legitimate rights and national interests of the Algerian peoples.''^^18^^
_-_-_~^^18^^ Official Records of the General Assembly. Tenth Session. Plenary Meetings, 20 September-20 December 1955, United Nations, New York, 1956, p. 179.
88At the end of 1956 the UN once again took up the Algerian question. The colonial powers were forced to give in and agree to have it discussed. In its resolution of 15 February 1957, the llth UN General Assembly Session recognised that the situation in Algeria was "causing much suffering and loss of human lives" and expressed the hope that "a peaceful, democratic and just solution will be found, through appropriate means, in conformity with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations".^^19^^ In many respects such a resolute decision was passed as a result of the efforts of the Soviet representatives who insisted on the termination of military operations by the French Government, on recognition of the national existence of the Algerian people and on granting them independence. The Soviet Union maintained this stand in the following years. In a special statement on 15 December 1960, TASS said: "The Soviet people whose sympathies are invariably with peoples fighting for freedom and national independence, including the heroic people of Algeria, resolutely condemn the crimes which are committed against the people of Algeria and demand that the killings of Algerian patriots should be stopped.''^^20^^
Addressing the First Committee of the 15th General Assembly Session on 13 December 1960, the head of the Soviet delegation condemned the crimes of the French colonialists in Algeria. He emphasised that the "slaughter in Algeria was a monstrous anachronism in our time when humanity faced the noble and responsible task of strengthening world peace and of ensuring freedom and independence for all colonial and dependent peoples'', and pointed out that responsibility for the inhuman acts in Algeria rested with France and its NATO partners.
On 15 December 1960, after an eight-day debate, the First Committee approved by a majority vote a resolution submitted by 24 Asian and African countries. The operative paragraph of the resolution supported by the Soviet delegation said: "The Assembly would decide that a referendum should be conducted in Algeria, organised, controlled and supervised by the United Nations whereby the Algerian _-_-_
~^^19^^ Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly from 12 November 1956 to 8 March 1957 During Its Eleventh Session. General Assembly. Official Records: Eleventh Session. Supplement No. 17 (A/3572), United Nations. New York, 1957.
~^^20^^ Pravda, 15 December 1960.
89 people would freely determine the destiny of their entire country.''^^21^^ But France, which participated neither in the debates on the Algerian question nor in the voting, with the help of its partners contrived at the Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly to have the paragraph on a UNcontrolled referendum in Algeria excluded from the resolution.The Soviet Union, other socialist countries and AfroAsian states voted in favour of the resolution as a whole inasmuch as it recognised the right of the Algerian people to self-determination and independence, and also the need for effective UN guarantees that this right would be observed on the basis of Algeria's unity and territorial integrity. The resolution was adopted by the majority of the UN members.
It is important to note that in many respects this resolution was adopted because the Algerian Provisional Government had been recognised by a number of Asian and African states and by the USSR which recognised it de facto in October 1960.
The Soviet Union consistently and indefatigably exposed the policy of the colonialists, thus mobilising world public opinion for the defence of the just cause of the Algerian people. The continued policy of violence and support for ultra-reactionary and military extremist organisations of the OAS type damaged France's prestige. Seeing that it was impossible to keep the Algerian people under the heel of colonialism, on 18 March 1962 the French Government signed the Evian Agreements which put an end to the colonial war in Algeria and recognised the right of its people to self-determination and territorial integrity. On the next day, 19 March, the Soviet Union recognised the Provisional Government of Algeria de jure and said that it was prepared to establish diplomatic relations with it. These relations were set up the same year. (France officially recognised Algeria's independence on 3 July 1962.)
Immediately upon winning independence the Algerian Republic asked the USSR to send sappers to deactivate more than a million and a half mines. As a result several thousand hectares of fertile land became cultivable again.
The Soviet Union backed up its political support for independent Algeria with economic assistance. In 1963 a _-_-_
~^^21^^ Yearbook of the United Nations, 19611, New York, 1961. p. 134,
90 Soviet-Algerian agreement was signed which provided for economic and technical cooperation in implementing national economic development plans in the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.In July 1968 the Algerian El-Moudjahid carried an article on cooperation with the USSR which said in part: "The diversity of fields of Soviet-Algerian cooperation and their broader exchanges attest to the beneficial and fruitful nature of this cooperation and to extensive opportunities for further development.... Such a satisfactory situation is not accidental. In the first place it is due to the fact that Algerian-Soviet cooperation rests on the sound principles of mutual respect, non-interference in each other's internal affairs and parity, all of which is an expressio'n of true friendship.''^^22^^
In 1967 the USSR-Algeria Friendship Society was set up in the USSR. In a speech on this occasion the head of the Algerian delegation observed that the USSR-Algeria society which had been founded in the USSR and also the Association of Algerian-Soviet Friendship which would shortly be set up in Algeria were called upon to broaden scientific and cultural ties and further mutual understanding between the two peoples. All this inspired the Algerian people, which were advancing along the non-capitalist road, to make fresh gains in social and economic progress.
A serious role in further strengthening Soviet-Algerian relations was played by the visit to Algeria in October 1971 of Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin. The Joint Soviet-Algerian Communique noted that "both sides expressed their satisfaction with the state of friendship and all-round cooperation between the Soviet Union and Algeria, which are based on trust, respect for the principles of independence, equality, non-interference in each other's internal affairs and mutual benefit''. They expressed their conviction that further development of these relations was vital for the peoples of the USSR and Algeria and helped to strengthen world peace and security.^^23^^
The Soviet and Algerian peoples and the progressive Arab public welcomed the development of Soviet-Algerian relations. These steps showed that the policy of the CPSU _-_-_
~^^22^^ Al-Motidjahid, 8 July 19B8.
~^^23^^ Pravda, 0 October 1971.
91 and Soviet Government was aimed at strengthening the antiimperialist unity of peoples, international cooperation and world peace.The friendly Soviet-Algerian relations stimulate Algeria's development and are conducive to the further deepening of the social revolution in that Arab state. In their message on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of Algeria's independence the CPSU and Soviet Government wished the friendly Algerian people further headway along their socialist road, and expressed confidence that the traditional friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and Algeria would continue to strengthen and develop for the benefit of the peoples of both countries, in the interests of the struggle for universal peace, international security and social progress.^^24^^
Another milestone on the way to further strengthening the friendly relations between Algeria and the USSR was the visit to the Soviet Union in January 1978 of the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Chairman of the Revolutionary Council Houari Boumedienne. Speaking at a dinner given in his honour by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and the USSR Government, he mentioned the durability of relations between the two countries and their friendship which, he pointed out, would keep developing and strengthening. He said: "The Soviet Union, and we say this for all to hear, has done a great deal for the Arabs. And we sons of the Arab nation will never forget this stand of the Soviet Union.... Algerians know that the Soviet Union will always be a friend of the Arabs.''^^25^^
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Strengthening Contacts with Tunisia and MoroccoTunisia, a French protectorate for 75 years, proclaimed independence in 1956. The same year the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations with it. Tunisia was well aware of the Soviet Union's principled course and its solidarity with the national liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples. On 19 June 1952 thirteen Arab and Asian states _-_-_
~^^24^^ Pravda, 5 July 1975.
~^^25^^ Pravda, 13 January 1978.
92 asked the UN Secretariat to convene a Special Session of the General Assembly to examine the Tunisian question and the USSR promptly supported their request. The Seventh Session of the UN General Assembly included the Tunisian question in its agenda. The situation in that country was studied in detail at the plenary meetings of tiie Assembly and in the First Committee in spite of the French delegation's allegations that the UN was not competent to discuss the Tunisian question. The Soviet representative emphasised that his delegation which upheld the principle of the equality of all peoples, big or small, and recognised the right of all nations and peoples to self-determination, would support proposals aimed at protecting the rights of the Tunisian people. By speaking up in defence of the national liberation struggle of the Tunisian people, the USSR seriously helped them to achieve state independence.In 1957 there was an exchange of delegations between the USSR and Tunisia, and in July that year the two countries signed a trade agreement. Several years later, in August 19(31, the USSR and Tunisia signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation. Soviet-Tunisian contacts began to develop.
Tunisia won political independence, but its people could not consider themselves fully free so long as foreign military bases and tens of thousands of foreign troops remained in the country. The movement for the withdrawal of French troops began to gain in intensity in Tunisia. On 8 February 1958 the French Air Force bombed the Tunisian village Sakiet Sidi Usef on the border with Algeria, killing 80 and wounding 130 people. This attack evoked indignation in Tunisia and throughout the world. In May 1958 the French bombed the positions of Tunisian forces in the south of the country, and in July 1961 French bombers and naval units bombed and shelled the port of Bizerta. Tunisia and France became locked in a major military conflict.
The USSR promptly came out in support of the Republic. The Soviet delegation requested the Security Council to examine its proposal to condemn the act of aggression against the Tunisian Republic as a threat to peace in the Mediterranean and a violation of the UN Charter, to put a stop to this aggression and make France withdraw its troops from Tunisia.
This proposal was backed by socialist arid developing 93 Countries. France was compelled to order a cease-fire, but its air and naval forces continued to violate Tunisian air space and territorial waters. The French troops also held on to their base in Bizerta. Thereupon 38 African and Asian countries and Cuba, Yugoslavia, Cyprus and Brazil submitted a fresh proposal, which was supported by the USSR, saying that French aggression against Tunisia should be discussed at a Special Session of the UN General Assembly.
On 25 August 1961 the General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that France should immediately order a cease-fire and withdraw its troops to their initial positions. The resolution recognised Tunisia's sovereign right to demand the withdrawal of all French armed forces and called upon the French and Tunisian governments to enter into immediate negotiations to devise peaceful and agreed measures for the withdrawal of all French armed forces from Tunisian territory. The imperialist powers and countries dependent on them abstained from voting.
Thanking the Soviet Union on behalf of the Tunisian people for supporting their national liberation struggle the President of Tunisia Habib Bonrguiba wrote in a telegram to the Soviet Government on 24 August 1961 that he and the Tunisian Government were deeply moved by its manifestations of friendship and solidarity, lie went on to say that the Tunisian people became especially aware of these feelings of sympathy when the Soviet delegation in the Security Council and at the General Assembly adopted a most lucid and noble stand in support of Tunisia.
The Tunisian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs who visited Moscow in August 19(51 thanked the Soviet Union on behalf of the Tunisian people and government for supporting Tunisia in its struggle against the aggression.
The relentless and firm demands of progressive forces compelled France to pull its troops out of Tunisia. In October 1963 the last foreign soldier left the base at Bizerta and that enclave of colonialism in Tunisian territory ceased to exist.
Henceforth, political relations between Tunisia and the USSR began to expand. In Juno 1963 a Tunisian parliamentary delegation visited the Soviet Union, and in March 1964 94 the Tunisian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs paid an official visit to the USSR in the course of which he discussed the prospects of Soviet-Tunisian relations witli Soviet statesmen. At the end of 1964 the two countries signed their lirst long-term trade and payments agreement which stimulated their trade relations.
A special role in deepening and expanding the friendly Soviet-Tunisian relations was played by the visit of Alexei Kosygin to Tunisia in May 1975. On the eve of this visit the Tunisian Secretary of State for Information noted that the Tunisian people had profound sympathy and respect for the cause to which the Soviet Union was devoted, for its efforts to achieve the triumph of the policy of peaceful coexistence and its human concern to rid the world of the threat of war.^^26^^ In the course of their talks the leaders of the two countries expressed their satisfaction with the state of relations between the USSR and Tunisia which were developing on the basis of equality, respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, and mutual benefit. They also examined a broad range of questions of mutual interest and expressed their desire to strengthen and expand cooperation.
On 15 May 1975 L'Action, the central organ of the ruling Destour Party (PSD), noted that the Soviet Union's peace policy played a decisive role in international detente, particularly in the efforts to create a stable and just peace in the Middle East.
The Tunisian public highly assessed Alexei Kosygin's visit. La Presse de Tunisie, which published the Communique of the PSD leadership on the visit, wrote that it could be regarded "as symbol of durability of the links between the Tunisian and Soviet peoples, ties which are characterised by sincere and fruitful cooperation between the two countries designed to promote mutual interests in all spheres---- economic, social and cultural".^^27^^ This was a correct conclusion which attested to the broad prospects lying before TunisianSoviet relations.
The next North African country with which the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations (in 1958) was the Kingdom of Morocco. At the Seventh Session of the UN _-_-_
~^^26^^ Pravda, 16 May 1975.
~^^27^^ La Presse de Tunisie, 15 May 1975.
95 General Assembly in 1952, the Soviet representative in the First Committee said that the USSR delegation, adhering to the principle of equality of all peoples, big or small, and recognising their right to self-determination, would support proposals designed to safeguard the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Moroccan people. At the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth sessions the Soviet delegation vigorously contributed to ttie solution of the Moroccan question in a manner that would benefit the people of that country. On 2 March 1956 Morocco achieved political independence. But survivals of colonialism remained in Morocco---the Tangier International Zone which the imperialists had annexed from Morocco in 1912, and French and US troops and bases.In 1945 France invited the USSR and the USA to participate in the administration of Tangier. The USA consented but the USSR firmly declined the offer even though it had the formal right to accept it, and began to work energetically for the termination of the international administration of Tangier and its reunification with Morocco.
On 9 October 1956 the USSR issued a statement in connection with the International Conference of Tangier in which it expressed the hope that the Conference "would create no obstacles to the speediest and real reunification of Tangier and Morocco, and the abolition of the international regime, and would contribute to the final settlement of the question of Tangier on the basis of full respect for Morocco's sovereign rights to Tangier".^^28^^ The Soviet Union's support for Morocco's just demands tilted the scales in favour of the newly free Moroccan state. On 29 October 1956 the Conference adopted a Declaration in which France, Britain, the USA, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Portugal agreed to "the abolition of the international regime of the Tangier Zone and declare abrogated ... all the acts, agreements and conventions concerning the said regime".^^29^^ In keeping with this declaration Tangier was returned to Morocco. The USSR Foreign Ministry Statement of 11 December 1956 noted that the Soviet Union recognised Morocco's _-_-_
~^^28^^ The USSR and the Arab Countries. 1917--1960. Documents and Materials, Vol. I, Moscow, 1961, p. 228 (in Russian).
~^^29^^ Final Declaration of the International Conference of Tangier. 29 October 7.956, London, 1957, p. 9.
96 sovereign rights to Tangier, and that all the earlier international agreements concerning Tangier were invalid.In many respects the further development of SovietMoroccan relations was promoted by the establishment of trade relations between the two countries. A protocol on the list of commodities earmarked for reciprocal deliveries was signed at Rabat on 18 April 1957, and a year later, on 19 April 1958, trade and payments agreement between the two countries was signed in Moscow. Other important agreements envisaging a considerable expansion of trade and cooperation in various branches of the economy, culture and science were signed in 1965 and 1966. Soviet-Moroccan trade turnover increased almost 25 times between 1958 and 1973. Scientific, technical and cultural links expanded considerably.
Exchange visits of statesmen and public figures strengthened the links of friendship and mutual understanding between the countries. Soviet-Moroccan relations were seriously stimulated by the visit to Morocco in February 1961 of Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet Leonid Brezhnev. This visit consolidated the progress that had been achieved by then in the relations between the two countries.
An important role in this respect was played by the visit of the head of the Moroccan state King Hassan \\ to the Soviet Union in October 1966. The negotiations which took place in Moscow ended in the conclusion of agreements on economic, cultural and scientific and technical cooperation, on cooperation in the fields of television and radio, and on deliveries of Soviet machines and equipment to Morocco. The agreement on deliveries was renewed in 1970 and 1974. The Soviet Union agreed to assist Morocco in building a number of industrial and power projects, and to send Soviet geologists and geophysicists and specialists in the fields of secondary, higher and vocational education to that country.
In 1969 the Soviet Union said that it was prepared to help Morocco carry out its five-year economic development plan. USSR-Morocco and Morocco-USSR friendship societies were founded in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
The visit of Premier Alexei Kosygin to Morocco in October 1971 further strengthened the relations between the two countries. Agreements on maritime navigation and the __PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7-0763 97 construction of a number of hydropower stations and dams with Soviet assistance were signed during the visit. The Joint Soviet-Moroccan Communique issued at the time noted that "both sides expressed their satisfaction with the strengthening relations of friendship and mutual understanding between the Soviet Union and Morocco and also with the expansion of their economic and trade cooperation. They expressed their desire to strengthen this cooperation.''^^30^^
The realistic approach to the development of international relations and mutually beneficial cooperation in diverse fields in spite of the difference in social systems, created a firm base for the expansion of Soviet-Moroccan relations. They tend to hasten the achievement of national objectives ~.nd deepen mutual understanding between the peoples of both countries.
An important step in this direction was made by the visit of the Moroccan Prime Minister Ahmed Osman to the USSR in March 1978. The long-term agreement on economic and technical cooperation in the phosphate industry which was signed during the visit ushered in a new stage in the development of mutually beneficial Soviet-Moroccan business relations. In Morocco this agreement was called the "contract of the century" because it markedly stimulated the Moroccan economy. During their talks Ahmed Osman and Alexei Kosygin agreed that it was necessary to keep on deepening detente and extending it to all parts of the world. It should be noted, however, that Morocco's foreign policy is somewhat inconsistent. This is borne out in particular by the participation of Moroccan forces in the events in Zaire in 1977--78.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. Soviet-Libyan CooperationFor several years after the Second World War the Soviet Union consistently advocated that Libya, a former Italian colony, should be granted political independence. Thanks to the determined efforts of Soviet representatives in the Council of Foreign Ministers of the USSR, USA, Britain and France in 1945 and 1946, in the international commission which worked in Libya, at the London Conference of Deputy _-_-_
~^^30^^ Pravda, 11 October 1971.
98 Foreign Ministers, at the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of these countries in Paris in 1948, and in the UN in 1949, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the proclamation of Libya a sovereign, independent state in 1951.When it became known in Libya that on 21 November 1949 the Soviet delegation at the Fourth Session of the UN General Assembly proposed that it should be immediately granted independence, manifestations in support for this proposal took place in Tripoli, Benghazi and other Libyan towns. The participants in these demonstrations and meetings expressed their gratitude to the Soviet Union without whose active support the very existence of Libya as a united independent state would have been in doubt.
In the following years the Soviet Union continued to work for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Libya and the dismantlement of British and US military bases on its territory. On 23 January 1952 the Soviet representative told the UN Special Political Committee that the presence of foreign troops and the existence of military bases on Libyan territory violated the sovereign rights of the Libyan people and were incompatible with the country's national independence and sovereignty.
But the Soviet Union's efforts to broaden cooperation with Libya encountered the intransigence of its monarchical government. The Libyan monarchy relied rather heavily on the Western powers and consequently the latter were able to influence its policy towards the USSR. As a result, the monarchical government's relations with the USSR were on the level of diplomatic politesse and limited trade. While the Soviet Embassy in Libya was opened in 1956, Libya set up its Embassy in Moscow only in 1962.
After the victory of the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist revolution in Libya on 1 September 1969, the Soviet Union was the first great power to recognise the republican regime (4 September 1969).
Promptly after the establishment of the new regime, the Libyan leaders announced their intention to establish closer relations and cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. Libya appreciated the Soviet Union's contribution to the liberation of the oppressed peoples, and its extensive economic, military, moral and political support for the struggle of the Arab peoples against __PRINTERS_P_99_COMMENT__ 7* 99 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1980/UCOA319/20080107/199.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2008.01.18) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_SEQUENCE__ continuous the Israeli aggression. "We look upon Russia as a friend,'' said Chairman of the [Revolutionary [Command Council Muarnmar al-Gaddai'i, "because it is a country which is friendly to the Arab peoples. The Soviet Union fosters this friendship and treats the Arab nation as an equal would treat an equal.''^^31^^
Libya's links with the USSR and other socialist countries did in fact grow and strengthen considerably. Trade between them also increased. The Soviet Union met the Libyan Government's request for technical assistance in developing the country's nationalised oil industry, and sent a group of highly qualified specialists there. Soviet doctors were also sent to work in Libya.
In the summer of 1970 a direct Moscow-Tripoli air route was inaugurated. In February and March 1972 an official Libyan delegation led by Member of the Revolutionary Command Council, Minister for the Economy and Industry Abdul Salam Jalloud visited the Soviet Union where it was received by the leaders of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government. The sides exchanged views on a broad range of questions related to Soviet-Libyan relations and international politics, confirmed that there were prospects for expanding the links between the two countries in different fields and emphasised the importance of closer friendship between the Soviet Union and progressive Arab countries for the success of their struggle against imperialism, colonialism and Zionist-Israeli aggression. A five-year agreement on economic and technical cooperation at state level was signed by the USSR and Libya in March 1972.
The positive results of Soviet-Libyan cooperation and its favourable influence on the mounting revolutionary movement of the Arab peoples^in the struggle against reaction, imperialism and Zionism were the reasons behind the second visit of Abdul Salam Jalloud, this time as Libya's Prime Minister, to the USSR in May 1974. The Soviet leaders attached great importance to this visit which, as the Joint Statement noted, "contributed to the development of relations of friendship and cooperation between the USSR and Libya".^^32^^ The Libyan Premier was received by Leonid Brezhnev. He also held talks with _-_-_
~^^31^^ Al-Thawrah, 13 June 1971.
~^^32^^ Prat-do, 22 May 1974.
100 Alexei Kosygin. The Soviet-Libyan negotiations proceeded in a friendly atmosphere and in the spirit of frankness and mutual understanding.In the course of a broad exchange of views on various issues, including Soviet-Libyan relations, the two sides noted with satisfaction that all opportunities were at hand for the further fruitful development of all-round contacts between them and confirmed their desire "to expand and deepen mutually beneficial economic cooperation on the basis of the agreement of 4 March 1972 in the interests of both sides".^^33^^
The two sides thoroughly examined questions of how to further expand and strengthen their trade relations, and signed a new trade agreement.
A great deal of attention was paid to the Middle East situation and the need for an immediate settlement of the Middle East crisis on the basis of the pertinent UN resolutions. The Soviet side said that it was fully determined to continue to furnish every assistance to the Arab peoples in their struggle to consolidate their national independence and achieve economic and social progress.
In a conversation with journalists Muammar al-Gaddafi mentioned the friendly nature of Libya's relations with the Soviet Union. There were no contradictions between the two countries, he said, and their friendship was lasting. At the same time he noted that this did not rule out ideological differences between them.
Such a statement by no means runs counter to the stand of the USSR whose policy takes into account distinctions in the political and socio-economic conditions in individual countries. In a speech at a reception in honour of the Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Salam Jalloud in May 1974, Alexei Kosygin said: "If we were to compare that which unites Libya and the Soviet Union with what in our opinion does not coincide, then the odds would be decisively in favour of what unites us... As regards the differences in views, they are for the most part in the ideological field.... But we have no desire to impose our ideology on anyone. This would be against our principles, and, moreover, Marxism-Leninism does not need it at all.''^^34^^
_-_-_~^^33^^ Ibid.
~^^34^^ Pravda, 15 Mav 1974.
101The next step in the development of friendly relations between the two countries was the return visit to Libya by Alexei Kosygin in May 1975. The visit, which took place in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding, enabled the leaders of the two countries once again to examine the state of Soviet-Libyan relations and to consult about the situation in the Arab region and the African continent, and other problems of the contemporary international situation. Special attention was focussed on the explosive situation in the Middle East. The sides reiterated that "real peace in that region could'be achieved only given the complete liberation of all occupied Arab territories and ensurance of the legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including its right to self-determination and establishment of a national state''.
The Joint Soviet-Libyan Communique emphasised that Alexei Kosygin's visit to Libya "gave added strength to the relations between the USSR and Libya and would contribute to the further development of friendship and consolidation of mutual understanding between them".^^35^^
During Alexei Kosygin's visit the two countries signed a number of important agreements, including an agreement on the construction of a house-building factory and a metallurgical complex in Libya, and the erection by the USSR of an atomic reactor for peaceful uses.
The establishment of the Libyan-Soviet Friendship Society in Libya in April 1976 is also a result of the visit of the head of the Soviet Government to Libya and proof of the significance which that country attaches to the expansion of friendly cooperation "with the USSR. It was founded by cabinet ministers, prominent social and political figures, leaders of the Arab Socialist Union, trade union and youth organisations, scientists and cultural workers. Assessing Libyan-Soviet relations Minister of State Muhammad Abul-Qassim Zuwai emphasised: Libya "has good relations with the Soviet Union and they will continue to develop".^^36^^
_-_-_~^^35^^ Pravda, 16 May 1975.
~^^36^^ Pravda, 25 April 1976.
102 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 5. Soviet-Sudanese and Soviet-MauritanianThe Sudan became a sovereign state on 1 January 1956 and the Soviet Union promptly recognised this new Arab republic. Back in 1947 the USSR supported a proposal that was submitted in the UN to abrogate the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 on a condominium in the Sudan, grant it the right to self-determination and get Britain pull its colonial troops out of the country. The Soviet Union actively worked to create favourable conditions for the all-round development of Soviet-Sudanese relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
In 1961 the Soviet Union and the Sudan signed an intergovernmental agreement on economic and technical cooperation in keeping with which Soviet foreign trade organisations helped the Sudan build several major economic projects. The same year a Soviet state delegation led by Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, visited the Sudan. This visit disclosed the objective coincidence of Soviet and Sudanese views on cardinal issues of international relations and helped broaden the links between the two countries.
The foreign policy section of the programme which was proclaimed by the Sudanese Government that came to power as a result of the 25 May 1969 coup in Khartoum proclaimed the need to broaden cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. This new foreign policy course was widely supported by the Sudanese people and strengthened Soviet-Sudanese relations. Trade turnover increased substantially, and machines and eqtiipment essential for the Sudan's economic development comprised a considerable portion of Soviet exports to that country. Soviet-Sudanese cooperation in prospecting for minerals, particularly in the Red Sea Hills, broadened.
Contacts between Soviet and Sudanese statesmen and politicians promoted the development of relations and cooperation between the two countries. Sudanese President and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council Gaafar M. Nimeri visited the Soviet Union on two occasions, and high-ranking Soviet delegations visited the Sudan.
In nn interview given 1o the newspaper Al-Ayam on 103 21 January 1975 the then Foreign Minister of the Sudan Mansour Khaled said: "The Sudan has good relations with the Soviet Union. They attest to the mutual respect of both countries, and we strive to deepen them in the interest of the Sudanese and Soviet peoples.''
But there were reactionary forces in the Sudan which wanted to undermine Sudanese-Soviet relations. They made every effort to do this to please the imperialist powers, certain reactionary regimes in the Arab countries and Maoist China. Such efforts on the part of the pro-imperialist forces and reactionary elements are not supported by the Sudanese people.
In 1960 the Islamic Republic of Mauritania proclaimed independence. Mauritania is a small Arab country with a population of 1,500,000. A large part of it lies in the Sahara. From its colonial past it inherited a complex of intricate socio-economic, ethnic and cultural problems.
Cooperation with the USSR markedly contributes to the Mauritanian Government's efforts to achieve economic and social progress. In 1964 a Mauritanian good-will mission visited the Soviet Union, and a Soviet economic delegation visited Mauritania. In 1965 the Soviet Union and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania exchanged embassies and also agreed to promote trade and scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.
In October 1966 a Soviet-Mauritanian trade agreement was signed in Moscow and then an agreement on fisheries and air service. The Soviet Union helped Mauritania train national specialists, and prospect for natural resources.
A Soviet Parliamentary delegation visited Mauritania in January 1970. Welcoming the guests, Deputy President of the National Assembly said that the Mauritanian people did not cease to admire the Soviet Union's grandiose gains in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life, that these gains were a result of the creative labour of the Soviet people and expert guidance by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Government.
The contacts between the CPSU and the Party of the Mauritanian People which were established in 1967 did much to strengthen the links between the USSR and Mauritania. In his speech the head of the Mauritanian party delegation at the 24th CPSU Congress spoke very highly of the CPSU's international activity.
104 __*_*_*__The development of relations between the USSR and the Arab countries of North Africa is in keeping with their vital interests. It also contributes to the attainment of a just political settlement of the Middle East crisis on the basis of withdrawal of Israeli troops from all Arab territories seized in June 1967, and guaranteed national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including the right to form their own state. It helps the Arab countries to consolidate their independence and promote economic growth.
[105] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter IV __ALPHA_LVL2__ RELATIONS WITH THE COUNTRIESThe relations between the USSR and the majority of countries in Tropical Africa began to develop actively in the 1960s after the latter had won political independence. The Soviet Government welcomed the rise of every newly free state in Tropical Africa. It extended its recognition to it and established diplomatic relations when there were favourable conditions for doing this.
Most of the developing countries of Tropical Africa reacted favourably to the Soviet initiative. Some established diplomatic relations with the USSR immediately upon proclaiming independence: Nigeria, Somalia, the Congo (Leopoldville), the Central African Republic and Togo in 1960; Uganda and Burundi in 1962; Kenya in 1963; Zambia in 1964; Gambia in 1965. Others did so within two to four years upon winning independence: Dahomey, Senegal and Sierra Leone in 1962; Cameroon and Chad in 1964. Only a small group of countries (Gabon, Niger, the Malagasy Republic, the Upper Volta and the Ivory Coast), due to certain factors artificially created by their former mother countries, and to the policy of the domestic reactionary and conservative forces did not hasten to establish any contacts with the USSR. In some countries the atmosphere of caution and sometimes even hostility towards the Soviet Union was created by left extremists whose activity on the African continent was deliberately misrepresented by the bourgeois press which identified it with the policy of the socialist countries. The newly free African countries needed time to realise that in the person of the USSR they were acquiring a true friend and that their basic interests coincided. Life itself spurred their governments to modify their foreign policy. Slowly but surely they came to recognise the 106 outstanding role of the socialist community in contemporary international relations. The Upper Volta and the Ivory Coast established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1967,^^1^^ Mauritius and Equatorial Guinea in 1968, Niger and the Malagasy Republic (renamed Democratic Republic of Madagascar in 1975) in 1972, Gabon and Guinea-Bissau in 1973, Mozambique in 1975, Angola, the Republic of Cape Verde, the Comoro Islands and the Seychelles in 1976, and Jibuti in 1977. By 1979 only two states in Tropical Africa, the Ivory Coast and Malawi, had no diplomatic relations with the USSR.
The establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR created favourable conditions for the independent development of the African countries and made them less dependent, on the imperialist powers. The USSR did its utmost to heighten the role of the newly free African countries in the modern world.
The Soviet Union and the countries of Tropical Africa approach many issues from similar positions. For example, the USSR backed the demand of the African peoples that an end should be put to atomic tests in the Sahara. On their part countries of Tropical Africa often formed a united front with the USSR in the struggle for general and complete disarmament. In compliance with a proposal of the Soviet delegation, the 16th Session of the UN General Assembly included Ethiopia and Nigeria in the Disarmament Committee (the Committee of 18). On 24 November 1961 the General Assembly adopted a resolution sponsored by Ghana proclaiming Africa a nuclear-free zone. The USSR delegation supported this resolution. An overwhelming majority of the countries of Tropical Africa cast their votes for another important document---the Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons.
Almost all countries of Tropical Africa signed the Moscow Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof, and the Treaty on the _-_-_
~^^1^^ Tn 19fiO the Ivory Const broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR. At present, however, its progressive circles are vigorously their re-establishment.
107 Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction.A very important manifestation of the full coincidence of the interests of the Soviet Union and the countries of Tropical Africa is the struggle for the elimination of the remaining seats of the colonial system and racialism. Representatives of the USSR and countries of Tropical Africa jointly work in this direction in the Special UN Committee for Decolonisation (the Committee of 24), on the Security Council (problems relating to the liberation of Namibia and South Africa), and at the UN General Assembly sessions.
In November 1975 the Soviet Union extended recognition to the People's Republic of Angola. It was one of the first countries to do so. And when the hostile forces in Angola, FNLA and UNITA, received support from US imperialists and South African racialists who sent their mercenaries to Angola to fight against the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Soviet Union and Cuba resolutely came out against foreign interference in the internal affairs of the newly born independent African state. The stand of the Soviet Union and Cuba towards the People's Republic of Angola was acclaimed throughout Tropical Africa. World public opinion welcomed it as yet another manifestation of the socialist countries' invariable support for the struggle of the African peoples to liberate the continent from colonialism and racialism. The winning of independence by Angola was a step towards the achievement of this great goal.
The Soviet Union's consistent efforts to stop the aggression of the US imperialists in Indochina and of Israel in the Middle East won prompt and profound understanding in Tropical Africa. The public in independent African states more than once expressed its anti-imperialist solidarity with the Soviet Union's stand on these issues~
The close positions of the USSR and the countries of Tropical Africa on basic international issues pave the way for the further development of Soviet-African relations, cooperation and contacts. In the 1960s and the early 1970s numerous personal contacts were established between Soviet statesmen and their counterparts in the countries of Tropical Africa. Of special importance are top-level meetings which 108 stimulate and broaden bilateral cooperation. The USSR was visited by the Prime Minister of Senegal and by the Vice President of Dahomey (1962), by the Prime Minister of Uganda (1905), by the President of Cameroon (1967), by the Vice President and Prime Minister of Sierra Leone (1971), by the Prime Minister of Mauritius (1973), by the Head of State and the Federal Military Government of Nigeria (1974), by the President of Zambia (1974), by the President of Gambia (1975), by the Chief Commissar of the Council of State Commissars (Head of Government) of Guinea-Bissau (1975), by the Chairman; of the Provisional Military Administrative Council of Socialist Ethiopia (1977).
The Soviet Union was host to parliamentary delegations from Zaire, Nigeria, Togo, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Benin, Liberia, Cameroon, Ruanda, Senegal, and the Upper Volta, and also to numerous government delegations and good-will missions from countries of Tropical Africa headed by prominent statesmen. For instance, the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of the Congo visited the Soviet Union in 1969, the Foreign Minister of Gambia in 1971, the Foreign Minister of the Malagasy Republic in 1972, the Foreign Minister of Benin in 1975 and the Foreign Minister of Nigeria in 1977.
The visit to the USSR of Didier Ratsiraka, President of the Malagasy Republic, was another contribution to the development of the relations between the two countries.
In the past decade Soviet parliamentary and government delegations also visited many countries of Tropical Africa. USSR Supreme Soviet delegations, for instance, visited Sierra Leone in 1965 and 1977, Cameroon and Ruanda in 1971, Senegal and Zaire in 1972, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania in 1977.
Contacts between party and public organisations of the USSR and countries of Tropical Africa are expanding and becoming more regular. The CPSU maintains traditionally close and friendly relations with Marxist and revolutionarydemocratic parties in that part of Africa. Delegations of these parties were present at the 24th and 25th CPSU congresses and at the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution. Initiative in the establishment of contacts with the CPSU is being also displayed by a number of ruling parties in the region. Political leaders in the countries of Tropical Africa are interested in 109 the experience of party development in the Soviet Union and in the way the CPSU resolves basic socio-economic and national problems.
In March 1974 a delegation from the CPSU Central Committee was invited to attend the 4th Congress of the AllPeople's Congress (APC), the ruling party in Sierra Leone. Expressing sincere satisfaction over the presence at the Congress of the Soviet delegation, General Secretary of the All-People's Congress Party Christian Kamara-Taylor said: "We all believe that direct contacts and personal acquaintance will help promote closer understanding and strengthen friendly ties between the CPSU and the APC, between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Sierra Leone.''^^2^^
The 1970s were marked by the transition of a number of African states to the path of socialist orientation. Naturally, this brings them closer to the USSR and other countries of the socialist community, and makes the leaders of these African countries more interested in learning how the CPSU guides the Soviet state. One of the first foreign policy acts of the Party of the People's Revolution of Benin (PPRB) was establishment of friendly relations with the CPSU. In January 1977 the first PPRB delegation visited Moscow. In its turn a CPSU delegation visited Benin the same year and acquainted itself with party development in that country.
An important stage in the development of the traditionally friendly Soviet-Ethiopian relations was the working visit to the Soviet Union of the Chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council and the Council of Ministers of Socialist Ethiopia Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1978, which further stimulated the cooperation between the two countries.
Mutual understanding and trust are strengthened by the broad contacts between trade union, women's, young people's and religious organisations in the USSR and similar organisations in the countries of Tropical Africa. Soviet public organisations provide material support for friendly organisations in that part of the world.
The Soviet Association of Friendship with the Peoples of Africa, founded in 1959, plays a major role in promoting contacts between the peoples of the USSR and Tropical Africa. Its main objective is to spread information about _-_-_
~^^2^^ New Times, 18--19 May 1974, p. 25.
110 the Soviet Union on the African continent and about Africa in the USSR.Foreign trade was predominant in the initial stage of the Soviet Union's economic relations with the countries of Tropical Africa. Soviet trade deals with them date back to the colonial period. Yet the Soviet Union's share in their foreign trade is not too great. Most typically, the majority of the newly free countries are oriented in their foreign trade on the former home countries and other capitalist states. The development of Soviet-African trade is hampered by objective and subjective factors, including unfavourable customs tariffs for Soviet exports to individual countries connected with the Common Market, and the absence of a reciprocal most-favoured-nation clause in some of the trade agreements. In order to acquaint the African consumers with its commodities and to expand trade, the Soviet Union participates in traditional international fairs. Since 1969, for instance, it has been regularly participating in the International Fair in Kinshasa (Zaire) and in the Trade and Industrial Fair in Ndola (Zambia). Soviet foreign trade associations periodically organise expo-fairs in African countries. All this helps to expand Soviet-African trade contacts which by no means have attained the highest level of development.
Interest in the Soviet Union is steadily rising in the African countries. Their public wants to be better informed about the foreign policy of the CPSU and Soviet Government, about the Soviet Union's progress in economic, scientific, technological, cultural and national development. Africans, particularly students, display a growing desire to study Marxist philosophy. This accounts for the steadily increasing demand for Soviet political, scientific, technical literature and fiction in the countries of Tropical Africa. Very popular are photo exhibitions illustrating all aspects of life in the Soviet Union, lectures by visiting Soviet scientists and public figures and concerts by Soviet performers. More and more Africans study Russian.
The African press, which publishes numerous articles about life in the Soviet Union, radio stations and friendship societies in some countries of Tropical Africa (Nigeria, People's Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Mauritius and Upper Volta) help spread truthful information about the Soviet Union.
111The development of multifarious cooperation between the Soviet Union arid the countries of Tropical Africa,'which has been in progress for not more than ten or hfteen years, encounters certain^difnculties.Jfhe^Western* powers, which have a ramiiied propaganda network in the countries of Tropical Africa, work hard to prevent these countries from establishing closer, relations with the USSR and other socialist countries. They keep on using anti-communism as their main ideological and political weapon. And it is anti-communism that welds imperialist ideology with the ideology of pro-Western groups in some countries of Tropical Africa.
Some political leaders in those countries emphasise the ``exclusiveness'' of African societies. They say that African states are advancing along a ``special'', ``third'' path, and thus seek to turn ideological differences into an insurmountable obstacle to cooperation with the USSR. Such trends, naturally, are promptly taken up by the neocolonialists who want to isolate the developing countries from the socialist states.
The political reality of the contemporary world and the practical relations with the USSR, however, expose the slanderous fabrications of the imperialist and Maoist propaganda about the USSR and its policy, and remove many barriers inhibiting Soviet-African cooperation. Mutual understanding between the peoples of the USSR and the countries of Tropical Africa is steadily building up. This was clearly seen during the celebrations of the centenary of Lenin's birth and the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. National committees were set up in many countries of Tropical Africa for commemorating these dates.
On the occasion of the centenary of Lenin's birth some countries, such as Cameroon, Mauritius, Senegal, Togo and the Central African Republic, issued postage stamps with a portrait of the founder of the CPSU and the Soviet state. To mark this date Senegal issued a special envelope with a picture of Lenin making his historic speech at the Second Congress of Soviets. A short biography of Lenin was published in the Ewe language in Togo. A library named after Lenin which subsequently became the cultural centre of the Mauritius-USSR Friendship Society was opened in Port Louis, capital of Mauritius, and a monument to 112 Lenin was also unveiled there. The centenary was marked by numerous public meetings, iilm shows and photo exhibitions in many countries of Tropical Africa.
The 60th anniversary of the October Revolution was observed just as widely in those countries. National committees to mark this great date in the history of mankind were set up in 13 countries of Tropical Africa. Once again a number of countries, including the Upper Volta and the Seychelles, issued postage stamps devoted to the Great October Socialist Revolution. Throughout the anniversary year, days of the Soviet Union and its constituent republics were organised in many countries in that part of Africa. Photo exhibitions, weeks of Soviet films, Soviet book exhibitions, lectures on the achievements of the USSR in communist construction, and on the new Soviet Constitution attracted numerous visitors. The report "The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress" delivered by Leonid Brezhnev evoked a great response in the countries of Tropical Africa. Delegations from many countries took part in the International Meeting of representatives of foreign societies of friendship with the USSR and the Soviet public, held in Moscow in September 1977 to mark the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution.
As they continue to struggle to achieve real independence, to surmount their economic backwardness and promote social progress, the peoples of Tropical Africa rely on the consistent and effective support of the Soviet Union and the socialist community as a whole. They regard the Soviet Union as their reliable friend which helps them strengthen their political and economic independence.
The Soviet Union's principled stand towards the countries of Tropical Africa manifested itself most forcefully in the 1960s during the events in the Congo and the civil war in Nigeria.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. In Defence of the Interests of the Peoples ofThe Republic of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1964, and Republic of Zaire since 1971) was proclaimed on 30 June 1960 in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). Two weeks later, on 12 July, its government was forced to ask __PRINTERS_P_113_COMMENT__ 8-0763 113 the United Nations to protect its national territory against Belgian aggression.^^3^^ The Soviet Union, which was one of the hrsl to recognise the Republic of the Congo, liled a determined protest against the acts of the former metropolitan country and came out in defence of the national interests of the Congolese people. In its Statement issued in connection with the imperialist intervention against the independent Republic of the Congo, the Soviet Government thoroughly assessed the situation and disclosed the reasons behind it. "No subterfuges of the colonialists,'' it said, "can conceal the fact of their armed aggression in the Congo, which is a gross violation of the basic principles of the United Nations and the principles of Bandung.''^^4^^ The Soviet Government emphasised that events in the Congo threatened international peace and security and demanded the introduction of prompt measures to cut short the aggression, and the reinstatement of all the rights of the young republic.
The discussion of the Congolese question in the UN once again showed that there were two contrasting lines in world politics: that of the imperialist powers, which supported the Belgian colonialists, and that of the socialist countries, which came in defence of peoples' national independence and freedom. At the very lirst meeting of the Security Council which met to consider the situation in the Congo on 13 July 1960, the US representative supported the Belgian colonialists and tried to prove that no aggression had been committed against the Congo.^^5^^
The Soviet delegation exposed the manoeuvres of the imperialists and in the course of further discussion submitted amendments to the draft resolution introduced by Tunisia.^^6^^ These amendments would have enabled the UN to _-_-_
~^^3^^ Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly, 16 July 1959--15 July 1960. General Assembly. Official Records: Fifteenth Session. Supplement No. 2 (A/4494), United Nations, New York, 1960, p. 24.
~^^4^^ Izvestia, 13 July 1960.
~^^5^^ Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly, 16 July 1959--15 July 1960, p. 26.
^^6^^ In keeping with this drai't the Security Council was to call "upon the Government of Belgium to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Republic of the Congo" and "authorise the Secretary-General to take tlie necessary steps, in consultation with the Government of the Republic of the Congo, to provide the Government witli such military assistance as may ho necessary'', (ibid., pp. 26, 28.)
114 provide effective assistance to the Congolese people, by (1) condemning the Belgian aggression; (2) calling for the immediate withdrawal of Belgian troops; and (3) authorising the Secretary-General to furnish the Congolese Government with military assistance provided by the African UN member-countries. If the Tunisian resolution had been adopted with the amendments proposed by the Soviet delegation, it would have seriously influenced the further course of events. But the amendments were turned down by the imperialist powers and their allies. The Belgian Government did not even fulfil the demand to withdraw its troops from the Congo which was included iii the initial text of the resolution. In this connection the Soviet Union in July 1960 demanded another meeting of the Security Council at which the USSR representative introduced a draft resolution which envisaged the immediate termination of the armed intervention against the Republic of the Congo and the withdrawal of all the invading troops from its territory within three days.The resolution also urged to ensure the territorial integrity of the Congo and made it mandatory for all UN members to make no moves which could violate this integrity.
In a conversation with a TASS correspondent on 27 July 1960 the Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo Patrice Lumumba said that the Soviet Union's motion in the Security Council urging the immediate withdrawal of Belgian troops from the Congo was the only proposal that was fully in line with the interests of the Congolese people.
Once again the Western powers prevented the adoption of the Soviet draft. But they could not afford to refrain from voting for the Tunisian-Ceylonese resolution which confirmed the previous resolution of the Security Council.
Thus, the initial discussions of the Congolese question showed that the imperialist forces wanted to turn the UN into a virtual accomplice in the armed aggression against the peoples of the Congo. At the same time the USA, Britain, France and some other NATO members began to help the Belgian colonialists more openly. In view of this the Soviet Government issued a new statement condemning the imperialist intervention against the Congolese people. "Should the aggression against the Congo continue, and taking into account the danger it presents to universal peace," .it said, "the Soviet Government will not stop short 115 of decisive measures to repulse the aggressors, who, as it has become absolutely clear now, are acting virtually with the encouragement of ail the colonial NATO powers."^^7^^ The statement also made the point that while the aggressors wanted to throttle the Republic economically, by bringing on famine and disrupting its economic activity, the Soviet Union in response to a request from the Congolese Government said that it was prepared to offer the Republic economic assistance.
In spite of the fact that at the request of the Lumumba Government UN troops were sent to the assistance of the Republic's legitimate government, their European commanders in effect sabotaged the Security Council resolution and by their actions helped the aggressors. The blue flag of the United Nations became a cover for aggressive actions against the Republic of the Congo, its government and people and against its state sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Naturally, the Soviet Union condemned the imperialist intrigues. In a statement published under the title " AllRound Support for the Young Republic" the Soviet Government exposed the spurious activity of UN representatives in the Congo, who, it emphasised, "not only do not help, but in every way prevent the Congolese Government from restoring order and normalising life in the country''. The Soviet Government demanded an immediate meeting of the Security Council in order to take measures to stop ail forms of interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of the Congo.^^8^^ But the Security Council meetings on 9 and 14 September 1960 merely coniirmed the fact that the imperialist bloc was paralysing the activities of that body.
In an effort to bring the Congolese question out of the impasse, the Soviet Government proposed that it should be considered at the regular 15th Session of the UN General Assembly which was due to open on 20 September 1960. But on 17 September the Security Council, in violation of the UN Charter and in compliance with a proposal of the US representative, decided to convene an Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on the Congo. Opposing this decision the Soviet delegate said that the proposal _-_-_
~^^7^^ Pravda, 1 August 19BO.
~^^8^^ Pravda, 10 September 1960.
116 to convene an emergency special session made two days before the opening of a regular session of the General Assembly was designed to conceal the actual state of affairs in the Congo and to rubber-stamp a resolution which would be in the interests of the colonialists. The imperialists failed to prevent the Fifteenth UN General Assembly from discussing the Congolese question, but they managed to bar Patrice Lumumba from attending the Session.In their speeches at the plenary meetings of the General Assembly the heads and representatives of many states, African and socialist in the first place, exposed the intrigues of the colonialists in the Congo.
Early in February 1961 news of a terrible crime shocked the world: Patrice Lumumba and his comrades-in-arms Chairman of the Congolese Senate Joseph Okito and Minister Maurice Mpolo were brutally murdered by mercenaries employed by the colonialists. Expressing the will of the Soviet people and its profound indignation over the savage killing of the national hero of the Congolese people Patrice Lumumba, the Soviet Government demanded that the UN should resolutely condemn Belgium's activity which resulted in this international crime. It also submitted a draft resolution based] on' its statement of 14 February 1961 for consideration by the UN'General Assembly. This draft, just as the'stand of the Soviet Uniop on the Congolese question, was supported by the Government'and the people of the Congo.
The political tension in the Congo did not abate in the following years, and the situation there continued to deteriorate. The fresh upsurge of the national liberation struggle of the Congolese people in 1963--64 and the inability of the internal reaction to put down the popular movement without outside help caused the imperialist circles to resort to direct military interference. With the consent of the Belgian and US governments, they organised another military intervention in the Congo.
A wave of protest against the murder of Congolese patriots swept across the Soviet Union. Meetings demanding "Hands Off the Congo!" took place at hundreds of factories, scientific institutions, universities and other higher educational establishments.
The TASS'Statement published in Pravda on 22 November 1964 and the Statement of the Soviet Government to the 117 Government of Belgium of 26 November 1964 in connection with Belgium's military intervention in the Congo^^9^^ set forth the attitude of the Soviet people to the events in the Congo who demanded an immediate end to the military intervention and withdrawal of all Belgian troops and foreign mercenaries from the Congo, so that the Congolese people would be able to manage their affairs by themselves and build their own national state.
The imperialist forces and also the People's Republic of China planned to interfere once again in the affairs of the Congo (Zaire) in 1977. When an uprising flared up in MarchApril 1977 in the province of Shaba in Zaire, some Western countries and China hastily dispatched weapons and military equipment to the central government of the country. The racialist regime in South Africa also interfered in the events in Zaire. On 13 April 1977 Pravda carried a TASR Statement which said that the Soviet leadership regarded interference in the internal struggle in Zaire by any external forces as impermissible. Following similar events in the summer of 1978, the Soviet Government issued another Statement on 23 June, strongly condemning the interference of NATO countries and their supporters in Peking and Pretoria in the internal affairs of African countries.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Support for Nigeria's UnityTn early July 1967 an internecine war flared up in Nigeria. The country's national patriotic forces were compelled to fight against the self-styled separatist regime of the so-called Republic of Biafra.
This was a clash between the proponents and opponents of unity not only in Nigeria, but in the whole of Africa. That was why almost all members of the Organisation of African Unity were on the side of the Nigerian Federal Military Government and its national patriotic forces. The Soviet Union also vigorously came out in support of the fighters for Nigeria's unity.
In the summer of 1966 the reactionary Western press began to spread slanderous fabrications to the effect that the Soviet Union sought to see a divided Nigeria. In this _-_-_
~^^9^^ See Prarda, 26 November 1964.
118 connection TASS issued a Statement on 24 August 1966 which said in part: "Those who claim that the Soviet Union is interested in aggravating tribal differences in Nigeria and in splitting that country should be firmly told that their efforts to lay their own fault at someone else's door are futile.... The Soviet Union has always been and will always be a staunch champion of freedom and independence of the African states. It resolutely counters the efforts of the imperialist powers to capitalise on the internal difficulties of the young independent states and the religious and tribal contradictions which their peoples have inherited from their colonial past.''^^10^^ The Soviet Union firmly adhered to the position announced in that statement. All attempts of the splitter and imperialist forces to misrepresent it fell through.In July 1968 a Nigerian government delegation visited the Soviet Union. During the talks the Soviet side said that it viewed the desire of the Nigerian Federal Government to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of their country with full understanding.
``The Soviet Union,'' stated the official communique published after the talks, "reiterates that it proceeds from the fact that attempts to dismember the Federal Republic of Nigeria clash with the national interests of the Nigerian people and the interests of peace. Proceeding from the peace-loving principles of its foreign policy, the Soviet side maintains that foreign interference in the internal affairs of the Nigerian state is impermissible. In its relations with Nigeria the Soviet Union will continue to support Nigeria's free national development on the basis of equality and mutual respect.''^^11^^
Being a principled opponent of the fragmentation of Africa and a sincere champion of its unity, the USSR from the outset of the internecine war in what is one of the biggest African countries adopted a firm stand in support of the efforts of the Federal Government to preserve Nigeria's unity and territorial integrity. The Soviet Union extended political and moral support and every assistance, whose significance cannot be overestimated, to the Federal Government in its most trying hour. Millions of Nigerians acclaimed the Soviet Union's stand.
_-_-_~^^10^^ Prai-dn, 24 August 1966.
^^11^^ Prai'da, 22 July 1968.
119Addressing a press conference in Moscow at the beginning of 1968 the Nigerian Ambassador to the USSR said: "Nigeria is very grateful to the Soviet Union for taking a definite stand right from the beginning of the crisis in support of the Federal Government without waiting to see which side was losing or winning. This courageous and friendly attitude of the Soviet Government was of great material and moral benefit to the country at a most critical period.''^^12^^
In an editorial on 14 November 1968 the influential Nigerian newspaper Morning Post noted: "One lesson which has emerged from the present conflict and which Nigeria will never forget is the oft-repeated saying: Friends in need, friends indeed.
``The civil war has plainly revealed to us those who are the true friends of Nigeria. These are the countries which have remained solidly behind the Federal Military Government right from the beginning of the crisi" to the present.
``Their implicit confidence in the future of Nigeria has never been in doubt....
``They are plain evidence of friends in need who are friends indeed.''^^13^^
On the next day the same newspaper said that in contrast to "traditional friends'', the Soviet Union responded promptly to Nigeria's request for help. By doing so the Russians "demonstrated their sincerity to see Nigeria remain a united, prosperous country.''^^14^^
After the defeat of the separatists numerous references were made in Nigerian newspaper articles and commentaries and in statements by Nigerian public and state leaders to the unselfish attitude of the USSR and the importance of its aid for the preservation of the country's unity. For instance, the New Nigerian in an article on 15 January 1970 compared the stand of the Soviet Union and the European socialist countries with that of the West during the internecine war in the country. Giving full preference to the socialist countries, the author of the article reached the conclusion that Nigeria could not and should not reject their friendship. "The Soviet Union and a host of East European countries are always quite ready to'help Nigeria.... _-_-_
~^^12^^ New Nigerian (Kaduna), 10 February 1968.
~^^13^^ Morning Post (Lagos), 14 November 1968.
~^^14^^ Morning Post, 15 November 1968.
120 Nigeria should try and openly indentify itself fully with these countries.''^^15^^ On 20 January 1970 the Nigerian Ambassador to the USSR emphasised that the Soviet Union was invariably on the side of the" Federal Government and that its assistance 10 Nigeria contributed more to the victory over the separatists" than the assistance of all other countries.The foundations for mutually beneficial and equitable cooperation between the USSR and Nigeria which were laid in the period of heavy trials that fell to the lot of the Nigerian people have opened the most favourable prospects for the further expansion of all-round links in the interests of the peoples of both states and in the interests of world peace.
Nigeria has since become a stable foreign trade partner of the Soviet Union. With the technical assistance of Soviet specialists a metallurgical plant, the biggest of its kind in Tropical Africa, will be built in Nigeria in the next few years. Hundreds of Soviet engineers, technicians and workers are constructing an oil refinery in Nigeria.
Soviet doctors have won the affection and profound respects of the Nigerian people.
The Soviet Union is helping Nigeria to train its national personnel. About a thousand Nigerian students are enrolled at Soviet educational institutions. A much bigger number of Nigerian engineers, doctors, agronomists, teachers and specialists in other fields are at present employed in various branches of the national economy and many scientific and cultural institutions in Nigeria.
During the visit of the Nigerian Foreign Minister to the USSR in November 1977, the USSR and Nigeria noted their identity of views on key international issues, on disarmament and detente. Roth sides expressed their firm determination to keep on' expanding their political cooperation in order to strengthen universal peace and security, deepen detente and achieve general and complete disarmament and support the struggle for national liberation and social progress.
_-_-_~^^15^^ New Nigerian, 15 January 1970.
121 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. Specific Features of the Soviet Union's RelationsNow that socialism has turned into a social force which increasingly determines the course of world events, the development of relations between the Soviet Union and African countries not only helps them to become independent, sovereign states, but also makes it easier for them to choose such a path of social development which is more consistent with the vital interests of their peoples---the path of socialist orientation.
In Tropical Africa this path has been taken by Guinea, the People's Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, Socialist Ethiopia, the People's Republic of Benin, the Democratic Republic of Madagascar, the People's Republic of Angola, the People's Republic of Mozambique, and the Seychelles.
The Soviet Union's relations with the socialist-oriented countries are particularly close and friendly. What brings the USSR and these countries closer together is a certain community of ideas and a desire to advance along the road of social progress. In his report "The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress" Leonid Brezhnev made the point that the newly free countries which reject the capitalist road of development arid become socialist-oriented have true and reliable friends in the person of the socialist countries which are ready to assist and support their progressive development in every way.^^16^^
There are socialist-oriented African countries, where scientific socialism is the official ideology and the basis of their development programmes (Angola, Mozambique, Benin and the People's Republic of the Congo). In other countries the political and ideological positions of the revolutionary democrats are not fully consistent with scientific socialism, yet they are quite close to it in some questions (this, however, does not rule out regression, manoeuvring and departure of revolutionary democrats from scientific socialism at a particular period in one or another African country).
_-_-_~^^16^^ L. 1. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, p. 22.
122Revolutionary democratic forces in African countries that have taken the road of social progress, know that capitalism cannot offer a constructive programme for surmounting the economic, social and cultural lag of the newly free states. They have learned from their own experience that the solution of problems connected with the abolition of backwardness, such as the establishment of control over natural resources, the development of national industry, and reorganisation of agriculture, inevitably leads to a confrontation with imperialism.
The very logic of truly independent development and the desire to attain economic independence without delay prompt progressive African leaders to make the socialist choice. President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere wrote that his country's poverty and national weakness left them with only one sensible choice---socialism.
|Tt is not by accident that interest in the experience of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries is mounting in Africa. And Julius Nyerere referred precisely to this experience in his reply to those who talk about the " inefficiency of socialism''. He wrote that in 1917 the USSR was a backward, feudal war-ravaged country, which suffered heavy losses during the subsequent civil and international conflicts. Yet no one would dare to deny the material changes that have taken place there over the years after the October Revolution.^^17^^
Examining the problem of how the newly free states could surmount their backwardness President Agostinho Neto of the People's Republic of Angola said that it was necessary to reject capitalism as a social system that has bred colonialism and imperialism. Instead of capitalism, he said, the people of Angola have to build a socialist society which alone guarantees independence and social progress.
The views expressed by Julius Nyerere and Agostinho Neto and other prominent African revolutionary democrats, the introduction of socio-economic revolutionary transformations in those countries of Tropical Africa which are following the non-capitalist road show that the development of socialist-oriented states in that part of the continent should not he assessed in isolation from the competition between _-_-_
~^^17^^ Poo The Rational Chnirr. Dnr os Salaam, 1073, p. 12.
123 the two world systems---it should be viewed as an organic part of the world confrontation and opposition of two modes of production. This confrontation is in evidence in political, economic, cultural, ideological and other spheres.On the one hand, there are the forces of socialism and social progress which oppose all forms of oppression and work for peace and international detente, and, on the other, there are the forces of imperialism and neocolonialism which strive to plunder and exploit Africa. In his report "The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress" Leonid Brezhnev noted that imperialism did not reconcile itself to the progressive development of African countries. Its positions in the former colonies, he said, were sometimes still fairly strong and imperialism was trying its utmost to preserve and, if possible, to deepen and broaden them.
The socialist-oriented countries in Tropical Africa are building a new society while remaining outside the world system of socialism and continuing to be dependent on the capitalist market. This creates additional difficulties which cannot be surmounted without Soviet support which has two main directions.
First, the example of the Soviet Union proves the effectiveness of the socialist-oriented social development. The vast experience and the enormous gains of the Soviet people in all spheres of activity attest to the advantages of this orientation.
Second, the Soviet Union provides not only moral and political, but also economic, scientific and technical assistance to the socialist-oriented countries of Tropical Africa.
IThe choice of socialist orientation by some countries of Tropical Africa opened additional opportunities for promoting economic cooperation with the Soviet Union. It placed this cooperation on a solid foundation and strengthened mutual interest in the further expansion and improvement of the organisational forms of these links.
It is absolutely clear that the ideological positions of the Soviet Union and the socialist-oriented countries of Tropical Africa, particularly those where working people's parties base their activity on Marxist-Leninist theory, are drawing closer together. In many ways this is a result of the broader contacts between the CPSU and the revolutionary-- democratic parties, including the Democratic Party of Guinea (DPG), the Congolese Labour Party (CLP), FRELTMO, 124 MPLA---Party of Labour, and the Party of the People's He volution of Benin.
Tho lirst contacts were established in the mid-1960s. Addressing the 23rd Congress of the CPSU in 1966, Leonid Brezhnev noted thai the Soviet Union had established close, friendly relations with the young countries steering a course towards socialism. "The relations between the CPSU and the revolutionary-democratic parties of these countries are likewise developing,'' he said.^^18^^
Since then the Soviet Union's relations with free Africa have made substantial progress in these spheres. This fact was mentioned at the 25th CPSU Congress. In the years under review, the CC CPSU report said, "we continued to extend our ties with progressive non-Communist parties--- revolutionary-democratic, and also left-socialist".^^19^^ It should be mentioned that the DPG, TANU and CLP sent their representatives to the 23rd, 24th and 25th CPSU congresses.
Leaders of revolutionary-democratic parties also speak of the importance of inter-party contacts. Addressing the 24th CPSU Congress Member of the National Politbureau of the DPG Lansana Diane described the participation of the DPG in the work of the Congress and in some other important forums of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as "an historical necessity ... politically determined by the identity of our aims and our struggle''. The experience of socialist construction in the USSR which was summed up in the decisions of the CPSU congresses, he went on to say, "inevitably attracts the close attention of the Democratic Party of Guinea which strives to turn the Guinean people into a leading builder of socialism in Africa".^^20^^
In his speech at the 25th Congress of the CPSU, Member of the Politbureau of the DPG Central Committee Mamadi Keita said that his delegation was happy and proud of taking part in the work of the 25th Congress of the CPSU.
Party contacts have become permanent and businesslike and are used by the parties to share their practical experience. For instance, the Agreement on Cooperation between the CPSU and the MPLA (now the MPLA---Party of Labour) _-_-_
~^^18^^ 23rd Congress of the Cl>SU, Moscow, 196o, p. 39.
^^19^^ Documents and Resolutions. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 38.
~^^20^^ Greetings Addressed to the 24th Congress oj Ike CPSU, Moscow, 1971, p. 335 (in Russian).
125 signed in October 1970, in addition to an ail-round exchange ol experience of party work, envisages exchange oi views on other issues oi mutual interest, cooperation in trainingparty cadres, joint scieutihc study ol vital problems of contemporary social development, and so lorth. The conclusion and consistent implementation ol such agreements will undoubtedly foster the ideological maturity ol the revolutionary-democratic parties.These parties are seriously interested in the organisational activity of the CPSU and its ideological and propaganda work. The further expansion of inter-party ties will promote still closer unity of action of the Soviet Union and the socialist-oriented countries in the ideological struggle and help to complete the passage of the African revolutionary democracy to scientific socialism. This will give rise to even more favourable prerequisites lor strengthening the progressive regimes and their advance along the non-capitalist road.
The neocolonialists are going to ail lengths to disrupt the links between African countries and the Soviet Union. In particular this applies to those countries which have chosen the socialist path. In order to do this the neocolouialists resort to outright blackmail, intimidation with allegations of "communist penetration'', economic pressure, and direct efforts to overthrow African governments which want to expand their ties with the USSR. Nevertheless, it is impossible to stop the revolutionary process in Africa, just as it is impossible to wall off the socialist-oriented African countries from the USSR. Speaking on the occasion of the bOth anniversary of tiie Great October Socialist Revolution, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provisional Military Administrative Council of Ethiopia Berhanu Bayih observed: "We Ethiopian revolutionaries draw our inspiration and confidence from the fact that we are not alone in our struggle. The world's iirst socialist state and other progressive forces of the world are on our side.''^^21^^ Many other leading oliicials in the socialist-oriented countries have spoken in a similar vein.
The friendly, steadily developing relations existing between the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist community and the socialist-oriented states of Tropical Africa will deiiiiiteiy strengthen the iatter's determination to advance along the path of social progress.
_-_-_~^^21^^ Pravda, 1 November 1977.
126 __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter V __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE SOVIET UNION ANDWith the active support of all progressive forces in the world the national liberation movement of the African peoples registered fresh and substantial gains in the mid1970s, when the last colonial empire collapsed and Portuguese colonialism ceased to exist. On 25 April 1974 the Portuguese people led by the Armed Forces Movement overthrew the fascist dictatorship which held sway in the country for almost half a century. On 27 July 1974 the Provisional Government of Portugal passed a constitutional law which stipulated that in keeping with the UN Charter Portugal recognised the right of nations to self-- determination and that the problems of its former overseas territories should be resolved politically and not militarily. The collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire was a result of the joint liberation struggle of the Portuguese, Mozambican, Angolan and Guinean peoples.
These momentous events in Africa were preceded by years of bitter struggle of the peoples of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau for their rights and freedom which was steadfastly supported by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
In their efforts to defeat the national liberation movement in the colonies the Portuguese authorities resorted not only to arms. They hatched plots against leaders who were most dedicated to the cause of the people. Eduardo Mondlane, Chairman of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), was murdered in 1969. On 21 January 1973 127 hired assassins killed Amilcar Gabral, General Secretary oi the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Gape Verde Islands (PAIGG). In spite of these heavy losses the struggle of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies not only did not decline, but, on the contrary, gained in intensity.
The Soviet Union's attitude to this struggle is widely known. The CPSU Programme states: "The GPSU regards it as its internationalist duty to assist the peoples who have set out to win and strengthen their national independence, all peoples who are fighting for the complete abolition of the colonial system.''^^1^^
It steadfastly pursued this policy also with regard to the national liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. In a speech at the Joint Jubilee Meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on 3 November 1967 Leonid Brezhnev said: "Our militant union with peoples which still have to carry on an armed struggle against the colonialists constitutes an important element of our line in international affairs.''^^2^^
After the UN, acting on the initiative of socialist and many developing countries, adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960), the question of the Portuguese colonies was repeatedly discussed by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.
On 27 May 1961 the Soviet Government called upon all countries and peoples to force Portugal to end its bandit colonial war in Angola and fulfil the demands of the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. "It is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact,'' the Soviet statement continued, "that what Portugal is doing in Angola creates a serious threat to peace and the security of the peoples of Africa, and not only of Africa. In these circumstances it is the duty of the United Nations to take effective measures to curb the Portuguese colonialists. Such crimes should not be permitted in our time.''^^3^^ The Soviet statement was received with approval by the peoples of the world and was an act of moral support for the peoples of Angola.
_-_-_~^^1^^ The Road to Communism, Moscow, 1962, p. 497.
~^^2^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Following Lenin s Coarse, Moscow, 1972, p. 56.
~^^3^^ Pravda, 27 May 1961.
128Thanks to the determined stand of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and also many independent African, Asian and Latin American states in the UN, in 1963 the Security Council adopted a resolution urging the Portuguese Government to recognise the right of peoples to self-- determination and political independence, end the war in Angola, and hold talks with national organisations. Supported by other peace forces, the Soviet Union succeeded in having an appeal to all countries to stop arms deliveries to Portugal included in the resolution. In compliance with the demands of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and also of African states Portugal was expelled from the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Portugal's isolation in other international organisations of which it was still a member became more and more pronounced.
As a result of the consistent and principled line of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in the United Nations, the consolidated positions of African, Asian and Latin American countries in that Organisation, and their intensified joint struggle against colonialism, in 1972 the Security Council met for the first time in history on African territory (Addis Ababa). This meeting severely censured the Portuguese colonialists. The Security Council heard statements by representatives of the liberation movements of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies and confirmed their right to freedom and independence. The UN and some other international organisations extended their recognition to the MPLA, FRELIMO and PAIGC. MPLA representatives were admitted to UNESCO, World Health Organisation, the Economic Commission for Africa, and other organisations.
All this considerably enhanced the prospects of the national liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique and GuineaBissau, and made for greater international solidarity in the struggle of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies.
The Soviet Union supported the struggle of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies by strengthening direct contacts with the national liberation movements. Back in 1915 Lenin pointed out that if the need arose the socialist state would __PRINTERS_P_129_COMMENT__ 9-0763 129 extend military assistance to the oppressed peoples "against the exploiting classes and their states".^^4^^
Accordingly, the USSR furnished military aid to the peoples of Portugal's African colonies. It supplied them with weapons and trained the men and officers of the military units of the liberation movements. Many Africans from the Portuguese colonies were educated at Soviet universities and colleges. The Soviet Union also sent considerable quantities of medicines, food and clothes to help the fighting peoples.
The Soviet Union's all-round assistance and its struggle for the unity uf the anti-imperialist forces were highly assessed by the peoples of the Portuguese colonies. The successes of the struggle, wrote PAIGC General Secretary AmilcarCabral, depend "on the concrete assistance of our allies from the socialist camp and in Africa, with a special stress on the effective aid rendered us by our friend, the Soviet Union".^^5^^
Young Soviet doctors looked after the health of the population in the liberated areas in the former Portuguese colonies, treated the wounded fighters and trained the local medical personnel.
Soviet public organisations substantially supported the struggle of the peoples of the former Portuguese colonies also through international democratic organisations: World Federation of Trade Unions, World Peace Council, Women's International Democratic Federation, Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and World Federation of Democratic Youth. Representatives of Soviet public organisations campaigned for all-round assistance to the fighters for freedom and independence.
Special mention should be made of the Soviet Union's vigorous activity in the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO) which consistently works for the liquidation of colonialism and racialism. At its sessions the AAPSO Council repeatedly advised all Asian and African countries to extend effective aid to the liberation struggle of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies and immediately introduce economic and political sanctions against Portugal's colonial government.
AAPSO adopted all its decisions concerning the liberation _-_-_
^^4^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 21, p. 342.
^^5^^ World Marxist Review, Vol. 10, No. 11, November 1967, p. 49.
130 of the Portuguese colonies with the active participation of Soviet delegations.Firmly implementing its internationalist principles, the Soviet Union provided all-round assistance to the peoples of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique in their just struggle for independence until they attained full freedom. The Soviet Government acted in keeping with the resolution of the 24th CPSU Congress which said in part: "The CPSU is invariably true to the Leninist principle of solidarity with the peoples fighting for national liberation and social emancipation. As in the past, the fighters against the remaining colonial regimes can count on our full support."^^6^^
The Soviet Union's firm and consistent attitude to the colonial regimes in many respects influenced the course of events which brought about the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire and the international imperialist forces that stood behind it.
The independence of Guinea-Bissau was proclaimed in 1973; in September 1974 the new government in Portugal and the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) signed an agreement on the formation of a transitional government and on 25 June 1975 Mozambique proclaimed its independence.
The forces of imperialism and neocolonialism, however, did not lay down their arms. This was borne out by the events which took place in Angola in 1975 and which were rooted in the fact that its natural resources---oil, diamonds, iron ore and other raw materials---whetted the appetites of the giant foreign monopf Ues. It should be borne in mind that once such giants as the Anglo-American Company owned by the "diamond king" from South Africa Oppenheimer, the US's Gulf-Oil, the French Elf and the South African INEXCAFE, which gained control over Angolan coffee trade, and others had firmly entrenched themselves in the Angolan economy.
Imperialism displayed special interest in Angola also because it borders on Namibia which is illegally occupied by South Africa. Taking this into consideration the South African racialists and their imperialist accomplices made every effort to prevent the formation of a really free and independent Angola.
_-_-_^^6^^ 24th Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1971, p. 215.
131In fulfilment of its internationalist duty the Soviet Union provided moral and material assistance to the patriotic forces of Angola---the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)---in their struggle against colonialism. With the help of the USSR, Cuba and other socialist countries, the Angolan people led by the MPLA smashed the regular troops of the interventionists from South Africa and other white mercenaries. The units of the splitter antipopular organisations FNLA and UNITA were also defeated.
Thus, the struggle of the Angolan people for freedom and independence was crowned with success. But as they fight for full independence, the peoples of the former Portuguese colonies will have to beat off more than one counter-attack of the neocolonialists.
To a very large extent the successful outcome of this struggle depends on Angola's and Mozambique's further rapprochement with the USSR. The documents that were signed during the visits of the President of the People's Republic of Mozambique Samora Machel and Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Angola Lopo do Nascimento in May 1976, noted that the relations between the Soviet Union and the young states which were formerly Portuguese colonies, were in line with their vital interests and served the cause of international peace and security. Agreement was reached that the USSR would take steps to help Angola strengthen its defensive capacity.
Soviet-Angolan relations continued to develop in the ensuing years. During the official visit to the Soviet Union at the end of September 1977, MPLA Chairman and President of the People's Republic of Angola Agostinho Neto said: "Our cooperation is making good progress. This applies to inter-party cooperation, relations in the economic, scientific, technical, cultural and other spheres.''^^7^^
The bonds of friendship between the Soviet people and the peoples of Mozambique and Angola, countries that have chosen the road of social progress, do much to stimulate the struggle of the peoples of these countries for full national liberation. The Soviet-Mozambique and Soviet-Angolan treaties of friendship and cooperation signed on 31 March and 8 October 1977 respectively are undoubtedly a step in this direction.
_-_-_~^^7^^ Pravda, 29 September 1977.
132 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The USSR's Attitude towards the RacialistThe Soviet Union resolutely pursues a policy designed to bring about the elimination of racialism and apartheid in Southern Africa. The Soviet Union is the main ally of the forces fighting against racialism. This struggle has already led to the isolation of South Africa on the international scene, and has put the question of the liquidation of this brutal regime on the agenda of the day. The Soviet people and government consistently support the African countries in their struggle against the misanthropic policy of the South African ruling circles towards the Africans, people of Indian origin and other non-European population groups.
When in March 1960 the South African racialists with the direct encouragement of international imperialism massacred the native population in Sharpsville, the people of Moscow in a cable to the United Nations urged it to demand that the government of the Union of South Africa should stop racial persecution and discrimination. "The world public,'' the cable said, "can no longer tolerate the monstrous mockery of the human dignity of the Africans.''^^8^^
The Ail-Union Central Council of Trade Unions issued a protest entitled "End the Arbitrary Rule and Violence towards the African Population''. In a statement published on 25 March 1960 TASS said: "Official circles in the USSR share the feeling of indignation of the Soviet people and condemn South African authorities which crossly violate universally recognised human rights. These circles believe that prompt measures should be taken to end and to prevent a repetition of such acts of violence towards the African population and to grant it all the rights envisaged in the UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights.''^^9^^
At the meetings of the Security Council in March and April 1960 and at the 15th Session of the UN General Assembly in the spring of 1961, delegates from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and also representatives of African and Asian states and some Latin American countries condemned the racialist outrages in South Africa and demanded that the UN take most resolute measures to protect the rights of the African population in South Africa. _-_-_
~^^8^^ Pravda, 27 March 1960.
~^^9^^ Pravda, 25 March 1960.
133 Overcoming the opposition of the colonial powers, the UN Special Political Committee on 10 April 1961 adopted a draft resolution submitted by 24 African states envisaging diplomatic and political sanctions against the South African Government as a means of compelling it to give up its policy of apartheid. But at the plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 14 April the racialists and their allies managed to block the passage of that resolution although it received 42 votes in favour, with 34 against and 21 abstentions. The General Assembly endorsed (by 95 votes) a more moderate resolution which was also submitted by the Special Political Committee. This resolution advised the UN member-states to adopt whatever sanctions against the Government of South Africa that would force it abandon its apartheid policy.On the same day the General Assembly adopted a draft resolution by 14 Afro-Asian states urging the South African Government to begin talks with India and Pakistan in order to regulate the status of people of Indian and Pakistani origin. During the debates the Soviet delegate declared that the rampage of racialism in South Africa and its consequences---discrimination against people of Asian origin--- were an anachronism, a disgusting survival of the period of organised slave trade. The Soviet delegation voted for the draft resolution tabled by the 14 Asian and African countries although it believed that the General Assembly could have taken more effective measures.
The Soviet Union initiated the adoption of such an important UN document as the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The document declared that the racialist regimes in Southern Africa were illegal, and gave the peoples of Southern Africa a political and ideological weapon in their struggle against racialism and apartheid. Article 9 of the Declaration severely condemned racialist propaganda and urged all states immediately to institute court proceedings and outlaw all organisations which encouraged racial discrimination and preached or resorted to violence in order to exercise discrimination.
Firmly adhering to this Declaration, the Soviet Union insisted on its full implementation in'Southern Africa. Soviet representatives in the UN and other international organisations repeatedly insisted on the introduction of strict sanctions against South Africa and Rhodesia. The Soviet Union 134 firmly backed the African states and the people of Zimbabwe who demanded the immediate abolition of the racialist constitution of 1961 in Southern Rhodesia and the establishment of representative organs of power of the native population through elections conducted on the basis of universal and equal suffrage. When at the end of 1965 Ian Smith's racialist government unilaterally proclaimed Southern Rhodesia's independence, the Soviet Union did not recognise it and called upon all peace-loving states to oppose this racialist regime. "The USSR,'' stated a letter of the Soviet representative in the UN to the UN Secretary-General, "did not and does not supply any weapons, equipment or military materiel to and has no economic relations with Southern Rhodesia.... Firmly adhering to its invariable policy of supporting the national liberation movements, the Soviet Union is solidly behind the people of Zimbabwe in their just struggle for genuine national independence, and is prepared to cooperate with African countries in giving every support to the people of Zimbabwe in this struggle.''^^10^^
The Soviet Union undeviatingly followed this line. Its people fully sympathised with the platform of the Patriotic Front and supported the OAU decision to recognise the Front as the sole organisation representing the Zimbabwe national liberation movement. Soviet representatives in international organisations, the Soviet public and the media never failed to expose the neocolonialist manoeuvres of the USA and Britain with regard to Rhodesia obviously designed to create a regime in Rhodesia that would uphold the interests of the racialists and Western monopolies.
The USSR upholds the right of the people of Namibia to get rid of South African domination, and helps the patriots of that country. It has stated time and again that it regards South Africa as an usurper and invader that preserves its domination in Namibia by force of arms, and demanded that the racialist rule in South-West Africa should be liquidated and that the people of that country should have the right to self-determination and become free and independent. The statement of the Soviet representative at a meeting of the UN Committee on the Granting of Independence to Namibia in April 1978 was yet another confirmation of this attitude. SWAPO President Sam Nujoma in a speech in _-_-_
~^^10^^ Pravda, 1 January 1966.
135Moscow on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution noted that the Soviet Union's support inspired the peoples fighting for national liberation, and, in particular, the people of Namibia.^^11^^ The USSR lauded the victory of the people of Zimbabwe. In their telegram the Soviet leaders congratulated the President and the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on the proclamation of independence of their country and expressed the hope that friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and the Republic of Zimbabwe would continue to develop.
The determined and consistent policy of the Soviet Union which together with other socialist states and progressive African, Asian and Latin American countries opposes colonial and racialist regimes wrought substantial changes in Southern Africa. The forces of protest in South Africa grow stronger. The national liberation struggle in Namibia is gaining momentum. At the same time the racialist regime is becoming more and more isolated on the international scene. For the first time in the history of the UN, the Security Council examined the question of expelling South Africa from the Organisation, and the 29th Session of the General Assembly overwhelmingly voted against recognising the plenary powers of South African representatives at the Session.
The Soviet Union consistently abides by the UN resolutions on the severance of all links with the racialist regime in Southern Africa. At the same time it strengthens contacts with independent African countries and national liberation movements fighting against the colonialists and racialists. '
The policy of the USSR is that of a socialist state which upholds the rights of all peoples to freedom and independence. The Programme of Further Struggle for Peace and International Cooperation adopted by the 25th Congress of the CPSU qualifies the liquidation of all seats of colonialism and racialism as a crucial international task.^^12^^ The peoples of Africa rely on the Soviet Union as they intensify their struggle against colonialism, neocolonialism and racialism. There is no doubt that this struggle will culminate in the utter defeat of the imperialist forces.
_-_-_~^^11^^ Pravda, 5 November 1977.
~^^12^^ See Documents and Resolutions, XXVth Congress of the CPSU, 32.
136 __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Part Two __ALPHA_LVL1__ Economic Cooperation __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter VI __ALPHA_LVL2__ SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE ECONOMIESAfrica with its vast resources of valuable minerals, agricultural raw materials, fuel and hydropower is one of the richest continents of the world.
The continent's natural wealth and manpower resources, provided they are rationally used, can ensure all-round and rapid development of the majority of African countries, and guarantee sufficiently high living standards in the foreseeable future. But the realisation of these potentialities is impeded by the undeveloped economic structure inherited from the colonial period. The colonialists organised the production of raw materials expressly for economies of the home countries, and wholly ignored all problems related to the material and spiritual life of the African peoples.
Every newly free African country remained fully dependent on the West both in marketing its produce and in importing industrial and consumer goods. In the period of colonial enslavement a disunited, fragmented economy, typical of the dependent-type social relations, took shape in the African countries.
The national and per capita income, the correlation between consumption and accumulation funds, the branch structure of the economy are all very important indicators characterising the level of development of the productive forces, and help to ascertain the objective possibilities of promoting their growth and improving the well-being of the people. In this respect African countries lag behind not only the industrialised capitalist states, but also many of the less developed countries in Asia and Latin America. 139 Of the 29 countries which the UN lists in the category of "least developed'', 18 are African. Other objective data are also indicative.
In 1975 the gross national product (GNP) of independent African countries was $139.9 billion (in the current prices) or less than 2.9 per cent of the GNP of all the capitalist and developing countries taken together.
The same year the mean per capita product in Africa was a mere $350 (in current prices) compared with $500 in the developing countries and $5,855 in the industrialised capitalist states.^^1^^
As regards per capita consumption, the majority of independent African states occupy the last place in the world, and the per capita consumption of fairly large population groups living in conditions of natural economy is approaching the minimum level.
The structure of the African countries' GNP (Table 1) clearly shows how backward their economy is.
Table 1 Structure of the Developing African Countries' GNP (per cent; in the 1970 prices) Branch I960 19G5 1970 1975 Agriculture 41.3 36.6 32.6 30.3 Mining 4.4 7.5 11.3 7.2 Processing industries and power generation 10.2 11.4 11.4 12.0 Construction 5.3 5.1 5.1 7.9 Trade 16.8 16.4 15.3 15.9 Transport and communications 5.9 5.9 5.2 6.1 State administration and defence 7.9 9.4 9.9 11.6 Other branches 8.2 7.6 9.2 8.9 Source: U.N. Statistical and Economic Information Bulletin for Africa, No. 10 E/CN, 14/SEIB 10, p. 118.Agriculture is still the most important branch of the economy in African countries. Although its share in the GNP by the mid-1970s dropped considerably in comparison with 1960, it was higher than the share of industry. In spite of the high rate of urbanisation Africa's population is _-_-_
~^^1^^ See OECD Development Cooperation Efforts and Politics 1976, Review, Paris, 1976, pp. 268, 270--71.
140 predominantly peasant (in some regions from 60 to 80 per cent of the population live in rural areas). Furthermore, African agriculture is still the most backward and unproductive in the world, and its rate of growth (Table 2) in effect does not exceed the population growth rate. Table 2 Agricultural Growth Rates in the Developing Countries of Africa (per cent) 1960--1970 1970--1974 1970--1971 1971--1972 1972--1973 1973--1974 1974-- 1975 2.1 2.7 3.9 3.9 ---1.6 4.5 1.2 Source: EGA. Survey of Economic and Social Conditions in Africa in 1976, Part I. E/CN, 14/654, 16 November 1976.The potential of the African countries to increase their agricultural output is enormous. At present, owing to water shortage, the contamination of extensive territories with various epidemic diseases and due to other reasons, not more than 10 per cent of the potentially cultivable land is used. The destruction of the tse-tse fly alone would make it possible to increase the area of cultivated land by eight times.
So far, however, inhabitants of huge regions in Africa are doomed to undernourishment and even famine which assumes catastrophic proportions in periods of adverse climatic conditions. Drought in the countries of the Sahel zone (regions adjoining the southern part of the Sahara), in Somalia and Ethiopia in 1971--73 caused the death from starvation of more than 200,000 people.
The mining industry, which until recently was the monopoly of foreign capital, is now the most dynamically developing branch of production in Africa. In the 1960s its output increased almost 4.5 times.
In the early 1970s the African countries accounted for 28 per cent of the total value of world output of mineral raw materials.
In recent years many African countries took steps to build up their processing industry, but so far this key branch of modern economy is underdeveloped in the liberated states. The few industrial enterprises that were built in the past, chiefly by foreign capitalists, specialised in the 141 initial processing of agricultural raw materials; there were relatively large manufacturing enterprises only in North Africa (Egypt and Algeria) and in some countries in Tropical Africa which had a large-scale mining industry (Zaire).
The development of the manufacturing industry in the majority of the newly independent African countries was mainly connected with the processing of local agricultural raw materials, primarily for the purpose of doing away with the need to import consumer goods. By the early 1970s the food and light industry in the African countries accounted for more than 60 per cent of the value of the output of the manufacturing industry. Only countries in the North of Africa, chiefly those which had proclaimed socialist orientation, began to set up various branches of the heavy industry---metallurgy, metal-working, petrochemistry, building material and fertiliser production---as the foundation of their economic independence.
It is the need to meet the vital requirements of industrial development and the urban population, which has increased very considerably in recent years, that determines the importance of construction in the economy of the African countries. About 60 per cent of their accumulation funds are expended on construction. These outlays are almost equally divided between investments in the building of industrial projects and the construction of housing and communal services.
But construction, which is almost wholly dominated by foreign capital, is still a backward branch of African economy. In the first place this applies to the construction of large infrastructure projects.
Still another feature of the economy of the independent African countries is the steadily increasing role which the service industry and trade play^ in the composition of the GNP. A considerable part of the activity of this sphere does not involve material production and is confined merely to redistributing the product created in other industries. In keeping with the African method of calculating the GNP, the value results of the non-material activity are included into] overall indices so that the GNP is overestimated. The disproportionately great share in the African countries of the service industry has even increased (from 38 per cent in 1960 to 40 per cent in 1971) in the years of their independent development.
142On the whole economic growth rates in the newly free African countries are slow. From 1960 to 1970 their annual GNP increment was 5 per cent as compared with 6 per cent in all the developing countries. Since the beginning of the 1970s this indicator of the development of the non-- petroleum exporting African countries has sharply declined and amounted to 4.1 per cent in the period from 1970 to 1974 and 1.6 per cent in 1975. In terms of economic growth, particularly per head of population (2.3 per cent in the 1960s and 1.8 per cent between 1970 and 1975), the African countries are among the most slowly developing countries. As a result, the enormous gap in level of development between African countries and the industrialised capitalist states is widening.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The Role of Foreign Monopoly CapitalThe figures released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show that direct investments of its African members totalled $10.2 billion by the end of 1974.^^2^^ In 1977, it was estimated at $11 billion.
Until recently the British and French monopolies held the strongest positions in African economy. In the post-war period US monopoly capital conducted large-scale expansion on the African continent. Africa remains the main object of Belgian capital investments. West German and Japanese monopolies are also steadily increasing their investments there.
According to available information, investments are concentrated in the mining industry. Large investments have been made in wholesale trade, credit and banking, the tourist industry, etc. The extremely profitable exploitation of Africa's mineral wealth, oil in particular, has enabled the foreign monopolies to make new heavy investments mainly by reinvesting.
A very important development, the nationalisation of the property of foreign raw materials monopolies, took place in the early 1970s in the economic policy of the newly free _-_-_
~^^2^^ Estimated on the basis of OECD Development Cooperation Efforts and Polities. 1976, Review, p. 253.
143 African countries. From 1971 to 1974 the state took over the greater part of the Algerian and Libyan oil industry, and a considerable portion of the Nigerian. The property of copper monopolies was nationalised in Zaire and Zambia. In 1974 the government of Mauritania assumed control over the property of large international iron and copper ore mining companies. Foreign property in Togo, Ghana and other African countries continued to pass into the hands of tlie state. As a result, by 1978 the positions of foreign monopolies, owning African raw materials resources, were seriously undermined.But having lost their direct control over some mineral resource, foreign monopolies are adapting to the new conditions and employ new methods which frequently enable them to remain in indirect control. The conclusion of longterm contracts for the purchase of raw materials has become a widespread practice. As a rule, the main purchasers are companies that had formerly mined them. In many cases foreign monopolies continue to be co-owners of mixed companies and influential ``consultants'', and sign contracts under which they manage the nationalised enterprises, assume the functions of state sales organisations, etc.
As a result, in spite of the fact that its positions had been undermined, foreign capital in the 1970s continued to pocket enormous profits which surpassed the inflow of new investments into Africa many times over (Table 3).
Table 3 Exported Profits on Invested Private Capital and Inflow of Overseas Capital in African Countries (million dollars) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 Exported profits 1.278.7 1,369.3 1,266.0 1,333.8 1,621.5 2,305.6 2,289.6 1.788.1 Inflow of private capital 310.4 205.6 737.2 826.5 1,069.6 844.7 745.5 2,208.1 Estimated on the basis of International Financial Statistics (Washington), Vol. XXIX, No. 8, August 1976; ECA Survey of Economic Conditions in Africa, 1970, Part I, pp. 304--07. 144The leading role in the plunder of African countries in that period was played by the oil monopolies which netted from 75 to 80 per cent of the exported profits.
During the 1970s there was a growth of foreign investments in those branches of the economy of the independent African states that catered to the domestic market, including the manufacturing industry. There were several reasons for this. The course of promoting the growth of tiie national economy pursued by many African countries broadened the domestic market: the living standards improved, the purchasing capacity of the working people increased, the urban population swelled and the development of commodity-money relations in the countryside heightened the demand for certain manufactured goods; the policy of many countries aimed at stimulating local production and protecting it against foreign rivalry by the introduction of high import dues and other protectionist measures led to a growth of prices on the domestic market and made many types of local production more profitable. All these factors have caused foreign investors to regard the domestic market in many African countries as a very profitable sphere of activity.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Foreign Trade and the Economy of AfricanThe type of social reproduction that has taken shape in the African countries cannot do without a foreign market needed to sell a considerable portion of produce and satisfy the bulk of the requirements in industrial commodities and consumer goods. In 1976 the newly free African countries accounted for approximately 4.8 per cent of the trade turnover of the non-socialist world: in 1975 the exports and imports of these countries accounted for 24.3 per cent and 29.1 per cent respectively of their GNP.
The foreign trade of the African countries is geared to the industrialised capitalist states (about 80 per cent of the total export), and this is a permanent factor of the economic growth of many of them. But this does not apply to the economy of the independent African countries themselves. The weak links between most of the export branches and the domestic economy considerably limit the chances of using them directly to promote economic development, while the __PRINTERS_P_145_COMMENT__ 10--0763 145 relatively low prices of raw materials maintained by the monopolies on the world market until recently did not guarantee adequate and stable profits which could have been used to industrialise and modernise agricultural production.
Although independent African states now control their main raw material resources, this fact, certainly, cannot immediately modify the nature of their foreign economic links with the capitalist West which is still their principal commodity market. From 1970 to 1975 it accounted for 81.3 per cent of the African export, i.e., approximately as much as it did in the mid-1960s. Yet it would be wrong to say that the position of the African countries in tiie international capitalist division of labour has not changed. As they strengthen their sovereignty they become increasingly active in foreign trade. Independent African states have already made some progress in their struggle for economic equality, an important part of which are their efforts to change their role in the international division of labour, particularly in world trade.
At the end of 1973 and the beginning of 1974 they managed, together with the other OPEC countries, to fix their own prices on crude oil and impose on the monopolies their own policy in the field of prices, the volume of production and supply to the world market. Following OPEG's example, countries exporting copper, bauxites, phosphates and other mineral raw materials are now working to set up their own producer associations.
The rise in the prices of many kinds of raw materials in the 1970s brought about a change in the ratio between the prices of raw materials and manufactured goods in favour of the developing countries. This heightened the importance of exported raw materials as a lever for transforming the economy of a number of developing countries.
At the same time the rise in the prices of raw materials and the ensuing steady growth in the cost of basic manufactures on the world market increased the differentiation between individual groups of African countries. From 19b'7 to 1973 there was a favourable balance of trade. But this summary shift in Africa's foreign trade balance was mainly due to the rapid rise of Libya and Nigeria as leading oil exporting countries. The favourable trade balance is also a result of the increased copper exports from Zambia.
146Between 1974 and 1977 the position of African countries which do not export oil deteriorated. Their expenditures on imports increased considerably as a result of the growth of prices on oil and also on manufactured goods imported from the capitalist countries. Simultaneously, the economic crisis of 1974--75 which hit all the leading industrialised capitalist countries, caused decline in African imports. In three years, from 1974 to 1976, the adverse balance of trade of the African countries (with the exception of Algeria, Libya, Nigeria and Gabon) grew to $14,295 million.
It follows, then, that so far the main group of African countries do not derive enough profits from foreign trade to cover the cost of essential imports.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. Capitalist ``Aid'' and Economic ProblemsThe new type of economic cooperation established between independent African countries and the socialist states seriously influences the nature of the former's relations with the capitalist world. This influence is determined by both the direct material contribution of the socialist community to the economy of the independent countries, and by the liquidation of the monopoly of the Western industrialised countries in imports, financing and the transfer of know-how. All this compels the capitalists to make concessions to the developing countries, render them aid on easier terms and lower interest rates.
The capitalist states regard economic aid as a basic means of influencing the independent African countries: they use it to strengthen and even extend their enfeebled positions in many of these countries, and also to derive direct material benefit by using credits and technical assistance to gain markets for their industrial goods.
Africa receives from 27 to 29 per cent of the total volume of ``aid'' furnished to the developing world by the industrialised capitalist states and international credit organisations. But the former colonial powers which are trying to hold on to their economic and political positions in Africa pay considerably more attention to that part of the world. Out of the $1,490.3 million which France furnished to the developing countries on the basis of bilateral agreements between 1973 and 1975, some $567.6 million or 38.1 per cent went annually to African countries.
147In the period from 1960 to 1975 France allocated $9.3 billion, Britain $2.7 billion and Belgium $1.4 billion out of their state funds to African countries.
Those capitalist countries which did not have strong positions in Africa prior to the collapse of the colonial system and the winning of independence by African countries now believe that they have a good chance to widen them. The United States is now playing an active role in Africa. In 15 years, by the end of 1975, it had granted African countries $5.6 billion in credits.
West Germany also pursues an expansionist policy in Africa, concentrating its efforts primarily on Kaiser Germany's former colonies. Another donor-country, Canada, is displaying an increasing interest in Africa.
Japan, which of late has been increasing its easy-term credits to the Arab countries in the North of Africa, is trying hard to gain access to the continent's mineral riches.
In the 1960s the average annual volume of economic ``aid'' from the capitalist states and international financial organisations to African countries was just over $1.6 billion. In the early 1970s the total volume of ``aid'' began to increase and in 1975 it amounted to $3.9 billion. But these figures only show the nominal ``aid'', for the entire period was characterised by a rise in the prices of commodities and services provided under the aid programmes.
Capitalist aid statistics likewise takes no account of the outflow of money from the developing countries in the form of interest on earlier credits. It has been estimated that ir 1974 the interest on credits granted by capitalist states and international financial organisations paid by African countries amounted to not less than $225 million or 7.1 per cent of the total volume of ``aid'' received that year. Taking all these factors into account, the actual inflow of resources within the framework of Western aid programmes to African countries in the mid-1970s was at least 20 per cent lower than at the beginning of the 1960s.
The enormous and steadily increasing foreign debt is one of the most acute problems of the independent African countries. This problem high-lights not only the difficulties involved in the development and restructuring of the economy of many African countries, but mainly the shortcomings inherent in the contemporary forms and terms of capitalist credit and the reluctance of the industrialised capitalist 148 countries to take effective measures to help the African countries to scale down their debts. In these circumstances loans cease to be a real material source for financing the development of the newly free countries.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 5. The Main Objectives of EconomicIn order to attain real national independence all developing countries, including African, must first surmount their economic backwardness, promote their culture, radically modify their economic structure, carry through industrialisation and modernise agriculture. The experience of the first years of independence has left no doubt in the minds of many leaders of the newly free African states that so long as they continue to be dependent on the capitalist market spontaneous economic development merely preserves relations of inequality and exploitation. Hence the importance of the organising and regulating role of the state, its ability to mobilise all material and manpower resources in the interests of national development and to curb the malign influence of foreign monopoly capital. This process has become particularly extensive and profound in the socialist-oriented countries where the state sector controls the key branches of the national economy.
The period of independent development bared the acute contradiction between the requirements of accelerated economic progress, on the one hand, and the low level of development of the productive forces and the scantiness of internal accumulations, on the other. The newly free countries managed to increase the share of accumulations in their GNP. But its low absolute volume (annual per capita average on the continent is about $35) cannot provide the economy with all the resources it needs. The need to develop the productive forces is running into increasing contradiction with the backward, multi-structured economy, the predominance of smallcommodity and semi-natural economy and archaic relations of production in most countries, especially in Tropical Africa. A considerable number of rural inhabitants annually migrate to towns, aggravating the already acute problem of employment there. Africa's underdeveloped urban economy, with not more than 2 per cent of the labour force 149 employed, cannot provide jobs for all. By 1980, the labour force in Africa increased by more than 33 million of whom, however, only some 18 million could find employment.
At the same time there is an acute shortage of skilled workers, technicians and engineers in the independent African states. Modern technology and the budding industry need more and more qualified workers. The training of national technical and administrative personnel, therefore, is one of the most important conditions for liquidating the dependence of African countries on the industrialised capitalist states.
The need to cope with the urgent tasks of economic development in order to alter their unequal status in the international capitalist division of labour, makes the independent African countries objectively interested in expanding allround economic links with the world socialist community, the Soviet Union in the first place. This interest is sustained by the socialist countries whose relations with the developing countries are based on the principles of genuine equality, mutual benefit, and non-exploitation. They sincerely want to help the developing countries to surmount their economic backwardness inherited from the colonial period and to strengthen their independence, and support their struggle against imperialism in every way. Manifold and active cooperation with'the socialist countries is turning into an important material condition for solving a host of vital problems of social and economic development facing the African countries. Moreover, being a model of basically new relations between industrialised and developing countries, it seriously influences the entire range of external links of the young African states with the capitalist world and thus contributes to their liberation struggle.
[150] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter VII __ALPHA_LVL2__ ECONOMIC COOPERATION:In 1920, when the Civil War and foreign intervention were still in progress in Soviet Russia, Lenin told the Second Congress of the Comintern: "It is unquestionable that the proletariat of the advanced countries can and should give help to the working masses of the backward countries, and that the backward countries can emerge from their present stage of development when the victorious proletariat of the Soviet Republics extends a helping hand to these masses and is in a position to give them support.''^^1^^
Soviet economic and technical aid to the former colonies in the period between the two world wars was of major international significance. For the first time a new type of equal relations resting on the principles of internationalism and friendship of peoples was established.
In the post-war period the development of economic links between the Soviet Union and the former colonies entered a new stage characterised by a considerable growth of the number of countries with which the USSR effects cooperation, the inclusion of African states and many branches of their economy into this cooperation and the increasing of Soviet economic and technical assistance designed to promote their national economic development. This cooperation has become an important feature of Soviet policy and of all international relations in the contemporary world.
The Soviet Union's first agreements on economic and technical cooperation signed after the Second World War with Africa were with Egypt (1958), Guinea and Ethiopia (1959). _-_-_
^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, pp. 243--44.
151 By the beginning of 1978 it had similar agreements with 32 African countries, where 237 industrial enterprises and other projects have already been built with its assistance and 172 are currently under construction.The main aim of Soviet economic and technical cooperation with independent African countries, just as with other developing countries, is to help them achieve economic independence. At the same time the USSR shares the conviction of the leaders of independent African states that they have to solve their vital economic, social and cultural problems mainly by their own effort, and that foreign aid is of an auxiliary nature for them.
The basic principles of the Soviet Union's economic and technical cooperation with African countries are: consistent and undeviating respect for the equality of the partners, mutual benefit, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. It is not based on any political or other conditions that are detrimental to the national interests of the young states. The Soviet Union seeks no privileges or advantages, and promotes economic relations with those African countries that are interested in them, irrespective of their socio-political system or orientation.
In defining the substance of agreements on economic and technical cooperation, the USSR proceeds from the vital needs of its partners. Complying with the wishes of the governments of independent African countries, the Soviet Union helps them build and operate industrial enterprises, agricultural, transport and other projects, develop natural resources, explore and mine useful minerals, and train national personnel.
Specifically, Soviet-African economic and technical cooperation (see Table 4) envisages that~
Soviet organisations lend their services in design, engineering and planning, provide scientific, technical and technological documentation, deliver sets of equipment, machines and machinery with spare parts, and building materials for projects under construction;
Soviet specialists help to'build, assemble, launch and operate industrial and other projects, and also to conduct geological prospecting;
Soviet organisations provide assistance in setting up national geological prospecting, designing, research and other organisations;~
152 Table 4 Distribution of Projects Built with Soviet Assistance in Various Branches of African Economy (as of 1 January 1977) Total Industry Agriculture Transport and com munications Geological prospecting Education, health and other branches Number of projects 409 137 68 16 37 151 Outlays (% of total) 100 70.9 7.2 3.4 5.8 12.7Soviet organisations provide assistance in drawing up national plans for socio-economic development and setting up national economic administration;
Soviet organisations help to train national personnel, including skilled workers and specialists who will build and operate industrial enterprises and other projects constructed with the help of Soviet organisations;
Soviet organisations send specialists in the capacity of advisers, consultants and experts at the request of African countries.
It follows that cooperation embraces the key branches of the economy of the developing African countries. But the sphere of material production, industry in the first place, has become the leading trend in their economic development.
Not only individual enterprises are going up with Soviet assistance, but whole industrial complexes which utilise local resources and thus promote the growth of related branches of the economy. For instance, the Aswan hydropower complex which was built in Egypt with Soviet assistance includes a large hydropower station which supplies electricity to an aluminium factory, the Helwan metallurgical complex and a number of other power-intensive projects currently under construction, a giant irrigation system and a ramified network of power transmission lines. In Algeria, the USSR is helping to enlarge the Annaba Metallurgical Plant with the view to raising its annual capacity to 1.8-2 million tons of steel, and to build a number of important mines and other projects.
153 Table 5 Aggregate Capacity of Industrial Enterprises Built or Under Construction with Soviet Assistance in African Countries (as of 1 January 1977) Types of production Production capacity Pig iron (mln tons) Steel (mln tons) Iron ore (mln tons) Oil products (mln tons) Cement (mln tons) Metal-cutting lathes (units) Power stations (installed capacity, mln kw) 2.75 4.4 3.5 2.65 1.65 1,620 2.9In the first place Soviet assistance helps some African countries to create their own industrial base. At the same time enterprises of the light, food and other industries are also being built.
The Soviet Union is helping to build irrigation systems, state grain and cattle farms, farm machinery repair shops, veterinary and zootechnical laboratories and stations, elevators, experimental stations and other agricultural projects in many African countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.
With Soviet assistance African countries are setting up research institutions, such as an atomic reactor in Cairo which has enabled Egypt to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes, a central veterinary research laboratory in the Sudan, a petroleum laboratory and experimental agricultural stations investigating the cultivation of food and industrial crops on irrigated lands in Algeria, a research centre including oceanographic and heliotechnical laboratories in Guinea and a complex laboratory in Nigeria.
Assistance in the training of national personnel occupies an important place in Soviet-African economic and technical cooperation. It is provided by the Soviet Union in diverse forms, including the construction of numerous institutions of higher and secondary education and vocational training centres.
154Hospitals, clinics and maternity homes have been and are being built with Soviet help in African countries. Hundreds of Soviet medical staff work in developing African countries where they enjoy deserved respect.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The Organisation, Forms and Terms ofThe Soviet Government has invested the State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations of the USSR Council of Ministers with the functions of exercising economic and technical cooperation with foreign countries. This Committee conducts negotiations with foreign countries concerning economic and technical cooperation, draws up inter-- governmental agreements, protocols and other legal documents. Soviet embassies in the developing countries with which the USSR maintains economic and technical cooperation have instituted the post of Economic Counsellor. Other agencies that are directly involved in cooperation are ministries, general suppliers, designing organisations and AilUnion Foreign Trade Associations (V/0). Factories in all the Union Republics of the USSR manufacture equipment for projects which are being built with Soviet assistance in African countries.
Economic and technical cooperation between the Soviet Union and the developing countries rests, as a rule, on intergovernmental agreements. These agreements come in three basic types:
agreements on economic and technical cooperation which list all the objects of cooperation, define mutual commitments and stipulate the size and terms of Soviet credits and other forms of payment for services rendered;~
agreements which stipulate the size of Soviet credits but do not list concrete objects of cooperation and other mutual commitments which are later defined in supplementary protocols;~
general agreements. These, as a rule, stipulate the forms of assistance which the sides are prepared to offer each other, while the volume, terms and objects of cooperation are subject to further negotiations and are finalised in supplementary documents.
155In addition, there are also inter-governmental agreements on cooperation in specific fields---geological surveying, designing of projects, training of national personnel, dispatch of Soviet specialists, etc.
Following the signing of inter-governmental agreements, protocols or other legal documents on economic and technical cooperation, Ail-Union Foreign Trade Associations (in keeping with their particular field of activity) sign contracts with the relevant organisations of the developing countries, specifying the concrete commitments of the sides, fixing the time limits and cost of designing, engineering and planning work, deliveries of equipment and materials and also the remuneration of Soviet specialists for their services. Contracts also include the commitments of the client countries which ensure the construction of the projects and their exploitation with local materials, manpower, finances in local currency, and so forth.
The signing of agreements and other contracts on economic and technical cooperation and the choice of the objects of cooperation is preceded by long and difficult work of substantiating the technical possibility and economic feasibility of the projects. This work is usually done jointly by Soviet and local organisations. Standing inter-governmental commissions for economic and technical cooperation are set up so as to ensure the timely fulfilment of agreements with a number of African countries and to determine fresh possibilities for cooperation.
The scope and forms of economic and technical cooperation with African countries are determined with account for their specifics. This applies in the first place to the choice of objects of cooperation and its organisational forms and conditions. At the request of the governments of the partner countries which are economically more developed and possess a considerable economic potential, large industrial enterprises are built and help is given in industrialising the economy (in Algeria, for instance); as regards the less developed partner countries, the USSR, at the initial stages of their economic upbuilding, helps them to build chiefly small food and light industry enterprises which rapidly begin to operate at a profit. This does not mean, of course, that no individual heavy industry enterprises are built there. For instance, an oil refinery has been built in Ethiopia, a cement factory in Mali and bauxite mines in Guinea.
156It is very important for the African countries that Soviet cooperation with them ensures maximum utilisation of their available material and labour resources both in the construction and exploitation of projects. Soviet organisations send to these countries specialists and skilled workers whose professions are either non-existent there or are in great demand. This stimulates employment and raises the skill of their national personnel.
Hence, Soviet organisations perform only those jobs with which African countries cannot cope on their own for the present. The expenses involved are, as a rule, covered by Soviet credits and this makes for their more rational use.
Another form of Soviet-African cooperation is the construction of "turn key" industrial and other enterprises by Soviet and local building organisations. The Soviet Union assumes full responsibility for their construction, including the hiring and remuneration of manpower through subcontractors, and payment for building and assembly work and the putting of the project in operation.
The construction of "turn key" projects is undertaken at the request of African governments. Such form of cooperation was effected in Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali and some other countries. In recent years African countries are displaying growing interest in it.
The terms of economic and technical cooperation between the USSR and African countries are fixed with account for their possibilities, and cooperation is effected on the basis of strict observance of the principles of equality and mutual benefit.
Deliveries of equipment and materials and also services rendered by Soviet organisations are paid~
out of Soviet long-term credits;
in installments at the expense of credits granted by private firms;
in cash in freely convertible or national currency;
in keeping with clearing agreements;
at the expense of funds granted by the UN and its specialised agencies.
Credits granted by private firms usually envisage the following system of payments: advance payment when contracts are signed and equipment, machines, mechanisms and materials are delivered, the remaining sum being paid 157 in installments over a period of five to eight years. Under the terms of_ Soviet long-term credits, payments begin either upon completion of the deliveries of equipment, or after the project has been put in operation and are made in equal annual installments over 12 years with 2.5 per cent interest on the sum of the used and unrepaid credit. This means that Soviet long-term credits can be repaid out of the profits of enterprises built with Soviet assistance.
It is exceptionally important for African states, as it is for other developing countries, that the Soviet Union takes into account their possibilities and does not demand that its credits should be repaid only in convertible currency. At their request the USSR consents to payment in the form of their traditional exports and also the products of their national industry, including the output of enterprises built with its assistance. This enables African countries to save some of their convertible currency and acquire a stable commodity market that does not depend on demand fluctuations typical of the world capitalist market.
The cost of the bulk of Soviet equipment, materials and technical services provided to industrial enterprises and other projects in African countries built up with Soviet assistance, is paid out of Soviet long-term credits. The Soviet Government agreed to grant easy payment terms to most developing African countries in view of their difficult currency and financial situation, limited sources of internal accumulation and narrow opportunities for financing capital construction. In the 1970s the majority of African countries, having used up Soviet long-term credits, started repaying their debt.
In granting credits the Soviet Union paid particular attention to the group of African countries, classified by the UN as "least developed" (for instance, Guinea and Mali). It granted these countries, which inherited from colonialism the least developed productive forces, credits on the most favourable terms.
Meeting the request of the Government of Somalia the Soviet Union extended diverse economic and technical assistance to that republic, thus helping it to strengthen its independence. This cooperation, however, came to an end in 1977, and not through the fault of the Soviet side.
158 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Mutually Beneficial CooperationSoviet-African economic and technical cooperation has several distinguishing features. First and foremost, the Soviet Union assists in the construction of industrial enterprises and other projects in the slate sector of the economy. This enables its partners rationally to utilise manpower, financial and natural resources and improve their socio-economic structure and also strengthens the position of the forces fighting for radical socio-economic transformations in the interest of the working people.
Soviet economic and technical cooperation with the developing countries has a composite nature. This means that cooperation in the construction of each individual project usually includes the entire volume of work, i.e., research, designing, estimating, construction, and installation, adjustment and starting of machines, and also assistance in the exploitation of the project until its full capacity is attained. Thanks to this nature of cooperation the developing countries can assimilate and utilise the technical knowhow and experience of Soviet specialists at all the stages of construction and exploitation of the projects involved. Exports of Soviet equipment and materials for the construction of ready-for-operation enterprises amounted to 339 million rubles in the period from 1961 to 1965, 444 million from 1966 to 1970, and 553 million from 1971 to 1975.
It is also important for the African countries that their economic cooperation with the USSR is stable owing to the planned nature of the Soviet economy and their long-term agreements with the USSR.
New trends have recently appeared in the Soviet Union's economic cooperation with African countries. In the first place, durable, long-term economic ties are being established with a number of them, which stimulate trade and enhance the efficiency of social production in which both the African countries and the Soviet Union are interested. The construction of a number of projects in Algeria, Guinea and some other countries was an example of such cooperation. The expenses incurred by Soviet organisations will be repaid by deliveries of certain types of products to the USSR. The output of the mining and food industry enterprises built in Algeria with Soviet assistance will go to repay Soviet credits. In Guinea the USSR has helped to build a 159 nationai bauxite-producing enterprise which will deliver part of its output to the USSR for a period of 30 years to repay Soviet credits and also in fulfilment of the terms of their trade agreements.
Such production cooperation stimulates the development of a new, equal and mutually beneficial international division of labour between the socialist and developing countries, as opposed to the system of imperialist exploitation in the sphere of international relations.
Another new trend in the USSR's cooperation with African countries is the considerable growth in the volume of work performed by Soviet organisations to ensure the successful exploitation of the constructed projects. The reason is that most of these countries still have a shortage of specialists who could ensure uninterrupted operation of new enterprises immediately upon their commissioning. Currently hundreds of Soviet specialists who are helping to run industrial enterprises and other projects built with Soviet assistance are in African countries at the invitation of their governments. Together with African engineers, technicians and executive personnel they rapidly bring the constructed enterprises up to full capacity, ensure their uninterrupted supply with raw materials, schedule marketing of their produce, increase their profitability, and reduce the time needed to recoup capital investments.
The main result of the Soviet Union's economic and technical cooperation with the developing African countries is that it helps to stimulate the growth of the latter's productive forces, mutually beneficial trade and their export opportunities, reduces requirements in specific costly imported commodities which can be locally produced, and promotes employment and the well-being of the local population. In other words, it strengthens the economic independence of these countries.
Cooperation with the USSR enables the young states to benefit from scientific and technical progress. Soviet organisations provide them with modern machines and equipment, technological processes, licences and other types of technical documentation, and Soviet specialists share their scientific and technical know-how and experience. It is also universally recognised that the majority of Soviet engineers, technicians, doctors and teachers working in African countries and in other developing states not only fulfil their contracts to the 160 letter but also, irrespective of the terms of these contracts, willingly share their knowledge and experience with the local citizens who work with them.
By cooperating with the Soviet Union the developing countries strengthen their economic and political positions and become less dependent on the world capitalist economy. They are able to fight with increasing success against neocolonialism and more confidently uphold their national interests in economic relations with the capitalist states. In this way they make it more difficult for the capitalist countries to pursue their neocolonialist policy.
Hence, the development of trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation with the socialist states is an objective requirement of the developing countries. This cooperation will help them to attain progressive changes in the structure of their economy, cast off their economic dependence on foreign capital, and play an equal role in the system of the international division of labour.
__PRINTERS_P_161_COMMENT__ 11--0763 [161] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter VIII __ALPHA_LVL2__ COOPERATION IN PROSPECTINGIndependent African countries want to become masters of their natural resources, and Soviet assistance in the development of their mineral wealth is designed to help them attain this goal. How rich is free Africa in this respect? What natural resources can be put at the service of the economy of the newly independent states? The continent's potential fuel and power resources (according to Soviet estimates made in the 1970s) are: 149 billion tons of oil, 42,000 billion cubic metres of gas and 14.5 billion tons of condensate, of which 45 billion tons of oil, 33,000 billion cubic metres of gas and 9 billion tons of condensate can be extracted.
Africa's leading oil producers and exporters are Libya, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt and there is reason to believe that the number of oil and gas producing countries will increase.
The continent ranks second in the capitalist world for reserves of uranium, that promising energy-yielding mineral, and accounts for 346,600 tons of the 1,039,000 tons of proved reserves of uranium in the capitalist and developing countries.
Africa's deposits of ferrous and alloying metals are among the biggest in the world.
Its aggregate resources of iron ores are approximately 30 billion tons. Africa is a major supplier of iron ore on the world market. Its share in the total volume of iron ore exported by capitalist and developing countries is growing steadily: $ 470 million-worth of iron ore was shipped out 162 of Africa in 1971, and $ 885 million-worth in 1975.^^1^^ The proven resources of African iron ores have considerably increased following the discovery of major deposits in Guinea and Libya. Iron ore prospecting is conducted in Algeria, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and some other countries.
Africa has about 404.5 million tons of manganese ore, or nearly one half of the total reserves in the capitalist countries. One of the biggest producers of manganese ore is Gabon which accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the continent's total output. There are considerable resources of manganese ore in Ghana, Morocco, and the Ivory Coast.
The continent has rich deposits of ores of non-ferrous metals. The biggest deposits of bauxites in Africa are in Guinea which has 63.5 per cent of Africa's overall and 83.1 per cent of the proven and probable resources of high-grade bauxites (1,660 million and 1,156 million tons respectively). Large deposits of this critical raw material are also found in Ghana, Zaire, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone.
Africa has vast copper deposits totalling 96,940,000 tons of which 48,810,000 tons are proven and probable. There are unique copper deposits in Zambia and Zaire---in the Copper Belt zone. There are small deposits of copper ore with a relatively high metal content in Mauritania, Egypt, the People's Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
As regards tin ore resources which are estimated at 375,000 tons, Africa occupies third place in the capitalist world. The biggest of those deposits are in Zaire (200,000 tons) and in Nigeria (100,000 tons).
Mercury was found in two African countries---Algeria and Tunisia. Its total reserves on the continent are estimated at 18,700 tons, of which 18,000 tons are in Algeria.
There are non-metallic minerals in many African countries, but special mention should be made of the continent's unique phosphate resources. Of the total deposits of phosphorites in the industrial capitalist and the developing countries estimated at 67.5 billion tons, 68 per cent are concentrated in Africa. The biggest deposits are in the North of Africa---in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Morocco also has unique resources of phosphorites estimated at _-_-_
~^^1^^ See Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, No. 5, United Nations, New York, 1977, p. XXXVI.
__PRINTERS_P_163_COMMENT__ 11* 163 40 billion tons, or more than 92 per cent of the continent's total. Rich deposits have been discovered in Egypt in recent years. Lately major barite deposits were found in Algeria which now account for more than 71 per cent of the total African resources of this mineral.Data on the development of the national economy of young African states after they had attained political independence show that those of them which produce oil, copper, iron and other minerals have achieved the highest rates of industrial growth and export.
Although certain progress has been made in the development of their mining industry, a considerable portion of mineral production in independent African states is still controlled by West European and US monopolies. But free Africa more and more confidently pursues a policy of restricting the influence of foreign capital or driving it out. While allowing foreign companies to invest in the mining industry, African governments establish control over their activity.
As a rule, this policy of driving foreign capital out of the mining industry comes up against resistance from the overseas monopolies. There have been many instances in history when West European and US monopoly capital ignored African states' legitimate demands to dispose of their natural resources, as was the case in Algeria following the nationalisation of iron ore mines in 1966. The same thing happened after the nationalisation of French companies in 1971, when the French Government not only recalled French technical personnel from Algeria, but also made attacks on some of the 700,000 Algerians working in France. The French Government began to boycott Algerian oil and tried to get other major consumers do the same.^^2^^ The giant Diamond Producter Consolidated African Selection Trust and the Lohnro Trust which owns goldfields in South Africa began to boycott Ghana in response to the nationalisation of their sister companies in the country.
A typical feature of the changes that are taking place in the development of natural resources is the desire of the African states to process more raw materials locally. Some of them have already drawn up plans to this effect and presented corresponding demands to foreign companies.
_-_-_~^^2^^ See The Middle East and North Africa. 1973--1974. A Survey and Reference Book, London, 1973, p. 184.
164An important role in ensuring the fulfilment of these demands is played by the state sector in the mining industry which has been formed in almost all African countries. According to some estimates the state sector enterprises account for almost 100 per cent of the mineral production in Mauritania and Togo, 80 per cent in Algeria, 70 per cent in Libya, nearly 60 per cent in Tanzania, and more than 50 per cent in Zambia.
An indicator of the increasing role of the state sector in independent African countries is the state's participation in the formation of mixed mining companies together with foreign capital. By participating in these companies African states can employ additional capital and also control the activities of these companies, obtain modern technology and technical know-how, and train national personnel.
In Africa's Strategy for Development in the 1970s drawn up by OAU special emphasis was placed on the need for the African countries to join forces in finding, mining and utilising the continent's mineral resources. Efforts are being made to formulate a uniform mining legislation and rules governing the exchange of geological and technical information on the development of key minerals.
Taking into consideration the importance of natural resources for the economic development of African countries, the Conference of African Ministers of Industry which took place in Cairo in 1973 recommended the establishment of an African Minerals Council "responsible for promoting greater industrial processing in Africa of the continent's mineral resources and the coordination of the policies of African countries to increase their income from* their natural resources".^^3^^
African countries are searching for opportunities to extend cooperation within the framework of the continent. For example, Guinea, Algeria, Nigeria, Liberia and Zaire have set up a company for exploiting iron ore deposits in Guinea. Part of the output is shared by the partners.
African countries have also signed agreements with socialist countries'on cooperation in the development of mineral resources. This cooperation is effected in different forms depending on the wishes or arrangements worked out by _-_-_
~^^3^^ Africa Research Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 12, 31 January 1974, p. 2963,
165 the sides. For instance, a mixed company for the extraction of complex ores with Romania as a partner has been set up in Kenya. The Central African Republic and Romania have signed an agreement on the establishment of a mixed association for prospecting and mining minerals in Central African Republic. In October 1973 the Algerian national association SONATRACH and the Polish KOPEX signed an agreement on prospecting and developing oilfields in Algeria.In most cases, however, cooperation in the development of mineral resources takes the form of economic and technical assistance of the socialist countries to African government agencies in building enterprises for the extraction and processing of minerals.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. Assistance in the Development of the MineralsAssistance in the development of the minerals and raw materials base in African countries is an important aspect of Soviet technical and economic cooperation with them. Soviet organisations tackle the entire range of problems involved. Under the signed inter-governmental agreements they send geological prospectors and surveyors, and also specialists to be employed by corresponding state agencies or companies, supply necessary equipment, and help to set up geological stations and``educational''institutions and to build mines.
Cooperation with the Soviet Union in geological prospecting and mining helps African countries to establish their national minerals and raw materials base and``heighten''the efficiency of local state geological agencies.
The Soviet Union`s' assistance in geological prospecting and the development of mineral resources occupies a particularly important place in its relations with the North African countries.
Algeria launched a really systematic study of solid minerals only after it had established cooperation with the Soviet Union. Under an inter-governmental agreement signed on 27"December 1963, Soviet'geologists are" participating in an extensive programme for prospecting for the ores of ferrous, non-ferrous, rare and precious metals, non-- 166 metal-liferous and some other minerals initiated by the Algerian National Society for Prospecting and Exploiting Minerals (SONAREM).
Cooperation has yielded good results. Soviet geologists helped to discover or reappraise more than 50 mineral deposits. They have taken part in determining a new and substantially enlarging the proven minerals and raw materials base consisting of such crucial minerals as lead, zinc, mercury, antimony, tin, tungsten, iron, gold, barium and rock salt. Algeria's biggest lead and zink mine in El Abadia is being reconstructed. Its daily output was raised from 800 tons of ore in 1971 to 3,300 tons in 1975. The ore is processed at an enrichment factory which was also built with Soviet assistance. Commercial deposits of tungsten and lead have been discovered in the Haggar Mountains. Additional survey was completed of the known tungsten deposits in Nahda (Dauni) containing nearly 17,500 tons of tungstite.
New antimony-polymetallic deposits have been discovered near the operating Hamman-N'Bayls mine, and mercury deposits with a unique content of metal in the ore were discovered in Ismail, Mra-Sma and Ghenisha. In 1973 a mining and metallurgical complex with an initial annual capacity of more than 300 tons of mercury was built with Soviet assistance on the basis of the Ismail deposits, whose reserves of high-grade ore have been estimated at 300,000 tons.
Soviet geologists discovered, surveyed and prepared for industrial development a deposit of high-grade barite ores (nearly two million tons) in the vicinity of BatnaOres.
Algeria was also able to strengthen the state sector in the oil industry thanks to its close cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. The first Soviet oil specialists arrived in Algeria at the end of 1963 to help summarise geological data, compile programmes for geological prospecting, draw up projects for the development of deposits, and carry out measures to protect oil and gas deposits. Soviet specialists began to work at SONATRACH, the biggest Algerian government-operated company, in 1967. Since 1971 it has been in charge of all the extraction and transportation of gas and also of the transportation of oil, and of the prospecting and development of oil and gas deposits, It owns 80 per cent of the oil produced in the country.
167Soviet organisations supplied Algerian oilfields with 22 powerful rigs capable of drilling the deepest test and production wells, and also turbo-drills, geophysical, seismic, geological surveying and other equipment. More than 200 Soviet oil workers were sent to the country to assemble this equipment and help to operate it.
Lately SONATRAC1T has been expanding the construction of pipelines, likewise with the assistance of Soviet organisations. They delivered diverse building and assembly equipment to Algeria which was used in the construction of the Beni-Mansour-Algiers Oil Pipeline, the first to be built independently by SONATRACII. This pipeline which was also built with the assistance of Soviet specialists connects the port of Bejaia with an oil refinery on the outskirts of Algiers.
Soviet specialists working for SONATRACH perform a broad range of functions. They have compiled major scientific works on the geology and oil-and-gas potential of Algerian Sahara and the Algerian Atlas, i.e., they comprehensively evaluated the oil and gas deposits of the whole of Algeria. Since 1968 oil and gas prospecting in a fairly large part of Algeria has been conducted on the basis of recommendations submitted by Soviet geologists. For example, their recommendations have led to the discovery in 1968 of the Tin Fouye Tabankorte deposit (150.1 million tons of oil and 120 billion cubic metres of gas), the Oued Noumer deposit in 1968--69 (27.3 million tons of oil), the Stakh deposit in 1971 (approximately 80 million tons of oil) and the Rourde Nousse deposit in 1972 (13.8 million tons of oil).
Soviet specialists took part in drawing up a programme for the comprehensive development of the Algerian oil industry. It defines practical measures to be carried out by 1990 in order to raise oil production and fixes a rational scale of prospecting and surveying work.
The USSR began to help Egypt survey its mineral resources shortly after the conclusion of the 1958 general agreement on economic and technical cooperation. At the time Soviet oil workers furnished all-round assistance to Egypt, particularly in geophysical surveying and prospecting in the Gulf of Suez area, where two new oilfields in Bakra and Karim were discovered with their assistance in 1958.
Soviet specialists systematised the available geophysical data relating to the northern part of the Western Desert 168 covering an area of approximately 200,000 square kilometres from the Libyan border in the west to the Nile in the east. On the basis of their] work between 1966 and 1968 aeromagnetic and seismic surveys and test drilling were conducted in the western sectors of the desert on 184,000 square kilometres in keeping with methods used in the USSR. Detailed reports on the geological structure and the oilbearing capacity of this territory were made available to the Egyptian Government.
An important aspect of the work conducted by Soviet specialists in Egypt was prospecting for iron ore, the demand forwhich increased considerably following the expansion of the capacity of the Helwan Iron and Steel Works to 1,500,000 tons. In the beginning of the 1960s they helped to conduct a detailed survey of the iron ore deposits in the Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert.
Coal prospecting by Soviet geologists began in 1959 and resulted in the discovery of Egypt's first deposits of brown coal.
The creation of a power industry in Egypt, extensive electrification and the development of the radio engineering and machine-building industries in the country have enormously raised the demand for non-ferrous metals. Soviet geologists took part in prospecting for complex ores and aluminium in the Eastern Desert along the Red Sea coast.
Soviet experts working on the "Assessment of the Mineral Potential of the Aswan Region'', a UN project, obtained encouraging results. Between 1968 and 1972 they explored and conducted geophysical surveys on a territory of 25,000 square kilometres, and discovered Egypt's first deposits of tantalo-niobiate ores in Abu-Rusheida, molybdenum deposits in Khamr-Akarem, copper in Gabbro-Akharem, and nickel and cobalt in Umm-Daveila.
Morocco's mining industry plays an important role in its economy. It is a source of foreign currency and accounts for approximately 43 per cent of the overall value of Moroccan exports. The leading place in the mining industry is occupied by the production of phosphorites and lead and zinc ores. Moroccan economic development plans evisage a considerable expansion of the minerals and raw materials base, particularly by increasing the output of phosphates, and non-ferrous and rare metals.
Since 1967 the USSR has been helping Morocco in the 169 realisation of these plans. Soviet specialists have carried out large-scale'theoretical and practical surveys in Morocco which have yielded good results. They also took part in drawing up a programme for oil and gas prospecting. The more promising regions in this respect, they maintain, are Muluya, Gersif and the High Atlas.
Moreover, Soviet specialists drew up a report on the comprehensive geological! survey of deposits of rare metals at Azegur and Gibilet, and made a preliminary industrial evaluation of combustible shale deposits. Prospecting conducted with their assistance led to the discovery of new industrial deposits of metal ores in the area of Bu-Azzer in the south of the country. Cobalt deposits in this region are estimated at 15--20 thousand tons of metal in ore. Thanks to the discovery of these deposits the production of cobalt in Morocco, which declined towards the end of the 1960s, rose to its former level.
The recommendations drawn up by Soviet geologists on the basis of their surveys enable the government organisation Bureau de Recherches et de Participation Minieres more purposefully to plan the prospecting for solid minerals and select the most promising regions. The Soviet Union and Morocco also cooperate in the production of phosphates.
In the Sudan, one of the biggest African countries, there are known manifestations of ores of ferrous metals, bauxites, copper, complex ores, magnesite, gypsum, fluor spar, asbestos and other minerals. But the country's mining industry is still weak and one of the reasons is inadequate geological surveying. The problem of drawing its mineral resources into the economic turnover should be solved chiefly on the basis of comprehensive geological prospecting.
Under the 1969 Soviet-Sudanese agreement on economic and technical cooperation, Soviet specialists took part in a gravimetric survey of the Red Sea Hills on an area of 130,000 square kilometres and an aeromagnetic survey of 100,000 square kilometres. Geological prospecting that was conducted in some regions led to the discovery of manifestations of iron, manganese, gold, gypsum and the ores of other minerals. Some of them may be of practical interest.
The weakness of the state sector of the economy and the strong positions still occupied by West European capital in the majority of African countries south of the Sahara handicap their cooperation with the Soviet Union and other 170 socialist countries. Nevertheless, in spite of the relatively narrow range of economic relations, the latter include some fruitful contacts in the study and development of mineral raw materials.
A typical feature of the Soviet Union's cooperation with the countries of Tropical Africa is the predominance of preliminary stages in geological prospecting (regional geological surveys, geophysical, geochemical studies, etc.), because the regions where Soviet geologists work had not been studied before. At the same time, just as in North Africa, some of the countries receive comprehensive assistance at all stages of geological prospecting and also in the development of mineral deposits. A case in point is the Soviet-Guinean cooperation in developing bauxite deposits with which the country's long-term economic development plans are closely associated.
The first national mine in Guinea which has an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons of bauxites was built with Soviet assistance on a deposit near Kindia. This mining complex which is owned wholly by the state accounts for 20 per cent of the country's output of bauxites. The USSR receives a part of these bauxites as payment for credits, and also purchases them under a trade agreement. All this considerably broadens Guinea's opportunities to repay Soviet credits and buy Soviet commodities. The Guinean Government and people are highly satisfied with the assistance of Soviet organisations in the construction of the mining complex near Kindia.
The Soviet Union's participation in the construction of this mine ensured a steady import of Guinean bauxites which are used in the production of aluminium and abrasives.
Soviet assistance to Guinea in prospecting for minerals is very extensive and diverse. Geological survey conducted on a territory of approximately 30,000 square kilometres has resulted in the discovery of deposits of limestone and other building materials which are scarce in the country. One of these deposits discovered in the area of Mali can keep a factory with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons of cement supplied with all the necessary raw materials. At present Guinea satisfies its requirements in cement only at the expense of imports. The prospecting for new bauxitebearing regions that was conducted with the participation 171 of Soviet specialists in recent years has resulted in tlie discovery of large bauxite deposits in the Pita-Labe area. Their aggregate capacity has been tentatively estimated at 250--300 million tons.
The People's Republic of the Congo is another Tropical African country where cooperation in geological prospecting has also resulted in the industrial development of the discovered mineral deposits.
Soviet geologists conducted surveys in the middle reaches of the Niari and discovered rich deposits of lead and zinc ores, placer gold and other valuable minerals. The USSR is helping the Republic to industrially develop the prospected deposits of complex ores in Gengile estimated at 300,000 tons and placer gold in Sunda Kakamoeka. Stateoperated M'Fuati ore enrichment factory and a gold mine have been built there. Another complex ore deposit--- Yanga Kibenga---has been surveyed. According to preliminary estimates it will yield a considerable amount of valuable raw materials. Soviet-Congolese cooperation in studying the country's natural resources! is continuing, and at present Soviet specialists are conducting geological surveys in the Boko-Singo area.
Soviet assistance in studying the natural resources of the People's Republic of Benin took the form of laboratory tests of samples of non-ferrous and rare metals, including copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, cobalt, nickel, chromium, tungsten, niobium and'lithium. A number of new agreements have been signed.
The Soviet Union also helped the Mali Republic in prospecting for minerals. In the colonial period practically no geological surveys were conducted in the country. Therefore one of the key aspects of Soviet-Mali cooperation under the terms of the 1961 agreement was assistance in determining Mali's mineral resources.
At first an aeromagnetic survey was made of 75 per cent of the country's territory. Geologists searched for minerals involved in the production of cement, and also for combustible shale, iron, gold and other minerals. Thanks to their efforts, deposits of high-grade limestone containing an estimated 18.5 million tons of clays and silica which are essential components of cement were discovered in the Bafoulabe-Kai area. The first cement factory in the country was built in 1969 on the basis of these deposits. Prospecting 172 for combustible shale in the Agamor-Bourem-Islufen area in the east of the country resulted in the discovery of deposits of this mineral totalling some 800 million tons, according to preliminary estimates.
An important aspect of Soviet-Nigerian economic relations is cooperation in geological prospecting for metals and coal. Nigeria's requirement in ferrous metals, which it has to import at present, is increasing very rapidly. Therefore, the construction of a metallurgical plant is a matter of vital importance for its economic development. The solution of this problem, however, encountered certain difficulties arising from the fact that the country's raw materials resources had not been fully studied. The Soviet Union which has rich experience in building iron and steel works in foreign countries, consented to prospect for iron ore and coal in Nigeria.
The first step was to determine which parts of the country were more likely to contain iron. As a result of aerial photographic surveys of 194,800 square kilometres and then of aeromagnetic surveys of 70,000 square kilometres it was agreed that the region of Okene-Lokoja was the most promising.
Nigeria is one of the few African countries which have deposits of hard coal. Geological surveys made by Soviet specialists in two sectors revealed that its total coal resources amounted to approximately 320 million tons.
There is a good chance of discovering new mineral deposits in Senegal, particularly in its eastern regions. Since 1963 geological surveys in that part of the country have been conducted by UN-appointed specialists, but they failed to discover anything. In compliance with a request from the Senegal Government, Soviet geologists in the period from 1971 to 1973 surveyed the area of 2,000 square kilometres and prospected for gold ore deposits between the Faleme and Gambia rivers and for placer gold in the middle reaches of the Faleme, and discovered two promising deposits---Sabodala and Kerekunda.
There are titaniferous minerals in the black sands along the Atlantic coast of Senegal, which annually produced from 12,000 to 22,000 tons of ilmenite, 1,000 tons of rutile and 2,000-5,000 tons of zircon. But since many of these deposits have been depleted the Senegal Government engaged the Soviet foreign trade organisation Tsvetmetpromexport to make additional surveys of the sands. Its reports to 173 the Senegal Government substantiate the expediency ol' quarrying and processing these titaniferous sands.
A programme for the systematic prospecting for mineral deposits has been drawn up by the Tanzanian Government with the view to creating conditions for the development of the mining industry. Between 1970 and 1973 Soviet specialists helped to make geological surveys of 42,000 square kilometres, compile maps and search for gold, lead, zinc, copper, and other hard minerals in the regions of Luna and Mranda. This work] paved the way for planning further geological surveying. Prospecting for minerals is also conducted in Uganda under an agreement signed in 1978, in Libya and some other African states.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Assistance in Organising NationalIn one of its documents the UN Economic Commission for Africa pointed out that there was hardly a single African country which had the necessary apparatus, planning techniques, technical personnel and research equipment for developing mineral resources.^^4^^ This is a very serious assessment. Experience shows that many African countries had to begin from scratch and it is hardly possible to overestimate the assistance which they received from the USSR.
For instance, the Soviet Union helped Algeria to set up the Central Combined Research Laboratory for the Survey and Development of Oil and Gas Deposits with the latest equipment at its disposal. When in I960 Algeria nationalised the mining industry and foreign specialists began leaving the country, Soviet geologists helped it to set up the National Society for Prospecting and Exploiting Minerals (SONAREM). Later the Algerian Government set up a Central Geological Base with chemical, spectral and mineral and petrographic laboratories outfitted with Soviet equipment.
The Central Mineral Raw Materials Laboratory in Egypt is also outfitted with Soviet equipment. On top of that, Soviet organisations supplied Egypt with 20 mobile _-_-_
~^^4^^ See U. N. Natural Resources and Transport, E/CN/14/ECOI7, 26 May 1969, p. 1.
174 laboratories for analysing and taking samples of raw materials in the field.In Guinea geological surveys were made solely by foreigners in the first years of its independent development. Since the establishment of Soviet-Guinean cooperation a polytechnical institute was founded in the country. Since that time Guineans have gained experience in geological surveying. In 1971 the Guinean National Geological Organisation assumed responsibility for prospecting for mineral resources. At the same time Soviet organisations continue actively to assist the Republic in this sphere, and among other things helped in the establishment of the Central Geological Laboratory.
The founding in 1969 of SONAREM equipped .with Soviet technology was an important step towards the creation of conditions for the development of a mineral raw materials base in Mali.
The success of national geological organisations in investigating and developing mineral resources largely hinges on the availability of national personnel and their skill and experience. Hence the Soviet Union attaches considerable importance to the training of local mining specialists. Working shoulder to shoulder with Soviet specialists, their African counterparts take over their experience and knowledge and use them in their country's interests.
The Soviet Union has already provided substantial aid to a number of African countries in surveying and developing natural resources. An important contribution to the further development of cooperation in this field was made by the publication in the USSR in 1973 of the work Geology and Useful Minerals in Africa. This book was written for Soviet geologists already working and those who will work in Africa, and also for the young African geologists studying in the USSR.
There are good prospects for increased cooperation of Soviet geologists and specialists in African countries in investigating the continent's natural resources and it will evidently occupy an important place in the Soviet Union's eroanding economic links with African countries.
[175] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter IX __ALPHA_LVL2__ SOVIET ASSISTANCE IN THE DEVELOPMENTThe establishment and consolidation of the African countries' national economies call for comprehensive industrial development, provided, of course, necessary conditions are available for this. In some cases, a development of agricultural production and farm produce processing industries would be preferable.
At the time most African countries became independent, industry was most developed in North Africa. By the early 1960s, in addition to light industry enterprises, there were small metallurgical, chemical and oil-refining plants in the countries of the region. Egypt accounted for the biggest share of industrial output in North Africa (almost 50 per cent).^^1^^
In the countries of Tropical Africa, industry was underdeveloped, with the exception of a few fairly big mines and non-ferrous metal plants owned by foreign capital. Mostly there were small handicraft workshops that produced cloth, pottery, leather goods and other articles by ``traditional'' production techniques and for local consumption.
Consumer demand was chiefly met by imports, which ate up a considerable part of the meagre hard currency earnings.
During the first development decade, African manufacturing grew at an average rate of 6.5 per cent a year. _-_-_
~^^1^^ See Survey of Economic Conditions in Africa, 1972, Part I, United Nations, New'York, 1973, p. 129.
176 Between 1960 and 1970, the value added in the manufacturing of 41 independent African countries grew from j>2,285 billion to ji4,856 billion. Yet there were no fundamental changes in the sectoral structure of African industry. The food and tobacco industries remained the most important branches of manufacturing in developing Africa during the 1960s, accounting for 24 per cent of industrial employment, 41 per cent of gross output and 38 per cent of the value added in manufacturing as a whole. Over 33 per cent of Africa's industrial enterprises were concentrated in these two industries. Next in importance came the textile and clothing industries, which accounted for 20 per cent of gross industrial output and 33 per cent of the labour force employed in the manufacturing sector. By the late 1960s, light industries (including the food, drinks, tobacco, textile, clothing, wood-working, furniture-- making, paper-and-pulp, and printing industries) accounted for some 70 per cent of the total number of manufacturing units and nearly 65 per cent of both the value added and the gross output of the manufacturing sector.By the early 1970s, the share of industrial output in the GNPs of some African countries topped 25 per cent, which was mainly a result of the growth of raw materials production. These countries included Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Zaire, Zambia, Mauritius, and Swaziland.
Industry and power engineering developed most rapidly in North Africa. Between 1960 and 1970, their share in the GNP increased from 18 to 30 per cent. The mining industry, too, expanded rapidly in the North as well as in the West of Africa.
Despite certain achievements, the level of industrial development in many independent African countries remains low. The problem of their further industrialisation has been repeatedly considered by many international organisations. The EGA, for instance, has drawn up Africa's Strategy for Development in the 1970s, which is a fundamental document setting forth the goals and tasks of the continent's industrial development and ways for achieving it. It notes, among other things, that the industrial policies of the African countries "must fulfil the role of transforming the structure of rural production and linking the __PRINTERS_P_177_COMMENT__ 12--0763 177 rural and urban sectors to provide a foundation for a modern economy".^^2^^
A further detailed analysis of the opportunities for industrial development in Africa is contained in a declaration entitled "Industrialisation in Africa: Principles and Guidelines for Go-operation and Development''. This was adopted by the 23rd Session of the OAU Council of Ministers in June 1974. The Declaration reaffirmed the "role of industrialisation as a dynamic instrument of growth in the strategy of development of African countries".^^3^^
The document notes that the African countries must give priority to a clearly formulated strategy and plans for long-term industrialisation, the specifics of the policy and measures for implementing them; to closer ties between industry and agriculture; to the introduction of a policy for developing African enterprise; and to the establishment and development of the corresponding industries that might be an effective instrument for consolidating and integrating the national economies of individual countries.
The elaboration and, above all, realisation of the concepts of economic development in the African countries involve serious difficulties stemming from their colonial past. Yet their wish to overcome their age-old backwardness at whatever price is clearly in evidence. Moreover, most African countries believe the development of industry, both mining and manufacturing, to be one of their primary tasks.
The ways and means for fulfilling this task are, of course, different and depend, among other things, on the level of development attained by individual countries and regions. In the countries of North Africa, where the material basis for the development of heavy industry has been or is being created, the number of iron and steel, engineering, oi -- refining, chemical and other heavy industry enterprises can be increased. In the countries of Tropical Africa, in addition to the construction of individual heavy industry enterprises, small plants (for processing farm produce, for instance) may also be of great importance for their industrialisation _-_-_
~^^2^^ Africa's Strategy for Development in the 1970s, New York, 1971, pp. 12--13.
~^^3^^ Industrialisation in Africa: Principles and Guidelines for Cooperation and Development, Mogadishu, 1974, p. 2.
178 programmes. For some of these countries such enterprises are their national industry pilot projects and centres for training the national industrial labour force.Analysis of the implementation of industrialisation programmes permits certain other features stemming from Afrita's specific economic development to be singled out in the work of industrial enterprises. For example, the cost of production in manufacturing enterprises in Africa is, in most cases, higher than in the industrial countries, or even in the developing countries of other continents. EGA experts believe that this is because of the low productivity of labour, less intensive use of modern machinery following on the low skills of local engineers and technicians, and the general technical ignorance of the local labour, which draws its reserves from the village population.
Industrialisation is also hampered by some factors that raise the building costs of industrial projects. These include: high transportation costs, particularly for the haulage of materials inside the continent; high salaries for Western technical personnel supervising the assembly and running of equipment, and the like.
Industrialisation in Africa encounters many serious difficulties, so the assistance rendered by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries acquires special significance for the development of national industry. Some 70 per cent of the total volume of Soviet economic and technological assistance to independent African countries is industrial aid. Most industrial projects are being built in North Africa. Cooperation agreements covered the construction of 80 industrial projects in North and 57 in Tropical Africa by early 1977. The structure of cooperation differs somewhat, depending on the region: 50 per cent of the total sum of credits in Tropical Africa and over 70 per cent in North Africa are earmarked for building industrial and power engineering projects. Industrialisation is also assisted through the reconstruction and expansion of existing enterprises.
Cooperation with the USSR is growing in importance for the strategy of industrial development in Africa. It facilitates economic growth, develops productive forces, increases the number of workers, engineers and technicians and raises their skills, and heightens the partner-countries' overall technical level.
179 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. Assistance in Developing Power EngineeringSoviet assistance in developing power engineering occupies a prominent place within the framework of economic and technological cooperation with African countries. Under existing agreements, the USSR is assisting the construction of 27 power projects in Africa. On completion, their aggregate capacity will amount to 2.9 million kw.
The Aswan complex in Egypt is the biggest hydropower project built with Soviet assistance in Africa. With its rated power of 2.1 million kw, it will be able to generate up to 8 billion kwh a year, when it reaches its design head. The Joint Soviet-Egyptian Declaration on the Completion and Commissioning of the Aswan Complex notes that "this Dam is a new word in the world practice of hydro-- engineering, a major achievement of Soviet science and technology, a result of the fruitful creative cooperation between Soviet and Egyptian scientists, engineers and workers".^^4^^
The commissioning of the Aswan hydroelectric station has radically changed Egypt's power supply. Up to 1960, almost all Egyptian power was generated by steam power stations working on imported fuel oil. After the commissioning of the Aswan High Dam hydroenergetics became the country's main source of electricity. Between 60 and 75 per cent of the power generated by Egypt's hydroelectric stations is transmitted to Cairo, Alexandria and other densely populated areas of Lower Egypt by high-voltage power transmission lines. The use of the Nile's water energy gives Egypt £E200 million in annual profits.
Africa's first unified power grid, including 14 power transmission lines, 15 substations and a dispatcher centre in Cairo, is being built on the basis of the Aswan complex.
The number of African countries the Soviet Union has assisted to tap their hydroenergy resources has increased in recent years. In Morocco, for instance, the MansourEddakhby hydro-complex was commissioned in 1973. This includes a 70-metre-high arch-gravity dam, a 536 millioncubic-metre water reservoir, and a 10,000 kw hydropower station with 192 km of power transmission lines. The Soviet Union has also assisted Morocco in building the AitAadel hydropower station, which has a capacity of _-_-_
~^^4^^ Pravda, 16 January 1971.
180 24,000 kw. In Tunisia, a 660 kw-capacity hydroelectric station was erected with Soviet assistance on the Kasseb River. A dam and a hydroelectric station are to be built on the Jumin River.Since 1960, Soviet experts have been rendering technical assistance in running Guinea's power projects owned by the government company SNE (National Electric Society). This company owns 57 per cent of the commissioned power capacity and accounts for 35 per cent of the total power output in the country. Since 1971, Soviet organisations have been participating in the development of the power industry in Tanzania, where the state-owned company Tanesco is modernising and building electric power transmission lines and new power-generating plants. In cooperation with Soviet experts, the company is currently engaged in surveying for a technical project of a 14,000 kw-capacity hydropower station to be built on the Kivira River, 75 km-long power transmission lines and an access road.
Thermal power stations (TPS), too, have been or are being built with Soviet aid in a number of African countries. The biggest of them are: a 165,000 kw-capacity TPS at Jerada (Morocco); a 100,000 kw-capacity TPS in Suez (Egypt); a 55,000 kw-capacity Annaba-III TPS (Algeria); and a 13,500 kw-capacity TPS at the oil refinery in Assaba (Ethiopia).
Soviet participation in building small-capacity diesel power plants which are important for power supply in remote areas has become widespread today. In Zambia, for instance, the Soviet Union has built ten 400 kw-capacity diesel power plants. In 1974, Soviet and local engineers drew up a technical and economic report on the development of Zambia's power system, whose objective was to create an independent power grid in the country. Several diesel power plants have also been built in Guinea, Somalia and the Sudan to generate power for industrial enterprises constructed with Soviet aid and for near-by settlements.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Assistance in Developing Heavy IndustryA number of African countries have already started developing a national metallurgical base capable of catering for their growing demand for ferrous and non-ferrous metals which has risen owing to their large-scale construction, 181 development of national engineering and other metal-- intensive industries. The Soviet Union plays a leading role in assisting African countries in building iron and steel plants. One of the continent's biggest is the Hehvan metallurgical complex in Egypt, whose design capacity is 1.5 million tons of steel a year. This is a complex of industrial enterprises, including an agglomeration plant, a blast-- furnace, an oxygen converter, cold and hot rolling mills, a coking plant, and some other units. To ensure iron-ore supplies for the complex, the Soviet Union helped to build a mine in the Bahariya oasis.
In 1972, a steel foundry was commissioned for the El Hadjar iron and steel works, Algeria's first. The Soviet Union also helped in its construction. The production of local steel allows the country to curtail imports and meet the demand for steel for oil- and gas-pipe production. Yet the demand is growing so rapidly that Algeria has to import nearly a million tons of steel annually. For this reason, the government decided to expand the El Hadjar iron and steel works from 410,000 to between 1,800,000 and 2,000,000 tons of steel a year. Soviet organisations are taking an active part in building a blast-furnace, an agglomeration plant, a steel foundry, a coking plant, a wire-- drawing shop, and general auxiliary services and premises. The El Hadjar iron and steel works is Algeria's biggest project which, when completed, will be one of the most modern metallurgical enterprises in Africa. When the expansion work is completed, the plant will produce almost all the country's ferrous metals. After 1980, it will meet over 50 per cent of Algeria's demand for such metals.
In June 1976, the Soviet Union and Nigeria agreed to start work on an iron and steel plant. Its initial capacity was to be 1.3 million tons of steel a year. Its construction is making good progress.
The total capacity of Soviet-assisted metallurgical enterprises in Africa will be 4.4 million tons of steel a year. This compares favourably with the 0.5 million tons of steel produced annually in Africa in the mid-1970s.
The Soviet Union's contribution to the development of
aluminium production in Africa is also great. Until
recently, there were only two aluminium plants in independent
Africa---in Ghana and Cameroon. Their aggregate capacity
was some 150,000 tons a year. In keeping with the Soviet--
182
__FIX__
Algeria's first modern non-ferrous metal enterprise is the El Abadia lead and zinc factory, which can process 2,000 tons of ore daily. Another Algerian big non-ferrous metal plant---Ismail---was put into operation in 1973. It, too, was built with Soviet assistance following the discovery of a mercury deposit by Soviet geologists. An agreement was signed for building an aluminium plant producing 140,000 tons of aluminium annually.
The development of metalworking and mechanical engineering is of paramount importance for overcoming the African countries' technical backwardness, so cooperation in this field accounts for a sizable share of the total volume of Soviet-African business activities and involves 29 projects. They include plants manufacturing forged articles, electric welding circuits, welding electrodes, metal-cutting lathes, aluminium cables, radio and TV sets, cutting instruments, files, abrasives, and the like. Back in the 1960s, the Soviet Union contributed to the development of Africa's emerging shipbuilding industry by helping Egypt to establish the continent's largest shipyard in Alexandria, where various sea-going vessels are built. In Angola, the Soviet Union is assisting in the modernisation of the shipyard in Lobito and the reconstruction of the ship repair workshops in Benguela.
The participation by Soviet experts in putting back into operation a number of Algerian enterprises that were standing idle, after their former owners and foreign engineers and technicians had fled, contributed to the consolidation of the national metal-working and engineering industries. These enterprises included plants producing metal structures, boilers, electrical equipment, and a railway car-- building plant.
The setting up of a repair base to ensure continuous maintenance of farm machines occupies a prominent place in the overall cooperation aimed at strengthening the economies of the African countries. In Guinea, for instance, the Soviet Union has helped to build a mechanical repair shop for tractors and other agricultural machinery. Ten similar shops were put up in Algeria, and one is currently under construction in Angola.
183The oil-refining, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries were not developed in Africa in the colonial period. Even oil-producing countries had to import oil products. In the early 1960s, the African countries imported a $ BOO millionworth of chemical goods annually.
Political independence has meant that the requisites have been created for developing these vital industries. Specifically, by 1976 three refineries with a combined capacity of 2.6 million tons were built in Africa with Soviet assistance. They include the Assab oil-refinery in Ethiopia, which was commissioned in 1968 and is unique in the country. It employs 600 workers, or 25 per cent of the labour force in Ethiopia's petrochemical industry. This efficient enterprise puts out 12 varieties of high-quality oil products, including condensed gas, petrol, kerosene, diesel and propellant fuel, fuel oil, and bitumen. Some of these products go for home consumers while some are exported. The refinery's flow-chart drawn up by Soviet experts makes it possible to refine oil of different physico-chemical composition. For many years now, Ethiopia has been independent with respect to the choice of crude oil sources.
Coke production is an entirely new industry for Africa. It is closely connected with the development of the iron and steel industry. Africa's first enterprise of this kind was a coking plant built in Egypt, in cooperation with the USSR, which produces 1.2 million tons of coke annually.
Enterprises built in a number of African countries with Soviet assistance ensure the supply of building materials for civil engineering and industrial construction. In the Algerian town of Oran, for instance, a workshop producing an annual 10,000 tons of plate glass was built in 1973. Now Algeria has cut down its sheet glass imports. In Mali, the cement factory at Diamou is the biggest of its kind in the country, producing 50,000 tons of cement a year. It was built in 1969 with Soviet assistance and plans are under way to expand it.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. Cooperation in Building Light and FoodMany African countries, especially to the south of the Sahara, consider their top priority to be the building of the light and food industry enterprises for meeting their 184 peopie's demand for consumer goods and cutting down their hard currency spendings on importing them. Many African countries already have small enterprises of this kind and a relatively developed raw material base, which is a good requisite for organising their national textile, leather and footware, flour and groats, and canning industries.
Under inter-governmental agreements, the Soviet Union is rendering assistance in building some 40 light and food industry projects in Africa.
Soviet cooperation in promoting the African food industry includes participation in the construction of dairy, meatpacking, canning and milling enterprises. Three dairies commissioned in Egypt in 1964 were among the first. Another such plant was put into operation in Mogadishu in 1965, and yet another was commissioned in the Sudan in 1968.
Cattle-breeding is an important branch of African agriculture. Its efficient development in a number of countries is facilitated by the building of processing plants, which ensure a continuous demand for cattle, shorten the distances over which cattle, intended for export, have to be driven, and produce high-quality foodstuffs for domestic consumption and for export. A meat-packing complex in Somalia, and a slaughterhouse and a cold store in Guinea were built with Soviet aid in the early 1970s.
The rich fish reserves in Africa's coastal waters offer good opportunities for industrial fishing and canning fish. In 1970, a fish cannery was built, with Soviet assistance at Las Khoren (Somalia); its capacity is 6 million cans a year.
Fruit and vegetable processing plants put up with Soviet aid in Guinea and the Sudan play an important role in the development of their food industry. The cannery in Mamou is the first industrial enterprise built in a large agricultural area in the centre of Guinea. Its capacity is 6 million cans a year. Big fruit and vegetable processing plants have been constructed in the Sudanese towns of Wan, Kassala and Kerima, which are outlying regions, so the enterprises have a positive effect on the local land cultivation techniques.
Other food industry projects built in Africa with Soviet assistance include a brandy plant in Algeria. Its 185 construetion began after France, a traditional importer of Algerian wine, stopped imports. The plant was commissioned in 1972 and can process 150,000 hectolitres of wine annually.
Soviet assistance in developing African industry has yielded good results for the economies of the newly free countries and helped them in their struggle for complete equality in international economic relations.
[186] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter X __ALPHA_LVL2__ ASSISTANCE IN DEVELOPINGAgriculture is the basis of the economies of most of the independent African countries, a main sphere of their material production. Despite the massive migration of the rural population to the towns and the relatively rapid industrial development over recent decades, nearly 75 per cent of the gainfully employed population in developing Africa are still engaged in agriculture. In some countries, the figure exceeds 80 or even 90 per cent.
There are huge vacant territories in Africa that can be used for agricultural production. According to FAO figures, Africa accounts for 23.3 per cent of the world's arable land, whereas its population makes up only some 10 per cent of the world total. Besides, a large part of the land not considered arable today might well become so if appropriate land-reclamation measures were taken.
In the period of colonial dependence, Africa's best land was expropriated from the indigenous population by white colonists and plantation companies. Under the pressure of the local administration and Western monopolies, almost all agricultural commodity production was geared to growing the export crops required by the metropolitan and other industrially developed capitalist countries. At the same time, the crops needed for local consumption were mostly grown using the most primitive hand tools and archaic agrotechnical techniques. To cultivate small plots, even in those areas where there are no land tenure restrictions, peasants have to simplify their crop-growing technique to the maximum, because they are short of time even for 187 doing the minimum amount of work. Most farms employ no means for land fertility restoration, crop rotation is not practised, and mineral fertilisers are too expensive.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Africa's farm-produce output grew only slightly faster or even slower than the population. As a result, most African countries are unable to feed themselves, so they have to import some $3 billion-worth of foodstuffs annually. The all-round development of agriculture to raise the output of farm produce stood high in African national economic development plans for the second half of the 1970s, while in some countries it was considered the top priority. Yet to cope with this task some very intricate socio-economic problems had to be resolved, huge investments made and modern technology introduced in agriculture on a comprehensive basis. Outmoded land cultivation methods are still widely used in many African countries. Having no other means of preserving soil fertility, the peasants plough up their fields and leave them fallow for several years, until their fertility is restored by the natural'vegetation. This system results in a non-productive use of the limited arable land resources. Long-fallow lands are out of use for a period two or three times longer than the period they are cultivated, so as little as 25--30 per cent of the arable land can be tilled every year.
New cultivated areas are also developed by felling or burning out forests. Tree roots are left because the new plot is usually abandoned a few years later. African peasants only remove the trees and shrubs that grow on the surface. Local fires caused by the burning out of the bush or savanna sometimes spread over large areas, occasionally engulfing human settlements, and harm forest resources.
Despite Africa's impressive head of livestock, the share of animal produce in its food balance is extremely small because of the animals' exceptionally low meat and milk productivity. Traditional pastures are exhausted en masse; forests are being destroyed; land erosion is progressing and the top-soil becoming impoverished. Whatever Africa's potential farm produce, it is not utilised because the shortage^ of transport and storage facilities and the absence of processing plants makes it difficult to market the produce. Under these conditions, the peasants are compelled to sell their produce as fast as possible, which results in a massive supply on the market and an ensuing sharp drop in prices. 188 This makes it unprofitable for the peasants to expand their commodity production.
After winning independence, some African countries began lo implement deep-going socio-economic changes. They are doing away with Hie vestiges of foreign and feudal land tenure, and have eradicated or weakened the dominance of the middlemen, big merchants and money-lenders who mercilessly exploited the broad peasant masses.
In many African countries, recent years have seen the state come to play a more important role in the development of agriculture. Government organisations sponsor the construction of hydrotechnical facilities and irrigation systems, organise state, pilot and model farms, improve the marketing apparatus and expand agrotechnical services.
The newly free countries of Africa are making considerable efforts to raise their agricultural production, yet for quite a time they will still be interested in receiving economic and technological assistance from economically developed countries, above all the USSR and other socialist states, which render it on mutually beneficial and equitable terms.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The Scope of Assistance in AgriculturalIn response to request from a number of African countries, the Soviet Union is rendering them assistance in building various agricultural projects, developing new lands and raising the output of farm produce.
By early 1977 the USSR had signed contracts with 16 African countries on extending aid in agricultural development.
The scope of Soviet-African cooperation in agriculture includes:~
---the development ofj new lands for crop growing and the comprehensive use of water resources, the organisation of crop-growing state farms and agricultural machinery repair shops;
---the organisation of state livestock-breeding farms, the adoption of measures to raise the productivity of cattle-breeding, and also of veterinary and anti-- enzootic measures;
189---the construction of farm-produce storage and processing plants;
---construction, provision with equipment and material, and organisation of experimental institutions researching into crop-growing and cattle-breeding;
---construction, provision with equipment, and organisation of educational establishments for training agricultural experts;
---sending Soviet agricultural experts to provide technical assistance in building and running agricultural projects, and also consultations and advice to local agricultural organisations;
---electrification and village planning.
Competent Soviet design institutes and agricultural research centres are taking part in this cooperation.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Cooperation in Developing New Lands andTechnological assistance in developing new land and better utilisation of cultivated areas, chiefly through irrigation and mechanisation, occupies a leading place in SovietAfrican cooperation. The immense scale of irrigation construction in the Soviet Union and its rich experience in the comprehensive development of desert and arid territories have enabled Soviet organisations to render efficient assistance to developing countries in this field.
The Egyptian example is very indicative: the country's arable land totals some 2.9 million hectares, or close to three per cent of its territory. Estimates for 1975 put the population at 37 million, of whom more than 50 per cent were peasants. So, the per capita figure for arable land is less than 0.1 hectare.
Egypt's agriculture is based on water resources of the Nile, but for millennia its water was uselessly discharged in huge quantities into the Mediterranean. The commissioning of the giant Aswan hydropower complex has opened up great opportunities before the country. The High Dam built with Soviet assistance has created the world's biggest water reservoir, whose capacity (165 billion cubic metres) equals two average annual water discharges of the Nile. This has made it possible to control the river's water 190 resources. As a result, the volume of water that can be used for irrigation purposes has been increased to 56 billion cubic metres a year. Thus, an optimal irrigation regime has been created on all arable lands enabling farmers to gather two or more harvests annually. In addition nearly 1.4 million feddans (590,000 hectares) of new land have been irrigated, increasing the total irrigated area by 20 per cent. The Aswan High Dam has improved the water supply for basin irrigation lands (flooded by the Nile's high water), which were used after the high water abated and yielded, as a rule, only one crop.
The dam has protected Egypt's cultivated lands (which all stretch along the Nile) from the adverse effect of droughts and floods. It saved the country from disastrous floods in 1964 (in the construction period) and 1975; in 1972 it averted droughts.
The increase in irrigation water resources has doubled the output of rice. Similar changes have taken place with respect to other crops. After the commissioning of the Aswan High Dam, the average corn yield since 1974 rose by 36 per cent against 1964/65. Sugar cane cultivation has also been expanded considerably, thus increasing local sugar output. The development of 130,000 hectares of desert land in the Western Nubariya tract (the north-western part of the Nile's estuary, Al-Tahrir Province) has been started with Soviet assistance. A mechanised multi-sectoral state farm has been organised on 4,000 hectares of the land. Its technical base consists of agricultural machines, equipment and transport facilities donated to Egypt by the Soviet Government. The first crops were sown in mid-1968 as the initial step in cultivating the desert land. Since 1971 the entire area has been sown twice a year. The variety of forage crops grown on the farm has made it possible to launch animalbreeding, and by 1975 the farm had 5,000 head of cattle. Three years after the desert land began to be cultivated, the yields of wheat and barley on selected plots reached 12 centners per hectare, and of maize 15 centners. In the winter season of 1974/75 the yield of wheat and barley averaged 23 centners per hectare over the entire sown area. In 1975 the state farm's cereal-growing and cattle-breeding yielded £E145,000 in profits.
Soviet design organisations participated in drawing up the blueprints for the pumping stations, power transformer 191 substations, canals, irrigation and drainage networks for Egypt's entire newly developed area. The Soviet Union delivered large quantities of excavating machines, equipment for pumping stations, transformer substations and electric power transmission lines, and also transport facilities.
Soviet experts have drawn up a general plan for developing 126,000 hectares of land. This offers a comprehensive solution to such problems as the planned development of new land, all-round agricultural development that is technically feasible and economically most efficient, development of related industries and a transport system, electrification of the countryside, development of a communication system, and the like. The plan provides for the establishment of 31 state farms on the bigger part of an area exceeding 95,000 hectares. The farms would grow citrus fruits, grapes, vegetables, sugar-beet, cereals, and other crops. The plan also provides for 58 cattle-breeding farms with 79,000 head of cattle and 155,000 sheep. Moreover, provision is made for building over 100 settlements, with all the necessary housing, production, service and recreation facilities, and over 160 industrial projects catering for different industries, including canneries, distilleries, and sugar plants.
Most of the farm produce from the area would be exported and bring in an estimated £E30 million annually. The land development programme embraces a 10-year period. The expenses will also be recouped in 10 years after the projects are commissioned, which means the investment will be highly efficient.
A training centre was set up with Soviet assistance on the newly developed desert land at Ganaklis in 1966. It has trained 1,500 skilled agricultural workers (all kinds of mechanics), who are employed on the newly developed lands.
The Soviet Union assisted Egypt in the electrification of rural areas, including the power supply to 4,700 villages and 16,000 homesteads. It also helped power to be used more fully in agricultural production throughout the country.
In Algeria, dry agriculture predominates though there are good opportunities for the development of irrigation farming. The government intends to build a number of small water-retaining dams in the departments of Great Kabylia, Oran, Gonstantine, Mostaganem and Tiaret.
192Soviet experts participated in surveying these departments. On the basis of the results, Soviet design organisations drew up and handed over to Algerian institutions blueprints for the construction of 18 small and three medium retaining dams with water systems for irrigating some 10,000 hectares of new land, for improving the water supply for existing irrigational systems and for providing settlements with fresh water. In 1971 the first two storage dams were built on the rivers Arba and Tasif in Great Kabylia. They provide water for over 1,000 hectares of land now used for crop-growing.
Two more dams on the rivers Amara and Shander have created water reservoirs for irrigating another thousand hectares.
Soviet assistance in bringing water to Algeria's deserts and arid regions for supplying water to the population, cattle and the soil, is of great importance for the development of Algerian agriculture and raising the peasants' standard of living.
Soviet experts have made geophysical, topographical and soil surveys for irrigated lands. They have proved the availability of high-quality underground water in desert areas where fresh water sources have been unknown to the local population for many centuries. For example, a water well drilled near the Bentius oasis yields 80 litres of water per second, i.e., the amount a person uses a day. Foreign companies had made several drillings before but had been unable to find water there. A well near Gerar has an even bigger yield---330 litres per second. Fresh water has also been found at Levassor, Mircali, Talha, near Biskra, and elsewhere.
Fulfilling its initial obligations, the Soviet side had drilled 41 wells by 1967. Afterwards the Algerian side requested that the Soviet experts continue their work and their periods of stay in the country were twice prolonged. By early 1974 they had drilled 100 wells, 86 of which yielded water (in the departments of Oasis, Ores, Oran, Saida, Setif, Medea, Constantine, and Annet). Soviet organisations also undertook to equip the wells and lay down water mains to ensure the more efficient use of the water. The work so far accomplished has made possible to irrigate over 3,000 hectares, and ensure a supply of fresh water for 100,000 people and 250,000 head of cattle. In compliance with the __PRINTERS_P_193_COMMENT__ 13--0763 193 Algerian request, the Soviet Union is extending economic and technological assistance in carrying through an additional programme i'or tapping underground water reserves.
Also of great importance in the assistance provided by the Soviet Union is the establishment of Algeria's state repair base for maintaining and repairing agricultural machinery.
In recent years, a network of state-owned major overhaul repair shops has been created in a number of departments, as well as a land-reclamation institute at Blida.
The development of agricultural production has been the main economic task since the Somali Democratic Republic declared its independence. In compliance with a request from the Somali Government, Soviet experts have carried out the necessary surveys and drafted a plan i'or the use of the Juba River's water resources. Their recommendations envisaged the construction of a water storage dam in the river's upper reaches to increase its irrigation capacity and, very important, to prevent the disastrous annual floods which hamper the development of the region's economy in general and agriculture in particular.
The Soviet Union agreed to extend economic and technological assistance in setting up state farms for growing cotton and oil-bearing crops in the lower Juba over 8,200 hectares and undertook to buildj gravity-flow irrigation facilities, a hydroelectric station and power transmission lines.
Soviet organisations fulfilled the required design preparation work, delivered large quantities of earth-moving and agricultural machines and means of transportation, and sent experts to provide technological assistance. As a result, the work on developing new land was in full swing in 1963, and especially in 1964, but it stopped in 1966 because of the Somali Government's unwillingness to continue the cooperation.
Following a military coup, in October 1969, the Somali side requested the Soviet Government to renew cooperation.
Under the inter-government protocol of 6 May 1975, Soviet organisations assisted Somalia in building a dam and a 5,000 kw hydroelectric station at Fanole, as well as 194 a main canal with a water-supply network for irrigating 8,300 hectares. A settlement was built near the town of Jilib. Over 600 Somali and 70 Soviet experts worked togelher on the project in 1976. Many Soviet machines and mechanisms were delivered to be employed during the construction.
In view of the sizable increase in the number of agricultural machines, earth-moving and road-building equipment in Somalia, Soviet organisations helped establish a slate-owned system of maintenance and repair shops under the Department for Technical Services. Such shops were built in Mogadishu, Johar, and Jamame.
Soviet organisations also rendered Somalia technological assistance in drilling wells for tapping underground water to irrigate pastures.
The Soviet Government granted extensive free aid to Somalia to help overcome the disastrous effect on the economy of the recent drought. It delivered motor vehicles and offered aircraft to be used for relief purposes.
Unfortunately, the Somali leaders, blinded by chauvinism and nationalism, in 1977 chose the path of aggression against neighbouring Ethiopia. The Soviet Union naturally took a just stand on this, thus provoking the open enmity of the Somali leaders. They seem to have forgotten, or are unwilling to remember, the Soviet people's assistance and their free aid to the Somali people.
In effecting measures to increase its food resources, Guinea asked the Soviet Union for economic and technological assistance in expanding its rice fields and thus increasing its rice production. There are a number of rivers in the country's southern coastal area that discharge huge quantities of water into the ocean, especially during the flood period. Given proper control over this and protection of the rivers from the ocean's salt water, the fertile soil in this part of the country may be suitable for rice growing during tidal periods. It was therefore decided to start work on developing this area. The first step was to develop the Monshon land tract located in the northern part of Guinea's coastal zone, some 70 km from Boffa. This is an area of some 3,000 hectares of fertile land suitable for rice growing.
Under a contract signed in 1968, the Soviet side started __PRINTERS_P_195_COMMENT__ 13* 195 equipment deliveries in 1969--70 and began sending experts, but due to Guinea's financial difficulties the work was suspended and resumed only in 1972, when construction of the main canal was started in the Monshon area.
The irrigation project was drawn up by the FAO. Soviet experts prepared the working drawings, made surveys, adjusted and corrected the design documents. In 1972, a dam was built to protect the area from the ocean water. The first 200 hectares of newly developed land were planted in 1973. Soviet organisations fulfilled their contract obligations and, at the same time, Soviet experts trained skilled Guinean agricultural workers for the new rice-growing lands. The Soviet Union helped to build a big agricultural machinery repair workshop near Conakry. The Soviet assistance included design work, deliveries of equipment and materials, and sending of Soviet experts to facilitate the construction, adjustment and commissioning of the project.
Tunisia has vast areas of idle land that could be used for crop growing if artificially irrigated. Lake Achkel contains the country's largest reserves of fresh water. Its tapping is of immense importance for increasing Tunisia's output of foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials.
Soviet experts have completed the design and survey work and handed over to Tunisian authorities a general layout for land-reclamation measures in the area of Lake Achkel. As requested by the Tunisian side, a dam on the river Resala was chosen as the priority project. This will retain some 6 million cubic metres of water. Competent Soviet organisations worked out a project report and shipped the required equipment, building mechanisms, materials and motor vehicles. They also designed and prepared the working drawings for an irrigation network on the land tract adjacent to the water reservoir.
In the Republic of Mali, the French-owned agro-industrial complex Office du Niger was nationalised after independence. This is a large and complex enterprise with its own irrigation systems and farm-produce processing plants ( cotton-cleaning, rice-shelling, and sugar-making plants, a creamery, and soap works). In response to a request from the Mali side, the Soviet Government agreed to provide economic and technological assistance in expanding ricegrowing areas by completing the new land development 196 work at Niono and Kurumari and organising state farms there.
Since the technological cooperation with the USSR began, Office du Niger has renewed its machine-and-tractor pool by 70--80 per cent thanks to Soviet deliveries. Its motor vehicle pool is entirely Soviet-made. Following the recommendations of Soviet experts, a 1,200 kw-capacity diesel electric power station was completed under Soviet supervision at Niono in 1969, thus ensuring a continuous power supply to the Office du Niger's production centres, where its processing plants, repair shops and motor vehicle pools are located. Besides, a major repair workshop was built for maintaining and repairing the company's agricultural machines and tractors. Soviet experts have trained more than 500 local mechanics, repair workers and other categories of skilled agricultural labour.
In Zambia, by 1971, Soviet experts had already drilled 109 of the 300 wells envisaged in the 1972--76 five-year economic development plan for the Eastern Province. Ninety-six wells gave a water yield totalling 465 cubic metres per hour. Given Zambia's daily rate of water consumption (50 litres per person), this will supply almost 100,000 people or some 20 per cent of the Province's population. In 1973, Soviet experts trained 44 Zambian drillers, four of whom were sent to the Soviet Union to continue their studies at Soviet higher educational establishments. Consid- < ering the good progress in well drilling, the Zambian side requested that the Soviet experts' stay be prolonged from two to five years. In 1975, forty-five more wells were drilled and 13 wells repaired. This work is still going on.
Following the top-level Soviet-Nigerian negotiations in Moscow in May 1974, the Soviet side agreed in principle to render the Federal Republic of Nigeria economic and technological assistance in building small dams with irrigation systems, in drilling water wells and making tools and light mechanisms for agricultural work. The Soviet side also expressed its readiness to consider deliveries of Soviet-made farm machines and appliances to Nigeria. Soviet organisations sent experts to the country to draw up proposals concerning the opportunities for cooperation.
197 __FIX__ tx-editing-change-p-to-alpha _lvl Start with move-forward-whitespace!!! Nothing happens if point is to right of page number due to Page-Down. __ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. Cooperation in Cattle-BreedingSoviet-African cooperation in cattle-breeding is nol so extensive as in plant growing and finding fresh water sources, yet it is very important for some African countries. Here are some examples.
In the late 1950s the Government of the Republic of Guinea asked the Soviet Government to extend economic and technological assistance in raising the productivity of dairy cattle and organising state dairy farms.
The difficulty in developing dairy farming in Guinea was that the local strains of cattle have a very low milk yield, though they are easy to breed. Highly productive breeds imported from Europe adapt badly to the tropical conditions. A need thus arose for new strains of cattle combining a high adaptability to local conditions and a high productivity.
First, an experimental farm at Ditinn and a dairy-produce farm at Famoila were set up as bases for raising the productivity of local dairy-cattle. The first and second farms were completed by a Soviet building organisation and turned over to the Guinean side at ``turn-key'' readiness in 1964 and 1966, respectively. Apart from production buildings, auxiliary premises and housing---the complete set of structures required for any modern farm---small plants producing butter, cheese, cottage cheese and other dairy produce were also built on each of them. The farm at Famoila also has a school for training low and medium-level agricultural personnel.
It is to the credit of the Soviet experts that (1) they have managed to preserve the entire livestock of the imported red-steppe breed in a climate that is unusual and harsh for that strain; and (2) they have ensured a normal increase in both pedigree and cross-breed livestock and are successfully continuing their work on improving the local', breed, which is very resistant to trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)---that scourge of tropical cattle-breeding carried by the tsetse fly.
The Guinean side has highly appreciated the work of the Soviet experts and the positive results achieved ?in raising high-productivity half-breed cattle.
In Algeria, Soviet experts assessed the water and land resources in the western part of the Department of Medea 198 and evaluated the technological and economic feasibility of growing fodder crops' there. This work is of significant importance for the development of cattle-raising in the country. For over two years, Soviet topographers, geologists, agronomists, geobotanists, and others made surveys and studied the possibilities for using underground water in irrigating fodder fields. As a result, they have drawn up a diagram for irrigating 10,000 hectares of land. They have also studied the pastures in the Department of Medea, drawn up geobotanical maps, designed water supply mains for the settlements in the area, and irrigation canals for 2,500 hectares. Once the project is completed, guaranteed fodder-reserves will be available for cattle-breeding and it will be possible to grow vegetables and melons for the local market.
There is no organised veterinary service in the Sudan, so the losses of farm animals from cattle disease are heavy. The Soviet Government donated all the necessary equipment for constructing a $ 500,000-worth Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (at the town of Soba, 15 km from Khartoum) and assisted in building the laboratory's main building, auxiliary and technical premises, the administration building, as well as living quarters for research personnel and workers. The lab was opened on 25 June 1974. In the course of construction, the Soviet experts undertook the practical training of Sudanese engineers, technicians and workers.
An agreement was signed between the People's Republic of the Congo and the USSR on 12 July 1970 providing for cooperation in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infectious and parasitogenic diseases among farm animals, and also in training'Congolese research personnel in veterinary microbiology and virology. Under this agreement, Soviet organisations have built, in cooperation with the Congolese side, a veterinary laboratory in Brazzaville to carry out research and field studies.
The Soviet side will supervise the laboratory's activities for five years after its commissioning and then it will be donated to the Government and the people of the People's Republic of the Congo. The Soviet side also helps train Congolese national personnel in veterinary microbiology and virology, both locally and in the Soviet Union.
199 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1980/UCOA319/20080107/299.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2008.01.24) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_SEQUENCE__ continuousMeeting a request from the Government of Ethiopia, the Soviet Union provides extensive assistance to this country, too, in strengthening and outfitting the national veterinary service.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 5. Assistance in Storing Farm ProduceThe Soviet Union also extends economic and technological assistance (very popular in some African countries) in building grain elevators equipped with modern machinery for mechanised reception, cleaning, long-term storage and loading. Elevators enable African governments to influence grain prices in favour of grain-producers and create the conditions for redistributing grain within the country. All elevators built with Soviet assistance are profitable enterprises. Following the request of the Sudanese Government, Soviet organisations participated in the construction of two big elevators: one at Gedaref (capacity 100,000 tons), the other at Port Sudan (capacity 50,000 tons). All the necessary equipment and building materials not available locally were supplied by the Soviet Union, which also sent experts. The elevators were put into operation in late 1967; both are paying concerns and bring in sizable profits for the Sudanese Government.
In the colonial period, metropolitan research centres had a ramified network of experimental stations and bases in the colonies that researched into the agrotechnics of the export crops in which they were interested. They had collected valuable data and keptthem in parent institutions located, as a rule, outside Africa. After independence, the majority of African countries received no such data, so they often had to start their research from scratch. The Soviet Union's contribution to solving this problem is quite considerable in some African countries.
In Algeria, Soviet experts participated actively in setting up five experimental irrigated farming stations located in different soil and climatic zones (Blanche, Sidi-Madi, Ain-Skhuna, Isserville, and Madi-Buarlem), and then took part in their research activities. A group of Soviet scientists came to Algeria, and various laboratory, field and other equipment was supplied.
200The experimental studies conducted with the participation of Soviet experts have made it possible to make recommendations concerning the more progressive methods of crop growing on the irrigated land in different parts of Algeria. These methods involve the use of chemical fertilisers, agricultural machines, a more rational use of irrigation water, wider cultivation of high-yield crop varieties, and the like. These recommendations are also needed for drawing up long-term agricultural development plans and submitting proposals concerning further research objectives in fulfilling Algeria's irrigation programme.
In Ethiopia, Soviet experts are taking part in research into plant disease and pest control, and also assist in training Ethiopian research personnel to deal with phytopathology, entomology and other fields related to plant protection. The Soviet side financed the construction, with Ethiopian participation, of a scientific phytopathological laboratory at Ambo, which will be engaged in laboratory and field research.
The laboratory will be donated to Ethiopia as soon as local personnel master the research theory and practice. In the meantime, the lab's activities will be financed by the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union's cooperation with the independent African countries in the agricultural field has thus produced some tangible results. It is comprehensive in nature and is aimed at resolving the partner-countries' most vital problems.
[201] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XI __ALPHA_LVL2__ SOVIET-AFRICAN TRADE RELATIONS __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]In 1960, the USSR had trade relations with six African countries, in 1965 with 22, and in 1977 with 36, together accounting for 90 per cent of independent Africa's population.
Soviet-African inter-government trade agreements set forth general principles and the legal foundations for trade and some of the more important terms regulating transactions and deals. The majority of trade agreements include a provision covering the mutual granting of most-- favourednation status.
Soviet-African trade turnover is growing rapidlyJ Between 1960 and 1976, it increased from 271 million to 1,208.6 million rubles, or by 350 per cent.
In the early 1960s, Soviet-made goods were virtually unknown on the African market, whereas now, machines, motor vehicles and tractors imported from the USSR are used widely on the south coast of the Mediterranean, in the Nile valley, in the savanna and jungles of Tropical Africa. At the same time, some raw materials imported from Africa are used regularly by Soviet industry, while various tropical farm products and other consumer goods made in Africa are on sale in the Soviet Union.
Yet Soviet-African trade relations are still in the making. The experience of past years has shown that expansion of trade with the USSR often encounters certain difficulties stemming from the multitude of invisible links still lying Africa to the world capitalist economy. Reactionary forces and imperialist monopolies often put up direct obstacles, 202 hampering the development of Soviet-African trade relations. Time is needed to overcome the consequences of Africa's colonial oppression.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 1. Foreign Trade Development TrendsBetween 1960 and 1976, the foreign trade turnover of the newly free African countries increased from $11.9 billion to $78.4 billion, or by 550 per cent.^^1^^
African exports grew rapidly (from $5.3 billion in 1960 to $37.5 billion in 1976), as did the continent's imports (from $6.6 billion to $40.9 billion). In the period from the late 1960s to 1975, independent Africa's trade balance was, on the whole, active. True, exports exceeded imports chiefly in the countries exporting oil, metals and metallic ores, such as Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Zambia, Zaire, Mauritania, Gabon, and Liberia. In 1975, only the biggest oil exporters--- Libya and Nigeria---had an active trade balance. In all the other African countries imports were still considerably higher than exports.
The rapid growth of African exports was due to many factors, the most important including: the higher demand for oil and some other raw materials on the part of the industrial countries (raw materials account for over 90 per cent of Africa's total exports); the considerable rise in the prices of African exports; and the policy of stimulating exportoriented production to increase the African countries' foreign exchange earnings (see Table 6).
There was an especially rapid increase in the export of oil, copper, bauxites, aluminium, iron ores, and phosphates. The development of the mining industry and the growth of mineral raw material exports from Africa have resulted in huge profits for the monopolies in the USA, Britain, France, Belgium, and West Germany. The African countries have only received part of these profits, mainly as taxes and deductions.
Until recently, African government organisations have had almost no say in monopoly export policy. Even in those cases when ownership rights for African mining enterprises were partially taken over by national govern-- __PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__ _-_-_
~^^1^^ Seo U.N. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics. May 1977.
203 Table 6 Commodity Structure of Exports from African Countries I960 1975 Increase from I960 to 1975 $mln % $m]n % (%) Foods tuffs 1,870 35.2 5,061 14.8 170 Agricultural raw materials 1,728 32.6 5,107 14.9 190 Mineral raw materials (ores, non-metallic minerals) 482 9.8 2,219 6.5 360 Fuel 245 4.6 20,766 60.7 7,470 Non-ferrous metals 590 11.1 1,422 4.1 140 Manufactures 300 5.7 1,802 5.3 500 Source: ECA Survey a/ Economic Conditions in Africa 1967, New York, 19G9, 17. JV. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, May 1977. __PARAGRAPH_CONT__ ment agencies, the export of their output for a long time remained under the control of foreign monopolies (e.g., in Zaire, Zambia, and Sierra Leone). This, undoubtedly, hampers the development of their trade with the USSR. Yet the growing output and export of minerals have opened up new opportunities before the independent African countries, the realisation of these being closely connected with progress in socio-economic changes. The consolidation of the African countries' sovereignty over their natural resources will facilitate the expansion of their trade with the socialist states, which can import large quantities of many minerals, and also materials and articles made from them.The position of African countries on the world farm produce market is less favourable. True, their export of some foodstuffs, such as citrus fruits, cocoa-beans, coffee, and tea, increased in the 1960s, but the export of wine (which is vital for the countries of North Africa) dropped substantially owing to the protectionist policy pursued by Western countries. The export of cotton, sisal, leather, and natural rubber was low for quite a time. This was largely because of the increased competition from synthetics, such as chemical fibres, synthetic rubber, and plastics. World prices for many agricultural raw materials have jumped in recent years, but most of the African countries have 204 only been able to make limited use of this favourable devel opment owing to inadequate export resources. Besides, the developing light industry in some newly liberated African countries (textile and footwear) uses local raw materials, which also limits export possibilities.
Exports of manufactured goods from independent Africa are still negligible: in 1975 they totalled as little as $1.8 billion,^^2^^ or 5.3 per cent of Africa's total exports. The biggest exporter of manufactures was Egypt which, thanks to its stable economic ties with the socialist world, was able to expand its exports of textiles, yarn, clothing, furniture, footwear, and haberdashery. Other countries, too, such as Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, and Senegal, export some textile, woodworking, chemical, and metal-working articles. Besides, some African countries export industrially processed foodstuffs.
African countries are very interested in increasing their exports of manufactures, but encounter many difficulties in this. To begin with, their manufacturing industry is still underdeveloped, meaning that their production base is inadequate. Another difficulty lies in the discriminatory capitalist trade policy of blocking manufactured exports from the developing world. The Soviet Union's trade policy is diametrically opposite to this: manufactures from the newly free African countries account for an increasing share of Soviet imports from Africa.
In the 1960s African imports grew slower than exports. Some African countries, even if they had the necessary hard currency resources, did not start any radical restructuring of their economies, so they did not speed up their import growth. Other African countries had to curb their imports owing to the foreign exchange shortage, their foreign debts and money owed for services rendered. In recent years the value of African imports has increased substantially because of the higher world prices for many imported goods and the urgent need for foodstuffs. Import opportunities have expanded markedly in the oil-exporting countries, whose foreign currency earnings have grown considerably.
_-_-_^^2^^ Excluding unprocessed non-ferrous metals.
205 T a b 1 c Conii/wdil!/ Structure of African Im/torts* 1001) 11)75 1 nerrasc from 11171) to 1 ',) 7 5 Smln % $inln % (%) Machines, pqiiipnifnl and transport, facil-- 1,732 27.1 14,476 38.5 730 ities 1.140 17.8 5,502 14.6 380 Foodstuffs 265 4.1 1,500 4.0 460 Raw materials 510 8.0 3,347 8.9 550 Fuel 440 6.9 2,833 7.5 540 Chemical products Manufactures (except machinery) 2,150 33.6 9,904 26.3 350 * Excluding the import of ships to Liberia (from Japan), which arc purchased by US and West European companies and sail under the `` convenient'' Liberian flay. Source: EGA Survey of Economic Conditions in Africa 1967, New York, 1069; U.N. Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, May 1977.Almost all African governments are cutting down consumer imports and encouraging the purchase of capital goods, yet the share of imported foodstuffs and consumer goods in Africa's imports remains high. The rapid urbanisation and lagging agriculture compel some African countries to spend their meagre foreign exchange resources on consumer imports. At the same time, the import of machinery and equipment grew considerably during the 1960s and continued to do so in the early 1970s. This is indicative of the modernisation of the African economy, a process that continues despite many obstacles.
After consolidating their political independence, the African countries began to enjoy a greater freedom of manoeuvre and can now choose their foreign trade partners. They can take advantage of the contradictions between the imperialist powers and expand their economic ties with other developing nations and witli the socialist countries which do everything to assist them in their struggle for economic independence.
The African countries that have chosen a socialist orientation have markedly changed their foreign trade policies. Specifically, the share of the member-countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) has notably 206 increased in the foreign trade of Algeria and Guinea in the 1970s.
In most other African countries, there have so far been no major changes in their foreign trade. The industrially developed capitalist states still account for some 80 per cent of Africa's foreign trade turnover.
A convention regulating the trade, economic and financial relations between 46 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries and the EEC was signed in Lome (Togo) in February 1975. Heeding the demand of the developing countries, the new Convention does not use the term ``association''. On the other hand, it offers West European monopolies new opportunities for neocolonialist penetration into Africa.^^3^^
Inter-African trade accounts for only 4 per cent of the continent's total foreign trade turnover. Africa's regional organisations, such as the East-African Community and the Central African Customs and Economic Union, have so far had no significant effect on the expansion of inter-- African trade. This is because of the similar economic structures of most African countries, inadequate transport communication, and the differences between members of regional'' organisations.
Yet there is a growing tendency towards expanding economic cooperation between African countries, as well as between these" and developing countries in other parts of the world. The Arab countries of North Africa have broadened their economic relations with the Arab countries of Southwest Asia and some countries of Tropical Africa. In 1975 the Economic Community of West-African States was reestablished and expanded to include the French-speaking and English-speaking countries of the region. New forms of bilateral and multilateral cooperation are developing between African countries. Zambia and Tanzania, for instance, are increasingly coordinating the development of their transport systems. An agreement on the creation of a freetrade zone has been reached between Liberia and Sierra Leone. The African Development Bank has greatly stepped up its activities.
African trade with the CMEA member-countries has developed faster than that with other groups of countries: _-_-_
~^^3^^ For more details see R. A. Tarabrin, The New Scramble for Africa, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1974.
207 between i960 and 1976 it grew from &0.6 billion to j>4.5 billion, or by 65U per cent. Tbe socialist countries' trade and economic relations with some African states have become stable arid mutually advantageous.The period from 1973 to 1976, when a number of radical changes occurred on the international scene and the world market, became an important landmark in the development of Africa's economic ties. The policy of detente ,pursued by the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries has been conducive to the expansion of trade links between countries with different socio-political systems. At the same time, the confrontation has increased between the developing countries seeking to do away with all the vestiges of colonialism in the international division of labour, and the industrial capitalist countries seeking to retain their privileged position in trade.
The period 1973--76 was marked by the following major changes in Africa:~
---fluctuations in the prices of African exports increased considerably. In 1973 and the iirst half of 1974 world prices jumped for oil and the majority of raw materials, resulting in bigger hard currency earnings for a number of countries. Starting from the second half of 1974 and throughout 1975, however, prices remained high only for oil, phosphates, and coffee, while those for other African exports dropped. In 1976 prices for raw materials went up again:~
__ERROR__ Error in original; semi-colon starts another list but it is INSIDE the last element of the previous list.---the nationalisation of foreign monopolies, especially in the mining industry, gained momentum and scope;
---the activities of associations producing various raw materials and involving African countries expanded;
---the prices for many African imports rose;
---the food problem became worse in some African countries, thus compelling them to speed up the development of agriculture and increase food imports;
---the economic differences between the African countries became more manifest in general: some countries that have developed oil or other raw material resources improved their economic situation, while those that have no such resources found themselves in an even worse situation;
---the influence of the oil-exporting countries on Africa's foreign economic ties increased.
208 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The Development of Soviet-African TradeThe Soviet Union accounts for some 40 per cent of the total CMEA trade turnover with Africa (see Table 8).
Up to 1960, when most African countries were still colonies, the Soviet Union imported more from Africa than it exported to it. This was because some commodities produced in Africa, such as cocoa-beans, coffee and copper, were usu-- __PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__ Table 8 Soviet-African Trade (mln rubles) Year Export Import Turnover Balance for USSR 1955 12.2 37.1 49.3 ---24.9 1960 89.8 181.4 271.2 -91.6 1966 275.6 199.6 475.2 +76.0 1973 487.6 464.7 952.3 +22.0 1974 635.3 680.6 1,315.9 ---45.3 1975 574.9 864.7 1,439.6 -289.8 1976 549.5 659.1 1,208.6 -109.6 * Source: Vneshnyaya iorgovlya SSSR (Foreign Trade of the USSR). Statistical bulletins for tlie relevant years. Totals for Africa are those of the turnover of all the countries given in the corresponding bulletin. __PARAGRAPH_CONT__ __FIX__ Make Page-Up and Page-Down stop at __PARA tags because they are division markers. ally purchased from West European companies, whereas it was simply impossible for the USSR to export to many African countries because the colonial powers that controlled their foreign trade prevented this.
In the 1960s, when direct trade and economic relations were established between the USSR and most African nations, Soviet exports grew rapidly. A significant share of Soviet exports, above all deliveries of complete equipment for projects built in African countries with Soviet assistance, was provided on credit, so the total value of Soviet exports to Africa exceeded the value of its imports.
This ratio was maintained in the early 1970s. In subsequent years, however, certain new trends appeared. In 1973, for instance, the export figure grew by 80 per cent as compared with 1966, whereas the import indicator rose by 130 per cent over the same period. This was partially due to the shipment of commodities to pay back the USSR for __PRINTERS_P_209_COMMENT__ 14--0763 209 previous credits (from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Ethiopia, Sudan, and some other countries), and also due to increased Soviet purchases of farm produce and manufactures from Africa. Imports were also influenced by changes in world prices for many articles. In 1974, 1975 and 1976 Soviet imports from Africa exceeded exports to it.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. The Geographical Distribution of Soviet TradeFor a number of reasons---historical, political, and economic---in the 1950s and 1960s the USSR maintained the closest trade ties with the countries of North Africa.
Soviet trade with Egypt dates back to the 1920s, though its volume was limited at that time because of opposition from Britain, which held a dominant position in Egypt. In 1954, the USSR and Egypt concluded their first trade agreement, which created a basis for a rapid growth of their trade turnover. The Soviet Union's first trade agreements with Tunisia and Morocco were signed in 1957, i.e., before those signed with other African countries.
It is government agencies that are engaged in or control the foreign trade of North African countries. Of no minor importance, also, is the fact that these countries are fairly close to the USSR geographically. It was easy for Soviet foreign trade organisations to establish transport links with them. Moreover, transportation costs were lower than in trade transactions with more distant countries.
In the 1960s and until 1976, North Africa accounted for 75--80 per cent of the total Soviet-African trade turnover (see Table 9).
Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco accounted for the biggest share of Soviet trade with North Africa and Africa as a whole. Trade with these countries was based on long-term trade agreements containing concrete programmes for reciprocal commodity deliveries.
The Soviet Union was Egypt's biggest trade partner. In the early 1970s, the USSR's share in the country's total foreign trade turnover amounted to some 25 per cent. Machinery, equipment and transport facilities made up almost half the Soviet exports to Egypt. Between 1960 and 1975, Soviet machinery and equipment deliveries to the country __PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__ 210 Table 9 Dynamics of USSR-North Africa Trade Turnover (mln rubles) Country I960 1970 1976 Algeria 2.1 118.3 190.3 Egypt 172.0 606.4 530.6 Libya 1.3 12.9 16.2 Morocco 8.8 50.1 105.6 Sudan 10.1 77.4 19.0 Tunisia 4.3 5.7 14.8 __PARAGRAPH_CONT__ exceeded 1.4 billion rubles, most on a long-term credit. Between 30 and 40 per cent of Egypt's machinery and equipment requirements were met by Soviet supplies.
In addition to machinery, the Soviet Union provided Egypt with many types of material and fuel vital for the normal functioning of the country's young national industry and for the construction of new projects. Pit coal, ferrous rolled metals, non-ferrous metals, chemicals, and sawn timber were prominent among Soviet exports to Egypt. In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union supplied 95 per cent of Egyptian coal imports and 50 per cent of the imported sawn timber. The USSR also exported drugs and many articles for cultural and recreational needs and everyday use, such as books, watches, and household appliances.
The last 20 years have seen major changes in the composition of Soviet imports from Egypt. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, cotton was virtually the only commodity imported from Egypt which supplied as much as 40--45 per cent of Soviet cotton imports some years. Yet a steady expansion of the import commodity range was most characteristic of the development of Soviet imports from Egypt. Alongside many agricultural products, such as rice, vegetables and citrus fruits, the USSR began importing large quantities of Egyptian manufactured goods. In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union accounted for nearly 40 per cent of Egypt's industrial exports. The share of ready-made articles and semi-processed goods in total Soviet imports from Egypt reached 46.6 per cent. These commodities included: cotton fabric and yarn, clothing, knitwear, __PRINTERS_P_211_COMMENT__ 14* 211 furniture, and footwear. In 1970, for instance, the Soviet Union accounted for some 50 per cent of Egyptian cotton yarn exports and 90 per cent of the footwear. Other export commodities included oil and oil products, some brands of ferrous rolled metals, steel forging and equipment.
Drastic changes have taken place in Egypt's domestic and foreign policy since 1974. After declaring its " opendoor policy'', the Egyptian Government opened the way to foreign capital and terminated the Soviet-Egyptian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. All this has certainly ^had a negative effect on Soviet-Egyptian relations and, as a result, in 1976 Soviet-Egyptian trade turnover dropped.
The first Soviet-Algerian trade agreement was signed in November 1963, but even in the relatively short period since then, Soviet-Algerian trade has made good progress. Having dealt with the consequences of the destructive civil war and consolidated sovereignty over its natural resources, Algeria began building numerous enterprises. This has greatly increased the country's demand for machines, equipment and means of transport.
The Soviet Union is a major exporter of technology to Algeria. Of special importance is oil drilling and geologicalprospecting equipment needed for Algeria's national oil industry, metallurgical equipment for the Annaba iron and steel works, motor vehicles, aircraft, and sea-going vessels. Also exported to Algeria are rolled ferrous metals, sawn timber, pit coal coke, sunflower oil, articles for cultural and recreational needs and household utensils.
Wine and crude oil were the leading Soviet imports from Algeria. Soviet wine purchases based on long-term contracts opened up new opportunities for the country's agriculture and facilitated the sale of Algerian farm produce at a time when it was having difficulty gaining access to the West European market. At the same time, these purchases allowed Soviet distilleries to expand the range of raw materials processed. In recent years the Soviet Union has met the Algerian request that top-quality wine be purchased in addition to ordinary brands.
The system of balanced accounts practised in SovietAlgerian trade relations is highly appreciated by the Algerian side. On 30 March 1972, for instance, the National Liberation Front's newspaper Revolution Africaine 212 ineluded a major article on the results of Algeria's foreign trade development and wrote that its turnover with the socialist countries was on a clearing basis, i.e., commodities are paid for by commodities of equal value, rather than in cash. This system is mutually beneficial because it excludes financial problems between its participants.
A new long-term trade agreement was signed between the USSR and Algeria in June 1974. It provided for a substantial increase in their turnover towards 1977. Soviet exports grew primarily thanks to increased machinery and plant deliveries. The range of Soviet imports from Algeria also expanded appreciably. The agreement provided for the import of many articles produced by Algeria's national industry, such as zinc, lacquers, paints, and drugs.
Soviet trade with Morocco expanded considerably in the 1960s. Oil and plant are the main Soviet exports to the country. Soviet oil deliveries have contributed greatly to the development of Morocco's national oil-refining industry, established after political independence. Electrical equipment for power stations built with Soviet assistance headed the list of the machinery and plant delivered by the Soviet Union in recent years. Morocco's main exports to the USSR are oranges, cork and cork articles.
In March 1974, the Soviet Union and Morocco signed a long-term agreement on reciprocal commodity deliveries for 1974--78. It provided for a wider range of export and import items. Specifically, Soviet imports from Morocco were increased by bigger deliveries of citrus fruits, juices, sardines, wine, cork, as well as lead, zinc oxide, copper concentrates, phosphates, and light industry manufactures, which are items that Morocco had never before exported to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union increased its exports of various machines and equipment, building materials, fuel, articles for cultural and recreational needs and household utensils. Another long-term agreement on economic and technological cooperation in the'ffield of phosphates signed between the USSR and Morocco on 10 March 1978 greatly increased the volume] of Soviet-Moroccan trade.
Libya is becoming the Soviet Union's major trade partner in North Africa. After accumulating considerable foreign currency reserves from the export of oil, in recent years Libya has markedly expanded its import of capital and 213 consumer goods. The Soviet Union has increased its exports to Libya of some types of equipment, cables, rolled ferrous metals, cement, sawn timber, and also cloth and canned vegetables. It has some years imported crude oil from Libya. Alexei Kosygin's visit to Libya in May 1975 created fresh opportunities for a further growth of Soviet-Libyan trade and economic cooperation.
Trade with the countries of Tropical Africa is a very promising area of Soviet foreign economic relations (see Table 10).
Trade relations with most of these countries were established somewhat later than those with the newly emerged __PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__ Table 10 Dynamics of Soviet Trade Turnover with Tropical Africa (mln rubles) Country I960 1970 1976 Angola _ _ 19.7 Ghana 24.5 49.7 81.2 Guinea 7.2 14.2 50.1 Cameroon 0.2 7.5 36.7 Kenya --- 1.8 1.1 Congo --- 1.5 4.5 Mali __ 6.4 5.5 Nigeria 6.3 31.2 50.5 Senegal --- 1.2 1.6 Somalia --- 3.2 23.4 Tanzania 0.1 1.8 4.0 Uganda 4.4 3.9 1.5 Ethiopia 1.2 2.1 4.3 __PARAGRAPH_CONT__ states in North Africa. A major share of their natural resources was, until recently, under the control of Western monopolies. The participation of many Tropical African independent countries in capitalist closed economic groupings and currency zones limits the freedom of their trade and political activity. Until recently, their foreign trade was largely controlled by overseas companies that evaded government restrictions. This has somewhat hampered Tropicall Africa's trade with the USSR, and its absolute volume is stil I low (in 1976 it amounted to some 330 million rubles).
214Guinea, Nigeria, and Ghana account for the biggest share of Soviet trade with Tropical Africa. Since 1976 there has been a rapid growth of trade between the USSR and the People's Republic of Angola.
The Soviet Union established trade relations with Guinea in 1959, when the capitalist powers tried to organise an economic blockade of the newly emerged country. The support provided by the Soviet Union and other socialist states helped Guinea to consolidate its independence and develop as it chose, implementing progressive socio-economic reforms.
The USSR is one of Guinea's biggest trade partners. Soviet exports include a variety of industrial and consumer goods, with machines, equipment and means of transport in the lead. In addition to machinery for installation in enterprises built with Soviet assistance, Soviet exports include large quantities'of passenger cars and lorries, as well as aircraft for the national airline Air Guinee. In the early 1970s Guinea attached great importance to Soviet deliveries of machines and plant for the national bauxite mine near Kindia. Soviet-made motor vehicles make up over 50 per cent of Guinea's motor pool.
The Soviet Union also supplies Guinea with fuel oil, rolled ferrous metals, tyres, cement, cotton fabrics, fish, condensed milk, soap, drugs, articles for cultural and recreational needs and household appliances.
Farm produce, primarily tropical fruits, were the main Soviet imports from Guinea. Relatively small quantities of bauxites and alumina were also purchased. Under existing agreements and long-term contracts, Guinea's bauxite deliveries to the USSR have greatly increased since the commissioning, in 1974, of the Kindia state-owned enterprise and now occupy a leading place in Soviet imports from the country.
Soviet-Nigerian trade relations are mutually beneficial. The first Soviet-Nigerian trade agreement was signed in 1963, with both sides granting each other most-- favourednation status. Nigeria extended the open general import licence to Soviet foreign trade organisations, but the volume of Soviet-Nigerian trade remained insignificant for a number of years. By the late 1960s, the opportunities for expanding bilateral economic ties had grown markedly. Nigeria appreciated the support extended by the Soviet 215 Union to the Federal Government in the course of the internecine war unleashed by separatist forces with imperialist, backing. Once the conflict was over, Nigeria began rehabilitating and developing the economy, as well as expanding its foreign economic relations. Firm business contacts have been established between Soviet foreign trade organisations and Nigerian government and private concerns.
Machines, plant and means of transport, including equipment for geological prospecting, passenger cars, and cables for high-voltage power transmission lines, now account for a sizable portion of Soviet exports to Nigeria. Cement, glass, fabrics, and some foodstuffs are also among Soviet export items. Farm produce, above all cocoa-beans, predominates in Soviet imports from Nigeria. The range of commodities exchanged may well expand and the volume of Soviet-- Nigerian trade increase.
The first trade agreement between the Soviet Union and Ghana was signed in 1960. During the early 1960s, SovietGhanaian trade expanded rapidly. The USSR delivered machinery and equipment for various enterprises built in Ghana with Soviet assistance, as well as passenger cars and lorries, excavators, and fishing vessels. Also high on the list of Soviet exports were fuel oil, cement, fish, and lump sugar. Ghana's chief export to the USSR and in general was cocoa-beans. Soviet purchases helped to stabilise world cocoa prices, which greatly benefited Ghana.
Yet the regime after the coup of February 1966 radically altered Ghana's policy and began curtailing its trade with the socialist world. As a result, the volume of Soviet-Ghanaian trade had dropped substantially by the late 1960s. The present government is seeking to revive the national economy and develop mutually advantageous trade links with all countries. This has reactivated Soviet-Ghanaian trade and now the USSR is one of the biggest importers of Ghanaian cocoa-beans. It has also considerably increased its imports of cocoa-oil from the country.
Soviet trade is gradually expanding with other African countries, such as the People's Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, and Cameroon. Recent trade and economic agreements concluded between the USSR and Angola and Mozambique are also promising.
216 __ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. The Commodity Structure of SovietThe commodity structure of foreign trade takes shape under the influence of many factors, such as the existing international division of labour, the development level of productive forces in individual countries, their export opportunities and import requirements, and their economic policies.
The restructuring of the economy in many African countries results in a year-by-year expansion and change in the commodity range of Soviet-African trade. Yet certain characteristic features of the specialisation of the trade partners, depending on their export opportunities and import requirements, are now becoming visible (see Table 11).
Table 11 Commodity Structure of Soviet Exports to Developing African Countries I960 1976 Increase between mln mln I960 and rubles % rubles % 1976 (%) Total exports 89.8 100 549.5 100 510 including: machines, equipment and means of transport 26.3 29.5 204 37.1 680 ferrous and non-ferrous metals 7.4 8.2 12.6 2.3 70 fuel 21.0 23.4 116.2 21.1 450 sawn timber, paper-and-pulp articles 14.2 15.8 67.9 12.3 370 foodstuffs 4.1 4.6 30.8 5.8 650 consumer goods 2.9 3.2 6.3 1.1 110Soviet exports to Africa are mainly industrial goods, such as machines, plant, materials, and fuel. This export pattern is advantageous to both parties. African countries, which are seeking to build up independent national economies, need huge quantities of imported capital goods and are interested in obtaining them from socialist countries. The Soviet engineering, iron and steel, and fuel industries are best prepared for organising effective exports of their 217 output to independent African countries. Specifically, the export of motor vehicles and garage equipment to Africa is now especially extensive. In the 1970s, over 100,000 Sovietmade vehicles were delivered to Africa.
There is a considerable demand for Soviet road-building equipment, tractors and other farm machinery, planes and helicopters, mining, electric welding and drilling equipment, metal-working lathes and tools. The recipient country's climatic conditions are taken into account when making machines, equipment and means of transport. Many machines are exported in tropical versions.
National dealer companies and organisations handle a significant part of the Soviet equipment sold to African countries. Some of them have joint firms in which Soviet foreign trade organisations and local companies participate. These promote Soviet equipment among local buyers, supply spare parts, provide maintenance, and also train local personnel. Particularly good progress was made in the 1970s in the activities of the joint Soviet-Nigerian WAATECO society, which has established branches and stations for the technical servicing and maintenance of Soviet-made machinery in the capital and major towns and increased considerably the sales of Soviet motor vehicles and other equipment. In 1974, WAATEGO participated in setting up the SovietCameroonian joint company CATECO, which sells Soviet motor vehicles and other machinery in Cameroon and neighbouring countries.
Soviet machine and technical foreign trade associations are continually familiarising businessmen and the public in Africa with the export capacity of Soviet engineering. This is a special concern of international trade and industrial fairs held in Africa, and also of specialised exhibitions. The USSR participated in the international fairs in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Zambia, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
The commodity structure of Soviet imports from Africa has undergone considerable changes (see Table 12).
The share of raw textiles in Soviet imports from Africa has dropped substantially, though the USSR still buys sizable quantities of cotton and sisal. At the same time, the import of subtropical and tropical farm produce is steadily increasing. Soviet purchases of cocoa-beans, for instance, grew from 48,600 tons in 1960 to 112,400 tons in 1976, rice __PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__ 218 Table 12 Commodity Structure oj Soviet hn/iorls from Developing African Countries I960 1976 Increase between mln mln 1960 and rubles % rubles % 1970 (%) Total imports 181.4 100 659.1 100 260 including: textile raw materials 114.2 62.5 160.9 24.4 40 foodstuffs 33.1 18.2 264.3 40.1 700 fuel, minerals and non-ferrous metals 29.2 15.5 49.6 7.5 70 manufactures and semi-processed goods (except non-ferrous metals) --- --- 140.7 21.2 __PARAGRAPH_CONT__ from 4,600 tons to 50,400 tons, and oranges from 18,700 tons to 261,400 tons.
In recent years, there has been a marked increase in Soviet imports of African manufactures, chiefly consumer goods such as cotton fabrics, footwear, and clothing. It should be noted that many imported African foodstuffs also undergo some industrial processing (for instance, wine, canned food, juices, and cocoa-based products). On the whole, the share of "manufactures and semi-processed goods" (if the produce of the food industry is also included in this category) has come close to 30 per cent in recent years.
Some African articles account for a considerable share of the Soviet Union's total imports. In 1975, the USSR imported from Africa 53 per cent of its total cotton purchases, 72 per cent of the cocoa-beans, some 50 per cent of the wine, almost 80 per cent of the oranges, 15 per cent of the rice, and 63 per cent of the cotton yarn.
This export-import policy is in the interests of the Soviet Union and also promotes the development of the national economies of African countries. As Alexei Kosygiri stressed in June 1975, "our diverse ties with the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America are growing 219 stronger. We are cooperating closely with most of these countries in strengthening peace and safeguarding the freedom and independence of peoples. Together with them, we are working towards delivering international economic relations from all the injustices and colonial attitudes that had been implanted and are still being cultivated by the capitalist monopolies. We fully support the desire of the developing countries to consolidate their sovereign right to the natural riches they own.''^^4^^
All this creates the prerequisites for a further considerable growth of the trade and economic relations between the USSR and the developing world, including African countries.
_-_-_^^4^^ Pravda, 12 June 1975.
[220] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XII __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE DEVELOPMENT OFThere are a number of reasons why it is so important now both for the Soviet Union and its partners to develop their mutually advantageous cooperation further.
First, it is of great significance that the volume of international trade and the scope of foreign economic relations are developing faster than production.
Second, by early 1978 a great many industrial and other projects had been built and commissioned in the developing countries of Africa with Soviet assistance. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that these enterprises are profitable, that the investments are recouped in optimal periods, and that they facilitate the development of stable, mutually beneficial relations.
Foreign trade, economic and technological cooperation with other countries is economically feasible for the USSR when it provides for savings of social labour and time through a rational use of the advantages of the international division of labour. In evaluating the feasibility of its credits, the Soviet Union takes account of the fact that the goods and services with which it supplies other countries are to be produced and rendered specially for them, which incurs additional outlays. It also takes into account the compensation it receives in the form of foreign exchange or commodities.
For the developing countries, the efficiency of their foreign trade, economic and technological cooperation with the Soviet Union is determined by the extent to which these factors affect the development of productive forces, the improvement in the structure of the economy, and positive changes in their status within the system of the 221 international division of labour. Briefly, the efficiency of their cooperation with the USSR depends on how it promotes the attainment and consolidation of their economic independence.
Although economic prohtability and profit per unit investment are major indicators of the efficiency of industrial enterprises built in the developing world, this criterion cannot be applied to every cooperation project. There are projects (e.g. training centres) the economic efficiency of which may only be expressed in conventional terms, and often after quite a long period. Moreover, their operation is to be financed from the national budgets. This is why it is always useful for the objects of cooperation to include industrial enterprises that make it possible to accumulate funds for financing both the country's development and reimbursement of all the expenses incurred by Soviet organisations in rendering assistance.
Besides, the efficient operation of enterprises built with Soviet assistance, especially in Tropical Africa, is subject to a number of serious difficulties, both objective and subjective. It is extremely hard to develop economic ties and run government-owned enterprises in countries where private capitalist, small-commodity and semi-natural economies predominate. Individual enterprises built in African countries often do not maintain close economic ties with other enterprises, receive financial support from private credit banks, lack the necessary economic and technical leadership and are left to themselves in a hopeless fight against overseas companies engaged in a similar line of business. Moreover, the domestic market in many African countries cannot absorb the output of enterprises if they operate on the optimal level.
In some African countries, economic difficulties give rise to problems connected with financing the construction of projects, providing them with working capital, and also paying back Soviet credits. There are other short-term difficulties stemming from the inadequacies arising in the initial, launching period. The measures required for overcoming all these difficulties, ensuring the profitability of enterprises and raising the efficiency of cooperation are as follows.
The experience of the Soviet Union and its African partners shows that one decisive measure is to make a thorough preliminary study and prepare considered technical 222 recommendatioiis, especially on tho economic feasibility of a particular enterprise. The following practice has thus fully proved its worth: onco a request is received from the government of a particular developing country for assistance in building industrial or other projects, competent Soviet organisations appoint, in cooperation with design institutes, groups of Soviet experts and send them over to the partner-country. Their mission is to make joint preliminary field studies with local experts with respect to all the aspects of the future construction and operation of the project in question. Only if this study gives positive results is the project included in an inter-government agreement.
A thorough knowledge of the domestic and foreign markets and the demand for a particular type of output, and also of current prices for the product provides the foundations for evaluating the profitability of the projects to be built. Accurate figures on a country's labour resources are necessary to ensure an adequate labour supply for building and running a particular project. Data on the available design and construction organisations are also necessary, and the Soviet side has to be familiar with the recipient country's labour and tax laws.
The socio-economic conditions in each partner-country have to be reckoned with when planning to build and run an industrial enterprise, because they often affect supplies for the enterprise, its marketing opportunities and cooperation with other industries.
Also of great importance is the joint work of Soviet and local experts on dovetailing the construction programmes for cooperation projects and existing plans for economic and social development, in order to facilitate their fulfilment.
In the course of actual cooperation between the Soviet Union and independent African countries, two forms evolved for proving the technical possibility and economic feasibility of building industrial, electric-power, transport and communications projects, and the like: (1) technico-economic feasibility, and (2) technical project, which has a section dealing with technico-economic feasibility. There have been cases when both sides agreed, after Soviet experts had prepared technico-economic feasibility studies, that the construction of the negotiated projects was economically unsound, owing to a lack of the requisite conditions.
The timely training of national personnel is a key 223 measure for ensuring the profitability of projects built with Soviet assistance and raising the economic efficiency of cooperation. With this in mind, after the agreement on the construction of a project has been signed, measures are taken to train experts and skilled workers for the building site and later the enterprise, so that national personnel might quickly replace Soviet experts.
Another step towards ensuring the efficiency of enterprises is organising a smooth flow of raw materials for projects built or under construction with Soviet assistance. For example, in view of the expansion of the Helwan Iron and Steel Works in Egypt, an iron-ore deposit was prospected and developed and an access railway built.
At the same time, measures are taken to ensure marketing, in order to guarantee the full and timely loading of enterprise production capacity.
In many cases, Soviet experts together with local engineers seek ways of increasing the profitability of their enterprise and to this end devise and effect a broad range of measures aimed at reducing the production costs through higher labour productivity and workers' skill, savings on raw materials, fuel, electricity, steam, and water, and at cutting down administrative and other expenses. Such measures also include cuts in the number of Soviet experts required thanks to the timely training of national personnel.
The setting of correct prices for the output of Soviet-built enterprises is of great importance for ensuring their profitable operation. A lowering of sale prices in comparison with production costs makes an enterprise unprofitable. In Egypt, for example, the initial prices for the output of the antibiotic, chemical and pharmaceutical preparations plant were so low that, although the plant operated at above design capacity, the total value of its output was £E400,000, the cost of the raw materials consumed £E700,000, and the wages fund £E500,000. Given such low prices, the enterprise naturally incurred losses. This mistake was later corrected.
On the other hand, excessive price rises for output lead to marketing difficulties, gluts and losses. In some cases, depreciation was overinflated, yet the majority of industrial enterprises built with Soviet assistance in independent African countries are operating at a profit and earning considerable sums for the state budget.
224Raising the efficiency of projects in the non-productive sphere, taking due account of their specific features, is of equal importance. The governments of the partner-countries, for instance, take measures to enrol the required number of students in educational establishments built with Soviet assistance and to adapt their syllabi to national needs, in order that graduates might be employed more fully and rationally.
Experience has shown that the construction of enterprises in whose output both the African countries and the USSR are interested is most promising and economically effective for both parties.
Assistance rendered by big Soviet enterprises to similar plants in developing countries, including African ones, is an important means for enhancing the efficiency of cooperation. Soviet factories, which have vast experience and employ knowledgeable experts, offer efficient help to their African counterparts in organising production and training the work force.
There are good prospects for the further development of trade and economic cooperation between the USSR and the African countries.
The fulfilment of national five-year economic development plans has expanded the USSR's opportunities for assisting the newly free national states in developing their economies. Also beneficial in this respect is the implementation of the Comprehensive Programme for the Further Extension and Improvement of Cooperation and the Development of Socialist Economic Integration of the CMEA Member-Countries. This states that the CMEA countries will attach special importance to further extending their trade, economic and scientific cooperation with the developing countries.
The development of economic cooperation is promoted by the USSR's increased demand for mineral and agricultural raw materials for its industry, and also by the Soviet population's growing demand for articles produced by the developing African light and food industries.
Yet the extension of Soviet-African economic links and trade is largely dependent on the position of the African states.
The universal internationalisation of economic activities has been under way for many decades. This does not mean, __PRINTERS_P_225_COMMENT__ 15-0763 225 however, that favourable conditions for expanding economic relations between all countries or groupings are taking shape automatically. How fast they develop depends in each specific case on many factors, particularly inter-state political relations.
The extension of detente and its materialisation create prerequisites for the all-round development of international trade. Addressing the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Soviet delegates reiterated that various streams and trends in international trade, as well as in other forms of economic relations, are intimately connected. Cuts in military spendings, the complete liquidation of discrimination in international trade, and the spread of various forms of peaceful competition between the socialist and the capitalist countries will expand the opportunities for cooperation between the socialist countries and the developing nations of Africa.
Soviet-African economic relations will apparently develop in several directions.
First, the number of countries that will have economic and trade agreements with the USSR is expected to increase. To be sure, there are still African countries that, for one reason or another, have not shown any interest in establishing direct economic relations with the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that, sooner or later, they will realise that mutually beneficial economic relations are feasible.
Second, the economic cooperation and trade under the agreements now in force are to be extended. As the African countries develop their productive forces and establish effective control over their foreign trade, credit and financial relations, they will show ever greater interest in making these agreements more efficient, in order to create the conditions for developing stable trade, economic and technological cooperation with the USSR.
Third, some changes are likely in the sectoral orientation of technological and economic cooperation. With industry predominating in the USSR's economic assistance to the African countries, cooperation in agriculture may be given a new impetus. There will be a growing tendency towards developing a modern, multi-sectoral agriculture in Africa. In a longer perspective, therefore, both the absolute volume of Soviet assistance in this field and the share of this 226 assistance in the overall volume of Soviet-African cooperation will grow.
Fourth, the countries of Africa declare that application of the fruits of scientific and technological progress is their priority task, and their economic and social development programmes provide for concrete measures to attain this goal. The Soviet Union extends considerable assistance to African countries in this field, especially in training national personnel. Yet the scale of cooperation is to expand, particularly in training national cadres at all levels, including research personnel and the creation of a national scientific and technological base.
Fifth, the commodity structure of Soviet trade with Africa is sure to improve, extend, and become more stable. For the last 20 years, the list of articles exchanged between the USSR and most of the African countries has boon cortinuously expanding, yet it is still limited.
There are a number of reasons for this, such as the onecrop orientation of the economies of many African countries, the short period over which they have had trade relations with the USSR, and the domination of foreign monopolies, which survives to this day in the economies and foreign trade of some countries. As these restraints grow weaker or are eliminated, the conditions will emerge for a growth in the range and scope of mutually advantageous trade.
Soviet exports to Africa will probably continue to be industrial. Opportunities for supplying various types of equipment and materials will grow substantially. Specifically, only a few countries in North Africa are now taking the first steps in developing their own heavy industry, whereas, in the next decades, quite a number of African countries, including those in Tropical Africa, will request hardware for their metallurgical, chemical and even engineering industries.
Africa's greater concern for the development of agriculture may lead to an increase in purchases of Soviet agricultural machines and implements. Most of the littoral African countries have programmes for building and expanding their national sea-going fleets. These countries may increase their purchases of vessels and port facilities from the Soviet Union. Various ferrous and non-ferrous rolled products, coal and coke, sawn softwood, paper, cardboard, chemicals, fertilisers, paints, drugs, recreation articles and household __PRINTERS_P_227_COMMENT__ 15* 227 utensils will continue to be in high demand among the independent African countries.
Soviet imports from the developing countries will expand primarily through increased deliveries of the commodities that are regular features of their exports. These are foodstuffs, agricultural raw materials, minerals and manufactured goods (above all, light industry output). Trade and economic agreements signed between the USSR and a number of African countries in recent years provide for a sharp rise in Soviet purchases of manufactures, semi-processed articles and minerals. There is every reason to believe that this trend will continue.
Most of the independent African countries will still need outside financial, technological and organisational assistance, especially for developing their processing and mining industries geared to export. For this reason, Soviet-African trade must be better coordinated with economic and technological cooperation in individual African industries.
There is no denying that the further expansion of SovietAfrican economic cooperation will call for additional efforts from both sides. Yet there is another equally irrefutable point: given the further relaxation of tensions and the continuous change in the international correlation of forces in favour of socialism, the prerequisites will be created for the continuous growth of Soviet-African economic, trade, scientific and technological ties.
[228] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ Part Three __ALPHA_LVL1__ Scientific and Cultural Ties __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XIII __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE BASIS FOR SCIENTIFICIn the first few years following the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, the imperialist countries did their utmost to block the avenues through which people outside Russia might have learned the truth about the young workerand-peasant state. It was at that time that Lenin spoke of the need to develop international scientific and cultural ties, organise book exchanges, participate in international exhibitions and trade fairs, and establish contacts with foreign scientific institutions.^^1^^
In the late 1920s, the colonial barrier separating the USSR from Africa was bridged for the first time, though this was no easy matter. The outstanding Russian and Soviet scientist Nikolai Vavilov, botanist, biologist and geneticist, went to Africa in 1926 and travelled for two months on a scientific tour of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. His trip was extremely useful both for science and for the establishment of the first scientific contacts with the continent. In his letters from Africa, he wrote that his trip to the Mediterranean countries was interesting,' useful and productive, that local agronomists and colleagues were most cordial, that the archaeological excavations in the Sahara were striking and had to be seen by philosopher-agronomists. "Step by step,'' he wrote, "I am learning the philosophy of being, i.e., origin. It stems from the Orient.''
In 1927, Vavilov headed a delegation of Soviet botanists t,o Ethiopia. The scientist received an "open paper" from the Ethiopian Government, calling him a "guest of _-_-_
~^^1^^ See V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 352.
231 Ethiopia" and instructing local authorities to assist him. This contributed to the success of the expedition and assured its members goodwill and hospitality in many localities they visited.Vavilov thoroughly studied Ethiopia's flora and agriculture and enriched world science with new knowledge of the origin and history of major crops. He considered Ethiopia the birthplace of hard wheat and collected 6,000 samples of various crops, which added handsomely to the world collection at the Leningrad All-Union Institute of Plants.^^2^^
Academician Vavilov was one of the first Soviet scientists to establish useful contacts with African academic circles in the 1920s-30s and to contribute to raising the prestige of Soviet science in Africa. Thousands of business, scientific and personal links tied him to various scientific centres, prominent botanists, biologists and agriculturists, and also public figures in many countries, including in Africa. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he received rare varieties of sorgo from Senegal, Mali, and Guinea for his experimental and research work. It is not surprising, therefore, that the West African variety of sorgo (chiefly from Guinea) is now widespread in the USSR.
The development of African studies in the USSR necessitated the establishment and extension of international scientific contacts with the centres of African studies in the West. In pursuance of this goal, D. A. Olderogghe, a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, went to Western Europe. He studied African languages in Germany and the Netherlands. During his stay at Western African studies centres, the Soviet scholar established the first scientific contacts with both Western Africanists and with African scholars working there.
In 1924, an African Chair was set up at the Leningrad Institute of Oriental Studies, where living African languages began to be studied, Swahili in particular. At the same time, a library of African linguistics was set up; it now boasts a rich collection of books. The USSR Academy of Sciences' _-_-_
~^^2^^ The varieties of crops brought by Vavilov from Etbiopia are still used widely in selection and plant acclimatisation studies. The Abyssinian barley and wheat varieties havo proved to be the 1' astestripening and highest-yield under the severe highland conditions of the Pamirs.
232 Marr Institute of Language and Thought also began studies of African languages and peoples.The first contacts established between Soviet scholars and African experts in the political, economic and social sciences date back to the late 1920s. The Sixth Congress of the Communist International held in Moscow in 1928 had a special role to play in this. Its participants included S. Bunting, one of the founders and leaders of the South-African Communist Party; Edward Roux, Doctor of Biology, also one of the leaders of the South-African Communist Party in the 1920 s30s; and A. Aberderrame from Algeria.
Addressing the Congress, Bunting said: "We, in South Africa, are at present a vulnerable link in the Communist chain. If we are properly strengthened and developed, and if we are treated as we think we ought to be, we hope to become strong and thus to take advantage of the fact that countries like ours are also vulnerable spots in the imperialist chain.''^^3^^
Bunting urged the Communist International, as well as all political and government leaders and scientists to thoroughly study the situation in all the parts of the African continent differing in level of development, state of the economy, and ``method'' (Eastern or Western) of capitalist government.
The other delegate of the South-African Communist Party, Roux, dealt with the problem of training African national personnel. He said, among other things, that there was no intelligentsia in Africa "to lead the revolt of the Africans".^^4^^ He stressed the need to teach people how to read and write and to give an education to the indigenous population. The Algerian representative, Aberderrame, spoke of the need to raise the political level of the local people.
The Soviet Government granted the request of some African countries and enrolled their students in the Communist University of the Working People of the East in the autumn of 1928.
The first Soviet Africanists, such as I. I. Potekhin, worked at the University. Their stable contacts with people from various African countries, exchanges of views and discussions gave them a first-hand knowledge that they could _-_-_
~^^3^^ International 1'ress Correspondence, Vol. 8, No. 44, 3 August 1928, p. 780.
~^^4^^ Ibid., No. 48, 13 August l'J28, p. 854.
233 not gain from Western sources. This made it possible to lay the foundation of Soviet African studies as an independent branch of knowledge. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Soviet scholars began theoretical studies relating to African history, ethnography, culture, and socio-economic problems.In 1933, the first scientific paper written jointly by Soviet and African scholars was published in Moscow. The Soviet Africanists I. I. Potekhin and A. Z. Zusmanovich, together with Tom Jackson, an African,^^5^^ wrote a paper entitled Forced Labour and the Trade-Union Movement in Negro Africa, which analysed the political and economic situation on the continent and specified the tasks facing the national liberation movements in the African colonies and semi-colonies. Basing themselves on Lenin's doctrine, l,he authors asserted, as early as the first half of the 1930s. that an anti-imperialist revolution in Africa and support for it from the countries of the dictatorship of the proletariat would create the conditions for the African countries to choose a non-capitalist development course. A major contribution to science and the establishment of scientific contacts with Arab scholars, including from North Africa, was made by Academician I. Yu. Krachkovsky, an outstanding Russian and Soviet orientalist. In the orientalist circles in West and East, his studies have earned him fame as the most eminent expert on the history of new Arab literature.
Since World War II, the political, economic and cultural ties between the Soviet Union and the African countries have grown stronger. In 1945, a permanent Soviet exhibition was opened in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Two years later, a hospital of the Soviet Red Cross and Red Crescent Society equipped with the latest technology was opened there at the request of the Ethiopian Government. The hospital named after Dejazmatch Balsha, an Ethiopian national hero, was staffed by Soviet doctors and nurses.
During the first postwar decade, the colonial powers, fearing that the ideas of Marxism-Leninism might spread to Africa, virtually deprived Soviet scholars of any chance of visiting the continent, getting first-hand information about its historical and cultural past, or studying the _-_-_
~^^5^^ The pen-name of Albert Nzula, u prominent figure in the workingclass and communist movement in South Africa (1905--1934),
234 national liberation movement on the spot (at that time, right of access to African territory was accorded exclusively by London, Paris or Brussels). Yet they did not succeed in completely isolating Africa from the Soviet Union.Once the anti-colonial struggle was in full swing, the countries of triumphant socialism rendered important moral, political and material support to the parties and organisations of the national liberation movement, unmasked colonialism scientifically, and informed the public about the successes scored by the anti-colonial forces. Mention should be made here of a fundamental book entitled Narody Afriki (The Peoples of Africa), Moscow, 1954, written by a group of authors headed by Olderogghe and Potekhin. This was the first historical and ethnographic study of the peoples of Africa written from a Marxist-Leninist position. It was widely acclaimed in many countries and exerted a marked influence on the development of social sciences in the newly emerged African states and dealt a serious blow to anti-scientific colonialist and racialist concepts.
In the 1950s Africa was visited by various Soviet delegations of scholars from institutions working under the USSR Academy of Sciences. The participation of Soviet scientists in the 19t,h Internationa] Geological Congress, held in 1952 in Algeria, was of some practical importance. A sizable contribution to the development of science was made by the visit by the USSR Academy of Sciences' delegation headed by Academician A. L. Kursanov to agronomical and biological research centres in Guinea, the French Sudan, Senegal, and Mauritania. After the 8th International Botanical Congress in Paris (1954), the Soviet participants spent some two months in Tropical Africa. As a result, contacts were established with African and French research personnel working in that region.
In 1956, an agreement was reached with the Archaeological Administration and the National Library of Egypt to exchange delegations of scholars and librarians. The same year, a delegation of Soviet historians, ethnographers and archaeologists (including B. B. Piotrovsky, I. I. Potekhin, and A. P. Okladnikov) came to Egypt to establish contacts with local scientists and get acquainted with scientific institutions and ancient monuments. Talks were also held on a possible participation by Soviet experts in studies to save the ancient relics situated in the Aswan High Dam 235 flood zone. This trip was instrumental in developing scientific ties between the Soviet Union and Egypt. Over a relatively short period, the country was visited by Soviet physicists, power specialists, chemists, Arabists, astronomers, economists, and experts in organising and planning research and development, who rendered Egyptian research centres considerable assistance in both planning and developing individual research fields.
In 1957, Potekhin visited Tropical Africa (Ghana). During his stay, he worked in the national archives and libraries on the development of the national liberation movement in Ghana, read several lectures at Legon University College, and in Accra, Kumasi and Cane Coast. He travelled over the country and made some field studies. The material he collected and the results of his field studies were used for his major work on the history of Ghana,^^6^^ which has become very popular both in the Soviet Union and abroad.
In 1958--59, visits by Soviet scientists to Africa covered a markedly greater area. A delegation from the USSR Academy of Sciences went to Ghana to the 7th International Conference on West-African Studies. In 1958, the Republic of Sudan was visited by the Soviet Africanist S. R. Smirnov, author of a fundamental study on the history of the Sudan.^^7^^
In 1958, Soviet Africanists visited Ethiopia to study the culture and everyday life of the indigenous peoples and write a paper on the grammar of the Amharic language. The data they collected made it possible to introduce some corrections to the ethnical map of contemporary Ethiopia. The Soviet scholars established scientific contacts with their Ethiopian counterparts, and with the Ethnological Society, which later evolved into the Institute of Ethiopian Studies under Addis Ababa University.
In 1958, Soviet scholars were invited to Accra to the First Conference of the Peoples of Africa, which was a major political and scientific event on the continent. Its purpose was to unite all the anti-imperialist forces of Africa for the struggle against colonialism.
The trips made by Soviet historians, ethnographers and _-_-_
^^6^^ I. I. Potekhin, The Rise oj a New Ghana, Moscow, 1965 (in Russian).
~^^7^^ S. R. Smirnov, The History oj the Sudan: 1821--1956, Moscow, 1968 (in Russian).
236 economists to Egypt, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea, Sudan, and Ethiopia in the 1950s enabled them to visit local archives and libraries and study material pertaining to the development of the national liberation movement, to assist their African colleagues in planning and organising various research studies and establish scientific contacts.After the majority of African countries had gained their independence in the early 1960s, Soviet-African scientific and cultural cooperation was raised to a higher level. Agreements on economic, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation were signed between the USSR and many African countries. Seeking to provide more effective assistance to the progressive forces, Soviet science began a large-scale and comprehensive analysis of the political and socio-- economic processes taking place in the newly independent African states; it began to extend its research and establish effective ties with African research centres and cultural institutions. In October 1959, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences passed a resolution on setting up an Institute of African studies within the framework of the Academy institutions. The appearance in the USSR of a leading comprehensive research institute dealing with African problems was widely acclaimed in Africa itself. The African public wished Soviet scholars every success in their endeavour to recreate the true history of Africa and study the pressing problems that confront it today, and expressed their readiness to cooperate.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. Agreements on Cultural and ScientificSoviet cultural and scientific relations with African countries are maintained primarily on the basis of inter-- government agreements on cultural and scientific cooperation. Between 1957 and 1978, such agreements were signed with forty independent African countries.
The first agreement on cultural cooperation in the history of Soviet-African relations was signed with Egypt on 19 October 1957. Guinea was the second country to sign a similar agreement, on 26 February 1959.
As a rule, in all these agreements the contracting parties undertake, in keeping with their law, to consolidate and expand mutually beneficial cultural and scientific exchanges on the basis of equality, respect for sovereignty and 237 non-interference in each other's internal affairs. The agreements provide for measures to promote an exchange of knowledge between the parties, with a view to learning more about the life of each people in the cultural, scientific, educational, artistic, health care, and sports fields, and encouraging cooperation between organisations and institutions working in these fields.
The agreements include articles providing for an exchange of know-how and scientific achievements, delegations of scientists, research personnel, specialists, experts, post-- graduates, probationers, scientific and technical documents and information. They also provide for arranging trips of scientirt-3 to read lectures on certain lines of research or study cou/ses; extending mutual invitations to scientists to work at educational establishments or research centres; rendering assistance in training national personnel, including those with higher scientific qualifications; establishing closer contacts between scientific libraries in order to organise an exchange of scientific books; importing and exporting the equipment necessary for research laboratories and educational establishments; recognising diplomas, university and scientific degrees conferred in each country; sending textbooks and other aids to African training centres; and other measures.
The contracting parties undertake to promote closer cooperation between cultural, scientific and educational government and non-government organisations. Specific measures on cultural and scientific cooperation are implemented by way of direct agreement between the competent government agencies (on the basis of one- or twoyear plans, programmes, or working protocols), and also between the public organisations of the parties.
Working protocols, programmes and plans provide, among other things, for regularly sending Soviet teachers, including Russian-language teachers, to African universities and secondary educational establishments, maintaining scientific contacts between universities, exchanging scientists, and enrolling considerable numbers of African young people at Soviet higher and secondary educational establishments.
Agreements signed in the subsequent period (1966--78) provided for a broader exchange of scientists and experts and were more comprehensive than those signed in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. They included provisions for 238 joint research in various scientific fields and permanent working contacts and ties between universities and scientific centres. The number of African students in the USSR and of Soviet professors and teachers in African countries has grown markedly.
Scientific cooperation is often a component part of the overall economic and technological assistance rendered by the Soviet Union to the African countries. Technological cooperation with these countries embraces not only equipment deliveries, but also the transfer of technical documents containing the results of Soviet scientific and technological development and advanced production methods.
Experience has shown that the developing nations are seeking to establish scientific and technological ties with the USSR on the basis of special inter-government agreements. Such agreements have been concluded, for example, with Algeria and Morocco. They envisage exchanges of delegations, scientific and technical documents and information, joint work by scientists and experts on the peaceful uses of atomic energy, in energetics, chemistry and petrochemistry, the textile industry, and so on. The signing of these agreements shows that the USSR is developing new, as well as the traditional forms of mutually advantageous cooperation, in order to further increase the efficiency of its assistance to the newly free countries.
The Soviet Association of Friendship with the Peoples of Africa plays a special role in promoting cultural exchanges with Africa. This public organisation has branches in many cities and republics of the Soviet Union. In addition to individual Soviet citizens, its members include the entire staffs of various industrial enterprises, collective farms, educational establishments, and research centres. The Association familiarises the Soviet public with the history, national liberation movement, work, everyday life, economy and culture of the African peoples. At the same time, it promotes the spread of information among Africans concerning the history of the USSR, its economic, government and public affairs, scientific, technological and cultural achievements.
Every year, the Association organises various meetings to mark African independence clays, lectures, reviews of films about Africa, and meetings with active members that 239 have just returned from Africa. It receives many letters from African scholars and cultural workers.
Many African delegations visit the USSR on the invitation of the Association and other Soviet public organisations. African guests go to various Soviet Republics and establish contacts with Soviet scholars, writers and poets.
The African public is displaying a growing interest in the Soviet Union. This is borne out, for instance, by the setting up of mass public organisations of friendship with the USSR in Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia, and some other African countries. These organisations have their own Houses of Friendship, with reading rooms and film projection facilities, in many towns in their respective countries. African-Soviet Friendship Societies organise exhibitions showing the Soviet way of life, show films, organise lectures and get-togethers with visiting Soviet citizens, and cooperate actively with Soviet public organisations.
[240] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XIV __ALPHA_LVL2__ COOPERATION IN EDUCATION __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]All African countries show great concern for the problems of education and consider their solution to be a key factor in their development. New schools and higher educational establishments are rising throughout the continent and measures to liquidate illiteracy are being implemented. The obstacles to the development of education, which have been inherited from the colonial past, are gradually being removed and features of a new African school are becoming increasingly discernible. They include: provision of mass education facilities for school-age children, a sharp increase in the number of students attending secondary and higher educational establishments, and use of local languages in teaching.
Yet it is no easy matter for the African countries to overcome the difficulties, especially in education, that they have inherited from their gloomy colonial days. The main difficulties include: lack of sufficient financial resources for educational needs; acute shortages of medium- and highlevel personnel, including teachers; the brain-drain, and the gap between the system of education and economic development needs.
The African countries cannot yet, of course, rely exclusively on their own resources in developing education and have to resort to foreign aid. The socialist countries are opening up before Africa good opportunities for achieving true progress in education and the training of national personnel.
Soviet-African cooperation in education covers various fields, including the construction, with Soviet assistance, of higher educational establishments and research centres, __PRINTERS_P_241_COMMENT__ 16--0763 241 secondary and vocational schools; training local personnel in industrial enterprises built with Soviet aid; sending Soviet teachers to Africa; enrolment of African citizens for study and training in the Soviet Union; and the transfer of Soviet experience in training national personnel.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 1. The Importance of Soviet Experience in EducationThe experience accumulated by the USSR in cultural reforms and the all-round development of education is of special importance for the African countries that have taken the path of national revival. It is extremely valuable for Africa, because it answers the question of how inadequate national personnel can be quickly and efficiently trained, relying chiefly on internal resources. Addressing the AllUnion Congress of Teachers in 1968, Leonid Brezhnev said: "To use school terminology, one might say that the most exacting teacher---history---gave the highest mark to our country on the subject of 'people's education'.''^^1^^ It is only natural that Africa is seeking to adopt many Soviet methods, and the Soviet Union is readily sharing its experience.
Abdou Moumouni, a prominent African pedagogue, wrote, for instance, about the "remarkably convincing example" of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, where "the goal of education is continually to raise the cultural, technical and scientific level of the people, and train the greatest number of specialised cadres with very high qualifications, in order to have uninterrupted expansion of production in all fields and construct the communist society".^^2^^
The experience of socialist reforms in the Soviet Asian Republics, which used to be the most backward regions of tsarist Russia, is of tremendous importance for the African countries. It proves that socio-economic backwardness can be eliminated during the life-span of a single generation. Like the African countries, the republics of the Soviet East had an underdeveloped economic structure, a low level of _-_-_
~^^1^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Following Lenin's Course. Speeches and Articles, Vol. 2, Moscow, 1970, pp. 221--22 (in Russian).
~^^2^^ Abdou Moumouni, Education in Africa, Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, New York, Washington, 1968, pp. 189--90.
242 political and class consciousness among the working people, and staggering illiteracy.The elimination of illiteracy among the adult population of the USSR is probably its most striking experience. It is really hard to imagine that, in as little as two decades, the Soviet constituent republics, many of whicli had almost 100 per cent illiteracy, had completely eradicated it. This was only possible because the native population learnt how to read and write in their mother tongues, with many peoples and ethnic groups receiving their written language as late as the first years of Soviet government. It is not by chance, therefore, that many African politicians and scholars have spoken in favour of learning primarily from the Soviet Union how to combat illiteracy by using local languages.^^3^^
The way the national systems of education are established in Africa today is very similar to the development of education in the USSR in the first years of Soviet power. Just as the USSR at that time, African independent countries are now focussing primary attention on a numerical increase in experts, on eradication of illiteracy, involvement of women in the education process, and the training of personnel with medium and high qualifications.
It is not, of course, easy for African leaders to adopt Soviet methods. Account should also be taken of Africa's great dependence on the imperialist monopolies, which are doing their best to streamline the development of African education according to Western patterns (slow changes in the existing structure of education over many decades) and to block the realisation of the principle of a single school, which is the cornerstone of any truly democratic educational policy.
Neocolonialist advisers warn Africans against a too rapid growth in the number of students, against complete Africanisation of the teaching staff, against radical changes in the content of school education, and, more generally, against any radical reforms in the education system. Many Western pedagogues working in Africa are trying to lay emphasis on agriculture in developing education, to extend its humanitarian aspects, gear it to the exclusive use of European languages, and scale down the campaigns to combat illiteracy.
_-_-_~^^3^^ See Sogun Odunuga, "Language Politics in the USSR'', Ibadan, July 1971, No. 29, pp. 53--55.
__PRINTERS_P_243_COMMENT__ 16* 243Internal reactionary forces in the newly free African countries take the same stand. Many of their representatives were educated in the West and adhere to "Western standards" of educational development. The sharp ideological struggle going on in Africa over educational reform is very indicative of the difficulties encountered by the African countries in developing their national education systems. Whatever the zigzags in this struggle, one thing is absolutely clear: an ever increasing number of Africans are learning from their own experience that the means and methods of developing education that have been so brilliantly realised in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries are the right ones.
Those African countries that have embarked upon socialist-oriented social development offer the most graphic example of how the Soviet experience may be applied in Africa. These countries are implementing thorough-going reforms in the development of culture, including education. They see their most important task in creating their own intellectuals in various fields because, as Lenin emphasised, "without the guidance of experts in the various fields of knowledge, technology and experience, the transition to socialism will be impossible, because socialism calls for a conscious mass advance to greater productivity of labour compared with capitalism, and on the basis achieved by capitalism".^^4^^
The inclusion of African languages in the educational process is one of the greatest achievements of the socialist-- oriented African countries. Despite allegations by Western advisers and local sceptics that the supplanting of European languages would have a negative effect on the development of education, the governments of Guinea, Tanzania, and some other countries have been making wide use of local languages in schools and have scored remarkable successes. The teaching of European languages is not, of course, ignored, because they give African students access to the achievements of world science and technology.
The socialist-oriented African countries have achieved tangible results in organising nation-wide governmentsponsored campaigns to combat illiteracy, which involve millions of people. Just as in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, virtually all the literate population participates _-_-_
^^4^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 248. 244
244 in these campaigns. A higher level of general education enables the African states to use their labour resources more efficiently. It is indicative that the experience of the USSR in eradicating illiteracy among the adult population has been the subject of discussions and thorough analysis at a number of UNESCO-sponsored international symposia.The mobilisation of society's internal reserves for educational development is also characteristic. The voluntary participation of ordinary people in the construction of schools has become a regular feature in Guinea, Tanzania, and some other countries. This results in sizable savings in budget allocations to pay Western experts and, at the same time, offers an example of a new attitude towards labour and the building of a new society, free from exploitation of man by man.
The practical experience of Guinea is a good illustration of the close ties between education and life. Schoolchildren in the country are taught socially useful work from their first forms and, by the end of their study, are actively involved in economic development and national construction. The Algerian Government also makes wide use of the experience of the Soviet Union in developing education. The ideas and principles of socialist pedagogics are exerting a growing influence on the development of the national education system. Algerian teachers are using them more and more frequently, having realised that the bourgeois pedagogical models on which the overwhelming majority of African education systems are based, are unable to cope with the complex problems confronting the development of schooling. Many proposals discussed jointly with Soviet teachers at local pedagogical conferences were later incorporated into directives, instructions and recommendations sent by the Algerian Ministry of National Education to the management of educational establishments.
Soviet experience in training skilled workers on projects still under construction is very popular in Africa, because it makes it possible to train the necessary industrial personnel quickly and in large numbers. This highly effective form of assistance to developing countries, first used on a mass scale by the Soviet Union and then by the other socialist countries, has won recognition throughout the world. The training of personnel in the course of construction and subsequent operation of projects is considered a "positive 245 innovalion by the socialist countries" in a major UNESCO publication Apprendre a etre (To Learn to Be)^^5^^ prepared by an authoritative international commission headed by the French Minister of National Education Edgar Faure.
The application of Soviet experience even by those countries that have not taken a socialist orientation yields tangible results. There are a number of factors conducive to a more rapid solution of the problem of personnel. The main ones include: the greater role of the state in education and upbringing, the increasingly mass scale of schooling, steppedup activities in adult education, the substitution of local for foreign staff, and financing education chiefly through the use of national resources.
Planning is also a major factor instrumental in ensuring the comprehensive development of education throughout Africa. Soviet experience in this field is used widely on the continent and there is virtually no African country without a national programme for cultural development.
Many African countries have drafted educational development plans. Tanzania and Togo, for instance, plan to provide schooling for all their children by 1990, and Morocco by 1995. Zambia is introducing compulsory ten-year education. All this illustrates the attractive example of the Soviet Union where it became possible, for the first time in history, to exert a conscious, purposeful influence on the entire system of social relations on the basis of a knowledge and planned use of the laws of socialist society. Even a limited and incomplete use of planning yields tangible results for African countries.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The Construction of EducationalThere are various forms of personnel training used in the cooperation between the USSR and independent African countries. Assistance is rendered both in establishing the material and technological basis for developing technical education (the construction of institutes, technical schools, training centres, etc.), and in Soviet experts training local _-_-_
~^^5^^ Apprendre a etre, UNESCO, Paris, 1972.
246 personnel during the construction and operation of industrial and other projects.The Soviet Union has always shown a concern for training local experts to perform intricate building and installation operations and ensure the effective operation of completed projects independently. Thousands and thousands of experts and workers have been trained with Soviet assistance directly on joint projects during their construction and exploitation and over 100,000 at special Soviet-built training centres during the short period of economic and technological cooperation between the USSR and African countries.
In keeping with the agreements signed by the Soviet Union and African countries by early 1978, over 100 various training centres were to be built on the continent. Most of them had been built and were functioning by 1980. These are mostly poly technical, agricultural, petrochemical, mining and metallurgical, and medical institutes and technical schools and various vocational centres.
Specifically, the following educational establishments were built with Soviet assistance: polytechnical institutes in Conakry (Guinea) and Bahrdar (Ethiopia), the National Technical Institute in Tunisia, the National Institute of Oil, Gas and Chemistry at Boumerdas (Algeria), and the Higher Administrative School in Bamako (Mali). These establishments are well equipped and employ modern progressive teaching methods, which have earned them a good reputation both in their respective countries and abroad.
The Polytechnical Institute at Bahrdar was built in 1963 and donated by the Soviet Government to the people of Ethiopia. The Institute has 1,000 students (a four-year study course with a 250 annual intake). Before 1966, it had five departments: mechanisation of agriculture, chemical technology, electrical equipment for industrial enterprises, wood-working technology, and textile technology. In 1966, a new department---metal-working technology---was added. For a certain period lectures on all technological subjects were given by Soviet staff.
In 1969, a group of 37 graduates from the Institute were sent to the USSR to continue their studies at Soviet higher educational establishments in order to be able to work at their own Institute as lecturers. In the mid-1970s, some Ethiopians educated in the Soviet Union began lecturing at 247 the Bahrdar Institute. The number of Soviet personnel assisting in organising and conducting the study course was reduced accordingly. In 1967, the first 151 students graduated from the Institute. By 1978, their numbers had increased to one thousand.
In 1964, a Polytechnical Institute was built with Soviet assistance in Conakry. Today it plays an important role in providing national personnel. The Institute includes lecture-rooms, laboratories, training-in-production workshops and special studies with modern equipment. It is the first, and so far the only, educational establishment of this kind in the whole of West Africa. In accordance with a resolution passed by the Politbureau of the Democratic Party of Guinea, in 1968 the first group of young graduates from the Institute was awarded the name of Lenin as a sign of gratitude to the Soviet people.
The Institute's student body is expanding every year. It was designed to accommodate 1,500 students, but the actual figures were: 1,395 students in the 1970/71 academic year and 2,500 in 1972/73. By the end of the 1970s, more than 3,500 students had attended lectures in the physics and mathematics, civil engineering, electrotechnical, geological and mining, agricultural, chemical and pharmaceutical, social, and administration departments. The Institute has a medical faculty with therapeutic and pharmaceutical departments which have become leading centres for training skilled medical personnel.
Many chairs and laboratories are engaged in research work, under the supervision of Soviet instructors, into subjects of vital interest for the national economy. Upon the recommendation of the Soviet teaching staff, senior students now specialiseln professions needed for the bauxite mining complex built in Guinea with Soviet technical assistance.
Over 100 Soviet lecturers and experts specialising in equipment maintenance worked at the Institute. Scores of Guinean probationers learnt from Soviet teaching staff, and a group of Guinean teachers was sent to the USSR for postgraduate courses andTtraining work. Some Guinean teachers are offered post-graduate studentships at their own Institute.
In Mali, the Higher Administrative School, built with Soviet assistance for high-ranking government functionaries, began functioning in 1965, It trains managers, lawyers, and diplomats.
248In 1966, the first batch of students was enrolled at the Agricultural Polytechnical Institute in Mali which was built and completely equipped by Soviet organisations on `` turnkey'' terms. It trains high-and medium-level agricultural personnel and farm mechanics and accommodates 600 students.
The El Tabbi Mining and Metallurgical Institute, built in Egypt with Soviet assistance, began functioning in 1968. It trains top engineers and research personnel for the national metallurgical and mining industries. The study course was based on Soviet curricula and syllabi. A highly qualified body of Soviet instructors (most of them with doctor's and candidate's degrees) worked at the Institute. They participated in organising research both at their own Institute and at major enterprises and research centres in the country. Many Egyptian teachers and graduates from this Institute worked on probation at Soviet iron and steel works and higher educational establishments. The Institute has already trained several hundred engineers in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, foundry work, rolled steel production, heat treatment, automation of metallurgical processes, metallurgical furnaces and heat engineering, mechanical equipment for iron and steel works, economics and ths organisation of metallurgical production, and mining. Since the 1973/74 academic year the Institute has been training engineers specialising in solid fuel chemical technology (coke production).
The National Technical Institute of Tunisia, built with Soviet assistance in 1969, accommodates 700 students. So far it is the country's only centre for training engineers. The Institute's curriculum provides for a 5.5-6-year study course. The first group of students graduated in September 1975. In the mid-1970s, the teaching staff numbered 160 instructors, of whom several dozen were from the Soviet Union. The administration is taking measures to train its own teaching staff, so gradually the Soviet personnel will be replaced by specially trained Tunisian graduates.
The Institute maintains close contacts with Soviet higher educational establishments. In 1973, it signed longterm cooperation agreements with three Soviet institutes and drew up concrete programmes for cooperation for a period of two years. Such ties with Soviet higher educational establishments are a great help to the Institute. The Soviet samples of diploma and academic year papers, for instance, 249 played a positive role in working out the graduation procedure.
In Algeria, the problem of training national personnel is also being solved with the assistance of the Soviet Union, which cooperates in building and operating higher and secondary educational establishments, as well as vocational training centres. These establishments train the technical staff and skilled workers for virtually all the major branches of the national economy, primarily for the national oil industry, metallurgy, mining, geology, engineering, the textile industry, the building materials industry, and water management.
By 1978, more than ten training centres for 6,000 students had been built and commissioned in Algeria with Soviet assistance. Some 15,000 skilled workers trained there are employed in ferrous metallurgy, geological surveying, mining, the defence industry, textile production, agriculture, and engineering. In 1976, an agreement was reached on cooperation in building new big training centres for the simultaneous training of a thousand production-training instructors and the same number of skilled workers for ferrous metallurgy.
Graduates from the first higher educational establishment, built with Soviet assistance in 1964---the National Institute of Oil, Gas and Chemistry at Boumerdas---now work as engineers and technicians in the National Oil Company SONATRACH, on the Sahara oilfields, and also at the oil refineries and petrochemical plants at Skikda, Annaba, Algiers, and Arzew. In 1971, this Institute's graduates played an important role in Algeria's life when they stepped in after the French oil experts were recalled following the partial nationalisation of French interests in Algeria.
In his speech at the inauguration of the steel foundry of the El Hadjar Iron and Steel Works built with Soviet assistance, Chairman of the Revolutionary Council Houari Boumedienne emphasised the special importance of the National Institute of Oil, Gas and Chemistry at Boumerdas, saying that its "recent graduates have contributed to the replacement of the foreign technicians and engineers who proved unreliable during the take-over of our oil wealth in February 1971".^^6^^
_-_-_^^6^^ El-Moudjahld, 16 May 1972.
250By 1978, the Institute had trained some 1,000 engineers and over 2,500 technicians with high qualifications, which satisfied nearly 70 per cent of the country's requirements for oil and gas industry engineers and technicians. In the 1980s it will be training over 1,000 engineers and technicians a year. For comparison, in the early 1970s there were only a thousand diploma-holding Algerian engineers and technicians in all.
The 1972/73 academic year was the first of the Light Industry Institute set up on the basis of the textile department of the African Institute of Oil and Gas and Textile Industry, where students from many African countries study. The Institute trains engineers and technicians in 17 specialities. By 1977, it had trained 54 engineers and 462 technicians. The Annaba Mining and Metallurgical Institute, built with Soviet assistance in 1969, trains mining engineers, metallurgists, and civil engineers for industrial projects built or being built in cooperation with the USSR. The LandReclamation Institute, also built with Soviet assistance, is playing a major role in carrying through the land reform in Algeria. By the mid-1970s, its student body numbered over 300. An agreement was reached on setting up two more institutes---of applied mathematics and of industrial chemistry---within the framework of Setif University.
Nigeria is showing a growing interest in cooperation with the Soviet Union in training national personnel. A centre has been built there with Soviet aid to train skilled workers for the oil industry.
In addition to technical assistance in building and outfitting new higher educational establishments, the Soviet Union has also participated in organising special departments in existing African universities. For example, Soviet organisations have extended aid in equipping the engineering and medical faculties of Lusaka University ( Zambia).
The USSR aids a number of African countries in setting up various research centres. These include: phytopathological and virological laboratories in Ethiopia, a research centre that is part of the oceanographic and solar power engineering laboratories in Guinea, a complex laboratory in Nigeria, and an oil research laboratory in Algeria. These and other research centres, together with the Soviet personnel 251 working there, also play an important role in training African research staff.
The Soviet Union extends considerable aid to African countries in specialised secondary and vocational training. It has helped to build secondary educational establishments, schools, colleges and training centres in Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, the People's Republic of the Congo, Mali, Somalia, Uganda, and some other countries. Agreements have been signed to build similar establishments in Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Chad, and Ethiopia.
Between 1959 and 1974, 44 centres for training skilled workers were built in Egypt---in Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan, Helwan, Nag Hammadi, Ganaklis, Port Said, and other towns. These centres train skilled workers of a wide range of professions---from farm mechanics to workers for power, metallurgical and general engineering plants. The training centres are fitted out with modern equipment, instruments and necessary technical documents supplied by the USSR. Experienced teachers and production training foremen have been sent to Africa to organise the study process. This has ensured a high standard of training of local labour. The Soviet-built training centres in Egypt were the main source of skilled labour for major enterprises, such as the Alexandria Shipyard, and Helwan Iron and Steel Works.
The Aluminium Plant at Nag Hammadi is an important project built in Egypt in cooperation with the USSR. To ensure a supply of skilled labour, a training centre was commissioned there in 1973, well ahead of schedule. By the time the plant was ready, the training centre had put out the necessary contingent of skilled labour.
The training of experts at the centres built with Soviet assistance is based on the principle of imitating conditions that are as close as possible to real production. The training centres are a special kind of enterprise the output of which produced by the trainees is marketed. This ensures that they partly cover their costs and meets the high demands on the craftsmanship of the workers in training. Under the guidance of Soviet experts, the knowledge they receive is consolidated and work habits improved during the construction and actual operation of enterprises. The method of team and individual training emerged, was developed and became popular in the course of joint work on building sites. It involves the transfer of knowledge, work 252 habits and experience from Soviet experts to local personnel individually and on a group basis and has proved effective for training virtually all categories of employees--- from managers to ordinary workers.
To sum up, the construction of educational establishments and training centres in Africa and the training of local personnel during the construction of Soviet-African projects constitute the most effective means for promoting a rapid technological and economic growth of the African countries.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Soviet Teachers in AfricaThe African governments invite Soviet teachers to their countries, and their number is growing with each passing year. In recent years, the Soviet teaching staff there has averaged 2,000 each year. They can be seen at universities and other higher educational establishments, secondary and technical schools, vocational training centres and Russian language courses. At some educational establishments they make up a sizable quotient or even the larger part of the body of foreign teachers. The absolute majority of Soviet teachers sent to Africa on long missions teach physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics.
The largest group of Soviet teachers work in Algeria, where they teach some 40,000 students at more than 80 educational establishments in 26 towns. These Soviet envoys teach general educational subjects and Russian and give lectures on the history of economics, the history of MarxistLeninist economic doctrine, the constitutional law of the USSR and the socialist countries, nuclear and solid-state physics, electrical engineering, and geology.
Close to 100 Soviet teachers are working in Zambia. They teach mainly mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology in senior secondary school classes. Only a tiny fraction of them teach in the capital, the rest being scattered all over the country---in 27 towns and villages. There are also large groups of Soviet teachers in the People's Republic of the Congo, Mali, the Central African Republic, Chad, and many other African countries.
A characteristic feature of the activities of the Soviet teaching staff in African educational establishments is that they assist in training national teachers. When they go back to the USSR they leave behind a trained body of local 253 teaching staff in virtually all educational establishments. Soviet teachers working in Africa take account of local conditions and try to adapt their teaching methods accordingly. They work out special equations and sums intended to arouse the students' interest in their native land, its riches and achievements.
Soviet teachers are guided by one of the main principles of socialist pedagogical science and practice---the polytechnisation of education. The realisation of this principle has acquired special importance today because without it it is impossible to restructure the education system to suit the requirements of socio-economic development and scientific and technological progress on the continent. The polytechnical principle and a stable link between the object of study and practice encourage African students to think harder and take a creative approach to achieving their objectives.
Soviet teachers assist African organisations in charge of people's education in solving a number of problems related to teaching methods. In the People's Republic of the Congo, together with Congolese colleagues, they drew up chemistry curricula for general education colleges, compiled a general chemistry textbook for lycees and higher educational establishments (later put out in a mass edition), and also philosophy and political economy curricula for administration and trade union schools.
In Mali, Soviet teachers have compiled new study programmes for 39 subjects. All of them were approved by the country's Ministry of National Education.
The Algerian Government invites many Soviet teachers to participate in drafting measures to reform secondary school education and also the system of higher education. At the request of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Soviet teachers have written several chapters of a physics textbook for Algerian lycees. Hundreds of textbooks were compiled in the course of one year by the Soviet instructors at the African Institute of Oil, Gas and Textile Industry.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. The Training of African Personnel in the USSRThe training of African national personnel in Soviet educational establishments took on major dimensions from the very first years of Soviet-African cooperation in 254 education. The first large groups of African students Came to the USSR to receive a secondary and higher specialised education as early as 1956. Between the 1960/61 and 1974/75 academic years their numbers increased from 933 to 11,500. In the late 1970s, the Soviet Union has been extending assistance in educating and training national personnel from the overwhelming majority of independent African countries on the basis of inter-government agreements on economic and technical, and also cultural cooperation. The Soviet Government and various organisations grant 3,000 scholarships to African citizens each year.
Students from African as well as other newly free coun~ tries are admitted to leading Soviet institutions of higher education, such as Moscow and Leningrad universities, the Agricultural Academy, and medical institutes in Moscow. They are also enrolled at civil-engineering, geological, power engineering, and many other educational establishments that have rich academic traditions.
The Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University, set up in Moscow in 1960, offers young people from the developing world broad opportunities for receiving a higher education. It has six basic departments: physics, mathematics and natural sciences; engineering; medical; agricultural; history and philology; and economics. There is also a preparatory faculty and a post-graduate course that turns out highly skilled pedagogical and research personnel for higher educational establishments and research centres. Tuition, medical care and hostel accommodation are free. Moreover, the students receive a monthly grant. The University also covers the travel expenses of first-year students to Moscow and of graduates to their native country. They may spend their summer vacation at a special resort on the Black Sea coast. Special attention is given to the students' training-in-production practice at various industrial enterprises, pilot projects, research centres, and hospitals throughout the Soviet Union.
Some 5,600 experts were trained at the University during its first 15 years, including 1,500 for African countries, and their numbers are continuing to grow. More than 450 of its graduates have defended candidate's theses.
African citizens studying in the USSR master the specialities needed most by their national economies. Roughly half the African students are trained in the field of industry, 255 transport, communications, and agriculture, while the rest specialise in public health, education, philology, economics, and law.
``^Account is also taken of some specifics in [training students from Africa, especially future doctors and agriculturists. The curricula of corresponding educational establishments provide for a deeper study of tropical agriculture and medicine, on which] special textbooks have been written. Some institutes have tropical disease departments, while a special faculty of tropical agriculture has been functioning at the Kuban Agricultural Institute since 1970.
Imperialist and neocolonialist circles are trying to impede the growth of the number of Africans studying in the USSR and to belittle Soviet assistance in this field. They resort to all kinds of anti-Soviet and anti-communist allegations and concoctions. Specifically, to discredit Soviet assistance in training qualified personnel, some Western countries do not recognise Soviet diplomas and diplomas issued by higher educational establishments built with Soviet assistance.
Now that the African public has seen that experts trained in the Soviet Union and at local educational establishments built with Soviet assistance are not only not inferior to Western-educated staff, but in many respects better qualified, this attitude is being increasingly abandoned in favour of the Soviet system of higher and secondary education.
Guided by considerations of principle, the socialist countries are taking measures tojensure that all graduates from their educational establishments go back to their native lands to work in various sectors of their national economies. Addressing the meeting on the occasion of the first graduation group from the Lumumba University in 1965, Alexei Kosygin said: "The developing countries need not just trained personnel, but experts with high qualifications. They need experts who are patriots, unswervingly loyal to the cause of the national independence and progress of their countries, people sharing democratic, progressive views and selflessly giving all their knowledge to their homeland.''^^7^^ To train such experts is the main objective of the Soviet _-_-_
~^^7^^ Pravda, 30 June 1965. 256
256 assistance rendered to the developing world in this field.African graduates from Soviet higher and secondary educational establishments join with the national intellectuals and use the knowledge they receive in the Soviet Union to solve the historic tasks confronting their nations.
There is another important form in which African national personnel are trained: experts and workers from Africa are invited to Soviet enterprises, projects under construction, design organisations, and other institutions for production and technical training and consultations. Invitations are mainly extended to personnel who, for some reason or other, cannot be trained in a particular country. Many experts from Morocco, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Guinea, Mali, the People's Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Algeria, and some other African countries were thus trained at Soviet power engineering, metallurgical, engineering, petrochemical, and other enterprises (200 in all in more than 60 cities and towns). Of these, some one hundred enterprises train foreigners on a regular basis. These include: the Volgograd and Bratsk hydroelectric stations, the Belaya Kalitva Metallurgical Plant which trains experts for aluminium plants built with Soviet assistance abroad, the Ryazan and Novo-Kuibyshev oil refineries, the internationally known Krasny Proletari and Stankolit engineering plants in Moscow, the Elektrosila Electric Engineering Plant in Leningrad, and many others.
The production and technical training of experts from developing countries is free, as is medical care. If necessary, foreign experts and workers may use the services of interpreters. Those wishing to do so may attend Russin language classes.
Since 1968, the Soviet Union has been enrolling students from developing countries for the special purpose of training experts for enterprises built with Soviet technical assistance.
The Soviet Union also renders assistance to developing countries in training their national personnel in keeping with UN-sponsored programmes. It organises seminars and symposia, train-and-see tours and consultations for those holding UN scholarships. Permanent courses are set up for them at leading Soviet enterprises. This way of raising the qualifications of experts is practised on both an individual and a group basis.
__PRINTERS_P_257_COMMENT__ 17--0763 257The numerous references to the work done by young Africans in their home countries after returning from the USSR show that the Soviet Union trains experts who are distinguished, in addition to their broad scientific erudition and high level of theoretical and practical knowledge, by a deepseated patriotism and internationalism, high moral qualities, selflessness, and readiness to give their knowledge for their people's prosperity.
The ever expanding and consolidated ties between the USSR and the developing countries of Africa in training their national personnel is a vivid illustration of the humanism of Soviet foreign policy and of the solidarity of the Soviet people with the African nations.
[258] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XV __ALPHA_LVL2__ SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]The Conference of Ministers of African Member States Responsible for the Application of Science and Technology to Develop ent, sponsored by UNESCO with the cooperation of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Organisation of African Unity and held at Dakar (Senegal) in January 1974, showed that research and development was an important iactor of Africa's revival. The Conference adopted a number of concrete proposals designed to promote further progress in this field and heighten the role of science in stimulating economic development, increasing the national income and, in the final count, achieving economic independence.^^1^^
Science on the continent is still in the process of formation and as a rule plays an inadequate role in boosting economic growth in individual countries. Its low level of development is one of the reasons for the backwardness of the overwhelming majority of them. The gap between the developed and the developing countries in the field of science is not diminishing. On the contrary, it is even widening. And Africa badly needs foreign assistance in order to be able to narrow it.
The Soviet Union's scientific and technical cooperation with African countries stimulates scientific progress and research on the continent and the establishment of national scientific centres. It enables developing African countries more quickly to attain independence in science, weakens _-_-_
~^^1^^ Science and Technology in African Development, UNESCO, Paris, 1974.
__PRINTERS_P_259_COMMENT__ 17* 259 __FIX__ For f2 f2, make a post hook that, at least, will move point to blank line after the paragraph that was just processed. That way, point can "hover" above paragraph being processed, ready for other actions. their dependence on developed capitalist states, and creates a basis for accelerating socio-economic transformations.Of course, the scale of the Soviet Union's scientific cooperation with African countries is still relatively small, but it will undoubtedly increase considerably when the latter set up new research centres and secure a growth of national research personnel. At the same time there are many unused opportunities in Soviet-African scientific links which could have helped to promote science and scientific research in Africa and fruitful scientific exchange.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 1. Soviet Assistance in Organising andLeaders of independent African countries repeatedly emphasised that the independent economic development of their countries was inconceivable without national science, trained national personnel and intelligentsia, and without cultural development. Therefore, young African states attach enormous importance to obtaining assistance from industrialised countries with a great scientific potential.
Particularly valuable in this respect is the experience of the USSR where science was placed at the service of society in a short historical period. By sharing its scientific know-how the USSR helps the liberated African states to build up their own industry, modernise agriculture, expand the network of educational and scientific institutions, promote research and train national scientific personnel.
For some years already Soviet-African scientific and technical cooperation has been developing in the following directions: establishment of scientific institutions, research laboratories and experimental medical centres on the continent; dispatch of Soviet scientists to African countries as experts, advisers and specialists in the field of scientific planning and development; exchange of experience and knowhow at scientific forums in African countries and elsewhere; donations of scientific equipment and books for scientific libraries; assistance in book publishing, and the organisation of scientific and technical exhibitions; exchange of scientific literature and information.
One of the tasks of the Soviet scientists who go to Africa to pass on Soviet experience in organising and planning 260 scientific development is to help in directing the more important investigations, particularly those which are essential for the given country.
Lectures delivered by Soviet Africanists at African universities and scientific centres are beneficial to both sides. For instance, scientists of the Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences lectured on national statehood and socio-economic problems of Tropical Africa at scientific centres in the Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, at the Algerian and Tananarive (Madagascar) universities, the African Institute of Economic Development and Planning in Dakar (Senegal), and elsewhere.
At the request of some African governments Soviet scientists helped their agencies in planning socio-economic growth, and also in setting up and developing the national economy. For instance, Member of the Moldavian Academy of Sciences V. V. Chervinsky visited Libya in 1967--68 where he drew up science-based guidelines for the development of the country's productive forces for the next 15--20 years. The Libyan Government and the UN mission in the country approved his work.
Practice shows that the recommendations and reports submitted by Soviet scientists who visit Africa as experts become the bases for continuing work already under way. A case in point was Professor V. P. Zenkovich's recommendations how to combat bank erosion, and those of L. E. Rodin who worked out methods for fixing drift sands in Egypt. Between 1958 and 1968 many delegations from the USSR Academy of Sciences visited Egypt where they rendered scientific assistance in the organisation and planning of scientific studies at Cairo and Alexandria universities and other scientific centres. A delegation of the USSR Academy of Sciences which visited Egypt in 1959 drew up a report on how to plan and organise research at Egyptian scientific institutions with due account for the demands of industrial and agricultural development and the potential of the scientific organisations and the available scientific personnel. At the time the Egyptian Government had very high praise for the work performed by Soviet scientists.
A very important form of international contacts between scientists is exchange of scientific books, journals, and documents. Since national science and publishing in Africa are not developed, such form of contacts does much to help its 261 research centres. It is also very useful to Soviet scientists because it enables them more effectively and profoundly to study the problems confronting African countries.
Anxious to contribute to the development of science in Africa and acquaint the African public with scientific achievements in the Soviet Union, in 1962 the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences offered the leaders of African scientific centres to conduct a regular exchange of publications and information between the organisations of the Academy and African countries. As a result, contacts were established with many African research and educational institutions. In the following years exchange of books was organised with practically all major scientific organisations in Africa. The exchange of scientific books and journals was often included in agreements on cultura? and scientific cooperation. The Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad and the fundamental library of the USSR Academy of Sciences alone annually send' hundreds of scientific publications to the libraries of more than 80 institutions of higher education and scientific centres in more than 40 African countries.
The Lenin State' Library in Moscow, the Saltykov-- Shchedrin Library in Leningrad and the libraries of the USSR Academy of Sciences' humanitarian institutes permanently exchange scientific literature with African universities and scientific centres.
A particularly broad exchange of scientific publications and information with many African countries is conducted by the Africa Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. It regularly sends its publications, bibliographical reference books and other information to many of them. In return Soviet centres of African" studies receive a steadily increasing flow of information from Africa acquainting Soviet scientists with the development of scientific thought on the continent.
Seeking to accelerate scientific and technical progress in African countries the Soviet Government in response to the requests of their governments; agreed to build atomic reactors in Egypt and Ghana. The continent's first atomic reactor whose construction was launched near Cairo in 1958 was put into operation in 1961. It became the basis for a regional radio isotopio centre which was set up with Soviet assistance in 1963 where research was conducted by scientists 262 from Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda and other countries. The Soviet Union has also helped to build medical radiological centres in Morocco and radio isotopic laboratories in Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
Soviet delegations attending international congresses of Africanists in Accra in 1962 and Dakar in 1967 handed over scientific libraries to Legon and Dakar universities. These libraries are made up of works by Soviet scientists in English and French. Similar libraries were also donated to universities in Addis Ababa and Kampala (Uganda) in 1975.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. The Training of AfricanThe training of national scientific personnel is a difficul problem in the newly free African countries. The period that has passed since they won independence has been too short to enable them to set up major scientific centres and train their own personnel in order to make the most of the fruits of scientific and technical progress. The number and the proportion of scientific personnel in what in general is still a very small contingent of specialists in the young African states are extremely small. In the early 1970s the number of people with academic degrees per 100,000 of the population was 37 in North America, 13 in Europe, three in the Middle East, two in Asia (including Japan) and only 0.2 in Africa.^^2^^
In the late 1950s only a small number of African countries had university colleges and research centres. All of them were controlled by the colonial powers and catered to their interests. That was why the 1964 UN Conference in Lagos examined problems of training national personnel, founding African universities and scientific centres and promoting national science, and adopted a plan for scientific research and education in Africa.^^3^^
Soviet scientists help young African states to train scientific personnel of the highest qualification primarily through _-_-_
^^2^^ World Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technol. ogy to Development, United Nations, New York, 1971, p. 33.
~^^3^^ Recherche scientifique et formation en Afrique: Elements d'un plan de developpement, UNESCO, Paris, 1964.
263 post-graduate training at the institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences and Soviet universities and colleges.As of 1 January 1978 more than 700 African citizens had completed post-graduate courses at the Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Lumumba University, Moscow and Leningrad universities, at teachers training colleges in the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR, and at engineering and technical, agricultural and other Soviet colleges.
Africans studying in the USSR mastered research methods and became thoroughly acquainted with the works of Soviet scientists. They submitted dissertations dealing with urgent problems confronting many African countries.
Specialists in the humanities comprise only a small proportion of African scientists who were trained in the USSR. The industrial growth in African countries and the establishment of scientific centres of primary importance for independent economic development have created a need for trained natural scientists.^^4^^ Since 1961 young African scholars have been undergoing qualification apprenticeship at the institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The more gifted of them were admitted to post-graduate courses at Soviet scientific, training and research centres. Between 1961 and 1965 a large group of young Egyptian researchers underwent qualification apprenticeship at the institutes of microbiology, chemical physics, geochemistry and analytical chemistry, biophysics, and animal morphology, at the Main Botanical Gardens and other Soviet scientific institutions.
Young Africans receive a thorough grounding in natural and social sciences at the Lumumba University. In the period from 1967 to 1977 students from Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Cameroon, Egypt and other countries maintained their dissertations at this higher educational establishment.
Soviet scientists also help independent African countries to train scientific personnel on the spot. Experienced instructors and researchers who are sent to the continent for this purpose not only lecture at various departments, but also _-_-_
^^4^^ More than 150 Africans defended dissertations at Soviet engineering and technical colleges.
264 direct seminars and pre-diploma practical work of the students and provide scientific guidance to post-graduates.The participation of the USSR in various UN-sponsored international programmes is an important form of assisting young African states in the training of highly qualified practical and scientific workers. At the expense of Soviet contributions to the funds of various UN agencies dealing with extending technical assistance, such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), seminars, symposiums and courses for the improvement of qualification and production and technical education of African, Asian and Latin American citizens are regularly organised in the USSR. In most cases their organisation is entrusted to Soviet scientific institutions.
Since 1959, nearly 250 group training projects for holders of UN scholarships have been organised in the USSR. Of the 7,000 people who attended them, more than 2,000 came from 40 African countries. These seminars and symposiums were attended by high-ranking officials of planning and development ministries, general secretaries of some ministries, advisers to heads of state and government, directors of state banks, researchers and industrial and agricultural specialists of independent African countries. They received theoretical grounding and underwent practical training at Soviet industrial and agricultural enterprises, research institutes and scientific centres. They were taken on tours of the USSR in the course of which they had every opportunity to familiarise themselves with'its social, economic, scientific, technical and cultural gains.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Soviet Scientists in Africa.The first trips of Soviet scientists to Africa in the period from 1950 to 1960 helped to establish scientific contacts and laid a firm foundation for further Soviet-African scientific cooperation. In the next phase this cooperation became considerably broader and deeper. More Soviet scientists visited Africa primarily for the purpose of generalising the independent development of its countries. . Soviet scientists who visited Guinea, Algeria, the People's Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania collected material for 265 generalising the experience and practice of non-capitalist development. Thanks to them it was possible to ascertain the general laws of development of the socialist-oriented countries, the main factors, trends and difficulties of this development, and to study and evaluate the socio-economic and ideological changes taking place on the continent.
Analysis of data accumulated by Soviet scientists in Africa shows that the state of affairs in African countries fully confirms the basic propositions of the Marxist-- Leninist* theory of non-capitalist development, including those formulated in the documents of CPSU congresses.
The efficiency of Soviet-African economic and scientific and technical cooperation was also studied. Soviet scientists thoroughly assessed the forms of this cooperation, worked out criteria for determining its efficiency and outlined prospects for the further expansion of scientific contacts between the USSR and African countries.
Great attention is attached to the basic problems of the economic development of African countries, particularly to planning and the role it plays in the solution of the key problems of economic and social development, and also to the methods of drawing up and implementing plans under the conditions prevailing in Africa. All Soviet experts on African economy who visit Africa are set the task of studying conditions and requisites for the young sovereign states of the continent to overcome their backwardness and win economic independence.
Soviet scientists also investigate social and political problems such as the changes which take place in the social structure following the liquidation of the colonial domination, the formation of classes and nations, the solution of the national problem in African countries, the specific features of the imperialist policy on the continent, and critically analyse the Western doctrines and conceptions of development, traditionalist ideas and various types of nationalism.
In the sphere of history the central place is assigned to the study of the national liberation struggle in Africa. Soviet scholars have accumulated numerous facts on this subject in the archives of Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, the People's Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and other countries.
Soviet scientific expeditions in Africa are an important element of Soviet-African scientific cooperation. They help 266 to solve many pressing scientific problems which are of great significance for African countries.
In 1961 a Soviet archaeological expedition headed by Corresponding Member (now full member) of the USSR Academy of Sciences B. B. Piotrovsky went to Africa. It was organised by the institutes of ethnography and archaeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences in response to the UNESCO-sponsored international campaign to save the ancient Nubian monuments in the flood zone of the Aswan High Dam. The excavations which were conducted from December 1961 to March 1962 in the Dacca region yielded important information about Nubian culture and monuments of the'Roman and Byzantine periods. The expedition also studied drawings and hieroglyphics on rocks which considerably enriched the basis for research into the history of Nubia.
The Soviet expedition maintained close contacts with Egyptian scientists and had the full cooperation of the local authorities at the time. The detailed maps and air photographs of the region which the Documentation Centre of Ancient Monuments of Egypt placed at the disposal of the expedition proved to be a great asset.
The second stage of the Nubian expedition (December 1962-April 1963) can justly be qualified as a joint SovietEgyptian expedition since Egyptian scientists and officials played an even greater part in it and helped it to obtain important scientific results.
The Nubian expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences paved the way for the establishment of useful scientific contacts with Egyptian archaeologists, historians and ethnographers.
Important practical work in developing the national written languages of the peoples of Africa was conducted by the linguistic expedition to Mali headed Toy D. A. Olderogghe which was organised by the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1963 the Sixth Congress of the Sudanese Union Party decided to introduce primary education inAfrican languages in Mali and to launch a mass campaign to combat illiteracy. Taking into account the Soviet Union's great experience in the development of national languages, including the creation of written languages, the Mali Government turned to Soviet scientists for assistance. This job was entrusted to the linguistic expedition. Its investigations were designed to help 267 local scientists in developing written systems for Mali's basic oral languages.
The expedition closely cooperated with the linguistic section of the National Institute of the Humanities which prior to the arrival of Soviet scientists conducted a linguistic survey in the main regions of the country. The data collected by Mali specialists proved to be most useful.
As a result of three months' work the expedition gathered extensive linguistic data which served as an adequate basis for its final recommendations. The work performed by Soviet scientists considerably facilitated the creation of basic written languages in the country.
Apart from linguistic research the expedition carried out ethnographic studies with the major Mali experts in local mores and culture participating.
The activity of Soviet Africanists and their joint field work with their local counterparts were highly praised by the Mali Government and were an important contribution to Soviet-Malian scientific cooperation.
The development of joint studies by Soviet and African scientists was further stimulated by an expedition to Somali in 1971. In fact it was the first joint expedition of Soviet and African scientists and its distinctive feature was that it studied not only the contemporary stage of the country's development but also the history of the Somali people.
One of the results of this expedition was the publication of Transactions of the Soviet-Somali Expedition (Moscow, 1974) and other joint works.
Between 1964 and 1968 the USSR Academy of Sciences organised several expeditions of naturalists on the African continent. Their results were very important for the economies of the African countries and for science in general. For instance, the gravimetric surveys conducted in Mali in 1964 and 1965 by a geophysical expedition help to prognosticate mineral deposits and ascertain the laws of their formation. A botanical expedition which worked in Algeria in 1967--68 compiled geobotanical and pasture maps and also studied the country's soils. A geological and geophysical expedition which stayed in Africa from 1967 to 1969 surveyed the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Ruanda and compiled geological and tectonic maps of the region. The work of Soviet geologists 268 and geophysicists was highly praised by African states and universities in East Africa and was a definite contribution to world science and to the International Programme of Studies of the Earth Upper Mantle.
All these expeditions aroused great interest in African academic circles and spurred the development of new scientific trends on the continent.
On their part, African scientists visit the Soviet Union at the invitation of the USSR Academy of Sciences and its institutes, and also to attend international forums. As a rule, they visit centres of African studies and familiarise themselves with the work of Soviet Africanists. Between 1960 and 1978 approximately 3,000 African state, political and public figures, scientists, cultural workers, postgraduates and students studying in the USSR visited the Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
During this period Soviet scientists were hosts to numerous official guests, including delegations from the Academies of Sciences of the Democratic Republic of Madagascar, Ghana and East Africa, scientific delegations from Sudan, Guinea, Ghana, Egypt, Zaire and Algeria, scientists from research and educational centres in Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, the People's Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Upper Volta, Tanzania, Togo, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, Benin, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Tunisia, GuineaBissau, and the Cape Verde Islands. The African scientists had every opportunity to familiarise themselves with Soviet science and successes in building socialism.
They lectured at the Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences and other Soviet scientific and educational institutions and informed their Soviet counterparts about the state of science on the African continent and about some of the research programmes in their respective countries. They met members of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences and directors of Soviet research centres and discussed prospects for further development of Soviet-African scientific cooperation.
Soviet-African studies play an important part in increasing the world knowledge of Africa. The works by Soviet Africanists and Arabists, the assistance offered by the USSR Academy of Sciences to the newly free African states in promoting science and training national personnel received deserved praise. In 1968 the then President of the USSR 269 Academy of Sciences M. V. Keldyshand Director of the Africa Institute V. G. Solodovnikov were awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science of Lagos University in Nigeria, and the Director of the African Department of theJLeningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of ^Sciences D. A. Olderogghe was awarded an international prize in Ethiopia. Another Soviet scholar, L. A. Korneyev, author of several works on Madagascar, was elected Corresponding Member of the Malagasy Academy of Sciences for compiling and publishing a MalagasyRussian Dictionary. Still earlier, in 1961, E. A. Belyaev, a prominent Soviet Arabist, was made Corresponding Member of the Academy of the Arab Language in Cairo. In recent years Gamal Abdel Nasser prizes were awarded to Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences E. M. Primakov, I. P. Belyaev, Dr. Sc. (Econ.), G. Sh. Sharbatov, Dr. Sc. (Philology), A. F. Sultanov, Cand. Sc. (Hist.), and others.
The social, political, scientific and organisational activity of leading African scientists has received high praise in the Soviet Union. In 1958 the USSR Academy of Sciences elected as its foreign member President of the National ResearchlCentre in Cairo, Prof. Ahmad Turki. In41964 Dean of Ibadan University Prof. Onwuke Dike (Nigeria) was made Honorary Doctor of History of Moscow University. The degree of Honorary Doctor of the Institute of Africa, the USSR Academy of Sciences, was conferred upon Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos Saburi Biabaku in 1971. In 1972 this degree was conferred upon the prominent scientist and outstanding fighter for the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands Amilcar Cabral who was assassinated in 1973 by agents of the reaction.
In his speech during the presentation of the diploma at the Africa Institute on 22 December 1972, Amilcar Cabral emphasised the important contribution of Soviet scientists, Africanists in particular, to the struggle for a new and free Africa.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 4. Soviet Scientists at International Forums onSince 1960 Soviet scientists attended numerous international congresses and symposiums on African problems. Their reports and active participation in the work of 270 these forums stimulated progressive trends in African studies and did much to promote Soviet-African scientific cooperation.
One of the biggest forums of this kind was the 25th International Congress of Orientalists. It gathered in Moscow in 1960, in the period of the downfall of the colonial system in Africa and the formation of independent African states. The unusual thing about it was that scientists from countries of Tropical Africa were present. It was the first time in the history of such congresses that scientists from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola and Dahomey took part in discussing African problems. Osende Afana, an economist from Cameroon, wrote: "The Moscow Congress acquired special significance. It was the first Congress in which Africans participated. Prior to that Congresses of Orientalists were the same as international political conferences: problems concerning Africans were discussed in their absence and frequently without their knowledge.''^^5^^
The section of African studies drew more than one hundred scientists from different countries into its work, including a large group of Africanists from the USSR, GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and also from leading Western centres of African studies.
A distinctive feature of the Congress was that it adopted a new approach to problems under discussion. Formerly Orientalists more often than not immersed themselves in academic debates without paying due attention to the problems of development of contemporary Asian and African states. But at the Moscow Congress even purely historical subjects were examined in close connection with contemporary events, with the everyday life and struggle of African peoples.
The head of the Soviet group in the section of African studies Potekhin tabled a motion to institute an International Congress of Africanists. The Soviet proposal was supported by all the African participants, the representatives from socialist countries, progressive Western Africanists. The Soviet scientific community was motivated by a desire to bring African scientists into leading positions in the field of African studies and turn the Congress of Africanists into _-_-_
~^^5^^ O. Afana, "XXV Congress International des orientalistes'', La voix du Cameroun, X-X1, I960, p. 13.
271 a forum of scientific discussion of the basic problems facing the young African states.The section of African studies at the 25th International Congress of Orientalists adopted a historic decision to found an International Congress of Africanists, which received wide support from African countries and progressive scientific circles in Europe, America and Asia.
The Preparatory Committee of the Congress, one of whose members was Potekhin of the USSR, held its first session in September 1961 at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria). At the committee's sittings he consistently urged to place the future congress at th > service of the African peoples lighting for the complete abolition of colonialism and for progressive development.
The first session of the International Congress of Africanists was held in Accra (Ghana) in December 1962, with about 600 representatives, including 200 from African countries, attending. It was the first ever meeting of African scientists with Africanists of Europe, America and Asia on African soil. Most of the socialist countries also sent their delegations.
In the opinion of progressive scientific circles the founding of the International Congress of Africanists was a major victory of the forces advocating full equality of all peoples, and dispelled the myth that the African peoples had no history. At the very first session African scientists made it absolutely clear that they intended to play an active role in guiding scientific African studies, resolutely change their trends and character and place them at the service of their countries. This just stand received energetic backing from scientists from the USSR and other socialist countries. The Soviet delegation resolutely countered the attempts made by the USA, Britain and France to dominate the Congress whose large delegations insisted that resolutions should be adopted by a majority vote in which all those present would take part. The Congress endorsed the Soviet proposal that each delegation, irrespective of its size, should have only one vote. This decision dealt a hard blow at the plans of Western Africanists and strengthened the positions of the African countries at the Congress.
The Congress adopted the Statutes and elected its guiding bodies. It also elected a Standing Committee of 144 members representing 51 countries. The Committee in turn 272 elected a 13-member Bureau to be a coordinating centre in the period between sessions. Nine seats in the Bureau went to Africans and one each to Soviet, US, British and French representatives.~^^6^^
The first ever international scientific forum of Africanisls attracted the attention of the world and African public and received numerous congratulatory telegrams. On the eve of thej session Kwame Nkrumah sent a message to the Soviet journal Narody Azii i Ajriki (Peoples of Asia and Africa) in which he wrote: "It is the hope of every African that the First International Congress of Africanists will usher in an era of objective, sympathetic understanding and scholarly approach to the study of African problems and stimulate a correct reappraisal of the African past and present.''
The Congress in Accra became an arena of acute struggle against the apologists of colonialism and neocolonialism. Scientists from the USSR and other socialist countries and African representatives joined forces against imperialist domination in African studies. The Congress was a triumph of the progressive forces, and it was natural that Western bourgeois scientists made an attempt to revise its decisions while they were still in Accra. But the speeches of African representatives showed that African scholars would not tolerate the attempts of the Western powers to retain their dominating position in world African studies.^^7^^
The first session of the International Congress of Africanists was followed by a conference on Tropical Africa at Ibadan in Nigeria in 1964. And once again reactionary Western circles tried to undermine the role of the International Congress of Africanists. But nothing came of their efforts. African scientists with the determined backing of representatives from socialist countries opposed the formation of a new coordinating centre of African studies as distinct from the International Congress of Africanists. The conference showed that progressive African scientists and scientists from socialist countries were determined to use the Congress in the struggle against the colonial and neocolonial conceptions in African studies.
The scale of African studies considerably increased in _-_-_
~^^6^^ See The Proceedings of the First International Congress of Africanists. Accra, llth-18th December 1962, Longmans, London, 1964.
~^^7^^ See Ibid., pp. 19--28, 46--51, 55--67.
__PRINTERS_P_273_COMMENT__ 18--0763 273 many countries in the five years between the first and second sessions of the Congress of Africaiiists. Substantial progress was registered on the continent itself and, what was particularly important, African scientists came to realise that it was necessary to use the achievements of science as a means of stimulating the development of their countries and strengthening their independence. This trend was reflected in the motto of the second session of the Congress of Africanists---"Scientific Research to the Service of Africa''.The second session of the Congress took place in Dakar (Senegal) in December 1967. It was attended by about 400 representatives from 30 African and 23 European, American and Asian countries, and there were more scientists from the socialist countries, including Mongolia and Yugoslavia, than at the first session.
In their reports scientists from the USSR and other socialist countries took up such urgent African problems as industrialisation, agrarian reforms, sources of accumulation for economic development, development of water resources, and establishment of national systems of law.
The attention which the reports of the Soviet delegation aroused among the African scientific circles, and the ensuing discussions showed that they were in line with African reality and the basic tasks confronting the liberated peoples.
Not surprisingly, the main conclusion reached by the History Section, which included Soviet scientists, was that it was impossible to create a modern African culture without thorough knowledge of the historical development and cultures of the continent's peoples. History is a very important means of educating citizens of the newly independent states and fostering their national dignity and patriotism.
African science is now playing an increasing role on the continent. Many African states already have cadres of young scientists who desire independently to investigate the sociopolitical changes and the socio-economic problems of their countries.
The first items on the session's agenda were the economic development of African countries, the choice of paths of social development and the need for a class approach to African reality. The enhanced authority of scientists from socialist countries in many respects determined the proceedings of the session, and the trend and contents of the reports and debates.
274The session amended the Statutes and gave the Congress a new name---International Congress of African Studies.
With the entry of the national liberation revolutions into a new stage the question of paths of socio-economic and political development of the newly free countries became of paramount importance in African studies.
Soviet Africanists attended a number of international conferences on these problems, including the economic seminar of African and Asian countries sponsored in Algiers in 1965 by the Permanent Secretariat of the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation.
1
The participants in the seminar unanimously advocated the broader and stronger contacts of the developing countries with socialist states as an essential condition for the successful outcome of the continuing struggle against colonialism and imperialism. In its resolutions the seminar emphasised the importance of strengthening economic independence and of social progress towards socialism.
The Soviet representatives disclosed the fundamental difference between the historical responsibility of the imperialist countries to the peoples of the former colonies and dependencies and the internationalist duty of the peoples of the socialist countries to furnish fraternal assistance to the peoples fighting for their freedom and independence. Special emphasis was placed on the need to put an end to the plunder of the developing countries by the imperialist monopolies and solve the problem of their emancipation from imperialist economic domination. These ideas were widely reflected in the seminar's recommendations.
The positive contribution of the economic seminar in Algiers to the elaboration of the programme of struggle for economic independence was highly assessed by the 4th AfroAsian Solidarity Conference in 1965. In its resolution the Conference pointed out that it viewed the seminar as an outstanding event in the common struggle of the peoples of Asia and Africa against imperialism, colonialism "and neocolonialism, and also as new and important type of activity of the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation.
International scientific forums, such as the Conference in Support of the Peoples of Portuguese Colonies (Rome, 1970) and the Conference on the Problems of Southern Africa (Oslo, 1973) which were sponsored by the UN and the OAU, were events of major political importance. In their speeches __PRINTERS_P_275_COMMENT__ 18* 275 at these conferences Soviet representatives showed that Portuguese colonialism and racialism in Africa were doomed.
It should be noted that Soviet scholars always attached great attention to supporting the national liberation movements of the patriots of Angola, Mozambique, and GuineaBissau. Soviet Africanists who made a detailed study of these movements were helped in their work by meetings with Eduardo Mondlane, Amilcar Cabral and other great leaders of the national liberation struggle who made scientific reports at the Institute of Africa the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Soviet scientists played an important role in compiling the History of Africa which was part of the UNESCO Programme of Study and Popularisation of African Culture that envisaged the combined efforts of scientists from different countries, including African.
Soviet scientists were actively involved in all the preparatory stages of the work. The draft of the History of Africa was drawn up in an atmosphere of acute ideological struggle between the proponents and opponents of historical materialism. Soviet scientists produced pertinent arguments to prove that the publication had to reflect the general laws of the historical process and that they had to be applied in analysing African history. They also proposed that volumes dealing with the period of colonialism and the development of the national revolutionary movement, which were most important politically, had to be published first.
One of Africa's most important problems is the creation of national written languages. Soviet scientists regard that it is their internationalist duty to help the African peoples in this respect. A definite step in this direction was made when scientific colloquiums on the problems of African written languages and on the state of African literatures were organised at the USSR's Africa Institute in 1962 in which African linguists studying in the USSR actively participated. The exchange of views between Soviet and African participants revealed a unity of views on the development of written national languages. It was specially noted that the creation of literature in native languages was one of the most urgent tasks facing African authors and that it was directly connected with the problem of spiritual decolonisation.
Soviet scientists also played an important part in the scientific colloquium (1966) and a scientific symposium (1969) 276 that were organised within the framework of major international projects in the field of African culture---the First World Festival of Negro Arts which took place in Dakar in April 1966, and the First Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers in 1969.
An important report was read at the colloquium in Dakar by D. A. Olderogghe who spoke on the problems of art and culture in West Africa.
Reports that were made by Soviet scholars at the symposium in Algiers fully conformed to the festival's motto "Culture to the Service of Social Progress in Africa''. Many of their propositions were taken into consideration during the drafting of the symposium's main document "Pan-African Cultural Manifesto''. The document made the point that culture and art could not stand aloof from the ideological and political struggle and that advanced culture was an important means in the fight against imperialist influence and neocolonialism.
Founded in 1963 in Nairobi (Kenya), the East African Academy of Sciences sponsored several symposiums which helped African scientists to establish contacts with their counterparts in European, American and Asian count'ies.
At these forums Soviet representatives presented reports about the Soviet Africanists' works which aroused considerable interest, including "African Studies in the USSR'', "The Study of the Agrarian Question in African Countries by Soviet Africanists'', and "The Inflow and Outflow of Long-Term Funds to and from the Countries of East Africa'',
A special role in international scientific forums was played by conferences devoted to the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the Great October Socialist Revolution, Lenin's centenary and the 50th anniversary of the USSR, all of which were attended by delegations of African scientists and public and political figus.
Soviet and African representatives spoke about the great role that was played by the ideas of the October Revolution in allying the anti-imperialist forces for the struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and internal reaction. The conferences were a major contribution to the theoretical elaboration of the problems of the developing countries, including African. They showed that the experience of socialist construction in the USSR was of lasting significance 277 for the solution of cardinal socio-economic and political tasks facing African, Asian and Latin American states.
Representatives from African and other developing countries displayed great interest in" how the national question had been solved in the USSR, and in the development of the economy and national culture of what had once been Russia's outlying regions and which at a certain stage had to surmount more or less the same difficulties resulting from their colonial heritage. The delegates also exchanged experience already accumulated by the newly free states and national liberation movements.
The emergence of more and more African states which have rejected capitalist development and are orientated towards socialism broadens Soviet-African scientific and cultural cooperation. The progressive forces in African countries increasingly draw on Soviet experience and search for answers to urgent problems of independent development in MarxistLeninist theory.
[278] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XVI __ALPHA_LVL2__ CULTURAL CONTACTS __ALPHA_LVL3__ 1. Mutually Beneficial ContactsBeginning with the 1960s Soviet painters and sculplors have been turning more and more often to the African theme in their works. The first exhibition of their works devoted to Africa took place in 1961. One of the biggest was the exhibition ``Africa'' which was organised in Moscow in May 1909, when more than twenty Moscow artists displayed paintings and sculptural and graphic works most of which were made during their African trips. Individual and collective exhibitions of folk and professional artists from Ethiopia, Senegal, Dahomey (Benin), Mali, Egypt, Nigeria, and other African countries were organised in the USSR.
A major event in the artistic life of Moscow was an exhibition of African art which opened in April 1965 at the Museum of Oriental Art. More than 500 works of art, including wooden statuettes and masks from various regions of Tropical Africa, bronze sculptures from Benin, and small sculptures of bone and terracotta and artifacts, were on display. They were part of the large collections of African art belonging to the Leningrad Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography and the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow University. A small but very valuable collection cf Congolese sculptures belonging to Tartu University, some excellent statuettes from the collection of the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, and several private collections were also on display. The exhibition was a great success and was highly praised in the press.
The Soviet public learned quite a lot about African art from an album entitled The Art of Tropical Africa in USSR Collections, which was put out by the Sovietsky Khudozhnik 279 Publishers in 1967. Compiled by the Institute of Ethnography and the Institute of Africa, it has 190 photographs which give an idea of Soviet collections of African sculpture.
A large number of Africans acquainted themselves with many works of Soviet specialists in African art that were on show at the III International Biennial Exhibition of African Books "Publications on African Art" which ran in Cameroon in November and December 1972. Drawings and paintings by Soviet artists on the theme "The Art of Africa" were also on display.
Works by Soviet Africanists specialising in African art have been widely acclaimed abroad. They regularly attend international conferences and symposiums at Pan-African Art Festivals. Some of their works on African art are published in bulletins issued by Soviet embassies and are reprinted in local periodicals.
Today there are theatres on the African continent, which belong to several different artistic cultures and have very distinct histories.
Theatrical art is most developed in Egypt whose major cities Cairo and Alexandria have excellent theatres and state and private professional companies.
The history of theatre in Tropical Africa was most difficult and little is known about what sort of a theatre existed there prior to the arrival of Europeans. It was only in the past fifteen or twenty years that studies were published, which prove that there were different types of theatre in pre-colonial Africa.
A national professional theatre was founded in Senegal. In 1965, in preparation for the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, a special Daniel Sorano Theatre was built. Its permanent national company consisting of experienced actors who had been trained at the Dakar Drama School has already staged several interesting plays.
In some other states only the first steps have been taken towards the establishment of a professional theatre. In Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Tanzania the state has set up national companies or semi-professional touring groups which are still weak materially.
The acquaintance of the Soviet public with the theatre, choreography and music of Tropical Africa began in the 1960s. Since then artistic groups from that part of Africa have' given performances in the USSR, some of them toured it even 280 two and more times. Groups from Guinea gave performances in the USSR in 1961, 1964, 1966 and 1971; from Ethiopia in 1961 and 1977; from Mali in 1961 and 1970; from Ghana in 1961 and 1965; from Senegal in 1965, 1970, 1975 and 1977; from Dahomey in 1966; from Uganda in 1967 and 1973 (two different groups); from Zambia in 1970; from Sierra Leone in 1971; from Somalia in 1972; from Nigeria in 1973; from Cameroon in 1973; and from Kenya in 1976.
The Soviet public displayed great interest in pantomimes, sketches and musical and dance scenes based on traditional themes. Such performances not only acquainted audiences with African art as such, but also with the past and present of the inhabitants of the continent, with different types of people, their characters and everyday work.
Two of the African groups which visited the USSR brought along two complete shows. One, the musical comedy Obadzeng, was shown by the Ghanaian group in 1961, and the other was the musical drama Renga Moi that was staged by the Ugandan company in 1973.
The author of Obadzeng (Born Anew), the gifted composer Saka Acquaye, is regarded as the founder of the Ghanaian musical theatre. The subject of the comedy is the conflict between traditions and the new urban culture in the life and consciousness of the African, and was quite topical for the continent in the first years after liberation.
The programmes of the groups which toured the Soviet Union gave the audiences a very good idea of African life. They were a sort of encyclopaedia of African life disclosing the character of the continent's peoples and their distinctive world outlook.
Beginning with the early 1960s Soviet actors have made numerous trips to Tropical Africa, each of which was a festival of friendship between the USSR and Africa.
In 1964 a group of Soviet artistes toured Mali, Dahomey, Sierra Leone and Niger. This time, in addition to singers, an instrumental quartet and dancers, the group included circus performers. In view of the latter's great success with African audiences, the Soviet Union began regularly to send circus groups to the continent.
The performances of a Soviet circus group that visited Guinea in 1966 took place in a particularly festive atmosphere . The first concert was attended by President Sekou Tour\'e 281 and Cabinet members. At the end of the year the group visited Cameroon.
In 1967, as distinct from the concert and circus groups which usually toured Tropical Africa, an entire artistic collective---the Bashkirian Song and Dance Ensemble---went there. Its director told African audiences about the development of culture in Bashkiria since the establishment of Soviet power there and the flowering of art and culture in the Soviet national republics. In addition to Bashkirian dances the ensemble's programme included the dances of the Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar, Uzbek and other peoples of the USSR. In recent years other ensembles toured Africa: in 1976 the Uzbek national group Bakhor toured Angola, and in 1977 Voynakh, an ensemble from the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, gave performances in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya.
In 1968 a Leningrad ballet group performed to enthusiastic audiences in Dakar. Their programme included scenes from the Russian ballets The Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty.
The tour of Soviet artistes of Togo in the summer of 1970 was a very important cultural event. The Togolese Foreign Minister said that their performances not only gave the Togolese people a deeper understanding of the folklore and art of the USSR, but also strengthened the friendship between the two countries.
In the second half of the 1970s Soviet artistes made very successful tours of many countries in West and East Africa, including Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Madagascar, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Upper Volta, Benin, and Zambia.
The Liberian Minister for Information, Culture and Tourism noted that the arrival of Soviet artistes was an important event in the life of his country. President Kenneth Kaunda said in Lusaka (Zambia) that the magnificent performance of the artistes from the multinational Soviet Union inspired the peoples of Africa in their fight against imperialism, colonialism and racialism.
Naturally, no plays by Russian classics and Soviet authors were produced in Tropical Africa during the colonial period. Things changed only in the early 1960s. The first Russian play that was produced in Africa south of the Sahara 282 Gogol's The Inspector-General. It was staged by the Arts Theatre in Nigeria that was built shortly before by the University of Ibadan. There were two other productions of this play, one at Kampala (Uganda) in 1961 and the other at Enugu (Nigeria) in 1962.
The Uganda press reported that the actors merged quite well with the characters of Gogol's play and that there was a good chance of it becoming popular in the country. The evil against which Gogol fought is well known in Africa: mercenary officials, bribe-takers, the arrogant braggart and trickster who professes to be high-ranking official. As the years passed The Inspector-General became one of the most important plays in the repertoires of drama groups at universities, schools and youth associations which produced it as a satire on some aspects of present-day life in Africa.
In 1967 the play was staged by the Higher School at Thika near Nairobi (Kenya). The director said that he chose the play because it had many characters who were typical of present-day Africa.
In 1969 scenes from Gogol's play were rehearsed by the Drama School of the Mali Institute of National Fine Arts under the guidance of director Gaoussou Diawara who had undergone qualification apprenticeship at the State Institute of Theatrical Art in Moscow. The Inspector-General was also produced in some countries by leading drama companies which were called national or which aspired to this title. And everywhere the play was regarded as a satire on the evils of local life and made a profound impression by its vivid characters.
The Inspector-General was staged by the Daniel Sorano Theatre in Dakar. Producer Maurice Sonar Senghor was amazed by the universality of the characters of Gogol's comedy and its searing satire. Senghor gave it a local colouring and called it Mister Bribe-Taker and Company. He said that the theatre managed to use this expose of iniquity in the struggle against the country's dire colonial heritage, against superficiality, arrogance, bribe-taking, nepotism, and contempt for the needs of the man in the street.
The play transported the audience into the atmosphere of present-day Senegal and its characters appeared on the stage in local dress. The preview created such an overwhelming impression that "some very influential people" in the republic demanded that the play should be banned. But 283 progressive views won the day and the play ran for several years with invariable success.
Gogol's The Inspector-General was staged by the Ivory Coast National Theatre in 1971, by the National Theatre in Zaire in 1972, and in Kenya in 1973.
__FIX__ Missing accents.Anton Chekhov is another Russian playwright whose works are very popular in Africa. "Chekhov, the great Russian 19th-century writer, is most esteemed by Congolese theatrical companies'', wrote Afrique chr\'etienne.^^1^^
Yet not all of his plays are staged on the continent, only his humorous sketches such as The Proposal, The Bear and, to a lesser degree, The Jubilee. Chekhov's humorous sketches appeal to audiences because they disclose the full depths of their characters and their relations with each other. In order to make these characters understandable and interesting to the local audiences the producers adapted the text and Africanised it to a degree.
Chekhov's humorous sketches which are easily understood and particularly popular were repeatedly included in the repertoires of local touring companies. In Uganda in 1965 the student theatrical group of the Makerere University College included The Bear in the repertoire of its summer tour. One newspaper called it the most successful play staged by the group. In three weeks it was performed thirteen times. In 1969 the play The Proposal was included into the repertoire of the touring Kusum Agoromba Company of Ghana which was formed under the guidance of the prominent Ghanaian poetess and playwright Efua T. Sutherland.
The Theatre Express in Nigeria, which was founded in 1965 as an experimental company pioneering the development of the national theatre, used Chekhov's humorous sketches in an original manner. It performed The Bear and The Proposal in a programme which also included a comedy entitled Sailor Boy in Town dealing with the same theme and written by its director Segun Sofowote.
Nigeria was the only country in Tropical Africa which produced Chekhov's third humorous sketch The Jubilee. The Lagos Star Players which staged it in 1972 received high and deserved praise in the press. A particularly great performance was given by the company's actresses.
African actors, directors and playwrights display _-_-_
~^^1^^ Afrique chretienne, No. 44, 1967, p. 19,
284 considerable interest in the art of the Soviet Union which differs basically from bourgeois art. They are interested in the position of the theatre in the socialist society, the status of the Soviet actor, the development of the theatre in the Soviet national republics and plays that are staged in their national languages.During his visit to Moscow in 1966 Joe C. de Graft, director of the Ghanaian Drama Studio which is very popular in Africa and author of the plays Sons and Daughters and Visitor from the Past, described his impressions of Moscow theatres and the activity of his Drama Studio at the Institute of Africa of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Maurice Sonar Senghor has a great interest in the Soviet theatre. The Dakar matin reported that while on a visit to Moscow in 1969 he became convinced that in the USSR the theatre is regarded as a great art whose mission is not only to promote the cultural and social development of the masses but also to strengthen the unity, friendship and solidarity of peoples.^^2^^ And he pursues these principles in his theatre. The Soviet press repeatedly wrote about the great respect which the Stanislavsky method enjoys among many actors and directors of African theatres, especially in North Africa. The prominent Egyptian theatre critic Rashid Fuad wrote that Stanislavsky's method and his discoveries in the fields of theatrical aesthetics, the actor's psychology and laws of scenic perception are of a truly international significance. His concepts are also important for the young national theatres in Asia and Africa. Fuad is critical of Western artistic culture and contrasts it with the realism of the Soviet theatre, with Stanislavsky's realism which opposes all inhumane, racialist and nationalistic views.^^3^^
The countries of North Africa repeatedly turned to Soviet choreographers for help in developing the local ballet. A Moscow choreographer was invited to Cairo in 1958 in the capacity of artistic director of a newly organised ballet school. Other choreographers from the Bolshoi Theatre were also invited to teach there.
In 1964 and 1965 five ballerinas, pupils of the Cairo Ballet School, underwent qualification training at the Ballet School of the Bolshoi Theatre and took part in its _-_-_
~^^2^^ Dakar matin, 8 July 1969.
~^^3^^ Teatr, No. 12, 1962, pp. 66--67.
285 performances. When they returned to Cairo, Egypt began to form its own ballet company.Soviet choreographers took part in the first productions of this company: The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, Giselle, The Nutcracker, and Don Quixote. Soviet ballet dancers who were in Cairo in 1971 participated in the performances of Don Quixote and Uzbek composer Mukhtar Ashrafi was the conductor.
After that the Cairo Ballet Company under the guidance of a local choreographer staged a ballet called Staunchness. The music was composed by Ashrafi and its subject was the revolutionary struggle of the Arabs against colonialism. Soviet choreographers also helped Egypt to form a national dance ensemble. It was organised in 1960, shortly after a tour of Egypt by the Soviet Folk Dance Ensemble directed by Igor Moiseyev. Having established friendly relations with the Egyptian dancers, the Soviet ensemble sent its choreographers to instruct them. The Cairo ensemble gave several performances in Moscow in 1968. Its director said that the founding of the ensemble offered further proof of the mighty influence of Soviet art on people in different countries.^^4^^
The repertoire of the Cairo dance ensemble included folk dances of the peoples of the world and Egypt, beginning with the times of the pharaohs and ending with the present day, with the dances of the Palestinian resistance.
Among the participants in the festival of Egyptian art which was held in Moscow in 1972 were the National Folk Dance Ensemble and the Cairo Ballet Company. The latter brought along its productions of Don Quixote and Staunchness, and scenes from other ballets. The festival showed that cooperation of the two theatrical cultures was yielding good fruit.
The Soviet theatre is also helping Algeria to train ballet dancers. In order to study the experience of Soviet ballet schools, the Algerian Ballet School which was founded in 1963 invited Soviet classical dance teachers to instruct its pupils. At the same time Algerian ballerinas studied at the choreographic department of the State Institute of Theatrical Art in Moscow and upon completing their course became ballet masters and choreographers.
The first graduating class of the Algerian Ballet School in 1967 became the nucleus of the Algerian Folk Dance _-_-_
~^^4^^ See Sovietskaya Kultura, 21 November 1968.
286 Group, which also gave performances in Moscow. Over the years the group considerably improved its professional skill and toured the USSR in 1972.On their part Soviet cultural and art workers keep constant track of the development of the African theatre and take advantage of every opportunity to cooperate with it. Soviet art workers attended all the more important art conferences and symposiums in Africa, including the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar in 1966, and the PanAfrican Cultural Festival in Algiers in 1969.
A great role in strengthening contacts with African countries was played by the 15th Congress of the International Theatre Institute which took place in Moscow in May 1973. Among its delegates and guests were many theatrical personalities from Africa.
Music is part of Africa's spiritual culture and has always occupied an important place in the life of its peoples. In spite of the long period of colonial rule African music has to a very considerable degree preserved its autochthonic character, traditional genres and musical instruments.
Full understanding and cooperation between African musicians and Soviet composers and music critics were displayed at the 7th International Music Congress held in Moscow in 1971. For the first time such a major international music forum was attended by delegates from many African countries: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, and Togo. Among them was Professor J. H. Kwabena Nketia, founder of African musicology; Philip Gbeho, Director of the Institute of African Studies in Ghana and one of the oldest African composers and author of Ghana's national anthem; Joseph Kyagambiddwa of Uganda, a prominent musicologist from East Africa; Akin Eyba, a well-known Nigerian composer and music critic, and many others.
The Congress discussed how the African musical culture should develop. Most of the African and Soviet delegates agreed that it would be best if local culture absorbed the finest traditions and achievements of European and world musical culture and at the same time followed national traditions.
Kwabena Nketia, Joseph Kyagambiddwa, Philip Gbeho and other African composers and musicologists disagreed with those Western musicologists who suggested that African musical culture should develop all on its own, and 287 emphasised that the great traditions of folk music should not be fetishised but be viewed in close connection with the achievements of world musical civilisation. Similar thoughts were expressed by Soviet musicologists, including the renowned Soviet composer, People's Artiste of the USSR Dmitri Kabalevsky. Today, when the national liberation movement in Africa has begun to tackle the task of cultural decolonisation, the further deepening of cooperation between the peoples of the USSR and Africa in the field of musical culture will be particularly fruitful.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. Cinema, Television and RadioThe African motion picture industry is developing rapidly. With the exception of Egypt, wrote Jeune Afrique, the continent was a cinematographic Sahara.^^5^^ Prior to 1960 Egypt was the only African country which produced fulllength feature films and had a fairly extensive distribution system. In the second half of the 1960s the production of iilms increased in Algeria and some progress was registered in Tunisia and Morocco.
For many years films about Africa were produced in Europe and the USA. In terms of their content they could be grouped (depending on the political views of the producers) into two basic categories: those that preached racial violence and the so-called inferiority of Africans, and those which showed African reality as it really was. There was also a third category which used Africa exclusively as an exotic background for the plot.
In the 1960s independent countries south of the Sahara produced not more than twenty full-length films. Film production in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda was subsidised by the state. And though their national motion picture industry is still just beginning to develop, its progress is quite obvious. For instance, a state-financed studio has been set up in Conakry. It is outfitted with Soviet equipment and has produced several full-length films. The biggest and best equipped studio is in Ghana where a state corporation is in charge of motion picture production and distribution.
_-_-_~^^5^^ Jeune Afrique, No. 488, May 1970.
288In the 1970s the production of African films began to increase. Naturally, films made by Africans deal with neocolonialism, the revival of African culture, liquidation of tribalism, the emancipation of women, and other vital issues.
Determined efforts are being made in Africa in recent years to place the distribution of films fully under state control. In Mali and the Upper Volta, for instance, national nlm distribution firms were set up expressly for this purpose. The film distribution system has been nationalised in Algeria, Zaire, the People's Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Nigeria, and some other countries.
The first steps in the creation of the African cinema have yielded promising results. Inter-state motion picture associations have already been set up, for example, by Senegal, Guinea, Mali, and Mauritania. The Pan-African Federation of Cinematographers wh'ich unites the more prominent film makers, chiefly directors, from 33 African countries was founded in 1970. The Second Congress of African Cinematographers met in 1975 in Algiers.
Television is developing in all parts of the continent. In 1961 only Egypt and Nigeria had television networks. Now there are state-owned TV stations in most of the African countries. Television is becoming more independent and broadcasts an increasing number of national programmes designed to promote education and socio-economic development.
The national radio in Africa plays a more independent role than television and the cinema, because there already were local radio stations in almost all countries prior to 1960 and the national radio broadcasting systems were established on their basis.
Soviet-African cooperation in the field of cinematography is conducted within the framework of inter-government cultural exchange programmes with practically all the newly free African states. Annually these programmes envisage 70 or 80 projects involving Soviet and African Cinematographers.
The majority of African countries were invited to send delegations to Moscow Film Festivals and to acquaint themselves with life in the USSR. On many occasions African delegates were invited even if they had no films to show. At the Sixth Film Festival in 1969 the prize for the best production of the continent's developing film industry was awarded to the __PRINTERS_P_289_COMMENT__ 19--0763 289 film Cabascabo made by the Nigerian producer Oumarou Garida. At the Seventh Film Festival the Silver Prize and the Prize of the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee were won by Sembene Ousmane's film Emital. At the Eighth Film Festival wide acclaim was given to the Senegalese film ToukiBouki. African films were also shown at the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Moscow Film Festivals in 1975, 1977 and 1979 respectively.
Since 1968 African delegations have been regularly participating in the Tashkent Film Festival of Asian and African Countries. This festival fulfils the special mission of popularising the cinema in the developing countries and strengthening its independence. In a message to the participants in the Second Tashkent Film Festival, the USSR Council of Ministers said: "The broad participation of Asian and African cinematographers in the festival which is taking place under the motto 'For Peace, Social Progress and the Freedom of Peoples' is an important indication of the steady growth of mutual understanding and cultural links between the peoples of different countries and continents, of the further penetration of the cinema into the masses; it is a vivid reflection of the successes in the development of cinematic art which is taking place in keeping with democratic principles of the national culture of the peoples that had freed themselves from colonial oppression, and of the strengthening friendly ties between them and the peoples of the Soviet Union.''^^6^^
Four full-length films] and ten shorts from African countries were shown at the Third Tashkent Film Festival.
African cinematographers are among the judges at these film festivals. For example, the Senegalese film director Paulin Soumanou Vieyra and the actress Therese Diop m' Bissine, and the Egyptian film director Kamal El Cheikh were on the panel of judges at a Moscow film festival. Soviet international film festivals are usually attended by African film distributers.
With the development of the African motion picture industry, the USSR has been able to organise film festivals and premieres of African films. In 1970 the USSR held a Week of Guinean Films and in 1973 a festival of Guinean films. Almost all of the films were purchased for screening in the USSR. Films from other African countries are also shown to Soviet audiences.
_-_-_^^6^^ Pravda, 25 May 1972.
290Soviet films were first shown on African screens over twenty years ago. Today Sovexportfilm has film contacts with most African countries. It annually sells them 45--50 full-length films, including 12--14 that are dubbed into English or French. Quite of ten documentariesjand newsreels in these languages and also in some African languages are donated to African film distributors. Sovexportfilm has representatives in Algeria, Morocco, Benin, the People's Republic of the Congo, Angola, Guinea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Senegal. From Senegal Soviet films are distributed to 11 countries in West and Central Africa. In recent years Soviet films have considerably gained in popularity in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Guinea, Benin, and the People's Republic of the Congo, where their distribution is handled by the state. There is a growing interest in Soviet films in Guinea-Bissau.
Quite often delegations of Soviet cinematographers attend weeks and premieres of Soviet films in African countries. They visited Algeria, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Sudan, Ethiopia, Madagascar,'and other countries where festivals of Soviet films are regularly organised (premieres of Soviet films have been held in almost all African countries). For instance, during the Week of Soviet Films in Guinea in December 1973, Soviet films were shown in all the country's cinemas, and the most popular one was The Dawns Are Quiet Here. During the week more than 25,000 people saw Soviet films.
In connection with the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia there were premieres and festivals of Soviet films in many African countries. The centenary of Lenin's birth was also widely marked. In 1970 Soviet film festivals were organised in Mali, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Similar events were arranged by Soviet and African organisations in connection with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the USSR, including weeks of Soviet films in the Central African Republic and Uganda.
In 1975 film festivals marking the 30th anniversary of the rout of fascism were held in some African countries. There were weeks of Soviet films in Benin, Ghana, and Ethiopia. In 1977 weeks and premieres of Soviet films were held in the overwhelming majority of African countries to mark the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution.
There are many Soviet documentaries about Africa showing the rise and development of new African states and the __PRINTERS_P_291_COMMENT__ 19* 291 struggle of their people for full freedom and independence. Usually local organisations cooperate with Soviet cameramen who shot the following documentaries: Congo in Struggle; Independent Guinea; All the Best, Nigerial; Holiday in Togo; Good Luck, Mali; We're with You, Africa; Libyan Sketches; The Light of Aswan; Algerian Diary; Ethiopia: Country and People; Ethiopia: Centuries and Years; The Voice of Free Angola; Clear Skies over Guinea-Bissau, and The Triumph of Free Mozambique.
The production of joint Soviet-African feature films on African themes has been launched. They are The Committee of 19 and The Black Sun. The leading roles in the latter film arc played by African actors, and Africans studying at Soviet institutions of higher education were invited to take part in the mass scenes.
The Soviet Union assists Africa's developing motion picture industry. When Guinea became independent in 1958 it had no motion picture industry and had to begin from scratch. Since then Soviet cinematographers have been extending technical and creative assistance to it: Guineans studied at the Soviet State Institute of Cinematography and underwent practical training at Soviet film studios.
There are close ties between Soviet and Senegalese cinematographers. The prominent Senegalese film director and writer Sembene Ousmane, who made the first full-length film in his country, studied in the USSR. Soviet film festivals are regularly held in Senegal, local actors have taken part in films made in the USSR, and Senegalese cinematographers are always among the jury at international film festivals in the USSR. Contacts have also been established with film makers in Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Zaire and Ethiopia.
Soviet cinematographers have close links with their counterparts in Algeria. There are annual exchanges of delegations of film makers between the two countries, previews of films and festivals and visits by film shooting groups.
Soviet-African contacts in the field of radio and television are also expanding. The Soviet Union regularly sends recorded radio and TV programmes which are transmitted by local stations. They are usually programmes about the USSR, Soviet music, Russian language lessons for radio and TV audiences, TV films and newsreels, features devoted to national holidays. African TV studios often show Soviet documentary and feature films. Many Soviet films, for instance, 292 were shown on TV in Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt. During the observance of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution, Soviet films were shown on television in Algeria, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone. Soviet radio and TV also show programmes from Africa.
Cooperation in the field of radio and television is also maintained under inter-state agreements with all Maghreb countries, Benin, Zambia, Cameroon, Kenya, the People's Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Ethiopia, and other countries. The USSR has long-term agreements on exchange in the field of radio and television with Benin and Ethiopia, and one- and two-year protocols are drawn up and signed with other countries (Madagascar, Mauritania, Guinea, Angola, Central African Republic, Algeria and Morocco).
There is a regular exchange of delegations for the purpose of sharing experience and drawing up projects under bilateral agreements, visits by radio and TV journalists, production of TV films and establishment of new contacts.
Soviet-African cooperation in the field of motion pictures and the mass media is expanding steadily as is the mutual interest of their peoples. A vivid example is the interest of the African population in Soviet films which are distributed by public organisations on the continent. Thousands of people see films shown at Soviet cultural centres and at friendship societies with the USSR.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 3. Contacts Between WritersAfrican literatures have reached such a level of development that the majority of researchers believe that they ought to be viewed as an inalienable and important component of world literature. The works of African writers have come to play a big role in the cultural life of newly free states. For instance, the verses of L. Sedar Senghor, the novels of Chinua Achebe and Etienne Jalm and the plays of Wole Soyinka are now well known and acclaimed abroad. The literature of the African continent is now studied as a separate subject at the philology department of Moscow University. Many monographs, articles and reviews have been written 293 about the works of African writers. Some researchers even assert that their number almost exceeds the number of original works by African authors. This, of course, is an overstatement. And yet it reflects the enormous and ever growing interest in the young African literatures. Matters concerning the development of these literatures, the writings of the young African authors are discussed at numerous seminars, symposiums and conferences. African literatures have become an object of acute ideological struggle, and in the discussions concerning the ways of their development one can hear the echoes of discussions about the ways of the development of the newly free African states.
A special place among the diverse and original literatures of the African continent is occupied by the literature of ancient Egypt and the new literature in Arabic. Most of the writings of ancient Egypt that have reached us are accounts of trade expeditions and travels, folk tales and stories. An important place in the literature of ancient Egypt is also occupied by poetry of different genres, including lyric poetry which is one of the oldest in the world and was the first to take up a range of topics that subsequently became widespread in world poetry.
Egypt's new literature written in Arabic is closely connected with other Arabic literatures, and its first genre was the historical novel. The 1920s and 1930s, however, witnessed the appearance of a large number of short stories and novelettes which pushed the historical novel to second place. The modern novelettes first appeared at the turn of the century and not without the influence of Russian literature. Very popular are Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky whose works have been translated in large editions into Arabic.
The development of the new literature in Arabic in other countries of North Africa began somewhat later. In recent years some progress in this field has been registered in Morocco and particularly in Tunisia where Arabic literature has fairly strong positions.
Literature written in French developed in Maghreb which was under French rule for many years. This circumstance did not prevent it from reflecting the mood of the people of these countries during the struggle for independence. Authors in that part of Africa who wrote in French produced excellent works of prose and won praise from readers and critics. Thei~ __ERROR__ Last two lines on page 294 slightly indented on left in original; "Thei" instead of "Their" for last word on page. 294 writings occupy a prominent place in the system of cultural values of the peoples of North Africa and have played an important role in the development of national awareness. Splendid works have come from under the pen of Ahmed Sefrioui and Driss Chraibi (Morocco), Albert Memmi ( Tunisia), Mouloud Feraoun, Mohammed Dib, Mouloud Mammeri (Algeria), and other writers. Nonetheless, it is not difficult to imagine that the authors of these countries will be increasingly writing in Arabic.
Literature in English, French, Portuguese and also in African languages, the most important of which in terms, of their modern development are literatures in the Hausa and Swahili languages, are developing in countries south of the Sahara.
Mention should be made of the literature of the Republic of South Africa or, to be precise, two branches of this literature, one in Afrikaans and the other in English. The 1940s saw the appearance of Peter Abrahams' novel The Path of Thunder, and the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, and other works that won world acclaim. This literature of protest told the world about the situation in the country which has been and remains a racialist preserve. As a rule, South African writers come from the progressive section of the population, and are consequently in very difficult circumstances. In order to avoid persecution some of them have left South Africa and now live in Europe and the USA. In his novel The Wanderers, the famous South African author Ezekiel Mphahlele writes about the people who are forced to leave their country, and about its progressive writers and journalists.
Of the African literatures whose formation began in the 1920s and 1930s the greatest progress has been made by Nigerian literature in English. It has developed rapidly from cautious experiments of the publicists in the 1930s who opposed racial prejudices and advocated independence (the poetry of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dennis Chukude Osadebay, and others), to the very mature poetry of the 1960s (Christopher Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, and others) and plays which won recognition abroad as well as in Africa. But it was the novel that brought Nigerian literature the greatest fame and the country's leading novelists Chinua Achebe and Cyprian Ekwensi have many followers among African writers.
295Nigeria plays a conspicuous role in Africa and its creative intelligentsia is respected in other parts of the continent; for instance, they talk about Achebe's school. African literature, that of Nigeria in particular, has since turned into an arena of acute ideological struggle which is pursuing a more and more distinct objective: as in other spheres of social relations, it is in the final analysis the question of the path of development.
There are signs that Ghanaian literature has been making good progress in recent years. Established in 1967 the Anowuo Educational Publications has issued several books by young writers and has thus contributed to the accelerated development of printed literature.
The first shoots of the French language literature of West Africa appeared in the latter half of the 1920s, to be precise in 1926, with the publication in Paris of the novel ForceBonte by the Senegalese writer Bakary Diallo. Towards the end of the Second World War there were still no written works of any social importance in the French colonies, but the literature of some countries was already poised for a qualitatively new step forward and did so after liberation.
The leading role in realistic prose is played by the writers of Cameroon, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast. They have created outstanding works showing the growth'of national awareness and the struggle of the peoples for a life of dignity, for economic and political rights, and condemning the colonial system. Among the best known of these writers is Sembene Ousmane, author of the novels 0 pays, man beau peuple and Les bouts de bois de Dieu, the versatile and gifted prose writer from the Ivory Coast Bernar Dadier, and Mongo Beti and Ferdinand Oyono of Cameroon.
After 1960, at the stage of the independent development of states, African literature turned to new social problems, which were taken up in the novels Afrika Ba'a by Re"my Medou Mvomo and Man-God from Bisso by Etienne Jahn, both of Cameroon (the latter won the Grand^Prix of Black Africa), The Unvanquished by Bediako Asara of Ghana, Behind the Rising Sun by Sebastian Okechukwu Wezu of' Nigeria, and others.
In spite of the 500-year-long Portuguese presence in Africa and the fact that the poetic traditions of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies have almost a century-long history, literature in the Portuguese language began to develop at 296 about the same time as literatures in English and French. But even in this very short span of time the literature of the Cape Verde and Sao Tome Islands, Angola and Mozambique has covered a difficult road that was not without internal contradictions.
Important literary works have been created in the former Portuguese colonies in Africa by the late Agostinho Neto, a prominent poet who was also the leader of the Angolan Revolution, President of Angola and head of the MPLA. The fact that African literatures in Portuguese are not as well known is due to the obstacles raised by the colonial administration and the censor's office to prevent books from crossing the colonial borders, especially those whose authors realistically described the life and the mood of the people.
Until recently researchers studying African literatures called East Africa a ``desert''. And indeed the rise and development of literatures in that part of the continent compared with the literature of West Africa was delayed by several decades. In the 1960s, however, certain positive changes took place. For instance, signs appeared that literatures there had entered a period of accelerated development. Many works by authors in East Africa are a protest against the unequal property and social status which is becoming more and more apparent in some of the newly free states. The young writer from Uganda Bonny Lubega in his novel The Outcasts writes about the "black masters" and the exploitation of the needy sections of the population. The most prominent writer in that part of Africa is the Kenyan novelist and playwright James Ngugi. He has written three novels and several stories about the difficulties of spiritual development of young Kenyans who had gone through the trials of the liberation struggle. In the early 1970s a new name appeared in Kenyan literature, that of Charles Mangua who, being a talented prose writer, immediately rose to prominence. His novels, particularly the second one, A Fail in the Mouth, mirror the disillusionment of some sections of Kenyan society with the present state of affairs and manifestations of social injustice in the country.
The acquaintance of the mass Soviet reader with the works of African writers in Russian translation began in the 1930s with the publication of the novel Return of the Ghost by the Egyptian writer Tewfiq Al-Hakim put out in Leningrad in 1935. Then, one of the most vivid works to 297 be published in Russian was The Path of Thunder by the South African writer Peter Abrahams (Moscow, 1949) which was subsequently translated into Georgian, Chuvash, A/erbaijanian and other languages of the Soviet peoples. The further increase in the publication of translated works attests not only to the growing interest in the USSR to African literatures, the life of African peoples and their fight for independence, but also to the development of African literatures and the increasing number of works of fiction by African writers.
In the late 1950s and the early 1960s a fairly large number of works (prose and poetry) by North African authors writing in Arabic and French were translated into Russian: the collections Young Poets of Arab Countries (Moscow, 1965), Stories by Arab Writers (Moscow, 1955), Algeria's Victory (poems, Moscow, 1961), the novels by the Algerian writer Mohammed Dib The Big House and Fire (Moscow, 1956) which describe the life of the Algerian poor, and other works. In 1975 the novel by the Moroccan author Driss Chraibi The Heirs was translated into Russian, and in 1977 a collection entitled the Morning of My People. Contemporary Algerian Poetry came out in the Russian language.
Not only researchers were interested in the literature of the countries south of the Sahara but also Soviet publishing houses which lost no time in acquainting the Soviet reader with many original works by the young African authors. For instance, Sembene Ousmane's novel 0 pays, mon beau peuple which first appeared in 1957 was published in Russian translation a year later and one of his other novels, Les bouts de bois de Dieu, was put out in Russian in 1962. Such important works written at the end of the 1950s as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1958), Mongo Beti's Mission terminee (1957), and Ferdinand Oyono's Le vieux Negre et la medaille (195(>) were translated into Russian in the early 1960s. In this period other vivid works of prose were translated, including the novel The Fair House by the South African novelist Jack Cope, the novel Weep Not, Child by the Kenyan James Ngugi, the novel by the Nigerian novelist Cyprian Ekwensi People of the City, and also the collection Poets of Ghana (Moscow, 1963), a collection of stories (Moscow, 1962) by writers of Angola, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, 298 South Africa, and Ethiopia. In the 1970s the following books were published in Russian in the USSR: a novel by the Sierra Leone writer Sarif R. Easmon Burnt-Out Marriage (Moscow, 1977), a novel entitled Oil Man ofObange by the Nigerian author John Munonye (Moscow, 1975), a collection entitled Voices of Good Hope. Verse by Contemporary Poets of South Africa (Moscow, 1975), The Wind and the Bird. African Folk Poetry (Moscow, 1976), The Tales of African Peoples (Moscow, 1976), and other books. There is every reason to say that the Soviet reader is familiar Jwith all the literatures of the African continent, with all the writers and poets whose works are interesting both in terms of their artistic value and social significance.
An important role in establishing criteria for selecting works for translation into the languages of the USSR was played by the 1964 Moscow seminar on the publication and translation of works by African and Asian writers. It was attended by literary critics, translators and writers from Asian and African countries and its materials were published in Moscow in English under the title Literature Unites Peoples.
By the mid-1960s the main trend in the development of African literature came into evidence. It was a realistic trend and it gained in strength in the course of a difficult struggle against the opposing modernistic trend, which was particularly pronounced in poetry. At the same time Western critics began to slight the publicistic poetry which was so topical in Africa during the period of active struggle for independence and which became clearly manifest, for instance, in Modern African Poetry, a collection that was put out in London. Articles against the realistic trend in African pros-e were also published. In this period the polemic over the works of African writers gradually developed into an acute ideological struggle over a broader question, that of the ways of Africa's development in general. It became obvious that the time had come to discuss certain topical problems concerning the development of African literature.
This was done at the close of 1966 at a conference at the Gorky Institute of World Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences which was attended by poets and critics from a number of African countries as well as Soviet literary critics.
Most of the bilateral contacts between Soviet and African 299 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1980/UCOA319/20080107/319.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2008.01.29) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_SEQUENCE__ continuous writers were established within the framework of the Movement of Solidarity of Asian and African Writers which arose at the end of the 1950s as a result of the national liberation struggle.
This movement has taken the form of conferences which are regularly organised in different countries and at which writers raise questions that are not only of a professional nature: they talk about the civic duty of writers, about the struggle for peace, and discuss the problems of the cultural development of their respective countries.
Speaking at the first conference which met at Tashkent in 1958 the Ghanaian poetess Efua T. Sutherland called it a step towards putting an end to mankind's disunity. She said that it was necessary to search for practical ways of strengthening cultural links between peoples and removing all barriers. The same thought was expressed at the 1967 Beirut Conference by the Kenyan writer John Mwango who noted that it was most important for the writers of the socialist and African countries to maintain close contacts in order to ensure a permanent bilateral exchange of ideas and materials.
The exchange of ideas gained in scope as African countries advanced along the road of independent development. The building of a new society, and a modern culture in particular, proved to be an extremely complicated job that involved difficulties which the leaders of many young states, obviously enough, could not have foreseen.
The heightened interest in socialist ideas, in the Soviet Union and its culture manifested itself not only in literature. Indicative in this respect are the words of the Ghanaian writer Jawa Apronti who said that the value of a written work depends not only on its literary qualities but also on the degree to which it serves the socially and culturally justified aims of society. He referred to Gorky's experience and his creative principles and thus emphasised the importance of that proletarian writer for the young African literatures.
New ideas and views find their way into the literature of African countries in the course of the reorganisation of the life of their peoples which makes the expansion of ties, the establishment of contacts and adoption of experience necessary and inevitable. Africa is beginning to take a real interest in Soviet literature.
300The influence of Maxim Gorky's works, particularly of his novel Mother, is evident in Sembene Ousmane's novel Les bouts de bois de Dieu dealing with the struggle of African railway workers for their rights.
The aesthetics of socialist realism is having a perceptible impact on writings of another African author, Alex La Guma of South Africa, who has written a number of works about the life of the indigent population of his country. By mirroring the formation of the class awareness of the working people his works help them surmount the barriers created by the authorities. In his story The Portrait La Guma expressed the feelings of many progressive Africans, their profound respect for Lenin, one of the world's greatest thinkers. The influence of Marxist ideas on the world outlook of African writers is clearly seen in the works of another Kenyan novelist James Ngugi.
There is no doubt that the exchange of ideas and views is also promoted by direct contacts between Soviet and African writers, by the trips of Soviet authors to African countries, and visits to the USSR of their African counterparts. Prominent African writers, including Sembene Ousmane (Senegal), John Pepper Clark (Nigeria), Efua T. Sutherland (Ghana), James Ngugi (Kenya) and Mengistu Lemma (Ethiopia) visited the USSR. In recent years works by Russian classics and Soviet writers have been made available to the African reader not only in French and English translations but also in Hausa, Swahili, Amharic, and other African languages.^^7^^ Closer and broader ties are developing between the creative intelligentsia of Africa and the Soviet Union and they will undoubtedly stimulate the development of the young African literatures and contribute to the continent's complete cultural decolonisation.
_-_-_~^^7^^ Quito a number of books wore translated, among tbcm Dubrovsky and The Tales of the Late Ivan Pelrovtch Belkin by Alexander Pushkin, Tar as Bulba by Nikolai Gogol, After the Ball by Lev Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov's stories, Maxim Gorky's Childhood and My Unirrrsities, Nikolai Ostrovsky's How the Steel Was Tempered, Mikhail Sholokhov's The Fate oj a Man, Boris Lavrnnev's The Forty-First, Chinghiz Aitmatov's My I'oplar in the fted Neckerchief, Emmanuel Kazakovieh's The Star, and Yuri Rytkhou's Happiness of My People.
[301] __NUMERIC_LVL2__ Chapter XVII __ALPHA_LVL2__ ASSISTANCE IN PROMOTINGAfter proclaiming independence African countries had to tackle two] basic tasks in the sphere of public health: (1) establishing a ramified system of medical institutions and training medical personnel, and (2) combating the more widespread infectious and parasitic diseases. But they were seriously handicapped by lack of experience and qualified medical personnel as well as by inadequate funds.
The European doctors and nurses who had worked in African countries in the colonial period began to leave them as soon as they became independent. And since there was no national medical personnel the local population was deprived of even elementary medical aid. This meant that there could be epidemics of infectious and parasitic diseases. In these circumstances the young African states sought assistance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other international organisations and also from the advanced friendly countries.
In fulfilment of its internationalist duty, the Soviet Union began to help the newly free African states to build up their public health systems. The first Soviet doctors arrived in Algeria in 1963 at a time when the Algerian patriots were waging bitter battles against the colonialists in some parts of the country (Great and Little Kabylia, Annaba and Tlemcen). Working in the towns of Tizi-Ouzou, Fort-National, Annaba and Algiers, Soviet medical workers treated a large number of wounded and sick.
Adhering to the lofty principles of humanism, the Executive Committee of the Union of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR in August 1960 sent a team 302 of 20 medical workers to Zaire who heroically fought against infectious and parasitic diseases, including the plague, pox, malaria, schistosomiases and amebiasis.
Some members of this team worked in Stanleyville (now Kisangani), Buta and Bunia in the remote eastern region of the country. Soviet doctors immediately won the trust and respect of the local population. The local medical personnel who worked with them spoke with admiration about their activity, and Russian medical books which they left behind are kept in the libraries of some of the hospitals.
In November and December 1965 a team of Soviet doctors stayed in the People's Republic of the Congo where they vaccinated refugees from Angola who lived along the border between the Congo and Cabinda against the pox and polio. In this period they vaccinated approximately 5,000 people and tested 500 blood preparations for malaria. )
In the past 20 years the Soviet Union's links in the field of medicine with African countries expanded considerably and turned into a permanent form of cooperation which is subject to no political conditions and is mutually beneficial.
The Soviet Union demonstrates the advantages and gains of its public health service on the basis of concrete facts. "Our country," said the USSR Minister of Health B. V. Petrovsky, "has accumulated vast experience in solving key problems of protecting the health of the people within the framework of the state system of public health. Without imposing our views on anyone, we hospitably open the doors of our institutes, hospitals, dispensaries and laboratories for all people who sincerely want to acquaint themselves with our public health system and use our rich experience in protecting people's health."^^1^^
The Soviet Union provides considerable assistance to African countries in improving the medical care of the local population, building up the material and technical basis of public health, training national medical personnel, combating the more widespread infectious and parasitic diseases, and promoting national medical science. One of the most effective forms of cooperation in this sphere is the dispatch of Soviet doctors and other medical personnel for long-term work in African treatment-and-prophylactic institutions. In the second half of the 1970s approximately one thousand _-_-_
~^^1^^ B. V. Pctrovsky, People's Health', the Greatest Asset of Socialist Society, Moscow, 1071, pp. 88--80 (in Russian).
303 Soviet medical specialists worked in developing countries, chiefly African, including Algeria, Zambia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, the Central African Republic, Chad and Ethiopia. Formerly the teams that were sent to African countries consisted of therapeutists, surgeons, obstetricians, gynecologists and pediatricians, that is, specialists in the basic medical professions. Of late, however, they include neuropathologists, ophthalmologists, anesthesiologists, urologists, cardiologists and doctors specialising in the more narrow branches of medicine. The medical, pedagogic and scientific activity of Soviet physicians is highly professional. It vividly demonstrates the achievements of the Soviet school of medicine and is highly appreciated in the African countries.An important role is played by the training of African medical personnel at Soviet medical institutes, medical schools, research centres, and doctors' qualification improvement institutes. From 1949 to 1978, approximately 4,000 foreign students, mostly from developing African countries, graduated from Soviet medical and pharmaceutical institutes and schools. In the middle of the 1970s nearly 3,000 students from 105 countries were being trained in the USSR. They included students studying at medical institutes, people undergoing apprenticeship training, hospital physicians, post-graduate students, and students enrolled at secondary medical schools and preparatory departments.
At the request of the governments of Algeria, Guinea, Zambia, Mali and other African countries, the Soviet Union is building and equipping medical schools and institutes and is sending specialists to lecture at medical departments of universities and at medical schools. The creation of facilities for training doctors and medium-level medical personnel on the spot is one of the more progressive forms of cooperation because it radically solves the question of the formation of national personnel. The establishment of medical departments and schools in African countries helps to promote the development of their medical science.
The Soviet Union is also doing a great deal to help African countries strengthen the material and technical basis of medicine by building treatment-and-prophylactic institutions and medical schools either at its own expense or on mutually beneficial terms. With Soviet help hospitals 304 and polyclinics were built in Algeria, Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, a maternity hospital in the People's Republic of the Congo, and a TB hospital in the Sudan. In the mid1970s the Soviet Union helped to design, build and equip a general hospital in Nigeria, and also hospitals and polyclinics in the Sudan and other countries. Medical institutions that were built with Soviet assistance are used as models whose experience is passed on to other similar institutions on the continent.
Some African governments have launched the establishment of national medical and pharmaceutical industries. The Soviet Union is helping them with deliveries of medical equipment, instruments, medicines and vaccines. It sent cholera vaccine to Togo, Upper Volta, Benin, Nigeria and other states. Soviet polio vaccine saved thousands of African children from this disease. In order to help banish this disease, in 1966 the USSR sent one million doses of this vaccine to Uganda; in 1969 it sent 150,000 doses to Benin and one million to Zaire. Thanks to the deliveries of Soviet vaccines and serums, African medical institutions are able to carry regular prophylactic measures and organise mass campaigns to combat infectious and parasitic diseases.
Soviet specialists are engaged in extensive research in African countries. For instance, in Algeria, Mali, the People'sRepublic of the Congo and other countries they studied the role of parasitogenic diseases in the regional pathology of the population. The results of many of their studies were published in Soviet and foreign journals. Very important are dissertations of Soviet scientists on the clinical and epidemiological features of tropical diseases.
The participation of Soviet specialists in WHO and other international organisations offers the African public and medical workers additional opportunities to acquaint themselves with progress in Soviet health protection and medicine. An important role in the Soviet Union's cooperation with African countries is played by the consultatory work of Soviet specialists and scientists.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ 2. Physical Culture and SportsSport has a great future in Africa, and most African governments pay a great deal of attention to it: they build sports facilities, invite coaches and instructors from __PRINTERS_P_305_COMMENT__ 20--0763 305 foreign countries to train national coaches and athletes.
An important factor of the development of sports in Africa is the extensive cooperation of Soviet and African athletes. The exchange of sports teams and delegations has become a tradition. Each year after the end of the football season in the USSR, Soviet football teams tour African countries. Back in 1958 Soviet f ootballers played in Ethiopia. The first emissary of Soviet sports in West Africa was the Moscow Dynamo football team which had matches in several countries in 1960.
In the early 1960s Soviet-African sports ties were only just beginning to take shape, but in the 1970s they had already become extensive and multiform. For example, Soviet footballers had matches with the majority of African teams; in 1977 the Zenith team played in Guinea and Mali, and the Tavria squad in Madagascar and the Seychelles.
An important role in the development of African sport is played by Soviet assistance in building modern sports facilities. In 1965 a stadium holding 25,000 spectators, a swimming pool, a sports hall and other facilities were built in Conakry with Soviet assistance. A stadium of about the same size was built in Bamako. The USSR also sends sports^equipment to Africa and^some countries received Soviet blueprints of standard sports facilities.
The managers of Soviet sports organisations and societies are diversifying the forms of Soviet-African cooperation, and Soviet athletes regard it as an important task to help African states to develop sports and physical culture.
Many African athletes took qualification courses in the USSR. Prior to the elimination competitions for the First African Games the Guinean national basketball team went to the USSR for training where its matches with Soviet basketballers helped it to improve its standard of play. In 1974 a Tunisian 12-men track-and-field group underwent a course of training in the USSR. Athletes from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Kenya and Ethiopia studied at the Moscow Institute of Physical Culture at courses specially organised for them.
Soviet and African athletes take part in international competitions in African countries and the USSR many of which have become traditional. Soviet cyclists take part in the Tours d'Alger races, and tennis players in international matches in Nigeria. African athletes were frequently 306 invited to participate in international contests in the Soviet Union.
There are African countries, primarily in the North, with which Soviet sports organisations have long-standing contacts. As regards the states south of the Sahara, contacts with them were established later, but they, too, are now quite extensive. A good example are Soviet-Nigerian ties which are manifested in the joint participation in international competitions (boxing in Leningrad, tennis in Moscow and Lagos, etc.), matches of national boxing and table tennis teams, annual football matches between different teams, and meetings of the managers of sports organisations of the two countries. In 1974 a Nigerian table tennis team took part in an international competition in Vilnius.
Soviet coaches working in Africa play an important part in promoting Soviet-African cooperation. In the early 1960s there were 34 Soviet coaches working on the African continent, and in the 1970s there were several dozens of them giving instruction in football, volleyball, track-andfield, free-style wrestling, boxing and other sports. Some of them also read lectures and provide methodological assistance in the development of physical culture. Physical education programmes for Soviet secondary schools have been handed over to several African countries. Some of them have awarded orders and medals to Soviet coaches working in Africa.
Requests made by African organisations have always received due attention from Soviet sports organisations. Since the mid-1970s friendship weeks have been held in the course of which various sports contests are organised. Soviet-African cooperation in the sphere of sports is widening. It has a sound base and good prospects for further development to the mutual benefit of both sides.
__PRINTERS_P_307_COMMENT__ 20* [307] __ALPHA_LVL1__ CONCLUSIONTwenty years is an insignificant period in the history of the world. A man who has reached the age of 20 enters a period of maturity. But in international relations two decades are a fairly long period. The Soviet Union's official relations with independent African countries were established approximately 20 years ago, that is, when the latter won independence and freedom and took the difficult road of bringing society out of its colonial status. In these years substantial experience has been accumulated in international cooperation based on equality, respect for sovereignty, mutual benefit and disinterested assistance.
As Leonid Brezhnev noted in his report to the 25th CPSU Congress, the Soviet Union has done a great deal to develop friendly relations with African countries. The political content of these links has become richer, and this substantially helps to strengthen the independence of the young states, consolidate the unity and solidarity of the world socialist system and the national liberation movement, and steadily shift the balance of world forces in their favour.
At the same time it is obvious that the national revival of African countries is an uneven process. In some of them it is impeded by internal reaction, and in all of them by neocolonialism. Many African states are undergoing the complicated process of differentiation of class forces and the class struggle is intensifying. This is a natural pattern of development of the newly free countries and is reflected in their foreign policy which is always organically linked with internal social relations. As class differentiation 308 continues, forces opposing closer cooperation with the socialist world begin to emerge in individual African countries. Not the least role here is played by nationalism and negative external influences. But in the final analysis international relations are a totality of economic, political, ideological, social, diplomatic, military and other links between the peoples in the broadest sense of the word. Hence the basic criterion for the Soviet Union's relations with independent African countries today and for the future, too, is their conformity with the interests of the peoples of both sides concerned.
Another important circumstance is that a substantial social and political differentiation has been going on in Africa for several years already. Having taken different roads of social development, independent countries are becoming increasingly unlike in terms of the nature of their administration and, consequently, in their choice of friends and allies. This differentiation is supplemented by their uneven economic development depending either on the abundance or shortage of natural resources and on whether their economic transformations are progressive or not.
Hence, when examining the dynamics of Soviet-African cooperation, it is necessary to adhere to Lenin's method: "Only an objective consideration of the sum total of the relations between absolutely all the classes in a given society, and consequently a consideration of the objective stage of development reached by that society and of the relations between it and other societies, can serve as a basis for the correct tactics of an advanced class. At the same time, all classes and all countries are regarded, not statically, but dynamically.... Motion, in its turn, is regarded from the standpoint, not only of the past, but also of the future."^^1^^
The content and the forms of Soviet-African cooperation take into account the position of the majority of developing African countries in the capitalist system of economy. Their position depends, first, on their economic backwardness resulting from colonial oppression; second, on dependence stemming from backwardness, which enables the imperialist monopolies to retain, albeit in new forms, _-_-_
^^1^^ V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 21, p. 75.
309 important positions in their economies; third, on discrimination and inequality cultivated by the industrialised capitalist states, and, fourth, on imperialism's countermeasures designed to prevent their economic and social emancipation. In recent years this opposition has been backed by theneocolonialists' Maoist supporters who evidently believe that the weaker the 'developing countries are economically, the easier it will be to impose their will upon them. All these factors are dialectically interconnected and largely determine the nature of the national liberation struggle in the sphere of international economic relations and also the foreign policy priorities of many African countries.There are many obstacles on the way to economic independence. On the one hand, the newly free states have to combine their domestic policy with a determined antiimperialist struggle, and, on the other, to strengthen and deepen their cooperation with the socialist world. Economic independence by no means signifies national economic self-sufficiency. On the contrary, the attainment of such independence depends among other things on the establishment and extensive use of equitable and mutually beneficial international division of labour designed to promote economic progressive reorganisation and development of the former colonies and semi-colonies. The Soviet Union and other socialist states resolutely favour such a system of international relations and want to broaden their economic cooperation with African countries on the basis of full equality and non-interference in internal affairs.
It is defined in the decisions of the 25th CPSU Congress and fixed in the new Constitution of the USSR that the Soviet Government will continue to act in line with these principles. This is a manifestation of the real internationalism of the USSR, of the class approach of the state of developed socialism to issues of foreign policy which in such a state is always of a general democratic nature, concerns the whole of humanity and conforms to the interests of the people, including those in the developing countries. The class character of the policy which expresses the nature of socialism finds its embodiment in the fact that its purpose is to support the national liberation movement and promote all-round, equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation with the newly free states.
At the present stage Soviet-African relations fully 310 conform to the changes that are taking place in the developing world, chiefly to the fact that the struggle for raising the economic, social and cultural level of the people, for real national renovation and social emancipation is becoming the main trend of the revolutionary process in African and other liberated countries. It is a multiform struggle with numerous external and internal aspects including the creation of conditions for solving social problems, and also the introduction of such changes in all spheres of society's life which would help to wipe out exploitation of man by man, the chief factor of social inequality and oppression. The struggle for social emancipation, for the choice of a path of socio-economic and political development is, in the final analysis, a class struggle. That is why cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist states is a matter of special importance for the countries which are waging this struggle. Today the main trend of mankind's social progress is the development of the socialist countries, the growth of their might and enhancement of the beneficial influence of their policy in the world arena.
The struggle for social emancipation is waged on both the international and national levels. On the international scene it is directed against the exploitation of the imperialist monopolies, for the reorganisation of the entire system of economic relations of the developing countries with the capitalist states on an equitable and democratic basis. Furthermore, it is a struggle against all forms of imperialist aggression, diktat and pressure. In our day it inevitably merges with the efforts to strengthen peace and to supplement political with military detente. If these objectives are not attained, the developing countries will find it extremely difficult, even impossible, to solve the fundamental task, that of creating productive forces which would guarantee their economic independence and, consequently, ensure their social emancipation~
Such are the aims of Soviet foreign policy. The Programme of Further Struggle for Peace and International Cooperation, and for the Freedom and Independence of the Peoples adopted by \the 25th [CPSU Congress says in part: "Do everything to \deepen international detente, to embody it in concrete forms of mutually beneficial cooperation between states.... Work [for eliminating discrimination and all artificial barriers in international trade, and 311 all manifestations of inequality, diktat and exploitation in international economic relations."^^2^^ This stand created a firm basis for the further development of the Soviet Union's multifold relations with independent African states.
The social emancipation of African countries directly depends on their ability to solve a range of internal problems, including employment, organisation of public health and medical care, promotion of culture and higher education, construction of housing in towns with steadily growing populations and, what is especially important, on the solution of the national question. In order to find a cardinal solution to all these issues it is necessary to combat the externally-supported internal reaction, the neo-compradore bourgeoisie, tribal chiefs and the feudal stratum, which is gradually turning capitalist, and in many countries to fight against feudalism as a socio-economic formation, inasmuch as these forces oppose changes in the social structure, democratisation of the administration, and the eradication of social contrasts.
The Soviet Union helps these countries on an ever increasing scale to solve these problems.
The peoples of Africa aspire to economic independence, social emancipation and national revival, but the situation is by no means identical in all African countries. While the socialist-oriented states have already introduced important social transformations, the capitalist-oriented countries have to cope with more and more difficult social and political problems. The situation there is characterised by poverty, almost total illiteracy, backward health, increasing unemployment and inequality in the property status of the bulk of the people and the bourgeois upper crust.
Clearly enough the capitalist-oriented countries cannot solve the basic economic and social problems. Moreover, all the hardships, evils and crises of the capitalist system of economy descend upon them with greater force. Yet, one cannot say that there is no economic growth in countries whose ruling circles have taken the capitalist path. But this growth is illusory and only strengthens their dependence on the capitalist world. Therefore there is a growing awareness _-_-_
~^^2^^ Documents and] Resolutions. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, pp. 31, 32.
312 in the majority of African states that capitalism, as a system which is historically doomed to extinction, is only capable of reproducing new forms of exploitation. Socialism's force of attraction has increased to even greater degree against the background of the further aggravation of contradictions in the capitalist countries.In this connection progressive African leaders speak about the need to put an end to the predominant (and sometimes even one-sided) orientation on the capitalist world. They emphasise the importance of expanding cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries whose planned economy is developing without crises or upheavals and is an example of dynamic growth.
Needless to say, the socialist-oriented states encounter numerous difficulties on the way to their chosen goal, but they accumulate useful experience in the reorganisation of society and build up a basis for further progressive transformations.
Socialist orientation should become the highway for the development of the newly free African countries because it alone guarantees success in the struggle for economic independence and social emancipation, whereas capitalist development drags the countries which follow this road deeper and deeper into the system of neocolonialism. It is also important that countries which reject capitalist development, strive to build a society free of exploitation, and advance towards socialism can widely rely on the Soviet Union and other socialist states. Their support is essential in view of the shift of the centre of gravity of the national liberation struggle into the socio-economic sphere.
In his speech on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, Leonid Brezhnev said that the "socialist countries are staunch and reliable friends of these countries, and are prepared to give them all possible assistance and support in their development along the progressive path. This means not only moral and political, but also economic and organisational support, including assistance in strengthening their defences."^^3^^
It is necessary to note once again that the USSR is prepared to cooperate with all independent African countries. _-_-_
~^^3^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, p. 22.
313 The reason is that the cooperation of a socialist state with any developing country manifests their mutual interest !n combating imperialism, neocolonialism, and racialism and in building up a truly independent Africa.The Soviet Union never fails to take into account that, in spite of their different socio-political orientations, African countries have much in common. So far all of them are part of the capitalist world system of the economy, even if they do occupy a special place in it characterised by their growing antagonism towards imperialism.
All of them have yet to attain economic independence, and all of them have a common enemy---neocolonialism and racialist regimes in Southern Africa.
Taking advantage of the unequal status of the newly free African countries in the international division of labour, the neocolonialists now concentrate their main efforts on turning these countries into profitable industrial and raw material appendages of their economic structure and make them shoulder the greater part of costs of capitalist production. In order to achieve this and preserve the capitalist system as a whole, the West at times makes concessions to the African countries, resorts to economic and social manoeuvring and draws them into the system of capitalist integration.
Industrialised capitalist countries cannot ignore the steadily increasing influence of the developing states on world affairs. But !the growing 'influence, the successes of the peoples of the newly free states in the struggle for economic and social emancipation and their ever stronger political independence encounter fierce opposition on the part of imperialism. As Leonid Brezhnev has noted, imperialism has not reconciled itself to such a course of events, and since its positions in some of the former colonies are still very strong the "imperialists are doing everything they can to try and retain these, and to deepen and extend them wherever possible".^^4^^ Hence the further aggravation of antagonisms between the (developing and the imperialist countries.
It follows that for all the newly free African countries the movement towards real independence is indissolubly linked with counteraction against the new, renovated and _-_-_
~^^4^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Great October Revolution and Mankind's Progress, p. 23.
314 at times masked methods of neocolonialist expansion. On the other hand, the success of this counteraction largely depends on the consolidation of the alliance of these countries with the socialist world. Such is the logic and the objective basis of the prospects for the further development of Soviet-African relations. The problem can be formulated as follows: either friendship and cooperation with the USSR and other socialist countries, and reliance on their support in strengthening independence, or orientation on international capital, which inevitably leads to dependence and exploitation.This is the point of view of all realistically minded statesmen and politicians of independent Africa. They have noted time and again that the process of progressive changes in the former colonies could gain in width and depth only given the close cooperation of different national liberation contingents at all levels, unity of all anti-imperialist forces and, most importantly, stronger solidarity with the socialist world which is the main and decisive condition for victory. Reliance on the socialist community, interaction with the USSR and other socialist countries will enable the national liberation forces to score their biggest victories.
As Leonid Brezhnev told the 25th GPSU Congress, the USSR has always been a reliable friend of the national liberation movement. "We are doing and will continue to do everything to develop and strengthen friendship with those who really want it. We and the vast majority of the states that arose on the ruins of the colonial system are united by a deep common allegiance to peace and freedom, and aversion to all forms of aggression and domination, and to exploitation of one country by another. This community of basic aspirations is rich and fertile soil on which our friendship will continue to grow and flourish."^^5^^
There can be no doubt as regards the general trend of Africa's development. The will of millions of African working people who have become aware of their objectives and of their place in life is an earnest of the consolidation of national independence and ultimate victory of a social ;ystem that knows neither exploitation nor oppression.
_-_-_^^5^^ Documents and Resolutions. XXVth Congress of the CPSU, p. 20.
315 __ALPHA_LVL1__ NAME AND SUBJECT INDEXAberderrame, A.---233
Abrahams, P.---295, 298
Achebo, Ch.---293, 295, 296, 298
African Party for Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC)---128--130
Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO)---130
Agreement on cultural cooperation between the USSR and Egypt (October 19, 1957)---237
Agreement on cultural cooperation between the USSR arid Guinea (February 26, 1959)---237
Algeria---27, 57, 73--76, 88--92, 142, 144, 147, 153, 154, 156, 159, 162--168, 174, 177, 181183, 185, 192, 194, 198, 200, 201, 205, 207, 210, 212, 218, 231, 239, 240, 245, 247, 250, 251, 254, 257, 261, 263, 266, 268, 269, 275, 286--293, 302305
Angola (People's Republic of Angola)---14, 55, 108, 122, 127--129, 131, 132, 269, 271, 276, 297, 298
Anti-Imperialist League---28, 29
Appeal to All Working Muslims of Russia and the East---9, 26
Aswan hydropower complex---82, 85, 153, 180, 190, 191
Azikiwe, N.---295
Brezhnev, L. I.---9-12,16,18, 20, 58, 97, 100, 103, 113, 122, 124, 125, 308, 313--315
Bunting, S. P.---30, 233
Burundi---109, 268
Cabral, A.---9, 128, 130, 270, 276
Cameroon---106, 109, 112, 163, 214, 216, 218, 264, 269, 271, 280, 281, 293, 296, 298
Central African Republic---106, 109, 112, 166, 253, 291, 304
Central Powers---25
Chad---106, 109, 252, 253, 304
Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (1974)---57
Chicherin, G. V.---35, 36, 39, 41
Communist Party of South Africa---27, 233
Communist University of the Peoples of the East---32
The 4th Conference of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Countries (Algiers, 1973)---57, 58
Conference of Lausanne on the Middle East (1922--1923)---34, 35, 39
The 1st Conference of the Peoples of Africa (Accra, 1958)---236
Conference on Tropical Africa (Ibadan, 1964)---273
The 6th Congress of the Communist International (Moscow, 1928)---233
The 7th Congress of the Communist International (Moscow, 1935)---42
The 24th Congress of the CPSU---11, 86, 104, 109, 125, 131
The 25th Congress of the CPSU---11, 12, 16, 109, 125, 136, 308, 310, 315
B
Benin (Dahomey)---106, 109, 122, 172, 264, 266, 269, 271, 279, 281, 282, 291, 293, 305 ---sculptures from Benin---279
Beti, M.---296, 298
Bourguiba, H.---94
316The 15th Congress of the International Theatre Institute (Moscow, 1973)---287 Congolese Labour Party---124 Convention, signed in Lome in February 1975---207
D
Dadier, B.---296
Daniel Sorano National Theatre (in Dakar)---280, 283
Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia---9, 23--24
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination---13, 134, 135
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960)---13, 60, 128
Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons---64, 107
Decree on Peace---9, 25, 26
Democratic Party of Guinea---124, 125, 248
Diallo, B.---296
Disarmament
Conference
(1932)---37, 38
E
Egypt---26, 27, 30, 31, 35, 39, 40, 48, 78--88, 142, 151, 153, 154, 162--164, 168, 169, 174, 176, 180--184, 190--192, 210--212, 224, 235, 236, 237, 249, 252, 257, 261--263, 267, 269, 279, 285--288, 291, 294
Ethiopia---14, 40--46, 48, 73, 74, 76, 107, 122, 126, 129, 141, 151, 156, 157, 163, 181, 184, 200, 201, 210, 216, 231, 232, 234, 236, 247, 248, 251, 25*4, 257, 261, 266, 269, 271, 279, 281, 282, 287, 291--293, 298, 304--306
Evian Agreements---90
F
FNLA-108, 132
FRELIMO (the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique)--- 127, 129, 131
__COLUMN2__Gabon---106, 107, 163, 177, 203 Gaddafi, Muammar al---101 Gambia---68, 106, 109, 282 Genoa Conference---34 Ghana---107, 144, 154, 163, 164, 182, 205, 214--216, 236, 240, 252, 257, 262--264, 269, 272, 281, 284, 287, 288, 291, 296, 298, 300, 306
Gromyko, Andrei---52, 55 Guinea---122, 124, 125, 154, 156, 157, 159, 163, 165, 171, 175, 181, 183, 185, 195, 198, 207, 214, 215, 232, 235--237, 245, 247, 248, 251, 257, 264266, 269, 281, 282, 288--292, 304, 306
Guinea-Bissau---55, 67, 107, 109, 127--129, 131, 269, 276
H
Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe---
66 IIoare-Laval plan---43, 44
I
International Congress of African Studies---274
International Congress of Africanists; the 1st session in Accra (Ghana), December 1962---272, 273 ---the 2nd session in Dakar (Senegal), December 1967----274
The 25th International Congress of Orientalists---271, 272
International Economic Conference (Geneva, 1927)---36
The 7th International Music Congress (Moscow, 1971)---287
International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers---29
Israel's aggression---83--85
Italo-Ethiopian war (19351937)---42--46
Ivory Coast---106, 107, 163, 280, 284, 296
J Jalloud, Abdul Salam---100, 101
317K
Kaunda, K.---282
Kenya---73, 106, 166, 205, 216,
218, 252, 263, 264, 268, 277,
280--283, 293, 298 Kosygin, Alexei---69, 84, 91,
95, 97, 101, 102, 214, 219,
256MPLA (the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola)---14, 108, 129, 132
Mpolo, Maurice---117
Mussolini---42, 44
N
Namibia (South West Africa)---14, 108, 131, 135, 136
Nasser, Gamal Abdel---60, 63, 79, 82, 86, 270
Neto, Agostinho---14, 132, 297
Niger---106, 107, 187, 269, 293, 306
Nigeria---106, 107, 109, 111, 118--121, 144, 154, 162, 163, 165, 173, 177, 182, 197, 203, 205, 214, 215, 216, 218, 240, 251, 252, 261, 263, 264, 266, 269, 271, 279--284, 287--289, 291--293, 295, 296, 298, 299, 305--307
Nkrumah---63
Non-alignment---57, 58
Nyerere, Julius---123
O
OAU Charter (1963)---70, 73 October war (1973)---86 OPEC---146 Organisation of African Unity---
69--74, 118, 165, 178, 259, 275 Ousmane, Sembene---290, 292,
296, 301 318 108, 131, 132, 133, 136, 164, 295, 298, 299, 301 Rhodesia---70, 135
Riff Republic (the uprising of the Riffs)---27, 32 Ruanda---109, 268
Treaty of Lausanne (1923)---35
Treaty of Sevres---35
Treaty on the Non-Prolifera^ tion of Nuclear Weapons---107
Treaty on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction---107--108
Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof---107
Trusteeship system---49, 50
Tunisia---27, 35, 67, 92--95, 114, 115, 154, 163, 177, 181, 196, 210, 231, 247, 249, 263, 266, 269, 287, 288, 295, 304
U
Uganda-106, 109, 154, 163,
216, 252, 257, 261, 263, 268,
281, 282, 287, 288, 291, 293,
297, 305 UN Development Programme
(UNDP)---265 UN General Assembly Sessions
---the 6th and 7th Special Sessions of the UN General Assembly (the spring of 1974 and autumn of 1975)---52, 53, 55
---the I'lth UN General Assembly Session---60, 62--64, 89, 117, 134
---the 16th UN General Assembly Session (1961)---59, 64, 107
---the 26th UN General Assembly Session (1971)---65
---the 27tli General Assembly Session (1973)---65, 67, 76
---the 28th UN General Assembly Session (1973)---56, 62, 71
---the 29th UN General Assembly Session (1974)---13, 57, 61, 65
San Francisco Conference (1945)---48
Senegal---106, 109, 112, 173, 177, 205, 232, 235, 259, 261, 263, 266, 269, 279, 280, 282, 283, 287, 289--293, 296, 298, 306
Senghor, M. S.---283, 285, Sierra Leone---106, 109--111, 163,
177, 204, 269, 281, 282, 293,
298, 299, 304 Solodovnikov, V. G.---270 Somalia---73, 74, 106, 141, 181,
185, 194, 195, 268, 281, 289
Soviet Association of Friendship with the Peoples of Africa---110, 239
Soviet-Egyptian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation
(1971)-87, 88, 212 Sudan---35, 103, 104, 163, 170,
181, 185, 199, 200, 210, 235,
236, 257, 261, 263, 266, 269,
291, 305
Suez crisis---79--82
Sutherland, Efua T.---284, 300, 301
Swaziland---177
Syria---30, 85, 86, 88
League of Nations---35, 37, 38,
43--46 Lenin, V. I.---11, 14, 15, 25,
26, 29, 30, 33, 54, 62, 112,
151, 231, 234, 244, 277, 301 Lesotho---61 Liberia---40, 41, 165, 177, 203,
207, 236, 282, 287, 288, 293 Libya-35, 67, 98--102, 144, 162,
163, 177, 203, 213, 214, 261,
263, 304 Litvinov, Maxim---37, 38, 43,
45 Lumumba, Patrice---115, 117
M
Madagascar (Malagasy Republic, Democratic Republic of Madagascar)---27, 106, 107, 109, 122, 261, 269, 270, 282, 293
Malawi---61, 107
Mali---111, 154, 158, 172, 175, 184, 196, 232, 247--249, 252254, 257, 264, 266--268, 279283, 289, 291, 293, 304--306
Mandate system---33, 34
Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania)---76, 104, 144, 163, 177, 203, 235, 282, 289
Mauritius---107, 109, 111, 112, 177
Mondlane, Eduardo---127, 276
Morocco---27, 30, 32, 35, 7376, 88, 95--98, 154, 163, 169, 170, 177, 180, 181, 205, 210, 213, 218, 231, 239, 246, 257, 263, 266, 269, 287, 288, 291, 293--295
Mozambique---14, 55, 107, 122, 127--129, 131, 132, 2'6, 297
Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University---255, 256, 264
People's Republic of the Congo 68, 122, 163, 172, 199, 216, 252--254, 257, 265 266, 269, 289, 293, 303, 305
Piotrovsky, B. B.---235, 267
Potekhin, I. I.---234--236, 271
Potemkin, V. P.---44
Programme of Action for Complete Realisation of the Declaration on Decolonisation---61
R
Republic of South Africa---14, 27, 28, 30, 31, 61, 67, 70,
Tangier international /one---96, 97
Tanzania---122, 154, 174, 181, 207, 216, 218, 244, 265, 266, 268, 269, 280, 282, 291, 293
Three-power imperialist aggression against Egypt (1956)---78--82
Togo---106, 109, 112, 144, 207, 246, 266, 269, 287, 293, 305
Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water (1963)---64, 107
319---the 30th UN General Assembly Session (1975)---13, 61, 65
UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade and Development)---13, 226
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation)---129, 245, 246, 259, 267, 276
UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation)---265
UNITA---108, 132
UNO (United Nations Organisation)---13, 48--50, 52--68, 71, 75, 76, 79-S1, 84, 87--89, 93, 94, 96, 99, 103, 107, 108, 114, 116, 17, 128, 129, 133136, 139. 157, 173, 257, 259, 265
Vassif, Gali Boy---39 Vavilov, N.---233, 234 Vorovsky, V. V.---39
W
World Congress of the Friends of the Soviet Union (November 1927)---28
Z
Zambia---106, 109, 111, 144, 146, 163, 165, 177, 181, 197, 203, 204, 205, 207, 216, 218, 251, 252, 253, 281, 282, 291, 293, 304
Zaire (the Belgian Congo, Hepublic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo)---106, 109, 111, 113--118, 142, 144, 163, 165, 177, 203, 204, 269, 280, 289, 292, 303, 305
Zimbabwe---14, 135, 136
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[320] __ALPHA_LVL0__ The End. [END] ~ [321]