76-04-A5

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Africa

Transcript I don't know about you, but I'm concerned -- scared is the proper word -- about what is going on in Africa. Many Americans have interpreted our interest in Africa as an extension of our own desire to achieve racial equality and elimination of injustice based on race. I'm afraid that is a naive over-simplification of what is really at issue. First of all, much of the conflict is between people of the same race. Blacks are killing blacks in the guerilla war in Rhodesia and Angola, where peace has not really come as yet. Africa's history is one of tribal divisions and warfare going back over the centuries. Ancient hatreds still exist. I have a letter from a Rhodesian Senator who opposes majority rule. He says the country's black population is divided between two major tribes who would be at each others throats if it weren't for the buffer offered by the Ian Smith regime1. Well, of course, you say, that's a white Senator trying to preserve the status quo. The Senator is black and a chief of one of those two tribes -- 50% of Rhodesia's Senate is black. Then the Senator says, "We are facing the brunt of a communist backed insurgency, the sole purpose of which is to overthrow our constitution, our way of life, and above all our freedom". Democracy, majority rule, is a desirable thing for people everywhere. But, on the basis of freedom to vote and choose between rival political parties as we do, democracy is not a common thing in the almost half a hundred new and emerging nations of Africa. Only five (and that includes Rhodesia and South Africa) have more than one political party. The rest are military or civilian dictatorships allowing no civil liberties. In most of Africa they believe in one man, one vote-once. Whoever gets in power cancels out the opposition. Mozambique is the staging area for the terrorist attacks on Rhodesia. It is completely totalitarian and communist. Religion is outlawed and thousands of its people (including an American missionary) are in concentration camps. What does the Soviet Union have to say about the African problem? Well, Moscow defines the goal as the use of black power to "strangle the imperialists (that's us) economically". Pravda reveals very clearly what the African problem is all about, and we'd better pay attention. Here it is translated from the Russian -- outlining the "losses they hope to inflict on the United States" -- Pravda says, "In United States imports the share of strategic raw materials imported from Africa amounts to 100% of the industrial diamonds, 58% of the uranium, 44% of the manganese, which is used in the steel smelting industry, 36% of the cobalt, essential for aircraft engines and high strength alloys, 33% of its oil and 23% of its chromium used in the manufacture of armor, aircraft engines and gun barrels". The African problem is a Russian weapon aimed at us. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for Listening. In Reagan's Path to Victory, the transcript is preceded by the following: When Reagan taped this broadcast, Rhodesia and Angola were deeply involved in civil strife as they moved from minority rule and colonialism to black rule and full independence. In Angola, despite the swearing-in of a transitional government on January 31, 1975, the three principal factions in the country descended into conflict. By summer, the transitional authority collapsed with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) seizing most of the official offices in Luanda.2 In 1976, African nationalists Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo came together in the Patriotic Front, which brought political pressure on the white-ruled government of Rhodesia. In 1980, Mugabe became prime minister of Zimbabwe, the name adopted for Rhodesia the previous year.		Details Batch Number 76-04-A5 Production Date 11/02/1976 Book/Page RPtV-83 Audio No Youtube? No
		Added Notes from the book: Ian Smith became the prime minister of Southern Rhodesia in April 1964 and continued to serve in that post when the country declared its independence from Great Britain on November 11, 1965, and became a republic on March 2, 1970. As black rule was being installed, Smith held the post of minister without portfolio from May to December 1979. He served in the Zimbabwean Parliament until 1987. The National Front for the Liberation of Angola and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola were the other two principal political factions in the country. During the final decades of the cold war, the Marxist MPLA received support from the Soviet Union and the other parties received support from the United States and South Africa. Despite a peace accord in 1994 and an attempt at a national unity government in 1997 and 1998, civil war continued. In early 2002, however, a cease-fire was declared and the warring parties began implementing the peace accord.