African Activist Archive

Memorandum with the text of two cables (slightly edited for clarity) from Paul Brink, Information Services staff member who is part of the 14-person AFSC study tour group. The memorandum says at an evening gathering at Friends International Centre, Nairobi on August 4t the group met Kenya's Foreign Minister Munyoi Waiyaki and U. S. Ambassador to Kenya Wilbur LeMelle; on August 5, Ken Best of the All-Africa Conference of Churches told the group that for many years the churches made feeble efforts to solve the problems of southern Africa, but the churches have been part of the problem there. The memorandum says in Lusaka on August 6 the delegation presented sets of Scrabble (for English language practice) and books in a visit to the Namibia Institute, which is training future administrators for the Namibian nation. The memorandum says following a tour of the Lusaka City Council's community upgrading project, in which AFSC plays a key training role, the group met on August 7 with representatives of South African liberation movements. In several discussions they emphasized two thrusts in the struggle: nonviolence (including political action, strikes and boycotts) and the use of arms; many see no conflict in using both approaches. The mailing says on August 8 the group met with U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Steven Low, and President Kenneth Kaunda hosted the study tour group at the State House, Lusaka, on August 14, following the group's four-day stay in Botswana. Kaunda said that the day the Western countries decide to stop their support of South Africa and Rhodesia, peace with justice will be possible in Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Regarding Namibia, Kaunda said that if the five Western nations have no success in their negotiations with South Africa on the future of that territory, the struggle there will grow and intensify; on Rhodesia, Kaunda told the group that only oil sanctions will quell the Rhodesian rebellion without violence. Kaunda said he hopes President Carter's human rights statements include southern Africa, adding that he trusts Carter's pronouncements but wonders if the U.S. establishment will allow Carter's policies to be effected. The memorandum says Philadelphia staff member Peter Molotsi presented Kaunda with the book The Power of the People: Active Nonviolence in the U.S. as a token of AFSC recognition of Kaunda's contribution to the struggle. • From Lusaka, Zambia - 8 August • From Maputo, Mozambique - 16 August

African Activist Archive

Southern Africa Study Tour: Latest Dispatches

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