African Activist Archive

The cover letter says ACAS is participating in a national campaign free Professor Ernest Wamba. The Board has written to key members of Congress and Assistant Secretary of State Crocker and has sent a telegram to the Zairean Embassy in Washington. People are asked to sign and disseminate the enclosed petition addressed to His Excellency Mobutu Sese Soko and return it to ACAS and to write directly to the Zairean Embassy and the Zairean government. The Fact Sheet says Wamba is a citizen of Zaire and a member of the faculty of the University of Dar es Salaam (Dept of History); he earned a PhD in History at Boston University. His wife, Elaine, and three children are U.S. citizens. Wamba was arrested as he entered Zaire from Brazzaville in December 1981. His wife and children were detained the following day as they entered Kinshasa by air. Elaine Wamba was allowed to visit her husband in a prison near Kinshasa the next day. He reported that he had been tortured. She remained in Kinshasa for three weeks and took food to the prison area daily, but she was not permitted to speak with Wamba again. Wamba has been charged with: 1) possession: of subversive documents, 2) having met with Zairean dissidents outside of Zaire, and 3) belonging to subversive organizations. ACAS is also actively supporting the Dennis Brutus Defense Committee. His deportation case is at a critical juncture; if you are able to provide any documentation to support his request for political asylum, send it directly to the DBDC and to his attorney.

African Activist Archive

[Dear Fellow ACAS Members, On December 18, 1981 Professor Ernest Wamba was arrested in Zaire (see enclosed fact sheet).]

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