AFRICA'S Haven of Peace'

...The most progressive tribe is the Chagga, with about 350,000 members...

...The largest tribe in Tanganyika is the Sukuma, with nearly a million members, but it wields little political power...

...It is estimated that there are 120 tribes in this vast domain, but none of them dominates the scene politically, economically, or socially as the Kikuyu do in Kenya and the Buganda in Uganda...

...This will be costly, but eventually it will be necessary to absorb Tanganyika's expanding population and the Kenyans who are already beginning to flee the population pressures in that colony...

...Tanganyika is not expending energy at this crucial point in a suicidal fight for power among several parties...

...Yet Tanganyika seems to have been spared these calamities as it moves peacefully toward independence...

...Tanganyika is fortunate, too, in the high caliber of her political leaders— Julius Nyerere in particular...

...Julius Nyerere underlined this liability recently when he listed corruption as an enemy to be attacked with the same force as poverty, disease, and ignorance...

...And they have been following closely the anarchy and warfare in the Congo...

...Progress has been made in recent years in overcoming these dreaded flies but it is a slow and costly operation...

...The inevitable result is that large numbers of Tanganyikans are ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-clothed, illiterate, and ill...

...AFRICA'S Haven of Peace' by LEONARD S. KENWORTHY Is IT possible for a new nation to emerge today in Africa without the crippling wounds of regional rivalries, racial tensions, inter-tribal jealousies, and violence...

...Already Tanganyika is serving as a haven for political exiles from such places as Northern Rhodesia, the Republic of South Africa, South West Africa, Nyasaland, and Mozambique...

...T h e number of men and women with a college or technical education is infinitesimal...

...Tanganyika will therefore achieve independence without the skilled manpower or the backlog of experience so necessary to the maintenance ef high standards in all fields...

...At least a third of the land is arid and two-thirds of it infested by the tsetse fly...

...While the existence of only one major party has its advantages, there are disadvantages, too...

...Tanganyika has such a scheme, however modest, in her Three Year Development Plan (1961-1964), based in large part on a recent survey by the World Bank, which recommended that top priorities be given the development of agriculture and the livestock industry, water supplies and irrigation, communications, and secondary and technical education...

...A few of the former British officials are leaving now that independence is imminent, but a much greater number plan to stay...

...She is counting on large sums from several British and Commonwealth sources, the West German government,' the United States government and U.S...

...There are some good ports and the beginning of a countrywide system of railroads, but her roads are scant and poor...

...The annual per capita income is only about $50—the lowest of three major parts of East Africa...

...His cabinet already reflects his hope: it includes nine Africans, two Europeans, and one Asian...

...There are about 25,000 Europeans (the term applied to all whites) in Tanganyika, but the largest single group is the British, most of whom are not permanent settlers...

...Tanganyika is also handicapped educationally...

...Not quite half of her children even get to school, and of them many drop out...

...Only one child in eight gets more than four years of education and few complete twelve years of schooling...

...Uganda is less enthusiastic about federation but will probably join...

...Tanganyika is woefully deficient in the fields of transportation and communications...

...Large numbers of people suffer from malaria, tuberculosis, bilharzia, typhoid and other water-borne diseases, smallpox, diphtheria, sleeping sickness, or venereal diseases...

...The status of health is sad indeed...

...There are able leaders, too, in the civil service...

...They have been awakened to the riots and bloodshed in RuandiUrundi, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and Zanzibar...

...Fourth on the list of Tanganyika's exports are diamonds and eighth is gold...

...Of first importance, there is plenty of room for everyone in Tanganyika, at least today...

...The work of the Germans when they controlled Tanganyika prior to World War I and the further efforts of the British have provided this country with three railroads running inland from the coast, all connected with Tanganyika's four port cities on the Indian ocean (Tanga, Dar es Salaam, Lindi, and Mtwara) or with her port on Lake Victoria (Mwanza...

...They know of the violence against the Asians in Uganda and the struggles there between the Buganda and the other tribes...

...Every country is haunted by corruption and new nations tend to suffer even more than others from this blight...

...Even when such land is opened, the farmers must be taught to carry out the exacting demands of irrigated farming...

...LEONARD S. KENWORTHY has just completed another journey through Africa...

...But one can find a lengthy list of assets which help account for it...

...Moreover, Nyerere is cultivating those other countries which might eventually join in an East African Federation, and he is championing the cause of African nationalism in general...

...There is some hostility against Asians, who are the middle-class merchants of Tanganyika, as in other parts of East Africa, but here they are not so numerous, comparatively speaking, as in neighboring nations, and they are not now considered an economic stumbling block in the path of the advancing Africans...

...Because of her poverty, Tanganyika needs outside help in the form of capital...

...Irrigation is possible but this, too, is expensive, long-term, and requires technically trained personnel...

...But it is not all chance which has brought about this relatively happy state of human relations...

...In 1959, for example, there were only 300 boys and girls in the entire country who were graduated from their equivalent of American high schools, and in 1960 only 480...

...In one of his characteristically statesmanlike moves Nyerere wrote a personal letter to each of them a few months ago, urging them to stay on as advisers in the new government...

...They may also be forced to develop new crops, such as tea, tobacco, and cocoa, for the world coffee market is already glutted and other nations are beginning to cut in on Tanganyika's sisal output...

...Meat and fish canning, cashew nut processing, cement manufacturing, oil refining, and the slaughtering and cold storage of meats are promising potentialities for the future...

...For people who have never had much in material goods, the fresh temptations of money and power are almost irresistible...

...While other parts of Africa are struggling to achieve federation, this part of the continent has already had fourteen years of inter-territorial cooperation in the East Africa High Commission...

...A two-year drought in some areas has brought still more disease, suffering— and famine...

...While these questions do not prey heavily upon their minds, most non-Africans in Tanganyika cannot escape at least an occasional concern for their status in an Africandominated society...

...Nyerere hopes that eventually the composition of the civil service will "broadly reflect the racial pattern of Tanganyika's population as a whole...

...Such a federation is possible because Tanganyika is blessed with friendly neighbors on all sides...

...While the initial Three Year Plan seems certain of adequate financing, Tanganyika must compete in the years to come with many other new nations for risk capital in the battle to meet the demands of the worldwide revolution...

...Widespread malnutrition greatly magnifies the health problem...

...That question is being asked by thoughtful people everywhere, especially the people of Tanganyika as they move rapidly toward December 9, the date set for the transformation of their United Nations Trust Territory into an independent country...

...The vastness of the country and the scattered populace serve to heighten the problem...

...Moreover, few of them are the reactionary type of white settlers who have caused so much bad feeling in Kenya...

...They include Chief Abdullah Saidi Fundikiri, Minister for Lands and Surveys, who is slated to be Governor-General ,after independence...

...It has also prepared and printed books and pamphlets, fought the deadly locust plague, combatted leprosy, and carried on a score of other useful services...

...Another asset is the lack of animosity against non-Africans...

...Other important exports are oilseeds, hides and skins, cashew nuts, and meat and meat preparations...

...This is especially true where old values have been eroded and new ones have not been firmly established...

...It is poor but peaceful—at the moment the silver lining on the East African cloud...

...The demands upon the limited resources of a new nation can be disastrous if there is no long-range, overall plan, with at least a few carefully determined and realistic targets...

...Until recently they were almost all English, but Africans are gradually filling these posts...

...Mauritius has indicated interest and Zanzibar will undoubtedly cooperate...

...It has supplied seventy teachers for secondary schools and expects to help found a teacher training center and institute of research...

...Sisal is the big money-making crop, furnishing two-thirds of the world's supply and bringing in about $37,000,000 annually...

...Next in order come cotton and coffee...

...Complacency is another enemy of the people, especially in race relations...

...Water is another asset in Tanganyika...

...A team of experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently surveyed the Rufiji River Basin and reported that it offered "great possibilities for the advantageous development of irrigated agriculture/' A pilot project was started, and 500 acres are now being farmed experimentally...

...Tanganyika and Kenya are enthusiastic supporters of an East African Federation, and as this was being written Julius Nyerere was in Kenya conferring with Jomo Kenyatta on furthering their joint effort to promote the unity of the entire East Africa area...

...Some will consist of direct grants, others will be loans...

...He has held out promises of progress to his people, but he has always coupled them with demands for hard work...

...Even though it is the peaceful place implied in the name of its capital, Dares Salaam, "Haven of Peace," Tanganyika has many liabilities as well as the assets I have been discussing...

...In an area six times that of England, there are only little more than nine million persons...

...Both the color of a man's skin and his country of origin are irrelevant to his rights and duties as a citizen...

...A former school teacher and a graduate of Makerere College in Uganda and Edinburgh University, he has risen to top political leadership in large measure because of his oratorical power and his organizational ability...

...There is also some hope that Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland as well as Ruanda-Urundi will eventually become a part of this larger East African economic and political unit...

...Where there is no organized opposition, there is always the danger of eventual dictatorship or at least the lack of a healthy challenge to the policies of those in power...

...Aside from its economic importance, this movement has served as the backbone of the political organization of the country, with Nyerere using it as the base for his party in much the same way that Tom Mboya has utilized the trade union movement in Kenya to build KANU, the Kenya African National Union...

...In the past, industrial plants were confined almost entirely to the processing of raw foods and fibers...

...A. Z. N. Swai, Minister for Commerce and Industry...

...Despite these liabilities, Tanganyika today is a promising new nation...

...O. S. Kambona, the youthful Minister for Education and SecretaryGeneral of TANU...

...It is better prepared than most new nations for Uhuru, aware that it is to be Uhuru na Kazi, Freedom with Toil...

...A hurried attempt is now being made to train Africans for hundreds of these positions, but for the most part it is a belated effort...

...In turn, some of the stability of TANU can be explained by the presence in Tanganyika of a powerful cooperative movement...

...and Sir Ernest Vasey, a behind-the-scenes power who was formerly Minister of Finance in Kenya and now holds a similar post in Tanganyika...

...He is a professor of education and social science at Brooklyn College and the author of "Leaders of New Nations," "Twelve Citizens of the World," and "Profile of Nigeria...

...Tanganyika also enjoys, at least for the moment, the confidence of several countries in her economic future...

...R. M. Kawawa, Minister without Portfolio and Nyerere's chief trouble shooter...

...We do not want to mortgage our freedom...

...Much credit must go to Julius Nyerere, the powerful leader of the Tanganyika African National Union, who has worked diligently for what he calls "human harmony...

...There is no single explanation of why this East African territory has escaped the tensions and violence that have plagued so many other new African nations...

...Most of them are dirt, and therefore dangerously slippery when wet, and dusty when dry...

...Furthermore, Tanganyika farmers of the future will be competing with those of other nations for the limited markets of the world, and the quality of their products will have to be improved to meet the competition...

...It appears that all the funds needed will be available...

...There are several large sisal estates in Tanganyika owned by Greeks, Dutch, Indians, Swiss, and English, but these plantations are not now a source of conflict between blacks and whites...

...C. G. Kahama, a former cooperative movement leader and now Minister for Home Affairs...

...Many persons consider him the outstanding African leader south of the Sahara...

...The relative stability of Tanganyika politically is in no small measure based on the existence of only one political party of any consequence— the Tanganyika African National Union...

...Her greatest current need is money to finance the Three Year Development Plan, which will cost about $24,000,000...

...Will hostility against them suddenly erupt from some unexpected quarter...

...In the past almost all of the key jobs in government, industry, and the professions were manned by Europeans, and jobs such as bank and postoffice clerks and shopkeepers were held by Asians...

...The cost of developing the Rufiji Basin, for example, is estimated at $250 per acre, a formidable price...

...The shortage of doctors is appalling...

...Nor does Tanganyika suffer from extreme tribal rivalries and regionalism as do Ghana, Nigeria, the Congo, Uganda, and Ruanda-Urundi...

...There are some able men in Nyerere's cabinet...

...Though much of the land is arid, there is water within the country which can be used for irrigation and for hydroelectric power...

...The future Prime Minister has spoken strongly on this issue, warning his people not to be lulled into a false sense of security, which would slacken their efforts to promote better understanding among all groups...

...Established by the British in a far-sighted move, the High Commission has handled a variety of common services for the 20,000,000 people of Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda, such as postal services and telecommunications, customs and excise taxes, income taxes, railways and harbors, and statistics and research...

...The United States has started an ambitious program to aid in establishing farm institutes, an agricultural college, and a land use training center...

...They live on the fertile slopes of fabled Mount Kilimanjaro and enjoy a comparatively high standard of living from the profits of their coffee cooperatives...

...It has also assisted in the building of a major highway, and members of the Peace Corps are now helping with an important road survey...

...Will their lives be endangered...

...Nyerere, who will become Prime Minister on independence day, has stated many times, "The struggle against colonialism must not be confused with racialism...

...A common language is a potent factor in promoting inter-tribal communication and in creating a common tie in a new country, and Tanganyika is fortunate in having such a universal tongue as Swahili, the Bantu-based lingua franca of East Africa, popularized over the centuries by the Arab traders and spoken here by almost everyone, since almost all of the tribes are Bantu...

...we have no intention of exchanging our birthright for a piece of bread...

...Switzerland, Sweden, and Israel are all helping this infant nation to get on its feet...

...There are a mere 312 doctors, only twenty-five of whom are African, in the entire country...

...In a few areas the population is becoming too dense for comfort, but there are large sections in the central and southern parts which can some day be settled by millions of people if the land is irrigated and improved...

...in June, 1961, 616...

...High on the list of weaknesses are the inferior nature of much of the land, the lack of irrigation, and the poor agricultural methods used by most farmers...

...His slogan is Uhuru na Kazi—Freedom with Toil...

...Poverty of this magnitude means that Tanganyika is dependent on other countries for the capital with which to build roads, bridges, irrigation, hydroelectric plants, factories, schools, clinics, hospitals, and all the other essentials for Twentieth Century living...

...As they read their newspapers, listen to their radios, and hear the somber first-hand stories of travelers from other parts of Africa, Tanganyikans are more sharply aware of their own tribal rivalries, the demands for "autonomy" by the coastal people, and the calls from Kenya for secession by the Somalis and others...

...But recently light industrial factories have begun to appear, manufacturing clothing, razor blades, shoes, metal containers, and paints and varnishes...

...To all his benefactors Nyerere has made clear: "We do not want our need for assistance to be exploited by involving us in the quarrels of power politics...

...There is not the widespread uncertainty, the tensions, and the fears for the future in Tanganyika that the visitor finds in Kenya, but still there are Asians and Europeans who cannot help but wonder about their fate...

...Fortunately for the prospects of internal peace, there are no substantial numbers of European landholders as there are in Kenya...

...private foundations, and from various United Nations funds, as well as on some support from her own country and from other parts of Africa...

...In June, 1960, there were 380 Africans in senior positions...

...Agriculture is the economic base of Tanganyika, but there are also some important minerals and a few small secondary industries which provide a relatively diversified economy...

...Will today's standards in sanitation and in integrity in trade and government be relaxed...

...Will their jobs or businesses be threatened or high taxes drive them elsewhere...

...Such an opposition will almost certainly arise soon, but it does not now exist...

...Because of her inferior land, ancient agricultural methods, and other factors, the people of this country are abysmally poor...

...He is intelligent, astute, industrious, charming, moderate, and self-confident— yet modest...