Africa and the Big Powers

Report Outline
Rising East-West Rivalry in Africa
Roots of Current African Conflict
Meeting Ground of Foreign Interests
Special Focus

Rising East-West Rivalry in Africa

Implications of New U.S. Policy Toward Africa

In the midst of a presidential campaign, the Ford administration is trying to forge a new U.S. policy toward the divided and diverse nations of Africa. The task is difficult and carries inherent dangers for the President, both in domestic politics and foreign affairs. For more than a decade the United States pursued a passive strategy, defending its strategic and commercial interests in Africa while maintaining the appearance of impartial relations with both the white-ruled states of southern Africa and the black nations that surround them. Within the past year the United States has been forced out of its passive posture by a series of events seemingly beyond its control.

The collapse of the Portuguese empire in Mozambique and Angola strengthened the black nationalist cause in southern Africa. Violence has erupted along the Mozambique-Rhodesia border, in South Africa and in Namibia (South West Africa) as restive blacks seek to break the centuries-old grip of the dominant white minorities. At the same time, open intervention and aid to African liberation movements by the Soviet Union and its client state, Cuba, have inserted a new and dangerous factor into the international balance-of-power equation. The Soviet and Cuban presence on the African continent is viewed in Washington as a challenge to U.S. aims in many parts of the world.

Washington is aware that any change in African policy has domestic, as well as foreign, implications. Last December, over the protests of President Ford and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Congress cut off covert American aid for U.S.-backed factions in the Angolan civil war. Since then, Congress has kept a sharp eye on the administration's African maneuvers. The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs has scheduled hearings, beginning Sept. 8, on U.S. policy in Africa.