St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1962-06-22

the new State of Tennessee
might be greeted as a license to
tribal warfare
THE TOTAL population of
Urundi is about 5000, 900.
1t has only some 1900 il-trained
constabulary under 100 Belgian
officers and men. At present 900
Belgian soldiers protect the few
thousand Belgians there. Hoping
to prevent a new Congo, the UN
is faced with the task of policing
the two countries as separate
states after independence.
A plan to use Belgian troops
as agents of the United Nations
and authorize them to keep order
is being considered. While the Bel
gians are familiar with the two
countries, such a move is not in
line with the thinking of the Afro
Asian bloc in the UN. Several
African states have talked about
forming a UN peace force from
among their own soldiers.
Critics of this plan point out
that there is no certainty that
enough qualified troops can be
found among African countries
and that the quality of trained
varies widely from
country. On the other hand, it
would be a drastic departure for
the United Nations majority to
express enough confidence in any
colonial power to ask it to go on
policing a newly independent AZ
rican country. The mere idea is
offensive to Africans
THE PREVAILING dogma of
the Afro-Asian bloc is that lack of
political or economic preparedness
should not be used as an excuse"
to delay the independence Of any
colony. Retention of Belgian troops
would seem to them to have COM
promised Ruanda- Urundis full free
dom. Belgian soldiers and technic-
ians are scheduled to leave the two
countries soon after July 1. If
the soldiers leave, European offic-
ials are expected to follow.
VIOLENCE B ETW ZEN the
Hutu and Tutsi (Watusi) tribes
in Ruanda has caused an estimated
1900 to $500 deaths this year. In
Urundi, south of Ruanda, the
Hutus and Tutsis get along better.
However, there are intense anita
ganisms going back for houndreds
of years between the people of the
two halves of the country. The
fear of bloodshed stems from the
fact that Ruanda has recently I'M
dergone a major social upheaval in
which the Tutsi tribe, for 400 years
the feudal overlords, were thrown
out of power by the majority
Hutus first by violent revolu-
ton, then in a popular election
which confirmed its results.
The Hutus, resentful of there
centuries as serfs, sought revenge
by numbering TGtsis. This caused
the Tutsis - 100000 of them =
to flee to neighboring countries.
They now threaten to return. The
deaths so far this year are the re-
suit of a number of violent raids
conducted by the Tutsis from
across the border.
MEANWHILE, IN Algeria, the
European Secret Army pressed
ahead with its "scorched earth"
C a paign, destroying building
after building, including the Amer
lean cultural center in Algiers.
The Secret Army Organization
had called off its attacks on Mos
lens amid reports that a Europ-
can oslem peace settlement was
eminent. However, on the same
day at least eight persons, seven
of them Moslems, were killed in
acts of violence. The idea behind
the "scorched earth" campaign Of
the GAS, as the terrorists put it,
Is to leave Algeria as it was before
the French came. The Moslems are
slated to take over an independent |
Algeria this summer.
IN BANGUI, Central African
main speakers at a re-
cent meeting of Parliamnt concen-
trated on the tremendous problems
facing their country. National AS
sembly President Adama Tamboux
said the standard of living had |
been falling, instead of rising,
since independence august, 1860.
President David Dacko, 81, one
Of the worlds youngest heads of
state, has called his country -
former French colony - "the neg
lected Cinderella of Africa" Even
French officials in Bangui, the
capital, agree that France neg
ected the territory in comparison
With some of its other, more pros
porous former colonies in West and