First ColumnAuthor(s): NTUSource: Africa Today, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Apr., 1966), p. 2Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4184703 .

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first column...

SOME PEOPLE CAN TURN ON with Mary Worth, others with Little Orphan Annie. These two busybodies could be sent into orbit, for all we care; we're hooked on Mamba. Our addiction began in March 1965, when he was still a stagiaire with Afrique Matin, covering a conference in Nouakchott. Though no Clark Kent, he managed to tie up all the wires out of town, thus getting a (short-lived) exclusive on the formation of OCAM. He has since graduated to accredited correspondent status, though we've never seen firm evidence of his being- on salary. He did, a short while later, buy one of those 1930 Citroen two-seaters to drive from Nouakchott to Addis, but the cash apparently came from an OCAM scholarship rewarding him for the scoop.

Mamba wanders across the continent, from - LLo '21 crisis to crisis, with his sister Saimouna

iI and M. Korbeer, a Belgian journalist with a i V C UAV E 7-AlT prominent chin. All three appear in Afrique, M I t~N,

pDuFkJ a glossy French monthly edited by Paul OUAkQflbTY~ Lebeer (Korbeer? . . . to compound the in-

side joke, Korbeer first worked for Afrique, then switched to "New African Press"'...

__________ t:he strip is copyright by NAP).

Leaving Nouakchott in his two-seater, he tKOR( EEk ran out of gas somewhere in Chad, had the

'b'2&~~;| 0SRFMI,VR car towed by a camel nto the Sudan, saw his c/%OUUJAt A< , Ar sister kidnapped by Southern Sudanese ban-

\t,jJr31.LL juEs.DE dits, was arrested by Northern, Sudanese sQl- 10 i O; PTIE$ diers (he is'arrested almost every month), es-

caped, rescued Saimouna who immedately fell gravely ill, sending.Mamba for a quick- two-box rush to Fort Lamy for drugs. In July

'~"'~ "~ 1965, they arrived in an Algiers overrun with Boumedienne's tanks and concluded a film company must be at work. Having run into the usual trouble with the authorities by photographing a pro-Ben Bella demonstration, they made tracks for the African Olympic games in Brazzaville . . . another arrest & rescue, then across the river into Leo in search of the Kibanguists (a curiously anachronistic touch for the strip), and bang inlto the arms of the Portuguese, who arrested him for having been seen talking to UPA leaders.

In February 1966 the three decided to head for Rhodesia. But first Korbeer had to check with his editors in Nairobi: ". . . and I'd like to take a couple of Africans along," says he, long distance. "Max," says one editor to the other,> in English, "that's old Korbeer asking for going to Rhodesia.: What I say to him?" Max growls back, "OK OK, send him there or to the devil! But not beer on his 'note de frais.' It's too expensive in Salisbury. Just milk, tomato juice and Coca." Still in English, Korbeer answers: "You'll make me die!"

But he survived apparently, for he chartered a plane, apparently paid for out of the prospective savings he -was about to make by drinking Coke instead of ale. Overflying the "Royaume de Monsieur Ian Smith," Mamba pointed out Kariba Dam to SaiMmoLna, explaining to her its importance to the Zambian ecQnomy. Once in Rhodesia, their adventures take on a more ominous quality. At one point, KQrbeer is having a beer (Hey Max, Max . . .) with a Colonel Blimp'type who can only comment, ". . . is good for you" like a Guiness ad. But in the meanwhile, Mamba and Saimouna are dodging a security police road block, running into a demonstration carrying "Nkomo for Premier" signs, and barely escaping another police detail checking African passes. When last seen, they were crouching behind a bush, eavesdropping on a gang of white thugs plotting to blow up Kariba.

Knowing Mamba's appetite for being in the middle of crisis, we could not help feeling .a little saddened that he was going to miss the Nigerian and Ghana coups unless he settled this Kariba affair with the greatest of dispatch.

NTU

AFRC

April 1966-Vol. XIII, No. 4

Editor: Collin Gonze

Assistant Editor: Catharine Raymond

Con?otributing Editors: Robert Browne, Mark Cohen, Stanley Diamond, Elizabeth Lan- dis, Sheldon Weeks, Peter Weiss.

BOOKS

African Autocracy ................... . 4 Martin Kilson

Rhodesia of Gilded Memory .............. 7 Robert I. Rotberg

Verdict on Rotberg .................. 9 Joseph S. Nye

Nay to Nye ...... ............ 10 Gary Gappert

The Impact of Cities ............ 11 Peter Schwvab

Laws and Leaders in New States ........ 12 Anth-ony M. Berrett

A Prevalence of Educators ................ 15 Sheldon Weeks

Published monthly except July and August by the American Committee on Africa, Inc.

Subscriptions: One year, $5.00; two years, $9.50; three years, $13.50. Students: one year $2.00. Foreign (except Canada and Pan Amer- ica) add $1.00 per year. Sterling zone checks accepted.

Advertising: Rates on request.

Change of Address: Notify four weeks in advance, advising old and new address. Un- solicited manuscripts will not be returned un- less requested and accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. Copyright ? 1966 by American Committee on Africa, Inc., 211 East 43rd Street, New York 17. N.Y. TN7-8733

2 AFRICA TODAY

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