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World
Tuesday * Marcl
Africa gives Clinton a loud, warm welcome
es
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Buoyed by the biggest
crowd of his presidency, President Clinton hailed
“the new face of Africa” and its growing peace,
prosperity and democracy as he opened a historic
six-nation tour on Monday.
While poverty and war still trouble parts of the
continent, Clinton said Americans must shake off
“the stereotypes that have warped our view and
weakened our understanding of Africa.”
Dictatorships have fallen in many countries,
Clinton said, and half of the 48 nations of sub-Sa
haran Africa now have elected governments.
Where business was once stifled, “now
Africans are embracing economic reform,” the
president said on a mission to applaud political
reforms and open the door for U.S.-African trade.
After waiting for hours in temperatures that
hovered near 100 degrees, a massive crowd
roared at the sight of Clinton in Independence
Square, a sprawling parade ground alongside the
Gulf of Guinea.
After weeks of sex-scandal publicity back home,
the White House happily passed along Ghanaian
government estimates of more than 500,000 peo
ple, although that number seemed high.
Clinton’s press secretary said the audience was
“the largest he’s seen as president, maybe one of
the largest any American president has ever
seen.”
Last July’s visit to Bucharest, Romania,
cheered by tens of thousands, had been the pre
vious benchmark.
The huge turnout and intense heat brought
problems.
Crowds surged toward Clinton to shake his
hand, endangering people pressed against met
al barriers.
An obviously alarmed Clinton waved crowds
to stop, and he shouted, “Back up! Back up!”
Spokesman Mike McCurry said Clinton was wor
ried about the people in front being injured.
Fights broke out in the crowd over scarce bot
tles of water. Police and military security whipped
people with belts and canes to keep order. Thou
sands of people drifted away from the square as
the ceremony droned on.
Accra, once an Atlantic port for slave traders,
was the gateway for Clinton’s 12-day, 21,000-mile
journey to Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa,
Botswana and Senegal. Over the course of the trip,
he will spend about 42 hours on Air Force One.
The United States sees Africa as a huge poten
tial market, with per capita income rising in 31
countries. The population of Sub-Saharan Africa
is projected to double to 1.5 billion in 27 years.
Clinton’s journey is the longest foreign trip of
his presidency and the first time an American
president has visited any of the six countries on
his trip map.
“It is a journey long overdue,” the president said.
“I want to build a future partnership between
our two people and I want to introduce the peo
ple of the United States through my trip to the
new face of Africa.”
Clinton and his national security aides were
distracted by news from Moscow that President
Boris Yeltsin had fired his Cabinet, though the
president said there was no reason to believe that
U.S.-Russian policy would be affected.
Sitting in oversized wing chairs under an um
brella protecting them from the midday sun, Clin
ton and President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana
watched dancers in native costumes move to the
pounding of African drums. Clinton’s wife, Hillary,
and Rawlings’ wife, Nana, sat nearby on the red
carpeted stage.
Rawlings has held power since a military
coup in 1981.
He has run in two elections, winning easily
both times. He assured Clinton that Ghana is
committed to freedom and justice and — in
terms of trade — is “ready and able to do busi
ness in today’s liberalized and competitive mar
ket place.”
“Africa is not going to be found wanting as we
approach the 21st century,” said Rawlings, wear
ing a batakari, a smock-like shirt with leopard trim.
Clinton posed for pictures draped in colorful kente
cloth, and his wife wore a kente cloth shawl.
Clinton’s Independence Square speech was a
scene-setting address for the entire trip.
“My dream for this trip is that together we
might do the things so that 100 years from now,
your grandchildren and mine will look back and
say this was the beginning of a new African re
naissance,” Clinton said.
“With a new century coming into view, old pat
terns are fading away,” he said. “The Cold War is
gone. Colonialism is gone.
Apartheid is gone. Remnants of past troubles
remain, but surely there will come a time when
everywhere reconciliation will replace recrimina
tion.”
Clinton acknowledged that Africa is not free
from peril. He cited genocide in Rwanda, civil
wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo and the Re
public of Congo, a military dictatorship in Nige
ria and condnent-wide poverty, malnutrition, dis
ease, illiteracy and unemployment.
Ghana is considered one of Africa’s success
stories, with a 3 percent economic growth rate.
A severe drought has caused an energy crisis re
sulting in regular power outages of 12 hours a day.
Clinton told Rawlings the United States will
guarantee a $67 million loan from the Trans
portation Department for the purchase of two
barge-mounted power plants from the Westing-
house Corp.
After a daylong stay, Clinton headed for Ugan
da.
First the president visited with Peace Corps
volunteers, noting that Ghana was the first coun
try where Peace Corps worked.
Bertelsmann bu
largest US publisle
NEWYORK (AP) — Putting best-selling writers JohnG;
Michael Crichton on the same corporate bookshelf,Ge
glomerate Bertelsmann AG struck a deal Monday tob
House, the biggest U.S. book publisher.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
Bertelsmann is the world’s third-largest media andeir jjl
company, with holdings that include Bantam Doubledj
lisher of Grisham’s courtroom thrillers.
Random House has published the books of Criditt jp
Mailer and lohn Updike.
"Our new company will draw and build upon thestrt Fu
great publishing traditions... with an unpnicedenteddw ort.
lishing choices,” said Peter Olson, current chairmanof]
Book Group North America, who will head the newRar
The German company trails onlyTime Warner Inc.
ney Co. among media giants.
It already owns the BMG music club, the RClAandfaig,
bels, and such magazines as McCall’s and Family Circle
Random House is being sold by Advance Publication-
wants to focus on its main businesses of newspapers,?
business journals and cable FV. \dvance, which is oww “ er(
house family, also owns Thr GQ and Vault
The new ci >mp.m\ u ill combine a variety of publishi;. 31 ’®
Doubleday, Bantam Books, Dell Delacorte and Bi 1
from Bertelsmann, and Random House, Knopf. Crowd m
tine from Advance.
Random House also \
an online book-selling ve
petition with Amazon.co
Bertelsmann has been n
erat ion since purchasing B.
Random 1 louse was fout
S. Klopfer, two friends who
collection of classic reprint
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company to suit their randi
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Nigerians desperate for change, place hope on papal should
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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — For Philip Ak-
abuese, a 9-year-old believer, the frail,
stooped man in the gold-hued robes meant
a better chance for food on his plate, a de
cent education and life in a free country.
The Rev. Ande Godwin, a 31-year-old
Roman Catholic priest, saw improved odds
for a return to human dignity in a deeply
troubled country.
Many others wanted to see results be
fore venturing a guess.
But the mood during Pope John Paul IPs
whirlwind visit to Nigeria was expressed by
a headline writer in the daily Vanguard:
“Pope — Our Last Hope.”
A colorful sea of 100,000 people gath
ered Monday on a sweep of open bush
near the Nigerian capital to hear the pope
celebrate Mass, encourage Catholics to
keep the faith and take a parting shot at
Nigeria’s dictatorship.
“Respect for every human person, for his
dignity and rights, must ever be the inspi
ration behind your efforts to increase
democracy and strengthen the social fabric
of your country,” John Paul II said.
In the Catholic heartland of eastern
Nigeria, near Onitsha, more than a half mil
lion faithful prayed with the pope on Sun
day.
The Abuja mass attracted not only
Catholics but also Muslims from nearby
northern states.
“We see a growing return to religion,”
said the Rev. Maurice Henry, an Irish mis
sionary in the north who has spent 27 years
watching Nigeria rise from rags to riches
and sink back to rags.
Muslims did not meet the pontiff when
he last visited in 1982, the priests recalled.
A scheduled session was canceled when
Muslim leaders could not decide among
themselves who would attend.
This time, John Paul met at length with
the Sultan of Sokoto and other senior Is
lamic leaders. He was greeted warmly at the
airport by Gen. Sani Abacha, the head of
state and a Muslim.
The pontiff called for freedom for polit
ical prisoners, respect for human rights and
the creation of a higher standard of living
for this oil-blessed but impoverished na
tion of 108 million.
The Vatican asked Nigeria to free from
prison about 60 political opponents and
journalists.
Abacha made no reference to that re
quest in remarks he made at the pope’s de
parture Monday evening.
Scenes at the pontiff’s open-air Mass
suggested that was a tall order.
Police controlled crowds by flailing
people with whips made of long lengths of
electrical wire, a practice inherited from
past governments.
Gaunt pilgrims walked for hours to the
site, 10 miles west of Abuja.
Those with cars waited in endless lines
for scarce fuel, the result of dilapidated re
fineries and unpaid import bills.
The few outspoken newspapers still ap
pearing urged the government to heed the
pope’s words.
The Sunday Concord noted that after the
pope visited Cuba, "It is remarkable that Fi
del Castro has toned down his iron-fisted
rule, even as he has caused to be released
hordes of political adversaries.’’
The Concord's publisher, Moshood Abio-
la, has been imprisoned since 1993, when he
received the most votes in what was regard
ed as a free and fair presidential election.
Abacha has been in power since then.
Elsewhere in the paper, writer Adebayo
Williams called the pope’s beatification of a
Nigerian monk “a haunting reminder of
Nigeria’s prodigious natural capacity to
throw up heroic individuals.”
He added, “In a country overtaken by
greed, opportunism and short-termism,
the priest from Eastern Nigeria, who died in
1964, is the noblest and purist expression of
... what ought to be.”
Across this newly built, multiethnic cap
ital, people lauded the papal visit. Whether
responding to John Paul H’s religious mes
sage or his star quality, most:
he could make a positive irnpt
“I am Muslim, but I willgo:
Bala Ali, a young tailor, saidar
bolts of cloth and piles of ripf
Wuse market. “He is a great?,
something for us all.”
Down on Church Alley,"
costals rather than Catholicsp
the joy was tinged with a"
caution.
“I love what he says,” Pastor
said outside his Dominion Ch:
“He has given a challenge?
ities, and I hope they will hearii
for change.”
A nearby worshipper, act
named Greg Yusuf, said his It
had not varied.
“It takes the grace of Got
things, not the coming of aim
“Still, his coming is good
draws people to God. It unitesc
culture and tradition.”
tHP.
tHP J
Merki
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Ken
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THIS SATURDAY. MARCH 28,1998
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Doors Open 7:00 • Show Starts 7:30
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Traditions Council
Presents:
“How the Past creates the present,
opening up the Archives of
Texas A&M University”.
Featuring Dr. David Chapman
Thursday March 26,1998 at 7:00 p.m.
in Rudder Theatre
Free Admission
Join us in learning the fascinating
history of Texas A&M from one of the
leading experts on A&M history.
Visit us at www.rtis.com/traditions-council.
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