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61. Cameroon Report 11/11/1985: Reagan-Gorbachev Summit
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235 61 Cameroon Report 11/11/1985: ReaganGorbachev Summit Introduction: The Geneva summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev is the first super power summit in six years. It means a meeting of the highest producers of all sorts of arms, both for so called defence and business. These two countries have never fought against each other directly but they have made the world restless than it was between 1909 and 1945. Yet the buyers are only those who ironically cannot manufacture combine-harvesters for home agriculture. What should these buyers do when the producers start talking about arms control? We put this question to our African observer, Charles Landzeh: As the dust raised by the US-Soviet talks in Geneva settles, there seems to be a happy feeling worldwide that wider avenues for co-operation, peaceful coexistence between the East and the West and greater prospects for the reduction of tension between the super powers have been found. Barely a few days after the Geneva talks, the US and Soviet Union have decided to resume air flights between Washington and Moscow on the heels of what turned out to be the most publicised and the most acclaimed summit by the super power allies in recent times. With the big guys and major arms manufacturers talking about the reduction of weapons and provide testing grounds for them, Africa ought to feel concerned. For Africa, possibly the greatest dumping found for non-nuclear weapons, the fall 236 out of the Geneva talks should provoke some reflections on disarmament on the continent. A quick look across the budgetary allocations of most African countries indicates that the expenditure on arms occupies either first or second place on the priority list. Even famine ridden countries have given priority to heavy arms purchases, plunging themselves deeper into debts in the process while other countries spend astronomically on arms, claiming that the best defence is to be well-armed, even during peace time. Such a claim is only ridiculous and easily disqualified as virtually all African countries have established secret or open defence clauses with their various former colonial masters or other industrialised powers. These clauses provide for quick assistance in times of war which shows that African countries cannot defend themselves. What probably justifies the vast and enormous expenditure on arms is often the desire by African leaders to build permanent and unrestrained personal power. African leaders both civilian and military feel happy and confident behind units armed to the teeth even at the expense of human liberties. The public parade of the country’s military arsenal and massive deployment of the army among the people is often and unnecessary show of force during peace time in a bid to intimidate the people and terrify invisible dissidents. Because the citizens are often brutalised and their human rights violated in the process, a climate of hostility towards the regime develops spontaneously among the people. The leaders therefore centralise, consolidate and even personalise power in dictatorships of which there are many on the continent. [3.238.12.0] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 16:23 GMT) 237 The Geneva talks between the super powers which seemed to have opened another era of peaceful coexistence and prospects for a reduction of world tension should also provoke a revision of our priorities over the prospects for peace. Those who buy such weapons should also talk peace from their observer benches. Charles Landzeh 238 ...