IF allowed to develop into a full scale regional war, the brutal conflict now raging across Laurent Kabila’s Democratic Republic of Congo threatens to destroy much of post-colonial Africa. What is alarming about this situation is the extent to which other African states have become involved, seemingly eight directly and five more indirectly. Essentially, what we have here is a broad coalition of Marxist-led states in support of Kabila, himself an old-time Marxist, while the states supporting the rebels are all Western-oriented.

Supporting Kabila are Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Namibia’s Sam Nujoma. Angola’s support (10 000 troops, artillery, tanks and aircraft) is pragmatic. Sharing a 1 500 km border with the DRC, it fears that if the Angolan civil war re-ignites (an odds-on likelihood) the Congolese border will once again become the chief avenue of support for UNITA. Mugabe (deploying 3 000 troops) is mainly motivated by the desire to re-assert his leadership of sub-continental Africa, presently lost to Mandela. Nujoma (a token 250 troops) seeks to stay in power indefinitely and instinctively supports a fellow Marxist.

Troops from Chad, Sudan and Mozambique are also reported to be backing Kabila. Chad has sent in 1 000 to 2 000 men, the costs carried by Libya. Sudan denies any involvement but military sources report that Sudanese Antonovs have bombed rebel positions, and the presence of Sudanese military experts.

The rebels, intent on establishing a Tutsi homeland in Congo East, are backed by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. De facto if not yet de jure the DRC has already been partitioned into Congo East and Congo West. Considering the line-up of forces, we might well ask: Are we witnessing a resumption of the Cold War in Africa? And, if so, with what result?

SO communism is dead! The name of Stalin, that bloodthirsty Soviet gangster who succeeded Lenin and allowed millions to die in labour camps and during the deliberately engineered famine in the Ukraine in the early Thirties, may soon be back on world maps. Communists (the largest bloc in the Russian Parliament) are demanding that the Duma rename Volvograd as Stalingrad. The city, which witnessed one of the most significant battles of World War 2, bore the name Stalingrad till 1961, but was then renamed because of Stalin’s evil record. The communists argue that even if Stalin was "a violator of human rights," he was also the Supreme Commander of the Soviet forces. Human rights activists are enraged at the move. If successful, observe Russian commentators, the consequences of the move could be "grave."

"THERE is a high level of mortality and deformity in the mammal embryos which are being created in cloning experiments. Dolly, the Scottish cloned sheep, for instances, is a lone survivor of a large number of sheep embryos which died before birth and in many cases before they left the petri dish. For instance, Japanese researchers announced that they had achieved the first normal birth of cloned calves. However, the triumph of this success has been as short lived as the calves themselves. The twin cows born in the Ishikawa region northwest of Tokyo as part of Japan’s efforts to boost its beef and dairy cattle breeding programme have died, as have other cloned calves brought to birth in the project. The surrogate mother of the calf twins also died after a difficult labour.

"According to the Australian scientist Alan Trounson, there are at least a dozen research teams around the world, pursuing experiments in cloning cows. In February this year French scientists announced the birth of a cloned calf dubbed by them ‘Marguerite.’ She was created from the fusing of a cow ova (from which the nucleus had been removed) and the muscle cells from cow embryos. ‘Marguerite’ also died soon after birth from infection that scientists could not control. One of the French team, Dr Renard, speculated that it might be possible that the cloning process weakens or interferes with the immune system of the cloned animal." - Anne Krohn, Southern Cross Bioethics Centre, internet page www.bio-ethics.com 

THE ANC rules: but whose government is it? If a recent published report is anything to go by, the answer to that question is that it is the SA Communist Party’s government. When members of the various political parties were asked to grade the present government on its performance, the communists gave it a pass with distinction: 80%.

Less happy were members of the ANC, who thought it had earned a mere 69%. The PAC was also lukewarm, with 64%. Most of the others thought it had failed, or nearly so, but the enthusiasm of the SACP lifted the average assessment to 62%. It does not surprise that the SACP is so elated.