MALAWI Dr. Banda Faces the Rebels

HARRY FRANKLIN writes from Lusaka:

So have I heard on Afric's burning shore Another lion give a grievous roar And the first lion thought the last a bore.

The rebellious Mr. Chipembere is proving more than a bore to the Lion of Malawi. Dr. Banda's roars of confidence have failed to drive away the malaise that hangs over the country and will be dispersed only when the sacked ex- Education Minister is either' liquidated or triumphs. There seems to be no middle way, no hope of reconciliation, left now. The law is to be amended shortly for Mr. Chipembere's 'benefit.' The penalty for treason is to be death. Dr. Banda's almost hysterical accusation last September that Mr. Chipembere was leading a plot to murder him in cold blood was never

supported by any evidence. The facts were that Mr. Chipembere and the majority of the Cabinet that left or were sacked with him were thoroughly fed up with the Prime Minister's over- bearing dictatbrial attitudesto them. They also

believed that he should recognise Communist China and disagreed with his policies towards , Mozambique, Rhodesia and the local whites.

After the split, Mr. Chipembere and his col- leagues should, by western standards, have formed a rival political party and followed the

normal constitutional course of upsetting a

government and replacing it. But this is not the way of Africa. Nor can it be in the one-party state. So the opposition must put itself out of ccitirt by treasonable and bloody action, either Winning or losing—always at the expense of the unfortunate people.

Mr. Chipembere has decided to oppose in the African way. The raid last month by about a hundred armed Chipembere followers was de- scribed, by Dr. Banda, as an armed rebellion, aimed ' at overthrowing and replacing the gov- ernment, after assassinating the Prime Minister and his colleagues. In itself it could hardly have been that. The raiders attacked the police station and post office at Fort Johnston

Chipembere's home district--killed one woman and a child and stole eighty guns and some ammunition. They were met by a police mobile unit as they moved towards Zombl, and ran away;

One assessed the incident as an action to harass the government, gain publicity for the Chipem- bere movement and give its impatient hard-core a taste' of blood—and waited to see whether it would be followed by another incident outside Chipembere's main stronghold. It was so fol- lowed, about two weeks later, but the raid on Ntaja police post was too small and ineffective to give much guidance to the future.

The present situation is that about 400 troops and a few police, on foot or in small boats along the lake shore, are trying to ferret out small bands of rebels—including Henry Chipembere with a price of L1,000 on his head—in an area bigger than, and nearly as difficult as, the Aber- dare Mountains of Mau Mau notoriety. It is re- ported that the villagers will not betray Chipembere and that some of the young men have gone to join the rebels.

There are omissions in the tightly controlled news flow from Malawi. What are the other rebel ex-ministers doing? What lighting following can or will the others muster in their stronghold areas scattered all over Malawi? Or are they disunited and therefore lost?

What significance has the latest statement from the Prime Minister's office that two armed in- vaders have been killed on Malawi's northern border? Were they invaders or was this just a private fight between opponents and supporters of the Malawi Congress Party?

A rebel leader has many advantages in Africa and particularly in poor Malawi. Apart from the poverty and other disabilities of the people which can be played on and cannot be cured by the new African government much more quickly than by the old colonial one, there is neither money nor time for the government to build up an army capable of dealing with. a revolt breaking out everywhere at once. Dr. Banda, economically, simply has to keep on reasonable terms with Mozambique and Rhodesia, and keep the local Europeans from leaving. But the Prime Minister's sensible and necessary policies obviously bring Chipembere general African nationalist and allied support.

Dr. Banda's counter is his ruthless determina-

tion to destroy the rebels now, before they can gather strength. If his security forces can accomp- lish this, well enough perhaps. But if their attempts drag on and the Prime Minister orders increasingly ruthless measures to be taken—the army has not yet exercised its power to burn villages and destroy property—sympathy for Chipembere's cause will grow. The initial attitude of the ordinary African in these circumstances is to keep out of trouble with the government and its forces, until those forces appear to be losing or pushing him around too much. Then comes the landslide.

On April 6 Parliament will consider and pre- sumably pass a Bill authorising the Malawi Young Pioneers to carry and use firearms on security operations if the commander of the government forces so requires. They will wear uniforms, carry insignia of rank and have their own commander-in-chief. They will be paid and be 'subject to the same discipline as the police.' They, like the regular forces,' will be under the overall control of the Prime Minister. The day the party teenagers of Malawi are given guns and their heads will be a bad day. One can only pray it will not come.