`ACCRA DIDN'T HELP REDS'

C.H.' REPORTER
MR. JOSEPH MURUMBI, an African Cath olic who was present at the much publicised All-African Peoples' Conference held in Accra last December, says that it did muvh to intensify the wave of nationalist feeling which is sweeping the African continent from end to end today.
But, although he recognizes the danger of Communism in Africa. he does not believe that it led to any notable strengthening of Communist organisation. nor to the creation of Communist parties where none existed. Mr. Murumbi's views are of particular interest at this moment because they reflect the way in which many other militant African nationalists are thinking.
The first
" This conference," he told me, " was the first of its type to be held on African soil. And it was the first to be genuinely allAfrican in the sense that leaders of the nationalist cause came from every territory.
"Its effect was to strengthen the confidence in victory of all those who attended it and naturally, therefore, to increase their militancy and their sense of urgency. There was a feeling of intense elation on the part of every de legate.
"Most of them were well known in their own territories. yet other leaders in other territories were little more than names to them. Then they all met together. those who have already achieved selfgovernment and those who are still struggling for it.
"As a consequence, in the light of what had already been achieved. and on the basis of what they learned from the experiences of others, they went away immensely strengthened. They left. too, with a new feeling of independence.
Strong enough
"1 hey felt that nationalism had reached a stage where they can welcome the co-operation of those who recognise the legitimacy of its aims. but it is now strong enough for them to be able to go it alone if necessary."
I reminded him that much has been said about the presence of a Russian delegation at Accra which was alleged to have exerted an enormous influence there.
Mr. Murumbi is a practised African politician, a former Joint Secretary of the Movement for Colonial Freedom, for years a nationalist leader in Kenya, and now with the Moroccan Embassy in London. Like anyone else who has engaged in anti-imperialist activities, he is accustomed to attempts at infiltration by the Communists.
But he was insistent that this was not the role of the Russians at Accra. There were, he told me, four groups of non-Africans who were active there: the Americans; the Russians; President Nasser's United Arab Republic; and the Communist-dominated Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee,. which has its headquarters in Cairo. The U.A.R. was quite the most active of these. The Russians and Americans were much alike.
I asked him whether there were many behind-the-scenes conferences. engineered by Communists, which are a feature of so many international gatherings. He said that, although he was one of the seven-member Kenya delegation (whom one might expect to be especially cultivated by the Communists), he saw no sign of this type of activity either.
Members of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee tried to draw him into discussion on one occasion. When he told them that he was opposed to all those who robbed the people of their independence and their rights, no matter whether they be capitalists or Communists. they said that he was no more than an American stooge.
Dr. Hastings Banda. the Nyasaland Nationalist leader, has been mentioned in particular as having fallen under the influence of Communists at Accra.
"Dr Banda," he told me, "was already, before the conference, on record as saying that if he could not get the help he needed for his people from the West he would he prepared to turn to the Cornmunists for it. But there is hardly an African nationalist leader who has not said this at one time or another.
Intensity
"It does not prove that they are sympathetic to Communism. but is a perhaps rather wild way of proving the intensity of their own nationalist feelings. And some of those who have said it in the past are now, after independence has been achieved, actively anti-Cornmunist."
He said he saw no sign of Dr. Banda being "nobbled" by the Russians or any other Communists. The Nyasaland leader stayed with Mr. Botsio, a member of the Ghana Government whom he knew from the time when he was practising medicine in Ghana. He was with him most of the time when he was not actually attending the conference.
Ile emphasised that militant nationalism is sometimes mistaken for Communism by those who have not had first-hand experience of Communists. In his view most of Africa's nationalist leaders at this moment are non-Communists, although he stresses that the danger of Communism is an ever present one. This is particularly so today when more determined and organised attempts are being made to subvert Africa than ever before.
Red label
Mr. Murumbi himsell has good reason to know that the COED' munist label is often attached to militant nationalists. Although a practising Catholic he has many times had that experience himself.
And. on at least one occasion. because he was prominent in Kenya's nationalist movement at the time of "Mau Mau" he was described by a responsible newspaper as "the emissary of Mau Mau". That paper had in due course to retract.
I asked him whether he believed that missionaries had a special role to play in bringing black and white together, since their flocks include both. He replied that he believed that this would be possible provided that they were prepared to condemn injustices and atrocities with equal outspokenness, no matter whether they were by black or white.
If they permit themselves to become isolated from their people now or to appear indifferent to their legitimate aspirations. they will, he believes. he rejected within the next 10 years. along with everything else to do with the whites.
As may be expected. since he is an active militant nationalist. Mr. Murumbi's views are extreme and. some would say, one-sided. But he expresses the views which millions of Africans are increasingly corning to hold and which cannot be ignored.