East Africa

AS WESTERN propaganda machines continue to soften us up for a wider war that would include ground troops in the Balkans, one issue that has been lost but surely will resurface with a vengeance by such an expansion is race.Already, the issue has been raised with the invocation of two words in the media: Rwanda and Vietnam.In recent weeks, the apparent hypocrisy of the western nation's eagerness to intervene in a humanitarian crises involving Europeans -- but not black Africans -- has been addressed in newspaper articles and columns.

KIGALI, Rwanda -- American jets and Ethiopian forces recently conducted strikes in Somalia in support of that nation's fledgling democratic government. The event received passing notice in the United States, but to those of us working in East Africa, and specifically in Rwanda, it was cause for optimism. It demonstrated the willingness of Ethiopia and Somalia to put aside past differences and unite against radical Islamists who threaten both. It suggested that an era of thinking and acting regionally may have arrived in East Africa.

AIR travel is less safe after the hijacking of an Indian airliner on Christmas Eve succeeded. The hijackers attained a major demand and got away. Others will be tempted to do the same. The peace of the world is less secure because, in the aftermath, two nations that have fought three wars and now have nuclear weapons are hurling accusations. There is India accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorists in general and these in particular. There is Pakistan, claiming weakly that the hijacking was a put-up job by India to foment trouble.

Africa's economic role, as ordained by colonialism, has not changed after 20 years of independence. Most African countries still depend on the export of raw materials or crops in their basic form to Europe, Asia and North America. In these markets, it is the buyers who determine the prices. Yet, for the manufactures we need, it is the sellers who determine price.The terms of trade are always against us, while, at the same time the industrialized countries are themselves keen competitors in agricultural commodities.

WASHINGTON - President Bush's multinational African safari displays one of his more valuable talents: He's a fast learner. That's a valuable talent to have when you don't know much. As a candidate, he didn't know much about Africa and didn't much seem to care. During a televised presidential debate in which Africa came up, he accidentally called it a "country," and it was low on his foreign policy priority list. He repudiated "nation-building" by the United States and said President Bill Clinton "did the right thing" in delaying U.S. intervention to stop the genocidal slaughter in Rwanda.

Congratulations, Renny Harlin. You've successfully exorcised all the horror out of The Exorcist. Exorcist: The Beginning, a prequel to William Friedkin's 1973 masterpiece of horror both psychological and physical, fills in the backstory - as if that were really necessary! - of Father Merrin and how he first encountered the demon Pazuzu. The first film, you'll recall, opens in East Africa with Merrin (Max von Sydow) at an archaeological dig, searching for something mysterious and nefarious.

Kenya has been the anchor of political stability in East Africa. But in recent days, 300 people have been killed and 100,000 have been displaced in political unrest after the re-election of President Mwai Kibaki amid widely reported voting irregularities. As America's key ally in the region, Kenya cannot be allowed to collapse. Mr. Kibaki has acquiesced to a judicial investigation of the elections, but its impartiality is open to doubt. The U.S. must warn Mr. Kibaki that unless he agrees either to a conciliatory accommodation satisfactory to the opposition or to new, legitimate elections, economic sanctions will be in the offing.

For most of the 200 people attending the two-day International Conference on Eritrea at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotel this weekend, the mountainous territory that borders the Red Sea in East Africa is not an academic pursuit. It is home.Many of them are survivors of Africa's longest armed struggle, which began 28 years ago this month when the Ethiopian government of Emperor Haile Selassie ended a federation with the former Italian colony and forcibly annexed the culturally and historically distinct territory as its northern province.

ELEPHANT HAVE RIGHT OF WAY.Betty Leslie-Melville.Delacorte.48 pages. $15.Elephants constantly talk to each other, but the sound is too low for humans to hear. A mother elephant sprays an oily substance from her trunk onto her babies to prevent sunburn. These facts -- along with dozens of others about wild African animals -- will keep adults and children turning the pages of this work by Betty Leslie-Melville, the Baltimore native who has written 11 children's books.Ms. Leslie-Melville, with her late husband, Jock, started the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife to save animals from poachers.

WHEN THE bombs exploded in Kenya and Tanzania, I was already agog over new and past reports and studies that reflected pointedly the contradictions of modern America. A recent study by the U.S. Agency for International Development reported the astonishing fact that the United States spends less than one-half of 1 percent of its gross national product on foreign aid, lowest of any other industrial power. That's contrary to what a majority of Americans believe -- most think the figure is at least 10 percent.