Lagos

THE process of saving Chile from socialism turned out to be a squalid affair that lasted 17 years, during which Chilean democracy was extinguished by a particularly unattractive military dictatorship. What made it so offensive was that it often mimicked -- in extra-constitutional violence, sheer thuggery and naked oppression -- the very process by which various communist revolutionaries "saved" their nations from capitalism. And now Chile has another duly elected socialist president, Ricardo Lagos, cheered by crowds in Santiago this past week as he acknowledged the presence of the widow of the last duly elected socialist president, Salvador Allende.

AUGUSTO Pinochet is history. Ricardo Lagos is the future. The past is important, but less so than the next chapter. Chile, like South Africa, is torn between the needs of justice and reconciliation. Chileans must work out the trade-offs. President-elect Lagos is an old socialist who supported the leftist President Salvador Allende, whom General Pinochet deposed in 1973. He helped initiate the agitation to hold the former president and army commander responsible for some 3,000 deaths and disappearances of political enemies.

CHILLAN, Chile -- No matter what happens in today's presidential election, Chile will make history.If Ricardo Lagos wins, he will become the first Socialist president since Salvador Allende was overthrown in a U.S-backed military coup in 1973 and died as planes bombed the presidential palace.If Joaquin Lavin wins, he will become the first rightist president since Gen. Augusto Pinochet obeyed the wishes of the voters after a referendum in 1988 and relinquished power after more than 16 years of dictatorship.

ABUJA, Nigeria -- Quickly, what is the capital of Nigeria?Lagos?Wrong.It is this unlikely place, an oasis of calm in a chaotic nation, a center of development amid economic collapse, an area of urban space in Africa's most populous country, a self-proclaimed "city of unity" for a fragmented society.Abuja is custom-built, the ultimate politically correct capital, slap-bang in the middle of the nation where all 108 million Nigerians can get to it with equal difficulty.This is the Brasilia of Africa, an architectural playground on the eve of the 21st century, where the skyline is dotted with almost as many construction cranes as occupied buildings.

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Five months after the death of Nigeria's longtime military dictator raised the prospect of greater political openness here, Nigerians cast ballots yesterday for local government officers across the country.The voting, viewed as an early test of the new government's seriousness about reform, appears to have been generally peaceful and the turnout high, according to government officials and Western diplomats.In Lagos, with 8 million people the country's biggest city, the normally traffic-choked streets were eerily deserted.

Taslim Elias, former president of the International Court of Justice and the first Nigerian to become his country's attorney general, died Wednesday at a Lagos hospital. He was 76. He became Nigeria's attorney general and justice minister at its independence from Britain in 1960. After six years as law professor at the University of Lagos, he was appointed to the International Court of Justice -- the judicial arm of the United Nations now called the World Court -- in 1972. He was elected the court's vice president in 1979 and its president in 1982.