AFRICA RISING

Your report "Africa Rising" was a welcome contribution to a better understanding of what's really happening on the continent [March 30], but I missed seeing coverage of the overall economic situation there. Business is carried out in the name of free and fair competition, and that requires a balance of power. But there is no such balance. There is virtually no protection for Africans against the imported goods and surplus produce from Europe that are being dumped on the market. For many Africans, life is solely a matter of survival, and freedom of speech has very little meaning.
KJELL-ERIK NORDLIE
Vallset, Norway

Blame for Africa's ills has in the past been wrongly laid at the doorstep of foreigners. We have come to accept that our choices of the wrong political and economic models following independence from the colonial powers have been the cause of most of our present misery. The economic and political reforms now under way in many of our countries will at long last translate into more freedom and higher living standards for us. In Kenya and other African countries reforms are being implemented that will result in privatization of state enterprises, more efficient public-service structures, a concerted fight against corruption, and removal of economic controls. It is no exaggeration to state that Africa is the new--and last--frontier for investors.
MICAH CHESEREM, Governor
Central Bank of Kenya
Nairobi

There is much speculation as to what Clinton's visit has meant for South Africa. I wonder just what impact this trip has had on all the President's men and the President himself. Africa has much to give and teach to those open enough to receive and learn.
KEITH GRAHAM COATS
Durban, South Africa

You stated that "Life is finally looking up for many Africans," but those of us committed to the resettlement of refugees know that it is not getting better, unfortunately, for many others. All in Africa is not a bed of roses. The thorns are still tearing away at millions of dispossessed people throughout the continent who have lost their homes. U.S. refugee policy closes the door on some of the most severely oppressed and displaced people in the world. The number of Africans admitted to the U.S. is absurdly low in relation to the need in Africa.
RALSTON H. DEFFENBAUGH JR.
Executive Director
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
New York City

Leave Africa alone! Let the Africans decide the scale of their economies, the most appropriate technologies to use and the level of industrialism that is desirable. Buy their products, yes. Offer favorable terms of trade, yes. But don't organize their economies for them by offering Western models of unlimited growth in a finite environment. Multinational corporations that do business in Africa should guarantee that most of the benefits go to Africans.
MARK HACKLER
Glenview, Ill.

You struck a good balance in your article between the political and economic progress many African nations have made and the considerable challenges remaining for the continent. While we don't want to have unrealistic expectations, prospects for an African renaissance are brightening. As you reported, African countries are opening their economies, allowing individuals to prosper and achieve independence from development aid. It is encouraging that Eritrean President Issaias Afewerki and other new-era African leaders understand the need for Africans to shape their own destinies, creating self-sustaining countries. The bipartisan African Growth and Opportunity Act promises to further this progress by encouraging economic reforms and promoting mutually beneficial trade with the U.S.
ED ROYCE, U.S. Representative
39th District, California
Washington

TOLERATING CLINTON'S FLAWS

Are we in denial of the obvious? Are we not aware that America's own declining moral and ethical standards are reflected in the polls that sanction the alleged conduct of the President [March 30]? We individually need to become cognizant of our own personal values in order to effect change. Americans should not accept less than the most noble of ideals in our leaders.
VIVIAN WEEDE
Oro Valley, Ariz.

Clinton is courageous. He attacks his attackers, tempts fate by wading into crowds, lies when he must and damns the consequences. He's crafty, and has outwitted a hostile Congress by appearing to give it what it wants. He is charismatic and feckless, and women (apparently) adore him. In the multiplex theater that is the U.S., the virtual reality is Hollywood, not Washington. We want a touch of strife and then a happy ending.
JAMES E. HASHIM
Jacksonville, Fla.

Not one of the women involved in the Clinton soap opera took legal action at the time they claim they were sexually harassed. Now they appear to be on the bandwagon to enrich themselves one way or another. They make me feel ashamed to be a woman.
JUNE PRENTICE
Athens

Why are some Americans trying to ruin their nation by harassing President Clinton? People are trying to dig up anything they can to destroy him. But he is only human, capable of committing mistakes. Don't condemn him. Instead, try to see the good he has done. Americans are lucky to have him.
STELLA VILAR DE ASIS
Muscat, Oman

The U.S. used to be the country where the Bill of Rights was the law. Now it seems that the Rights of Bill are ruling the country. Shame on him.
ERIK SVARRE
Copenhagen

What is immoral is not President Clinton's having normal sexual impulses but for Clinton haters to disgrace the President for such private and trifling matters. What is immoral is hating someone as much as Clinton's detractors do, seemingly just for the purpose of destroying him.
MAKO NONAKA
Paris

I find the interest in Clinton's sex life unbelievable! All the media can do is go on and on about the President's behavior! This is stupid, rude, irrelevant and boring. For God's sake, let's have a total shutdown on the issue.
J. STEPHEN CRIDLAND
Observatory, South Africa

TECHNOLOGY CAN ALSO HURT

Though very interesting, your report on new environmentally friendly technologies [March 23] was only part of the story. Technology is, of course, one of many factors that determine the degree of damage mankind inflicts on this planet. My formula is that the amount of environmental degradation is the result of the size of the population multiplied by the standard of living (or consumption) times technology. If the population were zero or if we all lived as hunter-gatherers with zero standard of living, we would not degrade our planet at all. The role of technology is somewhat more complex. Its effect depends on the balance between good and bad technology. Today the bad dwarfs the good. If we are serious about licking this problem, we need also to focus on the population explosion (largely poorer countries) and on an increasingly consumptive society (largely richer ones). Technology can help, but should we put all our eggs in one basket?
ROBIN DAWSON
Cardiff, Wales

A HAVEN FOR KURDS IN GREECE

From reading your report, one would believe that Greece is giving military support and training to Kurds [March 30] and that the Greek people are aware of it and favor it. But there is no proof that the Greek government supports nurturing Kurdish nationalism, and the majority of Greek people have a rather neutral attitude toward the Kurdish problem. What is true is that Greece is trying to provide these people with a better quality of life.
ANTONIS CHRISTIDIS
Summerstrand, South Africa

I don't understand how western diplomats can still say there's no hard evidence substantiating Greek aid to the political branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (P.K.K.). As the U.S. State Department rightly states, the P.K.K. is a terrorist organization and Greek authorities are working hand in hand with it by overlooking P.K.K. camps in and near Athens. If such open P.K.K. activities are a breach of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996, why doesn't the U.S. declare Greece a state that sponsors terrorism? If there is no solidarity and cooperation among nations against all terrorist organizations worldwide, how can terrorism in Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Spain and the U.S. come to an end?
CUNEYT BAGLAR
Ankara

Atrocities committed against the indigenous Kurdish population of Kurdistan by the Turkish forces have been far worse than anything imagined by Serbian authorities in Kosovo. Yet I haven't heard any threat of sanctions against Turkey. It is the oppression suffered by the Kurdish population in Turkey, and not the alleged Greek support of Kurds, that is the real reason for the "cycle of violence and vengeance."
NICHOLAS ROSSIS
Edinburgh

HINDUS AT THE HELM

The transition from the government of outgoing Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral to the newly elected Hindu leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an anticlimax for the Indian democracy [March 30]. Gujral strove for peace on the subcontinent. Vajpayee symbolizes religious militancy, a hawkish nuclear policy and a confrontational stance toward India's neighbors. Fifty years after the country gained independence, the Indian electorate should have shown more maturity and voted for a more moderate and liberal leadership, one that could work for an integrated Indian nation that could live in peace with itself and its neighbors.
NOSHIN MASUD
Islamabad

Your report highlighted the fears of minorities under Vajpayee's government. I agree with the senior party official who described Vajpayee as a kind of jovial "mask" hiding his party's sterner features. In my view, Vajpayee is hiding the Hindu party's "sinister plans."
PAUL M. CHERUTHOTTUPURAM
Calcutta

DOING IT SUHARTO'S WAY

Indonesian President Suharto is acting like a kleptocrat who allows those under his care to suffer for his failures [March 23]. He must be made to understand that finding solutions to Indonesia's economic disarray isn't about losing face but about the salvation of 202 million people. This "my way or the highway" behavior of Suharto's is an insult to the International Monetary Fund and other bodies that have come to Indonesia's aid. The West should take care not to label any Third World nation with an overactive economy a "tiger." Such a name might make the leader of a nation thumb his nose at his benefactors. Suharto, after viewing Indonesia as a cash cow for the past decades, is finding it hard to cede authority to outsiders.
ROY CHRISTY
Bangalore, India