East Africa: A Farewell to Arms

He who has need has no shame.

—Kikuyu proverb

Into Nairobi last week flew Uganda's Prime Minister Milton Obote, badly in need. For one thing, he needed to get his hands on the eleven truckloads of Red Chinese weapons that had been intercepted while sneaking through Kenya on their way to him from Tanzania. He also needed to spring their 47-man escort, whom outraged President Jomo Kenyatta had ordered tried for arms smuggling. More important, he needed to patch up the three nations' common market, which the arms scandal had nearly destroyed.

Obote went straight to the Kenya State House, talked to...