Letter from Guinea-Bissau, 1978.

• Author: Marks, Edward

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is now entering its fourth year of independence and the desegregation of its component elements is the most interesting new development. Installed as it was after a successful war fought by a unified political movement, the new Government of Guinea-Bissau (GOGB) presented at first the image of unity--of a disciplined organization consciously pursuing a coherent program. Like most, if not all political movements of the 20th century (and maybe most centuries), the PAIGC (Partido Africano da Independencia da Guine e Cabo Verde) believes that political truth is self-evident and that only essentially corrupted personalities would cavil at its pronouncements of policy and goals. This endemic religiosity of current political activity was - and still is - enhanced in the case of the PAIGC by the strong feeling of wartime camaraderie shared by most of the leadership. However, time passes. The Guinea-Bissau leadership is unusually frank in admitting that national management is much more difficult than liberation struggle derring-do. Their willingness to admit this does not make the problems less onerous or the irritations less irritating. And so - slowly, quietly, so far peacefully and in a very relaxed manner - the various disparate elements of the Guinea-Bissau political, social and economic scene begin to reveal their separate natures. Internal politics is being reinvented.

1978 was a worrisome year for the GOGB. The previous year had been unusually poor and the hoped for production of sufficient rice to meet internal needs was not achieved. In January the Government turned frankly and openly to the international community for food aid, convoking the resident diplomatic corps in a rather naive little gathering. Government representatives openly explained the problem and formally asked the assembled diplomats to forward the request for food aid to their governments. The appeal was made to the international community as a whole - otherwise the presence of the representatives of the PLO, Polisario, Senegal, Guinea-Conakry could have been embarrassing. In any case their presence plus the Cubans, the East Germans, the Soviets, the Egyptians, and the Nigerians proved to be largely ceremonial.

In any case the food aid was forthcoming and, as the 1978 rains proved to be very healthy, the prospects for self-sufficiency in rice production are once again promising. Achievement of this goal is not merely desirable for its economic benefits. The GOGB has the usual desire and need to produce results. Independence has not brought the millennium - everybody fervently denies they really thought it would - but some results should be forthcoming to justify the struggle. Self-sufficiency in rice would be such an accomplishment, and the relatively easy nature of the achievement would not detract from its value. As time passes, the need for a noticeable success becomes more urgent, what...