1979 was a quiet year for Guinea-Bissau.

Editor's Note: Our West Africa correspondent (see "Letters from Praia ", 1978 and 1979 and "Letter from Guinea-Bissau, 1978) continues his tales in another letter from his postings in the late 1970s. One more from 1980 is to come.--The Editor

1979 was a quiet year for Guinea-Bissau; no dramatic failures or successes. The rains were spotty and the government was forced to appeal for international food aid. The most visible development projects continued to make varying degrees of progress The Citroen assembly plant turned out its first cars by the end of the year. Whether or not these projects are economically viable remains a subject of much debate among the foreign expert community in Bissau. However, at the same time a number of less dramatic projects rice irrigation, secondary school construction, soil and bug research and control, artisaual fishing, etc., appear to be moving ahead; showing modest promise for the future. Nevertheless the country continues to be heavily subsidized by its foreign friends.

The Government has used new commercial credits from Portugal and Brazil to import a large quantity of consumer goods for the holiday season, thereby creating at least the facade of prosperity. The eud-of-the- year mood was quite jovial and relaxed and the old custom of holiday festivity severely subdued since independence - surfaced with great openness this year. The general mood of relaxation and openness is a reflection of the increased confidence of the ruling elite, an interlocking directorate of government and party leaders. Coordinated, not ruled, by President Lids Cabral, the collegial character of the government became more evident during the past year. Internal political tensions and rivalries are remarkable only by their absence. At the same time the ruling elite have begun to show open evidence of privilege in their general style of living as the almost priggish austerity of the early independence days is permeated by a growing preoccupation with today and the problems of everyday life. Guinea-Bissau's elite has discovered that rank hath its privileges - and does not appear to be spurning them. Whether this development will eventually grow into abuse of power and general corruption is a question for the future. At the moment it is not yet offensive and the Bissau population at least appears to accept it with a sort of good-humored cynicism. In external relations, the Government of Guinea-Bissau (GOGB) has successfully pursued the policy which has slowly taken form over the past three years, combining three essential themes: retain the fraternal links with the Soviets, Cubans; expand all ties, particularly economic, with the West; and generally play down rhetoric in pursuit of a genuine, low-keyed non-alignment. Relations with the United States in particular continued to improve in all aspects, and the ties between Guinea-Bissau and Senegal became every day more evident, resulting from President Senghor's deliberate policy of rapprochement and the GOGB "being willing."

In conclusion, it was a quiet year. Nothing was resolved, and the country remains poor and undeveloped. The leadership is increasingly preoccupied with the real day-to-day problems of government and increasingly uncertain that they know what to do with them. Meanwhile, political life is calm and no insurmountable problems were expected to show up in the in-basket on January 1, 1980.

After what seemed an eternity of discomfort--pounding, drilling, sawing, and other assorted inconveniences associated with construction--Embassy Bissau's chancery renovation was completed in September. By November the dirt, dust, and noise were only a memory and the dignified calm appropriate to a chancery had settled upon us. During the same period, the drive to find and renovate appropriate housing for Embassy staff came to fruition.

And so three and one-half years after the opening of the post, the end of 1979 finally established Embassy Bissau in adequate work and living facilities. This welcome achievement marked the end of another year of improving relations between Guineans and the United States. The '"suspicions", to say the least, with which the first official Americans had been greeted in in Bissau in 1976 has long since been changed into a relaxed and even warm reception of Americans by local officials as well as private individuals. The Voice of America reports that the number of letters from listeners in Guinea-Bissau (and in Cape Verde) is remarkable, given the size of the country. A USIA sponsored basketball coach was enthusiastically received, and the second visit by a United States Navy ship was a great success (to the point where the seven-person official delegation invited to luncheon aboard the USS Trippe was augmented by seventeen assorted wives, children, and assistants in a holiday mood). In 1979 the International Visitor program took off, and those members of the Guinea-Bissau cabinet who have not yet traveled are now lined up for their visits to the New World. Several who have gone are making plans to return with their families on personal visits.

The country itself finished the past year in reasonably good mood, although the expected poor harvest preoccupied the government. The rains had been erratic and although the prediction of an agricultural catastrophe made by certain international organization experts and officials now appears somewhat exaggerated, it is also clear that a shortfall in local rice production will occur. The GOGB and the USG and other governments have requested food aid from the international community. The shortfall in local production...

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