Counterpunch

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State G. Mennen Williams is not popular with Africa's white settlers. It all goes back to a speech he delivered earlier this year in Nairobi, Kenya, declaring that the U.S. stood for a policy of "Africa for the Africans." Williams' belated explanation that "Africans"' also included Africa's whites never seemed totally convincing.

Last week Williams wound up a 30,000-mile swing through 13 African countries. In Nyasaland. he officially received the title of honorary white chief; in the Ivory Coast he picked up a carved canne de jugement, symbol of tribal justice. At Northern Rhodesia's Lusaka airport, Williams was going through the farewell ceremonies with Governor Sir Evelyn Hone, when a burly white man lumbered out of the shadows of the airport administration building. Lunging at Williams, he seized a lapel, spun him around, and let fly with a punch. The blow glanced off Soapy's jaw. Sir Evelyn Hone grappled manfully with the assailant. Police hurried up and hustled him away.

Williams made light of the whole thing. "It was really nothing much," he said. But some white settlers obviously felt that Nairobi stood avenged at last.

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