Nature Notes from Tanzania

Zaire is a country at a crossroads - a land with abundant agriculture, mineral and human resources, and yet economically deeply paralysed and struggling to implement a successful strategy for social and economic development. These essays by Zairian academics in the fields of politics, sociology and economics describe post- independence social structures - so damagingly imitative of colonial patterns - and the inadquacy of the single Party-State regime, which has replicated western capitalism. The educational system, hardly changed from that inherited from the colonial power, is discussed; and an up-to-date economic analysis of the country today is included. A range of measures are recommended which could be adopted by a responsible ruling class; but first they, and their western ally, must seriously address the questions.