Kenyan Diplomat Urges Africans To Reject Labels, Avoid Delusion

Kenyan Ambassador Burudi Nabwera last night challenged Africans to free themselves from their own delusions as by the West during African Freedom well as from the labels imposed on them Day ceremonies in M.I.T.'s Kresge Auditorium.

The African envoy to the United Nations and the United States charged that many Africans retain "colonized minds" because they are afraid to reject ideological labels in favor of terms more immediately relevant to the African situation. He said that timid African leaders are trapped by the "moderate" or "radical nationalist" labels given them by the Western press.

"Our constant preoccupation with imperialism and colonialism and Communism prevents us from seeing ourselves and our performance, our successes and our failures," said Nabwera. He challenged Africans not only to be bold in seeking their own best interests, but also to be frank in admitting their failures and difficulties.

"So long as we have someone to blame, we feel good," Nabwera said. "I suggest this is dangerous and prevents us from thinking about what we are doing."

As the second speaker in the Freedom Day ceremonies, Dr. Ian Gilchrist, one of three doctors serving one million, Angolan refugees in the Congo, excoriated the Portugese government for their indiscriminate killing and oppression of black workers in Angola. Condemning the Big Three Western powers for their conciliatory position towards Portugal, Gilchrist appealed for American "involvement" on behalf of the Angolans.

Heavyweight boxing champion Mohammed Ali, better known as Cassius Marcellus Clay, was to appear on the same program last night, but failed to appear for reasons unknown.