The World - News from Sept. 8, 1989

The Soviet Union is reassessing a 30-year-old policy of military aid to Africa that, with little other forms of assistance, has resulted in a loss of influence on the continent, Jane’s Soviet Intelligence Review said. A detailed analysis by the London publication that specializes in East-West affairs said that Soviet influence in Africa is waning because, instead of providing development aid as the West does, the Kremlin has done little more since 1960 than provide weapons for civil wars. Moscow’s major achievement in Africa has been to prevent the overthrow of Communist governments in Angola and Ethiopia, its two closest allies in Africa, Jane’s said.