m.

Nothing more was heard about the "mysterious craft" that the Soviet
claimed to have shot down, except a terse report that said it had
"probably been destroyed." It was impossible to know whether or not they
had deduced what had happened, or whether they realized that the new
craft was as maneuverable over the surface of the moon as a helicopter
was over the surface of Earth.

Instead, the Sino-Soviet bloc had again shifted the world's attention to
Africa. Like the Balkan States of nearly a century before, the small,
independent nations that covered the still-dark continent were a
continuing source of trouble. In spite of decades of "civilization,"
the thoughts and actions of the majority of Africans were still cast in
the matrix of tribal taboos. The changes of government, the internal
strife, and the petty brush wars between nations made Central and South
America appear rigidly stable by comparison. It had been suggested that
the revolutions in Africa occurred so often that only a tachometer could
keep up with them.

If nothing else, the situation had succeeded in forcing the organization
of a permanent UN police force; since back in 1960, there had not been a
time when the UN Police were not needed somewhere in Africa.

In mid-October, a border dispute between North Uganda and South Uganda
broke out, and within a week it looked as though the Commonwealth of
Victorian Kenya, the Republic of Upper Tanganyika, and the Free and
Independent Popular Monarchy of Ruanda-Urundi were all going to try to
jump in and grab a piece of territory if possible.

The Soviet Representative to the United Nations charged that "this is a
purely internal situation in Uganda, caused by imperialist _agents
provocateur_ financed by the Western Bloc." He insisted that UN
intervention was unnecessary unless the "warmongering" neighbors of
Uganda got into the scrap.

In a televised press interview, Vice Presidential Candidate Matthew
Fisher was asked what he thought of the situation in East Africa.

"Both North and South Uganda," he said, "are communist controlled, but,
like Yugoslavia, they have declared themselves independent of the
masters at Moscow. If this conflict was stirred up by special
agents--and I have no doubt that it was--those agents were Soviet, not
Western agents. As far as the UN can be concerned, the Soviet Minister
is correct, since the UN has recognized only the government of North
Uganda as the government of all U