Warring Group Loses Backing in Fight That Paralyzed One-Fourth of Country - The Shifta guerrillas of Kenya, agreeing to wait and see what diplomacy can do, have halted the rebellion that has paralyzed a quarter of the country for almost five years. In a remarkable triumph of diplomacy over passion, the troubled northeastern and eastern provinces of Kenya have become quiescent just three months after President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Mohammed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic signed an agreement to try to end the fighting. The speed at which the document was translated into action shows just how dependent the Shifta have been on the neighboring Somali Republic for arms, training, advice and even policy. Once the Somali Republic made a decision to stop this support, the rebellion suddenly stopped. But, though the shooting has stilled, the great problem of these provinces remains. The Shifta are Kenyans of Somali descent who believe their part of Kenya really belongs to a Greater Somalia...

Gained Rapport Mainly Through Vitality, Wit - The powers of his office are so limited that an American Vice President can bring Africa only good will and homilies and take back the same. That must be understood when trying to assess Vice President Humphrey's African tour. In his visit to nine countries in 12 days, Humphrey offered no new foreign aid projects, wrought no changes in American policy toward Africa, and solved no African problems. But he did show a flair for establishing rapport quickly with Africans, who liked his brashness, enthusiasm, vitality, frankness, wit, and interest. Without that rapport, the trip would have been lackluster and tepid, just like that of the last high-ranking American tour in Africa, Nicholas D. Katzenbach's, the phlegmatic undersecretary of state. Humphrey's trip seems to have been planned with two goals. The first was to demonstrate to African leaders that the United States, despite all its preoccupation with Vietnam, still cares about Africa. The second was to excite a little interest back home about American nonmilitary agencies abroad, like the Peace Corps, which is having trouble recruiting young people to its ranks, and the Agency for International Development, which is having trouble recruiting congressmen to its budget...

Zambia's President Helps Settle 4-Year Dispute Over Nomadic Rebels and Land - Kenya and the Somali Republic reached an agreement Saturday aimed at trying to end their four-year border war. The agreement was contained in a "Memorandum of Understanding" signed by President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Mohammed Egal of the Somali Republic. The arrangement was worked out through the good offices of President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, who served as mediator in the dispute that started shortly before Kenya became independent of Britain in December, 1963. Under the terms of the memorandum, Kenyatta and Egal agreed to maintain peace and security on both sides of the border, gradually to suspend restrictive emergency regulations on either side of the border - a reference to Kenya's attempts to control the hostile population in its border area - and to set up a working committee of Kenya, Somalia and Zambia to review the working of the agreement periodically and try to solve any differences that may come up...

For nearly four years, one of the world's least known rebellions has plagued the northern quarter of Kenya near the border of the Somali Republic. Approximately 2,600 persons have died at the hands of the rebels or government forces. Last week, the Kenya government allowed newsmen into the area for the first time on a supervised tour. With an improbable mixture of guns, grenades, schools and clinics, the Kenya government is trying to put down a guerrilla rebellion here in the semidesert of northern Kenya. The government's targets are the disaffected Somalis who want nearly one quarter of Kenya to secede and become part of the neighboring Somali Republic. Kenya officials have a purpose in combining a social revolution with police action. They are convinced they can triumph over the Shifta, as the rebels are called, only if they can end the nomadic life of the Somalis and get them to settle down with villages, schools, health centers, and water wells...

African Nation Believes Attention Can Block Somali Republic Aid to Guerrillas - Unlike most African countries, which like to pooh-pooh internal troubles, the government of Kenya is trying to end a guerrilla insurrection in the north by telling the world about it. Kenya believes that the guerrilla movement would disintegrate without help from the neighboring Somali Republic. Through an intense publicity and diplomatic campaign, Kenya hopes to pressure the Somali Republic into withdrawing its support from the guerrillas. That is why Kenya issued a white paper last week detailing four years of bloodshed in the northern frontier district, a desert wasteland that makes up one-fourth of the country but has only 200,000 people. At the same time, Kenya notified the United Nations that it may have to use its "inherent right of self defense" to halt what it called Somali aggression. More than half the people who live in the northern frontier district are nomads of Somali descent. For this reason, the Somali Republic looks on the Kenya district as a lost territory...

Charges Aggression on Northeast Border in White Paper Issued to U.N. Members - The Kenya government threatened war Tuesday if that is the only way to stop what it called aggression by the Somali Republic on the northeast border of Kenya. The threat came in a white paper issued by the Kenya government and distributed to every member of the United Nations. In the paper, Kenya said it was giving preliminary notice, under the United Nations charter, of its "inherent right of self defense" against aggression. With the threat, the long and bitter battling in Kenya's northern frontier district took a new turn. Until recently, Kenya has treated the fighting as a police action against what it called Shifta bandits. These were described as Somali inhabitants of northern Kenya in rebellion against the government...

Sources Assert Armed Troops Not in Uniform Cross Border After Bloody Riots - Informed sources reported Tuesday that small bands of Somali Republic soldiers have crossed the border into French Somaliland. According to the reports, the soldiers entered this French colony Monday night, hours after French troops fired into crowds of rioting Africans, killing at least 11. The reports said the soldiers, in bands of 15, were without uniforms but armed. There was no estimate of the total number. French troops at the border were reportedly trying to capture the Somali infiltrators. There was no report, however, on their success. French troops were also busy Tuesday rounding up Somalis and trucking them to a detention camp on the outskirts of Djibouti...

Referendum Could Reflect Minority Wish Since Many Residents Aren't Citizens - The voters of French Somaliland, the last French colony in Africa, are expected to reject independence today in favor of continued rule by France. The results of the referendum, however, may not reflect the desires of the majority of the people who live in French Somaliland. The electoral procedures work in a way that benefits the Danakils, a minority tribe that fears independence and wants the protection of France. But, whether fair or not, a vote for continued French rule could ease tensions in this eastern tip of Africa, at least for a while. It is hard to believe that an independent French Somaliland would stay independent very long, for it is a little piece of hot desert land on the Red Sea with nothing productive but the busy port of Djibouti. Its two large neighbors, Ethiopia and the Somali Republic, claim it as their own and are ready to go to war over it...

Internal Trouble Weakening Empire Just as It Faces Crisis With Somali Republic - Guerrilla insurrections are growing more intense in Ethiopia, weakening the empire just as it faces a crisis that could lead to war with the Somali Republic. The internal trouble, in fact, may help avert war by making Ethiopia more cautious in its dealings with the Somali Republic. The crisis centers on Sunday's referendum in French Somaliland, a nub of coastal land between Ethiopia and the Somalia Republic. The tiny territory will decide whether it wants independence or continued French control. If the French withdraw, the territory of 82,000 people may find itself too weak economically to stay independent very long. But the Somali Republic, which claims the territory as its own, says it will never tolerate Ethiopian control. And Ethiopia, which depends heavily on the territory's port of Djibouti, says it will never tolerate Somali control...

Coping With Help Becomes Big Economic Problem; Little Shown for Millions Spent - This nation receives more foreign aid per person than any other underdeveloped country in Africa and shows almost nothing for it. The country is about as poor as it was when all the aid started. In fact, coping with aid has become a major economic problem. "Our problem is how to make use of the aid we have now," said Prime Minister Abdirazak Haji Hussein in an interview, "not get more of it." "It's easy to receive aid," he continued, "but it's not equally easy to make use of it." Abdirazak said foreign aid had created burdens for the country because Somalis - almost 90% illiterate - often lack the managerial skills and the capital to use and run plants, equipment, and other gifts. In addition, loans make up 42% of the foreign aid, and this country has difficulty repaying them...

Vote Could Bring War Between Somali, Ethiopia - The forces of Somali nationalism, Ethiopian economics and French imperialism are colliding here in the Horn of Africa. It could mean war. The catalyst may be a referendum next Sunday in tiny French Somaliland. The voters will decide whether they want independence or continued French control. French withdrawal would leave a vacuum, drawing in Ethiopia and the Somali Republic - two bitter and pugnacious neighbors. There are reports that troops of both countries have already moved toward the French Somaliland border. War could embarrass and involve both the United States and the Soviet Union. U.S. military aid props up the 40,000-man Ethiopian army, while Russian aid does the same for the Somali army of 8,500 to 10,000. In the Somali Republic, in fact, feelings against the United States are intense and strident, particularly in the north...

French Somaliland Could Become Theater of War if Citizens Vote for Independence - The prime minister of Somalia disclosed Monday that he has moved troops toward French Somaliland, countering what he called a huge massing of Ethiopian troops near there. Prime Minister Abdirazak Haji Hussein described his troops as "few - just a symbolic presence," but he also said Somalia will not hesitate to intervene if Ethiopian troops march into French Somaliland. The remarks of Abdirazak, made in an interview, raised the possibility of war in the eastern tip of Africa. However, most observers here believe the possibility is slim. Trouble is likeliest if French Somaliland votes itself independent of France in the plebiscite March 19, and even Abdirazak - who supports independence in French Somaliland - doubts that the French dependency will vote a clean break...