Hero in Search of a Triumph GAMAL ABDEL NASSER

CAIRO last week wore the synthetic festive air peculiar to Nasserism. In English, Arabic and Swahili, signs and pennants screamed: "Death to Lumumba's Murderers"; "French Killers, Hands Off Algiers"; "Freedom. Freedom to Kenyatta." As the smiling U.A.R. President arrived at Cairo University auditorium to welcome delegates to the grandiosely named third All-Africa People's Conference, phalanxes of young Arabs clapped rhythmically and shouted "Nas-ser." Framed against a huge black map of Africa with a red flaming torch thrust into its Congo heart, Nasser told the assembled delegates: "Nothing is more touching or close to the heart than meetings at intervals of brothers in arms, partners in the same fight, soldiers with one aim."

The words, coming from a man who aspires to the leadership of Africa, sounded somewhat hollow--and with good reason. The 100-odd delegates from 31 African countries were largely second-string (the exception: Kenya's Tom Mboya, who goes everywhere). And the "brothers in arms" were soon at one another's throats. Somali delegates tried to denounce Ethiopian border attacks, and had to be ejected.

The Dilemma. The Pan-African conference pointed up Nasser's curious dilemma today. Only 43, still the idol of Arab masses wherever he goes, he is a man with his ambitions unsated, a fading hero in search of a solid triumph. At home, his record is at best mixed. The Aswan Dam is under construction; Egypt's staple product, cotton, was bought up on world markets in record quantities last year. Russia has provided $170 million for industrial development, as well as $377 million for the dam (v. the U.S.'s $120 million). The Suez Canal is doing better business than ever: revenues are up $50 million over 1955 to some $150 million. Even so, in a nation whose population has grown by 3,500,000 since Nasser came to power, the birth rate wipes out economic gains: the per capita income remains about $100 a year--one of the world's lowest--and there has been an actual fall in the standard of living. But abroad, in the "three circles" Nasser has marked out as his self-appointed spheres of destiny, triumph eludes him. The circles: 1) the Arab world, 2) the Moslem world, 3) Africa.

"I have been a conspirator for so long that I mistrust all around me," Nasser once said. In the Arab world, where trust comes hard anyway, Nasser's street mobs and secret agents have so riled the Arab leaders that nearly all mistrust him. Though they still are wary of his power over the bazaars and the street mobs, neither Jordan's King Hussein, nor Saudi Arabia's King Saud nor Iraq's Premier Karim Kassem has proved willing to accept his leadership. The Sudan, Libya and Lebanon remain cautiously aloof, despite Nasser's best efforts. Though Nasser supported the Algerian rebels with arms and sanctuary, the current peace negotiations are the work of Tunisia's moderate President Bourguiba, with whom Nasser has long been at odds. Publicly, he is forced to approve Algerian peace talks. But if they succeed, Nasser might well find himself looking in from the outside on an Arab, French-oriented "Maghreb" made up of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco. In the world of Islam, Iran has extended Israel de facto recognition. President Ayub Khan of Pakistan has no use for Nasser's neutralism.

The Gateway. Frustrated in the Arab and Moslem worlds, Nasser has turned his propaganda and subversion techniques on Africa, which he considers rightly his to lead, since, he says, Egypt "guards the northern gateway." But he has attracted to his doubtful banner chiefly the fanatics, crackpots and dissidents. In a ramshackle, flaking mansion in the Cairo suburb of Zamalek, a dozen African "political exiles" compile tracts denouncing the imperialists and pro-Western nationalists, broadcast regularly on "The Voice of Free Africa." The U.A.R. has set up "cultural centers" in Somalia, the Sudan and Ghana, and it has become fashionable for prosperous Egyptians to call themselves "Africans."

But, in fact, Nasser has very little to show for his African exploits. For one thing, in Africa he lacks what he had in the Middle East: the advantage of a common language. The 2,000 African students in Cairo are disillusioned. "We have been brought to Cairo more for politics than anything else. There is no free discussion, no questions are allowed. It is just like being treated as a schoolboy all over again," complained one. While Nasser was busy plotting in the Arab world, its old enemy Israel got off to a better start in African trade and aid, even with African Moslem nations. At one time, Israel had more diplomatic representation in Africa than all the Arab countries put together, still has trade missions at work all over. Israel trained Ghana's merchant fleet, helped develop Nigeria's water resources, Guinea's diamond mines, the construction industry in Liberia. Nasser's total aid to all of Africa: $7,000,000 to Somalia.

Even Lumumba's heir in the Congo. Moscow-and Cairo-blessed Antoine Gizenga, has little to show from Nasser's friendship. Says Pierre Mulele, Gizenga's "chief of mission" in Cairo: "All the aid we have got from the U.A.R. is the visa that was given me to come here." Mulele lives as Nasser's guest in a suite in Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, comforted by a big Siemens radio receiver to keep him in touch with Stanleyville. One Cairo diplomat sums up Nasser's diminished stature: "Nobody has much to hope for from his support, and nobody much to fear from his enmity."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.