AFRICA THIRD LARGEST ALTHOUGH AFRICA IS FULL OF TALK ABOUT MERGERS AND 
FEDERATIONS OF NEW NATIONS, OFTEN THE UNITY SCHEMES ARE NO MORE 
FIRM THAN MAPS DRAWN IN THE SAND . BUT IN KENYA 
LAST WEEK, A SERIOUS, SENSIBLE AND LONG-CONSIDERED PLAN TOOK SHAPE . 
IN NAIROBI, NEWLY ELECTED PRIME MINISTER JOMO KENYATTA PRESIDED OVER A 
MEETING OF HIS NEIGHBORS . ON ONE SIDE SAT UGANDA'S PRIME 
MINISTER MILTON APOLLO OBOTE, GRINNING CHEERFULLY BENEATH HIS TOOTHBRUSH MUSTACHE ; 
ON THE OTHER, TANGANYIKA'S HIGH-SPRIRITED PRESIDENT JULIUS NYERERE . PRESENT AS 
AN OBSERVER : SOMALIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER ABDULLAHI ISSA . FROM THREE 
HOURS OF TALK EMERGED THE DECISION TO WORK FOR A FEDERATION 
OF KENYA, UGANDA, TANGANYIKA AND ZANZIBAR, WITH SOMALIA, RWANDA AND BURUNDI 
ALSO INVITED . " WE HAVE A COMMON HISTORY, CULTURE AND 
CUSTOMS WHICH MAKE OUR UNITY BOTH LOGICAL AND NATURAL, " DECLARED 
KENYATTA, THEREBY SEEMING TO REFUTE OLD CHARGES THAT HE WAS PAROCHIALLY 
INTERESTED ONLY IN PUSHING THE FORTUNES OF HIS KIKUYU TRIBE, THE 
MOST NUMEROUS IN KENYA . " WE REJECT TRIBALISM, RACIALISM OR 
INWARD-LOOKING POLICIES . " THE EAST AFRICAN FEDERATION, WHICH MAY BE 
LAUNCHED WHEN KENYA GAINS FULL INDEPENDENCE, PROBABLY LATER THIS YEAR, COULD 
EVENTUALLY BECOME A NATION OF 25 MILLION PEOPLE, THE THIRD LARGEST 
IN AFRICA . THERE IS NO CLEAR NOTION YET AS TO 
WHO WILL RUN THE FEDERATION OR HOW TIGHT IT WILL BE, 
BUT A JOINT COMMITTEE WILL SPEND THE NEXT TWO MONTHS DRAFTING 
A PROGRAM FOR JOINT ECONOMIC PLANNING, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMON DEFENSE, 
FOREIGN AND DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION, AND A CENTRAL BANK . FEDERATION, SAID 
THE THREE LEADERS, WILL CREATE " A FORMIDABLE FORCE AND A 
VAST MARKET . " AMONG MANY CRITICAL PROBLEMS FACING THE PROPOSED 
FEDERATION ARE KENYA'S OCCASIONALLY BLOODY DISPUTE WITH SOMALIA, PROBABLE OPPOSITION FROM 
BUGANDA'S FREDERICK MUTESA II ( / KING FREDDIE " ), AND 
RESISTANCE FROM KENYA'S 55,000 REMAINING EUROPEAN SETTLERS, WHO MAY BE APPREHENSIVE 
OF SUBMERSION IN EVEN MORE MILLIONS OF AFRICANS . BUT THE 
FEDERATION SCHEME WAS OFF TO A REMARKABLY RESOLUTE START . WHEN 
A NEWSMAN IN NAIROBI COMPLIMENTED PRESIDENT NYERERE ON HOW QUICKLY THE 
PLAN HAD BEEN LAUNCHED, NYERERE SMILED BROADLY . " WHAT DO 
YOU MEAN, QUICK ? " SAID HE . " THIS IS 
SOMETHING WE'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR 40 YEARS . / 