Wednesday April 6 20ll I THE

TIMES

Letters to the Editor

thetimes.co.uk Our latest edition

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School Gate Is it time to end the

'bias towards inclusion' with special needs and schools?

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Save centre as face of Africa in Britain

Sir, We are deeply dismayed to learn that the Africa Centre in London is threatened with imminent closure. Since Kenneth Kaunda opened it 50 years ago, this iconic building has hosted a myriad of cultural activities and key political meetings: 38 King Street, Covent Garden, has been the social, artistic and commercial face of Africa in Britain. Now, because of a questionable decision by its trustees, the site has been offered for sale to a commercial property developer without any public discussion of plans for the centre's future. We wonder why the building has been allowed to fall into decline in recent years, why there has been no consultation with the centre's many supporters about the sale, and why this is being pushed forward at such speed. And we are anxious about the secrecy surrounding the moves. This building - now worth millions of pounds - was originally a gift from the Catholic Church: there could not be a worse time to risk losing it. Africa is coming into its own as one ofthe fastest developing parts ofthe world. Those of us who care about the

continent want to be able to say: "The Africa Centre was there when we were down - it must be there as we soar to the heights." A vibrant Africa Centre in the heart of London can help to ensure that the city retains its status as the place where the continent engages with the rest of the world. We are appealing to the trustees to have second thoughts, and to hold an open meeting to discuss a viable future for the Africa Centre. We would urge your readers to support our campaign.
ARCHBISHOP DESMONDTUTU BORIS JOHNSON, Mayor of London BARONESS KlNNOCK OF HOLYHEAD RICHARD DOWDEN

There remains a perception at home that, the embarrassment of Suez aside, Britain's retreat from Empire was swift and relatively bloodless. The repressive states constructed by British settler communities must be seen as an inseparable part of Britain's malign colonial past. The legacy of intolerance and violence, which these societies created in Africa, should be noted by all who extol the virtues of Empire.
DAVlDTHOMAS

Sutton Coldfield, W Midlands

Director, Royal African Society Plus four other signatories, whose names can be seen at thetimes.co.uk/letters

Slovenian nostalgia
Sir, Your report (Apr 4) rightly gives prominence to the shameful new Slovenian 2 coin honouring the communist partisan Franc Rozman ("Stane" was his partisan name, not his surname, as implied). Rozman is indeed widely held to have both ordered the execution of democrats and to have killed some himself. The photo of him printed with the article shows him standing between a career officer on the left, and on the right, Viktor Avbelj, a general in the Slovenian Secret Police, who later became chief prosecutor in the infamous Nagode trial in 1947. The new coin is not only in line with a worrying nostalgia for the communist past, but follows the re-naming of a street in Ijubljana after Tito.
UUBOSIRC

UK'scolonial past
Sir, Your report on Britain's Kenya cover-up raises interesting points regarding Britain's amnesia towards the process of decolonisation (reports, Apr 5). The shocking claims of the Mau Mau detainees will hopefully lead to a wider reappraisal of Britain's legacy in Africa. I recently completed a study into the police state in Rhodesia between 1958 and 1973- the tactics of arbitrary arrest, torture and the harassment of peaceful protesters used by Tan Smith's regime and others will be depressingly familiar to anyone watching events unfold in the Middle East and North Africa today. It certainly helps to explain why African leaders are so ill-disposed to listen to Britain preach the gospel of human rights.

CB
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Job Hunt

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Two weeks for our twentysomething jobseekers to find work

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Glasgow
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