European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes w. Dale Nelson Reagan unlike Nixon left with head held High los Angeles nearly a decade and a half after Richard m. Nixon a distraught former president beset bythe past flew Home to California an other former president has followed in his path Serene popular and pro claiming that he looks to the future Ashe cars his 78th birthday. The contrasts Between Nixon and Ronald Reagan were inescapable As Reagan flew West after George Bush inauguration Friday. Reagan left Washington declaring that it was very pleasant living in the White House but there Are a lot of things yet to Bedone outside of it. Nixon driven to resignation by the watergate scandal took off by helicopter from the South Lawn of the Whitehouse on aug. 9, 1974, and was aboard an air Force Jet to his native slate by the time Gerald Ford was sworn in to succeed him. Reagan whose own administration was plunged into turmoil by the Iran Contra affair he professes not yet to understand sat by benignly on the Ca Pitol s Western porch As Bush took the oath of office. Then he boarded a Heli copter for the eight minute flight to Andrews fab md., and the same Jet trip West. Nixon born and raised in califor Nia called his departure from Washington the Nightmare ending of a  Reagan a midwesterner who adopted California As his Home said the journey Back there for him and for Mer first lady Nancy was a return to a life we did love very  Nixon went to an exile of seclusion and silence first in California then in new York then in new Jersey Only recently emerging to proclaim his views in books articles and Public appearances. Reagan said he will quickly be Luton the Mash potato circuit pushing his proposals for budgetary and Electo ral Reform. Asked what he would miss mos about Washington he said i Haven t tried thinking about that it was very pleasant living there. As to what they would like mos about their new life he said Well because it will be a return to a life redid love very much. California in t a place in my mind it s a Way of life so that is the Sweet part of the bittersweet  Reagan often conferred with Nixon while in office and once said that As fellow californians they had a close Bond than he enjoyed with former presidents Carter or Ford. Nevertheless the two men s attitudes toward past and future seem to differ greatly. Nixon 61 when he left office asked Diplomat Vernon Walters some months later what did i do wrong if there is any such soul searching i Reagan he does not show it. The circumstances of his de parture As the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to Complete two terms Are of course immeasurably happier. Still the Stark contrasts stand  his Farewell to his staff in the East room Nixon said always remember others May hate you but those who hate you Don t win unless you hate  in Reagan s East room Farewell Asin Nixon a there were tears aplenty. But no talk of hate. On his helicopter flight to Andrews Nixon leaned his head Back against his seat Back and closed his eyes and heard his wife. Pat murmur it s so sad. It s so  Reagan asked As he jetted Backrest if he was sad Happy or relieved replied there arc elements of Al that  associated press. Flora Lewis despite agreement situation in Angola troubling Luanda Angola just As Angola brought the prepared. Ironically Luanda yearns to join the if breakdown of detente in the mid-1970s, it is an Early beneficiary of the new climate in East West relations. But it is also a prime example of How much More i involved than decisions in Moscow and Washington. The superpowers May command but they Are caught in local tides that run their course. War has been sputtering Here occasionally flaming since the insurgency against portuguese colonial Rule began in 1961. Since 1975, it has involved cuban an South african forces and an angolan guerrilla move ment Unita aided by South Africa and the unite states. It Cost Moscow a lot. The three Power agreement signed in december provided for phased disengagement of Cuba and South Africa Independence for neighbouring Namibia an Mutual pledges by Angola and South Africa not to Aid rebels against each other. But it settled nothing in the internal conflict. Things Are moving painfully slowly after so much devastation. Western Aid workers estimate there are50,000 amputees in Angola largely from Unita s land mines. There have been massacres but even worse the Economy is a shambles and people go hungry in what is potentially one of Africa s richest countries. The regime has admitted somewhat begrudgingly the contribution of its Radical marxist policies to drag Ging things Down. Top officials no longer Call it a marxist state but a state with a socialist  still they Don t go so far As soviet foreign ministry official Andrey , who wrote that developing countries suffer not so much from capitalism As from a Lack of  a drastic Reform of the worthless currency is being though in most of Africa if is the dirtiest word after apartheid. Membership is expected too optimistically to bring not Only International funds but a flow of Western investment. It is obvious though that apart from Oil production which is off Shore there can be no real Start on reconstruction and growth until there is internal peace and Security. That in t breaking out yet. The ordeal will go on. The regime has offered amnesty to Unita fighter who Lay Down their arms but nobody else supposes the insurgency that disrupts much of this vast nation can be ended that Way. Some african sages even suggest that the regime imperfectly aware of that but feels the need to show that amnesty in t enough before venturing toward negotiation. Tempers must Cool illusions subside further be fore what Cardinal Alexander do Nascimento Calls african Wisdom can be summoned to bring essential reconciliation. President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and other Lead ers show a fierce personal hostility to Jonas Sav Imbi Unita s magnetic chief whose Charm captivated much of official Washington. Luanda has hired american Public relations firms to compete but it just in t adept at presenting its Case fulminating instead at the immorality of . Military id to the traitor and South african tool As it Calls Sav Imbi. Sav Imbi is no democratic Freedom fighter. But he Isan effective Leader with a genuine constituency. He is too formidable for any idea of taken seriously. In Africa there can t be two chiefs said an Afri can Diplomat. Dos Santos put it another Way. In Afri Ca we have one party states. We think this system suits us in this phase. There can Only be one party and by implication one chief. Not everybody is pleased that it is getting harder to play the superpowers against each other. African Lead ers were dismayed when the five permanent members of the . Security Council including the . And the soviet Union agreed to ask the Secretary general to review the size of planned . Forces for Namibia with an Eye to cutting expenses. Though he is trying to put a Good face on it there Are signs that Fidel Castro is less than Content at hav ing to pull out under soviet pressure. And within Angola there Are fears about what the cubans May do to undermine the agreement or what the angolan military May do unfettered and unsupported by its cuban mentors. Luanda is seeking International contributions tits calculated Cost of $800 million for cuban withdrawal an extravagant sum that is another example fits diplomatic clumsiness. Clearing mines rebuilding Bridges might at tract sympathy but not new military airfields and re deploying angolan forces. I in i thaew East West climate that broke the dead lock. But left to themselves clients of both sides still have their own deeply troubled agendas. New York times to coins a -.�, to  Luv Tina wars and stripes or the United states government