KAMPALA, OCT 5: Prime Minister I K Gujral is on a Gandhi Odyssey through Africa. In contrast to his recent visit to the United States, this ten-day tour through the ``Dark Continent'' seems to be more in the nature of a tribute to the golden jubilee of Indian Independence.

Heavily loaded with overt symbolism, it must have taken all the ingenuity of the Ministry of External Affairs to discover the linkages that are being drawn between Africa, Gandhi and even ancient India.

Here in Uganda, for instance, the MEA dug into the memory banks of the Indian community to discover that Gandhi's ashes were immersed in the source of the River Nile which is an hour-and-a-half away from Kampala. One of the highlights of his two-day stop here thus was to unveil a bust of Gandhi at the same spot in the presence of two Indians who were witnesses to the immersion 49 years ago.

The tribute to Gandhi drew a wry comment from Uganda President Yoweri Museveni who remarked that since his own struggle for power was steeped in violence, he was not quite sure whether he should be eulogising the Mahatma's concept of nonviolence!

Gujral's men went even further back in history than the occasion demanded. A press release from the Indian side claimed that the famous African explorer Speke discovered the source of the Nile and other landmarks in the continent like Mount Kilimanjaro from a map based on references in the Vishnu Purnas.

This ancient text, they said after deep research, talked of a river called Neel Ganga (the Nile, apparently) and mountains dubbed Chandra Giri (Kilimanjaro and other Mountains of the Moon, we were told).

Clearly, a new dimension has been added to SouthSouth co-operation.Long before the term was invented, South-South linkages were already in place.The Gandhi pilgrimage will carry on to South Africa where much of the Prime Minister's five-day sojourn will go in planting saplings, garlanding statues and paying tributes to the Mahatma's years in that country.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.