Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Africa, Volume XIV

124. Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Herter and the Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)⁰

July 14, 1960, 9:05 a.m.

MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH AMBASSADOR LODGE

The Secretary telephoned Amb. Lodge to see how things stood on the S.C. meeting last night on the Congo. Lodge said he thought we did very well and got through about 3:45 this morning.¹ Lodge said there was a strong attempt to adjourn about 11:00 p.m. last night but Lodge said he resisted this and the upshot was that the resolution of Tunisia passed with 8 votes.² Lodge said we didn’t like the paragraph about the Belgians but nevertheless SYG felt strongly this was the resolution the Africans there supported and it gave him the power to get moving and so Lodge said he voted for it. Lodge said the British and French abstained, along with two others. Lodge said the Belgian was in a very distressed situation but two things made him feel better. Lodge said he talked to Burden and the Secy said he had also talked to Burden last night as well as Wigny, although the Secy said the communication facilities from the Sequoia made it difficult. Lodge said the Soviet resolution to condemn the Belgians got defeated, and Lodge said the Belgians were better off to have this put up and defeated because then in effect they have not been condemned. Lodge said the Soviets then offered an amendment calling on Belgium to leave the Congo adding the word “immediately” and this was defeated.³ Lodge said then he made a statement in which he said we interpreted this language in the Resolution to mean the Belgians would withdraw only when UN got there so law and order could be carried out just as we did in the Gaza strip. Lodge said then he paid him a compliment and he was very pleased. Lodge said actually the Belgians haven’t a thing to complain about. Lodge said we were up against passing that Resolution or where would we have been today. Lodge said Slim⁴ who is a Turk was in the position of trying to lead the Negro African countries and he had to have something in the Resolution against Belgium and because of Tunisia the Soviets supported it so we got a resolution supported by both the US and the Soviets. The Secy asked if the Resolution set forth how the force is to be made up and Lodge said the Soviets put in a resolution saying it should be made up only of Africans and this was defeated. Lodge said he thought it was well the Resolution did not include make-up of the force since Hammarskjold will have a hard time anyway in making this up and Lodge said he, Lodge, thinks the French suggestion of French-Canadian troops is good. Lodge said they beat three Soviet amendments and it came up really better than Lodge had thought. Lodge said the hard part was when he said he would not join with the British and French in getting the meeting put off, and Lodge said he read the telegram from Timber-lake saying the situation could change in 48 hours.⁵ Lodge said the Belgian made a good speech but did it too late to modify Slim’s language. Lodge said the Resolution is not perfect but it gives SYG what he wants. Lodge said SYG said within two hours he was going to be starting things. Lodge said the SC has done its part and now we don’t need a special session of the GA and we really did much better than we had a right to expect. The Secy asked if SYG is going to call on us for help and Lodge said he will want planes and transport. Secy said equipment worried him, i.e., whether these troops have necessary rifles, machine guns, tanks, etc., or whether we might be requested to supply this sort of equipment. Lodge said he just didn’t know, but we would be hearing something soon.

[Here follows discussion of an unrelated matter.]

0. Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199. No classification marking. Prepared in the Secretary’s office.
1. For the record of the meeting, see U.N. doc. S/PV.873. The texts of statements by Hammarskjöld and Lodge are printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pp. 525–528.
2. The resolution called on the Belgian Government to withdraw its troops from the Congo, authorized the Secretary-General to take steps in consultation with the Congolese Government “to provide the Government with such military assistance as may be necessary, until, through the efforts of the Congolese Government with the technical assistance of the United Nations, the national security forces may be able, in the opinion of the Government, to meet fully their tasks”, and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council as appropriate. For text, see U.N. doc. S/4387, printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, p. 528. The resolution was adopted by 8 votes to 0, with China, France, and the United Kingdom abstaining.
3. The Soviet Union proposed three amendments which would have condemned Belgian “armed aggression,” called for the “immediate” withdrawal of Belgian troops, and provided for a U.N. force drawn entirely from African member states. The first two were defeated by 7 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions; the third was defeated by 5 votes to 4, with 2 abstentions.
4. Tunisian Representative Mongi Slim.
5. In telegram 58 from Léopoldville, Timberlake noted the French estimate that the situation would become critical enough within 48 hours to justify action to save European civilians. (Department of State, Central Files, 770G.00/7–1260)