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

164. Telegram From the Embassy in Ghana to the Department of State⁰

Accra, August 6, 1960, 3 p.m.

176. Deptel 117.¹ President Nkrumah asked me August 6 to transmit letter to President Eisenhower as follows:

Begin letter: (verbatim text)

President.

5th August 1960.

Dear President Eisenhower, I am happy to receive your letter through Ambassador Flake. I appreciate the way in which the State Department has been keeping in touch with the Ambassadors of the independent African states in regard to the situation in Congo. I agree with you when you say that though the present situation presents dangers to world peace, it is also a great challenge to statesmanship and an opportunity for the United Nations in general and African states in particular.

Like you I believe that the most immediate problem is the speedy withdrawal of Belgian troops from the whole of the Congo, including Katanga. So far as Katanga is concerned, any attempt to detach it from the Congo state in anybody’s interest will have the most disastrous consequences not only upon African opinion, but upon the whole balance of political forces in the world. This is a point which I have tried to emphasize both in public and in private.

It is quite clear that the separatist movement in Katanga has not got popular support but is the product of Belgian manoeuvres in the Congo. What worries me most is the failure to act quickly in the implementation of the United Nations resolution. I must say that if any power was not clearly to oppose Belgium in her present conduct, the position of that power on the African continent would be fatally compromised.

It seems to me therefore, that the first step is to establish the authority of the United Nations.

There is a suspicion, which I would like to believe is quite unfounded, that the United States of America, France and the United Kingdom are not giving their full support to the United Nations decision that all Belgian troops should be withdrawn from the whole of the Congo. The view which is being taken by some African states is that these powers are deliberately delaying on this issue in the hope that a Katanga state can be created and that the Belgian military occupation can continue and be ultimately justified on a de facto basis.

I am glad indeed to note your proposal that Congo should be protected against conflicting power politics and other pressures. However, the first task before any other issue can be considered is the withdrawal of all Belgian troops.

Nevertheless, in order that the matter of technical assistance can be discussed concurrently with the question of the withdrawal of Belgian troops from the Congo, my Government is addressing a note to your Ambassador here on this aspect of the matter.² I have purposely not dealt with this in my letter to you as I consider that any other issue is of little importance so long as Belgian troops remain in the Congo.

Yours sincerely, (signed) Kwame Nkrumah.

End letter.

Flake

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 770G.00/8–660. Confidential; Niact; Presidential Handling.
1. Document 159.
2. Telegram 177 from Accra, August 6, reported that when Ambassador Wilson C. Flake and Timberlake met with Nkrumah that day, the latter agreed that all technical and financial assistance to the Congo should be provided through the United Nations. (Department of State, Central Files, 770G.00/8–660)