13. Memorandum for the Record1
Algerian Ambassador Guellal came in today for a rambling discussion, but I believe mainly to sound me out on a Ben Bella visit here. Midway in our chat he said he presumed I’d seen the Algerian press reports that Ben Bella might be coming to the UNGA. He had no information himself but what did I think about a visit “to New York and Washington?” I told him this was a matter on which I didn’t feel able to offer much advice; it was after all a matter for Ben Bella to decide. However, I gathered that relatively few chiefs of state would be coming to the GA this year. This might change of course, but none of the key world leaders now seemed to be planning to attend. It was also possible that the Article 19 issue might lead to further delay in the UN session after 1 December. I then asked if Ben Bella would plan to go on directly from the US to Peking, reminding Guellal of the unfortunate impression made here on his first visit here by his trip to Cuba right after. What issues might Ben Bella want to raise while here? When Guellal mentioned Palestine, the [Page 31] Congo, and perhaps Cuba and Vietnam, I doubted that it would be possible to have much in the way of productive talk on these issues. These were all sensitive issues in US public opinion, and our different viewpoints on them were well-known. For Ben Bella to come and bell the cat on such matters might be a cause of embarrassment to him and to us. Finally, I pointed out that the President probably would be away in Texas for a considerable part of the time between now and the end of the year; he wanted to do some thinking about major new programs without being subjected to constant Washington pressure.
I granted that all of these points seemed to add up to throwing a bit of cold water on a Ben Bella visit at this time. I did not wish to give the impression that anyone here would be opposed to such a visit. We had simply not focused on the problem, and I was merely giving him my own horseback thinking that perhaps the timing was not optimum. Guellal took all of this in very good part, and I had the impression that it coincided with his own feelings.
Earlier Guellal had asked me about the current state of US-Algerian relations. I opined that there did not seem to be many bilateral problems between us, but it was discouraging to see that we and Algeria seemed to be on different sides of the fence on so many external issues. While we fully respected Algeria’s independence and non-aligned policy, it did seem to us that Algeria almost invariably tended to lean toward the opposite side of the fence on most problems. The friends of Algeria in the US had a tough time explaining that this was mostly growing pains.
Guellal bridled a bit at this. He argued that Algerian policy wasn’t as one-sided as I suggested. The only concrete case he brought out, though, was relations with West instead of East Germany. We read the Algerian press too closely, and niggled at every little thing. We should take a longer view. Above all, we should understand why Algeria felt so strongly on anti-colonial issues, and particularly those in Africa. So I asked him about what I described as strictly a non-colonial issue but one involving the very right of majority rule in the UNGA—Article 19. Guellal insisted that Algeria took a firm position in principle in favor of Article 19. Being unfamiliar on where Algeria stood, I simply complimented him on his courage. We hoped the majority of UN members would feel the same way.
I slipped in the Nuncie case; here was one peanut bilateral issue which we both ought to clear out of the way lest it eventually cause problems because of the Congressional bar in the Foreign Assistance Act. He got my point in a hurry, but said he’d done all he could. He’d gotten his Finance Ministry to write a letter along the lines State wanted but this was held up in the Foreign Ministry. He’d give them another nudge to break it loose.
[Page 32]Guellal asked me about our China policy, which I explained as not being as rigid as some people seemed to think. All we asked was a halt to China’s aggressive behavior, which even the Soviets seemed to find rather a problem.
We ended up talking a bit about the Sudan. He had known in Delhi two of the ministers in the new government. They were fine people and certainly not communist. Guellal commented that he commiserated with the Sudanese Ambassador who was going to Cairo.
Guellal also argued that the Ben Bella regime was doing a pretty effective job in Algeria. It now had a secure hold on power. He deplored Moroccan fears of Algeria and said that the Algerians hoped for nothing more than good relations with both their neighbors in the Maghreb. He thought the Moroccan-Algerian problem was well on the way to being worked out.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Name File, Komer Memos, Vol. I (2). Secret. Prepared by Robert W. Komer. Copies were sent to Williams and Newsom.↩