Office of the Historian

422. Telegram From the Embassy in Tanganyika to the Department of State1

Dar-es-Salaam, June 8, 1964, 7 p.m.

2317. 1. Frelimo President Mondlane saw DCM today and gave him advance word he planned hold press conference prior his departure abroad this week to reply to Ambassador Anderson’s alleged statements praising Portuguese administration in Mozambique. Mondlane said Anderson’s remarks, which Dar-es-Salaam press has not yet published, had been subject recent Frelimo Executive Meeting and described them as major set-back to his efforts maintain good image of US within Nationalist Movements Headquarters Dar-es-Salaam. In reply question, Mondlane said public reply to Ambassador Anderson’s press statements necessary. They had provided those who wish label US as arch-imperialist [Page 740] with gratuitous ammunition and if he let them go by unchallenged he would be regarded as US stooge. Mondlane preparing detailed rebuttal of Ambassador Anderson’s alleged observations which he intends release to press within next several days.

2. Minister Home Affairs Lusinde told Embassy Officers last night that, if reports Ambassador Anderson’s statements accurate, US position with African Nationalists would be seriously undermined. Lusinde said he had understood USG position vis-a-vis colonial territories was one of sympathetic support for ideal of self-government and inquired whether Anderson’s remarks indicated change in USG policy. We said there had been no change in this firmly established US policy.

3. Would appreciate texts press reports Ambassador Anderson’s observations.2

Leonhart
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 30–2 MOZ. Confidential; Limdis. Repeated to Nairobi, Kampala, and Lisbon.↩
  2. Telegram 1937 to Dar-es-Salaam, June 17, reported that the Department did not intend to respond to Mondlane’s statements to the press concerning the remarks attributed to Anderson on his visit to Angola and Mozambique. If questioned, it intended to state that the Ambassador’s comments had been in keeping with firmly established U.S. policy, which supported the rights of all the people of Portuguese Africa to self-determination, encouraged Portugal to play a constructive role in Angola and Mozambique, and was aimed at furthering a peaceful and equitable solution based on the principle of self-determination. (Ibid., POL 1 ANG–US) Anderson visited Angola February 29–March 10, and Mozambique March 10–19, 1964.↩