Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXIV, Africa

441. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Portugal¹

Washington, November 29, 1966, 8:26 p.m.

93308. Subject: Portuguese Territories. Following is based on uncleared memcon, FYI only and subject to revision on review.

1. During courtesy call on Under Secretary, November 29, Portuguese Ambassador Garin said he understood draft resolution now being circulated in UNGA Fourth Committee, similar in substance to that adopted by Committee of 24 in Africa,² which would apply Chapter VII language to question Portuguese African provinces.

2. Although emphasizing that he was not speaking under instructions from GOP, Garin said he was confident that GOP assumed and hoped that if draft resolution was similar to earlier Committee of 24 resolution which U.S. had voted against, USG would continue same position and vote no in Fourth Committee. He said if GOP had thought there would be any change USG position, he was sure he would have been instructed to discuss matter urgently.³

Rusk

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 19 PORT/UN. Confidential. Drafted by Funseth; cleared by Lampson, Deputy Director of the Office of U.N. Political Affairs William H. Gleysteen, Heyniger, and Landau; and approved by Stoessel. Repeated to USUN, Luanda, and Lourenco Marques.
2. On June 22, the General Assembly’s 24-member Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted a resolution recommending that the Security Council make the measures provided for under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter obligatory against Portugal.
3. On December 5, the U.N. Fourth Committee approved the Afro-Asian draft resolution on the Portuguese territories by a vote of 76 to 12 (including the United States) with 24 abstentions. The resolution was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly as Resolution 2184 (XXI) on December 12 by a vote of 70 to 13 (including the United States) with 22 abstentions. For text, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1966, pp. 132–134.