Office of the Historian

645. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, September 30, 1967.

SUBJECT

  • The Secretary’s Conversation with Foreign Minister Muller of South Africa; South West Africa

PARTICIPANTS

  • South Africa:
  • Foreign Minister Muller of South Africa
  • Ambassador (to U.S.) Taswell
  • United States:
  • Assistant Secretary Palmer, AF
  • G. Edward Clark, Country Director
  • Peter Krogh (note taker)

The Secretary asked Muller to what extent his government acknowledged an international interest in SWA. Muller said that SWA has a separate international status, that its administration was undertaken by S.A. in trust under the League, and that S.A. was carrying out its responsibilities under that trust. With respect to international status, Muller said that the SAG had never, for example, enjoined UN debate of SWA on the basis of Article 2(7) of the Charter. After making this statement, Muller was not sure it was correct, but the Secretary said that it seemed to him to be the correct position whether or not the SAG had been practicing it.

Muller went on to say that the Secretary was aware of the SAG reaction to the Resolution terminating the mandate and once again urged the Secretary to take a look at the progress being made in SWA. Paraphrasing a line from the SWA Survey 1967, Muller said that if we realized how closely SWA was linked to S.A., we would see how unrealistic it was to take the administration of SWA out of SAG hands.

The Secretary then asked Muller if he didn’t see any basis for S.A. administration of SWA that would be acceptable to the UN. Muller replied that they were hopeful that once it was understood how much progress was being made under SAG administration the existing administrative arrangement would become acceptable to the UN. Muller concluded that there was really very little he could add to this subject which was not already in his letter to Thant.

The Secretary then asked if Muller expected very many S.A. whites to move to SWA. Muller said that he did not expect any such movement [Page 1087] either way nor could he see any reason for it unless, for example, some new mines were opened up in SWA.

The Secretary said that he wanted to study the Survey more carefully. Muller asked that the Secretary pay particular attention to the political section of the Survey.

The Secretary asked Muller how many non-whites in SWA went on to higher education. Both Muller and Taswell said they did not know. Muller did say that great progress was being made in education which would be apparent to any visitor to SWA.

The Secretary asked if the S.A. invitation to Ambassadors to visit SWA included other diplomatic personnel. Muller said that initially the invitation had been extended only to Ambassadors and Consuls General and that now that several Ambassadors, including the Dutch and British, had visited SWA it would be unfair to them to permit sub-Ambassadorial representatives from other countries to visit SWA. Hence the SAG had turned down the USG request to send someone other than its Ambassador.

The Secretary told Muller that the SAG would be better off if it created the impression that SWA was there for all to see. Muller replied that his government did not like “busy bodies” and furthermore that they deny visas to anyone even visiting the Republic whom they felt had ulterior motives. The Secretary suggested that such restrictive policies did not win friends for South Africa. Muller said his government wasn’t getting credit for the progress it was making anyway and that as a consequence there was a hardening and toughening of the SAG attitude toward the outside world. The Secretary pursued the subject by telling Muller that if people were simply told of progress and could not see it freely for themselves, they would not feel that they were being adequately informed.

Muller said that his government’s attitude was hardening, and implied that his tougher view was particularly addressed to the U.S. He referred, as he had in the previous bilateral talk, to the Goldberg speech and contrasted it to the more accommodating speeches of the Soviets, Europeans, and Latin Americans. He said the Goldberg speech had “worried” the SAG.

Muller said that he hoped the Secretary would visit S.A. The Secretary replied that he had tried to plan a trip to Africa several times but could not figure out a way to go without inadvertently offending some countries. Muller said that there had been recent visits to S.A. by ministers from the governments of Germany, Belgium and Japan.

Muller complained that even Mr. Palmer had not visited South Africa. Mr. Palmer replied that he had visited South Africa twice, in 1941 and 1958 and hoped to do so again.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 7 S AFR. Confidential; Limdis. Drafted by Peter F. Krogh of S/S on October 6, and approved in S on October 16. The meeting took place in Secretary Rusk’s office. The source text is marked “Part 6 of 8 parts.” The other parts are ibid.↩