49. Airgram From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State1
SUBJECT
- 1. Committee of 24
- 2. South Africa
At lunch with Finger today Issoufou Djermakoye, the UN Under Secretary for Non-Self-Governing Territories, discussed following subjects:
1. Committee of 24 Trip to Africa. Djermakoye said he had decided not to go to Africa with the Committee of 24 next month. His decision was prompted by the fact that the Committee will begin its work in Kinshasa. Since he recently was in Kinshasa for an OCAM meeting and delivered a statement on behalf of the Secretary General, he saw little point in going there again so soon. He has also been in Dar Es Salaam [Page 82] recently and that is another point on the itinerary of the Committee of 24 next month. Had the Committee decided to go first to Zambia, which was the first government to issue an invitation, he would have gone there at least for that portion of the trip. Djermakoye said he realized he might be criticized by some Africans on the grounds that his decision not to take the trip was influenced by the fact that the US and the UK were not going; nevertheless, he would stick to his decision for the reasons he had given.
Comment: The absence of the Under Secretary as well as the UK and the US, plus other information indicating that a number of prominent representatives on the Committee of 24 will not go to Africa, would appear to put a damper on the trip.
[Omitted here is discussion of maintaining a Chemical Bank branch at the UN Secretariat despite the Bank’s ties with South Africa, and about African countries that continued to trade with South Africa.]
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 19 UN. Confidential. Drafted by Seymour M. Finger. Also sent to Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa, and Lusaka.↩