Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III

865.014/7–1047: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Douglas) to the Secretary of State

secret

London, July 10, 1947—6 p. m.

3790. Itcol 21. Bonneau,¹ of the French Foreign Office, arrived as planned on July 8 (see Itcol 20²) and after spending the afternoon in discussions with British dined with us. He returned to Paris morning July 9.

He informed us that French commissioner will be Etienne Burin des Roziers, a career diplomat at present in Vienna³ who speaks excellent English. He is personally known to Utter and should prove most cooperative. Their secretary of delegation will be Féquant⁴ who is familiar with CFM work. Bedbeder will continue to be their number two. Their delegation will probably not exceed five and will be completed by the addition of a French-Russian interpreter and a stenographer.

Bonneau said that he had asked one of the Counselors of Soviet Embassy in Paris to call on him about ten days ago and had explained to him in detail the desirability of having preliminary talks about procedure and terms of reference of commission before the coming into force of peace treaties in order to be able to meet time limit of one year. The Russian had apparently understood and agreed to recommend this procedure to his government. He said he hoped to have an answer next day since “half of Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs” was then in Paris but nothing has been heard from him since.

Bonneau volunteered information that France’s chief interest in question of Italian colonies was to ensure restoration Italy to its rightful position in world affairs. While he did not definitely say so we took this to mean that France still advocates the placing of the colonies under trusteeship of Italy. Bonneau added that Scott-Fox⁵ in Foreign Office when told this had replied that Britain feared bloodshed especially in Libya if decision were reached to return colonies to Italy but that they might agree to return of Italian Somaliland. When we questioned Stafford later about his last remark he said that some elements in Foreign Office felt that return of Italian Somaliland would be desirable as an encouragement to Italians but that it was unlikely that Britain would propose such a solution or accept it except as a final compromise to achieve unanimity (see Itcol 6 and 10⁶).

Bonneau also told us he had discussed in detail with Stafford British draft terms of reference and procedural paper and would prepare a draft of his own after his return to Paris. While he would have to give the various questions further study he was agreeable to having a single commission with only four powers represented and to limitation on size of each delegation. He felt that seven months was a reasonable time to allot to commission and he agreed on the whole with Stafford’s list of interested governments.⁷ (Stafford told us later that Bonneau had suggested omitting Poland and Czechoslovakia at first as a tactical measure and that British would consider this suggestion.)

Bonneau felt that there were really only two matters as far as he could see at this juncture which might cause difficulty. The first was the itinerary. He believed that commission should visit Libya first of all because the inhabitants of Libya were the most easily inflamed by propaganda and as little time as possible should be given for Egyptian and other Arab propagandists to arouse the population. (Stafford said later he had told Bonneau that he felt such propaganda would be continuous during meeting of deputies and therefore it made little difference when commission visited Libya. On the other hand the weather was best in Somaliland in autumn and early winter and commission would do better if it started in this colony which was least divided politically. We agree with Stafford and would appreciate Department’s views.)

The other matter which worried Bonneau was the provision for making separate reports available to interested governments as soon as they were completed (see Itcol 14 and 15, paragraph 5, subparagraph 6). While he had no objection to Commission drafting a separate report after its visit to each colony, he felt any conclusion reached should be kept secret until Commission had left Africa. If reports were given at once to eleven other governments their contents would surely be divulged to the press and an unpopular recommendation (say return to Italy) might lead to disturbances when Commission visited other colonies especially Libya.

Since this original British position was changed by British only under pressure from Dominions, and since it has already been approved by Department (see Itcol 4,⁸ paragraph 5 E), we believe we should support French and we withdraw our recommendation in Itcol 15. Please telegraph Department’s views.

Department will observe that major preoccupation of French is with danger of nationalist propaganda and disturbances in Libya. Presumably they fear repercussions of such events in French North Africa. Bonneau mentioned several times that Libya of all the colonies was the prime concern of French.

Bonneau said he would like to see us in Paris when he had had time to give all these questions further study and that he would invite us formally through Embassy in Paris at a later date.

Bonneau seems to have been under a misapprehension (due perhaps to a language difficulty) that Scott-Fox has some information to the effect that Russians might not ratify peace treaties. We later checked this with Stafford who was sure that Scott-Fox was merely indulging in some private speculation about possible development of international situation. We mention this in case Bonneau’s version is reported to Department by Paris.

Sent Department 3790, repeated Rome 79, Paris 393, and Moscow 241. [Utter and Bagby.]

Douglas

1. Gabriel Bonneau, director, Division of African and Levant Affairs, Office of Political Affairs, French Foreign Ministry.
2. Not printed; it reported that Bonneau would come to London to hold further conversations with the British and American officials (865.014/7–847). Bonneau had earlier meetings with Utter in mid-June.
3. Burin des Roziers served as Deputy French Representative on the Austrian Treaty Commission which met in Vienna, May 12–October 11, 1947.
4. Albert Féquant, General Secretariat, French Foreign Ministry.
5. R. D. J. Scott-Fox, Assistant Head, Egyptian Department, British Foreign Office.
6. Telegram 3300, Itcol 6, June 17, from London, is printed on p. 590; regarding telegram 3419, Itcol 10, June 23, from London, see footnote 1 to Itcol 6.
7. Telegrams 3486, Itcol 14, June 25 and 3487, Itcol 15, June 25, both from London, neither printed, transmitted the texts and commentary on a British Foreign Office paper on procedure and other matters likely to arise at the coming meetings of the Deputies for the Former Italian Colonies. The British paper was based on the United States position paper printed on p. 585. The British list of “interested governments” whose views were to be heard by the Deputies included Italy, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium.
8. Telegram 3213, Itcol 4, June 12, from London, not printed, reported on British Foreign Office comments on the United States position paper printed on p. 585. With respect to paragraph 5 E of the United States paper, the British felt that individual reports by the Commission of Investigation should not be given to the interested governments until the final report of the Commission had been given to the Deputies (865.014/6–1247). The British subsequently reversed themselves on this point and adopted the earlier American position which favored making preliminary Commission reports available to interested governments.