Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume XI, Part 1

AF files, lot 58 D 459, “Memoranda 1953”

Memorandum by the Director, Office of African Affairs (Utter) to the Deputy Executive Director, Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs (Moore)¹

[Washington, September 9, 1953.]

Subject:

• Budget Justification for AF Posts South of the Sahara

In the area South of the Sahara, the following information is submitted in connection with the FY 1955 budget.

(1) The Consulate at Mombasa, recently ordered closed,² should be reopened as soon as possible. Mombasa is the most important commercial port in British East Africa; through it the major portion of the trade of this area flows, including American imports of strategic materials and exports of finished goods to Kenya, Uganda, the eastern Belgian Congo and Northern Tanganyika. Two important American shipping lines maintain regular schedules between Mombasa and east coast ports in the United States. One other American shipping line operating from Gulf Coast ports also has ships call at Mombasa from time to time. Mombasa was the principal British naval base during World War II in the East African and Indian Ocean area, and is once again assuming great importance in British strategic calculations in connection with the recent reactivation of the East African Command, with headquarters in Nairobi. This Command stretches 2,000 miles from the South African to the Ethiopian border, and is being built up to compensate for the expected loss of the precarious Suez base area. Mombasa is the key to the logistical importance of the area embraced by this Command, which constitutes a military flanking position on the Middle East lifeline. The port has been considerably expanded and modernized in recent years and is now equipped to handle a large volume of traffic. Its facilities are steadily being added to in the general expansion of the East African Railways and Harbors system. In this expansion FOA funds from the U.S. have played some part. The Consular jurisdiction of Mombasa embraces the islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zanzibar, all of which figure in British control of the western Indian Ocean, as well as the Coast Province of Kenya. Its work will be increasingly important in the future particularly if a large oil refinery now being planned is constructed near the port. To accomplish its work the Consulate at Mombasa will require the same American staff complement it had before the recent closing of the office, to wit: a Principal Officer (FSO–4 with rank of Consul), a Consular Officer (FSO–6, with rank of Vice Consul) an Administrative Assistant (FSS–11) and a Confidential Clerk-Typist (FSS–14) plus a certain number of local clerical and custodial employees. When the post was closed the Government-owned residence of the Principal Officer was scheduled to be leased, but the lease on the consular office was ordered terminated. The building site for a Government-built consular residence, obtained after much work several years ago, should be retained if possible to avoid embarrassment with the local authorities who made the plot available and to preserve for our use the best residential site on the over-congested island of which the city of Mombasa is situated.

(2) The Consulate General at Salisbury, temporary capital of the new (British Central African) Federation of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland, will be at the center of an area which is bound to assume greater political and economic importance as the Federal scheme is implemented.³ The new Federation is based on the British concept of racial “partnership” and is expected to evolve towards full Dominion status within the Commonwealth by the end of the present decade. One of the principal reasons for the Federation was to provide a broader economic base for the development of the resources of the whole Federal area than was possible under the previous governmental separation of the virtually self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, which enjoyed a type quasi-Dominion status, from the less advanced governmental systems in the Protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The pooling of economic resources which will result from the federation of these three separate territories should hasten their political, and social development as well. The area is important as a producer of copper, asbestos, chrome, coal and other minerals and is also a counterweight to the Union of South Africa and to the spread of the Union’s racial policies to the adjacent British areas. The staff of the Consulate General should be increased by the addition of an additional reporting officer, probably one with technical knowledge of minerals, as well as by at least one, and preferably two, experienced American clerk-typists.

(3) In connection with the recent elevation of the office at Accra from a Consulate to a Consulate General,⁴ it is important that adequate staff be assigned to carry the increasing load of political and economic work which is bound to result from the rapid approach of self-government in the Gold Coast. The near attainment of self-government by the Gold Coast, probably within the British Commonwealth, is already exerting an important political influence on the whole of West Africa, and this will be accentuated in the next year or two if complete self-government is realized. The present staff complement at Accra should be augmented by the assignment of an additional political reporting officer, an experienced administrative assistant, and an additional clerk-steno. Since it is likely that the Consulate General will have to be converted into an Embassy at the advent of independence, it is felt that these additions will enable the transition to Embassy status to be made more smoothly.

It is felt that the additional positions suggested above for Salisbury and Accra could be made available by reallocation from the positions eliminated at Monrovia, Dakar, Leopoldville and Luanda, as shown on the attached sheet.⁵ Thus, Salisbury’s need for an additional clerktypist could be met from the two positions previously assigned to Leopoldville, Similarly, the additional political reporting officer, and administrative assistant recommended for Accra could be met by reassignment of these two eliminated positions from the original Monrovia complement, and the clerk-steno previously assigned to Leopoldville. It should be emphasized that without strengthening the administrative staffs at Salisbury and Accra, much of the benefit of assigning additional reporting officers would be lost. The administrative staffs at most AF posts south of the Sahara are the weakest aspect of our over-all operations at these posts, most of which are hardship posts. Every effort should, therefore, be made to assign experienced administrative personnel to these posts in order to correct this situation.

1. This memorandum was drafted by Feld (AF). The source text, a carbon copy, bears no marks or endorsements to confirm that it was actually sent to Moore.
2. The Consulate at Mombasa, Kenya, West Africa, was closed to the public on Aug. 7, 1953. The consular district of Mombasa was transferred to the U.S. Consulate General at Nairobi, Kenya. (Department of State Bulletin, Nov. 16, 1953, p. 689)
3. For additional documentation regarding the Central African Federation concept, see pp. 296 ff.
4. The Consulate at Accra, Gold Coast, was elevated to the rank of Consulate General on Sept. 1, 1953. For additional information on this change, see Jernegan’s memorandum, June 25, 1953, p. 285.
5. No sheet was found attached to the source text.