770.5/2–1854
The Counselor of the Embassy in France (Joyce) to the Department of State
No. 2138
Reference:
- Dakar despatch 156 of Jan 8/541
Subject:
- West African Defense Facilities Conference at Dakar
The Paris press has made only brief reference to the West African Defense Facilities Conference, which is to open at Dakar on March 11, stating that its essential objective is to study the possibilities which Central and South African territories offer in the fields of infrastructure—routes, installations, equipment, airdromes—and to draw up a balance sheet of the “facilities” which the participants will ultimately be able to find in the neighboring African territories.
The Embassy understands that the French delegation to the Conference is to be headed by M. Jean Mons, Permanent Secretary of National Defense, and that the leading military representative will be General of the Air Force Piollet, Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Zone of Central Africa. The British delegation is to be headed by Sir Harold Parker, Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defense. The principal military representative will be Air Marshal S. E. Strafford, Inspector General of the Royal Air Force. A complete list of the United Kingdom delegation, which this Embassy received from the British Embassy, is enclosed2 although it has doubtless already been made available to the Department.
Recent conversations on the Conference with M. Jean Jurgensen, Chief of the African Section of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have not yielded any particularly significant commentary. He did, however, advance the view that it would be advisable for the U.S. Government to limit the number of its observers to three or four, pointing out that several of the governments participating fully in the Conference (and not as observers) would be represented by only three [Page 95] or four delegates, with perhaps none having higher rank than Colonel. United States participation on this modest scale, he felt, would find more wholehearted acceptance by the other governments.
Jurgensen commented that the French had not been particularly enthusiastic over the participation in the Conference of the Central African Federation but had acceded at the request of the British. More recently, the French had suggested to the British that Brazil be invited, but the British had objected and in view of the rather late date the project was abandoned. Jurgensen implied that when the next Conference on West African Defense is held, the French will certainly press for Brazilian participation.
The question of informing the NATO Standing Group of the results of this Conference will probably arise at the Conference, Jurgensen believes. The French are inclined to the view that the results should be submitted officially to the Standing Group rather than come to its attention through informal channels, a procedure favored by the British. He suggested that it might be useful for the U.S. observers to be prepared to advance the U.S. view on this issue, should it arise at the Conference.