321. Telegram From the Department of State to the Consulate General in Salisbury 0
457. Salisbury D-819.1 Congen should submit following note to Federal Government:
“The Consulate General of the United States presents its compliments to the Ministry of External Affairs, and with reference to the Ministry’s [Page 510] note of March 25, 1961, has the honor to inform the Ministry that the Consulate General has been instructed to make the following reply:
The United States has long favored the peaceful evolution of dependent areas to full independence on a democratic basis. The views of the United States Government on self-determination are a matter of public record. The statements made by Mr. Williams in Lagos2 were a positive reaffirmation that the United States Government has an abiding attachment to the consistent application of the principle of self-determination for all peoples. Mr. Williams’ remarks should not be construed as indicating in any way the view that independent states in Africa are subject to what is termed ‘neo-colonialism’ or ‘neo-imperialism.’
It is natural that officials of the United States should, from time to time, make statements concerning the basic principles to which the United States is committed, e.g., orderly progress toward democratic self-government. It is not believed, however, that an expression of general principle should be interpreted as having the direct, specific local application which the Ministry’s note apparently imputes to one such general statement made by Mr. Williams.
With respect to the Ministry’s question regarding the policy of the United States toward the Federal Government, it is the firm belief of the United States Government that the problems of any country, including the question of the pace of progress toward democratic self-government, are best resolved by the peoples and governments concerned. In countries where the population consists of various ethnic groups, it is the hope of the United States that political, social and economic progress will occur without reference to the race of individual citizens.”
Consul General should orally inform GRN too much apparently read into alleged statements, there no intention single out any country, that Department somewhat surprised at occasionally tendentious tone sounded in GRN formal note. Consul General should add that our note intended make it clear United States believes in racial cooperation on democratic basis. It follows we do not believe domination any race by another.
In oral presentation Consul General should endeavor avoid detailed exchanges regarding specific statements, and leave Ministry External Affairs with understanding matter under discussion is clarified and concluded so far as Department concerned.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.45C/3-3061. Confidential; Verbatim Text. Drafted by Picard, cleared by Burdett, and approved by Fredericks. Repeated by pouch to London and Pretoria.↩
- Despatch 819 from Salisbury, May 12, transmitted the text of a note from the Office of the Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland formally requesting that the Consulate General provide it with a statement of U.S. policy toward the Federation in light of certain statements made by Assistant Secretary Williams during his recent trip to Lagos. The Federation asked whether the announced U.S. policy of favoring self-determination for all African territories implied that the United States “supports the vesting of political control in a country such as the Federation in the numerically preponderant black African population in the immediate future.” (Ibid.)↩
- In response to a question during an airport interview in Lagos on March 6, Williams had said that he thought the U.S. people and Government were firmly committed to the idea of self-determination and that he was quite confident that they were going to back the African people in their aspiration for self-determination. (Telegram 843 from Lagos, March 9; ibid., 611.45C/3-961)↩