645K.51T3/7–1151
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. William L. Yeomans of the Office of Dependent Area Affairs
Subject: Ewe Problem in the Trusteeship Council
| Participants: | M. Naudy (French Delegate to the Trusteeship Council) |
| M. Van Laetham (French Embassy) | |
| Assistant Secretary Hickerson (UNA) | |
| Mr. Allen (EUR) | |
| Mr. Godley (WE) | |
| Mr. Lavalle (AF) | |
| Mr. Cargo (UND) | |
| Mr. Yeomans (UND) |
M. Naudy recalled that the Trusteeship Council will be discussing the Ewe problem in French and British Togoland within the next ten days and referred to the joint Anglo-French memorandum which had been submitted to the Council (UN Doc. T/931). He said that terms of reference for the new commission envisaged by the joint memorandum would be presented more fully in the oral statement to be made by Sir Allan Burns and M. Pignon. The composition of the commission was being studied but he did not think that it would be decided before the end of the Trusteeship Council session.
The French government hoped that the United States would find the Anglo-French proposals acceptable and wished us to know in advance that the French government has decided to grant self-government to [Page 592] French Togoland by “steps”. A government on the order of that in the Gold Coast is envisaged. There would be an executive council with ministers and the powers of the legislature would be increased. Universal suffrage would also be introduced. M. Naudy said that M. Pignon would outline these steps in a statement to the Trusteeship Council and requested that we keep the information confidential until that time in order not to decrease its effectiveness in the Council. The importance of this step would be the attainment of increased political maturity by the people of French Togoland who would thereby be better able to assess the issues involved in the Ewe problem.
M. Naudy referred to those sections of the Anglo-French memorandum dealing with the difficulties of unification and pointed out that the situation had changed in the past four years since the Ewe problem was introduced into the Council. He noted in particular the developments toward self-government in the Gold Coast and mentioned that in the recent elections in French Togoland the opponent of unification was successful. In reply to a question, M. Naudy stated that Sylvanus Olympio was being very silent and was “embarrassed” as a result of his relations with Nkrumah of the Gold Coast.
On the subject of the terms of reference of the new commission to be established, M. Naudy considered that it would be difficult to grant the commission any powers, even advisory, in the political field, mentioning in particular that a problem would exist in relation with the Gold Coast government. He indicated, however, that he considered education to be included in the social field. It was suggested to him that it might be well to specify education separately in view of the Trusteeship Council’s general practice in this respect.
Assistant Secretary Hickerson informed M. Naudy that we find the framework of the proposed new commission to be an acceptable basis on which to work toward a solution and that we will be very interested in the reactions of other members of the Council since we feel that in this type of question we can be most helpful in reconciling the various points of view. Although we can not foresee what the solution of the problem will be, we hope that it will be possible to work out something which would be widely supported. In response to a question as to the type of resolution which M. Naudy thought the Council might adopt, he replied that he thought the Council might note the joint Anglo-French memorandum and approve of the steps which the Administering Authorities propose therein.