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

S/P–NSC files, lot 61 D 167, “North Africa”

Draft Policy Statement Prepared by the Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs¹

secret

[Washington, undated.]

Statement of Policy Proposed by the National Security Council on United States Objectives and Policies with Respect to Tropical Africa

objectives

1. The objectives of the United States with respect to the area comprising Tropical Africa^* are:

a. The social, political and economic advancement of the people of Africa has rapidly as practicable—as an end in itself and also as a means of convincing them that their individual and national aspirations can best be achieved through continued association with the free nations of the world.

b. The assurance of political and economic stability and flexibility sufficient to prevent its domination in whole or in part by unfriendly movements or powers through subversion.

c. Maintenance of the strategic interests of the U.S. and its allies, including access to strategic raw materials, as a means of strengthening the free world.

d. Advancement of U.S. business interests, including the securing of non-discriminatory treatment for U.S. nationals.

General Considerations

2. The strategic importance of Tropical Africa arises chiefly from its supply of such materials as uranium, cobalt, diamonds, and columbite; from its location with respect to sea and air lanes in the South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Red Sea areas; and from its potentials as a site for lines of communications, staging, and training facilities.

3. Tropical Africa is of considerable economic value to the major African colonial powers, especially the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Portugal. Loss or disruption of the resources and trade of Tropical Africa would not be catastrophic but would necessitate substantial adjustments in their economies.

4. The political importance of Tropical Africa to the nations of the free world lies in the value to be derived from having its population of 135,000,000 Africans associated with the free world in its present and continuing world-wide struggle against the Soviet bloc.

5. The above strategic, economic and political factors are important enough to the over-all position of the free world to require that it is in the security interest of the United States to take whatever appropriate measures it can, in the light of its other global commitments, to assist in the achievement of the objectives stated above.

6. At present, the danger in this area to the security of the free world arises not from the threat of direct Soviet military attack, but from (a)rising African dissatisfaction with the rate and manner in which their growing aspirations are being realized, (b)the instability of native institutions resulting from the impact of Western technology and culture, and (c)the effect of political, economic, and social developments in the area on the attitude and policies of other countries, particularly those of the anti-colonial Arab-Asian and Latin American groups.

7. Current acute or critical situations affecting free world and, therefore, United States interests are (a)the influence of South African white supremacy doctrines on political developments throughout the area, (b)the growth of African nationalism, particularly in British West Africa, and its effects on the neighboring territories, (c)African-white settler tensions, such as the British-Mau Mau racial struggle in Kenya, and (d)the future political status and orientation of the UN Trust Territories and the continuing consideration thereof by the UN Trusteeship Council and the UN General Assembly.

policies and courses of action

The Area as a Whole.

8. The United States should seek to create an atmosphere which will assure it continued access to the strategic materials and logistical resources of the area, and upon the threat of and during general hostilities, the right to avail itself of these raw materials and resources in the conduct of military operations, either in the area itself or in areas proximate to it.

9. As a means of diminishing the threat to Western interests posed by nationalist demands and by political instability in the area, the United States should make the most practicable use of economic, technical and, where applicable, military assistance so as to influence the process of political change to effect the best compromise of Western interests and to offer the maximum promise of stable non-Communist regimes.

Dependent Tropical Africa.

10. The United States policy towards dependent Tropical Africa should take into careful consideration the continuing ferment and widespread instability as well as the differing rates of political, social and economic progress already attained or likely to be attained in the relatively near future in the countries comprising this area. While the United States believes in eventual self-determination for all peoples, and believes that evolutionary development to this end should move forward with minimum delay, it should strive to insure that this development is, in fact, both evolutionary and orderly. These considerations should guide U.S. actions in the United Nations Trusteeship Council and General Assembly committees and in the UN specialized agencies when the non-self-governing territories of Tropical Africa are under consideration. They should also guide the actions of the United States in its bilateral dealings with the metropolitan powers.

11. The United States should continue to recognize the valid elements in the policy and approach taken by each of the metropolitan powers towards its dependencies in Tropical Africa, and should seek only to insure that each of these powers continues to discharge its obligations and responsibilities as set forth in the United Nations Charter. While the United States should be much concerned about the direction, pace and rate of advance of these dependencies towards greater autonomy and self-determination, it should not dogmatically lend its support to any arbitrary timetable for the more or less uniform attainment of self-government in widely differing territories. The United States should avoid the extremes of either pressing for demonstrably premature and not solidly-based independent or self-governing status for them or of lending support to demonstrably inexcusable procrastination by the metropolitan powers, regarding the pace of their advance.

Independent Tropical Africa (Liberia, Ethiopia-Eritrea)

12. The principal objectives of United States policy towards the independent countries of Tropical Africa should be to continue (a)to try to influence their governments towards the building of sound democratic and integrated societies, (b)to support and assist, as appropriate, their governments in their political relations with other countries, (c) to help further their economic development in a balanced, orderly manner, (d) to encourage private investment and commercial activities in them by Americans, (e) to assist their governments in their social, educational and vocational development programs, and (f) to insure itself the use of their strategic facilities, especially in times of national emergency or war, and to assist their governments to improve the training and preparedness of their present military forces.

1. The editors have been unable to determine the authorship and other circumstances attending the preparation of this paper. It is presumably the same paper submitted by Schwartz to Bowie and cited in Schwartz’ memorandum of Mar. 2, supra.
2. For the purpose of this paper, Tropical Africa includes the 32 countries (excluding Madagascar) listed in Appendix B of NIE–83 of December 22, 1953. [Footnote in the source text; for the text of Appendix B to NIE–83, see p. 89.]