289. Editorial Note
After discussing the situation in the Congo at ten sessions between December 16 and 20, the U.N. General Assembly voted on December 20 on the two draft resolutions on the Congo (see Document 286). The eight-power draft resolution was rejected by 42 votes to 28, with 27 abstentions. Of the African countries, only the Congo (Léopoldville) and South Africa joined the United States in opposing the resolution; Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, Togo, and the United Arab Republic supported it. The U.S.-British resolution received 43 votes in favor, 22 against, and 32 abstentions. It thus failed to received a two-thirds majority and was not adopted. No African nation voted for the resolution; Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and the United Arab Republic voted against it, while all the others, including the Congo (Léopoldville), abstained.
The General Assembly then adopted without objection as Resolution 1592 (XV) an Austrian draft resolution providing that the General Assembly would keep the Congo item on the agenda for the second part of the fifteenth session, scheduled to resume in March 1961. For text of the resolution, along with the texts of General Assembly Resolutions [Page 640] 1583 (XV) and 1590 (XV), both of which concerned the financing of the U.N. operations in the Congo, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pages 627–630.