1. Editorial Note
At the 473d meeting of the National Security Council on January 5, 1961, Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles discussed developments in the Congo in the course of an oral briefing for the Council on significant world developments. The memorandum of discussion by Deputy NSC Executive Secretary Marion W. Boggs, dated January 5, reads as follows:
“Mr. Dulles then reported that Gizenga had sent a telegram to Khrushchev requesting that the Soviets undertake immediate intervention by force of arms in the Congo. He pointed out that the Soviets had been trying to develop an airlift into Stanleyville but had had difficulties due to the Sudan’s refusal to provide refueling rights. The President asked whether the UN forces in the Congo had any combat planes which could interrupt the Soviet airlift. Mr. Dulles said the UN forces would not use planes against the Soviet airlift even if such planes were available. Continuing, he said that Mobutu’s first effort against Gizenga had failed and a second effort was now being made. [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] indicated that UAR agents were slipping into Stanleyville with arms and money. The UAR nationals going into the Congo were publicly described as technicians.
“Secretary Herter said that the activities of the UAR in the Congo had long disturbed him but he had been unable to indicate the extent of such activities to the Secretary General of the UN because most of our information about them was based on [4 lines of source text not declassified] representatives had briefed the Secretary General on UAR activities in the Congo [8 lines of source text not declassified].
“Mr. Dulles then concluded his briefing on the Congo by noting that the African Conference just starting in Morocco had started on a divisive note. Secretary Herter said he understood that the King of Morocco had turned completely against the idea of an African confederation.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records)
The conference under reference was a meeting of the heads of state of Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and the United Arab Republic, together with representatives of Ceylon, Libya, and the provisional government [Page 2] of Algeria, which met January 3–7 at Casablanca. A declaration on the Congo, issued on January 7, declared the intention of the governments represented to withdraw their troops from the U.N. Operational Command in the Congo; for text, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961, page 750.
Secretary-General Hammarskjöld was in the Congo January 4–6. For information concerning his visit, see Dayal, Mission for Hammarskjöld: The Congo Crisis, pages 168–172.