Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XX, Congo Crisis

413. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy¹

Washington, January 24, 1963.

SUBJECT

• Next Steps in the Congo

1. Now that the UN Congo force has established its freedom of movement throughout Katanga,² plans need urgently to be worked out for reducing the UN military commitment in the Congo, for retraining and integrating the various Congolese Armies, and for establishing the further “nation-building” programs that will be necessary to get the Congo off the world’s crises agenda.

2. The United States objectives in these matters are plain: to reduce the United Nations military operation in the Congo as rapidly as possible, without incurring an undue danger of renewed civil warfare:

(a) To make sure that Congolese military forces, provincial and national, are very much reduced in size, while increasing the efficiency, mobility, and responsiveness to civilian control of soldiers that remain under arms.

(b) To make sure that the Congo develops rapidly the ability to manage its own government and put its own economy to work.

(c) To get all of this done with a maximum of input from Belgium and other interested countries, with the minimum necessary aid from the United States.

(d) To use the UN system in such a way as to maximize its role in coordination, planning and technical aid, but minimize costly direct operations which will aggravate the already serious UN financial problem.

3. Real progress toward these goals will of course require changes in the political, administrative and constitutional conditions in the Congo that permit the UN to work itself out of a job there and encourage the continuing presence in the Congo of European technicians and administrators.

4. As a first step in planning the next phase, I have designated Assistant Secretary Harlan Cleveland to head a small planning group to develop recommendations on these points. He will leave January 28th for discussions in New York, Brussels and the Congo. The purpose of his mission is being described to the Government of the Congo, the Belgian Government and the UN in the following terms:

(a) To consult especially with the Government of the Congo, the UN, and the Belgian Government in developing authoritative assessment of the minimum needs for external assistance and support for the nation-building phase that should now begin in the Congo.

(b) To develop recommendations on the extent and nature of the involvement in economic, military and technical assistance, through the UN and directly with the Government of the Congo, in nation-building aid, and to consider with the Belgians the respective roles of Belgian, United States and other aid.

5. Mr. Cleveland will be accompanied by a representative of the Agency for International Development and a representative of the Department of Defense. Colonel Ralph Rogers, who has been named as Chief of the Military Liaison Group in the Congo will also be going to Léopoldville at the same time, and will accompany Mr. Cleveland in his discussions with the Belgians on the way.

6. In view of his responsibility for the formulation and execution of US policy in Africa, Assistant Secretary G. Mennen Williams will be visiting certain key areas in Africa during February. He will be in the Congo and will confer with Congolese leaders and Ambassador Gullion generally and review on the spot the preliminary finding of the planning group with those concerned. The Bureau of African Affairs will continue to coordinate Congo operations.

Dean Rusk

1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Congo. Confidential. The source text does not indicate a drafter, but the Department of State copy indicates the memorandum was drafted by Cleveland. (Department of State, Central Files, 332.70G/1–2463)
2. A statement issued by President Kennedy on January 21 reads in part as follows: “The end of secession announced by the provincial regime in Katanga and confirmed by the peaceful entry of United Nations forces into Kolwezi today is warmly welcomed by the United States and all who are concerned with the future of the Congo and the whole of Africa.” (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963, pp. 55–56)