Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XXI, Africa

257. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Kennedy⁰

Washington, July 1, 1961.

SUBJECT

• Latest Developments with Regard to our Guinea Aid Program

I have read with interest Mr. Shriver’s thoughtful memorandum to you of June 20 regarding his recent visit to Guinea.¹ His conclusions confirm our own conviction that now is the time for us to make a really serious endeavor to help Sekou Toure and his Government in order to reduce Guinea’s dependence on the Soviet Bloc and bring that country back somewhere near a line of true neutralism. The submission of Mr. Shriver’s memorandum takes place at a propitious moment, for Ambassador Attwood has now received a formal response to his presentation to Toure of our aid package, about which you were informed by the Ambassador during his recent consultation here in Washington.

From the paper Ambassador Attwood showed you at the White House you will recall the essentials of our aid package to Guinea,² so I will not go into detail in enumerating its component parts. Let me simply say that Ambassador Attwood has made his presentation to President Toure, and the latter’s reaction was favorable. Now we have received Guinea’s specific counter proposals, which, while not entirely to our liking, are nonetheless not discouraging and are of a nature to encourage our going back to Toure with further details and reemphasis on the most important parts of our original package.

The principal element in the Guinea Government’s counter proposal is that Toure apparently wants to keep the Souapiti site on the Konkoure River available for the original large Konkoure project involving an aluminum smelter plant and a dam, hoping that an offer will still be forthcoming (from us or the Russians) to carry out this major undertaking “from any source at some future date.” Instead of accepting our proposal for going to work right away to build a modest dam and power installation at Souapiti (which could later on be expanded to meet Guinea’s original desires for a major smelter-dam operation), Guinea suggests that we construct a hydro-electric project (40,000 kw) at Kinkon, located on one of the tributaries of the Konkoure, farther up north in the Fouta Djallon. Sekou Toure’s half brother, Ismael Toure, who is Minister of Public Works, informed Ambassador Attwood that the Kinkon project is desired because it would permit the development of industry and the expansion of agriculture in the Labe region, and because it would also serve as a potential source of power for eventual exploitation of the bauxite deposits in Northern Guinea.

Reactions in the Department to undertaking the Kinkon project have been unenthusiastic, first because we have no information whatsoever regarding this proposal (and it would take some time before an adequate study of its merits could be undertaken), but primarily because this would leave the Konkoure open for Soviet pre-emption. On the other hand, we have sufficient information on the Konkoure, since surveys of it were begun by the French almost a decade ago.

The Guinea Government also suggested other counter proposals, including the substitution of a school for engineers, technicians, and electronic technicians for our own proposed school for administration. The Government also iterated some of the reservations it has had on joining the IMF and the IBRD, although they indicated they would be willing to discuss the possibility of membership with the officials of the Bank, and, we hope, of the Fund. We cannot accept the counter-proposal regarding the use of the Peace Corps for roadbuilding instead of education and health because it implies the furnishing of equipment and materials on a scale too costly to fit into the aid package.

We have now considered Guinea’s counter-proposals in detail and have just sent Ambassador Attwood a telegram,³ a copy of which is enclosed, instructing him to stress to President Toure that it would be to Guinea’s advantage to have another long and serious look at our original proposal for a modest dam and power installation at Souapiti. We hope that Ambassador Attwood will manage to see President Toure alone when he makes this second approach. If President Toure stands firm on the request that we build a dam at Kinkon we may have to agree to examine this new project, but in such case we would make it clear that we would still be going ahead with our Souapiti proposal. For, as pointed out in enclosed telegram, unless we thus preclude a USSR takeover of the Konkoure, Soviet presence and influence in Guinea could reach a point where our own objectives become remote and perhaps even unattainable.

Dean Rusk⁴

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 770B.5-MSP/7-161. Secret. Drafted by Dumont on June 26.
1. Memorandum from Director of the Peace Corps Shriver to President Kennedy and Secretary of State Rusk, June 20. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Guinea)
2. Document 255.
3. Document 256.
4. Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.