General Assembly Appealed
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UNITED NATIONS Distr. GENERAL GEEEBAL A/4711 ASSEMBLY 20 March 1961 OBIGINAL: ENGLISH Fifteenth session Agenda item 85 '!'RE SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO R~ort of the Un!ted Nations Conciliation Commission for the CongC?, In paragraph 3 of 1ts resolution 1474 (EG-IV) of 20 September 1960, the General Assembly appealed. "to all Congolese w1thin the Republic of the CODgo to seek a speedy solution by peaceful means of ~ their internal con:fl.iets for the unity and integrity o~ the Congo, 'With the assistance, as appropriate, of Asian and Af'r1c~ representatives appointed by the Advisory Comm1ttee on the Congo, in f1 consultation with the Secretary-General, for the purpose of' conciliat1on • In accordance with the terms of the resolution, the AdvJ.sory Committee decided on 5 November 1960 to establish a Concil.1ation Commission for the Congo consisting of represel\tatives of Ethiopia, the Federa.tion of Malaya, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Mall, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab RepUblic. At a later date Guinea, Indonesia, Mali and the United Arab Republic decided to withdra.w from the Commission. The Commission has now presented its report to the Advisory Committee on the Congo which has the honour formally to transmit it to the General. Assembly. This transmission is made "Without any prior consideration by the Advisory committee of the report or the recommendations contained therein and, thus, does not engage the COlIIlDittee or its members on any question of substance. 61-07999 I.·· REPORt! OF TBE OluTE!) NATIONS CONCILIATION COlVlMISSrON FOR TBE CONGO Re.;p;porteur: Mr. MeJJ.e.s AlmOM (Ethiopia.) i11 Table of Contents Page ~ I. Introduction ••••• Ill e-. 1 &~ 11. Account of the Commission's .activities •••••••••••••••••••• •• 4 Ill. The Polltical Situat10n in the Congo 1lI " a- .. 19 IV. Views of Congolese Leaders •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 26 V. General C~ents ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ~ •••••••• 39 VI. Conclusions .•...........••.••••....•... _...•.•••.....••...•... 43 Annexes I. A. Telegram from Chairman of the Collll!lission to the Secretary General dated 26 December 1960•.•••••••••••••••••••••••••• , 52 B. Telegram from Secretary-General to the Chairman of the Commission dated 27 December 1960••••• ~ ••••••••••••••••••• 53 C. Lette:r dated 28 December 1960 from Mr. Justin Bomboko to tbe Chairman of the Commission •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 54 D. Letter dated 29 December 1960 from the Chairman of the Commission to President Kaaa-Vubu •••••••••••••••••••••••• 55 ll. ProVisional List of Congolese Leaders whom the Commission may wish to meet ••••••••••••• ~ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Ill. Letter dated 17 January from Mr. Joseph Kasa-VubU to the Chairman of the :Commission , . 58 IV. Letter dated 18 January, from Mr. Joseph Kaaa-Vubu to the Presidents of Provincial Governments ••• , •••••••••••••••••••••• 59 V. Letter dated 22 January 1961, from the Chairman of the Commission to Mr. Joseph Kasa~Vubu •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 60 VI. Address broadcast by Mr. Kasa-Vubu on 2 January 1961•••••••• ~ •• 61 VII. Ethnic Grouping (Document commUIlicated by the services of Mr. Kaea-Vubu) ••••••••••••••••••••• ~ •••••••••••••••••••••••••• VIII. Motion of the Provincial Assembly of the Orientele Province dated 20 January 1961 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 67 IX. Memorandum dated 20 January 1961, from the !'rovincial Government of the Orientale Province ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• x. Aide-mlfmoire aubmitted on 23 January 1961 by the Provincial Government of Kasai ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 71 XI. Memorandum dated 23 January 1961, from the Common Front of the Political Parties in Kasai••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 73 iv Annexes(continued) Table of Contents (continued) XII. Address delivered by Mr. Kasa-V1lbu on .25 January 1961•••••••••• XIII. Letter dated 1 February 1961 from Mr. A. Pe1vaux to the Chairman of the Commission •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 81 XIV. Constitutional Legislative Pecr~. of 9 February 1961 concerning the· exercise of the legislative and executive powers by the . central authorities, and Ordinance of the same date app01nt:l.ng the provisional government •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 86 • ".• I ".'.. • . XV. Address delivered by Mr. Joseph neo on 16 February 1961 •••••• 88 ..... ", . XVI. .Press Release issued by the COllIlldssion on 20 February 1961 • ••• 92 . - . '", . xvn:. Press Release issued by the Colll!llission on 1 March 1961 •••••••• 93 XVIII. Telegram of 17 February 1961 to the Advisory CODIlIl1ttee about the death of Mr. Lumumba •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 94 XIX. Maps Ethnic GroupingS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 96 Linguistia Map ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 97 xx. Observations by the. representative of Ghana regarding the report of the Conciliation COllIlldssion ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 98 XXI. Note of clarification by Mr. Rameshwar RaO (India) •••••••••••• 99 XXII. Notes and Raser.vations on the Report of the Con<l1l1ation Colll!llission by Mr. JaJa Anucha Wachuku (Chairman) 102 Addellda - 1. Documents communicated by Mr. Joseph Kasongo (Issued as A/4711/Add.l) .2. Documents commun:l.cated by President Kasa-Vubu (Issued as A/4711/Add•.2) .. I. INTRODUCTION 1. III operative paragraph 3 of its resolution 1474 (E8-IV), a.O.opted on 20 Septembel 1960, the General Assembly appealed to all Congolese within the ~epublic of the Congo to seek a speedy solution by peaceful means of all their internal conflicts for J~he unity and integrity of the Congo, w11.h the assistance, as appropriate, of Asian and African representatives appointed by the Advisory Commit.tee on ,the COllgo, in consultation with the Secrete.ry~nere.l, for the purpose of concilietion. 2. ~cting under the terms of this resolution of the General Assembly, the Advisory Committee, in consultation with theSecretary-General, decided on 5 lifovelllber 1960 to establish a conciliation C?mmission for the Congo consisting of representatives of Ethiopia, the Federation of liiale.ya, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Liberilt, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Pe.kistan, Senegal, 'Sudan, Tunisia and J~he Unit.ed J..rab RepUblic, with the following terms' 01 referencel liThe Commission. should study the situation, such study to cover the, entire territory of the Congo, ,and should direct their efforts, without in'berference in the internal affairs of the Congo, towards the 'attainment by the Congolese of solutions of present difficulties in the Congo which will be conducive to the maintena.nce and strengthening of the unity, . ,territorial integrity and political independenoe of the Republic of the Congo, within the fr_ork of the constitutional and legal stZ'Ucture of the Republic of the Congo an~ of the resolution of the emergency special session of the General Assembly. In particular, the, Commission will endeavour to a.ssist in decisions being reached with a view to the speedy restoration of parliamontary institutions in the RepubliC of the Congo. The Commission is xeques~ed to proceed to the Congo ~ to submit a report to the Advisory Committee on the Congo as early as possible." - 2 - 3. Guinea, Indonesia, Mali and the United Arab nepub1ic having decided to wi'chdraw from it, the Commission actually consists of the following eleven members: Mr. Jajc. j,. Wachultu, iIl.P., Minister of (Nigeria.) - Chairman Eoonomic Development ~~. (Federation of Moha.med Sopiee - Vice-Chairman Malaya) Mr. Malla.s l.ndom (Ethiopia) - Rapporteur I..{r. Ale~ Quaison-Sackey (Ghana) , JAr. Re.meshwar Rao (India) M:r. G. Flammil. Sherman (Liberia.) Mr. Ahmed Snoussi (Morocco) Mr. A.gha Shahi (Paki s·~o.n) lW. A1io=e Cisse (SenegoJ. ) Mr. Fad1 Obeie. (Sudan) Ur. Taieb Sahbani (Tunisia) 4. The Advisory Committee first asked the Conciliation Commission to leave for the Congo in the week beginning 21 November. However,:tn the course of the consultations held with Mr. Joseph Kasa-Vubu, the President of tAe ~epub1ic of the Congo, the latter stated tha.t while he reg",rded the Commission's task as part of ·~he ll.Ssistance given to the Congo by the United Nations, his view was that the usefulness of 'the Commission depended on the extent to which the Congolese people were prepared to accept such assistance. He asked for -Oime to prepare the Congolese to cooperate with the Commission. On 23 November 1960 the Ldvisory Committee deoide& to postpone the date of the Commission's departure in view of the President's request. 5. On 6 December 1960 the advisory Committee requested the officers of the Commission, i.e. the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman and the Rapporteur, to proceed as an advance party to Leopoldvi11e on 13 December 1960 and make preparations for the arrival of the ma.in body of the Commission. The three officers of the Commission left New York on that day and arrived at Leopoldvi11e on 19 December 1960. They had several meetings with President Zase.-Vubu, a.s a result of which it was a.greedthat the Commission could arrive in the Congo on 3 January 1961. - 3 - 6. The Commission arrived in Leopoldville on :3 January 1961, It held its la.st meeting in the Congo on 20 February 1961 and then proceeded to Geneva to draft its report, which was approved on 10 March 1961. A detailed account of the Commission's work in the Congo is given below. 7. The Commission was assisted in its task by eleven members of the SecretariatI Mr. Dragoslav Protiteh, Principal Secretary; :Mr. F.T. Liu, Secretary;