New Otte New Otte FEBRUARY 1961 Contents World Affairs 2 Britain 5
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New otte New otte FEBRUARY 1961 Contents World Affairs 2 Britain 5 South Africa 11 Central Africa 16 Southern Rhodesia 17 Northern Rhodesia 20 Nyasaland 22 Bechuanaland 23 East Africa 24 Kenya 25 Uganda 27 Tanganyika 28 Zanzibar 29 Information Section 30 Published by THE INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS 36 Jermyn Street, London S W 1 World Affairs A New Broom in Washington John Fitzgerald Kennedy became President of the United Stat( January and speedily set about dispelling any complacency oi that might linger in administrative and legislative circles. His ir call to Americans to bear the burden of a 'long twilight struggle the common enemies of mankind: tyranny, poverty, disease itself' was followed by a grimly Churchillian 'State of the address aimed at impressing on his fellow-citizens the extent of I national peril and the national opportunity, at home and Attention was drawn to a forgotten group, the 'poor Am and to the 'denial of constitutional rights to some of our fellov cans on account of race'; to the growing menace of the Cold Asia and Latin America and to the even greater 'challenge of tt that lies beyond the Cold War'. To meet these external chalh advocated increased flexibility and a revision of military, econo political tools, equal attention to be paid to the 'olive branch' 'bunch of arrows'. A new and co-ordinated programme of economic, political and social progress should be establishe national peace corps of dedicated American men and women sI formed to assist in the local execution of this programme. Meanwhile the five-year Civil War centenary programme bel due solemnity at Grant's Tomb in New York and the grave o Virginia. Lecturing in Macon, Georgia, History Professor Be Wiley said: 'It is inconceivable that Lee, if he were alive toda3 advocate resistance to national authority or in any way abx turmoil or racial hatred.' Towards the end of January ( Governor, Ernest Vandiver, had second thoughts along these i a Federal Court had ordered the readmission of two Negroe University of Georgia, which had suspended them after soi segregationist rioting on the campus. The Negroes were ree without further incident and Governor Vandiver put forward point 'local option' plan for Georgia schools which was hail crack in Deep South resistance to desegregation. Business as Usual Elsewhere The United Nations Organisation and Mr. Hammarskjoeld into 1961 battered but unbowed. Both the Eastern and Weste found themselves more and more watching their international q's under the critical gaze of a steadily increasing Afro-Asian mitted' audience, the voting power of which would be even str, the 1961 Assembly. Mr. Hammarskjoeld cut short his visit t Africa and the Congo to fly back to New York for a Security meeting on the Congo called by Russia. His mood on the latter issue was described as one of 'optimistic despair' and 'resignation to chaos'. The Security Council rejected the move by its three Afro-Asian members (Ceylon, Liberia and the United Arab Republic), backed by Russia, to censure Belgium for alleged 'aggression' against the Congo. Earlier it had taken no action on the Cuban complaint of alleged 'imminent aggression' by the United States. In Belgium the strikes petered out, the federalist calls faded, the Loi Unique was passed, and M. Spaak returned to national politics. Nobody, however, seemed to believe that the basic causes of disorder and disunity had been removed. The Vatican announced the automatic excommunication of all in Haiti who had violated the rights of the Roman Catholic Church or used violence against two church leaders (four churchmen, including an Archbishop and Mgr. R~my Augustine, the Apostolic Delegate, have been expelled in recent months for objecting to Government moves against students). In Port-au-Prince the majority of students remained on strike. Indonesia's Defence Minister returned from Moscow early in January with a promise of 450 million dollars in military aid and equipment and a pledge of Soviet support for his country's efforts to 'free West Irian' (Netherlands New Guinea) from the 'colonisers'. In Malaya Tunku Abdul Rahman told Mr. Duncan Sandys that the United Nations should take an interest in the matter as soon as possible. Meanwhile the Netherlands and Australian Governments continued their 1958 policy of developing New Guinea as a whole, under increasingly dovetailed administrations with a certain Australian orientation. Zionists, Pan-Arabs and Pan-Africans In the Middle East the 25th World Zionist Congress met in Jerusalem and the Arab League assembled in Beirut. The main Zionist topic was the promotion and absorption of immigration and it appeared that Jews outside Israel were now divided into persecuted communities who regard Israel as a haven but cannot go (as in Morocco, where there was a violent anti-Jewish outburst in the press in the middle of the month) and those in free countries who could but do not wish to go. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion told Western Zionists that instead of money (500 million dollars since Israel was set up) and good advice they should provide the state with trained and competent immigrants, otherwise Israel would become a Levantine state. He reminded delegates that 'Whoever dwells outside the land of Israel is considered to have no God' and that Israel was endangered by 40 million Arabs. In Beirut a Tunisian representative attended for the first time since 1958, when M. Bourguiba quarrelled with President Nasser. It seemed likely that Algeria and Israel would be the main items discussed. Increased Arab interest in Africa could be attributed at least partly to the growing Israeli penetration of Africa. The 'Pan-African' conference of 'militants' which met at Casablanca earlier in January had, despite President Nkrumah's hesitations, acceded to President Nasser's insistence and passed a resolution denouncing Israel as the 'instrument of imperialism and-neo-colonialism! in Africa. The African leaders also announced their intention to withdraw their troops from the U.N. command in the Congo, demanded the freeing of M. Lumumba and the disarming of Colonel Mobutu's army and announced the formation of a joint African high command and an African consultative assembly. In Lagos the African 'rule of law' conference opened under the auspices of the International Commission of Jurists. Dr. Elias, Nigeria's Minister of Justice, attacked the Ghana Preventive Detention Act as a' hang-over from British colonial administration' and pointed out that many newly-independent countries tended to perpetuate this 'instrument of tyranny'. Delegates agreed that 'fundamental human rights, especially the right to personal liberty, should be written into and entrenched in the constitutions of all countries and that such personal liberty should not in peacetime be restricted without trial in a court of law'. The Congo, Algeria and Portuguese Africa In the Congo chaos and fragmentation continued while famine increased; M. Lumumba was transferred to Katanga for safer custody but his support increased within and outside the country; there were reprisals against Europeans in Stanleyville and Kivu; the U.A.R. Government withdrew its 500-strong contingent of troops and others were said to be on the way out; President Kasavubu was no longer on speaking terms with Mr. Dayal and was demanding his recall. At the end of the month the neighbouring Belgian trust territory of Ruanda-Urundi came into the news with the deposition of the hereditary (and pro- Lumumba) Watutsi ruler of Ruanda, Mwami Kigeri V, at the instigation of the anti-monarchist Parmehutu majority movement representing the long-conquered Bahutu people. Urundi remained quiet. Despite massive abstentions of city Muslims at F.L.N. instigation the results of the January referendum gave President de Gaulle a sufficient mandate to proceed with his plans for an 'Algerian Algeria'. On 15 January the F.L.N. in Tunis warned all Algerians against participating in the new provisional institutions but later there were reports of peace moves and a group of Muslim members of the French Senate urged the reopening of negotiations. Sporadic F.L.N. outrages against civilians continued in Algeria and the hearings of the tribunal trying those accused of plotting the Algiers rising last year went on. World attention was suddenly focused on conditions in the static, publicity-shy Portuguese African territories as a result of the shortlived 'pirating' of the cruise- ship Santa Maria by Captain Henrique Galvio, playwright, former member of the National Assembly and author of a suppressed report on conditions in Angola, Mo ambique and Portuguese Guinea, for which he served twelve years in prison before escaping to the Argentine. 4 Commonwealth Miscellany There were elections in Zanzibar, the approval of a ministerial system for Aden, and disorders arising out of general strike action in the Gambia. Nigeria expelled the French envoy in protest against the recent French atomic test in the Sahara. The North and South Cameroons prepared to decide between Nigeria and the Cameroon Republic in a plebiscite on 11 February. In Malta Mr. Dom Mintoff's Labour Party affiliated with the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation; this body the Catholic Diocesan Committee called a 'tool for Communist propagation' and instructed all members not to vote for or belong to this party. En route for India and Pakistan the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh called in at the R.A.F. base in Cyprus, where they met Archbishop Makarios. It was reported that Cyprus was likely to apply for Commonwealth membership. In India their welcome was magnificent, cordial and unruffled by the regional and communal problems which still trouble India's internal peace. Earlier in January a 'fast unto death' by the Sikh devout Sant Fateh Singh terminated after twenty-one days and was followed by the release from prison of the Sikh leader, Master Tara Singh, and some 5,000 Sikhs arrested during recent political agitation.