BURUNDI COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Julius W. Walker, Jr. 1961-1963 Political Officer, Bujumbura Jacob Gillespie 1963-1964 Assistant Public Affairs Officer, USIS, Bujumbura Jay K. Katzen 1963-1964 Economic Officer, Bujumbura Thompson R. Buchanan 1964-1966 Deputy Chief of Mission, Bujumbura John D. Stempel 1965-1968 Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Bujumbura L. Michael Rives 1966-1968 Chargé d’Affaires, Bujumbura Thomas P. Melady 1969-1972 Ambassador, Burundi Miles S. Pendleton, Jr. 1970-1972 Political-Economic Officer, Bujumbura Michael P.E. Hoyt 1970-1972 Deputy Chief of Mission, Bujumbura David E. Mark 1974-1977 Analyst, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Washington, DC Thomas J. Corcoran 1978-1980 Ambassador, Burundi E. Michael Southwick 1979-1982 Deputy Chief of Mission, Bujumbura Katherine Schwering 1980-1982 Political/Economic Officer, Bujumbura Frances D. Cook 1980-1983 Ambassador, Burundi Joseph C. Wilson, IV 1982-1985 Deputy Chief of Mission, Bujumbura James R. Bullington 1983-1986 Ambassador, Burundi Dennis Hays 1985-1988 Deputy Chief of Mission, Bujumbura James D. Phillips 1986-1990 Ambassador, Burundi Cynthia S. Perry 1990-1993 Ambassador, Burundi Glenn Slocum 1990-1993 Director, USAID, Bujumbura Glenn Slocum 1994-1997 Director, East Africa Office, USAID, Washington, DC Robert J. Kott 1995 Rwanda-Burundi Task Force, Washington, DC Charles H. Twining 2004 Bureau of African Affairs, Washington, DC JULIUS W. WALKER, JR. Political Officer Bujumbura (1961-1963) Ambassador Julius W. Walker, Jr. was born February 21, 1927 in Plainview, Texas. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, he received his bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas. His career has included positions in Malta, Burundi, Chad, England, Liberia and Upper Volta. In 1962, Burundi gained independence and changed the name of the capital from Usumbura to Bujumburan. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy in 1992. Q: You left Malta in 1961. WALKER: Yes, I came back and was assigned to the mid-career course. I couldn’t believe that after one assignment abroad I was already in mid-career. But I was in that course and then went to Bujumbura. The post had been open about eight or ten months when we arrived. Herbert Olds was the first Consul General. The staff included Walter S. Clark, and David Doyle was there for the Agency. Charles Cuenod was doing administration. The offices were in the end of a bank building. We began to build up so much that we had three or four people in an office. We were desperate for more space. I was sent there as political officer, but we only had one person to do all the administration, he was supposed to do the secretarial and communication work as well. Our communications section was equipped with a Mox II, a very difficult and slow means of encrypting telegrams. It ended up that all of us had to write our own telegrams, had to put them in final on green telegraph forms and take them back to the code room and encrypt them on this thing which required physical labor. You see, the keyboard was manual and each key had a strong spring. Our hands felt as though we had been milking cows after typing a couple of pages with the thing. The Mox produced a strip of five letter random groups on a strip which then had to be pasted onto a paper and set up for transmission. Then we had to type these five-letter nonsense groups into a telex machine and get that perfect. The telex would make a tape which we would use to actually send the message. It would be received in Brussels because Bujumbura...it was then called Usumbura, Ruanda-Urundi...was still under Belgian tutelage as a UN Trust Territory. So our communication was through Brussels. This was all laborious, slow, hard work. Q: It must have been a good solid inhibitor on writing? WALKER: It really was. And if you think that is an inhibitor, try it with a one-time pad. We used them when the Mox broke down. That was when I learned the truth of the expression that you can’t make love on a one-time pad. Anyway we had all that to do. Dozens of people came out, Soapy Williams and company among them. Q: He was Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. WALKER: The Honorable G. Mennen Williams. He came with a group of 17 people, as I recall. We didn’t have enough mattresses for everyone. Literally, there were not enough beds for those assigned to Usumbura to sleep on. Children slept two and three on a bed. When Williams came there was no room in the hotels, such as they were. They were almost jokes anyway. So we had to put up most of the party in our homes and many of our people slept on the floor. They were there for three days and administratively, it was a mess. Williams was a wonderful man. He was one of the most well-motivated individuals I had ever seen, but he was not as quick to pick up things as some of the other people I worked with. Nevertheless part of the trip was successful. He met the proper people. The Belgians were still in charge then. I don’t think he met the king, Mwami Mwambutsa, was his name. He did meet some of the black politicians. But overall, that visit was a mess. Another visit we had which was really a mess was from Allen Ellender, a Senator from Louisiana. Ellender made his trip to visit Africa because he felt the United States was making a great mistake by recognizing all those independent African nations. The trip wouldn’t cost the American taxpayer anything because he would use American facilities everywhere. And he did. He was flown all around the continent on Air Force aircraft that were assigned to the Defense Attachés. They were old DC-3s. He made it a point to stay in the homes of Foreign Service personnel, never with the chief of mission or the consul general. He wanted to see how the common people were living. Savannah and I were the only two in Burundi with southern accents so we were automatically chosen to be his host. Before he got to Burundi he visited Rhodesia. There he spoke to the Rotary Club and said, inter alia, that the black African was incapable of governing himself. Well, the Rhodesians loved that. The Rotary Club was 100% white. Later, Ellender was astounded when he flew into Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to find that Julius Nyerere would let him land to refuel but he couldn’t get off the plane. They flew to the next stop, Usumbura. He got to us a day early. Meanwhile, I had spoken with the government to see if they were also going to object to his visit. Burundi was independent by this time. They weren’t upset. I asked if they had heard about his statement. They said, “Oh, yes, we know what he said. We think he is wrong and would like him to come here to see how wrong he is.” So he came. We met his airplane. In Washington his press officer had lived next door to Savannah and me in a little house across the street from the Department. We knew the press officer quite well. His name was Mario Fellom. The Chargé was named Ernest Stanger. Ernie introduced Ellender to all of us. And the last one, of course, was me. He said, “Now here is your host, Julius Walker.” Ellender broke into a smile, embraced me and said, “Walker, God damn I am glad to see you. I been looking all over Africa for you. Mario Fellom gave me a pound of pinto beans to bring to you.” While in Bujumbura he sat in the office I shared with Phil Bergstrom and read the telegrams sent to him from Washington concerning his statement. It had caused quite a stir at home. We had just gotten the text of his speech from Rhodesia. When he got through reading the speech he looked up and said, “Walker, I just want you to tell me one thing. Was what I said wrong?” Two thoughts raced through my mind. The first was “Oh, Lord, here goes my career.” The second was, “Why in hell couldn’t he have said ‘Bergstrom.’“ I said, “Senator, that is a direct question and I am not sure I can answer it directly. But let me say this, I am a protestant from Plainview, Texas. I can stay in Plainview and say just about anything I want about the Catholic church, true or not, and it won’t make any difference. But if I go to New Orleans and say those same things, I may get in trouble.” He looked at me for a minute and said, “By golly Walker, you are right. I just said the right thing in the wrong place.” I said, “Senator that is not what I said.” But from then on he said, “It’s just like Walker says, I just said the right thing in the wrong place.” I tried to correct him, but it did no good. Later we were in a car going somewhere. He was sitting next to Savannah and he said, “You know, I just don’t understand why it is people make such a fuss about all this. It is just my idea. Just one person’s opinion.” Savannah said, “Sir, you have to remember, you are a senator of the United States and what you have to say is important.” He looked at her and said, “Little lady, I guess you are right.

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