UN Secretariat Item Scan - Barcode - Record Title Page Date 28/06/2006 Time 10:52:37 AM
S-0878-0001 -02-00001
Expanded Number S-0878-0001 -02-00001
Title items-in-Algeria - meeting with Ahmed Ben Bella
Date Created 03/02/1964
Record Type Archival Item
Container S-0878-0001: Peace-Keeping Operations Files of the Secretary-General: U Thant: Other Countries
Print Name of Person Submit Image Signature of Person Submit Meeting with President Ahmed Ben Bella Monday. 3 February 1964. 3 pm
thanked. The Secretary-General^he President for the kind hospitality accorded to him during his visit to Algeria and also expressed the thanks of the Organization for the gesture of the Algerian Government in giving a building to house the United Nations Agencies and TAB offices. The Secretary-General informed Pres. Ben Bella that he would shortly send to Algeria a high ranking TAB official to correlate the work of TAB and UN Agencies. The Secretary-General then outlined the two reasons that could be given for the
postponemenw t of the 19th session of the General Assembly and informed the President of •*-~-^-»-^——•—'~""'~"'" ^--.^i ^^ the reaction of the King of Morocco that should a second Belgrade conference be convened Belgrade only should be the site. Mr. Ben Bella expressed his appreciation at the visit of the Secretary-General in Algeria and the policy of President Kennedy should be continued in the field of peaceful co-existence. The President pointed out that he felt the Secretary-General should take informal initiatives in promoting international conferences which fall indirectly within the framework of the United Nations and which in the long run would stren^hen the Organization, Concerning the Belgrade Conference the President had already received a letter from Pres. Tito and he had discussed it with PM Chou-en-Lai. Both were agreed that this conference should be held prior to the Bandung Conference and to this effect the President said that he would be agreeable to hold it anywhere even in Rabat. President Ben Bella thinks that other countries should be invited to participate at Belgrade, for instance all the countries represented at Addis Ababalast May and also some countries from Latin America should be invited. He is in agreement with the Secretary-General that this could fee given as reason for the postponement of the General Assembly. The Secretary-General expressed his thanks to Pres. Ben Bella and afterwards touched on the problems of Portuguese territories and Apartheid. On these 2 points Pres. Ben Bella said that the struggle would be borne by the Africans and would prove to be a long one, but that in the long run a solution would be found as had been the case of the Algerian struggle. The Secretary-General then expressed his concern over the Congo and suggested that problem should be taken up at the next laax conference and tackled by Africans, and he proposed to make similar recommendations to the countries he was now going to visit. President Ben Bella was in agreement that the Congo problem should be tackled by the Lages Conference. - 2 -
The Secretary-General then brought up the question of Algerian/Moroccan relations and made a request to Pres. Ben Bella for the exahange of Ambassadors with Morocco. To this Pres. Ben Bella replied that he was well-aware of the well-meaning attitude of the Secretary-General and added &hat at the moment this was the most important problem confronting Algeria and that he wished to settle the problem in a serious way. Pres. Ben Bella was doubtful that the exchange of Ambassadors would settle the problem - he pointed out that every day there were contacts made between the two Governments. He further said that the only way the situation could be improved would be for the King of Morocco to sign the agreementiySna^niio? been riicRea t€ethe Bamako Conference and which he had promised he would sign. To this effect Emperor Haile Selassie and Pres. Keita had written to the King asking him to sign the agreements but unfortunately the King still had not signed these agreements. President Ben Bella said that should the King sign those agreements he would send an Ambassador to Rabat the same day and that even he himself would meet the Kinfr. Concerning the King's interpretation of the discussions which had taken place in Cairo he said that the King had misunderstood that should he exhange Ambassadors with Cuba and the UAR Algeria would send an Ambassador to Morocco. President Ben Bella said that every day Algeria was giving proof of its goodwill to better relations with Morocco. To this effect he said that Algeria had recently granted nationality to 150,000 Moroccans and that trade agreements had not been interrupted between the two countries. In concluding President Ben Bella said that if the King were to promise to the Secretary-General that he would sign the agreements in say 2 weeks Algeria would immediately send an Ambassador to Rabat.