Office of the Historian - Historical Documents - Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961

The documentation printed in this volume focuses on U.S. policy toward Africa, the formulation of U.S. policy, and on the most significant aspects of U.S. political, economic, and military relationships with African governments. Documents were selected that highlight policy discussions within the U.S. Government, with particular emphasis on the highest level at which policy on a particular subject was determined, that reveal policy positions and internal differences over policy, and that summarize developments or positions regarding an issue. The records of conversations with foreign leaders both abroad and in Washington that particularly illuminated U.S. relations with those countries were included. Space constraints precluded the inclusion of the substantial body of documentation from Embassies and from agencies in Washington on internal developments in African countries. Embassy reportage is limited to particularly significant cables that may have influenced the making of U.S. policy on the most critical issues. A number of relevant documents that conveyed finished intelligence on Africa to U.S. policymakers, in particular National Intelligence Estimates and Special National Intelligence Estimates, are included, but no effort was made to document the wider role of intelligence in the formulation or execution of policy.

The issues covered in the North African compilations include U.S. support for French President de Gaulle's announced program of self-determination for Algeria and U.S. relations with the newly-established Algerian government after July 1962. Material is included on U.S. economic and military assistance to Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia; the importance of the U.S. airbases and communications facilities in Libya and Morocco; and U.S. withdrawal from the Moroccan bases in December 1963. U.S. support for a negotiated settlement of the French-Tunisian clash over the French naval base at Bizerte is documented, as is U.S. support for peaceful settlement of the 1963 Algerian-Moroccan border conflict.

The compilations on Sub-Saharan Africa focus on expanding U.S. economic and military aid to the newly-independent nations of Africa and U.S. efforts to prevent the nations of the region from falling under Soviet domination. Documentation is included on U.S. policy concerns such as the U.S. decision to proceed with aid for Ghana's Volta River project, the strategic importance of the U.S. military base at Kagnew Station in Ethiopia, and U.S. efforts to find a modus vivendi between Ethiopia and Somalia.

The Southern African compilations document U.S. support for peaceful transitions to stable, multi-racial societies in the white-ruled countries of Southern Africa. The documentation on Portuguese Africa shows the tension within U.S. policy, as the United States sought to balance its concern over Portugal's colonial policies in Angola and Mozambique against its desire to negotiate renewal of the Azores Base Agreement with its NATO ally, Portugal. The Rhodesian compilation documents U.S. support for British efforts to bring about full participation of the African populations of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the political process. The South African compilation deals with conclusion of a U.S. missile and satellite tracking station agreement with South Africa, and U.S. opposition to proposed mandatory U.N. economic sanctions against that country, as well as continuing U.S. opposition to the policy of apartheid and the unilateral U.S. embargo on arms shipments to South Africa announced in August 1963.

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

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