§ 3.1 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question of which I have given Private Notice to the Foreign Secretary: whether Her Majesty's Government can make a statement on recent events and the situation in the Congo.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF HOME)My Lords, noble Lords and the country will have been deeply shocked by the news of the murder of Mr. Lumumba and his two companions. It is a disgraceful episode which we utterly deplore and which can only increase the difficulty of bringing peace and order to the Congo. The House will be aware that Her Majesty's Government have constantly urged that the Red Cross should 811 be allowed to examine detained persons in the Congo to ensure that they were treated humanely and that their safety was assured. We also urged that all prisoners should be treated according to the due processes of law and should be brought to fair and open trial or be released. This policy was embodied in resolutions we co-sponsored both in the Security Council and the General Assembly. The first of these resolutions was vetoed by the Soviet Union; the second failed by one vote to get the necessary two-thirds majority of the Assembly.
Before the death of Mr. Lumumba the preliminary phases of the Round Table discussions had been taking place in Leopoldville, and a Provisional Government has been installed, pending a meeting of the Congolese Legislature, to replace the previous administration of Commissioners General. We regarded this as one promising feature in an otherwise depressing picture. No one suggests that this Government is yet fully comprehensive, but it does bring together a large number of Parties, including some who had been supporters of Mr. Lumumba. It is reported that discussions are continuing with other leaders, notably in Elisabethville and Stanleyville, and a substantial improvement in the situation would result if they also will agree to join in. Various Ministries have been left unfilled in this Government for precisely this purpose. This process, which it is the purpose of the United Nations Conciliation Commission, led by Mr. Wachuku of Nigeria, to encourage, seems to offer the best hope of a settlement of internal differences by peaceful means.
The Security Council discussion on the Congo situation is due to be resumed to-day. We have been in close consultation with other delegations at the United Nations and my information is that the debate to-day will start with a statement by Mr. Stevenson on behalf of the United States. We have undertaken to give full support to the proposals he intends to make. Meanwhile we can only deplore the Soviet Union's attempt to use the tragic situation in the Congo to intensify their vendetta against the Secretary-General and what in fact amounts to their attack on the United Nations Charter itself. We believe that the Secretary-General has faithfully and 812 loyally carried out his mandate in the Congo, and any blame for lack of success in the United Nations operations so far cannot rightly be placed on his shoulders.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Earl the Foreign Secretary for the statement he has given to us. If I may refer to the last part of the statement first of all, the whole House, of course, shares in his view with regard to the outrageous attack by Mr. Khrushchev on Mr. Hammarskjoeld. I I do not think anybody who has read the ordinary news that we have been able to get from many and varied sources could say anything else but that the mandate Mr. Hammarskjoeld had, and with what assistance was afforded to him—and it did not come from some quarters it should have come from—has been faithfully carried out by him. I share with the Foreign Secretary the view that we can only deplore the dreadful and shocking murders of Mr. Lumumba and his two companions.
I cannot say, if I may be quite frank with the Foreign Secretary, I am satisfied with the statement as a whole, but perhaps he could enlighten me on one or two things. I am concerned by the reference to the Security Council meeting and the fact that we are pledged, apparently, to support some statement or the other which is going to be made by Mr. Stevenson; but we do not know what he is going to say or what he is going to do. I suppose we act with British reserve, but nearly every other country state what they are going to do on occasions of such importance. With the situation in the Congo to-day, really on the brink of a far more wide civil conflict than has already happened and in danger of a great civil war, there are one or two things we ought to do. Of course, the noble Earl, as Foreign Secretary, in his judgment and in his advice to the Government has to make his own decisions.
But I should have thought in the present situation, when we are told that there is a Belgian colonel (I am referring to a report in the Daily Telegraph) engaged in hiring mercenaries in Paris at the present time—and a very high figure has been offered—to go to the aid of Mr. Tshombe, surely some representation ought to be made to the Belgian 813 Government to see whether the present situation with regard to the Belgians in Katanga could be changed, so that all the nations in the United Nations, including Belgium, could be united in trying to avoid civil war and to obtain a settlement of the kind which has been foreshadowed by the Foreign Secretary in his statement this afternoon. But until that influence is cleared up, as a result of the inquiries that are going on, and the Belgians are willing to make a change in that situation out there, so far as they have the power to do so, I do not think we shall make the progress we actually desire.
The other thing I am concerned about is this. I read with very grave concern the statement of Mr. Nehru this week. I think he was right to make the statement. He has Commonwealth troops from India as part of the United Nations force there; he is very concerned about the situation and is even thinking of withdrawing them, if necessary; and the situation may easily go from bad to worse. Could the Foreign Secretary tell us how far he is in touch with Mr. Nehru personally on this issue? I feel certain that the Foreign Office will be as helpful as they possibly can be, but I believe that if a joint approach could be made to those who have Commonwealth troops acting for the United Nations at the present time, that might be a helpful feature in the situation.
I should just like to say in general, about the attitude of the U.S.S.R. and certain other countries, that it is a very great pity that they have not supported the general resolutions of the United Nations in regard to the Congo as they might have done. I have a feeling in my heart that if Mr. Lumumba had not escaped from the protective control of the United Nations delegation and forces out there, then perhaps the whole story might have been different. I hope that we shall not forget that. Certainly people in this country will not like the kind of reference Mr. Khrushchev has made about murderers and accomplices in murder when we remember Nagy, of Hungary.
LORD REAMy Lords, I do not propose at this stage to go into such details. I think the matter is very fresh, and until we hear at least what Mr. Stevenson has to say perhaps we should withhold judgment. 814 I should like to say that I regard the Foreign Secretary's statement to this House as a statement not merely to this House but to the world, representing, I think, the feeling of us all in this country. I would add that, while this statement approves and supports and praises Mr. Hammarskjoeld for what he has done up to now, I think it unintentionally falls short of saying that we still have complete faith in him and will back him up in what he does in his very responsible position.
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, very much agree with the noble Viscount who leads the Opposition, that the story in the Congo would have been completely different if Russia had decided to co-operate from the start. When I said that we were going to support the initiative by Mr. Stevenson, which we hope will be made to-day, I did not mean that we were going to support anything blindly, but of course we have been in close touch with the United States Government; and I hope that many other Governments, when it conies to the debate in the Security Council, will be found to be of the same mind as I think are the United States Government and ourselves to-day. But, as I say, we have to see a resolution on paper before we finally make up our minds as to what our attitude should be.
On the question of Belgian assistance to Mr. Tshombe, we have made our position perfectly clear: that both military and para-military assistance from Belgium should not continue, and that it is in the general interest that it should be withdrawn, because we believe that that would be a contribution to a peaceful settlement. The Belgian Government, I think the House should know, have made it quite clear themselves that they deplore this recruiting, and I understand that they are now holding an inquiry to see whether there is anything further they can do about it. They have further made it clear that they are in full support of the United Nations operation. I think that should be said, to make the Belgian Government's view clear as I understand it.
So far as India and Mr. Nehru are concerned, of course we are in close consultation with all the Commonwealth countries, and we have made it clear that at this moment of grave danger we 815 hope that all countries will stand firm in support of the United Nations operation and that, if there is any failing in the United Nations operation, it should be put right by discussion in the Security Council; but that this should not be the moment when we should weaken it by withdrawing our support from Mr. Hammarskjoeld.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, may I ask the Foreign Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to a report that a Mr. Winn, a citizen of the United States, is recruiting in Nairobi for Katanga; and whether, if that is true, in the present state of tension in the Congo this is a desirable practice?