The wisdom of recruiting military units from Arab countries to the United Nations armed forces in the Congo was questioned here today in some diplomatic circles following reports that 500 troops are due to arrive today from the United Arab Republic in Leopoldville at the request of U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold.
Mr. Hammarskjold’s move to secure troops from Nasser for the UN forces in the Congo provoked puzzlement here, since it is considered possible that the injection of Arab units in the Congo may further aggravate the highly explosive situation in that troubled newly independent country.
In the opinion of many diplomats in Washington, the United Arab Republic has disqualified itself as a nation neutral enough in the current conflict to serve on the UN force. It is pointed out that the Government-owned radio station in Cairo is consistently inciting the African people against the “white colonialists” and against political forces which do not earn the confidence of UAR President Nasser. These forces are being branded as the stooges of imperialism, regardless of facts. The inciting broadcasts are made in Swahili, the most popular and widespread language in Black Africa.
Only last week, after the Security Council had defined the terms of reference of the UN forces in the Congo as strict non-interference in internal conflict, the Swahili broadcast of Radio Cairo called upon the Congolese to fight Katanga Premier Moise Tshombe as a “Black European bloodsucker.” Certainly, the worried diplomats argue, the units of a nation which is engaging in inciting Congolese against Congolese, cannot render any useful service to the United Nations harrassed forces in the Congo.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
