Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Western Powers and Africa, 1949–74

  • Chapter
Book cover NATO, The Warsaw Pact and Africa

Part of the book series: Rusi Defence Studies Series ((RUSIDS))

  • 37 Accesses

Abstract

The overview of NATO’s relationship with Africa which we have just provided is essentially incomplete. It is a descriptive historical account that touches only briefly on the contribution made by individual members. If we were to leave their policies out of account, the question of Africa and the Atlantic Alliance would hardly arise.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes and References

  1. Philip Darby, British Defence Policy East of Suez 1947–68 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973) p. 329.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cited Olasupo Ojedokon, ‘The Anglo-Nigerian Entente and its Demise 1960–62’, Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies 9:3 November 1971. After the treaty’s abrogation both governments agreed ‘to endeavour to afford the other at all times such assistance and facilities in defence matters as are appropriate between members of the Commonwealth.’ (Commonwealth Survey 14 August 1962 p. 668).

    Google Scholar 

  3. For a comprehensive discussion of Britain’s military links with Africa, see Anthony Clayton, ‘The Military Relations between Great Britain and the Commonwealth Countries with Particular Reference to the African Commonwealth Nations’, in W. H. Morris-Jones, Decolonisation and After: the British and French Experience (London: Frank Cass, 1980) pp. 193–224.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cited M. Bell, Military Assistance to Independent African States. Adelphi Paper, 15, December 1964 (London: Institute of Strategic Studies, 1964) p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Harold Wilson, The Labour Government 1964–70 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971) p. 243. ‘Three years afterwards when I was asked about mistakes I had made in office I instanced my clinging to our East of Suez policy when facts were dictating a recessional. I was, I said, one of the last to be converted.’

    Google Scholar 

  6. For a discussion, see Fred Northedge, Descent from Power: British Foreign Policy 1945–73 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1974), pp. 296–301.

    Google Scholar 

  7. The New York Times, 6 December 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  8. The Times (London) 2 December 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  9. D. C. Watt, ‘Britain and the Indian Ocean: Diplomacy before Defence’, Political Quarterly, 42:3, July-September 1971, p. 312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Speech at the Guildhall, November 1970, cited B. Vivekanandan, ‘Naval Power in the Indian Ocean’, The Round Table, 257, January 1975, pp. 59–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff gave the Senate Armed Services Committee the following breakdown of British warships, excluding auxiliary and service vessels in the Indian Ocean on 12 March 1974: 43 (1968) 33 (1969) 19(1970) 18(1971) 12 (1972) 10 (1973). Some of the ships formed part of the Beira patrol which had policed the Mozambique Channel since 1966 to ensure oil supplies did not reach Rhodesia. Similarly, two British Shackletons used to fly from Majunga in Madagascar until 1971 to keep an informal check on South African naval movements and their reports were made available to Tanzania under normal Commonwealth defence arrangements (Africa Confidential II: 18 September, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Laurence Martin, British Defence Policy: The Long Recessional. Adelphi Paper 61 (London: IISS, 1969), p. 15.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Lecture delivered to Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale, 25 June 1970, Revue de Défense Nationale, August–September 1970, pp. 1245–58 (italics mine).

    Google Scholar 

  14. General de Monsabert, ‘North Africa and the Atlantic Alliance’, Foreign Affairs, 31:3 April, 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  15. For a discussion of the defence agreements, see Chester Crocker, ‘France’s Changing Military Interests’, Africa Report, June 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Chester Crocker, ‘Military Dependence: The Colonial Legacy in Africa’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 12:2, 1974, pp. 265–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Ibid., 275–81.

    Google Scholar 

  18. M. Ligot, ‘La Cooperation Militaire dans les Accords Passes entre la France et les Etats Africains et Malgache d’Expression Francaise’, Revue Juridique et Politique, 17, 1963 p. 521.

    Google Scholar 

  19. General Revol, ‘Commaunaute et Strategie Mondiale’, Centre Militaire d’Information et Documentation Outre-Mer Document 627G, 1961.

    Google Scholar 

  20. James Mayall, Africa: The Cold War and After (London: Elek Books, 1971) p. 91.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Edgar S. Furniss, France: Troubled Ally (Oxford University Press, 1960) p. 162.

    Google Scholar 

  22. See Lorna Hahn, ‘Last Chance in North Africa’, Foreign Affairs 36:2 38, January 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  23. The New York Times, 30 April 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Cited Gurtov, The United States Versus the Third World op. cit., p. 221.

    Google Scholar 

  25. William Attwood, The Reds and the Blacks (London: 1967) p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Jacques Guillemin, ‘L’Importance des Bases dans la Politique Militaire de la France en Afrique Noire Francophone et Madagascar’, Revue Francaise d’Etudes Politiques Africaines, August–September 1981, p. 38.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Colonel Guillemin, ‘La Politique Militaire francaise Outre-Mer Centre Militaire d’Information et de Documentation sur l’Outre Mer’ Document 693G, 1967, pp. 21–22.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Michel Debré, ‘La France et sa Défense’, Revue de Défense Nationale, January 1972, p. 15.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Ibid., p. 20.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Jean Touscouz, ‘La Normalisation de la Cooperation Bilaterlale de la France avec les Pays Africaines Francophones’, Etudes Internationales 2:2 June 1974, p. 217.

    Google Scholar 

  31. In 1974 the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff provided the following breakdown of the French naval presence in the Indian Ocean between 1968–74, excluding auxiliary and service vessels: (1968) 3, (1969) 4, (1970) 5, (1971) 6, (1972) 8,(1973) 7.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Africa Confidential 13:20 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Le Monde, 27 August 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  34. For a typical French view see Admiral Joire-Noulens’ ‘Quelle marine et pour quoi faire le temps de paix?’ Défense Nationale, July 1976, pp. 21–42.

    Google Scholar 

  35. US Department of State Press Release 605 (October 30 1953).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Department of State Bulletin 22 June 1950 pp. 999–1002.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Rupert Emerson, Africa and US policy (New York: Englewood Cliffs, 1967) p. 24.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Report of the Special Mission to Africa, South and East of the Sahara House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs 84th Congress, 2nd Session July 1956, pp. 148–49.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Waldemar Nielsen, The Great Powers and Africa (London: Pall Mall Press, 1969) p. 368.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on African affairs, US Senate, 1976, p. 36.

    Google Scholar 

  41. John H. Spencer, Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa and United States Policy (Cambridge, Mass. Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, 1977) p. 22.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Colin Legum, The Fall of Haile Selassie’s Empire (London: 1975) p. 22.

    Google Scholar 

  43. The USN had originally made arrangements to use 16 different ports in Africa; by 1973 these had been reduced to three. See Special Study Mission to Africa, South and East of the Sahara. Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, House of Representatives, July 1965, p. 149.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Statement of James Noyes, deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense and Adam Elmo Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations, Proposal Expansion of US Military Facilities in the Indian Ocean. Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, House of Representatives, Washington 1976, pp. 57, 139.

    Google Scholar 

  45. These doubts have persisted to the present. In May 1978 the deputy Chief of Naval Operations told the Naval War College that ‘every country in the area is accessible from the sea, but local sensitivities dictate that we do not put a permanent presence ashore, that the visibility of our forces be carefully controlled and that we be prepared to assist not replace the forces of allies when and where help is needed’. The New York Times, 18 May 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  46. Statement by Adam Moorer, Implementation of the US Arms Embargo against Portugal and South Africa. Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, 1973, p.256.

    Google Scholar 

  47. The Indian Ocean’s Political and Strategic Future. Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Near East, House of Representatives, 1971, p. 72.

    Google Scholar 

  48. For the findings of the latter, see ‘An Evaluation of US Naval Presence in the Indian Ocean’, Naval War College Review, October 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  49. The New York Times, 18 July 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Press Conference given by Gerald Ford, 28 August 1974, cited Africa Report, January/February 1975, p. 8.

    Google Scholar 

  51. The New York Times, 20 May 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Africa Confidential 17:25, 17 December 1976.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Christopher Coker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 1985 RUSI

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Coker, C. (1985). The Western Powers and Africa, 1949–74. In: NATO, The Warsaw Pact and Africa. Rusi Defence Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17884-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation