U.N. FORCE IN CONGO

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29383, 9 December 1960, Page 17

U.N. FORCE IN CONGO

Some Countries To Withdraw (Rec. 10.15 p.m.) LONDON, December 8. The United Arab Republic and Ceylpn have decided to withdraw their troops from the United Nations forces in the Congo. In Accra, members of the Government People’s Party have called on President Kwame Nkrumah to withdraw Ghanaian troops so they could form the basis of an African high command. A meeting of the Government People’s Party in Accra also urged the President to work for the immediate release of Mr Patrice Lumumba. President Nkrumah suggested recently the establishment of an African high command for united action by African States, More than a dozen countries have sent about 15.000 troops to make up the United Nations forces in the Congo. A recent official estimate said there were 520 U.A.R. troops in the United Nations forces, and 2400 Ghana troops—one of the biggest contingents. In Cairo, Mr Mohamed Heykal, a close associate of President Nasser, said in the bitterest criticism so far of the United Nations Secretary-General (Mr Dag Hammarskjold! that United Nations forces in the Congo had turned into “mercenaries comparable to the French Foreign Legion fighting the Algerian people.” Mr Heykal, who was writing in today’s “Al Ahram,” launched a strong personal attack on Mr Hammarskjold for failing to prevent the humiliation of Mr Lumumba. He linked President Eisenhower and Mr Hammarskjold together as mainly responsible for permitting the Congo's “loss of independence and subjugation to Belgian imperialism.”