March 14, 1949: The Sir Henley Coussey Commission begins deliberations

The Coussey Commission was established on March 14, 1949 to draft a constitution towards self-rule for Gold Coasters. The membership of the Coussey commission included all leading members of the UGCC except Kwame Nkrumah whose views on independence were now at variance with the UGCC. Prior to this, in August 1948 Nkrumah had been demoted by the UGCC to treasurer because of his radical ideas were seen as responsible for the riots and unrest in February 1948.

In June 1949, a committee headed by William Ofori Atta convened in Saltpond to try and settle the differences between Nkrumah and the other members of the UGCC. However, the youth wings, then called the Committee on Youth Organisation (CYO) had become increasingly frustrated insisted that Nkrumah not be reconciled to the intelligentsia. Under the threats of abandoning him, Nkrumah sided with the CYOs and broke up from the UGCC. The next day he announced the formation of the CPP with an aim to attain self-government NOW.

In view of his exclusion from Coussey, the Osagyefo simply declared the Coussey constitution as fraudulent and bogus. The CPP went on the offensive attacking both the colonial government and the UGCC.

March 12, 1948: The "Big Six" transferred to the Northern Territories

The colonial government blamed the leadership of the UGCC for the disturbances leading to the killing of Seargent Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lampetey.

The educated elites blamed Sir Gerald Creasy, the then Governor (whom they called “Crazy Creasy”) for the riots due to his handling of the country’s problems. The Riot Act was read on 1 March 1948.

A Removal Order was issued by Sir Gerald Creasy for the arrest of the six leaders of the UGCC; Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, Joseph Boakye Dankquah, Kwame Nkrumah, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey and William Ofori Atta were arrested and detained by the colonial authorities and were transferred to  Northern Territories on March 12, 1948, following their arrests.

March 9, 1955: Northern Peoples Party endorses federalism for the Gold Coast

The Northern People's Party (NPP) was a political party in the Gold Coast which aimed to protect the interests of those in the Northern region of Ghana.

The NPP's leader was Simon Diedong Dombo, the traditional chief of Duori in the Upper Region. Formed in 1954, the party contested the 1954 election and the 1956 election. In November 1957 it merged with other opposition parties in compliance with the Avoidance of Discrimination act which forbade ethnically based parties to form the United Party against the Convention People's Party . On March 9, 1955, this party along with the National Liberation Movement (NLM) endorsed federalism as the constitutional basis for independence.

Founding members of the party also included Mumuni Bawumia, J.A. Braimah, Tolon Naa Yakubu Tali, Adam Amandi, Naa Abeifaa Karbo, Imoru Salifu and C. K. Tedam.

March 9, 1986: The demise of "Convention Hannah" Kudjoe

Hannah Kudjoe was almost singlehandedly responsible for agitation leading to the release of the "Big Six" from prison.

From the elaborate funeral program put together by her family shortly after her death in 1986, a few family photographs, interviews with family members and political contemporaries, as well as two short biographical entries appearing in volumes published in Ghana—K. Budu-Acquah’s Toll for the Brave (1988) and Kojo T. Vieta’s The Flagbearers of Ghana (1999), both of which rely heavily on the funeral program—we can reconstruct some of the details of Hannah Kudjoe’s life.10 Born in 1918 in the town of Busua, along the Atlantic coast west of Accra, to a prominent Gold Coast family, she was the tenth child of Mr. and Mrs. John Peter Dadson. She was given the vernacular name Esi Badu, though in political circles after the Second World War she was known as Hannah. After completing Standard 7, she trained as a seamstress and, according to one family member, “earned her living sewing padded covers to keep the contents of teapots warm.”11 After a brief marriage to J. C. Kudjoe, who was a manager at Abontiako gold mines in Tarkwa, Hannah went to stay with her brother, E. K. Dadson, who ran a printing press in Tarkwa. It was while living with her brother that she met Kwame Nkrumah, shortly after he returned in 1947 from a decade of studying abroad in the United States and Britain in order to take up the position of general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC). Dadson was a strong UGCC activist and when Nkrumah came to Tarkwa, he lodged at the Dadson house. As recorded by Vieta, at Hannah Kudjoe’s last public speaking engagement—on International Women’s Day in 1986, which was two days before her death—she told a symposium at the Accra Community Center about her entry into politics:

“Somewhere in June 1947, we received a charming gentleman, he was introduced to me by my brother as Kwame Nkrumah, General-Secretary of the UGCC. During the day, my brother went out with Nkrumah to address various meetings of the local UGCC branch in town. . . . One day, as they came back and I was serving Kwame Nkrumah, he asked me why I have not been attending the UGCC meetings in town. I was amazed by his question and I honestly told him I thought politics was only men’s business. For the next twenty or so minutes, Kwame Nkrumah explained to me all they were doing and the importance of everybody, especially women, to get involved. By the time Kwame Nkrumah left. . . my interest was aroused in politics. At work, I began explaining issues to my colleague seamstresses and customers. Whenever I was traveling to visit my dressmaking clients, I talked on trains about the need for our liberation and urging people to join the Tarkwa branch of the UGCC and summoning people together to hear news of the campaign for self-government.

 

Further reading: Jean Allman - "The disappearing of Hannah Kudjoe"https://history.artsci.wustl.edu/files/history/imce/allman_hannah_kudjoe.pdf

February Ghana History Moments in Review

March 8, 1957: Ghana joins UN

Ghana was admitted to the United Nations on 8 March 1957, two days after it achieved independence from Britain, becoming the 81st member of that organization. The country which had previously been known as the Gold Coast had been under British rule since 1821. In 1954,  became Prime Minister and led the way to independence.

After gaining independence, Ghana went through several territorial reorganisations prior to independence. Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966. Today, Ghana is a democratic state.

March 6, 1992: Chairman Rawlings announces timetable for return to civilian governance

On 6 March 1992, Head of State Jerry Rawlings, who had been in power for the past 11 years, announced plans for a return to civilian rule by 7 January 1993. The process included a referendum on 28 April to adopt a new Constitution drafted by the Consultative Assembly, as well as a presidential election on 3 November and parliamentary polling on 8 December. President Rawlings also announced that the ban on party politics would be lifted on 18 May 1992. This programme was criticized by the opposition, which called for an immediate lifting of the ban so that they could openly and lawfully engage in party political activities. Its demand was rejected by President Rawlings.

The parliamentary elections, the first in 13 years, were postponed first to 22 December and then by another week in order to allow more time for the nomination of candidates following the decision by four major opposition parties to boycott the poll.

March 6, 1960: Ghana's National Assembly adopts Republican constitution

In March, 1960, the Government of Ghana presented for the consideration of the people of Ghana and the National Assembly, sitting as a Constituent Assembly, its proposals for a Republican Constitution. In a plebiscite held last April, the principles of the new Constitution were approved by a great majority. In May, the Conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers met in London; it agreed to the continued membership of the Republic of Ghana in the Commonwealth. On June 29, 1960, the Constituent Assembly enacted the new Constitution which came into effect on July 1, 1960. Ghana, within a very few years, has undergone the transformation from the status of a British dependency-the Gold Coast-and a United Nations Trust Territory-Togoland under British administration respectively, to that of a sovereign, independent State. This transformation was achieved in accordance with the "constitutional processes" designed for such changes. Ghana first attained independence as a Member of the Commonwealth by achieving what until quite recently used to be called "Dominion status." English law and British constitutional conventions and traditions were the foundations upon which the structure of the new State was erected. Now it has given itself a new Constitution which, in the words of the White Paper by which it was laid before Parliament and the people, "is not copied from the Constitution of any other country. It has been designed to meet the particular needs of Ghana and to express the realities of Ghana's constitutional position."

*The draft constitution was adopted by a 75 to 10 vote in the assembly

From:The Republican Constitution of Ghana Author(s): Egon Schwelb Source: The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Autumn, 1960), pp. 634- 656

March 6, 1957: Gold Coast achieves independence as Ghana

In May 1956, Kwame Nkrumah's Gold Coast government issued a white paper with proposals for Gold Coast's independence. On 3 August 1956, the Gold Coast Assembly adopted Kwame Nkrumah's resolution demanding independence from Britain. The British Government stated it would agree to a firm date for independence if a reasonable majority for such a step were obtained in the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly after a general election.

The 1956 election returned the Convention People's Party (CPP) to power with 71 of the 104 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Ghana became an independent state on March 6, 1957, when Britain relinquished its control over the Gold Coast and Ashanti, the Northern Territories Protectorate, and British Togoland.

 After a long period of colonial rule, the newly elected Assembly of Ghana, passed a motion directing the government to demand independence from Britain. As the opposition party was not part of the debate, the motion was passed with unanimous vote. The motion was also accepted by the British Government as representing the majority of the Assembly. In 1957 Ghana became the first African country to gain independence. 

 

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOEdJDdz690

March 6, 1844: Bond of 1844 signed by Fanti Chiefs and Britain

Military confrontations between Ashanti and the Fante contributed to the growth of British influence on the Gold Coast, as the Fante states—concerned about Ashanti activities on the coast—signed the Bond of 1844 at Fomena-Adansi,that allowed the British to usurp judicial authority from African courts.

” 1. Whereas power and jurisdiction have been exercised for and on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, within divers countries and places adjacent to Her Majesty’s forts and settlements on the Gold Coast; we, chiefs of countries and places so referred to, adjacent to the said forts and settlements, do hereby acknowledge that power and jurisdiction, and declare that the first objects of law are the protection of individuals and of property.

” 2. Human sacrifices, and other barbarous customs, such as panyaring, are abominations, and contrary to law.

“3. Murders, robberies, and other crimes and offences, will be tried and enquired of before the Queen’s judicial officers and the chiefs of the districts, moulding the customs of the country to the general principles of British law.

“Done at Cape Coast Castle before his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, on this 6th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1844.

” Their marks :
” X CuDjOE Chibboe (Kwadwo Tsibu), King of Denkira. 
” X QuASHiE Ottoo, (Kwasi Otu) Chief of Abrah. 
” X Chibboe Coomah, (Tsibu Kuma) Chief of Assin. 
” X Gebre, (Gyebi) Second Chief of Assin.
” X QuASHiE Ankah (Kwasi Ankra), Chief of Donadie.
” X AwoossiE, (Ewusi) Chief of Domonassie.
” (Signed) Quashie Ankah. ” Their marks :
” X Amonoo, Chief of Anamabo. 
“X Joe Aggrey, Chief of Cape Coast. 
” Witness my seal on the 6th day of March 1844, and the 7th year of Her Majesty’s (Queen Victoria) reign.
” (Signed) H.W. Hill, Lieutenant Governor (L.S.). 
” Witnesses, and done in the presence of : 
” (Signed) George Maclean, J.P. and Assessor (S.).
” F. PbGSON, Lieut. W. L Regiment (S.) Commanding H. M. Troops. 
” S. Bannerman, Adjutant of Militia (S.).”

 

THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BOND OF 1844

J. B. Danquah

Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana

Vol. 3, No. 1 (1957), pp. 3-29

 

March 5, 1817: 1st Anglo - Ashanti Treaty signed

In the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814–16 the Ashanti defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance. Local British, Dutch, and Danish authorities all had to come to terms with the Ashanti. By 1817, the Ashanti, who had an army of 20,000, had become the strongest power in West Africa, so the (British) African Company of Merchants signed a treaty of friendship that recognized Ashanti claims to sovereignty over much of the coast. The African Company of Merchants was dissolved in 1821 and the British assumed control of the Gold Coast

March 2, 1966: Nkrumah arrives in Conakry, Guinea after Ghana coup

After the coup in Ghana, Sekou Toure came to the rescue of Kwame Nkrumah, the deposed of Ghana and invited him to Guinea where he arrived on March 2, 1966, together with his bodyguards and a few civil servants who had remained with him.

Nkrumah was received by Toure as Head of state, and given a 21 gun salute. At the airport, Toure declared that Kwame Nkrumah would be with him as “the head of state of and secretary-general of the Guinean Democratic Party”. After the death of Nkrumah from cancer on April 27, 1972, in Romania, where he had traveled for treatment, Sekou Toure declared three days of national mourning throughout Guinea. Nkrumah’s old friend Kojo Botsio flew to Conakry, with Nkrumah’s remains from Romania. The funeral was scheduled for May 16. On the eve, a ceremony was held in the Palace of the People in Conakry, where the coffin containing and Nkrumah’s remains stood draped with a Guinean flag.
The heads of delegations which had come from 40 countries offered their condolences to Fathia Nkrumah and her children. Toure concluded with the words “Nkrumah is not Ghanaian, he is an African. Nkrumah will never die”. After the ceremony, Nkrumah’s body was taken to the stadium were thousands of Guineans filed past the coffin in mournful silence.

Toure turned down the many offers that were made by private Ghanaian citizens for the responsibility of transporting the remains to Ghana. He declared that this would not occur until the Ghanaian government provided an official guarantee that Nkrumah would be accorded final honours that befitted him, and that, his former colleagues would be released from prison. Talks with the Ghanaian government, resulted in an agreement between the two governments and Nkrumah was buried in his native village Nkroful with the state honors.

Adapted from Immortal Heroes of the World by M S Gill, 2005

March 1, 1966: National Liberation Council bans all political parties

The National Liberation Council (NLC) having come into power following what is widely acknowledged as a CIA inspired and supported coup, was composed of four army officers and four police officers. It appointed a cabinet of civil servants and promised to restore democratic government as quickly as possible. The NLC decreed a ban on the formation of political parties which remained in force until late 1968, but activity by individual figures began much earlier with the appointment of a succession of committees composed of civil servants and politicians as the first step in the return to civilian and representative rule.

February 28, 1822: Sir Charles McCarthy arrives as first Governor of the Gold Coast

After a period of deteriorating relationships between the British and the Ashanti, Sir Charles McCarthy arrived as governor-in-chief of the British possessions on the Gold Coast. At this time, the charter of the African company was abolished by an Act of Parliament and all its forts and other possessions were transferred to the Crown. When McCarthy arrived on February 28, 1822, he found the country in a most unsettled condition. The ambassador sent by the King of Ashanti to Cape Coast had waited two months beyond the time appointed by Consul Dupuis to hear from the British government. McCarthy seems to have been misled as to the true state of affairs as he at once assumed a determined in the war like attitude, which was resented by the King of Ashanti who immediately commenced his preparations for war on a large scale but with the utmost secrecy. Had McCarthy approached the matter diplomatically, a humiliating period of British history in Africa would not have ensued. The war of 1873 would probably not have occurred and trade between the British and Ashanti would have had a completely different tenor.

James Irvine: The Ashantee Difficulty: A Paper Read to the Birkenhead Literary and Scientific Society. [Liverpool 1873]

February 28, 1948: Gold Coast ex-servicemen shot during protest for pension benefits

 

British version of events from the Hansard:

GOLD COAST (RIOTING, ACCRA) 

Mr. T. Reid

(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he has any statement to make on the disorders at Accra in the Gold Coast on 28th and 29th February.

§Mr. Rees-Williams 

I have been asked to reply. Rioting occurred in Accra on the afternoon of 28th February. A parade organised by the ex-Service men's Union, which is not recognised by the Gold Coast Legion, got out of hand while it was proceeding to present a petition to senior officers of the Secretariat and Labour Department. The procession was to follow a route agreed with the Commissioner of Police and was then to disperse. But in contravention of the agreed arrangement the procession, reinforced by other elements, attempted to march on Christiansborg Castle, the residence of the Governor. No request had been made by the Union to see the Governor and the procession was in very ugly temper, many taking part being drunk. Two attempts by the police to divert or stop them failed, and after two police officers had been injured shots had to be fired. One rioter was killed and one wounded. Simultaneously, rioting took place on a large scale in the town and considerable damage to business premises in the town was caused, one main shopping street being looted and gutted. Military forces were called in to assist and at one stage it was necessary to use firearms. By midnight the town was under control. Further rioting started in the town at dawn and two volleys were fired by the military with no casualties. The Governor has imposed a curfew in certain parts of Accra and has made regulations to control traffic and close roads. Military reinforcements have now arrived and all necessary steps taken to safeguard the population. The latest report received indicates that the town is much quieter.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1948/mar/01/gold-coast-rioting-accra

February 28, 1820: British envoy Joseph Dupuis arrives in Kumasi

Upon return to Cape Coast from his three-month diplomatic mission to Kumasi, British Consul Joseph Dupuis quickly discovered that his efforts to secure peace and profitable trade between the Ashanti (the largest kingdom on the Gold Coast with its capital at Kumasi) and the British had largely been in vain. Asantehene Osei Bonsu (r. 1800-1824) had hosted Dupuis, along with other British and Ashanti ambassadors from Cape Coast, in an effort to solidify trading arrangements and resolve territorial disputes in the years immediately following the British abolition of the slave trade in 1807. Despite Dupuis’s surprisingly warm reception by the Ashanti king and the relative success with which the two composed a treaty, British officials at Cape Coast denied the terms of the treaty and sought instead to devise ways of constraining the economic and political power of the Ashanti King. While Ambassadors Bowdich (1817) and Dupuis (1820) successfully came to agreements with the Asantehene, each culminating in the formulation of an official treaty, an analysis of events occurring simultaneously outside the immediate purview of these assemblies indicates that their expeditions ultimately failed because many British government officials and civilians were unwilling to adhere to local political and economic structures and compromise with the Asantehene.

Source:

Don’t Shoot the Messenger:  A Reevaluation of Ashanti-British Relations from Bowdich to Dupuis, 1817-1820 - Garrett Nagaishi

            

 

February 24, 1966: Dr. Kwame Nkrumah overthrown as President of the Republic of Ghana

 

In spite of strained relationships with the British, Nkrumah had been able to get Queen Elizabeth II to visit Ghana in 1961. As late as 1964, Lord Mountbatten, a hero of the First and Second World Wars and then Britain's chief of defense staff, visited Ghana, which was an indication of how important British military training remained to the erstwhile colony. Ghana also remained a member of the Commonwealth, but in 1965, when the white Rhodesians unilaterally declared themselves independent from Great Britain, this link to the West also began to weaken. Ghana took a leading role in criticizing Britain for not preventing this seizure of power by the white minority. Nkrumah called for military intervention, and with the example of the Congo in 1960 still fresh, he hoped that Ghanaian forces would play a prominent role. Eventually, under pressure from other OAU members, Ghana was forced to break diplomatic relations with Great Britain. However, even after the latter's diplomats left, a military mission remained that included a British brigadier. The possibility of military involvement in Rhodesia was most unwelcome to the demoralized Ghanaian military. It seemed as if the President's Own Guard Regiment (POGR) was going to succeed the regular military, which was suspect and being starved for funds. Even as Nkrumah was holding out the possibility of offensive operations in Rhodesia, he was forcing into retirement the army's most senior officers. It was this action more than any other, according to then Major A. A. Afrifa, that led to the military-police coup that overthrew Nkrumah on February 24, 1966. Nkrumah had welcomed the military coup that took place in Nigeria a few weeks before and had tried to strengthen the position of the more radical members of the military government that took power. Little did he realize how soon his own demise was to come at the hands of his own military. When this happened, Nkrumah was out of the country in China, where he had gone on a mission initiated by Ghana's fellow Commonwealth nations to end the war in Vietnam. As was the case for so many of Nkrumah's projects, it was totally unrealistic mission, since neither the Americans nor the North Vietnamese were interested in following the lead of a bankrupt African nation. The Americans were convinced that Nkrumah's collapse was imminent. They had refused to supply badly needed food aid. The North Vietnamese felt the tide of war was going their way and there was no need to negotiate. Nkrumah's own staff was dead set against the mission, but his determination to go ahead with it was an indication of how desperate the Osagyefo had become for a diplomatic triumph. The coup itself was welcomed in Ghana with far more enthusiasm than had been the case for independence. Only the Presidential Guard put up a brief resistance, and within 24 hours the coup was over. Nkrumah's statue outside Parliament House, which proclaimed him the founder of the nation, was battered to the ground and smashed into pieces. The bars were jammed with celebrants the night after the coup. There were demonstrations of support for the new rulers, who styled themselves the National Liberation Council (NLC). Even members of the 74-man delegation that had accompanied Nkrumah to China deserted their former leader. Foreign Minister Quaison-Sackey, who Nkrumah had sent to protest the seating of the new Ghanaian government's mission at the OAU meeting in Addis Ababa, flew instead to Accra, where he pledged his loyalty to the new government. The prisons emptied of Nkrumah's detainees and began to fill with new political prisoners. The CPP, with its 2-million strong membership and 500,000 militants, offered no resistance, and the party allowed itself to be disbanded by a single radio announcement. As for Nkrumah, his friend and sometimes rival President Sekou Toure offered him refuge and made him the honorary co-president of Guinea. He was to spend five years in his new home engaged in writing projects and cultivating roses while waiting for the people of Ghana to call him back. Eventually, stricken with cancer, he was flown to a clinic in Bucharest, where he died on April 27, 1972.

Undoubtedly the most important indication of Nkrumah's enduring stature is how much better he has done in retrospect than those who overthrew and succeeded him. He left a stamp on Ghanaian history that continues, long after his death, to fascinate and inspire many of his countrymen as well as people all over the world of African descent. In the following chapters we shall see just how much his countrymen continue to "render homage" to his "immortal memory," even to the point that his weakness and failures have been largely forgotten.81 Ghana pioneered the road to independence for much of Africa. Nkrumah's violent removal from office also unfortunately brought Ghana into line with what was emerging as the dominant trend in much of the continent—the military intervention into politics.

From “The history of Ghana” – Roger S. Gocking - ISBN 0-313-31894-8

Additional reading:

http://www.the-latest.com/anniversary-hidden-cia-coup-toppled-nkrumah

https://amp.pulse.com.gh/news/1966-ghana-coup-four-major-players-in-the-1966-coup-id4721558.html

February 21, 1966: Nkrumah departs for peace mission in Hanoi.

Nkrumah left Accra for Hanoi to mediate the Vietnam War on February 21, 1966, leaving a 3 person presidential commission in charge of the country. Below is earlier correspondence with President LB Johnson regarding this peace mission:

“Many thanks for your letter of August 6, which has been delivered to me by my foreign minister Mr. Alex Quayson-Sackey. My special envoys brought me some information from Hanoi which I did not divulge to my foreign minister before he left for Washington, because I wanted time to reflect on the main issues raised. At the same time, I was hurriedly making arrangements to go to Hanoi in spite of the fact that President Ho Chi Minh intimated that he could not guarantee my personal safety. After careful study of the Hanoi report I am satisfied that something good might come out of the information from President Ho Chi Minh. You will recall that in my letter of August 4, I requested the cessation of air attacks on Vietnam to enable me to visit Hanoi. I made this request to you through my foreign minister because, in the light of information brought to me from Hanoi, I considered that it must be useful for me personally to seek clarification on certain points from President Ho Chi Minh, if I went to Hanoi. Since it is not possible for me to go to Hanoi immediately, because President Ho Chi Minh is not in the position to guarantee my safety, I am now writing to inform you of some impressions I have gained from studying the report which my envoys brought to me from Hanoi. It is necessary for me to discuss these impressions and certain other matters with you personally at your convenience. I am certain that a discussion with you would be of immense help in my peace talks when eventually it is made possible for me to go to Hanoi. From what I gather from the observation and the discussions of my envoys with the authorities in Hanoi, and, particular, with President Ho Chi Minh, it is clear that after 21 years of continuous fighting the Vietnamese want peace as much as the people of the United States. But they say they want a peace that will guarantee the independence, unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Vietnam. The Vietnamese emphasized that any settlement of the Vietnamese problem will have to be on the basis of the 1954 Geneva Agreement. It is now clear that President Ho Chi Minh himself and the Vietnamese people have no intention of humiliating the United States which is a great power and entitled to great respect. President Ho Chi Minh pointed out, however, that the Vietnamese are determined to fight to the end to preserve the independence and unity of their country in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Agreement. I have also got to know from the report of my envoys that the current view that the Chinese are encouraging the Vietnamese to adopt an intransigent attitude is incorrect. It is clear from the report from my envoys that the Vietnamese have taken their own decisions and are determined to see them through. It may be true that they receive a lot of material assistance from China and Russia, but the will to fight to the end is their own, and needs no prompting from outside. Mr. President, I am informed that the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam also make the Geneva Agreement the basis of any settlement in Vietnam. They also consider that some kind of a national coalition government in the initial stages might help to achieve a solution. With regard to the unification of Vietnam, they are prepared to establish normal relations between the two zones and to advance towards the peaceful 61 unification of Vietnam. They are prepared, further, to carry out a foreign policy of peace and neutrality and to establish diplomatic relations with all countries which respect the independence and the sovereignty of Vietnam. I know that you and your government are also prepared to accept a settlement of the conflict in Vietnam on the basis of the Geneva Agreement, the neutralization of the area and the unity of two parts of the country by the exercise of the free will of the people of Vietnam through elections. It is appropriate that you, Mr. President, should have taken this stand. Mr. President it is clear to me that the gap which divides the parties to the conflict in Vietnam is very narrow. I believe that with goodwill and patient effort it will be possible to bridge this gap in order to lead to a negotiated settlement and thereby ensure world peace”.

From: The United States and the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah.

Eric Quaidoo

Fort Hays State University

https://scholars.fhsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1177&context=theses