FOIA
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE MEMORADNUM: KATANGAN OVERTURES TO THE SOVIET BLOC FOR ASSISTANCE 27 DECEMBER 1961
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
0005992111
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
S
Document Page Count:
2
Document Creation Date:
September 16, 2015
Document Release Date:
September 16, 2015
Sequence Number:
Case Number:
Publication Date:
December 27, 1961
File:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 DOC_0005992111.pdf | 59.62 KB |
Body:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A000400380003-9
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
27 December 1961
OCI No.
3964/61 Copy No.
CURRENT
SUBJECT:
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
Katangan Overtures to the Soviet Bloc
for Assistance
1. Katangan Interior Minister Godefroid Mu-
nongo, with at least the tacit approval of Tshombe,
made appablic overture on 20 July 1961 to the So-
viet Bloc for assittance to Katanga and indicated
that a Katangan delegation was about to go to Stan-
leyville for a reconciliation with Gizenga.
25
2. The consulate in Elisabethville reported
its belief that Munongo was "not bluffing"; that it
was a "solution of desperation which he does not
wish to apply but which he is prepared to carry out."
The consul reported on 26 July he believed that
"Tshombe is in agreement on this with Munongo."
3 Following a strong Soviet rebuff, the Ka-
tangan leaders dropped ,the idea, and there is no
evidence of any Katangan contact with the Soviet
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A000400380003-9
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A000400380003-9
S.-
bloc or with Stanleyville. The Soviets in an
Izvestia article 1 August called Munongo a "degen-
erate" and "out of his mind," and stated that the
Soviet Union did not intend to have any dealings
with the Katangan "clique of puppets." Munongo's
appeal was described as a "str tagem for blackmail-
ing the West and designed to undermine the unity of
the Congo."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A000400380003-9
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