South Africa, the Colonial Powers and ‘African Defence’: The Rise and Fall of the White Entente, 1948–60

247 Pages·1992·26.69 MB·English

by  G. R. Berridge (auth.)

SOUTH AFRICA, THE COLONIALPOWERS AND
'AFRICAN DEFENCE'
Bythesame author
ECONOMICPOWER INANGLO-SOUTH AFRICAN
DIPLOMACY
DIPLOMACYATTHEUN(editedwithAnthonyJennings)
INTERNATIONALPOLITICS: States, Powerand Conflict
since 1945
THEPOLITICSOFTHE SOUTHAFRICA RUN: European
Shippingand Pretoria
RETURN TO THE UN:UN Diplomacy inRegional Conflicts
South Africa,
the Colonial Powers
and'African Defence'
The Rise and Fall ofthe White Entente,
1948-60
G. R. Berridge
ReaderillPolitics
UniversityofLeicester
* © G. R. Berridge 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1992
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ISBN 978-1-349-39060-1 ISBN 978-0-230-37636-6 (eBook)
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Transferred to digital printing 2002
For my wife, Sheila
Contents
Acknowledgements IX
List ofAbbreviations X
Introduction XI
1 Dreaming ofa White Alliance, 1948-9 1
'Leadership in Africa' 5
'Educating' Dr Malan 10
The 'organic approach': te Watcr's tour ofBritish
Africa and Wcstern Europe, April-July 1949 15
The 'inorganic approach': enter Eric Louw 23
2 Reluctantly to the Middle East, 1949-51 24
Secret commitment to the Middle East, September
1950 29
Gordon-Walker and South Africa 39
General Robertson's visit to the Union) May 1951 43
The Commonwealth Defence Ministers' Conference)
June 1951 44-
Still stalling on Simonstown 50
3 The Cloak ofMultllateralism, 1949-54 55
France, Africa and South Africa 56
Anglo-French stafftalks, 1949-52 60
The African Defence Facilities Conference) Nairobi,
August 1951 65
Preparing for Dakar, 1951-4 72
The Dakar Conference, March 1954 84
The issue of 'follow-up' machinery 87
4 The Churchlll Factor, 1951-4 91
Churchill kills the Simonstown negotiat,ions,March
1952 93
Squaring up over Simonstown, 1952-4 96
VII
viii Contents
Erasmus makes a concession, August-September 1954- 101
Reviving the African Pact, September 1954- 106
no
5 The SiJnonstoWD Agreements, 1955
British tactics, December 1954--April 1955 III
Finessing the African Pact 113
The final negotiations,June 1955 122
6 Louw versus Erasmus, 1955-6 133
The Pan-African Conference - confronting the
zombie,July-November 1955 133
The Erasmus track,July-September 1955 137
Settling for South African goodwill, October 1955 14-3
Erasmus, radar, and the 'Southern Tier', November
1955-May 1956 14-7
Opposition to the CapeTown Sea Routes Conference,
December 1955-December 1956 14-9
The Pan-African Conference: Britain bemused, 1956 154-
7 The Hollowing ofthe Entente, 1957~O 157
A 'Sea Routes Conference' ofsorts - Paris, May 1957 158
Britain re-thinks African defence, March-September
1957 162
Erasmus-Mancroft talks, September 1957 165
Sea routes reach dead-end, June 1958-1960 170
The Nairobi-Dakar system: condemned to sleep,
January 1956-December 1959 175
Little more than the shell: the entente in 1960 180
8 Conclusion 183
Appendix A: The Fourth (Secret) Simonstown Agreement. on
Anglo-South African StaffTalks with Regard to the
Defence ofthe Middle East. 30 June 1955 189
Appendix B: The Agreed Communique ReleasedFollowingthe
Erasmus-Mancroft Talks. London. 18September /957 190
Notes and References 192
Index 224-
Acknowledgements
This book is based principally on British official papers which, at
the time I finished writing, were available until the end of 1960;
on such South African officialpapers aswere available (chieflyon
the late 1940s and early 1950s); and on French and Belgian
official papers, which were selectively available up to the mid
1950s. (I was unable to draw on Portuguese official papers.) In
addition, I used private papers in Britain, especially at the
Churchill College Archives Centre and at Birmingham Univer
sity Library; and also in South Africa, particularly at the Killie
Campbell Afrikana Library in Durban, Stellenbosch University
Library, the Government Archives Depot in Pretoria, and the
Cape Archives Depot. To all ofthe librarians and archivists who
helped me I express my warmest thanks.
For financial support to the research on which this book is
based, 1 wish to acknowledge the generosity of the Nuffield
Foundation, the British Academy, Leicester University Research
Board, and the Economic & Social Research Council (award
reference number: R000221073).
I also wish to express my gratitude to HildaBotha for assistance
with documents in Afrikaans (as well as to her Cape Town
friends, Pierre and Johanna du Preez, who dug out for me
Malan's letters to Geyer, which I had overlooked); to Pixie and
George Young for such warm hospitality on more than one
research trip to Cape Town; and to Mrs Jones in Bloemfontein,
for enabling me to see that the Verwoerd papers at the Institute
of Contemporary History contain nothing of value to this
research.
Finally, I am grateful to the Editor of International Relations,
Leicester University Press, and Macmillan, for permission to
draw on previously published work.
Leicester G.R. BERRIDGE
ix
List of Abbreviations
ADO African Defence Organisation ['African Pact']
AE Affaires Etrangeres [French]
BCK Chemins de Fer du Bas Congo au Katanga
CCEM Comite des Chefs d'Etat-Major [French]
CCTA Commission de Cooperation Technique en Afrique
au Sud du Sahara
CDN Comite de Defense Nationale [French]
CFL Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Congo
Superieur aux Grands Lacs Africains
COS Chiefs of Staff[British]
CRO Commonwealth Relations Office
DEA Department ofExternal Affairs [South African]
ECA Economic Cooperation Administration
GAP Government Archives, Pretoria
JIB
Joint Intelligence Bureau [British]
JMPC Joint Maritime Planning Committee
JPS Joint Planning Staff[British]
MAE Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres (Bclge) [Archives]
MEDO Middle East Defence Organization
OTRACO Office d'Exploitation des Transports Coloniaux
PRO Public Record Office [British]
Qd'O Quai d'Orsay [French Foreign Ministry, Archives]
SADF South African Defence Force
SANF South African Naval Forces
SGPDN Secretariat General Permanent de la Defense
Nationale [French]
SEATO South East Asia Treaty Organization
SHAT Service Historiquede l'Arrneede Terre [Chateau de
Vincennes, Paris]
UDF Union Defence Force
WEU Western European Union
x