African Activist Archive

Testimony of Edgar Lockwood opposing the nomination of Nathaniel Davis as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. Lockwood says Davis has no professional experience in Africa and no other political experience to enable him to appreciate sympathetically the problems and concerns of African states and that Davis' nomination has been greeted by surprise, dismay and apprehension in Africa, even among those independent states that are politically moderate and relatively well-disposed toward the U.S. Lockwood says Davis should not be confirmed unless and until the Senate has examined the basis of U.S.- Africa policy to eliminate the possibility that the U.S. will "destabilize" popular governments (through open economic and political methods and covert activities using the CIA) and support white minorities regimes in their domination of neighboring states and retention of minority rule on the model of U.S. support for dictatorships in Latin America. On November 11, Angola will become independent. Three rival nationalist movements, MPLA, FNLA and UNITA, whose political orientation and ideology are diverse and to some degree in conflict, have entered into an uneasy and fragile alliance in order to negotiate the transition to majority rule and independence. Lockwood discusses Gulf Oil Corporation and its operation in Cabinda. He discusses apartheid and bantustans, including Transkei and Zululand, and quotes President Mobutu of Zaire. Lockwood notes that Davis was U.S. Ambassador to Chile from 1971-73, when the CIA provided $5 million to anti-Allende candidates and engaged in other covert activities designed to destabilize the popularly-elected government. William Colby, CIA Director, has testified that U.S. diplomatic personnel were kept informed of all CIA activities and that three days before the coup in which President Allende and thousands of his supporters died, Davis flew to Washington to meet with Secretary Kissinger. The testimony also discusses Frelimo and the Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front (FLEC).

African Activist Archive

[STATEMENT OF EDGAR LOCKWOOD, DIRECTOR OF THE WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA, BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS . . .]

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