Evening star., 1960-10-16
ny JULES wITCovER
Contributing writer

Contrthutlng Writer
Z Sixteen new African nations
have won admission to the United
Nations during the current Gem
eral Assembly session. bringing the
Dark Continents representation
70 26, or more than one-Quarter
Of the 9e-memher organization.
What is the State Department
doing in finding and training
qualified diplomats to cope with
: this tremendous emergence of new
states and the dozen or more that
may eventually gain independence
IN Africa?
The answer is in the Depart
ment's, Bureau Of African Affairs,
only two years old. Until Con-
gress put African affairs on q par
with those Of the four other
regional subdivisions. of the De-
partment. it had been a poor
cousin.
AS recently as 1856. Africa's ex-
plosion of nationalism was not
creating much Of q reaction on
United States diplomatic organi-
..zation charts. In that year, an
4oflce Of African affairs under q
deputy assistant secretary was es-
tablished. but Congress was re-
luctant to give it fun bureau status
and 1t was Jumped in with the
Near East.
In 1858, when the bureau finally
was set up on its own, Congress
resisted appointment Of an as
sistant secretary to head it, but
eventually capitulated. The first
appointee. Joseph C. Satterth-
!, waite. still serves.
A Growing Movement
: Though the United States has
been slow in accepting the diplo-
matte ramifications Of the new
Africa. it has moved forward at a
. growing rate under the new bu-
7reau. Whereas only IT'S State De-
partment workers served in Africa
IN 1850, the number at mid-l960
was more than 500.
The figure does not include Of
ficials Of other American agen-
cies operating on the continent.
including the International Co.
operation Administration iICA)
and the United States Intorma-
tion Agency CUSIA).
The growth Of the bureau is
even more notable in light of
declining State Department total
personnel figures, from $4,000 in
1850 to $4,000 in 1860, resulting
from some reductions in force as
well as transfer Of agencies like
US1A out Of the department.
OF the African total, l0s are
classified by the Foreign Service
as having African specialization.
meaning they have served previ-
ouSly on the continent, have un-
dergone university training in its
problems or are doing so this fall.
Finding Americans willing to
serve and training them for 20
embassies. six more prospective
ones and II consular posts in
Africa is not the difficult problem
1t may appear to be, according to
African Bureau officials. First Of
all. . basic requirement Of the
Foreign Service is that its officers
90 where they are told to go.
II But in addition there is the
factor Of challenge, on q personal
basis and In terms Of career ad-
Vancement. Oncers serving at
relatively low echelons in places
like Europe can jump several rungs
on the career ladder by taking
Jobs Of greater responsibility in
the new African posts.
Hundreds Of Dialects
Training is not the problem
either that one might expect in a
continent where there are more
than TOO separate tongues or dia-
lects, many Of them incapable Of
being written, the bureau ofilcials
claim.
Because most Of the newly de-
pendent nations have emerged
from colonial status, their educa-
tional base has been built on a
European language-French, Eng
lish or Portuguese for the most
part. These languages are con-
as the official diplomatic
and educational tongues Of the
hew states. -...sl
The decision to use the Euro
pean languages, the bureau ON
ctals say, is a calculated one in
each nations efforts to achieve
unity among great num-
bers Of tribes speaking q babble
Of dialects indistinguishable even
to their neighbor tribes. @
In terms Of United States For
eign Service policy, the teaching
pf relatively obscure African dia-
lects is not considered worthwhile,
even though their mastery might
permit diplomats to 60 beyond
their basic diplomatic contacts and
acquire a better understanding
Of tribal life and problems.
= Foreign Service officers as a