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1555834
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Malawi - President Banda
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1555834
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document
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Malawi - President Banda
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collections
Presidential Correspondence with Foreign Leaders (Ford Administration)
Presidential Correspondence with Foreign Leaders
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Angola
Malawi
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1555834
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1976-03-31
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3
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1976
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1976-01-01
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1976
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The original documents are located in Box 3, folder "Malawi - President Banda" of the
National Security Adviser's Presidential Correspondence with Foreign Leaders Collection
at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
1329
7604708
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Washington, D.C. 20520
March 5, 1976
CONFIDENTIAL
MEMORANDUM FOR MR. BRENT SCOWCROFT
THE WHITE HOUSE
Subject: Letter from H. Kamuzu Banda, President
of the Republic of Malawi
Attached is a letter dated January 13, 1976,
from President Banda to President Ford in response
to his letter on the situation in Angola. President
Banda encloses with his letter a copy of a statement
on Angola which he made at a press conference.
This letter was hand-delivered to the State
Department on March 4 by the Malawi Embassy.
We believe that no response is necessary.
George S. Springsteen
Executive Secretary
Attachments:
1. Letter from President Banda
dated January 13, 1976
2. Copy of Statement on Angola made by
President Banda at a press conference
FORD
CONFIDENTIAL
a
GDS
lab 3/6/04
GERALD
LIGRARY
Digitized from Box 3 of the NSA Presidential Correspondence with Foreign Leaders Collection at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
1B
STATE HOUSE,
ZOMBA,
MALAWI.
13th January, 1976.
The Honourable Gerald R. Ford,
President of the United States of America,
White House,
Washington, D.C.
United States of America.
Dear Mr. President,
I write to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of January the 5th, on the situation
in Angola. It was a joy to me to hear from you
on the problem.
It so happened that your views are
exactly in line with those of my own. Before
your statement reached me, I called a press
conference on Angola. At that press conference,
I expressed my views, which are not far from
those of your own.
I enclose the statement I made at
the press conference, on the problem.
Yours sincerely,
FORD
H. KAMUZU BANDA
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI
GERALD GERALD ?
PRESS CONFERENCE AT STATE HOUSE, ZOMBA : 5/1/76
Gentlemen, I have asked you to come,
in the way of a press conference, because of false
reports in certain newspapers. These false
reports are to the effect that Malawi is sending
or supplying arms, money and men to certain
political factions in Angola. For example, in
its issue of the 10th November of the Weekly
Review, a paper published in Nairobi, on page 9,
there is a statement which says:
"Other suppliers of arms, money and men
include South Africa, Brazil, Switzerland, the
United States, West Germany, Malawi and Zambia."
There is absolutely no truth whatsoever
in the statement made in the Weekly Review of
November the 10th, on page 9. This is one of the
usual fabrications, malicious fabrications, by
journalists, third class journalists. You have
heard me say, time and again, that, in general,
I have nothing but contempt for journalists. This
statement in the Weekly Review of November the 10th,
on page 9, once more, justifies my contempt for
journalists, justifies my statement that journalists
often invent things and present them to the public
as truth, when they are, in fact, inventions and
fabrications by the journalists concerned.
The man who wrote that statement in the
Weekly Review of November the 10th, on page 9, has
FORD
never been here. If he had been here, he would
GERALD ? Annuall
have /...
- 2 -
have discovered that Malawi is not doing what he
says we are doing: sending arms, money and men
to one of the factions in Angola. Because we
are doing no such thing. The man simply
invented and fabricated the story.
Because, to begin with, here in Malawi,
we do not believe in interfering in the internal
affairs of any other country. Because we, here
in Malawi, do not permit anyone to interfere in
our internal affairs.
Secondly, we have no arms, no money,
no men to send to any country. We do not have
enough arms for our own Army, enough money for
our own Army, and we need all the men in our Army
at home. We cannot spare any man for foolish or
mad ideological adventures outside our own country.
And thirdly, which is even more important,
in the case of Angola, we believe that the people
of Angola should be left alone to decide their own
political future. For the people of Angola to be
left alone to decide their own political future,
we, in Malawi, believe that there should be a
government of national unity in that country, Angola.
The three factions, MPLA, FNLA and UNITA should come
together and form a government of national unity.
They should not be fighting each other. They should
sit around a conference table and resolve their
differences by discussions, and not by guns.
As /---
FORD LIBRARY & DERALD
- 3 -
As a corollary, they, the three factions,
MPLA, FNLA and UNITA should not allow themselves
to be proxies of foreign powers, foreign countries,
great, medium size, or small; communist, capitalist
or socialist. They must not allow themselves to
be used by outside powers to fight their ideological
war on their soil and through their people.
We believe here, in Malawi, that the
people of Angola should be left entirely to themselves
to solve their political problem. No country,
great, medium size, or small; communist, capitalist
or socialist has any business in Angola. Therefore,
all foreign troops, no matter from what country,
which are now in Angola, should be withdrawn or
should leave the country.
Very soon, there is to be a meeting of
the Organisation of African Unity on Angola, among
other subjects. This is our line at that conference.
We will insist, at the conference, that the people
of Angola must be left to themselves to solve their
political problem, without any interference by or
from any country outside Angola; that all foreign
troops now in Angola must leave the country; and
that the three factions must form a government of
national unity.
FORD LIBRARY i GERALD
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE - 599-022 - 1976
599-022