Uganda Envoy Denies Involvement; Urges 'African Solution' for Congo

The Consul General of Uganda last night officially refuted charges that Ugandan troops have entered the Congo, and called on Harvard students and faculty to urge U.S. withdrawal of military support for the Tshombe regime.

Speaking to a large group of African and American students in Harkness Commons. George Kalisa, the Consul General, cited a report issued yesterday in Kampala, Uganda's capital, denying Ugandan involvement in the Congo fighting. "Forget the New York Times," the Consul said, "let's get down to facts."

Aggrey S. Awori '65, president of the East African Students' Association, who introduced the speaker, called reports that a Ugandan soldier had been captured in the Congo "utterly false," and pointed out that the "soldier's" tribe, as reported by the Times, does not exist in Uganda.

The Consul General said that the Congo crisis is African in nature and must be solved by Africans without outside interference. "Any attempt by foreign powers to intervene is deeply resented and will be opposed by Africans," Kalisa said.

"We in Africa are in a time of building, not of destroying," Kalisa added. "The gun has no place in Africa and must be removed." The Ugandan envoy said the African states did not presume to tell other countries what to do with their military forces, but only asked that they keep them out of African.

Kalisa challenged the legality of the Tshombe government in the Congo, and called for talks "between all forces represented" to end the Congo fighting. "As long as Tshombe remains," he said, "the wealth of the Congo will never belong to the Africans."

The Consul spoke in place of the Ugandan ambassador, who had just been recalled to Kampala for consultations. Kalisa said the Africans' rejection of foreign rule was based on the belief, expressed by the American Revolution, in the rights of man and the rights of self-rule.