Nkrumah ‘President Of Guinea’

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 15

Nkrumah ‘President Of Guinea’

(N.Z.PA. Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, March 4.

Diplomats puzzled today over the bewildering emergence of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as apparent head of State in Guinea, only a week after he was tossed out of power in Ghana. President Sekou Toure, of Guinea, was yesterday quoted as saying that Dr. Nkrumah could now be considered Guinea’s head of State, with authority to speak for the country at international conferences.

Guinea Radio said Sekou Toure made the statement during an emotional ceremony welcoming Dr. Nkrumah to Conakry, the capital.

Dr. Nkrumah could ; also be considered | Secretary-General of ' the ruling Guinean Democratic Party, the radio said. In Addis Ababa, where the Organisation of African Unity is holding a Ministerial meeting, Guinea’s roving Ambassador, Diallo Abdoulaye, reported that Dr. Nkrumah had been offered both the party and head of State posts. In Washington, diplomats said that serious problems of | legality would be raised if I President Toure really had I handed over power to Nkrumah. The United States Embassy) in Conakry has been asked fori clarification of President Toure’s statement. There was also considerable curiosity about how Dr. Nkrumah intended to pursue the

pledge he had made when he ' told the crowd in Conakry: ' “I am now on my way back to Ghana.” Guinea is separated terri- I torially from Ghana by the Ivory Coast. Any Guinean 1 military moves against the 1 new Ghanaian regime would! run into formidable difficul- ! ties. ' Dr. Nkrumah’s Ghana hadj a good deal in common politi-

cally with Guinea. Both favoured Left-wing courses and engaged in militant anticolonialism. In 1958, the two countries formed a union which was intended as the nucleus of a wide-ranging African union. The “New York Times” and the New York “Herald Tribune” today both described as “bizarre” the announcement that the deposed Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah, has been appointed President of Guinea. The “Times” said that “to attempt actually to put Dr. Nkrumah in charge would surely be to create a host of new problems to be added to the formidable ones Guinea already faces. Even before Dr. Nkrumah’s arrival some specialists were wondering if Mr Toure might not be the next African head of State deposed by an army coup. . . . ‘Bizarre’ Method “It may be that Mr Toure saw in Dr. Nkrumah’s overthrow an immediate threat to himself, but his bizarre method of coping with it would seem to have scant chance of success in West Africa’s prevailing political climate.” In Algiers Dr. Nkrumah was reported to have called for support from the Algerian Premier, Houari Bounmedienne, of Algeria, in a message delivered to the Foreign i Minister, Abdel Aziz Boute|flika. by China’s Charge I d’Affairs in Algiers, Mr Li ‘ Wen-chung. The message said Dr.

Nkrumah was sure of the Algerian leaders’ support in the struggle against imperialism and neo-colonialism. Mr Bouteflika said in a statement that foreign intervention was increasing in Africa and imperialism wanted to destroy attempts by African States to consolidate their independence. Algeria felt directly concerned by the coup because it threatened the equilibrium and independence of African States. In Cairo Madame Fathia Nkrumah sent her husband a message saying she was ready to fly to Guinea immediately to be at his side, the Cairo newspaper “Al Ahram” reported today. Counter Attack The semi-official newspaper said in an editorial that African people admired Dr. Nkrumah’s heroic attitude by flying to Guinea “to continue the struggle for his country’s liberation.” Africans should halt what it termed an Imperialist attack on the continent by

launching a counter-attack to protect African revolutions. In Accra, the National Liberation Council issued an edict that foreign newsmen who left Ghana would not be allowed to re-enter the country for three months. A spokesman for the council said the move was designed to stop reporters from leaving the country to file from neighbouring African States, thus avoiding Ghana censorship.