United Nations: Pride of Africa

In his gleaming white uwe, a kind of nightshirt decorated with lace, Nigeria’s delegate made quite a sight on the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly. And his words made quite a stir among the assembled delegates. “I am losing confidence in the great powers,” cried chubby Jaja Wachuku, lambasting both East and West for failing to end their quarrels. “They are climbing from the pedestal of greatness to the pedestal of insanity. We expect leadership from them; they give us destruction. We expect wisdom from them; they give us lack of knowledge. We expect objectivity from them; they present us with blurred vision.”

It was Wachuku’s debut as Nigeria’s new Foreign Minister, and the verbal swagger reflected his country’s pride in being Africa’s most populous nation (40 million). It also reflected the fact that the new, half-civilized African states do not enter the world stage with any shyness. Only one year after his land reached nationhood, Wachuku could stand before the U.N. to lecture the world: “I am serving notice…” (to South Africa), “Things we want…” (from Portugal).

Up from Iboland. Despite a reputation for being emotional and showy, Jaja Wachuku at 42 stands head and shoulders above most of his African brethren at the U.N., in ability and common sense. Descendant of 20 generations of African chiefs in the Ibo country of Eastern Nigeria, he went to West Africa’s public schools, then won a place at Dublin’s Trinity College, where a law degree came easily, along with a medal for oratory.

After a legal career at home, Wachuku made his way up the political ladder under Eastern Nigeria’s remarkable, U.S.-educated Dr. Nnamdi (“Zik”) Azikiwe, now Governor General; this is no great political asset these days, since Nigeria is largely in the hands not of the Easterners, but of their rivals, the Moslem Northerners, notably Prime Minister Balewa. But whatever his political future at home, Wachuku in the U.N. revels in the flamboyance that comes naturally to the political firebrands of Iboland.

Trace of Scorn. Like most other African delegates, he sees self-determination as an issue only among colonial people, not in such a place as Berlin, which he airily dismisses as a matter of power politics. But while most Africans carefully concealed their opposition to the Red proposal to run the U.N. by troika—so as not to anger Moscow—Wachuku spoke out bluntly against it: “We do not agree with the Soviet Union about the troika proposal. That would not work.”

And with just a trace of scorn in his voice, he suggested that if the big powers could not really get together on a successor to Dag Hammarskjold, the problem might be turned over to someone else—the Africans themselves. “We, the smaller states, will produce one,” declared Wachuku, “and will give him our fullest support. That is how we do things in Africa.”