Author: Wang Shu He has successively served as an editor of the Editorial Office of the Education Department of Suwan Border District, a faculty member of the Medical College of the Ministry of Health of the East China Field Army, a reporter of the Third Field Army General Branch of Xinhua News Agency, a reporter of the General Branch of the Xinhua News Agency Chinese People's Volunteers, a deputy head of the South Asia Group of the International Department of Xinhua News Agency, a reporter of Xinhua News Agency bureaus in Pakistan, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Cuba, and the Federal Republic of Germany, a counselor and ambassador of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the editor-in-chief of the Red Flag Magazine, a deputy minister of foreign affairs, an ambassador to Austria and a representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna. Director, Institute of International Studies.
More than three months after I arrived in Accra, the head office telegraphed me to Conakry, the capital of Guinea, to cover the congress of Guinea's ruling Democratic Party, to be held at the end of May 1959. Earlier, Guinean President Touré sent a telegram to our Central Committee inviting representatives of our party to attend the first congress held after independence. Due to the lack of time, there was no time to send a representative, so the head office asked me to go to interview. More than a month ago, I was in Conakry and interviewed President Touré. Guinea was the only country to reject de Gaulle's plan to establish a "West African Community" in a referendum in September 1958, and the proclamation of a republic in October had a great influence on the national liberation movements in the region.
Conakry
Conakry is located on a narrow peninsula stretching out in the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the sea on three sides, with noisy waves and rows of palm trees dotted on both coasts. The hotel where I stayed was right on the tip of the peninsula, and when I opened the large shutters of my room, I could see the vast dark gray ocean on three sides. Although Accra is also on the Atlantic Ocean, the apartment I live in has no ocean view of the city. Seeing such a wide sea and hearing the sound of the waves makes my heart feel particularly comfortable.
By then, the rainy season had arrived, and there were storms almost every night. As soon as I settled into my room, it was not completely dark, and thick clouds surged from the side of the sea, obscuring the entire sky in an instant, and the fierce wind swept up huge waves, forcefully crashing against the rocks on the shore, stirring up pillars of waves. The palm trees on the shore were blown low and bent over, as if they were about to break. After a while, lightning illuminated the sea, and thunder rolled by, and I had never seen lightning on the sea so dazzling or heard the thunder at sea so ear-shattering. The downpour came in an instant, the sea was white, it was impossible to tell whether it was rain or waves, and all the roads on the seaside turned into rushing rivers, rushing violently towards the sea. The spectacular spectacle of the African storm in the thunderous Gulf of Guinea is reminiscent of the powerful forces of the national liberation and independence movements that are sweeping the continent.
Conakry city road
Conakry was a small city of 150,000 people at the time, but the brightly coloured, abundant rain moisturized the verdant vegetation on the coast, and the waves of the Atlantic washed the light yellow sand. The city is located on top of an iron ore protruding into the seabed, the land is reddish-brown, and many residents cut the iron ore into bricks to build walls or pave the ground, adding to the color of the city.
I walked into the city, and although Guinea was less than a year after independence, I could see everywhere what it had achieved. The tree-lined square in front of the presidential palace has been renamed "Republic Square", and the large bronze statue of the colonizer on the side of the square has been removed and thrown in the open space in front of the museum to replace it with a monument to the martyrs who died for Guinea's independence.
The staff of government agencies and groups, the police officers and gendarmes on duty in the streets have been Africanized, and State-run shops, bookstores and pharmacies have sprung up in the streets.
Guinea was the first in Africa to abolish the feudal chieftaincy system and introduce democratic elections at all levels of power; Primary and secondary schools have been brought under State management and educational reforms have been carried out. At the same time, I have seen the difficulties that Guinea is facing. In the warehouse, a large number of bananas, pineapples, peanuts, palm kernels and other agricultural products are piled up, and it is very difficult to export; Shops on the streets were scarce and extremely expensive, and Guinea had been under great pressure since independence, with many economic and political problems.
On the morning of the opening of the Democratic Party Convention, many men and women of Conakry dressed in bright national costumes came to the door of the venue to congratulate them. They seem to have moved all kinds of drums from home, some on the ground, some on shelves, some on their heads, and some on their bodies, banging into one piece, and many deputies clapped their hands with the crowd while dancing folk dances to the rhythm of the drums. Some elderly people also performed a show of striking drums with curved drumsticks on women's heads, and drumming drums of farmers living in the jungle passing messages to each other, including notices of meetings of local authorities, calls for help and help, forest fires, beasts wounding people, bandit attacks, etc., which was warmly welcomed.
Ahmed Segou Tour
President Touré presided over the meeting and announced that the theme of the conference was to discuss the post-independence situation and the political and economic problems it faced; The question of the liberation and union of Africa and the mission of the countries that have gained independence. He said that Guinea had invited many African guests to the General Assembly, most of which had not been able to come because of the obstruction and destruction of the colonial authorities, but believed that with the liberation of the African continent, more and more guests would come to Guinea. He wore a white national costume, a cotton robe, a round leather hat, and leather shoes with a pointed toe. Born in 1922 in the mountains of Niger in northeastern Guinea, he was slightly dark-skinned, tall and strong, with bright eyes, and worked as a small clerk for a long time, and later engaged in trade union work, and had more contact with the masses. He led the Guineans to independence, took a series of bold measures to defend it, and was respected among the leaders of African national liberation movements.
His voice was loud and powerful, full of eloquence, and he did not write a script in advance, and he spoke for three hours in one breath at the meeting, answering the questions that Africa and the world were concerned about at that time: whether Africa could achieve independence and free itself from the yoke of colonization; whether it can achieve economic independence, rely on self-reliance or the handouts of others; Whether they can overcome the pressure and sabotage of colonial forces and maintain their independence. He said in the loudest voice: "Our answer is, we can, we can, we can!" "In the afternoon and the second day of the Congress, representatives of Guinean regions and guests from African countries made statements, expressing their enthusiasm and confidence in the struggle for the liberation and independence of Africa. In particular, I met a number of representatives of Guinea's neighbours, who may become independent in the near future.
The author interviewed in Conakry, Guinea
Before I returned to Accra, I visited the Minister of Information again and talked about setting up my branch in Conakry, and he was very enthusiastic and immediately issued me a permanent press card and called me to go to the police station to get a permanent visa. Our second bureau, Konari in Black Africa, was established after the Accra bureau, and the head office called me to inform me that they would be looking for journalists to send here as soon as possible.
However, a few days after I returned to Accra, the head office sent another telegram asking me to go to Conakry again, because the mainland ambassador to Morocco, Bai Chengzhi, was about to be invited to visit there. I arrived in Conakry the day before he arrived, and the next afternoon went to the airport to pick him up and a comrade interpreter to the hotel. After he came, I learned that he had come here as a government envoy to hand over the rice that the mainland Government had given to the people of Guinea.
Port of Conakry
A few months ago, President Touré appealed to a number of countries to donate rice to the people of Guinea, which lacked foreign exchange to import rice. The mainland government responded immediately by informing President Touré that the mainland would donate 1,000 tons of rice, which would be transported by sea to the port of Conakry. After the rice was transported to the port, the mainland government had to admit that the ambassador had come and handed it over to several governments. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Ambassador Bai to explore the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries when he met with several officials. The next day, Bai met with several economic ministers and secretaries of state for foreign affairs and went to the port to hand over the rice. They are very friendly and deeply grateful to the mainland for its assistance, and they both said that Ambassador Bai could discuss with President Touré directly when he met with him.
That evening, we estimated that Guinea might establish diplomatic relations with the mainland, and we drew up a draft joint communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. When Dürr received him, Bai Xuan mentioned to him the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and he agreed, but while the joint communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations was being discussed, the secretary of state for foreign affairs leaned in from outside the door and called for Dürr to go out to discuss something, and Dürr said sorry and walked out. The two talked outside the door for a while, and when Dur came in again, he changed his mind, saying that the matter of establishing diplomatic relations would be considered later when appropriate, and Bai Xuan had to leave. Later, I learned that the US ambassador to Guinea was visiting several foreign secretaries at this time to discuss Dure's upcoming visit to the United States, and it is estimated that it also exerted pressure on the establishment of diplomatic relations with several mainlands, so the secretary of state hurriedly came to Toure to inform him of this matter. Guinea was politically and economically difficult, and Toure did not want to offend the United States before visiting the United States.
Ambassador Bai returned to Morocco the next day. I stayed in Conakry for a few days to continue to learn and visit some places by the way. Accompanied by a few friends, I first took a car to visit Fria, the center of the aluminum mine, more than 100 kilometers northwest of Conakry. The road is a dirt road paved with fine stones, with potholes and bumpy cars.
Guinea "strange banana"
Guinea's coastal area is more populated, there are many villages on both sides of the road and successive plantations of bananas, pineapples and coffee, and when we rest on the road, residents invite us to eat bananas, some weighing more than one kilogram, known as "piglet bananas". The area had abundant rainfall and fertile land, but in the past the colonial authorities had prevented farmers from growing the grain they exported to Guinea, but instead planted bananas and pineapples, which they needed to import from Guinea.
While passing through a small town, we also visited a small school, which was originally run by a foreign church, and after independence the government stipulated that the school should be run by Guineans, education should be separated from religion, foreign teachers were gone, and funds were not given. The school employs African teachers, including a female teacher, which has become a novelty that stirs the town.
The terrain of Guinea gradually rises from south to north, and our car climbed many hills to enter the aluminum mining area. The land here is reddish-brown, and even many small rivers are dyed light red. The aluminium smelter is operated by a Western consortium and produces 500,000 tons of aluminum ingots per year.
On both sides of the road, high-voltage lines stretch like long snakes from nearby hydropower stations over hills to the mining area. On the mine on the side of the road, many large excavators are laid out, and large iron arms weighing several tons are being poured into large trucks and then sent to the aluminum smelter. Guinea is rich in mineral deposits, but only low-cost and highly profitable aluminium ore has been mined. After independence, some of the original expansion and reconstruction plans of Western companies were delayed, and some were not heard.
Guinean bridal veil "waterfall
There are many beautiful sights in the mountains of Guinea, and on our return trip we visited the famous "Bridal Veil" waterfall. This is different from the ordinary scene of a waterfall galloping and a thunderous sound, but hanging from the cliff like a tulle on the bride's face, and the tulle blowing in the canyon breeze seems to be fluttering slightly. In fact, the source of the waterfall is several clear springs, and after the many gaps formed by long-term wind and rain erosion on the rock, it becomes many trickles, and gently falls from the cliff to become the veil of the bride. In accordance with local customs, we washed our faces and hands in the spring water under the veil, which is said to eliminate disasters. Guinean friends said that there are many attractions in the nearby primeval forests and rivers, but unfortunately it is too late, so I can only wait for the next time.
A few months later, while I was in Accra, I heard good news from Beijing, where China and Guinea had signed a joint communiqué on October 4 establishing diplomatic relations and exchanging ambassadors. At the end of September, President Touré sent Education Minister Barry Diavandhu to Beijing to attend the mainland's National Day and reached an agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Guinea was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to establish diplomatic relations with the mainland and had a great influence on the region's soon-to-be-independent countries. Some Western newspapers have bluntly said that Chinese cannot be allowed to gain a "foothold" in the region, and now this situation has been broken.
Soon after, Comrade Ke Hua, the mainland's first ambassador to several countries, arrived at his post. I returned to Accra, but within a few days the head office called me again to Conakry, saying that Comrade Zhang Zizhong had been sent as a correspondent to several stations and asked me to help with the work, and that I had heard that Senegal in the west of Guinea and French Sudan in the north were also about to become independent, and they were going to go there to cover the news.
Early one morning, I was still sleeping in bed, and I heard the noise of drums and people in the streets, and I remembered that several governments had decided to issue Guinean francs from today to replace the French West African francs currently in circulation. I hurriedly dressed and went out into the street to see groups of young men and women in national costumes beating drums to congratulate the Bank of Guinea. There were also colorful flags at the entrance of the bank, and there was a joyful atmosphere.
A few months ago, several Governments established State banks and State import and export companies, and there was an even greater conflict with foreign banks and importers and exporters. Foreign banks did not recognize the credit guarantees of Guinean banks and everything had to be traded on the spot, which caused difficulties in the market, so several Governments took the measure of issuing Guinean francs.
I met the general managers of several import and export companies, whom I had met when I attended the Asian-African People's Solidarity Congress in Cairo, a Cameroonian who had recently been appointed economic adviser to the Government. He was also happy to see me and insisted on inviting me to his house to try his wife's meal, which we ate until about three o'clock in the afternoon. When he drove me back to the hotel, there was another storm, and the front of the car was not clear, so I had to pull the car to the side and stop. My friend said with emotion: "What a powerful storm it is, it will wash away all the sludge and muddy water from the African soil." ”
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Article source |《Five continents》
Author | Wang Shu Picture | Internet
Edit | The diplomat said something Qingyan