Cairo.. The second summit of the Non-Aligned Movement

Cairo.. The second summit of the Non-Aligned Movement

The Second Summit of the Non-Aligned Countries was held on October 5, 1964, attended by 58 kings and presidents; however, the presence of Tshombe, the Prime Minister of Congo, was a crisis for many of the summit participants and  they refused to sit with him. Tshombe was accused of killing Lumumba, the leader of the National Liberation Movement in Congo, as well as Hammarskjöld, the former UN secretary. President of Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella described him, saying: "Chombe is a eccentric colonial person who is biased towards everything we stand against."

Tito, the president of Yugoslav, Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria and Gamal Abdel Nasser convened at the Abdel Nasser’s place for consultations. Eventually, they decided to send an appeal to Kasavubu, President of the Republic of the Congo, informing him that they did not want Tshombe to attend. And instead, inviting the President himself to represent his country. Their purpose behind that was to keep the conference away from unnecessary difficulties that may impede its normal course.

Although there were countries that did not want Tshombe to attend, there were three African countries that supported Tshombe’s presence, namely: Senegal, Nigeria, and Liberia, justifying that insisting on such decision is an interference in the internal affairs of the Congo.