PRN Fifoot Esq
UKMIS
NEW YORK
CONFIDENTIAL
COVERING SECRET
Enter & pu
23/8
های حرکت به
૨૨
LAST
ASF.
रां
NRKT
REF.
(2
12x
233-4777
HKK 404/1
22 August 1977
/// ////
"THE GREAT SUITCASE MYSTERY"
1.
Please refer to your letter of 15 August to Pat Roberts in which you asked for advice on the line you should take with the Congolese mission in New York over the "great suitcase mystery".
2. Kinshasa, who were charged with the task of returning, to Brazzaville, the documents contained in the suitcase, recently asked exactly the same question (Kinshasa telno 3 of 10 August to Hong Kong refers: copy enclosed) and Hong Kong's reply (telno 2 of 12 August to Kinshasa, also enclosed) contains the information you want. It certainly provides you with enough information to rebut the charges made by M. Ngali-Marsala which you reported in your letter of 28 July to Roberts (and which I am now copying with this letter to Alan Donald, the Political Adviser in Hong Kong) As to background, you have already seen the telegram that began it all, Hong Kong telno 315 of 25 March: but you might also be interested to read Donald's letter of 30 March to Derek Milton, Massingham's teleletter of 22 June to Milton and Kinshasa telno 244 of 23 June. The first gives slightly more information on the suitcase's discovery in Hong Kong: the second and third explain some- thing of Congolese sensitivities on the question.
•
3. One small point in all this sticks in my mind. Ngali-Marsala told you (your letter of 28 July to Roberts) that the label indicating the sender was still attached to the suitcase when the Congolese mission recovered it in July this year. A number of Hong Kong telegrams and letters, including Hong Kong telno 2 to Kinshasa, state that the suit- case was unlabelled. I assume Ngali-Marsala has been misinformed.or has mistaken 'addressee' label stuck on by the Hong Kong Government for the 'addressor' label presumably originally put on by his Mission and long disappeared. If, however, it was only the addressee label that was missing when the suitcase came to light in Hong Kong and the suitcase did indeed carry a second label giving the addressor, perhaps Hong Kong could let us know fairly quickly. The fact would alter (and weaken) our case for the defence.
cc: A E Donald Esq (HONG KONG)
TJ David
Hong Kong & General Department
CONFIDENTIAL
COVERING SECRET