Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council held its eighth special session from October 13 to October 17, 1958, at UN Headquarters in New York. Following the adoption of its agenda, the Council decided to examine simultaneously the two major items before it, the future of Togoland under French administration and the examination of the annual report of the French government on Togoland for the year 1956. The Council also had before it the observations of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the territory. At the Council's 937th meeting, Mr. Dorsinville, the commissioner for the supervision of elections in the territory, presented his report on the elections which had been held on April 28, 1958, which he had drawn up in accordance with a resolution adopted at the twelfth session of the General Assembly. Mr. Dorsinville drew the attention of the Council to the fact that the election results had been contested in six electoral circonscriptions, but that the appeals concerning the results had been rejected by the administrative tribunal. The composition of the Chamber of Deputies was, therefore, the same as that announced by the Election Returns Board, as given in Mr. Dorsinville's report. The commissioner re-affirmed the conviction expressed in his report that the results of the elections reflected the wishes of the people of Togoland. He pointed out that by the election of April 1958 the unanimity of the government of Togoland had ended, so that the present government was composed of a majority of a little more than two-thirds of the members of the new Assembly. The change in public opinion in Togoland seemed to explain the election results, in Mr. Dorsinville's view; the UN mission, he stated, had helped to create the circumstances favorable to the free expression of the people's will. Mr. Dorsinville also noted that the conversations between the French government and a Togolese delegation which had resulted in a communique were an indication of the good relations to be promoted between Togoland and France.