A visit with Leif Egeland

Tom Wheeler 

 For those who do not want to move Parliament to  Pretoria, this story may provide another argument for keeping it in Cape Town. The value of meetings and  should not be discounted.

Peter Goosen and I flew to Cape Town in late 1994 to brief the Deputy Minister and the Director-General on the Department's ideas for a new AnTIs Control Policy In the plane I found myself sitting next to a young journalist from the London Financial Times. He mentioned that he was the grandson of Leif Egeland, a former member of the Department who at 92 was alive and well and living in Sandton.

The newshound instincts engendered by a spell as Editor of the Meintjeskop Courier were roused. Erna van Wyk de Vries and I arranged with Mr Egeland to  call on him at his home.

While moving with difficulty, his mind was sharp and  he was harnassing the most modem echnology to  keep in touch with his friends. His cellphone was as much part of his support system as his  alking stick,  in fact a hunting stick which doubled as a chair as he took us on a tour of his memorabilia.

The stories he told us of his service as South Africa's Envoy in Sweden and Holland and as High
Commissioner in London were fascinating. They showed what a critical role a talented diplomat can
play in moulding history and in building the most unlikely bridges between people and nations.
General Smuts chose Mr Egeland in 1943 as his Envoy to Sweden, because of his Scandinavian origins and because he spoke if not Swedish, then Norwegian One of the members of the diplomatic corps in Stockholm at that time was the first woman to serve in Lenin's post-Revolution Soviet cabinet and the world's  first woman Cabinet Minister, Madame Alexandra  Kollontay. According to Mr Egeland she was a  brilliant Ambassador in what was then considered one of the Soviet Union's most important diplomatic missions in those years. In one of their conversations the question of how to bring to an end the Russo-Finnish War, (the Winter War/the Continuation War) was discussed.
It was Mr Egeland who subsequently conveyed the message to the Finns that the Russians were prepared to accept reasonable settlement terms.

His role in initiating these negotiations is recognised by the commanding Finnish general in his multi- volume history of that war. Although the world was at war, Sweden was neutral and there was time for Mr Egeland to become a close friend and tennis partner of the king, Gustav V. He proudly showed us his gallery of photographs of the personalities from those, to us, far off days. Another highlight which is probably not known or remembered was the role Mr Egeland played in the
Italian Political and Territorial Commission at the Paris Peace Conference in 1948. None of the
Commissionsmade progress, except this Commission which was chaired by Mr Egeland. Needless to say many of the deadlocks were caused by the inflexibility of the Soviet delegation. Mr Egeland decided that as a gesture of goodwill, he would address the Soviets in their own language. He
assiduously learned the few words of Russian needed to invite them to put their point of view. The surprise on the face of the Soviet representative, Mr Vyshinsky, was palpable and there for all to see.

At the end of the Commission's work Mr Vyshinsky addressed the chair and concluded his remarks in Afrikaans, by saying, "Baie dank ie, mnr die Voorsitter". Mr Egeland's gesture had not gone
unnoticed and it had probably contributed to the success of the Commission's work. Such a good relationship was established between Mr Vychinsky and Mr Egeland that at the Third UN General Assembly meeting in Paris in 1946 and the first attended by Mr Eric Louw as a member of the
new government, Mr Egeland arranged for a photograph including all three of them. Mr Louw's comment on seeing the result was "But Leif, what will they say in Beaufort West?" - his onstituency.
Vignettes like these throw an interesting light on often dry records of conferences and diplomatic interchange and prove the point that successful chemistry between  people is as important as clever diplomacy in -the conduct of international relations. Erna and I felt honoured to have met a man who had contributed to the development of South Africa's diplomacy early in the history of the eparunent
We were sad to read that he had passed away at the age of 93 on 8 February 1996. Mcimjesi:op Couric</Kooricr Volumo L 1996

*Leif Egeland's book "Bridge of Understanding" contains many more fascinating stories of his
diplomatic career. Even then the signs of South Africa's practical approach to diplomacy were evident.
 
WHAT MAKES A GOOD DIPLOMAT? 
According to Sir Harold Nicolson the requirements of a good diplomat are: truthfulness, accuracy, loyalty, calm, . patience and good temper - to which Mr Egeland added: ability to converse in foreign languages, the capacity to mix with all and sundry and to treat them all as equals, the right kind of wife, a cast-iron digesti on and the quality of being able to evoke the loyalty and co-operation of one's staff. Leif Egeland: Bridges of Understanding 1977, p 146.