Word: ultimatumed
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...diplomatic measure, the ultimatum Peking issued to London early last week was an unacceptable affront to sovereignty and protocol. It was both peremptory and insulting, addressing itself to "the British government's utterly hideous and ferocious features of fascist imperialism." Britain's man in Peking, Charge d'Affaires Donald Hopson, 52, a cool, much-decorated World War II commando offi cer, simply refused to send it to London. Peking, of course, broadcast the texts anyway. It demanded the release of 53 imprisoned Hong Kong Communists within 48 hours and the re opening of three outlawed Red tabloids...
Hong Kong braced for the worst-more riots, further cuts in supplies of food and water. But the Maoists struck first at Hopson's chancellery in Peking. On the dot of the ultimatum's expiration, even though all but 18 of the 19 prisoners had been routinely released, hundreds of Red Guards pushed past acquiescent Red Army and police guards. They crowded into the British diplomatic compound, shouting Mao-think slogans in English and French and throwing Molotov cocktails. Inside were 23 British diplomats, women and children. The mob set the chancellery afire, forcing the British to come...
...Party Ultimatum. In Brussels, the reaction was angry and immediate. Fearful that another anti-white bloodletting was imminent, Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel flew home from a vacation in southern France to appear on radio and television and demand that Mobutu guarantee the safety of the 40,000 Belgians who live in the Congo. Otherwise, Harmel implied, Belgium would cut off its $70 million-a-year aid program and order its citizens home, a move that could mean the virtual col lapse of all the Congo's industries, communications and civil service...
Even more unsettling, though, was an ultimatum issued by Mobutu's own party headquarters, presumably with presidential approval. Unless the mercenaries evacuated Bukavu within ten days, it said, "all those supporting them will be spectacularly punished." In Congolese terms, that could be taken to mean death to all whites...
...Kinshasa, Mobutu immediately rejected the ultimatum and said that he would "never stoop to negotiate with assassins." If he does not change his mind, warned Schramme, "I'll take measures of a greater scope. We are in a position of strength. We have shown that the Congolese National Army is incapable of defeating us. Who knows, I could even go so far as launching an offensive against Kinshasa...