AMERICAN PROPOSAL ACCEPTED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25253, 4 August 1947, Page 7

AMERICAN PROPOSAL ACCEPTED

The Security Council, after debating the Australian application for immediate consideration of the Indonesian dispute, approved a United State® amendment to the original resolution, and called upon the Netherlands Government and the Government of the Indonesian Republic to cease hostilities immediately. Eight votes were cast in favour of this proposal, and none against it. Belgium, France and Britain abstained from voting. The final vote on the Australian resolution has yet to be taken. Readiness For Consultations Earlier, Dr. Van Kieffens had said, after a telephone conversation with The Hague, that his Government would accept the invitation to cail off hostilities, but would oppose any. such order from the Council. He added that his Government hoped that hostilities would cease at the earliest possible moment. Dr. Van Kieffens told the Council that the Netherlands Government “gladly accepts” the United States offer to mediate in the Indonesian dispute. Pending consultations on how best the offer could be carried out, Dr. Van Kieffens said that his Government was ready to begin consultations with American officials immediately. Mr Valentine Lawford (Britain), indicating qualified agreement with the Netherlands’ view that the Indonesian conflict was an internal matter, said that the American offer obviated action by the Council at this time. He recommended the Council to confine its fiction to taking note of the American offer and leaving the Indonesian question dormant on the Council’s agenda pending the outcome of the mediation efforts. Mr Lawford proposed that the Security Council should drop the Australian resolution which called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and arbitration by a third party. Mr Fernand Van Lengenhove (Belgium) took a similar attitude. Mr Herschel V. Johnson (United States) said that the Securitly Council should issue an immediate cease fire request to both sides. Such a step could be taken without weighing the merits of the case and without prejudice to the legal or moral rights of anybody involved. Mr Johnson said that the United States wanted to’avoid any attempt by the Security Council to determine the question of Indonesian sovereignty and the question of United Nations jurisdiction over the case.

Mr Johnson said he hoped that America’s mediation would be fruit-

ful and he gave implied support to the British view that, except for the cease-fire request, the Security Council should drop the case for the present. He submitted an amendment to the Australian resolution making it state simply that the Council called on the parties to cease hostilities immediately and settle their differences by “arbitration or other peaceful means.” Mr Andrei Gromyko (Russia) protested that the Security Council must find the Netherlands Government guilty of a breach of the peace in Indonesia. “The Council cannot shirk a decision in this matter,” he said. Russia would not permit the Security Council to “hide behind legal questions the fact that there is a war in Indonesia.” Mr Gromyko said that the Western countries were making “a habit of circumventing the United Nations.” Mr Gromyko announced that he would submit a formal proposal that both the Dutch and Indonesian forces should be ordered to return to the positions held at the outbreak of the fighting. Mr Gromyko strongly objected to United States mediation, because it would by-pass the United Nations, and also give the Dutch an advantage over the Indonesians, since negotiations would begin from their present military positions. Justification for War He contended that the “Security Council must seriously study the question and make its own decisions.” The Netherlands Government had committed a clear breach of the peace and the Security Council would be shirking .ts obligations if it failed to take a binding decision. Mr Gromyko rejected the Netherlands’ assertion that the United Nations had no jurisdiction over the Indonesian case. He continued: “Even if. for the sake of argument, we admitted that the Indonesians did not fulfil the Linggadjati (Cheribon) Agreement, could that be justification for the declaration of war’ Obviously not. The world knows that big wars often begin with small incidents. The resultant fire in this instance may involve the whole world.” Mr Gromyko attacked the Dutch action, declaring that Holland had informed both the British and American Governments in advance of military preparations it was making. Mr Johnson denied Mr Gromyko’s assertion that the United States was trying to circumvent the United Nations. He declared that such a statement was “completely erroneous.”