Mr Nash Welcomes U.N. Assembly Debate

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28661, 11 August 1958, Page 10

Mr Nash Welcomes U.N. Assembly Debate

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 10. “It is disapopinting that hopes for a meeting of heads of States to discuss the Middle East situation within the framework of the Security Council have not been fulfilled,” said the Prime Minister, Mr Nash, today, commenting on recent developments' in the United Nations Security Council “I feel that discussions at such a level and in such a setting would not only have been appropriate to the seriousness of the present situation, but might well have served to diminish its dangers,” he said. “Since, however, agreement in this procedure has not been possible, I welcome the decision to call a special emergency session of the General Assembly. This ensures that the Middle East situation is kept before the attention of the United Nations and confronts the General Assembly with responsibilities which it has not always faced squarely in the past

“The special f problems before the Assembly relate, to Lebanon

and Jordan, where United States and British forces still remain in response to calls for assistance against the danger of external interference. “It will be the first task of the Assembly to create the conditions in which the independence and territorial integrity of these States may be assured, and the assisting forces may b<- withdrawn. “It is imperative, however, that the Assembly look beyond these immediate issues. It must, L its work is to have full meaning, endeavour to elaborate measures which will provide small States with effective protection against indirect aggression And if the Middle East situation is not to be a source of continual danger and discord, it must endeavour to work for a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal solution of the political, social, and economic difficulties of the area.”