IMPRISONED M.P.s IN CONGO

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29385, 12 December 1960, Page 17

IMPRISONED M.P.s IN CONGO

Ceylon Moves In U.N. For Release (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, December 11. Ceylon’s delegation to the United Nations was preparing today a resolution calling for the immediate release of imprisoned Congolese members of Parliament so that they might resume their Parliamentary duties in an effort to restore calm to the unsettled Republic. The Ceylon delegate, Sir Claude Corea, told the Security Council yesterday that his resolution, which he hoped to table formally on Monday, would also urge that every effort be made to maintain law and order in the Congo. The Security Council voted against a proposal by the chairman, Mr Valerian Zorin, of the Soviet Union, that the council meet today.

Sir Claude Corea said the council should endorse a resolution which would invest the SecretaryGeneral, Mr Dag Hammarskjold. with authority to use forces at his disposal to see that legal processes were re-established in the Congo and that the Congolese people were freed from fear “of arbitrary arrest and incarceration.”

Sir Cla”de Corea recalled that the President of the Congo, Mr Joseph Kasavubu, had proclaimed his intention of bringing together the political leaders of all parties to explore ways of reconciling opposing factions. The Ceylon delegate expressed regret that the Congolese President had not so far fulfilled this promise. “We wonder at the long silences President Kasavubu imposes upon himself at a time when his country is tottering,” Sir Claude Corea said. He said the United Nations Command must be instructed to take whatever measures were necessary to disarm all private armies throughout the Republic. The Indian Defence Minister, Mr V K Khrishna Menon, described the College of Commissioners set up by Colonel Joseph Mobutu to run the Congo as "overgrown schoolboys.” and said they were sowing the-seeds of feud. He said Indian officials in the

Congo had been ill treated and had been subjected to indignities. Mr Menon also spoke of concentrations of Belgian troops in the trust territory of Ruanda-Urundi. This was a serious violation of the trusteeship agreements and principles, he said. Mr M’hammed Boucetta, of Morocco, speaking—like Mr Menon—as an interested nonmember of the council, said that the situation in the Congo risked world peace at any moment.

All the veils that were cast over the situation must not “hide this sad reality from our eyes.” It was possible that it could “explode the gunpowder and cast the world into a final cataclysm,” he said.

He referred to Mr Lumumba’s "martyrdom.” saying this would make him more and more the representative of his country, where the true situation now was one of a people handed over to “lust and intrigues.” Mr Hammarskjold, intervening earlier, said the point had been made that it was the duty of the United Nations and the SecretaryGeneral under the present rules to liberate Mr Lumumba. “To our knowledge Mr Lumumba was arrested under a warrant which is properly signed and approved by ’ the Chief of

State who is also the head of the delegation to the United Nations," he said. “So any action by force to liberate Mr Lumumba would in fact override by force the authority of the Chief of State. I think we all are aware of what that meant in legal terms in relation to a country.” He said the same applied to proposals to disarm the troops commanded by Colonel Mobutu, who, he said, was recognised by the President of the Congo. RIVAL RESOLUTIONS Mr Hammarskjold intervened,in the debate on the rival Western and Soviet resolutions on the Congo situation. Britain, the United States. Argentina and Italy have jointly snonsored a “humanitarian” draft calling on the International Red Cross to examine detained persons throughout the Congo, including Mr Lumumba. The Soviet Union demanded in its resolution that the United Nations secure Mr Lumumba’s immediate release and take steps to ensure the resumption of the Congolese Parliament, to disarm the Congolese Army and to call on Belgium to withdraw its personnel from the Congo. Observers expected the Soviet Union to veto the Western draft and fail to obtain the required majority for adoption of its own resolution. U.A.R. CRITICISM

The Security Council yesterday heard strong criticism from the United Arab Tiepublic’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Mahm’oud Fawzi. who came to New York for the debate after President Nasser announced withdrawal of United Arab Republic troops from the United Nations force in the Congo. He said the Western resolution did not “take the bull by the horns.” The Soviet draft, he said, did meet the situation boldly and squarely and the United Arab Republic was “in general agreement” with it.

If the Russians veto the Western draft it will be their ninetysecond veto. Mr James Wadsworth, of the United States, told the council there was no question as to the right of Congolese authorities' to arrest Mr Lumumba. At the same time. Mr Wadsworth said, the United Nations should take “effective and vigorous action to prevent widespread brutality in the Congo." The Belgian Government has declared- that the recent report of the United Nations’ special representative in the Congo contains “tendentious judgments” and “ambiguous innuendos.” In a note to the SecretaryGeneral (Mr Hammarskjold). it said that Belgian public opinion had been “greatly displeased” and “shocked” by the report from Mr Rajeswar Dayal. The comments were forwarded to the Secretary-General by the Belgian delegation m New York Referring to that portion of the report in which Mr Dayal spoke of the return of Belgians to the Congo, the Note said it was “a collection of impressions rather than of statements of fact. “It is for the Congolese authorities to determine whether it is to their interest to retain or dismiss officials,” the Note sad