U.N. Seeks To Fill Secretariat Post

Press, Volume C, Issue 29624, 21 September 1961, Page 15

U.N. Seeks To Fill Secretariat Post

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright)

NEW YORK, September 20.

Mr Mongi Slim, of Tunisia, is expected to become president of the United Nations General Assembly today. He may be given emergency powers over the Secretariat, which has been left leaderless by the death of Mr Dag Hammarskjold. Mr F. H. Boland (Ireland), the man Mr Slim will succeed in the presidency, is also being mentioned as a possible choice for interim head of the 4000-member Secretariat. However, Mr Boland has said he does not want the job.

Usually reliable sources said that no decision on a candidate to fill the gap created by Monday’s air crash in Ndola was likely to be taken for a day or two, and much of today’s Assembly meetings would be devoted to tributes by delegates to the SecretaryGeneral and the 12 others who died with him. The sole survivor of the crash is reported to be holding his own in a hospital in Rhodesia. The man, Sergeant Harold Julian, suffered severe burns, shock and concussion Backstage Talks Intensive backstage talks continued today in an effort to fill the critical’ hiatus in the Secretariat, which posed such immediate problems as who was empowered to give final orders to officials in the field—including representatives in strife-torn Katanga Province—to consult with Governments, and even to sign day-to-day letters and to draw cheques. A number of delegations were reported to be opposed to the naming of Mr Slim to a dual role, because they considered that the presi-

dency.in itself was too important to permit a division of responsibility. Mr Slim himself was said to be less than enthusiastic at the suggestion that be should be both president and a kind of acting SecretaryGeneral. He is the only candidate for the position of president. In the confused and critical situation confronting the organisation, a number of other persons were being mentioned as possible choices, in addition to Mr Boland.

Among these were Mr C V. Narasimhan, an Indian official who was Mr Hammarskjold’s chief of Cabinet: Dr. Raul Prebisch, the Argentine Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America; and U Thant, resident representative of Burma. U Thant himself told reporters he was not a candidate.

He was among the group of about a dozen delegates who have been seeking an acceptable formula for a temporary successor to the Secretary-General in face ot the Soviet demand to create a triumvirate executive representing Communist, Western and neutralist camps. The Soviet Foreign Minister (Mr Andrei Gromyko) is reported to have told some delegates that this also must apply to an interim arrangement.

He was quoted as having emphasised that coincidentally the three top Undersecretaries of the United Nations were an Indian (Mr Narasimhan), an American (either Dr. Ralph Bunche or Mr Andrew Cordier), and a Soviet national (Mr Georg; Arkadev). Mr Arkadev is Undersecretary for political and Security Council Affairs. Dr Bunche and Mr Cordier were two of the closest associates of Mr Hammarskjold. j Western Opposition The West is firmly opposed to any multi-headed leadership of the United Nations, fearing that this could be a first step towards the “troika” plan to which they strongly object. President Kennedy is expected at the United Nations shortly to reaffirm United States support for the office of Secretary-General and the maintenance of the executive structure that most delegates consider has stood the test of 16 historic years in the organisation. The Indian delegation is said to be anxious to have the United Nations name an interim head in the Congo even before a decision was taken on a temporary chief administrative officer for the Hammarskjold. He said his The General Assembly session opened yesterday and was adjourned after the shortest-ever meeting—three minutes, two of which were silent. It began with the usual one-minute silence for prayer or meditation. Mr Boland spoke for a minute in tribute to Mr Hammarskjoeld. He said his death was “an immense tra-

gedy,” and proposed that the session adjourn until today after observing a minute’s silence for the late Secre-tary-General. The delegates, including many Foreign Ministers, rose to their feet and stood with bowed heads for a minute. Mr Gromyko stood with the other Soviet delegates. As they sat down again, Mr Boland rapped his gavel and after three minutes the meeting was over. The assembly’s adjournment was viewed as being partly a tribute to Mr Hammarskjold and partly because of intensive back-stage manoeuvring to find new leadership for the Secretariat. Soviet Note

in a Note published yesterday, the Soviet Union demanded that the General Assembly restore “the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations” and submitted an item to the formal agenda. This countered a week-end move by New Zealand to have the assembly consider only the general issue of Chinese representation. New Zealand submitted the question with the backing of the United States. Earlier the United States had decided to abandon its previously successful “moratorium” procedure, blocking substantive debate on the issue.