East- West Deadlock On U.N. Secretariat Issue

Press, Volume C, Issue 29635, 4 October 1961, Page 13

East- West Deadlock On U.N. Secretariat Issue

te .Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, October 3. East-West deadlock over the succession to the late Mr Dag Hammarskjold stalled efforts of the smaller States today to find a solution to the United Nations constitutional crisis. Usually dependable sources said they doubted now whether any resolution would be put in for some time to come, although they did not exclude a move to .call the Security Council into session to examine the situation.

Under the Charter, the 11member Council alone is empowered to nominate a Sec-retary-General for election by the General Assembly.

But the United States and Britain have said they consider the Assembly may appoint an interim chief execu-

tive without prior action by the Council, in which the great Powers have the right to veto.

The Soviet Union has suggested that a provisional chief administrative officer of the 4400-member Secretariat be assisted by three deputies and that the four members try to reach agreement on all decisions. The United States yesterday rejected the idea, saying it would compromise the integrity of the Secretariat and that it smacked too much of “Troika,” with its built-in veto.

The United States Ambassador (Mr Adlai Stevenson) described the Soviet plan as “no real compromise." He said it would “seriously undermine the integrity of the Secretariat.” The Soviet proposal did not give an in’erim SecretaryGeneral a mandate to carry out the full functions of the office. “This is imperative for the effective operation of the United Nations," he said.

Support for the Soviet idea came in the General Assembly yesterday from the Foreign Minister of Guinea (Mr Louis Lansana Beavogui). . But he also said Guinea would “openly reject, oppose and denounce any candidacy put forward in the context of the cold war, even if it is an African or Asian who is prepared to play a hand in the blocs which are pitted against each other.” 'Mr Beavogui also called for swift steps to be taken to amend the Charter to give African and Asian States adequate representation in the organisation. The United Nations must be brought into line with realities, even if revision of

the Charter were required, he said. “We in Africa cannot escape the impression that we are not first class members. We wish to be associated with the specialised agencies and play our full role.”

While backstage talks continued today, with no indication of any narrowing of East-West differences, the General Assembly was continuing its world affairs debate in two scheduled sessions.

The Canadian External Affairs Minister (Mr Howard Green) was due to open the morning session.

Fewer than a third of the 100 members so far have taken part in the debate, and with December 20 set as the deadline for adjournment of the Assembly, the committee already have started work. The Legal Committee is the latest of these to schedule a session. It was due to meet today, together with the Trusteeship and Social Committees.

The Budgetary Committee decided yesterday to put of! until Wednesday its first efforts to grapple with the financial crisis in the United Nation* aggravated by a reported total of 118 million dollars in unpaid bills. The committee, meeting yes’erday for the first time since the appointmnet of Mr Hermod Lannung (Denmark) as its chairman, approved a 20-item work schedule and elected other officers.

In Ottawa yesterday, the Canadian Prime Minister (Mr Diefenbaker) indicated after a Cabinet meeting that he might go to New York to address the General Assembly, the Canadian- Press reported.