INQUIRY AT U.N.

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29898, 11 August 1962, Page 13

INQUIRY AT U.N.

S.W. Africa Report

(NZ.P.A.-R«ut«r—Copyright) NEW YORK. August 10. Mr lan Berendsen, the quiet New Zealander who yesterday found himself the focus of a new Soviet attack on Western members of the United Nations Secretariat, is described by intimates as the typical international civil servant.

Persons who know him well said that Mr Berendsen, aged 43, was the soul of diplomatic discretion, erring, if erring at all. on the side of caution rather than by overstepping his responsibilities. They said they had no doubt that the investigation to be instituted into his conduct as principal secretary of the United Nations mission to South-west Africa last May would result in his complete vindication.

Mr Berendsen has a reputation for reticence almost to the point of being dour. In EllsabethvUle last year, where he served as personal representative to the Secre-tary-General, he was regarded as one of the most uninformative of United Nations officials. One observer said: ■’He would hardly tell a reporter the time of day." Correspondents who questioned him yesterday about the forthcoming inquiry received a terse: “No comment,” and a reminder that a United Nations Secretariat official was not permitted to make any statement for publication.

Miss Jacqueline Yarrow, the assistant principal secretary of the committee for South-west Africa, whose conduct will come under investigation along with Mr Berendsen, her superior, is a native of Ashville. North Carolina, who joined the United Nations in 1946.