PESSIMISM IN U.N. REPORT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31169, 20 September 1966, Page 15

PESSIMISM IN U.N. REPORT

The end-of-year report of the United Nations Secretary - General, U Thant, issued last night, was couched in unusually pessimistic terms, causing some observers to regard it as a political testament indicating that U Thant was firm in his determination to quit his post.

“I have tried my best to help in the efforts which have

been made to reduce the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam and to move to the conference table the quest for a solution of the problem,” he said in his report. “In doing so, I have been increasingly distressed to observe that discussions of the matter have, by and large, been dominated by consideration and analysis of the power poatics involved, and that there has been much less concern for the tremendous human suffering which the conflict has entailed for the people of Vietnam and for the people of other countries involved in the fighting.

“I remain convinced that the basic problem in Vietnam is not one of ideology but one of national identity and survival.

“I see nothing but danger in the idea, so assiduously fostered outside Vietnam, that the conflict is a kind of holy war between two powerful political ideologies.”