Senate Wants To Hear U.N. Views

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31542, 2 December 1967, Page 13

Senate Wants To Hear U.N. Views

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, November 30. The United States Senate today unanimously approved a resolution urging President Johnson to make a new attempt to take the Vietnam war before the United Nations Security Council.

The resolution, though not binding on the President, signified the Senate’s deep concern with the continuance of the war, according to the Democratic majority leader, Senator Mike Mansfield. Senator Mansfield, the main sponsor, said its chief objective was to force the member nations of the Security Council “to stand up and be counted” on whether they wanted peace in Vietnam. The Soviet Union and France in particular have

opposed Security Council discussion of the war and the issue has lain dormant since the United States put it on the council agenda almost two years ago.

The Senate resolution had the blessing of Mr Arthur Goldberg, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, who told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month that it would support his own efforts. Mr Goldberg also said that the United States would not stand in the way of a Security Council invitation to the National Liberation Front—the political arm of the VietCong. Senator Mansfield appealed to the Administration to try to revive the Vietnam issue “not in whispers in the corridors, but in open view and with firm voice before the Security Council, by moving procedurally and by insisting, if necessary, upon votes—win, lose or draw—in that bqdy.” The resolution said that that more than 100 United Nations members had expressed concern with the fighting and a desire for an honourable settlement. “These nations that talk a great deal ought to put their money where their mouths are,” Senator Mansfield said. In a long debate on the resolution, Senator William Fulbright, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said: “This war has j shaken the confidence of the nation.”