POLICING PROBLEM

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 17

POLICING PROBLEM

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Nov. 5. One of the problems delaying a Vietnam peace agreement is the inability of the United States to obtain assurances of effective international supervision of a cease-fire, according to diplomatic sources in Washington. The United States — and presumably North Vietnam — have approached Canada, Indonesia, Poland and Hungary to serve on the international commission of control and supervision mentioned in the summary of the tentative accord disclosed by Hanoi on October 26. But so far, the best the United States has been promised is a token international presence just before or at the start of the cease-fire. DELAY OF MONTH The full supervisory body envisaged probably could not be organised until at least a month after hostilities ceased, the sources said. The organisation of this larger force of military observers would have to come out of the international con-

ference which would guarantee the peace terms and provide a broad umbrella for the four-nation supervisory body, they said. Under the draft plan, that conference would be convened within 30 days after

the signing of the peace accord. Even if it took place promptly, the conference — probably involving such major Powers as the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France, and as many as a dozen other small nations — would last for weeks. The 1954 Geneva Conference on Indo-China met from April 26 to July 21 In contrast to the small International Control Commission set up by the 1954 Geneva Conference, the new supervisory body is seen as i force of several hundred observers. The larger number is required to police the scattered areas of Communist and South Vietnamese controlled territory. Nevertheless, if the main forces of both sides determined to observe the peace accord, a token number of international observers might provide a deterrent against minor violations if they were allowed freedom

of movement and if they were able to do their own investigations, the sources said. The present 1.C.C., which has been virtually inoperative since the heightening of the war in 1965 with the introduction of United States ground troops, can act only upon complaints.

Canada said this week that it was ready to put its 19man delegation to the existing I.C.C. at the disposal of the new supervisory body for the interim period between the cease-fire and the international conference.

But the Canadian Foreign Secretary (Mr Mitchell Sharp) made it clear on Thursday that any further Canadian role would depend upon what the conference decided concerning the membership terms, of reference, and operation of the proposed supervisory body. None of the three other nations approached to join the new I.C.C. has indicated publicly what it would be willing to do. Poland, as one of the three members of the existing supervisory body, presumably could make its delegation available for the interim period. The other nation on the I.C.C. — India—has no personnel in Vietnam now.