Washington plan to end war put to U.N.

Press, 24 October 1980, Page 6

Washington plan to end war put to U.N.

NZPA-NYTNS New York The United States yesterdav outlined at a closed-door United Nations Security; Council meeting an elaborate plan to halt the fighting in the Gulf area, American bffi-; cials said. The proposal envisaged ending the conflict soon by; creating a device or negotiating -forum.jto settle the grievances .between the combatants. A central feature.of such a’ device would be to have Iraq and Tran draw up the council resolution to end the hostilities. The key points of the American plan, officials said, were: — Withdrawal of , Iraqi forces from Iranian territory. after which the evacuated ground would become a demilitarized' zone patrolled: by United Nations observers;. . — Setting up a format to settle territorial and other points of contention between the two nations. One idea under this point is the creation of joint Iraq-Iran control over the disputed Shatt al Arab waterway, under the chairmanship of . a third nation acceptable to both sides: and, — To call on the two nations to avoid interference in each other’s internal affairs.

This has been a sore point for months in both Bagdad and Teheran, and each has

accused the other of infil-l trating agents and saboteurs to overthrow their regimes, I Any proposal that arose] out of this session would be’ sponsored by the council’s j Third World members rather] than the United States. Mexico, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Nigeria were regarded as the likeliest. According to American officials., the bid. to involve Iraq and Iran in the bargaining over a council resolution is as important as the resolution's contents. A Western ’ council ; member has : suggested that the council’s three Muslim delegates, from Bangladesh, Tunisia and Nigeria, who met the Iranian Prime Minister (Mr Mohammed Ali Rajai) in New York on Saturday, might act as mediators between Bagdad and Teherar at the Security Council. Arab'’ diplomats doubted that Iraq would accept any withdrawal, even if the area was demilitarised, unless the resolution to end the fighting covered all its grievances. These included a demand for about 136 sq km of territory north of the Shatt al Arab and exclusive control of that waterway. . In theory, the Shatt al Arab has been jointly controlled by both nations under the terms of a 1975 treaty, which Iraq revoked on the eve of its September! 22 assault. In practice. Iran'

tried to dominate the waterway, requiring tankers and other ships to fly the Iranian flags. I It was reported yesterday [that representatives of Iran 'and Jraq had agreed to con- ■ siddf a proposal by a group of non-aligned States to send a good will mission to try to help end their war. Diplomatic sources said the group mentioned seven to nine names. The Palestine Liberation Organisation was believed to have Initiated the proposal.. ■ The source'said the matter LwaSf.i tp.o? ,sensitive for the nominees-to be disclosed before the Governments in Teheran and' Bagdad had reviewed the list and reported; their responses. The agreement to consider! the list was rated a plus, but diplomats . ■ remained cautious about the prospect of the non-aligned States’ ef-i forts succeeding. The Security Council was? due to resume its debate on the Gulf crisis late yester-i day. In Teheran, Mr Rajai told the Islamic Conference envoy. (Mr Habib Chatti) that it.would not agree to ,any talks or action to halt the war before Iraqi troops withdrew from Iranian ter-j ritory., • ' ' j On the ’‘battlefront, the Iraqi and Iranian air forces struck at. various targets throughout the day.