U.N.’s top post

Press, 5 December 1981, Page 14

U.N.’s top post

The withdrawal of Mr Kurt Waldheim from the contest for the post of SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, and the expected withdrawal from the contest of Mr Salim Ahmed Salim should break the impasse over the post. But it does not mean that one or the other no longer has a chance of becoming Secretary-General. If no compromise candidate can be accepted, then either or both men may again become candidates. There seems to be reason to believe, however, that China would go on vetoing Mr Waldheim in the Security Council and that the United States would go on vetoing Mr Salim. China might stop exercising its veto if Mr Waldheim agreed to a shorter period as Secretary-General with a clear undertaking that after his term a Third World candidate would succeed him. Of the other candidates offering at present, there is some doubt about whether there would be agreement among the South Americans themselves and between the South Americans and the Africans. Mr Salim has the backing of both the Third World and the Non-Aligned Movement. A Tanzanian of generally accepted moderate views, he appears to have the backing both of the African group and the South American group. The attitude of the Third World appears to be clearly that it is time for a Third World candidate and that Mr Waldheim, having served for two terms amounting to 10 years, has been in the post long enough. The feeling appears to have been so strong that there were suggestions that had the Security Council, in fact, agreed on Mr

Waldheim, the General Assembly, where the Non-Aligned have 97 votes out of 156, might have refused to accept the Security Council's recommendation. In the past the General Assembly has always accepted the Security Council’s recommendation. Mr Waldheim, who has devoted many years of his life to working in the United Nations, both as Secretary-General and earlier as representing Austria, doubtless would not want to see one of the organs of the United Nations set against another. Mr Waldheim is the fourth SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations. The first Secretary-General, Mr Trygve Lie, was a Norwegian; he was succeeded by Mr Dag Hammarskjold, a Swede, who died in a plane crash in Africa. U Thant, of Burma, was the third and the first Third World person to hold the post. He retired because of illness when his term expired in 1971 and Mr Waldheim was elected to the post with little opposition. All the SecretariesGeneral have had considerable negotiating skills; Mr Waldheim as an Austrian brought a particular awareness of East and West to the post. Of the four who have served, Mr Hammarskjold was perhaps the one who seemed prepared to use the United Nations most actively in world negotiations and to solve problems. It is a tribute to Mr Waldheim that in the tricky relationship that now exists between the Soviet Union and the United States, he was supported by both in the ballots that have been held: It is also a tribute to him that he is prepared to sacrifice personal hopes and ambitions to break the deadlock over the election.