ATTACK ON SPAIN

Grey River Argus, 21 February 1947, Page 5

ATTACK ON SPAIN

BY U.N.O. SECRETARY LEADS TO DISPUTE WITH NORWAY. NEW YORK, Feb. 18. The New York Herald Tribune’s Washington correspondent says: Diplomatic circles are stirred by evidence that Spain and Norway are engaged in a serious dispute involving the United Nations. The dispute began shortly after M. Trygve Lie, of Norway, speaking in the capacity of Secretary-General of the United Nations, in a report to the U.N.O. General Assembly on November 25 last, denounced General Franco’s Government in Spain. Soon after this speech, and even before the General Assembly on December 12 asked United Nations’ members to recall ambassadors and Ministers from Madrid, Spain, through the Norwegian Embassy at Madrid, began threatening Norway with retaliation. Since then General Franco’s Government has subjected Norwegian ships and trade to a slow “squeeze plan,” so that to-day there is not a single The New York Herald Tribune correspondent cites a Norwegian language newspaper published in New York, which, in a despatch on February 13, said the Norwegian Foreign Office had confirmed receipt of Spanish threats. The correspondent continues: “The controversy has already reached such a serious phase that Norway may soon demand other United Nations to come to her aid by imposing economic sanctions against Spain. American sources interpret the Spanish moves as a trial balloon to see how Western Powers will react.” ’