Blocking Bulgaria From UNO Membership

Northern Advocate, 25 September 1948, Page 5

Blocking Bulgaria From UNO Membership

WASHINGTON, Fri. (10 a.m.)— The United States, in a Note submitted yesterday in Sofia, charged that, the Bulgarian Government was disregarding its obligations under the peace treaty by subjecting to “imprisonment, torture and execution” many of its people whose only crime was “a belief in the rights of man.” The Note declared that, for this reason, Bulgaria was not qualified for United Nations membership.

The Note was in reply to a speech by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister (M. Vasil Kolarov) in Sofia, in which he said that, although Bulgaria had been scrupulous in fulfilling its obligations under the peace treaty, the United States had been responsible for rejection of Bulgaria’s application for membership of the United Nations. SECOND APPLICATION Reuters • Paris correspondent says Bulgaria today made a second application for admission to the United Nations. The first application, made in July, 1947, was supported only by Russia, the Ukraine and Syria. Today’s application said: ' “Since the triumph of the new democratic order, the Bulgarian Government has conducted a resolute policy of peace and collaboration with all peoples.” S. AFRICA MAY WITHDRAW South Africa might have to with; draw her membership unless there were a change of policy by the United * Nations, said the South African delegate (Mr E. Louw) today. . Unless the United Nations changed the road it had been travelling for the past two years, he said, South Africa might have to consider whether continued membership was compatible with her ideals.

Mr Louw said he objected to tire Assembly being used as an arena for violent attacks on member states and to the use of the Assembly for propaganda which poisoned relations between states..

A growing body of opinion in South Africa believed that only a firm facing of the facts could save the United Nations and, in the long run, prevent another war.

The Note also charged Bulgaria with breaking the peace treaty by aiding Greek guerillas, and listed as No. 1 of the acts of suppression in Bulgaria the “judicial murder” of M. Nikola Petkov, leader of the Bulgarian Peasant Party. *