TENSION NOW OVER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26776, 20 May 1948, Page 5

TENSION NOW OVER

NEXT MOVES AWAITED

SITUATION IN BERLIN

MOOD OF UNCERTAINTY

N.Z.P.A.,Special Correspondent,

Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, May 19. The Berlin correspondent of The Times, reviewing the situation in the city, says the period of tension which began on March 20 when the Soviet Military Governor, Marshal Sokolovsky, walked out of the Allied Control Council meeting and which reached its peak with the Gatow air disaster, is now over and has been replaced by a mood of uncertainty in which the Russians on one hand and the Western Powers on the other seem to be waiting to see who will make the next move. The Russians appear at the moment to have dropped their argument that the Four-Power Government and administration of Berlin stands or falls with the control council, and that because the control council is not functioning ail agreements depending upon it therefore lapse. It is even uncertain whether the Russians really regard the control council as being abolished. There are grounds for believing they were surprised when the Western Allies withdrew their representatives from the council committees. These committees provided the Russians with a platform on which to formulate their propaganda and they appear to regret its loss. Although the restrictive measures taken by the Russian administration have inconvenienced both the Western Allies and Germany, they have not touched any vital spot either politically or administratively. The fact that the Russians have not further attempted to restrict air traffic between the West, and Germany may be an indication that the Soviet does not desire to give further provocation, at least at the moment. The more immediate anxiety is the slowing down of the work of the Allied Kommandatura, the organisation which supervises the municipal administration of Berlin. Since March 20 all that the four zone commandants or their deputies have been able to do is to remove items from the Kommandatura agenda, and the Russians are still objecting to the schedule of meetings proposed during the coming month. Although the German municipal administration is now functioning reasonably well, the * disappearance of the Kommandatura would strengthen the Russians’ claims to have the final say in the administration of the city.

German morale, after suffering a sharn setback during the period of tension, has recovered and is as good as it has ever been in the Western sectors. The firm assurances by the British and American Governments that they intend to remain in Berlin has been matched by the calm of their representatives oil the spot.

“ Fortunately,” says the correspondent, “ the Berliner has much of the Cockney’s native shrewdness. He ana his womenfolk remember clearly the behaviour of Russian troops in Berlin three years ago before the Western Allies arrived, and most of what has happened in the interval makes them immune to suggestions that a Russiancontrolled Berlin woul'd be happy, free, and prosperous.” Meanwhile, concludes the correspondent, no one can predict how long the present period of uncertainty will last. The Russians appear to be waiting for the Western Powers to declare their future intentions and to be preparing their own counter-measures. The Six-Power talks on Germany resumed in London yesterday, and are expected to end on Friday or Saturday with a considerably wider measure of agreement than seemed possible a week ago, says the diplomatic con-e----spondent of the Daily Telegraph. The recommendations will include the elation of an international control authority for the Ruhr and the establishment on August 1 of a constituent assembly which will draft a new constitution for Western Germany.