THE BERLIN ISSUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26917, 1 November 1948, Page 5

THE BERLIN ISSUE

Draft of Settlement Proposals ANNOUNCEMENT IN MOSCOW New Zealand Press Association —Copyright Rec. 11 p.m. LONDON,, Oct. 30. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says the text of the draft resolution on Berlin which Mr Stalin said was agreed to between the president of the Security Council, Senor Juan Bramuglia, and Mr Vyshinsky (Stiviet) was published to-day by Tass, which said it was as follows: “ The Security Council, having carefully examined the series of events leading up to the present serious situation on Berlin, and recognising that the Council’s main responsibility is maintaining international peace and security, and acting, in accordance with Article 40 of the Charter, in order to prevent a complication of the Berlin situation and in particular in 'preparing a way for its settlement, calls upon the four Governments bearing the responsibility of occupying Powers in Germany and in Berlin—France, Britain, the Unitfed States and Russia—first, to prevent the occurrence of any incident which by its nature might worsen the present situation in Berlin; secondly, to carry out simultaneously, namely on the day of the notification of this resolution to the four interested Governments, the measures necessary for the fulfilment of points (a) and (b) given below:

(a) The immediate removal by the ■ parties of all restrictions on communications, transport, and trade between Berlin and the Western zones of Germany, and restrictions on the flow of transport and trade from the Soviet zone of Germany and inside it; it thereby being understood that the restrictions indicated are those which were introduced by the parties after March 1, 1948. (b) The immediate convening of a meeting of the .four military commanders for the __ achievement of an agreement respecting the unification of the currency in Berlin on the basis of the German mark of the Soviet zone. The four military commanders shall establish conditions for the introduction, circulation, and the further use of the German ' mark of the Soviet zone as the sole currency for the whole of Berlin and shall come to an agreement on the withdrawal of the Western mark. All the above-mentioned measures should be carried out in accordance with the conditions defined in the joint directive given to the four military commanders in Berlin which was agreed to by the four Governments in Moscow and published on August 30, 1948, and shall be fulfilled under the supervision of a Four-Power Commission, of which the organisation, powers, and duties are outlined in the directive. This measure should be fully implemented by the date indicated in point (c); (a) and (b) shall be fully carried out bv November 20, 1948. . (c) To resume negotiations m the Council of Foreign Ministers on all problems awaiting solution concernng

Germany as a whole within 10 days after the implementation of the measures envisaged in section two or in a period to be agreed upon between the four Governments. Tass commented: “ The resolution on. the Berlin question adopted by the Security Council on October 25 completely coincides with the above draft resolution with the exception of the formulation of point (c) of section two, which, in the Security Council’s resolution, reads: ‘ (c) The date mentioned in the last part of point (b) shall be November 20, 1948.’ This formulation 'rejects the simultaneous lifting of transport restrictions and of the introduction of the currency of the Soviet zone in Berlin since the resolution adopted stipulates that the transport restrictions are lifted immediately while the introduction of a uniform currency in Berlin is postponed until November 20.” Reuter says a Foreign Office spokesman said there had been a text of the draft resolution on Berlin agreed between Senor Bramuglia and Mr Vyshinsky for submission to the three Western Powers. Senor Bramuglia, however, was not negotiating on behalf of the Western Powers, and the Western Powers had rejected this text. The Associated Press correspondent in Berlin says Dr Philip Jessup (United States) said it was possible that Mr Stalin had been misinformed about what happened among the four Powers in the Berlin dispute. He added: “We should not be too concerned with these factual errors; they can be corrected.”