Will Hammarskjold Resign?
EHRMAN, ANITA
By Anita Ehrman WILL HAMMARSKJOLD RESIGN? United Nations Will Dag Hammarskjold complete his term as UN Secretary General? This is a question which the United States answers with an...
...The outcome would probably be the same as that during the Soviet boycott of Lie, when all major negotiations, even Korea, took place outside the UN...
...He is well aware that UN corridors hum with conversations about his possible successor...
...But neither have they taken any step to change the structure of the Secretary General's office...
...Because of the conflicting attitudes of the two super-powers, the Afro-Asians, in the words of one pro-Western African delegate, consider Hammarskjold a "political liability...
...As for the U.S., it is not unhappy with the present situation, since it regards Hammarskjold's continuation in office as a defeat for the Russians...
...Hammarskjold also is pondering the possibility that the Russians will maintain their present inflexible situation while continuing to insist that the UN cannot handle key issues, such as disarmament, so long as he remains Secretary General...
...The Africans looked to him then as their chief hope for isolating their emerging continent from the cold war, while both Washington and Moscow sought his opinion on the intentions of the other...
...Hammarskjold studiously sought to obtain tacit agreement, or at least not outright opposition, from the Soviets on policies he adopted in the UN...
...At present, Hammarskjold is mulling over all these various possibilities...
...In his usual diplomatic language, Hammarskjold was offering the Russians a deal—his resignation in return for the Kremlin's dropping of the triumvirate proposal and agreement on a new Secretary General...
...According to one of his close colleagues, "Hammarskjold will resign the day the Russians agree to the appointment of a new Secretary General...
...None of these Africans agreed with the Soviet charges that Hammarskjold was an "agent of the colonialists" and responsible for the "murder" of Lumumba...
...was wrong in stating that the Secretary General was a non-political figure...
...Soviet dissatisfaction with this stand of Hammarskjold was echoed by many Africans, especially after Lumumba's removal from power and his subsequent death...
...But all privately stated that "sooner or later he must go...
...Many feel that if the UN is ever to find a new Secretary General, the time to do so is now, when the Russians are attempting to establish good relations with the Kennedy Administration and when Communist China, which would also have a veto, is still outside the organization...
...During Premier Nikita Khrushchev's stay in New York, Gromyko said Russia had no intention of formally raising the issue—which would require a change in the UN charter— in the near future...
...In fact, the British and French nominated the Swedish diplomat in the expectation that this would be the way he would carry out his job...
...Therefore he stubbornly rejected Russian demands that the UN fight to help the government of Patrice Lumumba overthrow Katanga President Moise Tshombe...
...Their feeling, which Hammarskjold to some degree shares, is that the Russians are not really serious about their triumvirate proposal and at the right time will announce they are prepared to drop it in the interests of "conciliation...
...This attitude was demonstrated when the U.S...
...But he still feels it would have been disasterous for everything the world organization stands for if it had militarily intervened in the domestic affairs of the Congo...
...It is often questioned whether the badly divided UN could be more than just a debating society if it were not for the power exerted by a neutral Secretary General...
...That would have the effect of turning the UN into a platform for noisy propaganda speeches while rendering it completely ineffective for taking action...
...A Nigerian diplomat, discussing attempts by the West to have the Secretary General specifically referred to in the latest Congo resolution, complained that U.S...
...But his main energy is devoted to somehow settling the Congo crisis...
...He has no thought of resigning until the way has been paved for the restoration of law and order in the strife-ridden African nation...
...After that, according to his close friends, he will turn his mind to the hardest decision of his life— whether his resignation will help or harm the United Nations, which he personally played such a major part in building into an effective institution...
...If any such man could be found, Hammarskjold would resign, regardless of the objections of the United States...
...The British, French and Russians have always felt the Secretary General should be a mere civil servant and not a motivating political factor in the UN...
...But the question he now asks himself is whether any new Secretary General, after looking at the history of his two predecessors, would dare be more than merely the chief administrative officer of the UN...
...The mere fact that Hammarskjold needed the affirmative votes of the great powers to be elected made him a political figure, the diplomat said, and thus the Secretary General should resign if he lost the confidence of any one of them...
...The Afro-Asians are busv trying to find some candidate who would be acceptable to both the Russians and the West...
...But he shares American concern over how strong a role his successor could play if he is faced with the precedent of the Soviet ouster of two Secretary Generals...
...The U.S...
...When Hammarskjold took office eight years ago, he adopted a cautious policy in order to avoid the fate of Trygvie Lie, who earned Russia's wrath for his endorsement of the UN action in Korea...
...This intention of the Secretary General was overlooked both by the UN delegates and the press when he made his statement rejecting the Soviet demands for his resignation...
...They have made it impossible for Hammarskjold to take decisive action on any future issue, and have avoided any action, such as election of a new Secretary General, which could strengthen the UN...
...Their opinion, which is backed up by most of the uncommitted countries, is based on the reasoning that Hammarskjold has become a cold war issue and they don't want to be dragged into the middle of a SovietAmerican dispute, whatever the merits of the ease might be...
...Anita Ehrman, who here makes her first appearance in The New Leader, is a veteran United Nations reporter...
...He went on to say, however, that the Soviet demand for the replacement of the office of Secretary General by a three-man board, consisting of a neutral, a Communist and a Westerner, had "created a condition in which I cannot, in good conscience, do so...
...He, along with other African delegates who have solidly supported the UN's action in the Congo, argued that the U.S...
...Now he has become the symbol of future effectiveness of the world organization for the U.S., while for the Communist world he is only a Western "stooge...
...Hammarskjold has declared he is leaving his future "in the hands" of the uncommitted members of the UN...
...There are many delegates who feel the Russians are "having their cake and eating it too...
...Only nine months ago he was hailed in capitals throughout the world as a key negotiator for world peace...
...But Hammarskjold is also a man who cares too much about the UN to sacrifice its basic principles to the simple expediency of maintaining Soviet friendship...
...Instead Hammarskjold made his office the most powerful organ of the UN and a key factor for both conciliation and action...
...Hammarskjold is aware that these Africans, although not questioning his motives, have suffered a great loss of confidence in the UN because of the Congo...
...Completely dedicated to the UN, he cannot accept the argument of the United States that his resignation would amount to tacit acceptance of Russia's veto power over any of the activities of the 99-nation forum...
...failed to have Hammarskjold named in the Congo resolution and a three-power Afro-Asian resolution on Angola called for a sub-committee rather than the Secretary General to investigate the situation...
...At that time, Hammarskjold said that he would "consider the withdrawal of confidence by any permanent member of the SecurityCouncil normally to be a moral obligation to resign...
...But the Afro-Asians, and Hammarskjold himself, are extremely concerned about the effect of the present impasse on the UN...
...No one knows this better than Hammarskjold himself...
...So far, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and his colleagues have shown no inclination to alter their stand...
...Present top names include the Sudanese head of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mikki Abbas, and Tunisian Ambassador Mongi Slim...
...Ever since Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev called on Hammarskjold last September to "have the courage" to resign, the 56-year-old Swede has been a center of controversy at the UN...
...This is a question which the United States answers with an immediate "yes," the Soviets with an angry "nyet" and the AfroAsians with a hesitant "maybe...
...He maintained close contacts with the Soviet representatives, and during the 1956 Suez crisis was careful to allot the Russians equal time with the West in discussing future moves...
...Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson was "too emotional" over Hammarskjold...
...With the Soviet refusal to recognize Hammarskjold following the death of Patrice Lumumba, he has become a major cold war issue...
...likes having a strong Secretary General, as do the Afro-Asians...
...Hammarskjold is keenly aware that any decision he makes will affect the future of the organization...
Vol. 44 • March 1961 • No. 13
