The Danger of Disunity
JHABVALA, DARIUS S.
AFTER THE UN'S 18TH SESSION The Danger of Disunity By Darius S. Jhabvala The 18th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which drew to a close on December 17, met under a...
...To this the Afro-Asians offered the counterclaim that the Red Chinese were sympathetic to their cause, thus implying that the Russians were using the exclusion of Red China as an excuse to block the aspirations of the Afro-Asians...
...Since 1956 the East European countries have sought support for the Rapacki Plan, which called for a denuclearized zone in Central Europe...
...yet important, disarmament issues...
...One consequence of this attitude was resentment among the Asians, who privately charged they were being treated with indifference by the Africans...
...Several other factors also have contributed to this new relationship...
...Far more serious were the frequent Soviet tangles with the AfroAsians, which gave the latter cause to wonder whether the Communist bloc will ever be a satisfactory working partner in the UN...
...As a result, the Asians formed a "sub-group" within the Afro-Asian bloc and will probably act independently of the African members, consulting them only on a quid pro quo basis...
...The decade-long honeymoon between the African and Asian delegations waned at this session to the point where each treated the other with no more than formal friendliness...
...When the Assembly convened, it seemed likely that the 56-member Afro-Asian group, highly impatient at the lack of progress, would demand extreme measures against Portugal and South Africa, such as sanctions, expulsion or suspension...
...One, sponsored by the Latin Americans, asked for two more non-permanent seats in the Security Council...
...Not only did it help thaw frozen East-West relations but it also created an environment for meaningful discussions of what Secretary General U Thant called "the three Ds": disarmament, decolonization and development...
...And in subsequent blasts from Peking, Foreign Minister Chen Yi neatly uncoupled the Soviet-made links between expansion of the Councils and Red Chinese admission...
...There were no cold war exchanges, no intemperate or vituperative speeches and few, if any, irrelevant issues...
...Their expressed intention is to chip away persistently at the periphery so as to narrow the hard-core of their differences...
...Here, "denuclearization" means only acceptance of the principle not to introduce nuclear weapons into the area...
...For example, the resolutions on legal principles governing the use of outer space, the decision to ban weapons on earth satellites, and the decision to continue the disarmament negotiations in Geneva were all first reached outside the consultative bodies of the UN...
...The Soviet delegation's stubborn negativism not only placed it in an untenable position but also made it the target of sharp and telling attacks, both from within and without the United Nations...
...And the fear now is that if disunity becomes an acceptable substitute for disagreement the UN will be doomed to paralysis...
...Some attribute it to structural changes within the UN body politic, others to the failure of the Asians to find unity within their own group, and still others to a neo-racist concept that has infected some African states...
...This habit of negotiating outside the UN had nettled many delegates, particularly those from the neutral delegations which are also members of the 18-nation Geneva disarmament group...
...The Council's resolutions recommend an arms and armsproducing materials embargo against South Africa and urge self-determination for the Portuguese colonies...
...In most cases, the General Assembly acted as an "endorser" rather than as an "initiator...
...President Kennedy's appeal on September 20 for more Communistbloc cooperation on disarmament, for Western aid for the developing countries, and for a universal fight against racism and colonialism was welcomed almost to a delegation and gained a greater appreciation of America's approach to the UN...
...Yet despite the new tone of the discussions, the 18th Session revealed some of the organization's basic frailties...
...But none of these tactics was used, partly because of disagreement among the Afro-Asians over the value of such methods, and partly because of pressures from other delegations...
...They charged that bilateral talks by the major powers reflect a lack of confidence in the work of the UN...
...A much harsher appraisal of the Soviet delegation was made by the Afro-Asians when the Communist bloc opposed the expansion of the non-permanent seats in the Security Council and in the Economic and Social Council so as to reflect increased African membership...
...The initiatives were actually taken by President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev, and agreements were reached by the foreign ministers during the October talks in New York...
...President Johnson's reiteration of support for Kennedy's appeal, mixed with a Rooseveltian New Deal fillip of his own, left delegates with the conviction that a change in the White House did not mean a diminishing U.S...
...Except for Albania, the Communist bloc opposed the suggestion on the ground that there could be no amendments to the Charter unless and until Communist China is admitted to the UN...
...Despite their show of moderation, though, there was one tendency evident among the Africans that worried many delegations: They tended to ignore counsels of nonAfricans in African affairs, or to become highly indignant at criticism of Africa...
...Similarly, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of the Soviet Union, there were a few runaways, notably Rumania and Albania, from the 12-member Communist bloc...
...With the exception of the China debate, however, there were no other issues on which this kind of rivalry could gather any momentum...
...or, minimally, that they would stage disruptive walkouts...
...Portuguese rebel Captain Henrique Galvao, who risked arrest and extradition to testify before the committee, was almost shouted down when he began to speak pessimistically about prospects for African unity...
...The tacit fissures in monolithic voting blocs, for example, became deeper and more apparent...
...The next big bloc of questions that the Assembly debated with some heat concerned colonialism and racism in Africa...
...Much of the credit for this must go to the late President Kennedy and to President Johnson, whose visits sandwiched the work of the Assembly...
...Politically, the 18th Session turned out to be more advantageous to the United States than to the Soviet Union...
...Preliminary disenchantment began to set in when the Soviet delegation and the other bloc countries (excluding Rumania) strongly opposed a proposal for the denuclearization of Latin America...
...The Assembly instead adopted two major resolutions which in effect strengthen the four already adopted by the Security Council since last July...
...As in preceding years, disarmament and related nuclear issues were by far the most perplexing and took precedence over all others...
...But they were in no mood to let the Russians off the hook...
...As a prerequisite, this proposal would require a political agreement between the major powers and the removal of nuclear weapons already installed...
...AFTER THE UN'S 18TH SESSION The Danger of Disunity By Darius S. Jhabvala The 18th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which drew to a close on December 17, met under a combination of fortuitous circumstances that resulted in its differing quite sharply from many of the preceding sessions, particularly those held since the start of the cold war...
...During the last days of the Assembly, the Special Political Committee had before it two draft resolutions on the expansion question...
...The Soviet delegation, on the other hand, entered this session with a propaganda deficit caused by one of its own bloc members...
...Consequently, when the Communist bloc withheld its support, it conveyed the impression that the Soviet delegation still desired to turn anodyne principles into harmful political weapons...
...Whatever the reason, the Africans, who are the preponderant political and voting force within the bloc, have repeatedly made it clear —often callously so—that they are the "decision-makers" and that consultation with the Asians is only academic...
...But there are no such preconditions implicit in the Latin American proposal...
...The implication was further strengthened when the Red Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced the Soviet delegate, Nikolai Fedorenko, for "cunningly masquerading" as Peking's champion while actually seeking to bar Red China from the world organization...
...interest in the international organization, a concern of many delegates after the assassination...
...Darius S. Jhabvala covers the UN for the New York Herald-Tribune...
...Perhaps more important, though, is the fact that the slightest disunity among major groups in the world organization can have damaging effects on the UN's entire program...
...It is fully expected, therefore, that in coming months the nuclear powers will meet to explore new agreements, particularly on arms control and on measures against surprise attacks...
...With all but two per cent of the world's population now free, the Assembly found itself confronted mainly with the situation in the Portuguese African colonies and the racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa...
...In fact, the relationship between the two has become so seriously strained that leaders of both groups now doubt that the 56 Afro-Asian member nations could act effectively as a bloc in the future...
...The UN's role in such questions was, however, secondary to that of the major nuclear powers...
...This became amply evident in the Trusteeship Committee, the prized domain of the Africans...
...On September 17, the day the Assembly opened, tiny pro-Peking Albania out-maneuvered the Soviet delegation by proposing the admission of Red China, a question perennially submitted by the Russians as leaders of the Communist bloc...
...Some of the Afro-Asian delegations were willing to concede that the diabolical machinations of the Chinese made the Soviet position awkward...
...This ploy led many delegates to admit privately their concern that the SinoSoviet ideological hassle would trigger other open dissensions within the bloc and thereby diminish the influence of the Soviet delegation in the UN...
...And while they supported the Latin American draft, they also indicated that the differences between the two drafts could be negotiated...
...Such in-fights undoubtedly left a bad taste in the mouths of many delegates...
...Thus, while the 90-plus items on the agenda read like a list of the world's chronic ills, the Assembly's debates reflected the relative calm in the world brought about by the East-West agreement on a partial nuclear test ban...
...But apparently such criticisms have not dissuaded either the Soviet Union or the United States from continued bilateral discussions on marginal...
...A few days later, this same committee brusquely dismissed the testimony of four Goans who were invited to state their views on self-determination...
...Indeed the so-called "spirit of Moscow" pervaded the entire 13week session...
...In contrast with the Soviet attitude, the Western powers had, first and foremost, accepted the principle of expansion...
...and the other, supported by the Afro-Asians, demanded four more seats...
Vol. 47 • January 1964 • No. 1
