The UN Tries Again

...I think some states will have to think twice before voting against us now, for example, on South Africa and human rights...

...For the UN has been tragically unable to deal with a fratricidal war in Lebanon that has cost 60,000 lives in 30 months...

...They want to use the PLO to create a Palestinian state which would be a new Soviet base in the Middle East...

...South Africa was granted a League of Nations mandate to rule this territory (formerly known as South-West Africa) in 1920...

...Before the end of this century, a score of nations could possess nuclear weapons...

...and UK with African support, voted 13-0 (the USSR and China, under the circumstances, could only abstain) to appoint a UN representative to work with Lord Carver, the British Commissioner, toward achieving a ceasefire between white government and black insurgent forces in the country...

...As a result, the UN is more and more the mirror of the world, with all its diversity, in such essential things as economics and human rights...

...But the fact that we've become universal—149 nations now-means the search for solutions is sometimes more difficult, because there are so many different nations, with different systems, to deal with...

...126, actually described in the agenda as pertaining to Israel's "illegal" actions...

...For with each new UN nation adding to that majority, it is under less and less obligation to seek consensus, compromise or settlement...

...A sort of fatalistic, melancholy ennui has developed since the emergence of the "automatic majority"-consisting of the Soviet bloc, the Arab states and the nonaligned Third World countries...

...and, inside the awesome Assembly Hall, its famous Leger murals staring down benignly on the gathered delegates, while at the high rostrum Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim of West Germany, and the new president, Lazar Mojsov of Yugoslavia, prepared to raise the curtain on the 32nd General Assembly...

...Prime Minister Ian Smith vehemently opposes any gradual takeover of his Army by the blacks who now compose the guerrilla forces...

...Thus, although a timetable of 18 months for the changeover is mentioned, as Hod-ding Carter puts it, "Whether anyone can deliver Smith's head is all pan of the conversation at this stage...

...4. International terrorism...

...He continued: "The foreign ministers of member countries come to New York and do much more than merely make speeches in the General Assembly...

...The Third World's front-line demands are extreme: massive transfer of capital...

...Tom Offenburger told the assembled reporters: "The UN hasn't even come close to finding the solution to the Middle East question, and this is one case where we think we can't work effectively...

...We don't believe you can trust the Russians on this issue, or any other...

...Gertrude Samuels, who recently retired as a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine, is covering this session of the UN for the NL...

...Still, Namibia promises to be less of a problem than Zimbabwe...

...Some work out a whole network of bilateral and multilateral negotiations that could-as in the case of Rhodesia-lead to positive steps...

...The central thrust of American policy here is the reconvening of the Geneva conference...

...Whatever the case, at the UN attacks on Israel by the Arabs and the "automatic majority" will continue, of course...

...And the place still had a touch of the theatrical this October 4-with its flags from 149 nations (up from 50-odd in the early '50s) fluttering in the breezes at the entrance to the Rockefeller-bequeathed East River sight...

...Others share his desire...

...this year they expect to surpass all previous records...

...One has to be here and actually take part in the nation-to-nation activities to see that the UN framework is very valuable...

...More important, he is well-informed and understands the African sensitivity to the way the Nixon-Ford Administrations virtually ignored the Dark Continent's two-score countries...

...Nonetheless, there are those at the world body who agree with the London Daily Mail description of the joint declaration as "a massive gamble on optimism...

...within the UN...

...But at the same time the U.S...

...As for the unexpected U.S.-USSR linkup, Ambassador Herzog told an interviewer: "The Soviet Union has been the main mischief maker in the Middle East...

...its bas reliefs on handsome nickelplated doors, symbolizing peace, justice, truth...

...Devoting half his address to the need for arms control the President warned...

...The problem is that there are a number of nations-Yemen, Algeria, Libya, and sometimes Iraq -that don't always accept our definition of terrorists...

...And though there has been talk aplenty about the responsibility of wealthy nations to assist the poorer ones, Waldheim has found it necessary to tell the Assembly: "It is paradoxical that seven years after the [aid-giving] strategy was adopted, [the flow of assistance] still continues to elude us...

...That plan advanced last September 30 when the Security Council, in a move urged by the U.S...

...5. Disarmament...

...The first salvo will come at the end of the month, when both the Assembly and the Security Council debate the question of Israel's new settlements in the West Bank, its practices in the occupied (or, according to Prime Minister Menahem Begin, "liberated") territories, and its trade with South Africa...

...The Ambassador stared thoughtfully across the lounge, where fellow delegates were deep in conversation, or relaxing in small, intimate groups over teacups and cocktails near the Great Wall, and then concluded: "I recall a bit of stage business in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest...

...Indeed, the youthful-looking, 4j-year old Young is something of a romantic figure on the Assembly floor and in the Security Council, the focus of both delegates and the public...

...We've done our homework on their own records...

...ambassador, Andrew Young...

...Although the General Assembly terminated the mandate in 1966, and a year later created the administrative Council for Namibia (currently chaired by Martti Ahtissaari, a Finn), Pretoria has just recently, after much Anglo-American prodding, accepted the principle of Namibian independence...

...I would like to see the UN not break the mirror, but allow it to reflect, even better than it does at present, the world as it really is...

...On this issue, some believe, the 32nd General Assembly will confine itself to a transitional role-preparing for the Special Assembly Devoted to Disarmament scheduled to be held in Mav.lune I97S...

...and, in effect, the writing off of major debts, not only governmental but from banks as well...

...As a spokesman for the delegation put it, "Everyone will get in his licks...

...This year, Israel will be quite prepared to counterattack...

...3. North-South relations...

...In the rose-carpeted delegates lounge, whose decor is dominated by a huge, garishly-green hanging depicting the Great Wall that Communist China donated in 1974,1 talked about the UN with a popular figure in its chambers, Ambassador Eamonn Kennedy of Ireland...

...a grave danger for the existence of Israel, and, incidentally, of Jordan as well...

...the assurance of peace still eludes us...

...The United States has now begun to reduce its arms exports...

...Carter told me: "We would like to have an international covenant, with every country pledging not to give refuge to terrorists...

...This Assembly is certainly going in the direction of universality," he observed...

...A calm, ruggedly built man of 55, Kennedy is into his ninth General Assembly (the first was in 1956...

...commodity agreements that guarantee the prices of raw materials...

...After taking office in January, Young traveled throughout Africa, talking to leaders there and attending the Nigeria meeting of the World Conference for Action Against Apartheid...

...No one is as yet sanguine about an easy birlh for Zimbabwe, as Rhodesia is to be called upon independence...

...have called for a special UN representative and peace force to make certain the changeover does not encounter any serious obstacles...

...As Young's activities to date suggest, the present Administration's strategy is to work together with other countries abroad on certain conflicts, not merely at the UN, but ultimately to use the UN framework where feasible...

...If this should happen, the world we leave our children will mock our hopes for peace...

...The statement, sprung on the UN press corps without warning, was the State Department's best-kept secret of the year...

...sees the major issues at the UN as follows: 1. Rhodesia...

...Explains Hodding Carter: "It is in our interest to move this dialogue in a way that stresses cooperation instead of confrontation, for basically it's West Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia versus the rest of the world...

...And at the 32nd session of the General Assembly, there is optimism that this year the United Nations may at least move in this direction...

...but we cannot go very far alone...

...In his address to the General Assembly, Carter did remind Arabs and Israelis alike that the essence of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, calling for a negotiated settlement between them, continues to be the American approach...

...or with the declared war between Ethiopia and Somalia-notwithstanding the note "of deep concern" Secretary-General Waldheim himself sent to correspondents on September 30...

...But President Carter made clear in his opening-day Assembly speech that for the U.S., disarmament and the threat of nuclear war are overriding, immediate concerns...

...The Soviet Union has opted out, taking the position that the obligations lie with the Western powers...

...His obvious impact on the Third World explains the new hope of many Turtle Bay veterans-even among the Israelis-that the UN will cease to be simply a propaganda forum and start acting in the spirit of the Charter: "to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors...

...he served intermediate stints as ambassador to France, Germany and Nigeria), and is an optimist...

...His point was reinforced shortly after 1 spoke to him, when Algeria refused to extradite five Japanese airplane hijackers...

...When Caliban looks in a mirror, he doesn't like what he sees and he breaks it...

...6. The Middle East...

...Some of these positions are unthinkable, though richer nations undeniably have a responsibility...

...Bill Powell, press spokesman for Wald-heim, savs, "we hope to complete the transfer by 1978...

...A whole new crop of resolutions to condemn Israel for a host of offenses waits in the wings-including Item No...

...Washington and London have been engaged in a joint diplomatic effort to peacefully bring about majority rule through a carefully constructed program...

...The issues that were prominent in recent years remain in the forefront, and the Middle East again promises to provide the most heated confrontations...

...In such areas as agricultural technology and assuring food supplies, the developed nations are prepared to be helpful, but they will continue to resist what they consider to be unreasonable requests...

...Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog has dryly observed that in the last two sessions the General Assembly "devoted only 50 per cent of its time to discussing Israel...

...entered once more into a bilateral partnership-in this instance, surprisingly, with the Soviet Union-to devise a joint declaration of principles for reactivating Geneva (including the endorsement of a Palestine Liberation Organization presence to guarantee the "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people...

...His comment reflects a longstanding attitude in and about the World Organization, where rhetoric has all but drowned out meaningful action on international problems...

...The important thing is to talk in ways that make sense...

...Nevertheless, one senses a feeling here that this year may be different, and it can be traced in large part to the presence of the new U.S...

...In this context, judging from talks with Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Hodding Carter HI and Young's press secretary, Tom Offen-burger, the U.S...

...Because of lingering uncertainties, Britain and the U.S...

...In the Middle East crisis— in reality, a 30-years war between Arabs and Israelis, with some intervals of truce-one can see a symbol of the frustrations of the United Nations...

...The UN Tries Again BY GERTRUDE SAMUELS United nations Attending the first day of a new session at the United Nations-the closest thing we have to a world capital-has always been an event, like going to an opening night at the theater...

...But it will be harder than in previous years...

...The "Group of 77" developing countries (an alliance that has grown to more than 100) is unhappy with the response of the industrial nations to its demand for a "New International Economic Order" at the North-South talks in Europe this past summer, and will raise the matter in the Assembly...

...could galvanize the session into pursuing more constructive paths...

...2. Namibia...

...The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey are meeting to discuss Cyprus, too...

...Despite occasional headlines seeming to imply a new role for the UN, the President has deliberately gone outside the forum to try to bring the parties together...

...The talk in the corridors is that the former Georgia Congressman, civil-rights leader and close associate of Martin Luther King Jr...