Word: congos
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Perched on observers' chairs off to one side of the high-ceilinged hall that houses the U:N. Security Council, two rival delegations from the Congo last week waited eagerly to see which would be recognized by the U.N. as the legitimate voice of the Congolese government. In the end, as if talking over the heads of the Congolese, the Council decided to hear neither. For almost overnight the primary concern of the Security Council had shifted from the intricacies of Congolese politics to a crucial debate on the competence and authority of the U.N. itself...
...subject was the Congo, but the issue was whether the U.N. could hold the new ground it had staked out as an international midwife of newly born nations, or whether it should subside into the role of a debating society...
...challenge to the U.N.'s new role came from Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Valerian Zorin who launched into a 75-minute attack on Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold and his conduct of the U.N.'s Congo forces. "The U.N. command and the Secretary-General in person," cried Zorin, "ignore the lawful government of the Congo. They do not merely fail to help the government, but attempt to discredit it. They try to impede in every way the implementation of measures which the government is taking to restore order and normalcy in the country. They try to assist the countries...
Zorin ended by demanding what amounted to a vote of censure of Hammarskjold and a directive sharply restricting his authority in the Congo. Dag Hammarskjold's usually impassive face flushed with anger. "My record is on the table," he said. "I stand by it . . . The U.N. is engaged in a major effort to give life and substance to the independence of the Congo. No misunderstandings, no misinformation, no misinterpretations of the actions of the U.N. should be permitted to hamper an operation the importance of which, I know, is fully appreciated by all those African countries which, with great...
Only Alternative. Springing to Dag Hammarskjold's defense, newly installed U.S. Delegate James Wadsworth (Cabot Lodge's successor) boomed: "U.S. policy in the Congo is simple. We support the U.N. wholeheartedly. We consider it the only satisfactory alternative to chaos, war and intervention." Bluntly, Wadsworth ticked off what he said were the real reasons for Soviet rage at Hammarskjold. By closing the Congo's airports and taking over the radio stations, the U.N. had weakened Premier Patrice Lumumba, whom Moscow had hoped to use as a cover for Soviet penetration of the new nation. If he fell...