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United Arab Republic to Have Only One Seat in United Nations

February 26, 1958
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Omar Loutfi, who has been head of the Egyptian delegation to the United Nations, officially informed Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold today that the name of the Egyptian-Syrian federation is the United Arab Republic. However, M. Loutfi did not present new credentials to the Secretary General.

It is all but official that the United Arab Republic will have one seat and one vote in the United Nations. The spokesman for the Egyptian delegation, Abdul Mawgoud Hassan, now spokesman for the UAR, who acted coy about the subject until after the plebiscite in Egypt and Syria, now says “it is clear” that there will be a single mission.

Spokesmen for the Secretary General say that so far as the Secretariat is concerned there is still nothing official on this point. However, it was learned that some fine legal points are being studied concerning the way to handle merged missions which will reduce the number of member states from 82 to 81.

The most important questions to be decided are those concerning memberships in various commissions and councils. Elected to these are states, not personalities. It is Egypt’s contention, it is learned, that all posts held by Egypt and Syria should be assured as a matter of right by the UAR.

While there is an inclination on the part of the Secretariat to agree with this in principle, the matter is not so simple. It could mean that the UAR would have much wider representation in councils and commissions than other states of similar size and even considerably larger. It is pointed out that in some instances, the UAR might outnumber members such as Britain and France in the number of chairmanships, vice chairmanships and seats in UN organs.

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