U.N. Head Considers Arab-israel Situation ‘potentially Grave’; Cancels European Trip

Secretary-General U Thant announced here today that the United Nations has received a request from the Egyptian Government for immediate withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Force. Since 1956, UNEF has stood on guard on the Egyptian side of the Gaza Strip border with Israel and at Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula, watching over Israel’s freedom of shipping to and from the Red Sea.

Mr. Thant said he decided to cancel trips to London and Brussels — which he scheduled to start tomorrow — because he considers the growing Arab-Israel tensions as being “potentially very grave.” After announcing the cancelation of the trips, the Secretary-General said in a separate statement:

“The situation with respect to UNEF developed suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday. The Secretary-General is being kept fully informed on the situation by Major General Indar J. Rikhye, commander of UNEF. Last evening, the Secretary-General saw Ambassador Mohamed el-Kony, the permanent representative of the United Arab Republic, and asked him to obtain urgently from his Government clarification of the intentions of the Government to the continued presence of UNEF in the area. As yet the Secretary-General has received no response from Ambassador el-Kony.

“The UNEF went into the area 10 years ago with the consent of the Government of the UAR and has continued there on that basis. As a peacekeeping force, it could not remain there if that consent were withdrawn or if the conditions under which it operates were so qualified that the Force was unable to function effectively. The Secretary-General regards the situation as being potentially very grave. On the basis of reports received thus far from Lt.Gen. Odd Bull, Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, the Secretary-General knows of no troop concentrations or movements which should give rise to concern.”

UNEF, which at its height had a strength of 5,000 military men, now has a little over 3,000 men and officers contributed by Brazil, Canada, Denmark, India, Norway, Sweden and Yugoslavia. Gen. Rykhye, the commander, is an Indian. Announcement was made here also that, this afternoon, Mr. Thant would meet with the representatives here of the seven governments which contribute personnel to UNEF.

Meanwhile, the new Tunisian Ambassador here voiced his Government’s approval of Egypt’s request for UNEF’s withdrawal. At the same time, he attacked Egypt for not backing Jordan and Syria in their conflicts with Israel. The new envoy, Mahmoud Mastiri, had just presented his credentials to Mr. Thant and told newsmen here: “If the UAR wants UNEF to leave, we would approve. The U.N. presence merely left Egypt free to go on killing Yemenites and making big speeches against Israel instead of acting, while Syria and Jordan bore the burden of defending the Arabs from the Israelis. The current troop movements in Egypt and the reported request for withdrawal of UNEF from the Gaza Strip is more or less of a maneuver by Egypt to influence Arab public opinion. The Egyptians want to make it clear that they will act if a conflict breaks out on the Syrian border — but we know they won’t.”