Thant Reported to Have Voiced U.s., Soviet Concern to Egypt over Suez Tensions

The Washington Post said Tuesday that when United Nations Secretary-General U Thant called on Egyptian Ambassador Mohammed H. el-Kony last Friday to express concern over the continuing incidents at the Suez Canal, he, “in effect, spoke with the authority of the Soviet Union and the United States.” According to Robert Estabrook, the newspaper’s UN diplomatic correspondent, the initiative for the meeting with Mr. el-Kony was Mr. Thant’s but “it is assumed he discussed the idea with Soviet Ambassador Jacob Malik” on May 8 when Mr. Malik visited him to deliver a letter.

That letter, according to Mr. Estabrook, “was unusual in that it seemed to be a warning to the Cairo Government about the Suez Canal fighting, although it did not mention Egypt by name. Its references to Israel were mild by comparison with previous denunciations.”

Mr. Thant also had a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Charles W. Yost before the Secretary-General’s meeting with the Egyptian envoy and it was believed, said the correspondent, that they discussed Thant’s initiative. He said that Donald Bergus, the senior American diplomat in Cairo, was also reported to have relayed American concern to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad.

“Soviet representatives,” the Post said, “have been extremely sensitive to any implication that they are counseling restraint to the Arabs, and U.S. officials have been careful to avoid comments that would put the Russians on the spot. Nevertheless, there are indications that in fact both superpowers have begun to press their clients–the Arabs in the case of the Soviet Union and Israel in the case of the U.S.”

Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin held their 15th meeting yesterday in continuing bilateral talks and were scheduled to meet again today. According to the Post, “they are believed to have gotten relatively further in their exchanges than have the Big Four ambassadors who have been meeting in New York.”

(Israel’s Ambassador Yosef Tekoah said in a letter to Mr. Thant yesterday that Egypt has “decided to sacrifice the welfare of the population along the west bank of the Canal and to turn this sector into a daily battlefield.” He noted that Egypt had announced and carried out evacuation of Port Said’s civilian population “for the avowed purpose of extending Egyptian attacks to the Port Said area.” The Israeli disputed the veracity of Egyptian “assurances” to Mr. Thant that it would contribute “to the maximum extent” toward-reducing risks to the UN cease-fire observers.)