Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns, commander of the United Nations Emergency Force, told a press conference here today there was no ruth in any report that he was planning to resign. He said he would remain commander of UNEF “as long as I’m needed and the Canadian Government tells me to stay.”
Gen. Burns said that he felt the arrangements made by the General Assembly would provide for the needs of UNEF for 1958. He expressed the opinion that the function of UNEF would be “strengthened” if Israel would agree to stationing of UNEF troops on the Israel side of the demarcation line, adding that the absence of such agreement was the major factor in barring visits by UNEF personnel to Israel. In the absence of such an agreement, he said, “the policy was laid down that only officers with specific duties in Israel would be permitted to go to Israel.”
Repeating statements that the he felt UNEF would be needed until more stable political conditions existed between Egypt and Israel, he said he thought it was unlikely that such conditions would develop before the end of 1958, the period for which the General Assembly provided UNEF funds at its current session.
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