United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, who negotiated with the Egyptian ruler, Col. Nasser for the passage of the Inge Toft through the Suez Canal, said at a press conference here today that the UN resolutions requesting unhampered passage of ships of all nations through the Suez international waterway–including Israeli ships–still “stand” as adopted and “have not been altered” by Egypt’s failure “to acquience” to them.
Mr. Hammarskjold, who just returned from a visit to 26 African countries, including Egypt where he conferred with Nasser on the Suez blockade against Israel, would not say what additional steps, if any, he has in mind to force the Egyptian dictator to comply with the UN resolutions against the blockade. Asked whether the United Nations has now reconciled itself to letting the Suez Canal blockade against Israel prevail, whether the United Nations will do anything concrete about the matter and if so, what that action will be, and when, Mr. Hammarskjold replied:
“As regards my own stand, it is well known; it is on record; it is not in any way modified. The fact that certain attitudes of member governments–this one or that one–are not adjusted to what, from my point of view, is the United Nation line does not mean any acquiescence either from the United Nations or from the Secretary-General. That disposes, I think, of your question of principle. There is no acquiecen by anybody in anything. The United Nations decisions stand, and the United Nations decisions as they stand are the law of the Secretary-General.
“As regards the concrete measures to which this can lead, I think that the fact that this matter has been on my desk practically daily for ‘X’ years is concrete enough. If the concrete measures have not been publicized, it has been in the best interests of the operation itself. If they have so far not succeeded, or succeeded only partly, it is not due to any lack of intensity or energy or consistency in the efforts of the Secretariat.”
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