Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold proposed today to the General Assembly the creation of a permanent, stand-by United Nations peace force which would operate, in many respects, along the lines of the United Nations Emergency Force.
Under the proposal, the Secretary General would be empowered to “sound out” member states on the number and types of military men and materiel which they would be willing to contribute to the UN force. The UN Secretariat would have stand-by plans drawn up to fit many contingencies, and might if it found such a step necessary, set up a military command unit from among member states. However, no actual force in permanent encampment would exist unless and until it was needed.
UNEF has, for almost two years, acted as a UN guard between Egypt and Israel in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Today Mr. Hammarskjold filed with the Assembly his long-awaited “summary study of the experiences of UNEF” in which, in accordance with a previous promise, he spelled out his ideas for a permanent, stand-by peace force. Under Mr. Hammarskjold’s plan the following four “basic principles” would guide the force:
1. No troops are to be stationed by the UN on the territory of any member state with out the consent of the government concerned.
2. The UN and the country where troops may be stationed are to enter an agreement pledging to each other their “good faith. ” Such an agreement exists now regarding UNEF between the UN and Egypt.
3. Not only is the force to exclude military men from “permanent members,” but it is also to exclude military units from states whose geographical position or special interests might have a bearing on the dispute in question.
4. However, the United Nations itself will ultimately decide the exact composition of military units in the force. An important principle proposed is that the UN itself will decide when to withdraw its force from a country once a force had been sent into that country.
Mr. Hammarskjold formulated also a set of “basic rules” for the proposed force. A UN force, in his opinion, must confine its activities to actions that are “separate and distinct” from whatever issues concern the authorities of the country where the force is stationed. The force must not participate in any situation of a purely internal nature. The force should not be used to enforce any specific political solution.
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