Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold announced here today that he will visit Cairo, capital of the United Arab Republic, “for a couple of days” next month. He volunteered the announcement at the opening of a news conference this morning when he also revealed that Andrew W. Cordier, who as executive assistant to the Secretary General, holds the highest post next to Mr. Hammarskjold himself, is quitting that post.
In his nearly 15 years in that post, and especially under Mr. Hammarskjold’s tenure since April 1953, Mr. Cordier has frequently visited the Heads of State and of Governments
in the Middle East, and has carried out many missions in that area on behalf of the United Nations. He has met frequently with both Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of Israel and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic.
In announcing his forthcoming trip to Cairo, Mr, Hammarskjold said “we have so many irons in the fire in that part of the world that it is rather exceptional that I have not been in touch with that area in some time. ” Asked whether he plans on going to Israel, he replied “I have no plan to visit any other country in the area. The UAR, as you know, has a special position. We have many operations there.”
His trip to Cairo, he said, will take place during the period he will spend in Europe next month. He is scheduled to attend a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council at Geneva on July 10.
In announcing the resignation of Mr. Cordier as executive assistant, Mr. Hammarsk-Jold said that Mr. Cordier decided to quit that post “because of geographic reasons, ” He was alluding to the fact that many member states, led chiefly by the Soviet Union, have been insisting of late that high UN posts be given to more representatives from new or uncommitted nations.
Mr. Hammarskjold said, however, he has persuaded Mr. Cordier to stay on in the organization, for the time being, declaring Mr. Cordier will become an Undersecretary in charge of General Assembly affairs, beginning August 1.
Mr. Hammarskjold also said, in answer to a question, that the Palestine Conciliation Commission is “considering the present situation now” but will have to make its own announcements regarding anything it may be doing. The question, asked by an Arab correspondent, referred to the letters recently written to heads of Arab states by President Kennedy, touching upon the PCC’s functions in regard to repatriation and compensation of Arab refugees by Israel. Mr. Hammarskjold, in his reply, carefully avoided mentioning Mr. Kennedy’s letter or the specific functions of the PCC.
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