The Security Council today decided “to dispatch urgently an observation group to proceed to Lebanon so as to ensure that there is no illegal infiltration of personnel or supply of arms or other materiel across the Lebanese borders, and authorized Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold to take the necessary steps to that end. The draft resolution, proposed by Sweden, was adopted by a vote of 10 in favor to none against, with Soviet Russia abstaining.
Arkady A. Sobolev (USSR) said his delegation had abstained in the vote because neither of the parties in the dispute before the Council-Lebanon’s complaint of intervention by the United Arab Republic in its internal affairs–had objected to the resolution. However, he wanted to make clear that his delegation had not changed its position toward the Lebanese complaint, which it considered “unfounded.”
Henry Cabot Lodge (United States), in a statement after the vote, said his delegation trusted that the Secretary-General would act with his accustomed speed in carrying out the resolution and would “have someone in Lebanon in 24 hours.” Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold said that “the necessary preparatory steps” had already been taken. The “observer group proper” would be made up of “highly qualified and experienced men.” to be “collected from all corners of the globe,” and would not necessarily be in Lebanon tomorrow.
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