The future of UN peace-keeping forces in the Middle East was the main focus of attention here today in the wake of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s failure to achieve a second-stage Israeli-Egyptian agreement in Sinai. A UN spokesman said that Secretary General Kurt Waldheim so far has not been “informed” on reconvening the Geneva peace conference by either of its co-chairmen–the United States or the Soviet Union.
But the Secretary General is closely watching developments in the Middle East, especially with regard to renewal of the mandates of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) on the Israeli-Egyptian front. which expires April 24 and of the United Nations Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) on the Israeli-Syrian front whose term expires May 30, the spokesman reported. The Secretary General Issued a statement Saturday expressing concern over the collapse of the Israeli-Egyptian talks.
Waldheim is expected to have contacts with the parties soon. The UN spokesman said, however, that the Secretary General has not been in contact with Palestine Liberation Organization observers here since the Palestinian question was dealt with by the General Assembly last fall.
Although diplomats and observers at the UN do not expect an immediate outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East as a result of the failure of Kissinger’s mission, there were widespread expressions of concern and disappointment over the turn of events in that region, The collapse of Kissinger’s efforts in the Mideast is being viewed here in the context of other recent American foreign policy failures in Southeast Asia. Portugal and Cyprus.
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