Unef Mandate Extended

Israel welcomed the UN Security Council’s action late Wednesday afternoon extending the mandate of the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) for an additional six months. The 13-0 vote–China and Iraq did not participate although they are Council members–came less than 24 hours before the mandate expired. The mandate was established by the Council exactly one year ago.

Differences between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the wording of the draft resolution delayed the balloting until almost the deadline for the mandate’s expiration.

TEKOAH PRAISES UNEF

Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah said after the vote that the non-renewal of the mandate “would have meant the collapse of the Disengagement of Forces Agreement” between Israel and Egypt. He stated that Israel “appreciates the praiseworthy role which the UNEF is playing in the implementation of the Israeli-Egyptian disengagement accord and noted that the provisions for UNEF are “an integral part of that agreement.”

Referring apparently to the Soviet complaints during the drafting stage that UNEF operations in the Sinai desert were too costly and inadequately supervised by the Security Council, Tekoah remarked, “Attempts to raise difficulties concerning the renewal of the mandate would have been tantamount to acts directed against the agreement.”

He also expressed regrets “that certain members of the Council used the occasion to deliver themselves of the usual acrimony and slander which turn United Nations debates into harmful contests in sterile polemics.”

The UNEF, now about 4500-men strong, has been separating Israeli and Egyptian forces. The UN military presence in the Mideast cost $83.6 million since last Oct. Part of this is also for expenditures for the 1250-member disengagement force on the Golan Heights separating Israeli and Syrian troops since May. Its mandate expires at the end of Nov., and the extension of its mandate will be sought.