United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim and French leaders reportedly agree on the need for an early resumption of the Big Four talks on the Middle East. Waldheim, who also expressed the hope that the talks could include the People’s Republic of China, left Paris this afternoon after talks over the week-end with President Georges Pompidou and French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann.
According to political sources here, the French leaders and the UN official also agreed that the present situation does not favor the renewal of UN mediator Gunnar V. Jarring’s Mideast peace mission. Dr. Waldheim nevertheless expressed the hope that Ambassador Jarring could resume his work in the not too distant future. The Four Power consultations have been held intermittently in New York but have yielded no progress toward a Mideast peace settlement. But French leaders still profess confidence in the Big Four approach.
The Secretary General told a press conference here that the UN was ready to send observers to be posted on the Israel-Lebanon border, scene of the most recent terrorist activity, as soon as “the Security Council adopts such a resolution.” Waldheim refused to comment on Israel’s opposition to stationing UN observers on its territory (See separate story P. 2). He said the UN Secretariate will fulfill the mission given it by the Security Council.
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