Egypt was reported here today to be seeking a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to be convened in October to take up the entire Suez Canal situation. Dr. Omar Loutfi, Cairo’s permanent representative here, conferred today with Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, and reportedly placed that demand before the UN chief.
While neither Mr. Hammarskjold nor Dr. Loutfi would discuss the subject of their conference, it was reliably reported here that Dr. Loutfi insisted that the United Nations was being by-passed on too many important issues. He is said to have told Mr. Hammarskjold that he was certain that a majority of the 76 member states would be willing to meet at a special General Assembly session, if an inquiry on his suggestion were to be sent to them.
A plebiscite on the holding of a special session can be initiated by any member of the UN. There was a fair, certainty here that if such a ballot were to be held at least 51 percent of the members–including the now enlarged Arab and Soviet blocs, as well as the entire Asian group–would vote for such a session. The next regular session of the Assembly is scheduled to convene Nov. 12.
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