S/PV.1370 Security Council

In accordtee with the decision taken at the 1369th meeting, and ith the consent of the Council, I propose to invite the presentatives of Israel, the United Arab Republic, Jordan Id the Syrian Arab Republic to take places at the Council ble to participate without vote in the discussion, 6. Two days ago it seemed to many of us that there might be an opening, We could not, in the circumstances of this case, have put it higher. Everybody began to work harder than ever to try to see what we could make of that opening. It was, therefore, with considerable distress that the Nigerian delegation, like other delegations in the General Assembly, learned that there had been an incident in the Middle East involving a naval vessel of the Israel Government, At the invitation of the President, Mr. G. Rafael (Israel), I: M. A. El Kony (United Arab Republic), Mr. A. M. Ta i’ (Jordan) and Mr. A. Daoudy (Syria) took places at e Council table.

The first eaker on my list this morning is the representative of .geria on whom I now call. 7. We were waiting for reports about how this happened, where the ship was, why it was there, who fired on it, why it was fired on, and so on, because it seems to us that, after Mr. ADEBO (Nigeria): I want to join with my col- %ues who have already expressed themselves with a Zling of horror and dismay at recent events in the Middle 1 official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-second Session, Plenary Meetings, 1586th meeting, para. 137. 8. If it is proved that the Israel ship was sunk in 13. If we intended to stop there it would be again an circumstances in which it should not have been attacked irresponsible act, but the purpose of the Nigerian delegation the Nigerian Government will join in condemning that includes the continuation of the efforts of the nonaction. And, if there is conclusive evidence that this action permanent members, immediately after, to see whetller taken by the Israel authorities was a reprisal action in they could not, with even greater urgency, produce consequence of that earlier incident, we will also join in something for the consideration of the Council that would condemning that action. deal with the Arab-Israel question as a whole. 9. We are very shocked by this latter action for a number of reasons, one of which is its severity. We have had occasion here to complain about the severity of reprisal action even when there has been provocation. We have had occasion here to remind our fellow-Members of the United Nations that whenever they suffer provocation from another Government their proper course is to come before the Security Council. Therefore, we feel that the Security Council has on its hands a very important matter that requires very deliberate consideration. It is not a matter from which we should shy away at all, because shying away from it will not solve the problem. This would once again postpone the problem to the detriment of the principal parties concerned and to the detriment of the world as a whole. 10. What again has distressed the Nigerian delegation is the fact that today we have received further reports that the action agairist the oil refineries of the United Arab Republic is still continuing, Again, it may be that when those who are supervising the cease-fire come to making their report they will say it is not SO, but there is no doubt in the minds of any of us, least of all the Nigerian delegation, that a situation is fast developing in the Middle East which is explosive and full of potential consequences for the world. 11. I observe that the two major Powers members of the Security Council have put forward draft resolutions which they feel will enable us to dispose of this question. From the experience of all of us in this Council, we know that a partial resolution is a futile one. We all know that a resolution which does not carry the support of the generality of the membership of this Council does not have the effect that it should. And it seems to us that to proceed immediately to vote upon the draft resolutions before the Council at this stage would be a reckless proceeding. For that reason, with due deference to the representatives of the United States and the Soviet Union, who have put forward these draft resolutions /s/8213, S/8212/, I would respectfully suggest to them that we should defer further consideration of these draft resolutions on the floor of the Security Council, 14. To summarize, my appeal to representatives at tllis table is this: that if you, Mr. President, will permit us to do so, we should have a short suspension of our proceedings this morning so that, in the light of the gravity of tile situation in the Middle East, in the light of the reports which have filtered through to us this morning, and in tile light of the facts which I have presented about the need to take a decision which would be effective, we could try to produce, during a suspension of about an hour, something to which we should all feel able to subscribe.

The Nigerian representative has proposed that the meeting be suspended for about an hour in order to allow the members of the Council to have consultations on the question now before us. 16. In accordance with rule 33 of the Security Council’s provisional rules of procedure, such a motion should be decided without debate. Are there any objections to the Nigerian representative’s proposal?

I apologize for intervening, but one of my colleagues has just invited my attention to the clock in this chamber which points to almost 12 o’clock. He wonders whether, even if we completed our task witllin an hour, the time remaining before members would wish to go to lunch would be sufficient for the purpose of deciding upon the result of our consultations. In these cir. cumstances, if I may be permitted to amend my suggestion, I would recommend that we should meet again at any time following the lunch hour which you, Mr. President, might wish to designate. 18. The PRESIDENT (translated from l+uvdzl: The Nigerian representative has modified his original Proposal and suggests that the meeting should be reconvened this afternoon. I would therefore suggest that we adjourn till 3 o’clock if the Council members agree. If I hear no objection, I shall take it that the proposal is adopted. It was so decided. The meeting rose at 11.50 a.m.