S/PV.968 Security Council

Before proceedingwiththe business of the meeting Iwould draw the attention of members to a number of documents which have been received, and which relate ta the applications for admission listed in item 2 of the provisional agenda. 2. With regard ta sub-item <ID of item 2, I should like to recaU that the application of Mauritania!/ was consider.ed by the Council at its 91lth meeting on 3/4 December 1960. Since then the Council has received from the President of the General Assembly, the text of resolution 1602 (XV) of 19 April 1961 relating to this matter.Y In addition, in a telegram dated 3 May, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania expressed the hope that the Council would consider the Assembly's recommendation•.v Finally, 1 should like to point out that on 12 June 1 had the 1 1 ~':~~~=~'~'~~ ' J,l'~=·~O~::~~~.'ttm 3. Turning to sub-item (Q) of item 2, which relates to the application of the Mongolian People' s Republic, l should like also to recall that, in a letter dated 3 December 1960 to the President of the SecurityCouncil.§! the representative of the USSR requested the inscription of the question of the admission of thaï; Republic to membel'ship of the United Nations on the agenda of the 91lth meeting of the Security Council. The request was accordingly placed onthe provisional agenda. The Council, however, failed to include it in the final agend.a. Subsequetltly, on 6 May 1961,§! the representative of the USSR asked that his previous letter of 3 December be taken into account in drawing up the agenda for the next meeting of the Council at which the admission of new Members was to be considered. This has been done. Also, in a letter dated 22 September 1961 [S/4941] the representative of the USSR requested the circulation ofcertaincommunications relating to the application of the Mongolian People's Republic, and crJpies of these are before the members of the Council. 4. The letter of 27 April 1961 from Sierra Leone 1/ mentioned in sub-item (Q) of item 2 contains an application for membership which has not previously been before the Council. 5. The first item of business is' the adoption of the agenda. Before l give the floor to the representative of Ceylon, l wish to welcome to ourmidst the Foreign Minister of Chile. 6. Ml'. MARTINEZ SOTOMAYOR (Chile) (translated from Spanish): It is a source of great satisfaction to me, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile, in m:y first contact with international bodies, to be taking part in this meeting of the Security Council. 7. My country, which for the second time is occupying a seat in this principal organ of the United Nations, wishes to reaffirm, through its Foreign Minister,who is present in New York to attend the sixteenth session of the General Assembly, the objectives bywhich the foreign policy of its Government has always been inspired. Consequently this morning, in addition to thanking the President for his words of welcome, l should like to say that Chile will be guided in this debate on the important items on the agenda, as in aU the activities of the Security Council and of the sixteenth session of the General Assembly, by its desire for peace and its hope that aU the nations of the world l'epresented in the United Nations, as alsothosewhose ~ Ibid., document 5/4838. §I Ibid., fifteenth Year, Supplement for October, November and December 1960, document 5/4569. §j Ibid.,Sixteenth Year, Supplement for April, May and June 1961, document 5/4801. 11 Ibid., document 5/4797.

On behalf of the Council, l wish to thank the Foreign Minister of Chilefor his interesting and constructive remarks.

My purpose in asking permission to address the Council is to place before the members of the Council, for their sympathetic consideration, a request that priority be given to the application of Sierra Leone for admission to the United Nations. 10. l am surethatnolongspeechonmy part is necessary and that all my colleagues will agree with me when l say that the good work we are all doing here for the peace of the world and the happiness of mankind will be strengthened if we can start our deliberations in an atmosphere of cordiality and harmony andgoodwill. 11. l am sure that the mernbers of the Council will agree with me when l say that in the consideration of the application of Sierra Leone for admissionto membership we shall be dealing with an item in which we shall find ourselves in unanimous agreement. As far as l have been able to ascertain, there is no objection on the part of anyone to the admission of Sierra Leone because it is a country which is considered to have friendly relations with all the nations of the world. 12. l have another reason forthis request. Iknow that the Minister for External Affairs of Sierra Leone has been in New York for several weeks awaiting the result of his application in the hope that he will be able to send back to his Government and people the happy news of the admission of his country. l also know that the Prime Minister of Sierra Leone is at this moment in Lbndon, waiting to come to New York to take his due place in the international Organization. 13. l therefore ask that Ihy request for priorityto be given to the application of Sierra Leone for admission be sympathetically considered.

Ishouldlike to support the suggestion that has been made by the representative of Ceylonthat we should accord priority to sub-item (Q) of item 2 of our agenda, the applicàtion for membership from Sierra Leone. 15. My delegation believes that this application is unlikely to give rise to any controversy. As the representative of Ceylon has inforined the Council, the Minister for External Affairs of Sierra Leone has already been in New York for some time waiting for us to consider the application of his country. Furthermore, the Prime Minister of Sierra Leone is on the point of departure from London to New York in order to be present here in the General Assembly on the assumption that theCouncil will lose n()time in recommending acc'eptance of his country' s application. 16. l should like to make it clear that in supporting the suggestion for priorlty for Sierra Leone, my dele- 17. Ml'. ZORIN (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) (translated from Russian): ln discussing the 'agenda on the admission of new Members, the Soviet delegation deems it essential to calI the attention of the members of the CoUDoil to the very close connexion between this question and the order in which the several sub-items are to be discussed. 18. As the members of the COUDcii are aware, the Soviet delegation has long been u:cging that the Mongolian People's Republic, which first applied for admission to the United Nations in 1946, should be admitted in priority. The members of the COUDcil will recall that in December 1960, in discussing the agenda of the 911th meeting of the Council, the Soviet deIegationlikewise urged that this question be given priority. We consider that the question of admission of the Mongo- Han People's Republic is now so overdue and so urgent as to leave no room whatever for further postponement. 19. This is' why the Soviet delegation deems it essential that, when we decide on the adoption of the agenda itself, we should also determine the order in which these questions shall be debated, to avoid any discrimination against the Mongolian People' s Republic. 20. The Soviet delegation desires to state that it has nothing against discussion of the admission of the new African State of Sierra Leone to Membership, and that it will therefore not object to the inclusion of this sub-item on the agenda. But, of course, we do hold that the Mongolian People's Republic, which has been waiting for more than fifteen years, has every right to demand that the question of its Membership should considered in priority, and in any case not later than the decision on Sierra Leone, which, as the distinguished representative of Ceylon has correctly stated here, would evidently meet no objections whatever from any Member. 21. The Soviet delegation therefore proposes thatthe agenda be adopted suh-item by sub-item. As 1 ùnderstood the representatives of Ceylon and of the United Kingdom, they propose that the sub-item now designated (Q) be made sub-item (~). No one could object to this if, at the same time, the Counci! were to declde that sub-item <.!:!) should retain its present position. On those terms the Soviet delegation considers it possible to adopt the agenda. 22. 1 should merely like to request the Presidentthat the decision be taken sub-item by sub-item: which shall be numbered respectively (~, (Q) and (Q).

The French delegation regrets the proposaI made by the representative of Ceylon. Not that it questions the considerations which prompted our colleague, whichit fully appreciates, and not that it has the slightest hesitation with respect to the admission of Sierra Leone-it wishes to state here andnowthatit will vote in favour of its admission and is glad to welcome this 25. My delegation would be glad if the representative of Ceylon could waive his request for priority. In any event, it wishes to place on record its reservations concerning this proposaI but it does not want to do anything to delay or obstruct the admission of Sierra Leone, an Afrlcan State for which it feels great sympathy. 26. With respect to the proposaI of the Soviet Union that Mongolia should be given priority over Mauritania, my delegation reiterates its reservations concerr.dng any change by the Council in the order of the items before it. 1 fear that the request that we should consider the application of MongoUa before that of Mauritania has to do with the link which the USSR delegation has sought to establish in previous meetings between the admission Gf Mauritania and the admission of Outer Mongolia. 27. The French delegation cannot agree that the two applications should be linked. To link them is actually contrary to the decisions adopted by the General Assembly on 8 December 1948, 24 November 1949 and 1 February 1952 [resolutions 197 B (III), 296 K (IV) and 506 (VI)] and to the advisory opinion of 28 May 1948 of the International Court of Justice. Y 28. That is why my delegationcolùd not vote in favour of giving MongoUa priority over Mauritania. 29. Ml'. STEVENSON (United States of America): Let me first say that we are very happy to know that the Minister for External Affaira of Sierra Leone, Mr. Karefa Smart, is here in the Council chamber. 1 would also like to express my pleasure that the Soviet Union has agreed to the prior consideration of the application for membership of Sierra Leone. 30. As to the order of our voting this morning, we would suggest that the motion ofCeylon on the application of Sierra Leone be consideredfirst, and then proceed to a vote on the Soviet motion. 31. As to the latter, we are obliged to oppose the ~otion to take up Outer Mongolia before Mauritania, which is the effect of the Soviet proposaI as 1 understand it. Last year the Republic of Mauritania was considered by the security Council for membershipin the United Nations just as other newAfricanStates had been considered and promptly approved. 1may remind you that then the Soviet Union injected the question of Outer Mongolia into the discussion in an effort to y Admission of a State ta the United Nations (Charter, Article 4), AdvisoryOpinion,l.C.j., Reports, 1948, page 57. 32. The present proposai to give priority to Outer Mongolia. over Mauritania is another attemptto justify this opposition. 1 do not think there is anyolle here who can deny that Mauritania, less than a year ago, was unfairly" and unjustly barred from membership for reasons that have nothing to do with Mauritania or with Africa. 33. Mauritania, regrettably, is involved inanAfrican controversy. We mustface thatfact withunderstanding. But to complicate it by artificiaUy injecting disputes and disagreements of an entirely different nature and order of magnitude seems to us bothunfair and unjust. 34. There is, 1 believe, a wide-spread and sincere 1 desire among the great majority of countries in the United Nations to see Mauritania admitted to membership promptly. And we can see no justification for asking that the order of the agenda be revised in order to give Outer Mongolia a priority and thereby perhaps perpetuate the injustice to Mauritania. Wehope that the Council will therefore reject the Soviet motion when we reach it in the course of the discussion this morning. 35. Mr. ZORIN (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) (translated from Russian): 1 should not have desired to speak but for the remarks of the representative of the United States on the adoption of the agenda. 36. It seemed to me, at the beginning of our discussion, that everything could actually be decided by what was fair. But Isee now that the United States, on admission of the Mongolian People's Republic, is infact still pursuing the policy which it has foUowed in the last few years and which evokes profound indignation, not only in the Mongolian People' s Republic and in other countries friendly to it, but also in many countries of Asia and Africa which consider admission of the Mongolian People's Republic to be absolutely essential and see no grounds at aUfor any postponement of it. 37. Apparently the representative of the United States does not now wish a decision on the Mongolian People's Republic to be taken immediately after the admission of Sierra Leone, about which there i8 evidently no difference of opinion. As the members of the Council will observe, the Sovietdelegationhasadopted a conciliatory positionfrom the outset ofthe discussion of this question. It did not demand that the question of Sierra Leone should be decided last of aU becauS!e everyone knew that the Sierra Leone Government had only applied for admission very recently, and that on general objective grounds the sub-item concerning a State that applied fifteen years ago should be decided first. Instead we took a conciliatory line, supposing that the Western Powers, especiaUy the United 39. That is the crux of the matter, and the Soviet delegation therefore desires to warn aIl the members of the Council that in its view justice demands that the question of the Mongolian People's Republic be decided immediately after that of Sierra Leone. If the Council decides otherwise in adopting the agenda, we shaIl know that the members so deciding are still playing the game they have been playing for several years. We shall not permit discrimination against a socialist State, and we shall drawtheappropriateconclusions from the position taken by the Western Powers. 40. l should also like to calI attention to Mr. Stevenson's statement today that the question of Mauritania is controversiaL This is true enough. l fully agree. But, precisely because the question of Mauritania is controversial, it should not be decided now. In any case it should not be decided before the admission of the Mongolian People' s Republic, which is not a controversial question. 41. In its resolution 1602 (XV) of 19 April 1961 the General Assembly noting that the Mongolian People' s Republic had been awaiting since 1946 a decision on its application for admission to membership: "1. Decla:r.-__ that in its view the Mongolian People' s Re, ,t' .lc is a peace-Ioving state within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter of the United Nations, that it is able and willing to carry out the obligations of the Charter, and that it should, in con- 43. That is why l should like the memberR cf the Security Council, when they vote on the adoptionof the agenda, to take these propositions into account and draw the appropriate conclusions. If the policy of discrimination continues, we shaH draw the appropriate conclusions from that also.

Before l caU on the next speaker r should like to say that the Chair is of the feeling that the members of the Council would wish to complete consideration of our workheretbismorning. l calI upon the members of the Council to co-operate in that respect. Should the Council be unable to do so this morning perhaps it might be necessary to hold a meeting tonight. l am not threatening the Council, l am only warning it. l caU upon the representative of the United States.

Mr. President, l am taking due notice of your alarming warning. l apologize forfeelingobligedto say a further word on tbis subject which has beendiscussed already too long, but l am afraid that Mr. Zorin has jumped to some conclusions a little hastily here. 46. l did not even express the views of the United States on the subject of Outer Mongolia. We are glad to have its application discussed in detail. And we-it may be of some interest to know-will not obstruct the admission of Outer Mongolia. l was only asking that we adhere to the agenda and consider Mauritania first. 47. Mr. Zorin has charged me with pushing around the application of Outer Mongolia. But l submit to the members of the CouncU that it is the Soviet Union which is pushi.'1.g around the applice.tion of Mauritania. Mr. Zorin says that we al'e trying to impose a policy of discrimination. l have suggested that we proceed, as we should have last year, withoutdiscrimination. It is not the United States, but the Soviet Union that is asking for a change in the order of the agenda to deprive Mauritania of Us priority. 48. As to the other remarks of the representative of the Soviet Union l think they would have been better reserved for a later date when we discuss the representation of China. Today we are discusslng Sierra Leone, Mauritania, and Outer Mongolia, andnotCbina. We have too little time, as you have suggested very properly, Mr. President, to do our work, as it Is, without such remote diversions.

1 should just like to say a few words concerning a comment made a little while ago by the representative of the Soviet Union. He said that the positiontaken by the Western Powers on the adoption of the agenda will show whether those Powers are for or against a discriminatory poUcy with respect to the admission of Outer Mongolia. Since the USSR delegation chooses to draw conclusions concerning substance during a procedural 'discussion, 1 think 1 should make it perfectly clear what is the positionof my delegationwith respect to the applications for admission before us. 51. In the first place, it is our view that not one of these three applications is in any way linkedwith either of the other two. Moreover, 1 should liketo state very explicitly that my delegation will in any event vote in favour of the admission of Sierra Leone, Mauritania and Outer Mongolia, but it does not support a system of priorities which would establish a link between the application of Mongolia and that of Mauritania and would consequently obstruct the admission of Mauritania, which that country is really entitled to expect from us. 52. Ml'. TSIANG (China): 1 wish to co-operate with the President in expediting the Council's work. As 1 understand it, the Council is now considering the adoption of the agenda. Unfortunately, the debate has sometimes exceeded the limits of that consideration. 1 have in mind pal'ticularly the remarks of the Soviet Union representative, and especially his references to my Government and my delegation. 1 regard them as insulting, and 1 protest against them. My delegationis here to carry out the orders of my Government, to serve the interests of the Chinese people and, in cooperation with other delegations, to promote the purposes of the United Nations. 53. 1 turn now to the question of the agenda. My delegation prefers the agenda as it has been drafted and presented to this Council. We think that the application of Mauritania deserves top priority. We have, however, no objection to the motion made by the representative of Ceylon. If the majority of members favour giving Sierra Leone priority, my delegation will fall in line with that proposaI. 54. Ml'. ZORIN (Union of Soviet Socialist Republi.cs) (translated from Russian): 1 shall be very brief, so as not to delay the meeting of the Counci!. The position is perfectly clear. The representative of the United States has just said that he had not yet expressed his views on the Mongolian People' s Republic, and implied that he would take a somewhat different position in the formaI debate on this question from that which he had taken before. It is, however, entirely clear that, if the United States insists on having the question of the Mongolian People's Republic decided last of all, it is trying to have a country which is unconditionally entitled to priority in the decision of this question pushed 55. The representative of the United states. claiming priority for Mauritania. referred to the discussion of this question last December. But everyone present in this chamber will recall that at that time the representative of the United states. togetherwiththe representatives of several other countries declaredthatthe Soviet Union's proposaI to discuss the question of the MongoUan People's Republic came as a surprise to them. because it was advanced during the discussion of the agenda. Some representatives even said then that they had no instructions on the subject and that they therefore opposed the inclusion of this question on the agenda. But a good deal of time has passed since then. AlI States have their instructions on this subject. Why, therefore. do you object todiscussionqf the question of the Mongolian People' s Republic before that of a country that has applied later? What are the grounds for your objection-particularly in viewofthe General Assembly resolution that l have just cited? The only possible reasonis thatyouwantto manoeuvre in this question. And we are compelled to expose your manoeuvres and to declare at once that. if you take this line. you will be responsible for the exclusion of Mauritania from the United Nations-you and no one else. You and your allies. 56. If you wish to settlethis question in a businesslike way. by genuine co-operationinstead of discrimination. you cannot adopt this policy of subterfuge. The question of the Mongolian People's Republic has beenbefore the United Nations for a long time, and if you are in fact not being unrealistic. you can have the question of the Mongolian People' s RepubH.c decided. and that will open the way for decision of the other questions also. You all know this very weIl. for our position has already been stated perfectly clearly. and has been confirmed today. But if you stick to this line. it will be your fault that the question of Mauritania is not decided either. 57. l should like to make this clear beforehand. so that aIl the representatives of the African States may know it-you and your friends in the East.

The Chilean delegationwouldhavepreferred the problem of priorities now before the Council not to be raised. Indeed, the other in which we agree to deal with the various applications for admission of new Members will not affect Chile' s position. The Chilean delegation would not like the questions of substance to be lost sight of in a proceaural debate. l must say that Chile will vote in favour of the admission of Mauritania, Outer Mongolia and Sierra Leone to membership in the United Nations, for reasons which it will explain in due course. 59. Since, however. there has been unanimous agreement in this Council to the request of the representative of Ceylon that the admission of Sierra Leone should be given priority. we are prepared to vote in favour of it. 62. Another point raised during this procedural discussion on the agenda has been whether there should be any connexion between the different applicationsfor membership. From the beginning my Government has always adhered to the strict application oftheCharter as it was written, signed and ratified by an of us. As far as we are concerned, we cannot be a party to any arrangement whereby_some connexion in this respect may be made by others. For us, '3very application should stand on its own merits.

There are no other speakers on my list and l think the Council can, with safety, now proceed to a consideration of the proposaIs before it. 64. The representative of Ceylon has proposed that sub-item (2) of item 2 ofthe provisional agenda, which deals with the application of Sierra Leone, be transposed as sub-item (~) of item 2. This proposaI has encoWltered no objections from the members of the Council. It is, however, noted that the representative of France expressed reservations to a priority consideration being given the application of Sierra Leone. 65. Since there are no objections to the proposaI of the representative of Ceylon, it is Wlnecessarytovote upon this proposaI. Therefore, the COWlcil adopts the proposaI I)f the representative of Ceylon, and subitem (Q) of item 2 is transposed as sub-item (a) of item 2 on our provisional agenda. It was so deoided.

The representative oftheUSSR has proposed that sub-item (Q) of item 2, which relates ta the application of the Mongolian People's Republic, should retain its position on the provisional agenda. 67. Objections have been taken to this proposaI by the representative of the United states and also, as l understand it, by the representative of France. In that event, l am obliged to put to the vote the proposaI of

Mr. President, inconnexion with your last statement 1 should like to say in clarification that. after the decision on the inclusion in the agenda of soo-item (è) of item 2, the question of the Mongolian people's Republic. 1 shall still request a separate vote on the inclusion ofthe ~estionof Mauritania.

Ws shall first vote on the proposaI of the Soviet Union. that the application of Outer Mongolia should constitute sub-item <!;1) of item 2 on the provisional agenda. A vote was taken by show of hands. In favour: Ceylon. Liberia. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. United Arab RepOOlic. Against: China. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. United States of America. Abstaining: ChUe. Ecuador. France. Turkey. The result of the vote was 4 in favour, 3 against, with 4 abstentions.

The vote that has justbeen taken leaves no doubt at all of the actual position of certain Western Powers-the United States. the United Kingdom, and their agents in. the ,East. 72. The Soviet Union is therefore compelled to vote against the inclusion in the agenda of the question of the admission of Mauritania, although it would not object to discussion of this question if priority had been given to the Mongolian People's RepOOlic.

1 shall now put to the vote the question of the inclusion on the agenda of the application of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania which, in view of the priority accorded to the application of Sierra Leone, would become sub-item (e> of item 2.

1 thank the representative of the Soviet Union, but it does not appear to me that the need arises to take a vote on the inclusion of the application of Outer Mongolia because, as far as 1 understand, no objection has been raised to such inclusion. That is why 1 suggested that we should take a vote on the agenda as a whole. However, if the Council considers that the agenda has already been adopted as a whole 1 shall so rule.

There is no need to contest your ruling, Mr. President, if all members of the Council underst.and that the question of the Mongolian People's Republic is included in the agenda. If any other view is held, we shall have to demand a vote.

1 have heard no objectionto the inclusion of the application of Outer Mongolia in the Council's agenda for this meeting. In view of that fact 1 declare the agenda adopted, and as adopted it ineludes consideration of the applications of Sierra Leone, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the People' s Republic of Outer Mongolia. The agenda, as amended, was adopted. Admission of new Members to the United Nations: (g) Letter dated 27 April 1961 from the Minister for External Affairs of Sierra Leone addressed to the Secretary- General (S/4797); (p) Telegram dated 28 November 1960 from the Prime Minis· ter of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania addressed to the Secretary-General (S/4563 and Corr.1); (l;) Letter dated 3 December 1960 from the Deputy Perma· nent Representative of the Union of Soviet Social ist Republics addressed to the President of the Security Counci1 (S/4569); letter dated 6 May 1961 from the Permanent Representative of the Union of Soviet Soci· alist Republics addressed to the President of the Secu· rity Council (S/4801)

The President of the General Assembly has informed me of his desire to conVE ~ the meeting of the Assembly, and evidently that will eonflict with our work here. 1 am afraid, therefore, that it will be necessary for the Council to adjourn until tonight to consider the substantive aspects of its agenda.

1 would ask you, Mr. President, to allow me to interv.ene briefly at this stage. In view of the unanimity that seems to exist in this Council with regard to the admission of Sierra Leone 1 would ask representatives to allow that item to

Since it has been decided to include Sierra Leone as the first sub-item in the agenda, we now propose that a vote be taken on this question, and that aH speeches on this admission, and the address by the representative of Sierra Leone, be postponed until this evening. 1 think this will only take a few minutes, and that we shaH really be able to decide at least one question.

My delegation would like to support the excellent suggestion which has just been made by the Soviet Union representative.

A proposaI has been made that the Council should vote now on the draft resolution dealing with the application of Sierra Leone and should postpone until tonight the statements in connexionwith that item. If there is no objection, 1 shall take it that the proposaI is adopted. It was so decided.

1 shaH now put to the vote the draft resolution which has been submitted by Ceylon, Liberia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [S/4951] and which would have the Security Council recommend that the General Assembly admit Sierra Leone to membership of the United Nations.

The SecurityCouncil has therefore recommended Sierra Leone for admission to membership of the United Nations. The Secretariat is requested to prepare a. letter to the President of the General Assemblyfor my signature, recommendingthe admission of Sierra Leone to membership of the Organization. The meeting rose at Il.55 a.m.