501.BC/9–1246: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the United States Acting Representative at the United Nations (Johnson)
us urgent
188. For Herschel Johnson. 1. There is set forth below a draft statement which you may wish to use at tomorrow’s meeting of SC or at some later time before SC completes its consideration of Greek case:
The complaint of the Ukrainian Govt was brought to the attention of the Security Council on August 24. Since that time we have had an opportunity to hear the representatives of the nations which are particularly concerned with the question. We have heard an elaboration by Mr. Manuilsky of the charges contained in his original communication, and we have heard the replies of Greece and the United Kingdom. The representative of Albania has had an opportunity to make a statement to the Council on behalf of his Govt. There have been rebuttals and surrebuttals.
As I have already made clear, my Govt believes that certain of the Ukrainian charges require no further consideration by the Council. However the issue of the frontier incidents warrants special notice. Frankly the statements thus far heard in the Council with respect to these incidents have on the whole lacked the evidentiary quality that would have been required in a court of law.
Rather the statements we have heard have been accusations and counter-accusations which contribute little to a dispassionate and fair determination of the case or, for that matter to the prestige of the Council.
The prestige of the Security Council itself has been the subject of debate in this case. It has been said that to hear the case at all would tend to undermine the dignity of the Council. On the other hand, it has been said that for the Security Council to fail to take direct action in support of the Ukrainian charges would weaken it in the eyes of the world as a powerless organ which has failed to achieve the high hopes of its creators.
Let us see the issue clearly. The issue is not the Council’s prestige; it is its obligation to live up to its primary responsibility to further the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter. If the Council fulfills its obligation, we need not worry about the influence and the power and the prestige of the Council.
There are 40 other nations not represented here who look to the Council. We are acting on their behalf not merely as a matter of theoretic principle but constitutionally under the Charter. We are entrusted with that responsibility and are in a very real sense the trustees for this purpose of all the United Nations.
It seems to my Government, therefore, that in this case the question we must ask ourselves is what steps we should take to fulfill our responsibility.
[Page 215]My Government feels that all the evidence at its disposal shows there is unquestionably along the northern frontier of Greece an unsettled and disquieting situation. There have been incidents along these borders which are clearly a source of friction.
These incidents are in the view of my Government, a renewed manifestation, a further symptom of the unsettled situation in this part of the Balkans. The allegations made by the representatives of the Ukraine, of Greece, and of Albania make it apparent that the situation embraces the relations between Greece and its three northern neighbors, Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia.
As I have already stated, it is not the view of my Government that Greece has been primarily responsible for the troublesome situation along its frontier. My Government is, however, deeply concerned with the disquieting relations between the nations in the area, and we would give favorable consideration to a proposal for further examination by the Council of the border difficulties between Greece and her neighbors, not overlooking the problem of national minorities in that area in so far as that latter problem affects international peace and security.
My Government is not now proposing the establishment of a subcommittee to inquire further into this case. As I have said, however, my Government would look favorably on such a proposal if in the considered judgment of the members of the Council that course would be an appropriate method of finding a solution. Accordingly, it is as a suggestion rather than as a formal proposal that my Government offers this course, with a view towards hearing further discussion in the Council as to whether it would help in achieving our objectives and as to the terms of reference of such a subcommittee of inquiry.68
2. The terms of reference of the committee might be:
- a.
- To examine statements already submitted to Council, and to ask for and receive from governments directly involved other information, relating to friction along the borders between Greece on the one hand and Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria on the other, with particular reference to frontier incidents.
- b.
- To submit to Council as soon as possible a report on the facts together with committee’s conclusion as to whether these facts indicate existence of a situation the continuance of which is likely to endanger maintenance of international peace and security.
3. In case report you telephoned Hiss afternoon September 12, regarding nature of possible Gromyko proposal proves correct, you should endeavor alter terms of reference along lines indicated above.
4. We feel a proposal establish commission investigate matter on the spot is premature although, for your own information, we do not foreclose possibility of such a commission should report of subcommittee indicate it is warranted.
- For text of statement made by Mr. Johnson before the Security Council on September 18, see SC, 1st yr., 2nd series, p. 366.↩