Editorial Note
The General Assembly considered the recommendation of the General Committee regarding the Moroccan item, which was incorporated into the Report of the General Committee to the General Assembly (A/1950), in two phases.
The first phase occurred on November 13, and was marked initially by general discussion of the powers of the General Committee to act in this case as it did (in terms of the Canadian resolution). The character of the statements then assumed a substantive content, that is discussion of French policy in Morocco, first on the part of the Soviet Representative (Arutiunian), and then by the French Representative (Robert Schuman). Immediately following the Schuman statement, the Egyptian Representative (Salah-el-din-Pasha) rose and requested a postponement of further debate so that all could study “thoroughly” the French statement which was of “particular importance”. As described by Ambassador Gross to the United States Delegation at its meeting on November 14, “Schuman had been faced with a quick decision as to whether to acquiesce in or oppose this request, and apparently decided on the former course.” (IO Files: US/A/M(Chr)/198) The debate on item 62 was then temporarily suspended. For the proceedings of the General Assembly on this matter on November 13, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixth Session, Plenary Meetings, pages 96 ff. (hereafter cited as GA (VI), Plenary).
The second phase of General Assembly consideration of the Moroccan item occurred in two meetings on December 13. (For documentation on an interlude that supervened in the Fourth Committee in late November, in which France walked out of the Fourth Committee, see pages 655 ff.) Following lengthy debate on both the procedural and substantive aspects of the Moroccan question, the General Assembly adopted the recommendation of the General Committee that consideration of the Moroccan item be postponed “for the time being” (28–23–7). For the proceedings of the General Assembly on this matter on December 13, see ibid., pages 236 ff.
The telegraphic text of a statement made to the General Assembly by Ambassador Gross at its second meeting on December 13 (official text in ibid., pages 258 and 259) is printed infra.