218. Editorial Note
On September 16, the U.N. Security Council met three times to discuss the situation in the Congo, with Yugoslavia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Morocco, and the United Arab Republic participating at the Council’s invitation. At the session that evening, Ceylonese Representative Sir Claude Corea and Tunisian Representative Mongi Slim introduced a draft resolution reaffirming that the U.N. force should “continue to act to restore and maintain law and order as necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security”, reaffirming the Council’s request to all states to refrain from actions that might tend to impede the restoration of law and order or that might undermine the Congo’s territorial integrity and political independence, declaring that no military assistance should be sent to the Congo except through the United Nations, and calling upon all states to assist in carrying out the Council’s decisions. (U.N. doc. S/4523)
Soviet Representative Valerian A. Zorin proposed five amendments (U.N. doc. S/4524) to this resolution, which Corea and Slim rejected. Ambassador James J. Wadsworth yielded priority to the Ceylonese-Tunisian resolution, but Zorin insisted that the Council vote on a Soviet draft resolution which he had introduced the previous day, calling on the Secretary-General and the U.N. Command in the Congo to “cease forthwith” any interference in the Congo’s internal affairs and to withdraw U.N. troops from all airports and radio stations in the Congo. (U.N. doc. S/4519) It was voted down by 7 votes to 2, with Ceylon and Tunisia abstaining, after which the Soviet amendments were rejected in separate voice votes. The vote on the Ceylonese-Tunisian resolution was 8 to 2 (the Soviet Union and Poland) with 1 abstention (France). The resolution was thus vetoed by the Soviet Union.
Ambassador Wadsworth did not press for a vote on the U.S. draft resolution but proposed a new draft resolution (U.N. doc. S/4525) calling for an emergency special session of the U.N. General Assembly. This procedural resolution was adopted over Zorin’s objection by a vote of 8 to 2, with 1 abstention. For the record of the September 16 sessions, see U.N. docs. S/PV.904–906. For text of the resolution which was finally adopted and Wadsworth’s statement proposing it, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pages 587–588.