9. Telegram 4973 From the Mission to the United Nations to the Department of State, November 21, 1973, 1600Z.1 2
TELEGRAM
Department of State
USUN 4973
R 211600Z NOV 73
FM USMISSION USUN NY
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1337
USUN 4973
DEPT PLEASE PASS AS DESIRED
EO 11652: GDS
TAGS: UN PFOR
SUBJECT: GROWING COHESION ON NONALIGNED BLOCK IN UN
1. SUMMARY: MONTHS FOLLOWING SEPT 5-9 ALGIERS CONFERENCE HAVE SEEM MARKED INTENSIFICATION OF LONG-TERM TREND TOWARDS GREATER COORDINATION OF NON-ALIGNED BLOCS’ EFFORTS WITHIN UN. DEGREE OF UNITY SHOWN BY SUB-SAHARA AFRICANS ON QUESTIONS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA AND BY ARABS IN ISSUES RELATED TO ISRAEL CAN PERHAPS BE UNDERSTOOD IN LIGHT OF THEIR GROWING FRUSTRATION WITH STATUS QUO. WHAT IS NEW AND POTENTIALLY ALARMING IS THE DEGREE OF MUTUAL, UNQUALIFIED, AND GENERALLY EFFECTIVE SUPPORT EACH GROUP IS GIVING THE OTHER ON THESE RESPECTIVE ISSUES, AND THE SUCCESS WITH WHICH THEY HAVE CONCERTED THEIR POSITIONS ON MORE PERIPHERAL QUESTIONS, SUCH AS PROTECTION OF DIPLOMATS, DISARMAMENT, AND UN BUDGET. NON-ALIGNEDS HAVE VOTES TO DOMINATE MOST ASPECTS OF UN ACTIVITIES, AND TO PARALYZE THE REST, IT THEY SO CHOOSE. ON MOST QUESTIONS OF CONCERN TO THE NON-ALIGNED, THE U.S. IS SEEN AS A PRINCIPAL OBSTACLE TO THE SORT OF DIRECT UN ACTION THEY SUPPORT. IF THE NON ALIGNED ARE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR PRESENT MOMENTUM TOWARDS CONCERTED ACTION, THE US IS LIKELY TO FIND ITSELF INCREASINGLY ISOLATED, AND OVERRIDDEN IN UN FORUMS. END SUMMARY
2. THE CENTER OF GRAVITY OF NONALIGNED BLOCK HAS OVER PAST DECADE SHIFTED TO ITS ARAB-AFRICAN CORE, LEAVING MUCH OF THE MOVEMENTS ORIGINAL LEADERSHIP (INDIA, INDONESIA, EVEN YUGOSLAVIA) ON THE FRINGES. PRESENT NONALIGNED SOLIDARITY APPEARS TO BE BASED ON SHARED INTEREST IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PLUS AN IMPLICIT TRADE OFF BETWEEN THE ARABS AND THE AFRICANS OF SUPPORT IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CAMPAIGNS AGAINST WHAT THEY SEE AS RESIDUAL WESTERN ENCLAVES IN THEIR AREAS OF THE WORLD, I.E. ISRAEL AND THE WHITE REGIMES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. INCREASED IN COHESION AMONG NONALIGNED MAY RESULT FROM FRUSTRATION WITH STATUS QUO, INABILITY TO FIND SUPPORT ELSEWHERE, AND PERHAPS A GROWING SOPHISTICATION AMONG NONALIGNED MEMBERS, AS WEAK NEW STATES BECOME AWARE OF THE LIMITS OF UNILATERAL OR EVEN REGIONAL ACTION, AND THE NEED TO ATTRACT THE MOST WIDESPREAD SUPPORT POSSIBLE.
3. MOST SPECTACULAR EXHIBITION OF NONALIGNED SOLIDARITY TO DATE HAS BEEN RUPTURE OF RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL BY 22 AFRICAN STATES FOLLOWING THE ALGIERS CONFERENCE AND OUTBREAK OF MIDDLE EAST HOSTILITIES. ARABS HAVE SHOWN ABILITY TO COORDINATE THEIR RECENT ACTION IN THE UN AND HAVE RECEIVED ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT FROM THEIR NONALIGNED COLLEAGUES, THE EFFECTIVENESS OF WHICH WAS DEMONSTRATED BY NONALIGNED ROLE IN SETTING UP AND STAFFING UNEF. TO DATE NONALIGNED CONTRIBUTION IN THE S.C. TO UN ACTION ON MIDDLE EAST HAS BEEN GENERALLY CONSTRUCTIVE. HOWEVER, SHOULD ARAB STATES DIRECTLY CONCERNED WISH IN FUTURE TO FRUSTRATE UN ACTION, IT SEEMS PROBABLE THAT THEY COULD COUNT ON SUPPORT OF MOST OF NONALIGNED.
4. PERHAPS MOST ALARMING IN TERMS OF FUTURE OF UN AS AN INSTITUTION IS NONALIGNED CHALLENGE TO THE AUTHORITY OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE AND BUDGETARY QUESTIONS, AND CONSEQUENTLY TO THE ABILITY OF THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO MAINTAIN SOME DEGREE OF CONTROL OVER UN PROGRAMS AND BUDGET. IN MOST INSTANCES NONALIGNED VOTING STRENGTH ONLY GIVES POWER TO BLOCK UN ACTION, OR TO PASS ESSENTIALLY MEANINGLESS RESOLUTIONS. ON PROGRAM AND BUDGETARY MATTERS, HOWEVER NONALIGNED ACTION CAN AND DOES RESULT IN GA DECISION WHICH ARE BINDING ON ALL MEMBERS. THUS IRRESPONSIBLE MANIPULATION OF UN BUDGET BY NONALIGNED COULD QUICKLY CREATE SITUATION IN WHICH ONLY US OPTIONS WOULD BE TO PAY AS DIRECTED, OR WITHHOLD CONTRIBUTION IN VIOLATION OF OBLIGATIONS UNDER UN CHARTER. MISSION HAS REPORTED NONALIGNED EFFORT TO DISCREDIT ACABQ, AND TO INCREASE APPROPRIATIONS FOR AREAS OF INTEREST TO THEM. AMOUNTS INVOLVED ARE STILL RELATIVELY SMALL, BUT CONTINUED SYSTEMATIC OVERRIDING OF ACABQ WILL REMOVE LAST BARRIER TO EVENTUAL CONFRONTATION BETWEEN UN MAJORITY AND ITS MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS. (TEN MEMBER STATES CONTRIBUTE 77 PERCENT OF UN BUDGET.)
5. NONALIGNED POSITION ON THE UN BUDGET, PROTECTION OF DIPLOMATS, LAW OF THE SEA, AND NUMEROUS OTHER QUESTIONS ARE CLEARLY RELATED TO THEIR PRIORITY CONCERNS WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND “LIBERATION” OF SOUTHERN AFRICA AND ISRAELI OCCUPIED TERRITORY. MORE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND HAS BEEN THE NONALIGNED POSITIONS ON SUCH PERIPHERAL QUESTIONS AS KOREA, CAMBODIA, AND VIETNAM, PARTICULARLY IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE MOVEMENT CLOSEST TO THE SCENE ARE IN GENERAL THE LEST DESIROUS OF CONCERTED NONALIGNED ACTION. NONALIGNED POSITION ON THESE QUESTIONS SEEMS TO BE COMBINATION OF EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO SITUATION THEY SEE AS ANALOGOUS TO THEIR OWN PROBLEMS AND A PRACTICAL DESIRE TO EXCHANGE THEIR VOTES ON ISSUES NOT OF ESSENTIAL INTEREST TO THEM FOR COMMUNIST SUPPORT ON ITEMS OF REAL CONCERN.
6. AFRICAN GROUP, COMPRISING ALMOST ONE-THIRD OF UN MEMBERSHIP, DOMINATE THE NONALIGNED NUMERICALLY. DURING THIS GA SESSION, ALLIANCE OF AFRICANS AND ARABS HAS BECOME MORE SOLID; ARAB DELEGATES ARE GOING OUT OF WAY TO SUPPORT FULLY AFRICAN POSITIONS ON SOUTHERN AFRICAN QUESTIONS, IN RETURN FOR ALMOST TOTAL AFRICAN SUPPORT FOR ARAB CAUSE IN MIDDLE EAST. AFRICANS AND ARABS, IN TURN, ARE MAKING STRONG EFFORTS TO WIN INCREASING SUPPORT FROM ASIANS AND LATIN AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN NONALIGNED CONFERENCE. THEY SEEM TO BE ENJOYING INITIAL SUCCESS.
7. AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPING SOLIDARITY THIS GA SESSION WAS OBVIOUSLY THE NONALIGNED CONFERENCE AT ALGIERS, HELD JUST PRIOR TO GA OPENING AND CLEARLY DESIGNED TO PROMOTE JUST THIS KIND OF UNITY AT UN. ON A VARIETY OF ISSUES THAT HAVE ARISEN, WE ARE INCREASINGLY AWARE OF IMPORTANCE OF “RESOLUTIONS” ADOPTED AT ALGIERS. ON KOREAN ISSUE, FOR EXAMPLE, WE RAN INTO GREAT RELUCTANCE, EVEN AMONG SOUTH KOREA’S FRIENDS, TO TAKE POSITIONS CONTRARY TO ALGIERS’ “DECISION”. A TUNISIAN DELEGATE UNABASHEDLY ASSERTED THAT NONALIGNED STATE COULD VOTE CONTRARY TO ALGIERS’ RESOLUTION, BUT COULD AT THE MOST ABSTAIN. WE WITNESSED RECENTLY AN INTERESTING ENCOUNTER IN FIFTH COMMITTEE IN WHICH MAURITIAN AMB (ALSO AFRICAN GROUP LEADER), WAS IMMEDIATELY AND PUBLICLY CALLED TO ORDER BY ALGERIANS FOR TAKING LINE CONTRARY TO NONALIGNED POSITION. AMB RESISTED, BUT FINALLY RECANTED AND CHANGED HIS POSITION.
8. THERE ARE STILL CENTRIFUGAL FORCES AT WORK, EVEN AMONG AFRICANS THEMSELVES, AND FISSURES STILL APPEAR EVEN ON AFRICAN ISSUES. RECENT EXAMPLE WAS OPEN SPLIT AMONG AFRICAN GROUP IN FOURTH COMMITTEE VOTE ON PORTUGUESE TERRITORIES RESOLUTIONS. BASIS OF SPLIT SEEMED TO BE EFFORT OF SOME NONALIGNED, LED BY TANZANIA, TO COME UP WITH TEXT THAT WOULD ATTRACT EVEN WIDER SUPPORT, PARTICULARLY AMONG EUROPEANS. THE MAVERICK LIBYAN DELEGATION RESISTED, HOWEVER, AND INTRODUCED AN AMENDMENT IN EFFECT OPENLY SANCTIONING USE OF FORCE BY LIBERATION ORGANIZATIONS. THIS PRECIPITATED OPEN FIGHT ON FLOOR AMONG AFRICANS, NO LESS BITTER FOR FACT THAT AFRICAN SPEAKERS DEPLORED SHOW OF DISUNITY. COHESION OF NONALIGNED IS NOT YET FULLY TESTED ON ISSUES WHICH MAY INVOLVE DIVERGENT NATIONAL INTERESTS OF INDIVIDUAL NONALIGNED STATES. A TEST IN THE UN CONTEXT MAY COME LATER ON ISSUES LIKE LAW OF THE SEA. THE MOST WE CAN SAY AT PRESENT IS THAT REFLEX FOR UNITY IS STRONG AND PEER PRESSURE IS HIGHLY PERSUASIVE.
9. ALGERIAN DELEGATION IS DRIVEN TO ASSERT LEADERSHIP OVER NONALIGNED AND FOLLOWING LEAD OF BOUMEDIENE AT ALGIERS NAC, IS ACTIVE PROMOTING UNITY AND IS ADEPT AT USING VARIETY OF PRESSURES. ALGERIANS NOT WITHOUT RIVALS. HOWEVER, NEXT YEAR FONMIN BOUTEFLIKA WILL BE PRESIDENT OF 29TH UNGA PLACING ALGERIAN IN AN EVEN STRONGER POSITION TO EXERCISE LEADERSHIP ROLE. SOME AFRICANS HAVE COMPLAINED ABOUT ALGERIAN STRONG ARM TACTICS IN RAMMING THROUGH RESOLUTIONS AT NAC, AND ABOUT DIFFICULTIES THEY EXPERIENCED EVEN REGISTERING THEIR “RESERVATIONS” TO CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS WITH ALGERIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY. FRIENDLY ASIAN DELEGATIONS HAVE NOTED PRIVATELY THEIR FORMAL RESERVATIONS AT ALGIERS NAC MEETING ON ASINA ISSUES SUCH AS SUPPORT OF BRUNK, PRG, ETC. SINGAPORE IN FACT REPORTEDLY PUT A GENERAL RESERVATION ON THE RECORD AT ALGIERS. NATURAL DIFFIDENCE AND UNWILLINGNESS TO OPPOSE NUMERICALLY OVERWHELMING AFRO-ARAB BLOCK HAVE MEANT THAT ASIAN OBJECTIONS HERE TO NAC-SPONSORED RESOLUTIONS HAVE BEEN PRESENTED IN COMPARATIVELY LOW-KEY FASHION THEREBY AVOIDING, SO FAR, HEAD-ON CONFRONTATION. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN WHETHER THE MORE MODERATE AMONG THE NONALIGNED WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW HARD-LINE, ALGERIAN-STYLE LEADERSHIP.
10. NONALIGNED STATES CLEARLY SENSE POWER THEY CAN WIELD, AND NOW THERE IS A DISTURBING TENDENCY TO USE THIS POWER ON INCREASING NUMBER OF ISSUES. MOST STRIKING RECENT DEVELOPMENT WAS INTRODUCTION BY AFRICAN GROUP IN SIXTH COMMITTEE OF A PARTICULARLY MISCHIEVOUS AMENDMENT TO CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF DIPLOMATS. AFRICAN AMENDMENT WOULD EXEMPT NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTS FROM PROVISIONS OF CONVENTION; THIS WOULD IN EFFECT SABOTAGE ENTIRE EFFORT. (FOR EXAMPLE, KHARTOUM MURDERS WOULD NOT BE COVERED BY SUCH A CONVENTION) DANGER OF THIS TREND IS THAT NONALIGNED MAY COME TO LOOK AT ALL ISSUES, EVEN MOST UNCONTENTIOUS, SOLELY IN THE LIGHT OF HOW THEY MAY EFFECT PROGRESS TOWARDS CENTRAL NONALIGNED GOALS.
11. SO FAR, NONALIGNED UNITY HAS WORKED TO BENEFIT OF SOVIET BLOC, SINCE SOVIETS ARE IN POSITION TO SUPPORT AFRICANS ON AFRICAN ISSUES AND ARABS ON MIDDLE EASTERN ONES AND OFTEN GO AT IT WITH STOMACH-TURNING OBSEQUIOUSNESS IT IS BY NO MEANS INEVITABLE THAT SOVIETS WILL ALWAYS BENEFIT. ON ISSUES LIKE PROTECTION OF DIPLOMATS AND DEVELOPMENT THE US AND USSR MAY WELL FIND THEMSELVES TOGETHER IN SMALL MINORITY. CHINA, ON OTHER HAND, IS IN A POSITION TO GAIN MOST MILEAGE FROM INCREASED COHESION AND POWER OF NON-ALIGNED. SOME NON-ALIGNED STATES TEND TO REGARD CHINA AS ONE OF THEM, AND CHINESE DELEGATION HERE HAS CAREFULLY NURTURED AND EXPLOITED THIS ADVANTAGE. UNFORTUNATELY THOSE NATIONS WHO HAVE THE MOST REASON TO BE CAUTIOUS OF CHINESE INFLUENCE AND THE MOST EXPERIENCE IN DEALING WITH IT ARE JUST THOSE WHOSE INFLUENCE WITHIN THE NON-ALIGNED IS ON THE WANE.
11. VARIOUS AFRICAN DELEGATIONS, FRIENDLY TO US, HAVE TOLD US THAT NON-ALIGNED GROUP IS WATCHING US VOTES ON AFRICAN ISSUES VERY CAREFULLY. (SEE SEPTEL FOR AFRICAN REACTIONS TO OUR VOTES OF PORTUGUESE TERRITORIES.) GHANAIAN AMB TOLD US FRANKLY THAT AFRICANS ARE ENGAGED IN “VOTE TRADING.” (USUN 4575) THIS PROBABLY FORESHADOWS AN INCREASED TENDENCY TO VOTE AGAINST US, SOLELY AS RESPONSE TO OUR NEGATIVE VOTES ON SOUTHERN AFRICAN OR OTHER ISSUES OF INTEREST TO THE NON-ALIGNED.
12. COMMENT: ON EACH OF THE ISSUES OF CENTRAL CONCERN TO THE NON-ALIGNED
(DEVELOPMENT, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND SOUTHERN AFRICA), THE US IS SEEN AS A
PRINCIPAL OBSTACLE TO UN ACTION OF THE SORT THEY SUPPORT. IF THE US IS
NOT TO BE FURTHER ISOLATED WITHIN THE UN AND IF THE UN IS NOT EVENTUALLY
TO BE DESTROYED AS AN INSTITUTION FOR CONSTRUCTIVE INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION, THERE WILL HAVE TO BE SUFFICIENT PROGRESS ON THESE ITEMS TO
CONVINCE THE MORE REASONABLE NON-ALIGNED THAT THE GRADUALIST APPROACH
URGED BY THE US HAS SOME CHANCE OF MEETING THEIR ASPIRATIONS. AT THE
SAME TIME THE US MUST MAKE CLEAR THAT WE CAN ONLY BE PUSHED SO FAR, AND
THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO USE SUCH INSTRUMENTS AS THE VETO AND THE POWER
OF TH PURSE TO BLOCK IRRESPONSIBLE AND HARMFUL UN ACTION, REGARDLESS OF
THE NUMERICAL MAJORITY BEHIND IT.
BENNETT
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files. Confidential. In telegram 238777, December 6, the Department repeated this telegram to Mission to the IAEA in Vienna, the Mission to NATO, the Mission to the EC in Brussels, the Mission to the U.N. in Geneva, Montreal, Paris, Rome, and Vienna for the Representative to UNIDO.↩
- The Mission described the increasing cohesion at the United Nations among states comprising the non-aligned movement.↩