1.
GV EXT U.N. Building.
0.08

2.
SV & CU INT. Press Conference, Thant listens to questions.
0.28

3.
CV U Thant SOF.
2.26


TRANSCRIPT: U THANT: (SEQ. 3) "Well, as I have been saying in the past, the Security Council has a very important role to play in finding a just and peaceful solution to the Middle Eastern crisis and the Security Council will continue to play a very important role in any future arrangements to guarantee any kind of agreement that may be arrived at. So, in my view, for the Security Council to function effectively in the way it was meant to function under the Charter, the permanent members of the Security Council should be energetic, and because of their special status under the Charter they have a special responsibility to see to it that the Security Council is effective. Therefore, I still feel that the four permanent members of the Security council will have a major role to play sooner or later; but for the moment, since Ambassador Jarring is actively engaged in discussions of a very delicate and difficult nature, there is some merit in the statements of some Governments that for the moment at least the four permanent members of the Security Council should not be too active in arriving at a consensus or agreed principles or guidelines for the consideration of the Security Council."




Initials JMR/PW/CO/22.17 JMR/PW/CO/22.37



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: United Nations Secretary-General U Thant told a Press conference in New York yesterday (Monday) that while his special representative in the Middle East, Dr. Gunnar Jarring, is holding talks with Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli delegates, the four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France - should not be too actively involved.

At his first Press conference since last September he said he remained "cautiously optimistic" about the outcome of Dr. Jarring's current attempts to find a settlement. He ruled out any idea of bringing American and Russian troops into the U.N. peacekeeping operations.