20091965 Text of the Speech made by Mr. Vidal Zaglio (Uruguay) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1242 held on 20 September 1965

Text of the Speech made by Mr. Vidal Zaglio (Uruguay) in the Security Council Meeting No. 1242 held on 20 September 1965

Before beginning this statement on behalf of my country, I should first like to thank the President of the Security Council for the kind words he has spoken about me. Since, however, I take his words as being addressed to the country I represent, I wish to express my deep gratitude for the sentiments they contained, which reflect the generosity and goodwill of the President and are a source of pride and satisfaction to me and to Uruguay, particularly since they come from such a distinguished jurist as Mr. Goldberg, who has had an outstanding career in his own country as an eminent member of the Supreme Court. He has spoken of Uruguay so kindly and aptly, in terms which we cannot forget or ignore. I am grateful for the gracious and warm welcome addressed to me and, as an Uruguayan, I have listened to them with the greatest satisfaction.

On taking my seat in the Security Council, I wish to express my country's genuine interest in and its opinion on the item under discussion. Uruguay is occupying a seat on the Council for the first time and, because it is aware of the responsibility which this implies, because it knows that its statements-by virtue of its own tradition and of the fact that it is one of the two Latin american members of this body-are inspired by a steadfastly peace-loving tradition, by the rejection of all solutions based on aggression and force and by an unswerving faith in solutions based on international law, it has studied this case, in which two Member States face each other in battle and which is endangering peace and general security, with all the seriousness which the circumstances require.

Uruguay was one of the sponsors of Security Council resolutions 209 (1965) and 210 (1965) adopted unanimously on 4 and 6 September 1965, and we are accordingly in general agreement with the conclusions of the reports made by the Secretary-General on returning from his mission [S/6683, S/6686]; his devotion to the cause of peace has once again been demonstrated by the accomplishment of his difficult mission.

The matter is now before the Security Council, under Article 24 of the Charter which confers on it primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and it must therefore take appropriate action. This action, which must be directed towards achieving the immediate and most important aim of securing peace, may take the form of a cease-fire and the withdrawal of all military forces, irrespective of their nature.

These provisional measures will not affect the rights, claims or positions of the parties concerned, since the fundamental problems involved in this case ought to be settled and will have to be settled in due course in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations, and with Article 1, paragraphs and 2, of the Charter, in particular. The Council will therefore continue to consider this problem in order to ensure full compliance with the Charter and respect for its decisions.

We have before us the text of draft resolution [S/6694] submitted by the Netherlands. Generally speaking, we find it fully satisfactory, because basically it is an effective contribution towards maintaining peace in the world and because two Members are to help in the most important way of all, by the cease-fire, to ensure that peace will reign among the countries which signed the Charter.

My country hopes that the two great States, which are now facing each other in conflict which can hardly be termed other than deplorable, will realise that the problems that separate them can be solved only by observance of the law and by co-operation, that fighting will solve nothing and that, moreover, their attitude creating an international situation which may lead mankind into catastrophe of incalculable magnitude.

Uruguay firmly believes that true spirit of international co-operation prevails among all the States Members of the United Nations, spirit which, Dag Hammarskjold said, all times demands firm belief the ability of men and Governments to exercise common sense in order to find the way out of the frightful labyrinth of irreconcilable conflicts and insoluble problems in which we find ourselves.