Conference turris::scandia

71.0. "Danish UN Ambassador hangs tough with SovU " by TLE::SAVAGE (Neil, @Spit Brook) Tue Mar 18 1986 11:05

Associated Press Mon 17-MAR-1986 18:43                    UN-Soviet-Dane Flap

        Tiny Denmark Stands up to Soviet Union in a U.N. War of Words
    
    UNITED NATIONS (AP) - In a disagreement that involved rare criticism of
    the Security Council president, a Soviet complaint about the Danish
    ambassador's conduct was circulated as an official council document
    Monday. 
    
    At the Soviet delegation's request, Danish Ambassador Ole Bierring,
    circulated the complaint, but issued a press statement emphatically
    denying its allegations. 
    
    The Soviet missive to U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar
    protested that Bierring had, as Security Council president for March,
    committed a "flagrant violation of established practice" and let
    himself be swayed by NATO bloc politics. 
    
    It was, Bierring grumbled, "a serious matter to challenge the president
    of the Security Council for his conduct of council affairs." 
    
    Criticism of a council president is highly unusual in a forum where
    delegates of every political stripe routinely begin their speechess by
    praising the current and previous month's presidents for their skill in
    having conducted the previous month's meetings. The presidency is
    rotated each month among the 15 member states, according to alphabetic
    order. 
    
    The Danish-Soviet controversy had its genesis in last month's council
    debate over Israel's interception of a Libyan executive jet carrying
    Syrian and Lebanese politicians. 
    
    During that debate, the British delegate drew a parallel to the
    Soviet's 1983 interception and downing of a South Korean airliner with
    the loss of 269 lives. An angry Soviet ambassador, Vasiliy S.
    Safronchuk, thereupon revived the Kremlin's charge that the Korean 747
    had been on a spying mission over Soviet territory when it was shot
    down by air-to-air missiles. 
    
    South Korea, which has non-member observer status here, did not
    participate in the debate, but responded in a letter to the council
    president, complaining that the Soviet delegate had dredged up an old,
    false accusation. 
    
    South Korean Ambassador Kwang-Soo Choi asked that his letter be
    circulated as an official council document. Safronchuk objected,
    arguing that South Korea was not directly involved in the debate over
    the Libyan jet and, therefore, it would be improper to circulate its
    letter dealing with an unrelated incident. 
    
    Bierring, who inherited the controversy when he took over the
    presidency from the Congo on March 1, came under heavy Soviet pressure
    to withhold the letter, Western Council sources said. At one point,
    they said, Safronchuk threatened the Dane with Soviet non-cooperation
    for the remainder of his one-month term. 
    
    The Danish envoy went ahead and circulated the South Korean letter
    because, as he explained in a statement on Monday, he was acting in
    accordance with established practice. To have withheld the letter, he
    said, would have amounted to censorship. 
    
    He pointedly reminded the Soviets that, on procedural matters, they
    could not sneak in a veto "through the back door." The veto power, held
    by the Soviet Union and the four other permanent members of the
    15-nation council, only can be wielded on substantive matters, such as
    resolutions. 
    
    At Safronchuk's request, Bierring had the Soviet complaint about his
    conduct circulated as an official council document.