WASHINGTON: At an unusually forthright Press conference UN Secretary-General Thant called upon the United States yesterday [Feb 24] to find a way to withdraw from South Viet-Nam. He strongly urged a negotiated settlement maintaining that there could never be a military solution to the Viet-Namese crisis. But as the war continued, U Thant added, the prospects of a negotiated peace got worse. The UN Secretary-General said that he was not urging “immediate withdrawal” of US troops from Viet-Nam for he was “fully conscious that such a step would naturally involve questions of face, prestige, and abrogation of previous commitments”. U Thant felt that the American people were not being given the real facts about Viet-Nam. He went on: “I am sure the American people if they know the true facts will feel that further bloodshed is unnecessary and that negotiations alone can create conditions which would enable the United States to withdraw gracefully.”

U Thant also said that China and North Viet-Nam intervened in the south only after the United States had begun to aid the Saigon regime against a local Communist rebellion.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play