Security Council fails to act on Gulf war
| United Nations, N.Y.
After six days of private deliberations the members of the UN Security Council have been unable to reach an agreement on sending an appeal for a cease-fire to Baghdad and Tehran.
The nonaligned and the communist members of the council have successfully delayed the launching of a formal council initiative because they want to give President Zia ul-Haq from Pakistan time to accomplish his "mission of good offices."
To many officials here, the Security Council silence is shocking. Many non-Arab diplomats privately but angrily say that the fact that Iraq's aggression against its neighbor has not been denounced, or even mentioned by name, constitutes a serious precedent. "It seems that everything depends on who the aggressor is. When Israel, the United States, the Soviet Union, or Vietnam make a military move against a country, there are voices at the UN to denounce their aggression. When Iraq -- no matter how justified its grievances -- resorts to force, nobody dares to criticize its violation of the UN charter."