On 11 June 1958, the SC responded to allegations of interference by the United Arab Republic in Lebanon – “illegal infiltration” of personnel and arms across the border – by authorizing the deployment of UNOGIL (S/RES/128).1 It was mandated to “dispatch urgently … so as to ensure there is no illegal infiltration of personnel or supply of arms or other materiel across the Lebanese borders” (ibid.).
Meanwhile, following a coup d’état in Iraq that also threatened to destabilize the Lebanese Government, the US deployed troops to Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese Government on 14 July 1958, and the UK did the same in Jordan (also at the Jordanian Government’s request).2 Only three days later, the USSR put forward a draft resolution (S/4047/Rev.1) calling for the US and the UK to “cease armed intervention”, which did not attain sufficient votes. Concurrently, a US counter-resolution (S/4050/Rev.1) and an amended draft resolution by Japan (S/4055/Rev.1) were both vetoed by the USSR.3 These resolutions, if they had been adopted, would have enabled the Secretary-General to seek additional measures and contingents to reinforce UNOGIL.4
Following this apparent deadlock, draft resolutions were put forward by the USSR (S/4057/Rev.1) and the US (S/4056/Rev.1), both proposing the convening of a 3rd emergency special session of the GA on this matter. On 7 August 1958, the SC then passed resolution 129, specifically citing “the lack of unanimity” among permanent members and deciding “to call an emergency special session of the General Assembly” (S/RES/129).
Subsequently, in this emergency special session the GA passed a resolution (without vote (A/RES/1237(ES-III))5 calling on all Member States to “act strictly in accordance with the principles of mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”, and requesting the Secretary-General to “facilitate the early withdrawal of the foreign troops” from both Lebanon and Jordan (ibid., para. 2). The latter provision effectively created an additional task within UNOGIL’s mandate, that of facilitating withdrawal of foreign forces.
Notes
- United Nations, “Lebanon – UNOGIL”, backgrounder. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- The representative of the USSR explained the veto as having been due to the fact that the draft resolution “contained approval of the intervention of Lebanon by United States armed forces” (S/PV.834, para. 90). ↩︎
- Draft resolution 4050 (S/4050/Rev.1 para. 2), for example, included provisions to request the Secretary-General “immediately to consult the Government of Lebanon and other Member States as appropriate with a view to making arrangements for additional measures, including the contribution and use of contingents, as may be necessary to protect the territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon”. Draft resolution 4055 (S/4055/Rev. 1, para. 1) included provisions to request the Secretary-General “to make arrangements forthwith for such measures, in addition to those envisaged by the resolution of 11 June 1958, as he may consider necessary in the light of present circumstances”. ↩︎
- The resolution was introduced by Sudan on behalf of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Republic and Yemen. See: United Nations Office of Public Information, “Chapter IX: question concerning the Middle East”, Yearbook of the United Nations, 1958, pp. 36–66. ↩︎