workers (I am not quite sure what this means) he thought that if the Vietnamese judged it in their interest in their handling of other countries to be seen to adhere to an orderly depatture programme, they would do so. He himself was due to visit Hanoi in August, and look at the situation then.
(ii) Informal meeting of the Executive Committee, 23 June
5 I went through all the agreed items for this: guidelines, restructuring/strengtheningof the UNHCR office, survey of activities, piracy, rescue at sea, information flow/transparency and ECOSOC. Mr Smyser hoisted all of this in. He had already had some conversation with Mr Hartling and would talk to him again. Mr Hartling hoped to get the meeting over in a morning. I said that I thought this was possible, provided that Mr Hartling's opening presentation covered all these issues, especially the first two referred to, in such a way as to suggest that he had already hoisted in our concerns, and was ready to take them fully into account. I said that I thought I could steer the discussion once Mr Hartling had made his opening statement.
6 As regards ECOSOC, Mr Smyser said that he did not really feel able to comment but he was sure that the High Commissioner would like to speak to me on this as on the other topics once he had had a chance to reflect on them. I explained that I had already tackled Mr Hartling briefly on the subject at the ILO reception for President Mitterrand. There was no need to make up our minds on the subject at this stage. But I thought that a well- managed discussion at ECOSOC could help to break the ice in advance of the next session of the General Assembly.
7 The Council for Namibia has, as agreed, been invited to attend the informal session of the UNHCR Executive Committee. Mr Smyser did not know whether they would choose to be represented.
(iii) Mr Hartling's position
8 Mr Smyser obviously has an ear close to the ground on the subject, but equally feels somewhat reluctant to talk about it. He had heard a large number of names being mentioned as possible successors to Mr Hartling. I explained our position to him. Mr Smyser said he could not understand whether the discussion of alternatives to Mr Hartling was talk or whether it was a preliminary to action. I said that it could well be the former. On the other hand, the UN Secretary-General had shown a disposition to mke his mind up and act fast. Mr Smyser's own position is that he likes and respects Mr Hartling and does not see any candidate in the offing who would be better qualified for the post.
9 Mr Smyser made one specific point. He said he was aware that Mr Hartling was not popular with the Africans. Yet it was ironic that there was great emphasis in UNHCR activities on Africa and Mr Hartling personally gave a great deal of attention to African questions. I said it was difficult to reconstruct the past. I referred to the tricky issues which had arisen at the tim of ICARA. Mr Smyser thought that the Africans might have been genuinely misled by his predecessor over where UNHCR stood at ICARA. ("Dale de Haan's trouble was that he could never say "No"
/to
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.