Former Ambassador DB Sole
Fifty years ago the first ever session of
the United Nations General Assembly met in the Methodist Central Hall,
Westminster, a venue which had been requisitioned by the U.K. Government as it
was the only building in central London undamaged by wartime bombing and large
enough to be adapted for the General Assembly purposes. (The church
congregation were obliged to hold their services in the Coliseum Cinema and the
Vaudeville Theatre for the period during which their
church premises were under requisition.)
Of the members of the South African
delegation which attended that first session, there are today two survivors, Dr
Brand Fourie and myself. As one of the surviving delegates I was invited to
attend the 50th anniversary celebrations in London. Being a pensioner I asked
the Department of Foreign Affairs whether it would assist me in finding the
wherewithal to fly to London, e.g. by making
available some of the free mileage earned by Departmental officials under SAA's
Voyager
programme. As the anniversary would
commemorate a very historic event, which was part of the Department's history,
I had no reservations in making the request.
In the event the Department rejected the
request and I decided to abandon the projected visit to London.
By sheer chance, the Vice President
International of a multi-national corporation headquartered in the United
States and with important interests in South Africa, came to hear of the
Department's rejection of my request, while he was on a visit to this country.
On his return to the United States he arranged for me to receive a grant from
corporation funds more than sufficient to meet the cost of my airfare.
Although there were certain programmes on
other days, the main celebration was on the 10th January, 1996, 50 years after
Prime Minister Attlee had opened the first meeting. The celebrations began with
a candlelight vigil conducted outside Methodist Central Hall with prayers for
peace led by the presiding Minister at Methodist Central Hall and concluding
with short addresses by Earl Howe (better known as Sir Geoffrey Howe, formerly
Foreign Secretary) in his capacity as President of the
United Nations Association of Great
Britain, by the President of the Methodist Conference and by Mr
Boutros Boutros Ghali, who then unveiled a
plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary. There was a crowd of about 500
assembled in the street and I talked to two ladies who said that as young girls
they had attended the opening ceremony as members of the public seated in the
public gallery. There followed a reception in an ante room to Central Hall
where I had chats with the UN Secretary General, Earl Howe, the President of the
Conference, the Mayor of Westminster and other
dignitaries. Mr Boutros Ghali told me that
he had been a professor of international law at Columbia University in the 50s
at the time that I was head of the SA Mission to the UN. The reception was
followed by a magnificent concert in Methodist Central Hall which was
completely packed out. The concert
programme featured the Milton Keynes Symphony Orchestra and the London Welsh
Choir, the highlight of which was the
rendering of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th. The evening included a parade
of the flags of the UN member states, the South African flag being carried by
the son of a South Africa House official.
I subsequently discovered that I was the
only delegate to the 1946 General Assembly to come to the 50th anniversary
celebrations from overseas. An old friend dating from the first General
Assembly, Sir Brian Urquhart, was to have flown in from New York but his flight
was cancelled as the result of New York's second snow blizzard. One member of
the original UK delegation (Mr Archie Mackenzie) was also present - I
remembered his name but did not have the opportunity of meeting him at the
function - plus a few members of the locally recruited UN secretariat which had
serviced the first General Assembly.
A few days after this function I addressed,
at a reception given in SA House, a number of members of the UN Association of
Great Britain, including a group of 50 who had visited South Africa last year.
I spoke about the first session and the UN in its early days, with comments and
anecdotes based on my UN experience. The talk was very well received.
It was for me a deeply appreciated
opportunity to attend a unique occasion, filled with nostalgic memories.
Published in the Meintjeskop Courier,
Volume 1, 1996
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