On November 3, 1961, Burmese diplomat U Thant took over as the Secretary General of the UN when Dag Hammarskjöld died in an air crash in Africa in September 1961. U Thant was designated by the Security Council to complete his term as Secretary-General. Brian Urquhart, who was working for the UN in Africa when U Thant took over, remembers the challenges of that time with the UN split down the middle on Cold war lines and caught up in a violent and frustrating mission in the heart of Africa.
He says that U Thant “pulled the UN together and brought it back onto a steady course in a time of storm and change”. His decisions were based on moral and ethical rather than political grounds. His intervention in the Cuban missile crisis allowed both sides to back down without losing face.
God of peace,
we give thank for the contribution of people like U Thant, who though a private person, took on a very public role and brought to it a dignity and discipline.
We pray for the diplomats of our world.
We ask a special blessing on Peter Ryan, the first Irish ambassador to New Zealand who had just completed his term.
We ask your blessing on his next placing in Nigeria.
Amen
By Fr Pat O'Shea - Lower Hutt
U Thant: 3rd Secretary General of the UN
Shop
Comments (0)