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U Thant
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=== Continuation of first term: War in the Congo === Thant's reappointment was assured when Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] made several favorable references to Thant in letters to U.S. president John F. Kennedy.<ref name="nytimes19621129">{{cite news | last1=Brewer | first1=Sam Pope | title=Russians Agree to Naming Thant for a Full Term | work=The New York Times | date=29 November 1962 | page=1}}</ref> In November 1962, the General Assembly voted unanimously to promote Thant from Acting Secretary-General to Secretary-General for a term ending on 3 November 1966.<ref name="nytimes19621201">{{cite news | last1=Burnham | first1=Alexander | title=U.N. Names Thant for 4-Year Term | work=The New York Times | date=1 December 1962}}</ref> For personal reasons, Thant wanted his term to end five years from his initial appointment,<ref name="nytimes19621129"/> and he would henceforth consider his first five years in office to be a single term.<ref name="nytimes19660902">{{cite news | last1=Middleton | first1=Drew | title=Thant Declares He Will Not Seek Second U.N. Term | work=The New York Times | date=2 September 1966 | page=1}}</ref> Although a manifest pacifist and a devout Buddhist, Thant did not hesitate to use force when required. During the Congo Civil War in 1962, Katangan secessionists led by [[Moise Tshombe]] repeatedly attacked UN Operation in the Congo forces (ONUC). In December 1962, after ONUC suffered a sustained four-day attack in Katanga, Thant ordered the "[[Operation Grandslam]]" to gain "complete freedom of movement for ONUC all over Katanga." The operation proved to be decisive and ended the secessionist insurgency once and for all. By January 1963, the secessionist capital [[Lubumbashi|Elizabethville]] was under full UN control.{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=161}} In his speech at [[Columbia University]] Thant expressed expectation of completion of the [[United Nations Operation in the Congo]] in mid 1964.<ref name="Institut">Tomanović, M. (1965). ''Hronika međunarodnih događaja 1964''. [[Belgrade]]. [http://www.diplomacy.bg.ac.rs/index_en.php Institute of International Politics and Economics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816142044/http://www.diplomacy.bg.ac.rs/index_en.php |date=16 August 2018 }}, p.223. (in [[Serbo-Croatian]])</ref> For his role in defusing the Cuban crisis and other peacekeeping efforts, the Norwegian Permanent Representative of the United Nations informed Thant that he would be awarded the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize. He humbly replied, "Is not the Secretary-General merely doing his job when he works for peace?"{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=147}} On the other hand, Chairman [[Gunnar Jahn]] of the Nobel Peace Prize committee lobbied heavily against giving Thant the prize, which was, at the last minute, awarded to [[UNICEF]]. The rest of the committee all wanted the prize to go to Thant. The disagreement lasted three years, and in 1966 and 1967 no prize was given, with Gunnar Jahn effectively vetoing an award to Thant.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lundestad |first1=Geir |title=The Nobel Peace Prize, 1901–2000 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/peace/lundestad-review/ |website=nobelprize.org |access-date=7 April 2018 |quote=In 1965 and 1966 a majority of the committee clearly favoured giving the prize to the third Secretary General, U Thant, and even to the first, Norway's Trygve Lie, but chairman Jahn more or less vetoed this. |archive-date=18 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618204330/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/peace/lundestad-review/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Outraged, Thant's undersecretary and Nobel Prize laureate [[Ralph Bunche]] called Gunnar Jahn's decision "gross injustice to U Thant."{{Sfn|Dorn|2007|p=147}} In April 1964, Thant accepted the [[Holy See]]'s designation of itself as a UN [[permanent observer]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCann |first1=Eamonn |title=How did the Holy See get recognition as a state? It just did |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-did-the-holy-see-get-recognition-as-a-state-it-just-did-1.1664452 |access-date=7 April 2018 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=23 January 2014 |quote=In March 1964 pope Paul VI wrote to UN secretary general U Thant saying he was minded to appoint a permanent observer. In April, U Thant wrote back saying, in effect, fair enough, come ahead. |archive-date=30 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130030042/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-did-the-holy-see-get-recognition-as-a-state-it-just-did-1.1664452 |url-status=live }}</ref> There appeared to be no involvement of the General Assembly or the UN Security Council in the decision.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kissling |first1=F. |last2=Shannon |first2=D. |title=Church and state at the United Nations. A case of the emperor's new clothes. |journal=Conscience (Washington, D.C.) |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=11–2 |pmid=12178922 |year=1996}}</ref> [[File:Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, S. Rajaratnam, Abdul Rahim Ishak, Wong Lin Ken with U Thant at the UN in 1967.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Prime Minister of Singapore]] Visits [[UN Headquarters]] on 21 October 1967: Seen here, from left: Inche Rahim Ishak ([[Abdul Rahim Ishak]]), Minister of State for Education of Singapore; Prime Minister [[Lee Kuan Yew]]; Secretary-General U Thant; [[S. Rajaratnam]], Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore; and Ambassador [[Wong Lin Ken]], Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations.<ref name=UN1>{{Cite web|url=https://media.un.org/photo/en/asset/oun7/oun7620127|title=Prime Minister of Singapore Visits UN Headquarters|accessdate=January 7, 2025|work=[[United Nations]]|date=21 October 1967}}</ref> ]]
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