UNITED NATIONS -- The United States voted for war when it vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Washington stop helping rebels in Nicaragua, the Central American country's ambassador says.
The resolution rejected Thursday by U.S. Ambassador Vernon Walters had endorsed a June 27 ruling by the International Court of Justice that said U.S. aid to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua is illegal. The resolution also called on all nations to refrain from 'political, economic or military actions of any kind against any state' in Central America.
The 15-nation council voted 11-1 with three abstentions for the resolution, but the United States' veto automatically killed it. The United States and the council's four other permanent members all have veto power.
Walters said he rejected the resolution, sponsored by the non-aligned bloc of nations, because it 'could not, and would not, contribute to the achievement of a peaceful and just settlement of the situation in Central America.'
Nicaraguan Ambassador Nora Astorga viewed it differently.
'The U.S. vote was a vote for war,' she declared.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega took the unusual step of appearing personally before the council Tuesday to speak for the resolution.
He said Washington's aid to Contra rebels based in Honduras and Costa Rica was equivalent to the occupation of the two nations.
The Reagan administration's refusal to abide by the world court ruling, Ortega said, 'will not only open the door to military escalation and possible generalized conflict in Central America, but to a dangerous weakening of the entire international legal order.'
The United States did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague court in its quarrel with Nicaragua.
Walters said Thursday the resolution 'would not have reduced Nicaragua's internal repression or thwarted its subversion of neighboring states, which ... Nicaragua has undertaken with the expert assistance of outside powers with a long history of subversion and repression.' The suggestion about 'outside powers' appeared to refer to the Soviet Union and Cuba.
During heated debate preceding the vote, Walters angrily responded to a charge by Ambassador Isack Mudenge of Zimbabwe that the United States was subverting international law to protect 'some narrow short-term gain.'
'The record of the United States in fighting aggression is documented by the crosses on our military cemeteries around the world,' Walters said.' I would suggest that the representative of Zimbabwe visit one sometime.'
Voting for the resolution were Australia, Bulgaria, China, Congo, Denmark, Ghana, Madagascar, Soviet Union, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Britain, France and Thailand abstained.
