A Caviar Ending

EAST-WEST A Caviar Ending

Diplomats in Belgrade talks finally agree--on further talks

There was U.S. Ambassador Albert ("Bud") Sherer strolling arm in arm with Soviet Diplomat, Yuli Vorontsov through the glass and concrete Sava Corference Center outside Belgrade. Both looked as if they had just pulled off some master stroke of detente. As a matter of fact they had. After seven weeks of edgy deliberations to decide the date, duration agenda and procedures for a higher-level conference this autumn, following up the 1975 Helsinki accord, the envoys of 35 nations reached an agreement last week in a surprisingly conciliatory spirit.

The Helsinki accord was a complex compromise between the Soviet desire for recognition of its hegemony in Eastern Europe and Western desire for an international codification of human rights among other things). How to monitor these agreements was the issue at Belgrade, and to the extent that conferences bring victories, the West won on most counts--if only because the Soviets never made their threatened all-out stand against the U.S. human rights campaign.

Much credit was also due to some skillful mediation by nine neutral and nonaligned nations (Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Liechtenstein, Malta, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia). The " NNs," as they were dubbed adroitly provided many of the phrases and even the punctuation of the agreement their own desire (which coincided with Washington's) for a full-scale conference this fall.

In the end, the Belgrade meeting decided that 1) a thorough review of how states have respected the accord, including its human rights provision, would be the first item discussed, 2) the fall session would have decision-making powers, and 3) the conference would open Oct. 4 and run until Dec. 22. If the drafting of a report is not completed by then, the conference will reconvene for an extra month.

The real contest centered on the U.S. delegation's determination to list a review of human rights violations separately from any questions of promoting detente, thus blocking the Soviets from hiding rights cases behind a blur of rhetoric. Trouble was, the Helsinki accord lumped the two issues together in a single sentence.* Thus began what came to be called the "Battle of the Dashes."

It was first suggested that the items be listed as I and II Nyet, said the Soviets. Well then, Arabic numerals. Nyet. A and B? Nyet. Next the NNs proposed dashes between the two items. Nyet, said Vorontsov, implying that he was ready to hold the line all summer, since "August holidays are not a Russian tradition."

Finally the NNs hit on an ingenious solution. In a working agenda and timetable paper, a blank line was inserted between the clause dealing with rights and that dealing with detente. The Russians were satisfied because no new punctuation was introduced, and the Americans were pleased because compliance was clearly established as topic No. 1.

Then, just when the diplomats began thinking of packing their bags, the Russians reverted to their old demand for a cutoff date, which the U.S. opposed for fear that the Soviets would tie up the conference by filibustering. With no resolution in sight, a Yugoslav organizer finally informed the conferees that the contracts for the interpreters would run out at the end of the week. After that, presumably, the conference would become Babel.

Vorontsov invited Sherer to the Soviet embassy for dinner. Along with the caviar, it turned out, there was a compromise. The Russians would get a cutoff date but in turn agreed that the meeting would not end before adopting a concluding document, which implied the possibility of an extension. "Champagne on Friday," a newly jovial Vorontsov told reporters, predicting an agreement by week's end. He added: "We have to be out of the building by May, anyway, so the Yugoslavs can hold their party congress." Champagne it was.

*"The participating States ... declare furthermore their resolve to continue the multilateral process initiated by the Conference ... by proceeding to a thorough exchange of views both on the implementation of the provisions of the Final Act and of the tasks defined by the Conference, as well as, in the context of the questions dealt with by the latter, on the deepening of their mutual relations, the improvement of security and the development of cooperation in Europe, and the development of the process of detente in the future."

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