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318 THU LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES

operation, of the mission. They preferred to leave the choice open
to the Secretary-General to devise the appropriate procedure
required for the fulfillment of his Personal Representative's
mission. However, the Bahrainis were anxious to distinguish, in
advance, between the procedure required for the good offices
mission and that required for a United Nations “plebiscite”. They
therefore insisted that the method of operation of the
Secretary-General's mission in Bahrain be worked out in advance in
order that it would not be confused with a plebiscite procedure.1
The Iranians agreed to a British suggestion that the Bahrainis
should meet with United Nations officials at Geneva, in order to
discuss the method of operation of the Personal Representative's
mission in Bahrain. Accordingly, in the afternoon of 31 December,
1969, a meeting was arranged at the Peace Palace in Geneva
between three Bahraini officials, two United Nations officials (the
late Dr. Ralph Bunch and Mr. Winspeare, the Secretary-general's
nominee as a Personal Representative), and a British official (Sir
Geoffrey Arthur, who later became a British Political Resident in
the Gulf.) The meeting was successful. It provided an opportunity
for the Bahraini delegation to meet, face-to-face, with United
Nations officials closely connected with the operation of the good
offices mission. At the meeting, the parties also approved a
document containing nine points of procedure for the operation of
the Personal Representative's mission in Bahrain, in accordance
with the provisions of the Representative's terms of reference.2

The Announcement of the Secretary-General
On 28 March, 1970, the United Nations Secretary-General made
his first official announcement concerning his agreement to
exercise his good offices in the Bahrain-Iran question. The
announcement outlined the agreement of the parties concerned in
seeking the Secretary-General’s good offices and the steps to be
taken in that regard, as follows:
For some months past, each of the Permanent Representatives [of Iran
and the United Kingdom] has had informal discussions with the
Secretary-General on the possible exercise of his good offices towards
settling the differences between their governments over Bahrain. . .
On 9 March 1970, the Secretary-General received from the Permanent
Representative of Iran a letter presenting, in its first paragraph, the request
for his good offices as follows:
1. Private notes of author. It should be noted here that the argument of the Bahrain
Government on the above-mentioned point was that a United Nations plebiscite
was inappropriate in Bahrain because it did not, at any time, consider Bahrain s
sovereignty in dispute.
2. Private notes of author.