PARIS: The United Nations Security Council today [Dec 24] called on both sides in the Indonesia fighting `to cease hostilities forthwith` and on the Dutch to release the Republican President, Dr Soekarno, and other political leaders arrested on December 18. In a combined resolution it had instructed theUnitedNations`GoodOffices`Committee to report urgently on events in Indonesia since December 12 and inform the Council whether the order for a cease-fire and the release of Republican leader was carried out.

This resolution was based on the United States draft and incorporated some Australian amendments designed to strengthen it. The United States, Britain, China, Syria, Canada, Argentina and Colombia voted for the resolution, while Russia, the Ukraine, Belgium and France abstained. News agencies [Meanwhile, according to news agencies in Singapore,] an Indonesian Republican Provisional Government headed by the Economic Minister in the Hatta Government, most of the Ministers of which are now under Government arrest, has been formed `somewhere in Sumatra,` the Indonesian Republican office in Singapore announced today [Dec 24].