A/33/PV.92 General Assembly

The thirty-third regular session of the General Assembly, sus- pended on 21 December 1978, is being resumed today. The relevant documents are available to delegations, enabling them to take an active part in examining those items considered of which, for various reasons, had to be postponed last December. 2. During this recess of the Assembly, the death occurred, to our deep regret, of Houari Boumediene, President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. President Boumediene was noted throughout his eventful life for his loyalty to his people, his capacity to serve them and his patient perseverar:::e in seeking to attain the objectives which he had set himself for the benefit of his country and the international community. He was also a courageous leader in the cause of decolonization, the self-determination of peoples and a constructive union of developing coun- tries. His political style, discreet and devoid of unnecessary propaganda or stridency, but firm and consistent, made President Boumediene an exemplary modem statesman. The presidency joins in the world-wide mourning of the death of this inestimable leader and believes it correctly interprets the feeling of the Assembly in expressing its solidarity with Algeria in this hour of sorrow. 3. Since the temporary closure of our meetings last December, we have read and heard, as is usual at this time of year, a series of commentaries on the deliberations of the General Assembly. Some of them have been very valuable in indicating to us the reforms which it would be appropriate to make in the rules of procedure of the General Assembly to enable it to organize its work and make it more productive. However, not all those commen- taries have been disinterested. Not a few of them have been formulated with a tinge of frustration by those who, in that distant period when our Organization was no more than a small club, manipulated the majorities which, now that they have lost that power, they call "mechanical". They , NEW YORK have not hidden a certain uneasiness at the. idea- that the General Assembly might adopt resolutions of a particular nature or might comply with mandates conferred at previous sessions. 4. From an objective point of View, the partial results of this regular session of the General Assembly create the impression that States now conduct themselves here each day in accordance with their legitimate interests and those of the international community, and not on the basis of the rigid ideological alignments that characterized the period ut the "cold war". Similarly, it is possible to refer to what has been called the inspiration of the General Assembly. In the early history of our Organization that inspiration was derived from statesmen and diplomats from certain privi- leged countries. Now the inspiration has become more democratic; it does not emanate miraculously from the will of a few statesmen, but is the fruit of more collective work in which all States participate. S. Each state has the right to suffer the nostalgia of its own past which, almost always, was better.

I should like to invite the attention of the General Assembly . to document A/33/SS1, which contains a letter addressed to me by the Secretary-General informing the General Assembly that seven Member States are in arrears in the payment of their fmancial contributions to the United Nations within the terms of Article 19 ofthe Charter. 7. In respect of six of those Member States, I have been informed that steps have been taken to expedite the remittance of the necessary contributions. 8. With respect to South Africa, as members are aware, no delegation has been accredited by that Member State to this session of the General Assembly. Consequently, no decision need be taken at the present time regarding the application of Article 19 of the Charter in respect of that State.

As members are aware, the General Assembly, by its decision 33/432 of 20 and 21 December 1978, decided that the * Resumed from the 44th meeting. 10. In addition, under agenda item 12, "Report of the Economic and Social Council", the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Fifth Committee will take up the administrative and fmancial The meetingrose at 11.15 a.m. 1 See the 95th meeting, para. 12.