A/38/PV.60 General Assembly

I should fIrst like to draw the attention of the General Assembiy to the r~portof the Special Political Committee contained in document A/38/SS0. May I take it that the General Assembly takes note of that report? It was so decided (decision 38/407). 2. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): I now call on the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, Mr. Maitama-Sule, of Nigeria. 3. Mr. MAITAMA-SULE (Nigeria), Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid: Mr. President, as this is the fIrst time I am speaking at the current session ofthe General Assembly, I should like to express my great satisfaction at the election of an eminent statesman of Latin America, committed to the principles ofthe United Nations, as the President of the current session. I am confident that your wise leadership will greatly help the Assembly to discharge its responsibilities at this critical period in world affairs. 4. It ic; now 20 years since the Special Committee against Apartheid began its work. It is 20 years since the Secu- rity Council called on the ~outhAfrica!! regime t!> ab~­ don apartheidand repression, characterized the situation in South Africa as seriously disturbing international peace and security, and called for an arms embargo against South Africa. It is 20 years since the General Assembly unanimouslycalled for the release ofNelson Mandelaand all other South African political prisoners as an essential prerequisite for averting growing conflict, and appealed to the international community to assist the victims of apartheid. S. Yet, despite numerous resolutions by the principal organs of the United Nations, there has been no- sign of the abandonment of apartheid, but only s funhel' entrenchment of racism; no advance offreedom or equzJ- ity, but an intensifIcation of tyranny and ofthe criminal dispossession of millions of black people; no peace, hut an aggravation oftension in South Africa and the exten- sion ofconffict into an undeclared war all over southern Africa, together with constant acts of murder and t~r­ rorism by the Pretoria regime beyond the borders of South Africa. -Resumed from the 56th meeting. NEW YORK 6. The racist minority regime in South Africa not '~nly has survived, but has been able to proceed wim the implementation of its diabolic plans. It has uprooted 3 million people from their homes and deprived 8 mil- lion Africans, the children of the soil, of their citizen- ship rights. There is no parallel to this cdme against humanity except in Nazi Germany. Yet some major Powers which profess democracy and human values con- tinue to hinder and frustrate effective international action to eliminate apartheid. They never ce&e rmding pretexts for giving more time to the racists of South Africa. 7. Is it that they wish to enable the racists to complete their plans to deprive all the indigenous African people of their birthright in the land of their ancestors, to estab- lish a racist white State on the African continent, and to present the world with a fait accompli? 8. The racist regime of South Africa has built up an enormous military machine with constant infusions of capital, equipment and technology from Western coun- tries and Israel. The racist regime of South Africa is constantly given the benefIt of the dou~t, ~d h~ b~~ enabled to circumvent all embargoes while usmg Its mili- tary arsenal not only against the people of South Africa and Namibia but agah1st the independent African States with which the major Western Powers profess to main- tain friendly relations. It was allowed and assisted to acquire the capability to produc~ and deliver nuclear weapons, and some countries contillue ~ven now to col- laborate with it in the nuclear fIeld, despite all our plead- ings. Humanity is confronted by the menace of the nuclear-weapon capability of a racist regime with an unparalled record of disregard for human life and peace. 9. The problem ofapartheidin South Africa cannot be treated as a routine and perennial item among the many items on the agenda of the Assembly, to be disposed of with one more debate and some more resolutions, only to be confronted with a further aggravation of the situa- tion next year. At a time when humanity is faced with the gravest dangers, the situation in southern Africa and that in the Middle East may well be the powder-kegs of a conflagration that may endanger its very existence. I need not belabour the point with an account of the similarities of the situation in the two regions and of the axis that links the regimes of South Africa and Israel. . Peace is at stake and the issue is greater than any coun- try, any people, any ideology or any faith. 10. The United Nations is the only organization which, with the support of all its Member States, has pte auth.or- ity under ItS Charter to avert a catastrophic conffict. Indeed, it has a moral and legal obligation to act and to act now. 11. Before the Assembly meets again, a century will. have e!~psed since the colonial occupation of Namibia. The inhumanity and genocide that the Namibian people have suffered and "heir courage and sacrifice in the struggle for freedom are an epic in human history. Yet, some forces have seen fIt to frustrate the independence of the Namibian people by making it COL'ditiOnal upon totally extraneous issues which serve their so-called interests in 174. An unequivocal judgement was passed on the racists at the Second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. The German Demo- cratic Republic welcomes and supports the decisions adopted by that important world forum, particularly the 175. Determined struggle against the apartheid regime, broad political, diplomatic and material support of the ANC liberation movement in South Africa and SWAPO in Namibia and active solidarity with the front-line States are regarded by the German Democratic Republic as irreversible elements of its socialist foreign policy. The line adopted by it at this year's important international conferences on the problems of southern Africa was governed bythat commitment. The German Democratic Republic's stand on this matter was reaffirmed also during the visits paid to our country this year by the Secre- tary-General, Mr. Perez de Cuellar; the Chairman of the Special Committee againstApartheid, Mr. Maitama-Sule; the Director of the Centre against Apartheid, Assistant The meeting rose at 1.25 p.m. NOTES I Uniao Nacional para a Indcpendencla Tots! de Angola. 2See Report 0/ the second World Colf/erence to Combat Racism andRacialDiscrimination, Geneva, 1-12August 1983 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.83.XIV.4 and corrigendum), chap. 11.