A/41/PV.60 General Assembly

33.  (~ontinued) POLICIES OF APARTHEID Ol! THE GOVER-.mNT OF ScwrS AFRICA (a) REPORT OF THE SPECIAL OOMMITTEE AGAINST APARTHEm (A/41/2~ and Add.l and Add.l/Corr .1) (b) REPORTS OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL (A/41/506 and Add.1-3, A/41/638, A/4l/690) (c) REPORT OF THE SPECIAL POLITICAL Ca-sMIT'l'E]1: (A/41/779) (d) DRAFT RESOLUTIONS (A/41/L.24 to A/41/L.31) f:'.r. FERM (Sweden): The Government in Pretoria· is waging an escalating war against the people of South Africa, against neighbouring States and, indeed, against the international community us a whole. The crisis in South Africa is not a temporary one. It has been going on since the idea of racial separation, apartheid, was introduced. The crisis has deepened over the years, and has now reached an unprecedented level~ A nationwide state of emergency was imposed in June this year. South African security forces have been equipped with sweeping and far-reaching authority. Immune from prosecution and shielded by a rigid press censorship they have arrested entire church congregations, sent soldiers into universities and schools, and raided townships, trade union offices and civic centers. During the last few months 20,000 people have been detained without trial. More than 8,000 of theIR are children under the age of 16•. Groups that IlllOnitor human rights in South Africa have estimated that the secu~ity Forces have detained almost the entire leadership of the 800 community organiz~tions and labour unions affiliated with the United Democrati~ Front (ODF). The ODF itself, which is the . . most prominent unbanned organi2ation for the democratic opposition in South Africa, I was ~ecently declared an Raffected organizatio~R, ~d thus prohibited from rec~iving funds from abroad. In this way the apartheid regime is trying to silenc~ the voice of reason in South Africa. Our hopes even for a transition of South A~rica through negotiations , into a non-racial and democratic State are diminishing. The unanimous conclusions of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons are in this context highly significant, deeply disturbing and tragic. The members of the Group represented diverse national and political backgrounds. They applied a . genuinely non-confcontational aproach. Nevertheless, their efforts proved to boe of no avail. In its carefully drafted report the Group could not but conclude that the· South African Government: Ris in truth not yet prepared to negotiate fundamental change, nor to count~nance the creation of genuine democratic structures, nor to face the prospect of the end of white domination and white power in the foreseeable future. • According to the report, the necessary fundamental change will be possible only if the South African Government is prepared to deal with leaders of the people's own choosing. There could be no negotiated settlement in South Africa without the African National Congress (ANC). My Government shares these views. ~r years we 'have appealed to the South African Government, but in vain. The apartheid regime has moved even further away from implementing recommended measures of necessary change. There is no genuine intention to dismantle aparthei~. South Africa has also drastically escalated its aggression against j neighbouring States. The so-called Lusaka Underst~nding and the Nkomati Accord have been grossly and systematically violated by the South African authorities. ~r the first time direct attacks have been launched agains~ Zambia and Zimbabwe. Parts of Angola's territory are being occupied by South Africa. Recently Mozambique was the target of intensive threats and accusations from Pretoria. Armed groups are recruited, trained, financed and transported by South Africa for attacks against Angola, Mozambique and other neighbouring States. These groups commit terrorist actions against civilians, burn down villages, loot foodstores and homes, and attack hospitals and schools. They threaten, kidnap and murder foreign aid workers. A great number of people, possibly up to a quarter of a million, have lost their lives since 1980 as a result of this aggression. An even greater number have been forced to take refuge from their countries. More than 1 million have been displaced f~om their homes. The total cost of South Africa's acts of aggression to its neighbours have been estimated by international experts on the region to be of the order of $US 17 billion. ~r purposes of comparison, this corresponds to more than 40 per cent of the total value of their exports. ~r a country like Mozambique the cost of South Africa's aggression has represented more than 50 per cent of its gross domestic product. These are shocking figures. But they can still not give us the full dimension of the sufferings of the peoples in southern Africa. (Mr. Ferm, Sweden) Sweden is in deep sympathy with the States! of the region which are vi~tims of South Africa's policy of aggression. The root 'cause of this policy is apartheid. The South African authorities bear the responsibility. The Swedish Government fUlly shares the concern of the front-line States recently expressed in their Maputo Declaration of 12 October. We support their appeal to the interna.tional community for action. In view of this rapidly deteriorating si~uation in southern Africa the question foremost on our mind is: What is to be done? We undoubtedly have a moral obligation to support the peoples concerned. There is also a clear obligation under the Charter of the United Nations. Moreover, a definite reversal of thia development should be in the interest of us all and not least in the interest of those States that have extensive relations with South Africa. The alternative would be a further escalation leading to untold suffering for all the people of South Africa and the neighbouring States. Echoing the words of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons: nConcerted actions now may offer the last opportunity to avert what could be the worst bloodbath since the Second WOrId Warn. There is an absolute need urgently to address in concrete terms this threat to international peace and security. The following concerted international action should be taken without delay: The minority South African Government must be impressed with the crucial importance of initiating immediately a dialogue with the genuine leaders of political organizations, and in particular of the ANC. The Government in Pretoria must enter this dialogue with a clear commitmept to establish a non-racial and democratic south Africa. Simultane~usly the international community should increase its contacts and co-operation with these organizations. The apartheid (Mr. Ferm, Sweden) regime must be isolated and any policies and contacts with that regime which are perceived and used by it as an encouragement to its prese.!nt policies DUst be abandoned. All support to any groups used by the South African authorities to destabilize neighbouring States mat cease. Pol-itical support for and technical and economic assistance to the front-line States as well as humanitarian assistance to the victims and opponents of apartheid, including the liberation movements ANC and the SOuth West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), has to be increased. Lastly, international pressure on the south African Government must be intensified through effective economic and other measures, and in particular, the Security Council should adopt effective mandatory sanctions. I should like to elaborate briefly on the two last areas mentioned above and to inform this &sseJdJly about Swedlsh action in this respect. We believe that support to the front-line States is a crucial factor in establishing peace in southern Africa and in eliminating apartheid. It is particularly urgent to assist the front-line States so as to reduce their vulnerability and their economic and logistic dependence on South Africa. They need increased aSB~stance for the reconstruction of the economies and infrastructures which have been badly damaged by economic reprisals, military aggression and destabilization measures ~ South Africa. Two weeks ago the SWedisb Government assigned approximately SUS 100 million for a special progral'lll'De of assistance in southern Africa. The aim is to counteract the effects of the pr~licies of SOUth Africa. This special package la in addition to ongoing programmes and includes assistance both to the Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) and to the individual countries in the fields of transport, energy, trade and industry. Among the supported projects are the ports in Dar es Salaam and seira, railways between Zambia and Tanzania and between Mozambique and Zimbabwe, roads in Botswana and zambia, and disaster relief to Angola and Mozambique. Included also are contributions to various United Nations programmes, in particular activities by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNDCR). Additional assistance will be extended by Sweden to the African National Congress of SOuth Africa (ANC) and the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) as well as to information activities. With this additional package the Swedish assistance programmes for southern Africa during the current fiscal year will amount to more than SUS 300 million. I wish to emphasi~e that, in reference to the crisis in southern Africa, the role of the United Nations is of great importance. The various United Nations organs should increase their assistance to SADCC, to its member States and to the organizations and individuals that are victims of the apartheid policy. Against that background we believe that it may also be justifiable to consider strengthening the co-ordinating role of the United Nations as regards assistance to southern Africa. Sweden sincerely hopes that the international community and in particular the industrialized countries will also find it possible to increase their contributions in order to alleviate the situation of the victims of the South African policy. That is our strong appeal. (Kr. Ferm, Sweden) International support for sanctions has increased significantly in the past few months. The World Conference on Sanctions, held in :l'aris last June, played an important role to that end. It was initiated under the dynamic, dedicated and able leadership of the Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, Major-General Joseph Garba of Nigeria. SWeden is pleased to have participated actively in that significant conference. Important measures have since been taken by a number of countries and groups of countries, not least by some of the countries that are South Africa's main trading partners and thus really do have the means to exert effective economic and political pressure on the South African Government. The international pressure so far on the South African Government has, however, not been SUfficient. It must be increased subatantially. Effective sanctions are needed. They must have a real impact on the development in South Africa. Sanctions would be most effective if implemented and strictly observed by all States. A decision by the Security Council on mandatory sanctions in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter is therefore of paramount importanc~. There are several obvious reasons why Chapter VII of the Charter should be applied. Let me mention a few: Apartheid constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security; south Africa has repeatedly broken the peace and used armed force against its neighb~urs; South Africa is violating fundamental rights laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other basic instruments of the United Nations. And there is one more fundamental reason: SOuth Africa, instead of giving up its occupation of Namibia, has entrenched its positions there and obstructed the implementation of the United Nations plan fOl the independence of Namibia, adopted by the Security Council as long as eight years ago. (Mr. F€lrm, Sweden) The failurte of the Security Council .:0 take action so far wider Chapter VII is most deplorable. In the explosive situation confronting ,the region, and indeed the world, the Council IiIU~t without further delay live up to its unique role as the primary organ of the United Nations responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. That is important also for the credibility of the United Nations. The permanent memers concerned have a historic opportunity now to reassess their positions and assist in the adoption of mandatory sanctions against SOuth Africa. It is our fervent hope that they wUl do so. If such action proves not be possible owing to opposition by one or more of the permanent members, the Security Council nevertheless must not remain inactive. In that case the Council should urge Member States to adopt further economic and other measures against South Africa. Such action would also be a follow-up to and an extension of the Council's resolution 569 (1985). A decision along these lines by the Council would be of great importance in the present situation. It would give the apartheid regime a clear signal that the patience of the whole international community is running out and that it will proceed to concrete action. It would also re-establish the initiative of the security Council in this issue and thus strengthen the United Nations itself. It would encourage Member Stail::.es to extend further and strengthen their measures against South Africa and would facilitate their doing so. For a country like my own, SWeden, such a recommendation would be most instrumental. A recommendation by the Security Council would thus effectively contribute to wider international adoption of measures that have already been nationally implemented and are called for in the Southern Africa Declaration adopted by th~ I Non-Aligned Movement in Harare in September. Public opinion all over the world now has its attention focused on the United Nations and its Security Council. We must not let this opportunity be lost. Sweden has for & number of years supported the struggle against apartheid. Sweden has already, unilaterally and together with the other Nordic countries, adopted a large number of measures against South Africa in the fields of investments, loans, trade promotion, oil supply, air and shipping links and military and nuclear co-operation as well as contacts in sports, culture and science. Since last year the Swedish Government has strengthened these measures and adopted the following: a system of licensing of all trade with South AfricaJ a prohibition on imports of agriCUltural products from South AfricaJ a prohibition on all assignment and lease of patents and manufacturing rights to South African and Namibian companiesJ a prohibition on imports of krugerrandsJ a law entitling local municipalities and county councils to impose a boycott on goods and services of SOuth African origin as an act of solidaritYJ and an increase in the stringency of penalties for violations of the arms embargo. In OCtober 1985 the Joint Nordic Action programme against Apartheid was extended to include new measures. The Nordic Foreign Ministers agreed in August this year that they would intensify their work for a decision as soon as possible on effective sanctions by the security Council. The Ministers also agreed to consider further Nordic measures and to intensify their contingency planning for the early implementation of possible decisions by the security Council. In his last major policy statement the late prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, addressing an important conference in Sweden known as the People's Parliament against APartheid, said: -The main aim of our efforts is, as before, to bring about mandatory sanctions. I should like to repeat our appeal to the members of the Security Council with special possibilities for influenQing South Africa to shoulder th~ir responsibility ... It is by shouldering ~esponsibility jointly that we can cQntribute towards the abolition of the apartheid system. That system can live on because it gets support from outside. If the support is pulled away and turned into resistance, apartheid cannot endure. If the world decides to abolish apartheid, apartheid will disappear.- Now is the time to take that decision. Mr. FISCHER (Austria): The situation in South Africa now daily fills the front pages of major international newspapers. Despite its manifold curbs on the media, which only recently have been partly repudiated even by South African courts, the South African Government ca~not prevent a growing pUblic awareness throughout the world of the plight of the majority of the South African population. The abhorrent injustice of the apartheid system cries out and humiliates all of us, because it negates the fundamental idea that constitutes the corner-stone on which all societies have to rest: the dignity of man~ A social system that is based on defi~nce of fundamental values and suppression of the majority can by its very nature sustain itself only by the use of force. The South African Government has once again resorted to the desperate means of declaring a state of emergen~f and detaining thousands of opponents of apartheid. Confronted with the growing demand for the eradication of the root cause of all the suffering in South Africa and in the whole region e the south (Mr. Ferm, SWeden) ~fricftn Government has reacted by increasingly violent repression, thereby further undermining the possibility of serious political dialogue with leaders of democratic black organizations. My Government shares the depressing conclusion drawn recently by the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group that the South African Government does not seem to be prepared for genuine dialogue with the majority of its popUlation, and that outside pressure is essential if there is to be any prospect of peaceful change. Austria has consistently held the view that the only solution lies in peaceful transition to a free, democratic and multiracial society in South Africa. Unfortunately, such a solution is becoming less and less probable and we c!e getting closer to the moment when the situation will escape all efforts at control. This frightening development is accompanied by increasing South African aggression against other countries of the region. There is virtually no neighbouring State that has nc-\: b,)en the victim of acts of aggression by South Africa during the past year. Indeed, it seems logical that a Government using violence against its ~!n people does not desist from employing military force against peaceful neighbouring States. There is some kind of consistency in a country which is defying the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and scores of United Nations resolutions not even refraining from bombing a camp under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. All these conseqcences of South Africa's policy of apartheid have caused and continue to cause thousands of personal tragedies and endanger peace, security and development in the whole region of southern Africa. While our hope that a further escalation of the bloodshed can be avoided is shrinking every day that the system of apartheid remains in operation, the determination of the overwhelming rllajority of united Nations Member States to adopt sanctions as a last means of pressure for peaceful change is growing simultaneously. Even countries that for various reasons previously opposed the concept of sanctions against South Africa and did not even attend the World Conference on Sanctions against Racist South ~rica have now adopted sanctions. .In addition to the economic effects, this constitutes an important political signal to the South African Government and demonstrates clearly that it is a united international community that is demanding the eradication of apartheidu Austrian speakers have reiterated time and again fro~ this rostrum that the international community must do more than simply condemn apartheid. Consequently, Austria welcomed Security Council resolution 418 (1977), after having for years complied on a voluntary basis with the non-mandatory arms embargo against South Africa adopted by the Security Council as early as 1963. OVer the years Austria has taken further measures to tighten the arms embargo. Furthermore, m¥ country observes the ban on imports of arms from South Africa, as recommended in Security Council resolution 558 (1984). In adopting its resolutions 566 (1985) and 569 (1985), the S~curity Council took a furthe~ important step in the right direction. In the last year Austria has adopted a set of concrete, autonomous national measures in accordance with those r~solutions. Only recently the Austrian Government decided to take additional steps in response to the persistent intransigence of the South African Government. The international community must also intensify its efforts to alleviate the SUffering of the victims of apartheid, to support black democratic organizations and to help the front-line States with increased assistance. Austria will continue to contribute to United Nations programmes for southern Africa. There are also a number of organizations outside the United Nations system dedicating their work to those noble aims. Let me name only the London-based International Defence and Aid Fund, which m¥ country supports financially. On several occasions Austria has intervened on behalf of political prisoners in South Africa. Last, but not least, my Government has decided to make the front-line States a priority area in its national development aid co-operation. We do not doubt that the struggle of the oppressed majority in South Africa will eventually result in the dismantling of the abhorrent system of apartheid. The real questions are when and under what circulIIBtances. The answers do not depend on developments inside South Africa alone. The entire international ooll!llUnity bears a heavy responsibility as well. None of us, the entire hUIt'An race, can afford to fail in our attempts to accomplish that task. (Mr. Pischer, Austria) heard many references to the apartheid regime. RIch has been written about it and many resolutions have been adopted, stressing the urgent need to eliminate the practice of apartheid completely. The regime has been condemned internationally as unjust and immoral. The international community has pronounced apartheid to be a crime against humanity and an insult. All countries have condemned it, except those that collaborate with the apartheid regime. We know which ones they are. The majority of countries represented h~re have broken off relations with the regime and support the just cause "and legitimate struggle of the SOuth AfriC"..an PeOple, who are still subject to oppression. The crisis in SOuth Africa has become even JlX)re serious this year, because the regime, based on the doctrine of racial segregation, has had to resort increasingly to oppression, murder, arbitrary arrest and terrorism. It has twice - in JUly 1985 and again this year - declared a state of emergency. This state of emergency continues, and haG resulted in growing resistance and an even JlX)re bitter struggle to achieve liberation and eliminate the regime root and branch. The ferocity of the regime's acts has extended to neighbouring States. That is why the international oommunity has felt increasingly concerned, and is now calling for implementation of effective measures against the racist regime, particularly since it has emerged that the South African Government is not at all prepared to negotiate with the legitimate representativee of the South African people to put an end to apartheid. The international community is increasingly convinced that it is no longer a matter of calling for reform. Rather, what is necessary is to uproot the regime entirely. The Special Committee against Apartheid has stated that more than 500 people have been killed in violent incidents provoked by the security forces. More than 7,800 have been arrested, inclUding more than 2,000 children under the age of 16• Many people have been tortured during interrogation. The security forces have been given unlimited powers of action, absolving them of all civil or jUdicial responsibility, and they have since proved all the more savage. A series of restrictions have been imposed on th~ South African ~a foreign press in order to ensure that nothing is said abroad about the struggl~ Qf H:1f~ South African people and the truth is never known about what is happening in South Africa. It is estimated that 12,000 to 16,000 opponents of the regime have been detained, including religious leaders, trade union representatives, journalists and leaders of youth and student movements. More than 2,500 people have been killed. The Gover~nt has prevented the holding of events to commemorate the incidents in soweto. There have been mass arrests, and acts of violence and cases of murder have continued to increase. All of that makes clear the power of the regime, which is practising State terrorism. Soldiers have invaded schools and strung up barbed wire around them. Nevertheless, the heroic resistance of the people of Sou~ Africa has continued, as has its armed struggle. The people have increased their contacts with resistance centres in the country and their assistance, including military aid, to the freedom fighters in the towns and working places enaaged in combat against racist SOuth Africa's army and police. Therefore, we cannot but note that the resistance is against obscurantism, colonialism, exploitation and slavery. It is an uprising for freedom, equality and justice. The ever more acute economic crisis afflicting SOuth Africa has resulted in industrial stagnation, a soaring external debt, galloping inflation and a flight of capital. Nevertheless, many countries continue to support the South African regime, despi te the repeated apJ.'eals of the United Nations that the apartheid regimn be isolated. Those countries continue to have political, diplomatic and cultural relations with South Africa. Their transnational corporations invest enormous sums in South Africa and exploit the human and natural resources to be found there, thus making enormous profits. Co-operation by certain Western countries and Israel with the racist regime has enabled South Africa to achieve a nuclear capability. The collaboration between certain Western countries and South Africa resembles their collaboration with Israel in our part of tile world. All those countries stand beside South Africa against Namibia and with Israel against Arab countries. Co-operation with the two racist regimes in various fields - political, economic, military and nuclear - is dealt with in a report entitled "Recent development~ concerning relations between Israel and South Africa" (A/4l/22/Add.1), which shows how Israel has plundered the rights of the Arab peoples by the creation of a colonialist Zionist entity in no way different from the one in South Africa. (Mr. Arnouss, Syrian Arab Republic) This document also reveals the various aspects of collaboration between these tttv ~ac:;,st regimes in Pretoria and Tel Aviv. The two regimes are based both in theory and practice on usurpation of the rights of the indigenous population. Paragraph 209 in the report of the Special Committee against Apartheid (A/41/22) points out that certain western countries, Israel and some transnational corporations or by their continuing collaboration are encouraging South Africa to continue with its policies. This co-operation constitutes an obstacle to the efforts of the oppressed SOuth African people, and those of the international community, to end apartheid, bring about the independence of Namibia, and restore peace and security in southern Africa. Paragraph 215, sub-paragraph (b) in the same report., condemns the continuing military and nuclear collaboration between the two racist regimes. We should say here ~~at the statements by the representative of Israel this morning confirmed the existence of ~Qis collaboration between his country and South Africa. SOme of the figures he gave are not correct. However, a study by the University of Tel Aviv, published on 13 January 1986 in the United States, makes it clear that Israel has trade links with South Africa, and that its arms sales to that country amunt to $300 million a year, quite apart from other items such as diamonds and fissionable material. But such collaboration between Israel and SOuth Africa is kept a secret. The September 1986 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique states South Africa's investments in Israel represent 35 per cent of its total foreign investments. As paragraph 22 of the report of the Special Committee on relations between Israel and South Africa (A/4~22/Add.l) shows, Israel's imports from south Africa inc~eased by 53 per cent in rand terms between January and May 1985, while its exports to South Africa ros~ by 15 per cent during the same period. However, Israeli figures show (Mr. Arnouss, syrian Arab RePublic) the total ~rade between Israel and South Africa as $275 million in 1984 and $249 million in 1985. These figures exclude diamonds, gold and arms. We know that Israel has no diamond mines, and yet it produces 3S per cent of all the diamonds sold in the world, according to a programme on the diamond industry in Israel broadcast by the American television network NBC. International pUblic opinion supports the imposition of both economic and other sanctions in order to compel the Pretoria regime to end ap~rtheid. i1lis was demonstrated by the results of the World Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa, which met in Paris this year, and in which syria was a participant. The COnference considered that the Security Council should tmpose mandatory sanctions against the South African GOvernment, pursuant to Chapter VII of the Charter. It is quite clear now that the Pretoria regime has absolutely no intention of negotiating with anyone ~xcept its allies, and only if it can dictate its own conditions. The initiatives of the Commonwealth countries and of the European Economic Community have failed. The policy of constructive engagement pursued by the United States Administration has encouraged the Batha regime to attempt to buttress its Government even further by increasing and extending its acts of aggression against neighbouring countries and continuing South African occupation of Namibia. Mandatory sanctions are the only possible solution now. The international community must take decisive and ~ediate measures to achieve this objective. U~til such time as the united Nations can take effective and practical action, the South ~frican people must perforce continue their struggle to recover their rights. Peoples Whose lands ~ave been occupied by force must fight to free their country: this is their legal right under the Charter. The racist and Zionist forces that are usurping the rights of other peoples are practising th~ most heinous form of terrorism They are terrorizing whole nations, and yet they have the arrogance to label as terrorists militants who are conductin~ a legitimate fight to regain their freedom, their rights and their land. They are trying to distort reality and deceive world public opinion in order to kill the combative spirit of the peoples whose territories have been occupied by force. In conclusion, we wish to reaffirm our solidarity with the peoples of southern Africa. TIle are convinc~n that those peoples, through their fight under the leadership of their national liberation movements, the African National Congress (ANe), the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), and the south West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), will be victorious very soon, because their armed struggle is legitimate and their aims are noble. No one can divert or distort that sacred struggle. The real terrorists are those who oppose the aspirations of peoples to independence, equality and justice. Mr. BELYA~V (Bvelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) (interpretation from Russian): This weekend the multinational Soviet PeOple and t:he whole of . progressive mankinn will solemnly celebrate the 69th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, which ushered in a new era in the history of mankind, an era of social rejuvenation of the world and the collapse of the system of colonial oppression and enslavement of the peoples. (Mr. A~nouss, Syrian Arab Republic) Ever since then the Union of Soviet socialist Republics, a State of workers, peaelants, and wOl.'king intelligentsia, a State which was born in OCtober 1917, has invariably ch~picn~ peace and co-operation and has been a faithful ally of peoples fighting against coloni~lism, raciam and apartheid, and for freedom and national independence. It is an indisputable fact that ~9 years ago the peoples of the Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to the victory of all the peace-lcYing forces over fascism and militarism. That victory was a major stimulUS in promoting an unprecedented upsurge in the national liberation struggle of a colonial and dependent peoples against foreign domination in alL its manifestations. The Declaration on the Gr~~ting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, adopted in 1960 on the initiative of the Soviet Union and other States of the socialist community, provided a powerful moral and politic~l impetus which accele~ated the procesB of the disintegration of the colonial system. Its practical implementation has brou~ht about, as is well known, fundamental changes in the political map of the world. At the same time, against the background of impressive results achieved in the struggle for the abolition of colonial slavery, the international community is increasingly indignant and alarmed over the continued existence of the largest seat of colonialism, racism and its most repugnant manifestation, namely, apartheid, in southern Africa. The doomed colonial racist regime of South Africa is pursuing with insane brutality its campaign of massive violations of the elementary human rights of the overwhelming majority of the indigenous African population of South Africa and of the people of Namibia languishing under illegal occupation by the Pretoria racists, solely because these men and women belong to a different race. South Africa's criminal policy of bantustanization, forced resettlement of Africans and control over their movements is aimed at perpetuating the system of apartheid and turning Africans into foreigners without rights in their own country. Any legitimate and natural moves which Africans make to protect thei~ dignity are met by the Pretoria racists with the escalation of brutal violence and reprisals, massacres of unarmed people, tortures and executions of patriots and bans and disbandment of mass organizations of the peaceful indigenous population. Persons arrested on trumped-up charges of high treason disappear withovt trace or are murdered by enforcement units without even a semblance of jUdicial proceedings. Violence and brutality are used against children as well as teenagers. In effect an open and bloody war is being pursued against an overWhelming majority of the non-white (Mr. Belyaev, Byelorussian SSR) population of South Africa and Namibia, which opposes the criminal policies and practices of apartheid. The situation in .which the indigenous population ~f South Africa and Namibia is denied civil and political freedoms is used by the racists and their protectors overseas for the most severe economic exploitation of these peoples deprived of their elementary social and economic rights. The enti~e socia-political machinery in South Africa ensures an exclusive and privileged po~ition for the ruling white minority while millions of Africans live in conditions of misery and the absence of rights. Recent developments in South Africa are vivid proof of the impanding deep crisis in the policies and practices of apartheid pursued by the racist minority. A aualitatively new phase has clearly begun in the struggle of the indigenous African population of the country for freedom and human dignity. This is a phase of mass protests involving scores of thousands representing the most diverse segments of society rather than individual expressions of indignation and anger. The cosmetic changes in the legislative system of apartheid which are being publicized by the South African racists and their protectors have proved, as should have been expected, to be just another political ruse performed to create the illusion that it is feasible to achieve positive changes and to transform apartheid peacefully. Therefore the indigenous African population is quite right to reject them. Faced with growing resistance to the system of apartheid within South Africa and the growing struggle for freedom waged by the people of Namibia, the Pretoria rulers increasingly often resort - as a way out o~ critical situations - to perfidious acts of aggression, subversion, destabilization and terrorism against neighbouring African countries and cold-blooded murders of refugees. This practice (Mr. Belyaev, Byelorussian SSR) has resulted in countless casualties and serious material damage. It involves, in particular, acts of piracy committed against ships, aircraft and individual citizens of foreign states. All this is yet another confirmation of the indisputable truth that institutionalized racism constitutes a constant nnd serious threat to the peace and security of nations and that it cannot be reformed or transformed into a system that is compatible with the fundamental norms of justice, freedom and human dignity, as has been asserted by some long-standi~g allies of the South African racists and by the proponents of a modernized policy of constructive engagement. It must be immediately ana totally eliminated. The policy of apartheid has long been denounced in numerous united Nations resolutions as a phenomenon profoundly hostile to peoples and as a crime against humanity. Quite recently the United Nations Security Council adopted a series of resolutions, in connection with the sharply deteriorating situation in southern Africa, that once again resolutely condemned the policy and actions of apartheid and the arrests and murders committed by the racists on a massive scale. They firmly demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners and stressed that an eauitabl~ and lasting solution to the problem of South Africa could be found only through the complete eradication of apartheid and the creation of a free, united and democratic society in that country. The establishment of such a society is the very objective of the struggle of the patriotic forces in South Africa under the leadership of the African National Congress, their recognized vanguard. The racists in Pretoria, however, show no inclination to heed the voice of the United Nations, the appeals from other international forums ~nd world public opinion. On the contrary, they are stepping up repression inside the country and (Mr. Belyaev, Byelorussian SSR) are intensifying actions of aggression against neighbouring independent States, thus demonstrating the weakness of the regime and the fear of its inevitable end, rather than its power. It has long been known that without the direct and indirect support of the imperialist and reaction~ry circles the racists in South Africa would be in no position to behave as arrogantly as they do. What it all comes down to is the fact that the continued existence of a hotbed of colonialism and raci~ in southern Afri~a meets the long-term interests of the imperialist countries, primarily the United States and its closest North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, which regard South Africa as a stronghold and a base for their struggle against independent Af~ica, as well as their strategic beachhead in that region of the globe. Various means are used to this end, inclUding transnational corporations, to maintain or even strengthen their relations with the apartheid regime. ~articularly dangerous is their continued and expanding co-operation with the South African racists in creating and developing Pretoria's nuclear capability. Partial measures that have recently been announced in the West to protect their intarests in South Africa and, apparently, to influence the racist regime's policy can only be described as yet another manoeuvre to protect the apartheid regime from even stronger and more effective measures against it, to undermine the basis of the current international isolation of the racists and to mute the growing protest, above all in their ownoountries, against the continuing co-operation with Pretoria. (Mr. Belyaev, Byelorussian SSR) I~ is an indisputable r:5~t that the announced sanctions have had no significant impact on their co-operation with South Africa. The convergence of interests and co-operation in the economic, poli~ical, military, nuclear and o~her fields of the imperialists and the racists continues to be the main reason for the failure of international organizations to take effective action agains~ ~he apartheid ~egime. This fa~t was once again confirmed in the final documen~s adopted at the International COnferences on Sanctions against Racist South Africa and for the Immediate Independence of Namibia and at the fourteenth special session of the United Nations General Assembly, all held in the course of this year. The efforts of the Western Powers to strengthen the racist regime in South Africa and to provide it with ~ll-round support are undoubte~ly part of the imperialists' far-reaching designs to regain the positions it has lost in Africa, deny the African nations success in their atruggle for national liberations and to bind them new chains of neo-eolonialist SUbjugation. All this points to the urgent need for the United Nations to take new, more effective and more efficient action to ensur' ~be practical implementation of its decisions aiming at the elimination of the dangerous hotbed of colonialism, racism and apartheid in southern Africa, which has doomed millions of the indigenous inhabitants of that region to slavery in their own country. The world community can no longer tolerate the existence of the apartheid regime. Mankind accuses the South African regime of three major crimes: the practice of the ignoble system of apartheid, the colonial occupation of Namibia and the continuing aggression against neighbouring independent States. Each of them is sufficient reason for the United Nations to take the most vigorous action against the criminal regime of apartheid. The delegation of the Byelorussian S8R fully supports the resolute condemnation of the continuing all-round co-operation by the Western POWers, in circumvention and violation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council. It gives full support to the ever increasing dem~nd fo~ the immediate application against SOuth Africa of comprehensive mandatory sanctions in conformity with Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and to their strict observance by all States. A particular contribution to increasing the international isolation of the racist reg~. of South Africa should be made by the decisions on this subject at this session of the General Assembly. Accordingly, my delegation is a co-sponsor of the draft resoluti~~Q on the situation in South Africa and assistance to liberation movements (A/4l/L.24), comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa (A/4l/L.25), on relations between Israel and South r~rica (A/4l/L.26), on the status of the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports (A/C1/L~28}~ and on an oil embargo against South Africa (A/4l/L.29). Our delegation ~~ares the view that the United Nations Special COmmittee against Apartheid 3hould play an exceptionally important role in mobilizing the efforts of the world community in fully exposing the inhuman nature of SOuth Africa's policy of ~partheid and resolutely denouncing the crimes committed by the racists in Pretoria and all those that prolong its existence through direct or indirect co-operation. The Special committee should also seek more effective measures to ensure the eradication of t' ~t evil. The Byeloru6sian delegation supports the activities of that body in those areas. Based on the "FUndamental principles of a comprehensive system of international security", which were formulated at the XXVIlth COngress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and in keeping with their important provisions, including those relating to "the extirpation of genociGe, apartheid, advocacy of fascism and any other form of racial, national or religious exclusi~:ty, and also of discrimination against peoples on that basis", (Mr. Belyaev, !yelorussian SSR) the Byelorussian SSR is in favour of the united Nations taking more vigorous and effective action to ensure the total and definitive elimination of colonialism and racial discrimination in southern Africa. Mr. McLEAN (Canada): In his absence, Sir, I wish to say at the outset that I consider myself fortunate to be addressing this Assembly under the wise presidency of Mr. Choudhury. Bangladesh and Canada have had a long and mutually productive relationship. Our membership in the Commonwealth, which as a multiracial organization has focused so intensely on the problems with which we are dei~iing today, gives me special encouragement as I speak before this broader audience. Canada, like other countries whose representatives have spoken out today, is deeply offended by the policy and practice of apartheid. Canadians are deeply committed to its eradication. We are also committed to peacefUl change in South Africa. Some ask w~y South Africa and its racial system are targets of Canadian concern. Racism and injustice, after all, they suggest, exist in other societies. We do not need Pretoria's reminders to tell us that. We have fresh in our memory discussions in the Assembly on the united Nations Decade to Combat Racism and on the status of the United Nations landmark covenants and conventions on human rights. We remember that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is now in its third decade. Clearly, humankind has a long way to go in its quest to end the widespread blight of racism and racial prejudice. Canadians take this task to heart. We believe we must attack this human failing in all quarters, but a major focus of our concerted attention must be dedicated to ending the only political and social system which has as its underlying tenet and basic structure the principle of racial differentiation. We wish to act in ways that will benefit those who have been its victims. Minority white domination of South Africa is ·sustained by doctrines of racial superiority and by systems designed both to reflect and entrench racial inequality. This management through racism prevails only in that country. I am ~eminded of the words of the Secretary-General in his annual report this year, where he noted: "••• we still face the reality of widespread and egregiQus infringement of human rights, a reality that casts shame on our era. No form of infringement ia more widely encompassing or abhorrent than that of apartheid. "Apartheid is, in reality, far more than a problem of human rights abuse. It is a problem with tenacious racial, political and economic roots - one that jeopardizes the stability and security of an entire region. only the total elimination of apartheid will restore peace to South Africa and to ~outhern Africa as as a whole." (A/4l/l, pp. 11-12) Apartheid is a direct affront. to decent people throughout the world - to non-whites, who are presented as children of a lesser god, to whites, who resent a racism that wrongly implicates them. For years Canadians have heard and praised the voices of reason in South Africa - Lutuli, Suzman, Naude, Boesak, Mandela and Tutu. But none of us should be under any illusions. The news blackout in south Africa may make us think things are better. Not so: We are still very much in a race against time, if voices such as those are not to be stilled by oppression or violence. We give thanks in retrospect for the moderation of a leader such as Kenyatta. with the benefit of hindsight, can we not see that the path of moderation and tolerance is possible in Africa - even after the turmoil and disharmony of these years. Since we spoke to this issue from this podium last year, Canada has not been alone in taking action to help ensure that the race will be won. with others - Governments, institutions, churches, individuals and industries - we have worked to that end, with the ultimate goal of ending apartheid. We hope and pray that the South African Government will not remain unheeding to our call, nor deaf to the aspirations of the majority of its own people. The measures Canada has taken against South Africa are amply spelled out in the documents of the General Assembly, such as A/41/S06/Add.2 of 21 october 1986, and these will be familiar to those present here. But measures against South Africa are only part of the strategic assault on apartheid. canadians cont[ibute on a very large scale to non-governmental organizations working in south Africa. Those non-governmental organizations, representing increasingly large numbers of Canadians, have both helped on the ground and have educated Canadians about developments in South Africa. My own personal life-long interest in Africa was cemented by the five years I spent in Nigeria as Director of the canadian Peace CO[PS and as Chaplain at the University of Nigeria. I found that Africans, even in the 1960s, were of one mind regarding the scourge of apartheid. My involvement is but one example of Canadian appreciation for the aspirations of Africans. The Canadian Government values very highly its dialogue with non-governmental organizations. Such organizations and our churches have assisted South African trade unions, black education and refugees abroad, while also monito[ing human rights abuses that might otherwise have remained hidden. Canada provides assistance in othe[ ways to those who suffer under apartheid. We make grants to the Trust Fund for south Af[i~a and to united Nations Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa (UNEPTSA). We have assisted, in some cases for the past 10 years, non-governmental organizations in their efforts to aid black Africans. Last year $2 million was given to non-governmental organizations to bolste~ their programmes of assistance to black South Africans and $1 million was pledged in humanitarian assistance to the families of political prisoners in South Africa. Our Government announced in June of this year an increase from $5 to $7 million in our contribution for educational assistanca in South Africa. Nor have we ignored the needs of South Africa's neighbours in their efforts to lessen their dependence on South Afr~ca or to maintain their economic development in tha face of difficulties forced on them by South Africa. These are positive and complementary actions ~hat add weight to our fight against apartheid. Opposition to apartheid must, in our view, be matched by action designed to promote peace and prosperity in post-aparthei~South Africa. Canadian assistance to South Africans has but one objective. That objective is to help the victims of apartheid, to encourage the process of economic and social development, and thereby to hasten long-overdue political change. As we reflect on this objective, we are reminded of the indignities and injustices of apartheid and how heavily they weigh on women. We must not ignore this fact. The Nairobi women's Conference, which I attended as leader of the Canadian delegation, in its Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, described women and children as the group most oppressed by: R ••• direct inhumane practices, such as massacres and detention, mass popUlation removal, separation from families and immobilization on reserves ••• where they suffer disproportionately from poverty, poor health ~nd illiteracy." It is heartening to note that the international community is beginning to respond. Earlier this year the Economic and social Council, on the advice of the Commission on the Status of Women, recognized both the impact of apartheid on women and the role women play in its eradication. The Council adopted four resolutions noting their special needs. It called for increased measures of assistance for women in southern Africa. Let us listen to what Governments in the area have to say to us on this sUbject. And by all means, let us respond positively. Canada's measures against South Africa will not destroy either the country or its economy. They are not intended to do so. Our message, underlined by our actions, i~ that there is little patience with Pretoria internationally. We wish to signal our belief that there is little time for that Government to take concrete steps which could end the spiral of violence and draw south Africa back into the eommunity of nations. Meanwhile, it should be clearly understood that we, and those who have joined with us in 'taking action against apartheid, are shouldering our solemn responsibilities as members of the international community. Responsibilities, I might add, that are outlined in the Charter, which South Africa not only signed, but helped to draft. Our vision of the sanctions which we have thus far put in place centres upon psychology and change, not punishment or destruction. Such measures are not an end in themselves. Before it is too late, they are intended to induce Pretoria to see the light and to dismantle aparthei~ and negotiate the establishment of a truly representative government. I well recall the words contained in the report of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group, in which Canada participated, and which is represented in the Assembly by the Ambassador of Barbados, Dame Nita Barrow: It... it is not sanctions which will destroy the country, but the persistence of apartheid and the Government's failure to engage in fundamental political reform." I commend to members the eloquent comment of Sonny Ramphal, Ccc;dOnwealth Secretary-General, in his foreword to that same report: RThe human spirit in South Africa is crying out for the world's help, for the world's solidarity. It is proclaiming for all who allow themselves to hear that i~ is not freedom that South Africa should fear but freedom's denial. R We cannot fail to note that there have been some hesitant steps along the path of reform in South Africa and that the higher court system has often courageously worked against the Government in the cause of basic justice. Many whites also work, at great risk, for universal democracy. But can we say that internal trends in South Africa have shown any real improvement or lessening nf the repression? Indeed not. The state of emergency, the broadening of police powers and the manipUlation of news are revealed as blunt instruments, scarcely masked behind a veil of twisted legality. If President Botha is prepared to describe apartheid as outdated and outmoded, why then does his Government persist with its homelands policy, one of the basic building blocks of the iniauitous apartheid society? Why indeed? Ask those who lived in Oukasie~ This settlement has just been deproclaimed in the bizzare vocabulary of apartheid. Ask its people. They have now been consigned, on the basis of race, to Leth1abile. They have been consigned to a place they did not choose. They have been consigned to live a life rooted in segregation. Is this, as press reports suggest, a microcosm of the tactics employed by a Government intent on dividing and moUlding the lives of the black population? I wish to God that it were otherwise. As a clergyman, I take more encouragement from another development than I do from the pronouncements of President Botha or his Government. The white Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, seemingly reflecting some cautious liberalization has, in recent days, rejected the theological rationale for enforced racial segregation. That body, which formulatet:! the scriptural justification for apartheid has not, however, discarded other principles of racial separation. It maintains its commitment to separate units for different racial groups. Cannot that church in the name of God and humanity go further and join with its non-white branches, denounce apartheid and become non-racial? Think of the example that would be set for South African society if the leaders of that church were to be people with a strength of purpose and a colour-blind humanity akin to that of the new Archbishop of Capetown. I do not believe that this is too much to ask for a religion which is based on the Christian ethos of human love and mutual acceptance. The steps outlined in the Commonwealth Nassau Accord have gained wide acceptance as the objectives of concerted international pressure on South Africa. Such solidarity of purpose continues to grow. South Africa, however, has yet to be persuaded that it must undertake the following, if theEe is to be an orderly and peaceful transition to a non-racial and democratic society: first, the commitment to the abolition of apartheidJ secondly, the lifting of the state of emergencYJ thirdly, the release of Nelson Mandela and others imprisoned and detained for their opposition to !partheidJ fourthly, the revocation of the ban on the African National Congress and other political partiesJ fifthly, and above all, a dialogue with representative black leadership. At the same time, we call on all the parties engaged in the use of violence in South Africa to put an end to the tragic spiral of bloodshed and instead to pursue the positive option of dialogue, discussion and debate. Surely this is the path to a peaceful South Africa with full international support. Earlier in this session, Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs, Joe Clark, called on all countries, especially those with significant economic relations with South Africa, to implement concrete measures to force the pace of the dismantling of apartheid•. Consistent with our commitments deriving from the Nassau Accord, here at the united Nations and within la prancophonie, we welcome the actions of the United States, the European Community and Japan Which, together with those of the Commonwealth, will underline the commitment of democratic countries to the abolition of apartheid. Canada calls on other countries that have dealings with South Africa to pause and ask what may be done to apply meaningful pressure? What more may we do? Sanction-busters must not be allowed to prevail. The skills of which South Africa boasts in the area of unconventional trade cannot be allowed to flourish. South African business leaders, many of whom have professed opposition to apartheid, should pay attention to reform, not to ways of fighting the adverse effects of sanctions and of taking advantage of the short-term opportunities that might arise. Their business energies should be devoted to pressing for change, rather than searching for loopholes. For years, Canadian non-governmental organizations and churches have held shares in a number of transnational corporations and banks. They have spoken out regularly and consistently at shareholders' meetings regarding corporate investment policies in South Africa. The objectives of the guidelines and codes of conduct, which have been put in place to protect the black majority, must not now be abandoned and, at the same time, we must search for new ways to develop the skills - entrepreneurial and technical - that will be required in a post-apartheid South Africa. In this endeavour, narrow profit motives must not be the paramount considerations. South Africa's neighbours have suffered grievous damage from Pretoria's policies of disruption and intervention. This was underlined to me personally by President Kaunda and other front-line leaders last year following the Nairobi Conference. There is now a real prospect of South African retaliation for international or regional sanctions against apartheid. It is important that these countries know tbat the international community is ready to assist them in the ~vent of hardship and interventions from South Africa. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has made clear Canada's commitment to work with other countries to assist southern African States to meet this challenge and this threat. The Canadian Minister for External Relations, Monique Landry, met President Kuanda only a week ago to reassure him of Canada's commitment. We have of course long been a contributor to regional development and we have worked to reduce dependency on South Afg:"q~ca through bilateral programmes and through the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference CSADCC). Now, in co-operation with SADCC, we want to review needs and develop plans to meet contingencie~. In addition to developing projects we'shall also help private importers to explore the possibilities of increasing trade with the SADCC countries in the face of disruption of their normal trade patterns. In the context of the front-line States, mourning as we do the untimely death of Samora Machel, we welcome the selection of Joaquim Chissano as his successor as President of Mozambiaue. He is a man of great stature and experience. That experience will be a valuable asset in facing the many challenges now confronting his country and region. I stand here as a white parliamentarian, representing the Government of a truly integrated, multicultural and multiracial society. One in five Canadians is now of the visible minorities, and the ratio, we are proud to say, is growing. Our indigenous people have full rights and, like other Canadians, a say in the governance of Can~da. Our acceptance of re'fugees from troubled areas of the world, across lines of colour and race, has, I believe, given us a special insight into the riches that a multiracial society can bring to a country, one which led the Commonwealth challenge to South Africa in 1961. I mention with considerable pride that the people of Canada have recently been presented the prestigious Nansen Award by the united Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That underscores the international recognition of what I have just said. Thus, we Canadians believe that our own history lends even more credence to our call upon the leadership in Pretoria to reform, to end apartheid - to come back to ~eality and to the comity of nations. I say: do not recycle apartheid - end it. I say: do not continue racial segregation - end it. Recognize, before the roof falls in, that life - a good life - in South Africa is possible without racial domination and without ~artheid. Those of us who oppose apartheid have taken the struggle for freedom and eauality in South Africa as our common cause. In spite of all that we have done, however, we should not ignore the fact that the sanctions imposed so far will be small comfort to the majority of South Africans if they continue to be faced on a daily basis with the repression of apartheid. We hope they will not turn a deaf ear to the voices of moderation from wit~An their own communities. But the South African Government and its supporters must change directionJ they must break with the evil which is apartheid. If not, violence will reignJ the opportunity for negotiated and peaceful change will pass, and South Africa will descend to the very chaos tne masters of apartheid fear. Those prospects force us to keep up the relentless pressure on the Government of South ~frica. It must be clear that if South Africa does not answer the call for concrete action, if our step-by-step approach does not bear fruit, the world will act again, and act with even more stringent measures. Change will come to South Africa. We hope and pray it will be peaceful, constructive change. But change it w~ll. The people of South Africa should determine their own future. The main burden, after all, of the liberation of South Africa will be borne by South Africans themselves. Nevertheless, the international community has a key role to play. The challenge it faces is to bring about the rapid and peaceful eradication of the inhumane system of apartheid while there is still time. There is no policy practised by any Member State that has been condemned ~ this organiz~tion so categorically, 80 unanimously and for so long. It is a disgrace to humankind that apartheid continues to exist. Canadians stand in spirit on the banks of the LimpQpo River and look south. We do not like what we see. We therefore join with others in oalling for the elimination of apartheid as one of the major imperatives of any human society and of this Organization. At the same t~e, we offer prayers that South Afrioa will soon heed the will of the international community and aoknowledge the rights of,all its people, lest it slide into ohaos and oonflagration. Mungu Ibariki Afrika: God bless Afrioa. Mr. ARMAD (Brunei Darussalam): My delegation onoe again observes that the world today oontinues to be shocked and appalled by apartheid and the disoriminatory praotioes of the Government of South Afrioa against its people. It is diffioult to ignore the existence of a State that still adopts such an uncivilized and evil system, whioh denies fundamental human rights to the majority of its population. The apartheid system is the lowest form of raoial segregation. It is regarded by the International Court of Justioe as a flagrant violation of the purposes and prinoiples of the Charter of the united Nations. It is a system wh~re institutionalized racism is oruelly enforoed for the purpose of sustaining white politioal dominance.* During the past nine loonths we have been witnessing the undeclared war by the racist South Afrioan regime against the segregated majority of its population. The reintroduction of repressive measures has further increased the violence and bloodshed. Almost every day we hear details of growing disturbanoes and violence in that country, details of persons killed, injured and detained. The South African regime is also pursuing its practices of repression, exploitation and *Mr. Turkmen (Turkey), Vice-President, took the Chair. (Mr. MeLean, Canada) terror against the black neighbouring States in order to consolidate its racist policies. The unprovoked attacks by the racist regime of SOuth Africa on three South African front-line States - Botswana, zallOia ana Zimbabwe - on 19 May this year were an example of such actions. These abhorrent acts of aggression were in blatant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of independent States. The violent attacks, one of the manifestations of the criminal acts flowing from the apartheid practices of the South African regime, clearly demonstrate the Pretoria regime's sustained selfishness and defiance of and lack of reepect for the normal aspects of international conduct. Speakers in this General Assembly have consistently condemned the policies of in~titu~1o"alized racial diDcriminat!o~ praotised by the rac~st South African r'gime as morally wrong and politically unacceptable. Despite that condemnation, however, tbe r6gime in South Africa continues to deny 24 million blacks their freedom and otber basio human rights. Condemnation on its own, therefore, is insufficient. The black population of South Africa has suffered long enough. Unless the intern~tional community makes a collective effort, the current sensitive situation could have uncontrollable, far-reaching conaequences. It is clear that apartheid must end. It muut be dismantled and totally eradicated. Althou9h aeartheid can be ended only by the people of South Africa themselves, we as members of the international community have an important role to play in that process. My delegation therefore urges the General Assembly to recognize that obligation. We mus~ bring South Africa to its senses. We must bring pressure to bear on South Africa in orde! to bring about positive change with a view to achieving a peaceful end to apartheid. Brunei Darusealam, for its part, will render its support in the international campaign for the total elimination of aeartheid and racism. Brunei Darussalam also supports the General Assembly's decision to adopt a wide range of measures such as the call for the impo~ition of mandatory sanctions against South Africa under Chapter VII of the Charter. South Africa, a country whose econo~ is highly dependent on foreign investment, can be vulnerable to economic sanctions. The sanctions, together with other measures, must be collectively applied to ensure their effectiveness. It has been argued that the imposition of sanctions would adversely affect the black population and could cripple the economies of nei9hbouring States. However, that argument overlooks the fact that the majority of those black Africans are prepared to suffer the consequences of economic sanctione. They themselves have called for the imposition of sanctions, for the cause of the black South Africans, and are willing to make further sacrifices. The Pretoria regime is currently confronted with a severe political and economic crisis resulting fl0m its persistent apartheid racial policies. The time is long overdue for the Pretoria regime to reconsider its policies. It is fully aware not only that its policies are resisted by the tormented black popUlation, but also that its white population is growing divided over those policies. More and more whites of South Africa are losing faith in apartheid. If these sanctions fail, the pretoria regime can expect newer, tighter and tougher measures to be adopted by ~he international community, signalling to the authorities in South Africa that they have no choice but to bring about positive change aimed at freei 9 from apartheid the majority of the South African people, thus restoring peace and stability in the southern African region. Mr. TSVETKOV (Bulgaria) (interpretation from French): Once again the item entitled ·Po1icies of apartheid of the Government of South Africa~ appears on the agenda of the General Assembly. Consideration of that item is necessary and urgent. No other problem has to date been condemned by the international community with such unanimity. As stated in the Declaration adopted at the World Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa, held last June in Paris, the racist regime is growing more and more brutal in its policy of massive repression and violence against the oppressed population of South Africa, part of its desperate attempt to stifle growing resistance by that people and to perpetuate its racial domination. It has rejected the just and peaceful settlement of the conflict through negotiations with the authentic representatives of the south African people, and has proclaimed a state of emergency in an attempt through violence to crush the will of the vast majority of the people, who are struggling against apartheid. True to its character, the racist regime is resorting with increasing frequency to aggression aimed at destabilizing neighbouring States on the pretext that they are supporting liberation movements - movements which are in fact recognized by the Organization of African Unity, the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations. Its acts and policies have curned the entire region into a hotbed of tension and conflict. That is why we agree with the view expressed in the General Assembly, in the security Council and in the Declaration I have just mentioned that the apartheid system poses a grave threat to international peace and secu~ity because of its inhuman repression and unprecedented brutality within the country, its illegal occupation of Namibia, and its &cts of aggression and destabilization against independent African States. The racist regime has recently been experiencing a major politic:al, social and economic crisis, and is pursuing its policy of repression with even greater obstinacy. The state of emergency decreed last June was an attempt to legitimize mass terror against the indigenous population and constitutes a fresh challenge to the international community. It has been proved that no refQrm or cosmetic change can mask the true face of apartheid. It must not be reformed or "imprOVed", but simply abolished once and for all. The aggressive nature of apartheid is seen most clearly in the continuing illegal occupation of Namibia. As stressed in documents adopted at the fourteenth special session of the General Assembly, held in New York last september, and at the Interna~ional Conference on the Immediate Independence of Namibia, held at Vienna last July, it is intolerable that the racist regime should arrogantly persist in that illegal occupation 20 years after the united Nations assumed direct responsibility for Namibia and its people, ~nd especially after the adoption of Security Council resolution 435 (1978) and the concrete plan for its implementation. Of no less importance are the losses experienced by the neighbouring front-line States, against which the racist regime is carrying out relentless acts of incursion, subversion and sabotage, pursuing against them a virtual policy of State terrorism. Developments in southern Africa show that it is no longer sufficient to condemn apartheid as a policy and a practice. It is high time to take specific, immediate action, to wipe from the face of the earth this shameful phenomenon, which is an anachronism at the end of the twentieth century, and which the United Nations and the whole world community have rightly described as a crime against humanity. A special responsibility in this regard rests on the Security Council, which last year alone held 30 meetings and adopted seven resolutions on the situation in South Africa and on South Africa's acts of aggression in the region, without managing to adopt a resolution imposing mandatory sanctions. As stressed in paragraph 22 of the Declaration adopted by the WOrld Conference on sanctions against Racist South Africa, -Regrettably, in the period sinc~ that Conference [the 1981 International Conference on Sanctions against South Africa], the Security Council has been unable to take the requisite mandatory action recommended due to the negative votes of the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. Emboldened by the opposition reflected in those negative votes and the avowed policy of utilizing their extensive links with it to secure changes in its policies by persuasion, the racist regime embarked on increased aggression and destabilization against neighbouring African States in the hope of undermining the liberation struggles in South Africa and Namibia and even imposing hegemony over the entire region." (A/CONF.137/5, pp. 23-24) The World Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa highlighted the need to adopt a comprehensive programme of action centred on the imposition of comprehensive mandatory sanctions against South Africa under Chapter VII of the Charter. The programme should also provide for additional action by Governments in order totally to isolate the racist regime and give the necessary assistance to the peoples of southern Africa struggling for their freedom and national independence. Never before has the international community spoken with such unanimity and so loudly in favour of the adoption of sanctions against South Africa, which are demanded by the overwhelming majority of Member States of the United Nations, national parliaments, political parties and social movements. The Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Countries in Barare also expressed its support for the adoption of practical and specific measures along those lines. My Gcwernment welcomed the Speci~l Declaration on southern Afdca adopted by that Conference, which contained a programme relating to the struggle against apartheid and the granting of independence to Namibia. It is well known that apartheid still exists because of the support of certain western countries and their transnational corporations, which are pursuing their selfish political, economic and strategic interests. Later in that Declaration it is said that the policy of constructive engagement has not contributed to the elimination of the system of apartheid, but, on the contrary, tends to strengthen it. The People's Republic of Bulgaria joins in the powerful appeals for the adoption of measures that are not partial, palliative or tactical, but, rather, comprehensive and mandatory, in accordance with the Charter, as the most effective peaceful means available to the international community to end apartheid, to liberate Namibia and to restore peace in that part of the African continent. We again stress the need to eliminate apartheid without delay, because the racist regime is seeking to take advantage of present tensions in international relations to perpetuate the system for ever. We should recall that the appeal for the elimination of conflicts and hotbeds of tension, inclUding those in southern Africa, is one of the fundamental elements of the global system of international security proposed by the socialist countries, inclUding Bulgaria. We have no doubt that apartheid will be eliminated and that peace and freedom will triumph in southern Africa. The question is: When, and at what price? The world Organization, and above all the security Council, now bear the responsibility for ensuring that it will not happen at the cost of countless human lives when matters get out of control and when a torrent of further and even greater suffering and devastation engulfs the peoples of Africa. OUr Organization also bears a historic responsibility for the immediate establishment of peace and freedom in that part of the world and for the total and final eradication of that shameful system. Mr. VLASCEA!!! (Romania): The explosive nature of the present crisis inside South Africa, as well as new elements of tension in other areas, which have complicated and aggra~:i'ated the international situation even mre, are giving new dimensions to our debates and compelling us to take urgent action to respond properly to the crisis. This will.be in accordance with the demands of the oppressed South African people and the peoples in southern Africa, and, in general, with the wish of all peoples to live in peace in conditions of freedom, dignity and progress. The substance of the policy and practice of apartheid, and their baneful results in South Africa itself, in the region, and in the world at large have been well described in the past and firmly condemned here by many delegations, including my own, with profound concern and legitimate indignation. In this regard, it is enough to recall that a racist minority regime, through institutionalized rules of domination and racial segregation and the denial of the most elementary human rights - equality and human dignity - has placed the majority African population of more than 23 million in the position of being complete aliena in their own country. This obnoxious policy, which has as a corollary outside South Africa the colonial usurpation of the territory of Namibia, the hostile expansionist attitude in the region and the repeated aggressive, subversive and destabilizing acts against independent African States, has been described unanimously as a crime against humanity, a destabilizing factor in the region and a permanent threat to peace and international security. As was stressed in the report of the Special Committee against Apartheid, presented by its Chairman Mr. Joseph Garba, Permanent Representative of Nigeria, South Africa continues to be the scene of grave racial conflicts, numerous and violent incidents and daily bloody mass repressions, and a hotbed of permanent acts of aggression against African States. The wave of violence launched two years ago - when the racist regime, through so-called constitutional reform, started to implement a programme of restructuring the ethnic group policy, meant to exclude the majority African population, representing more than 73 per cent of the entire population, from the political life of the country - was followed by a sharpening of the racial conflict. There took place mass demonstrations, strikes, street actions, a rising of all people demanding equal rights and the total elimination of the policy of apartheid and racial discrimination. These actions enjoyed solidarity and support throughout the world. Faced with this huge wave of anger and protest, the rulers of Pretoria, disregarding the demands of the African majority, introduced the state of emergency, carried out unprecedented reprisals and used the army and the police in the biggest demonstration of force since the bloody massacres in Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976• The gloomy results of these reprisals are well knownl thousands of people killed, arrested or missing and continued intransigence in strengthening the supremacy of the minority through racial segregation, bantustanization and fragmentation of the Territory. These brutal reprisals against the mass anti-a~artheid movement have not been able and will not be able to intimidate the oppressed people in its struggle for its legitimate rights. It is very clear that the root cause of the COh. ict inside South Africa and the violence and instability in southern Africa, is the policy and practice of apartheid pursued by the racist regime, and that unless such inhuman policies are eradicated peace and security cannot be ensured in the region. While commending the efforts already made and the action already taken by Member States and the United Nations in this regard, the General Assembly, within the framework of measures to be worked out, cannot but take note and place on record that, in its policy of denial of the legitimate rights and aspirations of the oppressed people of South Africa, in defiance of the repeated demands to put an end to violence and repression and acts of aggression and destabilization, the Pretoria regime has felt encouraged by the co-operation of and its relations with some western countries and foreign economic and financial interests. These are those Western countries and interests that are trying, without success, to present themselves as champions of freedom, promoters and protectors of human rights, but at the same time, despite the demands of the oppressed people of south Africa and the international community, are continuing to develop close relations with the racist regime and opposing the adoption of sanctions against the apartheid regime. Those countries, using a double standard, recognize that apartheid is a crime against humanity, but, covertly or overtly, permit repression of South African patriots and the suppression of the legitimate struggle of the oppressed people of South Africa, the illegal occupation of Namibia and the acts of aggression and subversion against independent African States. The motivation for that hypocritical attitude is to be found in their concern for the billions of dollars invested in the South African economy and their other selfish interests, in the huge profits resulting from the exploitation of the oppressed people of South Africa. The worsening situation within South Africa and in southern Africa generally and the massive repressive and continued intransigence of the Pretoria regime once again prove that the concern of the Member States of the United Nations is justified and, in particular, stress the imperative urgency of the abolition of aeartheid rule and the apartheid policy. We believe that the consensus achieved so far in the united Nations regarding the elimination of apartheid and the establisbrAent of a non-racial democratic society that will create the conditions for eauality of rights for all, regardless of colour of skin or creed, shoul.d be translated into practical action. The Security Council, in its statement of 21 August 1985 (S!PV.2603), stressing the need for a just and lasting solution in South Africa, recognized that this lofty objective must be achieved through the total eradication of the system of apartheid and the establishment of a free, united and democratic society. This objective is very clear and has been pointed out by the General Assembly year after year. At the same time, the Assembly has reaffirmed the right of the oppressed people of South Africa to resort to all the means at their disposal to attain their legitimate objectives. However, what is lacking within our Organization is unity and the political will of all Member States regarding the means to be used, in accordance with the Charter, to compel the racist South African regime to abandon its reprehensible policy of apartheid. The measures which have been taken so far by the United Nations and by Member States, inclUding the call for dialogue and negotiations with a view to establishing a democratic basis for the governance of the country, have proved insufficient. Those measures and all United Nations resolutions regarding apartheid have been disregarded by the South African r6gime or, as shown b¥ the latest developments, used for the continuance of political m~noeuvres aimed at maintaining the apartheid system. For this re~~ni bearing in mind the critical stage of the structural Grisis inside South Africa and i~ response to the demands of the oppressed people of south Africa, we believe that our debate should result in the united political will and action of all Member States in connection with the adoption of substantive, radical and immediate measures c~n6ueive to the elimination of the policy of apartheid and to the implementat~onof the right of the oppressed people in South Africa to self-determination and the establishment of a free, democratic non-racial and unitary society. In this regard, our delegation declares that it fUlly supports the proposals of the African States and other Member States for the imposition of sanctions in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter, as well as their appeal to those that are opposing sanctions to re-examine th~ir position. As has been stressed during the present debate, sanctions a~e the most appropriate and effective peaceful means available to the international community to bring about the elimination of apartheid, the liberation of Namibia and the maintenance of peace in southern Africa. MY delegation wishes to reaffirm again that in their valiant struggle for the elimination of racial minority supremacy and racial domination and for freedom and democracy the oppressed people in South Africa enjoy the militant solidarity and support of Romania and the Romanian people. This policy of support for the struggle for emancipation and social justice in South Africa, for recognition of the legitimate rights of the peoples in southern Africa and for their freedom and national dignity has been stressed and reaffirmed on every occasion during the meetings of the President of Romania and African leaders, including Oliver Tambo, the President of the African National Congress. At those meetings, Romania has stressed the importance it attaches to the unity of the African peoples and of all peoples for the political solution of the conflicts and tensions in the world, including southern Africa, and the need for the elimination of apartheid and the establishment of a non-racial, democratic State, which would provide for full e~ality of rights for all people. Recently, in our Parliament, President Nicolae Ceausescu once again firmly condemned the racist apartheid policy of South Africa. The Romanian people joins democratic and progressive peoples throughout the world demanding the immediate and unconditional releaae of all political prisoners and detainees, including Nelson Mandela, the ending of the repression against the anti-apartheid movement and the establishment of conditions in which all the inhabitants of South Africa enjoy equal rights and freedom and can participate effectively in full equality in the political, economic and social life of their country. We condemn the refusal of South Africa to implement resolutions regarding the independence of Namibia, as well as all its acts of aggression, subversion and destabilization against African independent states, and we demand that an end be put to those policies and practices. We are convinced that now, when the right of people freely to shape their own destinies is asserted more strongly than ever before, the day is approaching when the oppressed people of the Rdpublic of South Africa will achieve their aspirations to freedom, justice, dignity and progress. The.evolution of the situation within South Africa and the controversy regarding its solution confirm once again that the international community rejects any compromise at the expense of the legitimate rights of the vast majority population and insists that the shameful policy of apartheid and l'acial segregation be ended for ever • .The General Assembly should respond appropriately to this demand and give the maximum effective support to the oppressed people of south Africa and their liberation move~ents in their struggle to exercise their legitimate rights and fulfil their just aspirations. Th., PRESmENT: In aCQ)rdance with the decision taken by the General Assembly at its 3rd plenary meeting, on 20 september 1986, I now call on the representative of the African National Congress of SOuth Africa. Mr. MAKATINI (African National Congress of SO'Jth Africa (ANC)): The struggling people of SOuth Africa have always attached a great deal of iaportance to the General Assembly debate on apartheid. Our appreciation and gratitude to all the friends, allies and supporters of the oppcessed cannot be overemphasized. While the vacant South African seat before us is proof of what has already been achieved, it must also serve as a reminder of what remains to be done. It is important to note at this juncture that our PeOple have seldom had such high hopes for unity of action by this body as they do this year. They draw strength from the strong ~ constant and unequivocal condemnation that has in the past decades come from countless eminent persons speaking from this rostrulI. Now that, in response to the call by their vanguard movement, the African National Congress, our people have gone a long way to rendering SOuth Africa ungovernable and apartheid unworkable, thereby inspiring the world-wide momentum for action, they rightly expect the United Nations to take appropriate measures illllediately in order to help hasten the downfall of the Pretoria regime. It is for that reason that~ in congratulating Mr. Choudhury on his unaniJllOus election to the high office of the presidency, I must also express our confidence that, under his guidance and thanks to his country's and his own personal commitment, our deliberations will be crowned with success. We also take this opportunity to congratulate his predecessor, Ambassador de Pini's of Spain, on the way in which he carried out his onerous task during his tetm of office. Allow me to address our most heartfelt condolences to our sister people of the People's Republic of Mozambique, to their vanguard, the FRELlMO workers' Party, and its Government on the tragic and untimely death of that illustrous son of Africa and great freedom fighter, President Samo~a MaChel. The depth of his commitment and dedication to the genuine and total liberation of our continent and his unewerving support for the struggle against apartheid had earned him world-wide admiration and respect. Loyal to the FRELIMO-ANC revolutionary solidarity forged in the crucible of t."le common struggle that he lived and died for, the African National Congress solemnly pledges to spare no effort in intensifying the fight. towards the reali~ation of his ideal - genuine national independence, peace and social progress in SOuth Africa and southern Africa. In reaffirming our solidarity with the PeOple of Mozambique who, with inflexible determination have picked up President Machel's fallen spear, 1 extend fraternal congratulations to President Joachim Chissano on his assumption of the leadership role in the embattled People's Republic of Mozall'bique. We hasten to add our voice in calling for urgent all-round support to help Mozambique in the face of Pretoria's stepped-up war of destabilization. The mysterious aircraft crash on 19 OCtober which resulted in the death of President Samora Machel and many top officials of the Government of Mozambique was preceded by Pretoria's open threats based on unfounded claims that the recent operations by the ANC were launched from Mozal1t>ique. The ANC reiterates its position, accusing racist South Africa of the assassination of President Machel, regardless whether this act of war was the work of the regime's agents or its surrogates. We share the view held by many that the existing circumstantial evi6~nce points to the regime's direct or indirect involvement, and until proved innocent it is seen by the people of southern Africa as being guilty of a heinous crime. Pretoria's handling of this tragic incident and the threats it has been making against the leaders of the front-line States have served only to increase the world public's suspicions. We are confident that, in the same way as the , 1 international community rejected Pretoria's explanation that Steve Biko had died of brain injuries allegedly incurred when he banged his head against the wall in his prison cell, it will reject the regime's claim that the crash was due to an alleged storll recorded only in Pretoria. Whatever the so-called official cause turns out to be, the conclusion and verdict of the people of southern Africa is influenced by what they have experienced in the region - Pretoria's armed attacks and mass wrder, as well as assassinations and threats against their leaders for daring to stand up and be counted against the apartheid system. They see the tragic event: of 19 OCtober as part of Pretoria's war of destabilization of the front-line States. They are convinced that the regime's criminal record and its continued threats serve as the most eloquent proof of the international community's conviction that there can be no peace, stability and security in southern Africa until the apartheid regime is overthrown and replaced by a non-racial democratic society. It is in this context that the regime's intransigence was once more vividly illustrated when, a few days before its meeting with the representatives of the Eminent Persons Group who had met the ANC in Lusaka two daye earlier and had just arrived in Cape Town, it launched unprovoked military raids against BotB~~a, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It alleged that these raids were aimed at so-called military installations of the ANC in those countries - needless to say, these criminal acts of aggression were in .fact carried out against an office complex, civilian resideLolces and, most tellingly, a refugee camp run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It will be recalled that even as the world was justly ccndelllning that dastardly act, P.W. Botha was announcing that it represented only the first instalment, with much more to follow, end that the regime had until that time used only a small fraction of its nuch-vaunted military might. In the Smile vein he declared that his regime's objective was to destroy the AWC, even if that entailed cross-border raids. The international community viewed that as an unequivocal rejection by the Pretoria regime of any initiative aimed at a negotiated settlement towards meaningful change in SOuth Africa. It was therefore only logical that the Eminent Persons Group concluded that the only way to avett the looming inter-racial blood bath in South Afrioa and the region as a whole was to impose sanctions against racist Sout~ Africa without further delay. It will be recalled that, ignoring the findings and conclusions of the Eminent Persons Group, Sir Geoffrey Howe proceeded to Cape TOwn and southern Africa in an attempt to succeed where the Group had failed. Predictably, and by way of vindication of the correctness and accuracy of the Group's conclusions, his mission failed. It is clear therefore that any attampt emanating from anywhere and however well-intentioned either to duplicate or to revive the initiatives of the Eminent Persons Group or those of Sir Geo£frey Howe can amount only to buying additional time for apartheid IS murdElrous campaign against the people of southern Africa. In this regard, if there is any truth in the uncc.....lfirmed reports that the Kohl Government is contemplating yet another attempt to persuade the Pretoria racist regime to co-operate in the eradication of apartheid, we call for the abandonment of the very thought of such an initiative, for to proceed with it would amount to simply purchasing further time for apartheid, and perpetuate neo-Nazi apartheid (Mr. Makatini, AWC) crimes, thereby endorsing the Pretoria racist regime's prescription of a southern African holocaust. The unparalleled all-round escalation of our mass united actions in the armed political struggle for liberation has seized the initiative from the Pretoria racist regime and translated it into the embryo of people's power. It has forced the collapse of the ideolo~y of apartheid, thrown the regime's political programme into disarray and plunged the racist regime itself ever deeper into irreversible political and economic crisis. Thus today the Pretoria racist regime is more vulnerable than ever to principled and concerted international action. However, the Pretoria racist regime has not shown even the remtest inclination to renounce its warlike intentions. It has reimposed the state of emergency, further muzzling the press, effecting mass arbitrary arrests and detaining without trial over 20,000 men, women and children, especially tradE7" unionists, and killing thousands more South African patriots in its prisons as well as in the streets of SOuth Africa. It continues with its forced removals as is witnessed by the cruel fate that befell the people of Oukasie township. It has resorted to the use of so-called reorientation centres in an effort to brainwash ex-detainees into submission. Even in the face of intense popular resistance, it persists with it~ programme of bantustanization. The racist regime has conspicuously failed to suppress the emergence and growth of manifestations of people's power, such as street and township committeee and people's defence committees as well as the people's tribunals, created by the people across the country in response to ANC directives. It has instead responded to the failure of its repressive measures by further tightening the screws of repression and by further intensifying the reign of terror. TO this end, the regime is currently maintaining a virtual state of siege or encirclement of (Mr. Makatini, ANCl nuaerous black to~ships. It has declared the largest non-violent and hitherto unbanned anti-apartheid front - the United Democratic Front - an "affected organisation", a sure sign that the United Democratic Front, like the Congress of SOuth African Students (COSAS) before it, will soon be banned. This is of course part of the regbM!'S campaign to muzzle the voices of those who would otherwise speak for the people and points once I'IIOre to the fact th!".t the regime is not interested in negotiations except on its own conditions and with its puppets. The whole world, if it sincerely wants to help avert disaster in southern Africa, can longer afford to procrastinate. It must respond to Pretoria's militaristic domestic repression and external aggression with comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the apartheid regime without further delay. Any piecelleal and lillited sanctions can only facilitate the regime's plans to circu~ent sanctions and to impose counter-sanctions against neighbouring states. There are already several packages of limited sanctions available, such as those of the Colll1llOl\wealth, Scandinavia, the European Economic Community, and the United States. They .uet be rendered uniform and expanded towards cc.prehensiveness and made mandatory in order to ensure that their application is si~ltaneous and is therefore more effective. we seize this opportunity to commend the anti-a2,artheid movement in the Western countries for its relentless campaign in favour o~ sanctions. The illportant advances in this direction, best exemplified by Denmark's decision to iDpOse a total trade boycott of racist SOuth African goods and the !lOves in the same direction currently being taken by ~e Nordic countries and by Australia, Canada and oth"!rs, mark the beginning of what must lead to the total isolation of the apartheid regime. we also commend of the people of the United States for their efforts against constructive engagement which have culminated in the adoption by Congress of the comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. We urge them to intensify their campaign to expunge those clauses in that Act which constitute a campaign to isolate the ANC and the South African liberation struggle. Despite the com9rehensive Anti-Apartheid Act and the announcement of withdrawals from South Africa by companies like General Motors, I.B.N., Honeywell, Coca-Cola and others, we urge the American people to exercise vigilance against limited victories and to continue their disinvestment campaign until it results in a total united States boycott of apartheid South Africa. The campaign to isolate totally the apartheid regime must of necessity be accompanied by a very substantial increase in comprehensive assistance to the front-line States as well as to other African States in southern Africa. It should also go hand in hand with a further intensification of all-around political, diplomatic, financial and material assistance to our liberation struggle, led by the African National Congress, and to our heroic sister people of Namibia, led by the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). Finally, we wish to reaffirm our unflinching solidarity with all PeOples and their national liberation movements or other leadership structures engaged in struggll::'ls against oppression, war and want and for a free, humane, peaceful and abundant future for themselves and for all of mankind. The struggle continues. Victory i.a certain. Mr. VRAALSEN (Norway): since the General Assembly last met to discuss apartheid one year ago, the situation in South Africa has deteriorated further, and is reaching a critical stage. The black majority of South Africa is no longer willing to tolerate South Africa's system of segregation and racial repression and is demanding the obvious right to be treated as equal citizens with full political rights. Instead of addressing these legitimate demands, the South African Government has, once again, resorted to the desperate means of declaring a state of emergency. During the last year several hundred persons have been killed, and thousands of apartheid opponents detained. The imposition of the state of emergency has been strongly condemned by my Government. This policy of oppression will only lead to escalating violence, increased bloodshed and prolonged 2~ffering for the people of South Africa. Attempts to hide these facts by harstl censorship measures will not fool the world. South Africa is the only country that has made race the basis of political rights. Apartheid betrays the most fundamental concepts of human liberty and eauality. We reject any notion that apartheid can be reformed. It must be completely abolished. At the same time, South Africa continues its destabilizing policy in the region. The Norwegian Government condemns South Africa's continued aggression against its neighbouring States and, in parti~ular, the vicious attacks against a number of these countries in recent months. The constant source of tension that the apartheid policy represents in the region of southern Africa is yet another reason why something needs to be done urgently in order to eradicate this inhuman system. We would like to express our solidarity with all the front-line States and assure them of our continued support in the face of South African aggression. Despi,te universal coneSe_ation, the South African Government has so far refused to take meaningful or definite steps towards ending its racist policy. The Government of South Africa has to recognize that the present agony of that country signals the end of apartheid, once and for all. Pretoria has to make a choice: either it can allow the situation to continue to deteriorate and develop into a catastrophic racial war or it can address the fundamental problems of this divided nation. It is not for lIlY Government to present a blueprint for Cl post-apartheid South Africa~ The essential reauirement now is that apartheid be abolished in all its form~, and that the South African GOv~rnment show genuine willingness to enter into negotiations with the true leaders of the black majority. We therefore appeal once again to the South African Government to lift the state of emergency, to release Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners, to lift the ban on all political organizations and to allow all exiles to return to south Africa. Only if these conditions are met, can we begin to hope for negotiations on the peaceful abolition of apartheid in South Africa. The policy of trying to abolish apartheid through a dialogue with the racist r&9ime has been tried repeatedly but with no success. The Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group has drawn the very sad conclusion that the South African Government does not seem to be prepared for a genuine dialogue and that outside pressur~s are essential if there is to be any prospect for peaceful change. My Government strongly supports these conclusions. In our opinion, increaaed international pressure is the only avenue left in order to eradicate apartheid by peaceful means. Some countries continue to argue against sanctions on the grounds that sanctions will create increased suffering for the black majority and cause economic difficulties fot the neighbouring countries of South Africa. We certainly do not underestimate these difficulties, but even though sanctions may cause hardships in the short run, representative black leaders argue that this is preferable to the prolonged sUffering that apartheid implies. We feel that we have an obligation to listen to these leaders. The Norwegian Government, therefore, urges the Security Council to impose comprehensive mandatory sanctions against South Africa. I take this opportunity from this rostrum to urge those countries who still oppose sanctions to reassess their attitude. The absence of mandatory sanctions should not be used as a pretext for failing to act against apartheid. Even limited measures may be important, in order to signal disapproval of apartheid and express solidarity with those who work fez change in South Africa. We were therefore gratified when the Security Council last year adopted resolutions 566 and 569 (1985), recommending a number of voluntary measures against South Africa. We would hope that if the Security Council fails to agree on mandatory sanctions against South Africa, it would still be possible to agree on a resolution by the Council recommending further voluntary measures against South Africa. The recent sanctions Bill adopted by the United States Congress could serve as a useful catalogue for such voluntary measures. MY Government believes that an effective oil embargo would be an important measure against South Africa. For this reason we were pleased to act as host to a United Nations seminar on the oil embargo in Oslo in June this year in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa which was held in Paris. (Mr. Vraalsen, Norway) The proposal to set up a joint international mechanism under United Nations auspices to mo~itor the supply of oil to South Africa was included in the final declaration of the Paris COnference and we urge Member States to support this initiative with a view to achieving an effective oil embargo against SOuth Africa. In the absence of a Security Council decision on comprehensive mandatory sanctions against South Africa, more limited sanctions should, in our view, be considered. Considering that oil is a strategic commodity, we would hope that the Security Council could adopt an embargo on the sale and transport of oil to South Africa. In addition to the measures contained in the Nordic Programme of Action against South Africa, Norway has adopted a number of unilateral measures, including a ban on the sale of NOrwegian crude oil and petroleum products to South Africa. My Government is now preparing a Bill for a total trade boycott against South Africa, which is expected to be presented to Parliament in the very near future. In this way we hope to make a meaningful contribution to bringing about a South Africa with equal rights and opportunities for all. We also hope to inspire other countries to follow suit, to increase the combined international pressure against the apartheid system. In addition to these restrictive measures, my Government would like to stress the need for positive support for those that suffer the effects of apartheid. We realize that South Africa's neighbours may be adversely affected by sanctions against South Africa. In the general debate in September the Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs. Gro Brundtland, proposed that the United Nations prepare a contingency plan for assistance to South Africa's neighbours in the event of south African reprisals against those countries. We understand that the front-line States and the countries of the Southern African Development Co-ordinating Conference (SADCC) are preparing themselves for such an event, and the recent COnference of Heads of State or GOvernment of Non-Aligned Countries in Harare (Mr. vraalsen, Norway) decided to establish a Solidarity FUnd for the front-line States to counteract the effects of SOuth African reprisals. Norway welcomes this initiative and looks forward to discussing it further with the countries concerned. Norway is proud to give humanitarian and economic assistance to liberation movements, refugees and other victims of apartheid. This support has increased considerably during recent years and I can assure members that Norway will continue its assistance to those groups as well as to the front-line States, the countries of SADCC and SADCC co-operation. Time is running out for peaceful solutions to the problems of SOuth Africa. If apartheid is not abolished soon, the whole region of southern Africa may explode in a violent upheaval. I appeal to every nation to move forward in taking effective action against apartheid. Mr. RAMASY (Madagascar) (interpretation from French): The General Assembly is called upon once again to consider South Africa's policy of apartheid. Although the international community has repeatedly expressed its horror and condemnation of that system as a crime against the conscience and dignity of man, that heinous practice continues. During the past year, the crisis in South Africa has become worse. The Pretoria regime, overwhelmed by the expansion and intensification of the resistance of the 0P9ressed people of South Africa, has stepped up its repression of the South African people by twice imposing a state of emergency. In order to camouflage its internal disarray, it continues its acts of aggression and destabilization against neighbouring States in the region. The excellent report of the Special Committee against Apartheid (A/4l/22 and Add.l and Add.l/Oorr.l), describes the tragic situation which the valiant South African people continues to experience because of the increasing brutality of the racist regime of Pretoria. Many alarming events have characterized the situation in South Africa during the past ye~z. Nevertheless, my delegation will confine (Mr. Vraalsen, Norway) itself to mentioning the points which, in our view, are serious threats to regional and international peace and stability. The imposition on two occasions of a state of emergency has resulted in a resurgence of police repression and an increase in mass, arbitrary arrests. Almoet 3,000 people have lost their lives because of police and military violence. More than 15,000 foes of apartheid, including religious and trade union leaders, journalists and leaders of women's and student movements have been imprisoned without sentence. The sole purpose of the restrictions to which the local and foreign press have been subjected is to prevent the rest of the world from learning the facts about the daily struggle against the apartheid system. The policy of bantustanization and forced displacements of populations has been stepped up, exacerbating the poverty and deprivation of the South Aflican people. Furthermore, in order to allay the concerns of the right wing of the ruling National Party, the racist authorities have made unprovoked armed attacks against neighbouring sovereign African States, such as those carried out last May against Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. At the same time, the assistance given, in violation of a formally signed international agreement, to the renegades of the so-called national resistance movement of Mozambique and the UNITA puppets has been maintained in order to destabilize neighbouring States and impede their development. These hostile acts have been compounded by the adoption of measures against Zambia and Zimbabwe in reprisal for the sanctions adopted by the Commonwealth against South Africa. But all these measures of intimidation bave not lIbaleen the 4eter.ination of the black _jority to fight against the iniquU:ous syate. of apartheid. All these acts of brutal tunorin co_itted within the ccntext of the poU,cy of apartheid will not prevent the attainment of the objective for which 80 Rny South African martyrs are sacrificing their lives e.,ery day - that is, the establisb_nt of a united, non-racial, democratic society in SOuth Africa. Neither the so-called constitutional reforllS, which bave no substance at all, nor the illp08ition of a state of emergency, which has not restored peaee, can guarantee the survival of the apartheid regime~ Tbe Pretoria racist regill8 revealed its true arrogance by rejecting the peace initiative of the group of seven COllllDOnwealth Blainent Persons and by flouting recognized princiJ,)les of international law. The chances fo~ a negotiated solution to the crisis in South Africa have been lost because of the obstinacy of the racist authorities in disregarding the international co..unity·s urgent appeals to eliminate the system of apartheid and in continuing and oven strengthening their policy of subjugation and repression of the African _jority. Apartheid cannot be reformed: it lIust be disuntled" Apartheid i8 contrary to the moral and political principles underlying our: society. Bli.lnating it is the only way to establish Peace in South Africa and southern Afdca. ORly joint action by the international community can contribute to the achieve.nt of that goal. It is encouraging that public opinion in the countries reputed to be allies of SOuth Africa is becoming aware of the tragedy of the South African people and is exerting pressure on the leaders of those countries to i~le~nt effectively the united Nations resolutions designed to isolate Sout~ Africa. The rapid development of the situation in SOuth Africa is the result, above all, of the strong pressure exerted by the heroic resis~ance of the black population on the SOuth African minority regime; but it is ti'le result also of the many kinds of action by the international community. Pressure must be maintained on the racist Pretoria authorities in order to force them to abandon apartheid. The selective, unilateral sanctions decreed by some countries against South Africa are the first milestones in the action to isolate South Africa even more. We welcome these measures but continue to hold that comprehensive mandatory sanctions are needed to speed up the complete elimination of apartheid. Indeed, the r~cent WOrld Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa, held in Paris from 16 to 20 June 1986, advocated the adoption of collective, comprehensive, mandato~y measures against SOuth Africa. We believe that that is the most effective - indeed, the only - peacefUl way to bring about change in South Africa. In that connection, the Heads of State and Government of the non-aligned countries, at the Eighth Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, held in Harare, Zimbabwe, stated in its Special Declaration on Southern Africa that "the imposition of comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against South AfricaQ in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, remains the only peaceful option to compel the racist Pretoria regime to abandon apartheid-. (A/41/697, p. 147) The course of history cannot be reversed. Despite the fact that South Africa has become a killing field, a glimmer of hope remains: The South African people, under the leadership of the national liberation movements ~ particularly the African National Congress - have taken their destiny into their own hands. Ir. their daily struggle against the system of apartheid, they are building a new South African nation in whid. all the inhabitants of South Africa will be able, in full equality, to exercise all their political and other rights and to participate freely in deciding their future. Neither the merciless repression by the racist regime of SOuth Af~ica nor the policy of genocide practised by a racial minority will be able to shake the faith of an entire people «od its detez~ination to build a united, non-racial, democratic South Africa. The only possible way to solve the serious problem in South Africa peacefully is to open negotiations between the South African Go~ernment and the authentic, legitimate representatives of the South African people. A pra-condition for that is the tmMediate liberation of all the political prisoners, particularly Nelson Mandela. In conclusion, we thank the Speci~l Committee against ~artheid, and especially its Chairman, for the work it has done. ~_!A-ISSA (Democratic Yemen) (interpretation from Arabic): Nowadays we hear a lot of talk about the united Nations, its effectiveness and its role in upholding the principles of the Charter and ensuring the realization of the aspirations of the peoples en whose behalf the Charter was drafted. We believe that this subject is closely linked to the matter now being discussed: apartheid. There can be no doubt that the international unanimity about the condemnation of aparthei~ has no parallel. It is true that this unanimity did not appear spontaneously, overnight. Neither was it there from the very start. There were a number of reasons for this which are no secret to anyone. states have their aims and their ruling ~las6es have their vested interests. And yet the phehomenon of apartheid and the racist practices connected with it have not elicited any sympathy except from the rare few who would exploit any situation in their own interests and use futile arguments in an attempt to dissimulate their deceit. (Hr. ltamasy, Madagascar) Mankind has made great strides in the long march towards emancipation and equality. This march forward has been made possible by the great sacrifices made in the quest for new horizons in which strong logic and principled legitimacy prevail. The epoch of oppression, exploitation, colonialism and domination has ended. !bey are theoretically, ethically and culturally bankrupt. Despite the desperate. efforts to revive thell, by the craftiest and most deceptive of means, the theodes of racisa and apartheid have also fallen by the wayside• (Mr. Ba-Issa, DelllOCratic Yellen) Despite all this, the United Nations eontbt!)os to grapple with the racist regime in South "frica, and continues to be unable to eradicate that evil once and for all. Everyone now understands ~he meaning of apartheid in South Africa. It is a cancer which is ~onsuming the very heart of the African continent. The State has institutionalized its racism on the basis of Nazi concepts of supremacy, hegemoPv, opportuni~ and selfishness, with a view to oppress, dominate and exploit the black population. This leaves no room for logic or law. By the terms of these concepts, the end justifies the meansJ colour, religion and race are of paramount importanceJ might is rightJ legality Is the prerogative of the mighty; the majority is dominated by the minoritYJ the owner of the land is ousted by the settler, as though this were the barbaric age of the law of the jungle. Apartheid has been condemned by the United Nations in theory and in pr&ctice. It has rightfully been b~anded as a crime against humanity. Because of apartheid, South Africans ara subjected to repression, arbitrary arrest, torture and murder. Also because of apartheid, the African front-line States are faced with a vicious war waqp.d by the Pretoria minority r&gime. That war is being waged on the political and economic fronts and has a devastating impact on the peoplcs of the region and their standard of living, not to mention the securi~y, sovereignty and stability of their countries. The c·mtinued existence of racist r&gimes in this day and age fliE"s in the face of religion, civilization and humanity. Yet self-interest leads certain States to continue to side with the Pretoria r&gime, although the spirit of appespement and tolerance has failed. They support the oppressor while pretending to be the protector and s~'kesman of the oppressed whom they have put at the mercy of the Whips and fire-pow~r of the racist r'gime. Those States call for gradual reform and try very hard to frustrate every effort aimed at isolating the racist regime or forcing it to mend its ways.. While they would not hesitate for a moment to adopt the most stringent illegitimate coercive measures against other political and social regimes that refuse to bow to their wishes .or to kneel at their feet. That is an amazing paradox that truly reveals the hypocrisy and duplicity now rampant in the world. It is this duplicity which weaken the role of the United Nations and diminishes its credibility. Last year, Desmond Tutu addressed the Special Political Committee and reminded us that apartheid is a Frankenstein's monster. There is no use trying to reform it; it must be totally destroyed. Like others, Archbishop Tutu has learned from experience and the SUffering of his people that his region is confronted by a grave danger and an unchecked evil and that unless enforcement measures and comprehensive mandatory sanctions are adopted against the racist minority regime, the consequences will be dire. The peoples of Namibia and South Africa have been engaged in every form of political struggle. Their peaceful struggle resulted only in more oppression, suppression and loss of freedom. Consequently, there has been an escalation in the struggle of those peace-loving peoples, which has become a sweeping revolution. Any kind of collaboration or collusion with the racist regime, whether political, economic or nuclear, can only increase the regi~'s intransigence in the face of the will of the peoples of Namibia and SOuth Africa and strengthen the regime in its defiance of the United Nations and in its violation of United Nations recommendations and resolutions. There is no doubt that the people of South Africa know more about their own aspirations and interests than certain Governments whicb view those People'S aspirations only in the light of their own narrow, selfish interests. Those steadfast people deserve every support and assistance, as do the African front-line States, which are shouldering the heaviest burden in facing up to the pressure and sacrifice in order to champion the right of human beings to a life in dignity. That was reaffirmed in the Declarations issued at the World Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa, held in Paris last June, and at the eighth summit Conference of non-aligned countries, held recently at Barare. The existence of the racist regime in Pretoria Is a challenge to us all &nd to the firmness of our resolve to uphold the principles of the Charter and the values of freedom, sovereignty and humanity. We can face up to that challenge. It is a shame that that regime has been able for so long to defy and mock the United Nations, while the Organization has been unable to do anything more than condemn it. The United Nations must react to this defiance and put an end to this grave evil, which is the root source of all the violence, terror and turmoil in the southern African region and which poses a threat to international peace and security. The regime in South Africa has responded to just, peaceful appeals only by enacting further laws and measures to entrench and perpetuate itself and deepen its roots. The world movement in support of the struggle of the South African people has grown enormously. This Organization must champion the cause of that poople, thereby upholding the principles of its own Charter and its own credibility. Mr. DELPECH (Argentina) (interpretation from Spanish): The persistence of apartheid is without any doubt among the most serious and urgent problems facing the united Nations today. No other question so consistently and profoundly offends the conscience of all mankind. At this late stage of a century that has witnessed unprecedented social, political and technological progr~ss, the survival of this anachronistic relic of intolerance is quite simply unacceptable. It is more then (Mr. Ba-lssft, Democratic Yemen) ever necessary for the international ClOMunity to adopt against SOuth Africa urgent, effective measures that would contribute to hastening t!le total and final eraditcatlon of apartheid. That urgency results not only from a wish to restore decency and justice in South Africa, but also from our obligation to respond firmly to a concrete, serious challenge to the maintenance of international peace and security. The persistence of apartheid is a major source of conflict in southern Africa and poses a grave threat to the normal development of international relations in ger.eral. Indeed, its pernicious effects are felt not enly in the region, but throughout the international community, which in conscience cannot remain indifferent to the growing crisis in southern Africa. (Mr. Delpech, Argentina) It seeas clear to us that Pretoria has no intention of eli.inating apartheid. Internal repr.,sion in South Africa grows BOre intense every day. The international press informs us every day of the systematic and violent perseQution suffered by the South African nationalist leaders and sympathizers. The growing active resistance of the oppressed people of Soutb Africa to apartheid deserves the sympathy and support of all States represented here. That resistance is all the more justified since Pretoria, instead of taking concrete steps in the right direction, has chosen to take refuge in new, more drastic measures aimed at ma~ntaining apartheid. South Africa also continues to occupy Namibia illegally. Argentina reaffirms its strong condemnation of the policy of apartheid and its solidarity with the victims of apartheid. Discrimination, for whatever reason, is incompatibJ.e with the principles on which the Argentine RepUblic was based. It is not surprising, therefore, that my GOvernment has taken important concrete measures against Pretoria. Thus, on 22 May it decided to break off diplomatic relations with the racist r~gime of SOuth Africa, and before that it had already scrupulously co_plied with the mandatory arms embargo against south Africa. Finally, it must be pointed out that mr country, following that approach, has ratified the International COnvention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, and it plays an active part in the initiatives stemming from the Eighth Summit Meeting of the Non-Aligned Countries aimed at achieving the application of broad sanctions against South Africa. In that connection, we were members of the special delegation which, under Zimbabwe's chairmanship, recently visited western capitals a~d Japan. Our policy reflects Argentina's steadfast support for the struggle of Africa against racial discrimination, and it should leave Pretoria in no doubt about our fira condemnation of ap!rtheid. Indi~idual action by States, although useful and necessary, is not sUfficient. we have often stated, and we emphasize today, that concerted action by all Members of the united Nations, including those.with the most significant relations with Pretoria, is the only effective instrument in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore essential to repeat our appeal to the Security Council to impose comprehensive mandatory sanctions against Pretoria under Chapter VII of the Charter. Thers can be no doubt now about the danger apartheid represents to international peace and security. Lack of an appropriate response by the united Nations to South Africa's challenge would not only prolong the tragedy of a people unlawfully deprived of their fundamental rights, but would also dangerously undermine the political and moral credibility and authority of our Organization. Mrs. CARRASCO (Bolivia) (interpretation from Spanish): I wish to begin by quoting the following extract from the statement of the Fbreign Minister of Bolivia to the Assembly: "When it is a matter of defending the freedom of peoples subjected to a system which is an affront to human dignity, such as apartheid, ~ country once again wishes to express its strong condemnation of all forms of discrimination among human beings. This has been proved in our support for United Nations resolutions on this SUbject." (A/4l/PV.12, p. 57) Bolivia condemns apartheid, because it maintains ethnic separation and denies a people the right to participate in the exercise of power in its own country. The struggle for freedom intensifies daily, and the people of South Africa, fighting to eradicate this appalling scourge, is becoming more courageous and determined. It is impossible to resist the determination and sacrifice of that people, which is resolved to put an end to repression and achieve the participation it seeks and deserves. (Mr. Delpech, Argentina) We are today once again dealing with the question of the policies of apartheid of the Government of South Africa. During all the years that the matter has been before us, the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement, together with other international organizations, have adopted many resolutions condemning those practices and demanding the abolition of the system, which denies men, simpy because of their colour, their rights under the law. Moreover, its persistence is a grave threat to international peace and security. However, we must recognize that all thoae appeals have gone unheeded, because of the inflexible attitude of the racial supremacists. This year's debate is being held against the background of increased repression of black workers by the South African regime, the declaration of a state of emergency which gives the security forces absolute powers to carry out arrests without legal warrant, thus absolving them of any criminal or other liability, and a new and horrifying massacre perpetrated by the apartheid r~gime in Soweto on 26 and 27 August, when the police attacked residents protesting against the attempts of the South African authorities to remove tenants because of their rent boycott, carried out in protest against apartheid. This is set out in the report of the Special Committee against !partheid (A/4l/22). As a legitimate reaction to all those acts, the committee has warned the Pretoria regime that if it does nOt engage in a dialogue with the true representatives of the people, with a view to eliminating apartheid, there will not be pe~ce or stability in South Africa. My delegation affirms that it is not possible to continue putting down the uprising of workers by force. It may seem effective in the short-term, but history clearly shows that the rule of force cannot be maintained indefinitely. It is imperative that the Government of South Africa renounce the use of force to quell (Mrs. Carrasco, Bolivia) di.~urbance..na that it adopt ....Ul:'.. to r.solve the funda..ntal difficulties that caun the•• '1'h. World conferonee on sanctian. again.t Raci.t SOuth Afriea, held pursuant to General AS.eMbly c.solution 40/64 C, declared that the principal peaceful means available to the international ~nity to eli.inate apsrtheid was to ensure COIIPUGnce with undmtory unctions agalirlst the r4gille. It therefore recOllllended a progra_ of action, inclucUng _naatory sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter, •.cog the. being the ar.. e8bargo and an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with SOUth Africa. BOlivia considers that these initial measures will make it possible to oblige South Africa to abandon this inhuman policy. For this reason, we join our voice to that of the international community in urging the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility fully. Recently, the Summit COnference of the non-aligned countries held in Karare called for the immediate elimination of apartheid and urged the international community to impose comprehensive mandatory sanctions against the Pretoria regime. In its recommendations, the Special Committee has, among other things, requested the General Assembly to recognize that the policy of constructive engagement and similar policies have not led to the abolition of the system and that, on the contrary, South Africa has continUed its policy of unbridled repression against the indigenous majority, its illegal occupation of Namibia, and its policy of aggression and destabi1ization against front-line States and neighbouring States. Bolivia supports this appeal and reaffirms its commitment to international efforts aimed at putting an end to this shameful and cruel system and creating a democratic and egalitarian society in which the rights of all citizens are respected. My delegation, in paying tribute to the courageous black people of South Africa fighting for their rights and dignity, wishes to place on record its appreciation of the work carried out by the Special COnnnittee against APartheid, and at the same time wishes to express its admiration for and solidarity with Nelson Mande1a and other leaders seeking equality and justice in their country. Bolivia has demonstrated its unserving rejection of racist measures and apartheid, by acceding to the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, and has signed the International COnvention againsl Apartheid in Sports. (Mrs. Carrasco, Bolivia) Mr. ALLEYNE (Trinidad and TObago) I Your conduct of the affairs of this Assembly, Sir, gives us all cause for satisfaction. It is the more regrettable therefore that a matter such as apartheid, which has been the subject of so many conferences, debates, resolutions and vetoes of resolutions, should still be taking his time at this forty-first session of the General ASsembly. The tragedy is that though nearly every State Member of the United Nations agrees with the findi~g that apartheid is a crime against humanity and must be eradicated, it has not been possible to bring to bear upon this problem the concerted action of all States. We continue therefore to be haunted by the echoes of the grief and suffering of the masses of the black population of South Africa who see themselves no nearer a solution to their sad plight. Trinidad and TObago considers the situation in South Africa to be at a critical stage and therefore in need of urgent universal action against the Pretoria regime. As noted in the Report of the Special Committee against APartheid, during the past year the situation in South Africa was marked by an unparalleled campaign of terror and virtual genocide unleashed by the apartheid regime against the vast majority of the population. Thousands of opponents of apartheid have been detained and many, including infants and children, have been killed, tortured, tried, banned, detained without trial, and otherwise persecuted. The Pretoria regime has rejected a just, peaceful and negotiated settlement of the conflict with the genuine representatives of the majority group of the population and has instead opted for intensified repression of the people in a desperate attempt to perpetuate racist domination. Racial segregation, simply stated, is evil. But the apartheid system goes furtherJ for example, areas which at one time were set aside for black people and on which those people in their poverty had erected houses were suddenly and without notice reclassified and bulldozed to make room for white occupation. This is no lOGger mere segregation but the systematic strangulation of a people, their cUlture, and their right to exist in their own habitat. The South African regime in its attempts to perpetuate apartheid, jeopardizes international peace and security through continued acts of aggression, destabilization and State terrorism against independent neighbouring Statea. ACts of aggression against Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia underline the need for resolute and urgent action for the eradicatj.on of apartheid. The continued illegal occupation by SOuth Africa of Namibia, a Territory for which the United Nations is directly responsible, and the continued imposition by the racist r~ime of its policy and practice of apartheid on the people of Namibia is another aspect of the crisis. The question of Namibia can be peacefully solved only through the full, immediate and unconditional implementation of Secu!:ity Council resolution 435 (1978), which is the only internationall~ accepted basis for Namibia's peaceful transition to independence. Questions that fall outside the United Nations plan cannot be used as a pretext for preventing its implementation. It is in the context of the above-mentioned considerations that Trinidad and Tobago, as a member of the Special committee against !partheid, joined in the Final Recommendation that the General ASsembly should reiterate its conviction ~hat the most effective and peacefUl means available to the international community to end aparth~id is to enforce comprehensive, universal mandatory sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa. Trinidad and Tobago considers that the imposition of sanctions against South Africa could be a contributing factor, if not the main element, in pressuring the Pretori~ racist minority r~ime into dismantling the apartheid system. The constant pressure of sanctions imposed on Pretoria, together with the isolati~l and challenge of ita values should inQ~~c~ the racist r6gime totally to eliminate apartheid. We expect that, as a result of the imposition of sanctions against the minority settler regime in Pretoria, some States will suffer financially much more than others. ana that certain sectors of the economy of individual countries will be affected. It ls in these very instances that compliance should be strictest. There should be no hesitation in imposing comprehensive sanctions against the Pretoria r4gime for breaking the international norm of racial equality and practising the system of apartheid which bas been characterized as a crime against hUlMnity. ':rhe .!f.!rtheid r~ime employs armed force against its own black people. When its neighbours protest, South Africa uses sophisticated weapons in an attempt to silence them too. It is for these reasons, therefore, that ~rinidad and TObago advocates the further intensification of efforts by the United Nations to ensure the unconditional observance by all States of the arms embargoes imposed under Security Council resolutions 418 (1977) and 558 (1984) on trade with South Africa in weapons and various types of military equipment and on any co-operation with the racist r'gime in the field of nuclear weaponry.* *Mr. Renar (Suriname), Vice-President, took the Chair. My delegation acknowledges that, despite the existence of a great degree of international agreement on the need to impose econORdc and other sanctions against racist Pretoria in order to induce the minority regime to disRantle apartheid, there are neverthele'Ss some States that: continue what they regard as so-called innocent collaboration with the racist Pretoria regime. AB a general reco.-endation, my country urges the Governments CQncerned to abandon policies based on collaboration with the racist regi., since theae policies serve to give comfort to that regime and even to strengthen apartheid. Balf a century ago a great historian, later to beCOIMt Pd_ Minister of my own country, gave to the world a new interpretation of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery. While yet in the early years of his career, he suggested that it was not merely moral but rather econaaic forces that in the final analysis brought about the aboUtion of slavery. In certain quarters he walll roundly critici:l'ed. Today, once again, Africa and its scms and daughters a~e at the receiving end of a meet pernicious system of go~~t~~nt. one wonders why black Africans mst again be threatened with genocide. What factor will lead to the eradication of the present successor to slavery? Will the thesis of our historian be once more put to ~e test, not in retrospect but in OU~ own lifetime? Moral pressure has been brought to bear on South Africa, but to no avail. Many lesser-developed and so~ industrialized countries have taken the major step of imposing mandatory economic sanctions on South Africa. The major trading partners of SOuth Africa have refue:sed to take this course or have dene so but partially. The security Council has seen veto after veto employed to prevent the imposition (r~ mandatory economic sanctions against S<;'.df.'~" Africa. What tire the vi=tues of the apartheid regime that it must be defended by those who have taken U"I 'Ira against lesser sins? A careful analY8i~ shows that underlying this r~sistance against mandatory sanctions are strong emotions and hard-headed business concern about trade and balance of trade, about balance of payments and employment or unemployment i.n industries dedicated to servicing the SOuth African market. I dare tG predict that when the major trading partners of SOuth Africa come to realize that they stand by comparison to Ieee little in the short run by iJlllOsing sanctions today and much to gain in the future by eradicating apartheid, only then will the move for effective sanctions and other measures b~me universal and only then will apartheid be no more. If, by regulated economic and other pressures from all other States, SOuth Africa can be converted into a democratic S~ate in which all races and creeds can live and work and co-operate in an atmosphere of freedom, peace and justice, only then will have been created the realization of the potential of that well-endowed region as a beacon of hope for Africa and for the world. Mr. RAZZOOQI (Kuwait) (interpretation from Arabic): Allow me to extend our sincerest thanks to the Special Committee against apartheid for its valuable report, now before this Assembly, on the deteriorating situation and grave conditions which exist in southern Africa as a result of the aggressive policies pursued by the racist regime in SOuth Africa. We wish to express our deepest appreciation for the sincere efforts of the Committee ~ e~se the racist policies of SOuth Africa and the ~ommittee'B continued efforts to mobilize international public opinion against that regime's odious practices. The situation in SOl1t'l1 Africa is a threat to peace which is not lim~'ted to that region put which will spill over beyond its confines if it is allowed to cCKd:'.:!.;d'llS. 'we find that the situation in SOuth Africa has become mch worse than last year. The racist Pretoria regime has escalated its acts of oppression and policy of deliberate extermination against the majority of the population of SOuth Africa. The apartheid regime in South Africa is the root cause of the conflict that is now raging in that vital region of the world. The Pretoria leaders have adopted a two-pronged racist policy of internal extermination of the oppressed tlajority and of overt external aggression, destabilization and intimidation against the neighbouring independent African States. There is no doubt that the purpose of that policy is the consolidation and perpetuation of a cegime squarely based on racial discrimination and the illusions of supremacy. Kuwait strongly condemns the racist SOuth.African regime for pursuing such a heinous policy of apartheid, which, by its nature, can result in nothing but violence and instability. The Committee's report (A/4~22 and Add.l) contains a recommendation to the effect that the General Assembly should urge the security Council to consider without delay th€ imposition of all appropriate measures in accordance with the United Nations Charter, in respons~~ to the appeals of the oppressed people in south Africa, who have the support of the overwhelming majority of States and international public opinion. In responding to this wish of the majority of nations, the General Assembly must propose, as a first step, a resolution by the security Council to the effect that the policies and actions of the racist regime of South Africa are a great threat to international peace and security in southern Africa and that it is imperative to impose comprehensive mandatory sanctions on that regime under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Kuwait supports that recommendation and urges the western States and the United States, which have close relations with the racist regime of South Africa, to reconsider their refusal to impose ca.prehensive .erdatory aanctions again»t SOuth Africa. We r~.~Jll on those States to live up to the ideals in which they take such tremendous pride. We urge them to add their voices to that of the international colllllUnity and renounce all policies of collaborAtion with the racist r4gi., as such policies have had extremely serious consequences and conti~ue to cause untold SUffering for the majority in SOuth Africa and independent neighbouring States. Oft the other hand i Kuwait welcomes the ~velopllents which have taken place last year and this year, particularly the national and world-wide action by institutions, trade unions, universities and religious bodies in both western Europe and the United States aimed at tightening the econollic stranglehold on the racist regime and its isolation. Kuwait app1~uds those C8l1()aigns against apartheid and calls on th(~ international community further ~ encourage and support the struggle to liberate South Africa and Namibia. The barbarism and aggressive behaviour of the racist regime of South Africa have long disgusted the world. The existence of that racist regime is indeed a cd_ against hu_nity and an affront to the ...\'QI\science of the world. The reimposition of the state o~ e.ergen~y last June and new acts of repression, such as strict censorship, the isolation of black townships, mass detentions without court warrants and the continuation and indeed escalation of acts of aggression, violence and killings by the police are all indications of the despair of the ruling regime in Pretoria~d its inability to rule. The savage onslaught by the racist Pretoria r'9ime and its collaborators on the oppressed majority in SOuth Africa have led to tne intensification of popular resistance against the racist regime and have strengthened the struggle for independence and freedom from slavery. It has become clear that the military occupation of townships has failed to curb the intensifying resistance in all parts of the country. That failure has prompted the racist regime of SOuth Af~ ica to commit further grave acts of sabotage, destabilization and terrotism against independent African States. The regime has not been above premeditated massacres of refugees and the infliction of grave damage on other States. It also backs gangs of saboteurs in the commitment of acts of terrorism in independent African States. It continues to support those gangs in utter disregard of the many resolutions of the United Natic..ns on the need to put an end immediately to such acts and halt the attempts at destabilization against the front-line States and other neighbouring independent States, particularly Angola, Mozamique, Zambia, Zimabwe and Botswana. Kuwait salutes the heroic struggle of the oppressed people of SOuth Africa, under the leadership of its liberation movem~nts, and declares its full support for, and solidarity with, the peoples of front-line States and other independent African neighbouring States in their just struggle against racial discrimination and apartheid. Kuwait will spare no effort in stretching out the hand of assistance and support to the majority in South Africa in order to help it rid itself of the scourge of oppression~ tyranny and apartheid. Kuwait renews its call to the international community to work diligently for the liberation, without pre-conditions, of all political detainees and prisoners inclUding the nationalist leader Nelson Mandela. ~ delegation has followed with the deepest concern the developing relations between the racist regime in South Africa and Israel. The Special Committee against apartheid states in its report: "There is a continuing ~rend of increasing collaboration between Israel and SOuth Africa in all areas, particularly in the military and nuclear fields." (A/4l/22/Add.l, para. 39) The report also states that Israel has been a main channel for the supply of weapons to South Africa since the imposition of the arms embargo. Israel has also supplied SOuth Africa with the necessary technology and technical know-how to develop its arms industry. There is no doubt that co-operation batween the two raciDt regimes - Pretoria and Israel - particularly in the nuclear field, has very grave consequences for international peace and security. Kuwait oondll!lIns nost strongly that close collaboration between the two racist regimes which poseD a grave threat to the African and Arab peoples and States and an equally serious threat ~ world peace. We have listened to the Israeli representative this morning as he marshalled the lies we have became accustomed to. Those fabrications have but one aim. It is the very obvious subterfuge of appearing to go along with the condemnation of apartheid while doing absolutely nothing against apartheid. We would like to enquire: What action, if any, has Israel taken to implement any individual or multilateral sanction against the apartheid regime in South Africa? At a time when most of the international oo!ll'l1Unity is calling for the imposition of eaftctions against South Africa and many industrialized States have actually ieposed sanctions, even if they are limited, against south Africa, Israel has been sitting on the fence a mere observer. Whil~ the international community is unanimous on the need to expand the arms embargo against south Africa, Isra~l continues to supply that regime with $20Q million worth of weapons annually, and trains the white minority's security forces. In addition, at a time when the international community condemns South Africa's acts of aggression against neighbouring States and its acts of destabilization, Israel continues to provide that regime with the most modern technologies to assist it in perpetuating that aggression. That is Israel's contribution to the fight against racial discrimination. Now the representative of that entity comes here and repeats the us~l fabrications against other States, including Kuwait. Be alleges tha~ Arab oil reaches South Africa as if that Qil flies through the air to reach that regime. We have repeatedly stated thl't we are committed not only to the embargo but also to comprehensive sanctions. We have imposed sanctions against SOuth Afriea and we do impose sanctions against any shipping company that carries cil produced in our States to South Africa. If the Israeli representative is as enthusiastic as he would have us believe to cut the life-line to the South African economy, let him put forward effective proposals, instead of fallacious accusations, on how to make the embargo really effective. Let him help, as we have repeatedly challenged, to trace the source of their oil rece ived by SOuth Africa despite the strong measures adopted by the oil States, including Kuwait. Our policy is clear and has been clearly proclaimed. In addition to the strong measures we adopt with regard to every barrel of oil. If we discover any non-compliance with these measures, we blacklist the company concerned without hesitation. Contracts are then cancelled, as was the case with o~e Buropean company. We reiterate what we have said before, namely ts-'at the members of the Arab oil~xporting countries market most of their oil exports through long-term agreements and contracts. All sales contracts include clauses prohibiting the supply of oil to certain countries. The contracts usually include annexes listing the countries to which the oil may be supplied. The two main countries on which (Hr. Razzoogi, Kuwait) the prohibition of sale is imposed are the two raoist regimes - SOuth Africa and Israel. Kuwait, in co-operation with its sister Arab States exporting oil, has laws which impose a most stringent oil embargo against South Africa, the most important being the following. Firsc, thoee companies working in the States parties are bound not to channel any part ,..e the oil or its derivatives to the racist regime in South Africa. Secontlly, we must nave control of all oil export contracts, binding the buyer to channel the oil sold to him to the final destination laid down in the sales contract. If refining takes place in refineries other than those stated in the contract, the buyer must have the prior permission of the seller. The buyer or the carrier DUst not unload any part of the cargo in any spot markets, including any ports, except to the final port of destination on the freight certificate. Thirdly, in the case of any contravention by the companies or cargo corporations certain penalties are applied. Such penalties vary, from the withholding of the outstanding shipments one contracted, to blacklisting. SOmetimes both penalties are applied. Kuwait participated effectively and actively in the Seminar on an Oil Embargo against SOuth Africa which was organized by the Special Committee against apartheid of the United Nations in co-operation with the Government of Norway and held in OSlo from 4 to 6 June 1986. Kuwait has also participated in the World Conference on Sanctions against Racist SOuth Africa, held in Paris from 16 to 20 June 1986. Kuwait supports the Declaration made by the COlllllittee in Oslo and all the recommendations of the Paris Conference on the imposition of sanctions on the racist regime of South Africa. Kuwait has supported in pa~ticular the need to tighten the ~il embargo by measures of control and implementation and through the establishment of a body which would be responsible for the follow-up and control of (Kr. Razzooqi, Kuwait) Unfortunately, there i. general agre~naent that oil companies, oil tanker co~nie. ana .iddl...n bear the responsibility for contr.vening and circu~enting the oil ellbugo. Consequently, if the international co_unity i. keen to ll1plellent an effective oil ellbargo, the Security Council lUst urgently !llpose a ee-prehen.iv., IIBftdatory prohibiticn on the export of oil products to south Africa. In the light of the above-mentioned factors, Kuwait has become a co-sponsor of draft resolution A/41/L.29 on the oil embargo against south Africa. Kuwait renews its full support for operative paragraph 5 on the establishment of an intergovernmental group to monitor the supply and shipping of oil and pretroleum products to South Africa. Kuwait calls on all states concerned, and we mean by that States which have oil companies and States which have freight companies, as well as states which have insurance companies, to support the efforts of other states which are working to implement an effective oil embargo against South Africa. The economy of South Africa is closely linked with the economies of other industralized States. The growth of its economy is and continues to be supported by foreign capital and foreign markets. Therefore the racist regime cannot face up to effective economic sanctions. That realization is behind the increasing sensitivity of the racist regime to the threat of sanctions. Sanctions are the most effective means of turning the apartheid system into a democratic non-racial society in South Africa. The international community is facing an historic challenge. Its duty is not to disappoint the people of southern Africa in their continuing attempts to rid themselves of slavery and colonialism. Abolishing that colonialism can be achieved only by the implementation of comprehensive, mandatory sanctions against the racist regime in South Africa.