S/PV.1030 Security Council

It will be recalled that the Council decided yesterday [1028th meeting] to accede to the requests of the representatives of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) and the Republic of Gabon to address the Council in connexion with the item now on our agenda. As those two representatives ha.ve indicated that they are prepared to make theil' stat.ements, l propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite them to take seats at the Council table. 3. Ml'. GARIN (Portugal): My delegation would like to associate itself with the sentiments of sympathy and condolence that have been expressed in this Council by so many speakers on the sadand unexpected passing of the Under-Secretary in charge of Political and Security Council Affairs, Ml'. Kiselev. 4. When l spoke on the last occasion to answer the charges made by the delegation of Senegalagainst my country. l did so with studied moderation because, despite certain misgivings justifiedbypast experience, l was animated by a hope that reason would triumph over the petty prejudices of the moment and enable 6. This tone-which, 1 repeat. could not haveescaped being noticed by the members of the Council~-was only matched by a violence of language which. replate with offensive expressiond addressed to a sovereign nation which is also a Member of the United Nations, detracted from the ctignity ~Nhich ought to prevail at the deliberations of this important organ of the United Nations. Furthermore. it il! matches the lQud pro- testations made by the SenegaleseGovernmentregard- ing its respect for the rules and norms of conduct proper between two neighbouring countries. 7. The Mi~ister of the Armed Forces of Senegal was supported by the repres.entatives of Ghana and the USSR. Theil' s.peeches. equally notable for the vir- ulence and passion that animate their ideologies. are sufficient to leave us in no doubt that all this. is. part of a carefully cons.idered plot to make us.e of even routine incidents of little s.ignilicance, in com- bination with other incidents which never took place and had to be. invented for obvious reas.ons, in order to prepare the ground for an unwarranted dis.cus.s.ion in the Security Council of matters. that are within the exclusive competence and the internaI juris.diction of a sovereign nation. in this cas.e, Portugal. 8. Within this. context. allegations. have been made of s.erious. "repres.s.ion". "barbarities.". "atrocities." and other s.uch monstros.ities. on the partof the Portuguese authorities.. in order to give s.ubs.tance to imaginary eveIl:ts. This is but the repetition of an old. oft-pla.yed record. It convinces. no one. except those who play it over and over agaii1,. 9. My delegation mos.t emphatically denies that aliy such occurrences. haVE; taken place or that the Portu- gues.e authorities in the Overseas Province of Guinea were responsible for any s.uch acts.. 10. The Minis.ter of the Armed Forces. of Senegal had the ill grace to addres.s. my delegation as. accus.ed pers.ons. who have acquired the habit of finding them- s.elvesin the dock. and in this he has. been very fittingly supported by the representative of the USSR. Apart from the fact that s.uch remarks reflect on the Senegales.e delegation rather thaIi on thos.e whom it was intended to offend. my delegation would pertin- ently recall that las.tyear the repres.entative of the Soviet Union s.upported. withhis. veto power and agains.t the wishes of the great majority of this. Council. the clear-cut aggres.s.ion conunitted by a Member State against Portugal. And although at. that time we were the accusers. in the conventional s.ens.e of that term. my delegation is. stillwaitingfor jus.tice. 12. The representative of the USSR also spoke to us of wolves and their habits. Doubtless he knows these animaIs weIl, as they have their natural habitat in his country. But in my country it is said that it takes one wolf to recognize another-only in this case the cap does not fit us, and he has to take it elsewhere. 13. II. has been claimed on behali of the Gove:r.nment of Senegal that it was not its intention to import into this debate a climate of cold war generated by the so-called campaign of decolonization presently being carried out, according to the unilateral interpretation of that word favoured by some Members of the United Nations, to the detriment of my country in particular and of the Western nations in general and to the great benefit of the real colonialists and imperialists ofour times: the USSR and its pupils. Thatwas two daysago. 14. But yesterday the Minister of the Armed Forces of Senegal made it quite clear that the motive of bringing this complaint to the Security Cou:wil was solely the desire to further the aims of his so-called anticolonialist friends, andfor this purpose he indulged freoly in slogans that have become rather fashionable in our day, such slogans as "colonial army", "colo- nialist policies", "barbarous policies of Portugal", and so forth. He even accused Portugal of pursuing a policy "which is based on racial discrimination". showing how far he could go in distorting the history of my country, which he should weil know, and in the lavishuse of insults and innuendos in order to thrcw dust in the eyes of those listeningtohim and to cre-ate an atmosphere of confusion in the midst of which the utter baselessness of his comjJlaints would be for~ gotten. 15. When innuendos are made, when statements are distorted, when insults are hurled in the course of a debate, it is clear that the complaint cannot be sus- tained on its original basis and that arg'Jments are not available. 16. My delegation will not be drawn into a personal controversy of a scurrilous nature with the delegation of Senegal, and therefore we shall refrain from replying to all this in the same fashion. However, 1 should not be doing justice to myseli or to my country if 1 let· pass without comment mauy false statements and allegations made on behali of .the Senegalese delegation which 1 did not think it convenie.1t to refute earlier because of an apprehension lest a possible conciliation might not ensue. 17. ln· an attempt to wriggle out of the difficulties created by the alleged inaccuracies contained in the complaint of 10 April [S/5279] of the Government of Senegal, the Minister of the Armed Forces· of Senegal has suggested that when the telegram of complaint was transmitted, the date of the allegèd incident at Bouniak was inadvertently written by the sendel' as 9 April, and he hasadded, confirming what he said on previous occasions in lUs previous intervention, that tqe Telegraph and Postal Servicewas responsible for this important inaccuracy. 19. Furthermore, it is curious that the same inaccu- racy could have crept inta thepress communiqué whinh the Government ofSenegal made directly to newspaper- men in Dakar on 9 April 1963, a communiqué which was distributed by news agencies aIl over the world. Is it suggested that the Telegraph and Postal Service conspired with the international news agencies in order to duplicate this mistake andplace the delegation of Senegal in a difficult position from which it calIDot get out? . 20. Then there is this matter of grenades. hand grenades, bombs or rockets. We do not know which of these we:re actually involved in the alleged incident of Bouniak. The representative of Senegal has been using these expressions more or less indiscriminately, again Ü;' order to create an atmosphere of confusion to cover an obvious falsehood. 21. Both in the original complaint and in the commu- niqué given to the Press at Dakar, grenades are mentioned. During the first speech of the repre- sentative of Senegal, the term "grenades" transformed itself into "bombs" and "machine-guns". In fact, this is what he said: "On 8 April, there was the bombardment of the Senegalese village of Bounîak by four aircraft of the Portuguese colonial army. First of all, two small aireraft flew over, apparently on a recon- naissance flight. These were followed by two heavier bomber aircraft, which dropped bombs on the village of Bouniak and also strafed the village with machine- gun fire." [1027th meeting, para. 51.] Then, the Minister oÏ the Armed Forces of Senegal in his intervention at the same meeting, made use of the word "rockets" in place of grenades and bombs. This is what he said: "Heré are fragments of the rockets which were fired by Portuguese aircraft not during 9 April 1963, but on 8 April 1963." [Ibid., para. 114.] And yesterday, again contradicting himself, he said: "••• but they"-the military experts of Senegal- "mentioned debris of handgrenades which1produced ye~terday in the Council •••" [1028th meeting]...!! 22. The claim has been put forward, in a deaperate attempt to balster up a tottering complaint, that the Minister of the Armed Forces, accompanied by the Minister of the Interior of Senegal, went to the place of the alleged. incident, on the day in question. This statement is clearly intende~ to add to the statement made here by the Minister'of the Armed Forces in thia Council, the weight of the testimony of an eye- witness. li Passage quoted from ~e interpretation into English of Mr. Cissé Dia's speech as contained in the provisional verbatim record (SI PV.1028). 24. And most curious of aIl, the Minister of the Armed Forces of Senegal himself in his intervention of yesterday, while repeating that he had accompanied his Minister of the Interior to that spot, improves further on the story by adding that wlùle they wera there yet another Portuguese milital'y plane violated the Senegalese air space. Perhaps he forgot to add this further claim that both he and his Government failed to mention tlùs serious violation in the original complaint or in the Press communiqué of his Govern- ment, made in Dakar on 9 April 1963, or even in a.ily of lùs delegation 1s eal'lier interventions, owing also to a mechanical error. 25. Certainly imagination couldnot havi) gonefurther. Perhaps when the Minister of the Armed Forces of Senegal speaks again, h0 will tell us, by again amend- ing his version of the incident, that the hand grenades were thr0wn on the village of Bouniak on 8 .~pril and that rockets were thrown on 9 April, unless, of course, he can produce some pieces of ballistic missiles in the meantime. 26. Then again, it is curious how the extent of damage alleged to have been caused by the supposed bombardment or bombing of the village of Bouniak keeps increasing with each telling. Yesterday, the Minister of the Armed Forces of Senegal improved upon the Government's earlier claim that onevillager was slightly injured and a mud hut was demolished, by saying that many dwellings were destroyed. 27. Certain documents have been circulated among the Members of the United Nations by the delegation of Senegal, in order to sustain their complaints. l refer to document S/5287 of 18 April 1963. 28. The first of these purports to be a statement giving the results of an examination carried out by the Senegalese Army General staff of certain objects alleged to be rnachine-gun bullets and debris of rockets. Obviously, the intention here is to substan- tiate, if possible, the contention of the Government of Senegal that these objects were portions of the projectiles which, according to their story, were fired from portuguese aircraft. 29. My delegation cannot have any doubts as to the statement of fact made by the official Senegalese Army analysers. However, this statement is no proof that the bullets in question or the rockets from which this debris is derived were actually fired or thrown from Portuguese aircraft on the day in question- whether it was on 8Aprilor on 9 April 1963, accordîng 32. First. most of these statements appear to have been made by individuals who are either natives of Porhlguese Guinea and went to Senega! in order ta avoid some sort of inquiry or action on the part of the Portuguese authorities. as they were concerned in something illegal. or by individuals related ta them. They are thus parties \Vith a grievance and depending on the Senegalese authorities. andcertainly ready to oblige them with any sort of statement they desire in order to further their case. 33. Secondly. there is no indication as to the date when they were made. or the manner lu which they were authenticated. None of the recognized methods of recording such statements appears ta have been used. They are thus devoid of any evidentiary value as to credibility. 34. übviously. they were prepared in order to meet the exigencies of the Senegalese complaint. as an afterthought. when it was disco\-ered that t.hat com- plaint was about to fail because of the discrepancies as to date and other important details of the alleged incident. 35. The Minister of the Armed Forces of Seliegal will pardon my delegation for daring to allude to his appR.'ently well grounded fears expressed here on 17 April. lest we should think that these documentary proofs of the alleged incident of Bouniak had been picked up in the streets of New York. Indeed. these so-called documentary proofs are of such a nature that it was not even necessary to go as far as the streets of New York City. They couldeasilyhave !Jeen manufactured in the very backyard of the Senegalese Mission. 36. 1 wish only to point out in 0.11 fairness to him and his delegation that obviously even they must have found their evidentiary value questionable. ütherwise. with their flair for exaggeration of small details. they would certainly not have missed mentioning here. ta the horror of the Council. the case of the baby of Sabelle Basse who. according to the statement of that so-called v itness. was an unfortunate victim of the alleged bo~nbardmentof Bouniak by portuguese planes 38. We now come to the question of the alleged tension on the border between Senegal and portuguese Guinea, a point wlùch was brought in to reinforce the original Senegalese complaintin the Senegalese repre- sentative's speech of 17 April. 39. There is absolutely no tension on the borders betwee~l Portuguese Guinea and Senegal and the popu- lations, at least on the Portuguese side of it, live in peace and tranquility save on those rare occasions when, in pursuance of avowed anti-Portuguese policies, agitators are allowed to infiltrate in the deadof night, alleging that they are nationalists from Portuguese Guinea, when in reality they are the agents pro- vocateurs kept in reserve in foreign territory, either Senegalese or of other nationalities, so well known for their predilection for this technique of subversion. 40. Finally, the Senegalese representative referred to what he calls "a network of espionage" operated on their territory by the Portuguese. As evidence of tlùs, he has mentioned two names of individuals, and both are alleged to have been Portuguese spies. These allegations clearly refer to a matter that was dis- cussed with the Senegalese authorities early in 1961, when the Portuguese Embassy at Dakar, after due investigation, proved to the satisfaction of the Sene- galese authorities that they were not portuguese agents. 41. It is common knowledge that the Government of Senegal, in the pursuance of its avowedpolicies hostile to Portugal, has been harbouring aIl kinds ofques- tionable characters w;-, claim to be anti-Portugl..1.ese nationalists, even when they' come from the ends of the earth, very often in order to derive material advantage by the use of their wits. It is clear that thesetwo characters may have belonged to tlùs category and imposed on the gullibility of the Senegalese author- ities. ThePortuguese Government had nothing to do with them at any time. In any event, e'len the mention of two names could not be construed to substantiate the allegation of maintaining "a network of 'spies r wlùch appears to bea clear figment of the imagina- tion of the àelegation of Senegal. 42. The delegation of Senegal has been at greatpains to assure everyone here present that its Government harbou:rs no expansionist designs towards Portuguese Guinea. Certainly no would-be aggressor ever boasted in advance of his intentions. Itis always the proverbial approachof the spider to the fly, "walk into my parlour". But it is one-way traffic an along. Suffice it to recall that at the time when the Go-vernment of Senegal broke off diplomaticrelations with portugal in September 1961, one of the reasons given fortlùs action by that Government was the refusaI ofportugal to give up its Province of Guinea. Tlùs cleal" expres- sion of intention does not calI for anyfurther explana- 43. Demagogy provides vel'y fl'uîtful sources of argument in the campaign to delude the world into a belief in righteous indignation under the cloak of wlùch sinister forces of international subversion are operating. Portugal can say with a clear conscience that genocide fortunately is a crime of which we can proudly say. it has never been guilty in 1ùstory. like many other nations. As for atrocities and barbarism -however much and prolonged be the shouting to the contrary-we are conscious of the fact that when the history of these days comes to be written in a spirit shorn of passion and petty prejudice. many years hence. justice will be done to the Portuguese name. 44. These are some of the inaccuracies and contra- dictions made by the delegation of Senegal in its own letters. communiquês and statements. They are self- evident and thoroughly expose their allegations. If more have not bf;en pointed out. it is because my delegation . IS faced with the arduous problem of selecting the choicest ones out of a veritable rain of contradictions. 45. After t1ùs. let not the Minister of the Armed Forces of Senegal say that in doing so we have indulged in a stratagem. Let 1ùm not say. above all. that the Portuguese delegation invented them or produced them out of a magician's hat. The allega- tions of the delegation of Senegal fail because they have simply no legs to stand upon. 46. Yesterday. a certain representative took advan- tage of the confusion created by the Senegalese state- ments in order to refer to Portugal as an octopus. and to compare the Portuguese people with t1ùeves. Everyone knOWl:> that petty tmevery is a fine art dev:eloped to perfection in certain well-known cOUn- tries. but 1 must remind that distinguîshed gentleman that over the 700 years and more of their history. the Portuguese people have fortunately remained un- acquainted with the intricacies of that fine art. Even the Members of our National Assembly have been so well behaved that so far none of them has had to be horse-w1ùpped publicly by order of the Government for stealing brass inkpots from the Assembly Hall. As for the story of the champion octopus of modern Africa. well. portugal is too much of a peace-loving country to covet or to qualify for that title. The one striving to fit 1ùmself into t1ùs l'ole is well-known to the smaller independent States of West Africa near its borders. We need not say more. 47. The charge has been made that Portugal is a threat to international peace and security. and it is being repeated again and again. obviously in pur- suance of an agreed strategy. This is an entirely unfounded allegation that has been repeated over the Iast years in the various organs of the United Nations. And aIl t1ùs while. international peace and security are being threatened eisewhere at various points of 49. My delegation cannot escape the conviction that tlùs act of deliberate and unprovoked international violence is the source of pernicious inspiration for the grand anti-Portuguese conspiracy on the inter- national plane, to which the present attempt by a neighbouring African State to bring disrepute to my cOlUltry may clearly be affiliated. The technique of strategy adopted is remarkably similar. And, more remarkable still, in the present instance, too, at least two of the arch instigators of Senegal __ 'd a share in the violence of December 1961, when one of them gave the aggressor his lUldivided support and the other reinforced his support by a veto, making a mockery of the highest principles that ought to have guided international relations. 50. My delegation had fondly hoped that we would be spared the painful necessity of reading out a long list of violations and aggressive acts perpetrated or patronized by the Senegalese Government against the Province of Guinea, but since they themselves have opened the lock of this veritable Pandora's box of mischief, since they have taken great care to repeat here every ancient complaint and allegation, my delegation cannot let this occasion pass in silence, and after aIl, that Hst must be given here, at least partially. l should only like to preface it by sa;ying that the delegation of portugal do')s so with the greatest reluctance and only in order not to leave what may appear to some to be charges justifiably made against Portugal. 51. Some idea of the manner in which the Govern- ment of Senegal has been violating, since 1961, the norms' of good neighbourship in its conduct towards Portugal may be formed from the following: (ID The Senegalese radio station in Dakar has been devoting regularly a considerable part of its daily time to broadcasting subversive anti-Portuguese pro- paganda destinedto instigate violence against Portugal. (Q) Groups of terrorist elements, 'Senegalese as weIl as other nationalities, are granted facilities and en- couragement in Senegalese territory for training, equipping and instituting aggression raids into Portu- guese territory. Thus, on the night of 17 July 1961, an armed group of some twenty men, aIl from Casamance, in Senegal, equipped with sabres, sticks and gasoline-filled bottles, raided the neighbourhood of the region known as sâo Domingos in Portuguese (Q) During the first week of September 1961. various bands. ofsomehundreds ofindividuals ineachinstance. began to be concentrated in the Senegalese villages of Ingalema. Boutoupa. Branol and other places near the frontier of Portuguese Guinea.near SaoDomingos. indiscriminately armed with sabres. shot-guns and pangas. ready ta stage similar raids into Portuguese territory with aggressive designs. These bands would doubtless have carried out their intentions had not timely diplomatie intervention on the part of the Portuguese Government. through other friendly Gov- ernments. prevailed upon the Senegalese authorities to order a haIt in these activities. 52. Then again. my delegation wishes to give a list of some of the overflights of Portuguese Guinea by planes presumably coming from the Republic of Senegal. in accordance with reports from the General Staff of the Portuguese Army in that Province: 9 October 1962. a plane overflew Tite at 0355 hours; 2 November 1962. a two engine biplane. plumcoloured. overflew S~o Domingos very near the border of Portu- guese Guinea and Senegal. towards North-South. at a height of 300 metres at 1300 hours; 2November 1962. a suspect object was detected by radar. near the river Mansoa and towards the village of Bijamita from 2155 hours to 2205 hours. There are strong indications that a helicopter has violated our sover- eignty in this case. says the repo:.;t, 11 November 1962: Four objects, probably plane5. were detected by radar near Bissau, the first coming towards S.E-N from 1950 hours to 2020 hours; the second towards S.W-E of Bissau from 2025 hours to 2046 hours; the third west of Bissau from 2045 to 2055 hours; and finally. the fourth west of Bissau in direction north from 2100 to 2145 hours; 12 November 1962: An object, surely a plane. was detectedby radar in the region of the Geba River at the east of Bissau at 2045 hours; 13 November 1962: A light plane over- flew the Tite Barracks at 2000 hours. The plane had no lights and flew in the direction of Catiô. 53. These violations of the Portuguese territorial integrity and air space were not, in the opinion of my Government. such as would justify on our part an approach to the Security Council. And we are cer- tain that. even ifwehadthoughtotherwiseand ventured to complain about them to this organ of the United Nations. just as Senegal has done. at least the repre- sentative of the Soviet Union would have stood in the wayof my country being given any hearing. 54. Before concluding. the Portuguese delegation wishes to underline that at some points the speeches so far heard in the course of these discussions have gone far beyond the context of the agenda approved by the Security Council. We shall therefore refrain from referring to the allegations raised in them. 55. At the conclusion of my last statement [1027th meeting]. 1 made a declaration that the portuguese Government would always be willing to co-operate and 60. When the village of Bouniak, on the frontier of Senegal and what is called portuguese Guinea, was bombed from the air by the Portuguese air force, the Governments of the Gabon Republic, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, the Congo (Brazzaville), Dahomey, the Upper Volta, Madagascar, Mauritania, the Niger, the Central African Republic, Rwanda and Chad instrl,lcted me to proffer unconditional-I repeat- unconditional support to the Republic of Senegal. 61. 1 am all the more happy to perform this task in that the victim of this aggression is a member of the African and Malagasy Union, a body which has always, ever since it was set up, considered the Security Council, or IICouncil of Supreme Hope Il, to be the court of. final appeal for all peoples devoted to justice, freedom and peace. 62. The repeated raids on Senegalese territory by motorized and air-force units of the portuguese army provide irrefutable proof that the colonial army 64. Portugal's l'ole in Africa has not always con- sisted. in the terms of the English philosopher Spencer. of materializing a cultlU'e, or. in short. of civilizing. Today. by sustaining. if not actually creating. this tribal antagonism or rivah'Y between the Diolas of Guinea and the Ma.ndjakes of Senegal. Portugal is bent on establishing conditions similar to those which precededthe Congolese tragedy. 65. Our Organization cannot remain indifferent to this situation. It k.nows what suffering the African and other peoplys are likely to reap from this hatred pushed to the pitch of frenzy. The maintenance of illiteracy in the African territories occupied by Port- ugal is, in my opinJ.on, tantamount to intellectual assassination of a whole people. This alarming prob- lem has indeed been taken up by the United Nations itself. for the General Assembly. at its seventeenth session. voted almost unanimously in favour of a resolution [1808 (XVII)] recommending that scholar- ships be granted to African nationals of the Territories under Portuguese administration. l am convinced, as are aIl the countries which are members of the African and Malagasy Union. that the United Nations willnot remain indifferent to this other danger either, and that it will not permit portugal to continue to refuse the people of Guinea the right of self-determination. l am convinced too that the United Nations will not permit raids to be perpetrated against neighbouring countries. on varying pretexts, with impunity. It is our belief that the people of Guinea must be allowed to choose their own form of government in complete freedom. 66. We have listened, both the day before yesterday and today, with close attention to the long speech by the representative of the Salazar Governmçnt. For those of us who are accustomed to hearing the impet- uous andfiery representative of portugal.the moderate tone he used was a confession of guilt. Among other things, he said that this was a trumped-up incident created by the Senegalese Government and instigated by foreign slogans according to certain familiar methods. 67. l should be grateful to the representative of Portugal if he would kindly tell us to exactly what methods he was referring. Here we see the spectre of communism looming large. Were we to follow the line of reasoning of the distinguished jurist who represents Portugal, we should have to conclude that the United States of America and Brazil rank before the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as the first communist States of the world. the former for having fought in the name of freedom, and the latter for having shaken off the intolerable yoke of Portuguese colonialism. l challenge the representative of portugal to mention a single African State which is of a corn- 68. The representative of portugal also maintained that there had been no flights over Senegalese terri- tory. no bombings and hence no cause for complaint. Such an attitude reveals the person adopting it to be totally lacking in objectivity, not tosay good faith. for Mr. Cissé Dia. the Minister of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Senegal. in submitting the evidence. provided proof that Senegal had been flown over. that the village of Bouniak had been bombed-since there was at least one victim-and that the compl$t sub- mitted to the Security Council by Senegal was accord- ingly justified. 69. The members of the African and Malagasy Union have thus concluded that the arguments put forward by the portuguese delegation are entirely without foundation. The African and Malagasy Union would like to remind Portugal that the age of pirates. acts of vandalism and barbarity is over and that. in the face of this serious incident which is a threat to peace, Senegal can count on the unconditional assist- ance of the twelve sister States of the African and Malagasy .Union. 70. In his speech the day before yesterday, the rep:cesentative of Portugal alluded to an article published in The New York Times. 1. in my turn, will now read him a: passage which appeared in Le Monde. It is as follows: - "The Committee for the Support of Angola and the Peoples of the Portuguese Colonies has pub- lished a communiqué reporting that a clashoccurred on 6 February at Botsokol, in Portuguese Guinea, between African nationalists and Portuguese sol- diers. It is reported that these soldiers were found to be carrying documents which proved irrefutably that they were of Spanish nationality. " 71. It is a pitY that the representative of Portugal should have deployed his wonderful talents as a jurist in such a bad cause as the dvomed cause of colonial- ism.

1 should like first of aIl ta take this opportunity of expressing pilblicly the grief and regret of my delegation at the death of Mr. Evgeny D. Kiselev.. whose outstanding services and superior qualifications in the highly responsible position he occupied in the Security Council wegreatly appreciated. 73. 1 should like next to thank you, Mr. President. for allowing me to speak on behalf of my Government and ta explain my country's stand in this confliet in which the injured party is Senegal, a sister State and an ally of the Congo (Brazzaville). 74. We have listened with just indignation to the account of the frontier violations of which portugal has been more or less chronically guilty over the last two years at the expense of Senegalese territory. We have listéned with disappointment. not alas for the first time, to the somewhatironie refutations advanced 75. We know. ~owever. that a direct approach to Portugal is not a new experience for Senegal. as the violations complained of have been taking place ever since 1961. Moreover. can we be surprised that it should lack confidence in the success of a friendly settlement when we know that. in this dispute. it must deal with a Government which has for several years been systematically refusing to apply the resolutions of the United Nations and. in particular. resolution 1514 (XV) of the General Assembly on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples. to which the African peoples attach special importance? How can the representative of portugal invoke the United Nations Charter as regards relations between States when that country refuses .to recognize the fundamental human rights proclaimed in that very same Charter? Since 14 December 1960. when the General Assembly of the United Nations definiUvely condemned the subjection of any people to alien domination. the African countries have had ample opportunity to observe portugal's stubbornresistance to the application of this resolution and to lose all hope in the success of friendly negotiations with that country. What can be expected of bilateral conversations with a Government which has remained indifferent to the repeated condemnations of the international community? 76. The representative of Portugal no doubt wanted to make us forget this deliberate failure to apply resolution after resolution, this refusaI to co-operate with the various committees set up by our Assembly to setUe decolonization problems, when he tried to minimize the importance of Senegal's complaint and depict it as the unconsidered reaction of a neighbour who lost his temper too soon over something which was not really worth it. He has tried to throw doubt on the facts alleged because ofthe errorinitially made by the Senegalese delegation with regard to the date. We know full weIl, however, that the means of communication in the interior of the African countries are not yet on a par with those of the western world, and we are here to judge the veracity of the facts, not to determine whether they occurred on· 8 or 9 April. 77. The representative of Portugal gave full rein to his irony over the words used by the Senegalese delegation to define the arms employed by the Portugues.e aircraft on8 April. But even if there was some confusion between grenades anà rockets, is that more important than the fact that an act of aggressioh took place? 78. Finally, the representative of Portugal marshalled a battery of quotations with which we are now weIl acquainted. To protect himself he sheltered behind· African statesmen who have. inthe past, spoken favourably of his country. At least thisprovesthat the people of Africa have peaceful intentions and are completely tolerant. It shows that they hoped for a long time that, one day, Portugal would give its civilizing mission the true meaning the world expects, 79. In this year of 1963 when the most powerful bastions .Qf colonialism have crumbled one by one, what are the African élite to think when they see Portugal obstinately imposing on Africa Portuguese provinces which are as anachronistic in our continent as is the existence, in Europe, of a political régime which seems to be clutching desperately at myths in order to derive the strength to survive? 80. This is not the first time we haveheard Portugal answer the charges levelled against it by a playon words. But this clever juggling with the policy of good-neighbourliness, this challenging of dates and definitions cannot make us forget that something much more important is at stake. The best diplomats could not transform into comedy and smiles the tragedy of the peoples of Africa who are still awaiting their independence. Whenever the Portuguese army has entered Senegal, we have been told that it was a mistake, and whenever a Portuguese jet plane has flown over Senegalese territory, that it was a minor incident resulting from the great speed of modern aircraft. We are told that one incident did take place, but is excusable, that another did not occur exactly as described, or did not occur at aIl. No attempt, however, is made to explain to us in detail why, in this remote part of Africa, it should be necessary to send out so many patrols, aircraft and motorized columns that frontier violations becorne common incidents, whereas, logically, the peaceful peoples of this part of Senegal and Guinea should never see any other uniforms than those of a few policemen, and should never in any case have to learn the proper distinction between grenades and rockets. 81. Portugal is, in fact, weIl aware that the problem being dealt with today by the Security Council is of far greater significance :;:,;>"1 the simple material fact of a frontier incident. 73y trying to reduce it to a minor misunderstanding between two goodneighbours, it is sirnply betraying its fear that the Security Council and, through it, the cornmunity ofnations, will once again severely condemn not only a mistake made by a plane or a patrol, but the whole policy of a country which, in its blindness, has placed itself beyond the pale of the free peoples. 82. We know how little attention Portugal gives to the decisions· of our Organization, but we desire, as Africans, to in.form the Government of Ml'. Salazar once again that the time for fooling lS pasto We remember that in 1961, when the dramatic situation in Angola and Cabinda was being discussed, the representative of Portugal, who is here today, replied to our injunctions with a show of his' usual irony. On the frontiers of Cabinda, my country has experienced 83. The Government of the Congo (Brazzaville) has subscribed to the United Nations Charter and is resolved to co-operate in the maintenance of international peace. In so doing, it shares the views of aIl the States in Ule African and Malagasy Union. of which Senegal is a member. Africa has a basic need to develop peacefully. B~t first and foremost it must develop, and that process cannot be stopped. Portugal, by its obstinate policy, Ü\I a present scourge and a future threat in so far as that development is concerned. More than ever before, the pattern of its socalled multiracial society is being rejected by the peoples placed under its trusteeship. Thus, the only possibility left to the Lisbon Government is to try to gag the oppressed nations by massacres and military repression. That is Y/lly its aircraft and patrols so often wander by mistake beyond its frontiers. We agree, alas, that the damage they do in our territory is nothing beside the excesses they commit within their O",.n colonial territories. We shall not once again try the case against Portuguese policies. This has already in~large measure been done in our Organization, and the result was an almost unanimous judgement by the General Assembly. We do, however, by taking our stand beside Senegal today, wish to stigmatize once more, in the name of aIl the African peoples who are still oppressed, the obstinacy of Portuguese colonialism. 84. We hope that Portugal's bad faith in this matter will be recognized and that Portugal will be summoned to cease these military incursions into the neighbouring countries on whom it is imposing its illegal presence in Africa. We urge the Security Council at the same time, howe:ver, to recognize the basic cause of these incidents, namely, the military domination Portugal is forced to exercise over the territories it administers. Peace cannot be restored on the frontiers of Guinea simply by sending out a commission of inquiry to assess the damage caused by the Portuguese aircraft. The major Powers whose responsibility it is, in the Security Council, to safeguard international peace must recognize the magnitude of the threat which Portugal constitutes in Africa. If they fail to do so, if they refuse to use their authority to obïige Portugal to reform its African policy, then we fear that the Security Council may one day be convened to discuss more serious and more sanguinary incidents which might lead to direct conflict between the Portuguese troops and the African nations, united as a body in defence of their future. 85. It is because of its fraternal feeling for the menaced people of Senegal and the oppressed patriots of Guinea that my Government felt bound to appeal to the Security Council today. 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