S/PV.1631 Security Council

Mr. President, for my delegation which was an enthusiastic supporter of the idea of convening these meetings in Africa, it is a source of great pleasure to see you preside over these meetings of the Security Council being held away from Headquarters. We wish to thank you very much for having invited us to become acquainted with your beautiful country, Somalia, last weekend. We should like to state for the record that Ambassador Farah has been the dynamo who has made it possible for us to have these meetings of the Council away from Headquarters in January 1972. 2. Above all, it is my privilege to bonvey a personal message from the President of Panama, Mr. Demetrio B. Lakas, to His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I and to his noble people, to whom he extends his wishes for well-being and prosperity. 3, It is.a signal honour for the representative of Panama, in conjunction with Argentina, to express the thanks of Latin America for the understanding and the hospitality that we have received from the varidus authorities and organizations who have overwhelmed us with their attentions ever since our arrival in this city of Addis Ababa. 4. We should like to congratulate most warmly the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the very wise initiative it took in inviting the Security Council to come to this continent to hold a special series of meetings in order to consider questions concerning Africa which are related to international peace and security. 5. My country considers this practice of holding meetings of the Council away from Headquarters to be a healthy one, and we have already expressed our interest in ensuring that consideration is given to the possibility of convening forthcoming meetings in Latin American territory, and for this purpose we would offer as a site the capital of Rome. 6. Article 28, paragraph 3, of the Charter states that “the Security Council may hold meetings at such places other than the seat of the Organization as in its judgment will best facilitate its work.” We wish to recognize that the permanent members of the Security Council, during the consultations that preceded these meetings, always accepted the interpretation that this was a matter of procedure, and in truth, as the record shows, we must say that they have never opposed the convening of meetings of this type. 7. We are convinced that our deliberations will be crowned with success for the Organization of African Unity. Within the framework of the co-operation that should exist between the Organization of American States and its counterpart on this continent, we should like to state that we are pleased to offer our collaboration in order to find a solution to the problems of colonialism, apartheid and racial discrimination, which continue to constitute a threat to peace, security and to the stability of the African continent. 8. In our opinion, the solution to these questions which beset vast sectors of Africa would not be so difficult if we were to interpret and apply properly the provisions concerning these matters contained in the United Nations Charter, in the General Assembly’s Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and in the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security. 9. Panama, as the cradle of pan-Americanism, knows the importance of meetings such as the one we are holding here today. Because of its purposes and the circumstances attending it, this series of meetings, which brings together two Heads of State and 1.5 African Ministers for Foreign Affairs, may be compared-in relevant terms-with the historic Congress of Panama convened under the inspired leadership of Bolivar in 1826 to solve the high interests of war and peace. It was it1 Panama in 1929 that the system of consultation of Foreign Ministers of America was estab- 29. Side by side with its African brothers Panama shares their suffering at any attempts to undermine the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of these nations. My delegation condemns all forms of colonialism in Africa and in America as well. In this connexion, President Ould Daddah last Friday stated the following: 30. As I am a fervent believer in the need that confronts our peoples to go to international public opinion for the solution of their colonialist problems, I should like to outline in a few brief sentences the primary problem that concerns my country in matters of colonialism. “The Organization of African Unity formally proposes that a council made up of members of the Security Council, including necessarily the five permanent members, should be entrusted with the administration of Namibia and should make all the arrangements to ensure its effective administration.” /1627th meeting, paru. 44.1 3 1. Panama considers itself fully authorized to speak of colonialism, inasmuch as the wealthiest country of the world has concentrated the vastest apparatus possible with all the appearance of self-government in a very small part of our territory. 23. Panama wishes to state that it supports this initiative of the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity. We are familiar with the handy colonialist argument that the territory that is to be liberated is still not ready for independence. We agree with the statement made today by the representative of Argentina, at our meeting this morning that “countries must be more alert than ever in preserving their sovereignty”. 11630th meeting, pam. 151.1 32. As the representatives on the Security Council and the distinguished African personages who are honouring us with their presence here know, the Republic of Panama is an isthmus of 28,600 square miles, which links the two Americas, and we have a population of 1,500,OOO inhabitants. 24. Quite honestly, we consider that South Africa is mistaken in trying to maintain the status quo and that it would be very wise on its part to hand over without delay the so-called responsibility of preparing the Namibians for independence to the international community. 33, Since October 1968 we have had a revolutionary government in Panama which is nationalist and progressive, which at the international level would like to have friendly relations with ‘all peoples of the world and which tries within its borders, while respecting the system of free enterprise, to establish labour legislation and a tax system that will guarantee the equitable distribution of the national wealth among all of its inhabitants. In order to establish a new representative democracy, elections will be held next August for delegates who will be called upon to approve the Constitution and to elect the new President of the Republic, who the people hope will be the leader of the Revolution, General Omar Torrijos. 25. We support the work of the United Nations Council for Namibia, which is working tirelessly to ensure that the people of Namibia attain their independence through a democratic process. 26. We think that the report submitted last Friday [1628th meeting] by Ambassador Shahi in his capacity as President of the Council for Namibia has been very useful to the Security Council. We attach a great deal of merit to the statement made before the Cpuncil by Ambassador Seignore [ibid./, representative of the Special Committee on Apartheid. 34. Our territory is split in two parts by a canal linking two oceans, which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Over an area five miles wide, on each side of the inter-ocean waterway, there has been established the so-called Panama Canal Zone, which constitutes a veritable foreign enclave alien to our national jurisdiction, where the United States of America makes excessive use of the limited powers that Panama has granted to it for the operation, maintenance, sanitation and defence of the Panama Canal. 27. To speak in clear, precise and decisive terms, we should like to say that we are in favour of all the liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies in Africa. As was stated by our Minister for External Relations, Professor Juan Antonio Tack at the last session of the General Assembly,4 we agree that every last vestige of colonialism in the world should be uprooted and we identify ourselves with the third world because of the similarity of our problems in the struggle for political and economic independence for our peoples. 35. The exaggerated presence of the United States for almost 70 years in the Panama Canal Zone is considered by my compatriots as a colonial situation that becomes more intolerable as the days go by. 36. Eight years ago, on 3 April 1964, the Governments of Panama and the United States of America, after a few violent episodes which distyrbed the peace of the area, signed a Declaration that refers to the elimination of the causes of conflict which arose because of the existence of 28. The Latin American Group at the United Nations has played a very active role in the process of decolonization of the African continent. In recognition of its outstanding 4 Ibid., Twenty-sixth ,Yessim, Plenary Meetings, 1955th meeting. 37. The well-justified aspiration of our people, which, with displeasure but with patience, have experienced for many years the affront of having a neo-colonialist regime within their own borders leads the Panamanian citizen to seek every day, more and more vigourously, through nationalist manifestation& the identity of his country BS a worthy, independent and sovereign nation. 38. The danger of a violent confrontation between Panamanians and the North Americans in the Panama Canal Zone increases day by day. At times, it seems to us that we will have to wage a heroic struggle to achieve our objectives as a people which loves freedom. None the less, dur sense of responsibility tells us that, with all its defects and despite the risks that have to be taken, the formula of negotiation, within the norms and principles of modern international law, is the most expeditious method open to States for settling their disputes. 39. We trust, as I said in the statement I made on 11 January last before the Security Council [162&h meetingJ, that through negotiations we will succeed in working out the clear and decisive political, social and economic integration of all our territory. 40. We are convinced that the international community would be pleased to see the United States of America, one of the most respected super-Powers in the world, reduce its presence in the Panama Canal Zone in order to put an end to a colonialist situation which runs counter to the United Nations Charter, to General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), which contains the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, to General Assembly resolution 2158 (XXI), which deals with permanent sovereignty over natural resources, and to General Assembly resolution 2734 (XXV), which refers to the strengthening of international security, 41. ‘We are much encouraged by the policy of preventive diplomacy, which has brilliantly and energetically been undertaken from Africa by our new Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim. The dedication of, and the action taken by the Security Council at its present meetings in Africa cause us to renew our faith in mankind.

Mr. President, before stating the Soviet Union’s position on the substance of the questions under consideration by the Council, the delegation of the USSR would like to associate itself with the expressions of gratitude to His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I and to the Government of Ethiopia, as well as to the local authorities of Addis Ababa, for their kind attention and their hospitality, which has enabled the Security Council, far the first time in the history of the United Nations, to consider the problems of the elimination of colonialism and racism here, directly on African soil, at the scene of the misdeeds and crimes committed by the imperialists, colonialists and racists against the peoples of Africa. 44. In their statements at the current series of meetings of the Security Council here at Addis Ababa, the Emperor of Ethiopia and the Chainnan of the Organization of African Unity, President Odd Daddah of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, as well as the other representatives of Africa who have spoken, have called upon the members of the Council to discharge their duty towards the peoples of the southern part of the African continent and to avert a dangerous evolution of events in that region, which might have far-reaching consequences. The Emperor recalled the unfortunate experience of the League of Nations, and appealed to the Security Council not to repeat it. History has indeed confirmed the fact that the League’s refusal to fulfil the obligations incumbent upon it under its Covenant untied the hands of fascist imperialist aggression, one of whose first victims was Ethiopia. In this connexion it is, appropriate to ,recall that, in the League of Nations, the Soviet Union, from the very beginning of the aggression against Ethiopia, spoke up firmly in support of the latter’s political independence, refused to recognize the seizure of its territory and advocated the application of effective sanctions against the aggressor. As far back as September 1935 the Soviet Union, in the League of Nations, warned the peoples of the world that the fascist imperialist aggression against Ethiopia was at the same time a threat to the peoples of other countries and continents. These warnings turned out to be prophetic. This lesson of history cannot and must not be forgotten. 45, Of course, it is quite clear that 1972 is not 1935, when imperialism held sway over a large part of the world. Today the forces of imperialism, colonialism and aggression are opposed by the firm will of all peace-loving peoples, the growing power of the countries of the socialist community, their friendship and fraternal co-operation with all States which take an anti-colonial and anti-racist stand, and their increasing solidarity with those fighting for the national liberation of the peoples in the remaining colonial and racist countries, above all, of course, in Africa. 46. The problems relating to the struggle against colonialism, racial discrimination, apartheid and neo-colonialism are now becoming increasingly acute; they ,have become an international problem and one of the most important questions facing the United Nations. The perpetuation of colonial and racist regimes in Africa not only results in suffering, insults to human dignity and a deprivation of elementary rights for the African peoples living under racist and colonial oppression, but also constitutes a threat to the whole African continent, clouds and complicates the general international situation and creates a threat to peace and the security of peoples, 48. The Soviet delegation has been empowered by its Government, and has come to Addis Ababa firmly intending, to promote the success of the Council’s work in every possible way, so that its meetings here can become a truly important landmark in the solution of the problem of eradicating colonialism and racism in Africa and an important event in the history of the United Nations. 49. The Soviet Union’s consistent approach to the full, unconditional and final elimination of colonialism and racism in all their forms and manifestations is well known. The peoples of the whole world are also well aware of the leading role which the Soviet Union has played, and continues to play, in the struggle to achieve the national liberation of colonial peoples. No one will ever succeed in distorting the Soviet Union’s position of principle on questions relating to the national liberation movement, or in casting a shadow on the leading role which the Soviet Union has played, and continues to play, in the struggle against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism, or on the contribution made by the heroic Soviet people to the overthrow of the most reactionary forces of imperialism. 50. The Soviet Union’s position in the United Nations on questions relating to the struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination derives from the very nature of socialist society, which is based on the teachings of the great Lenin, always a consistent and resolute fighter for the national and social liberation of oppressed peoples. The Soviet Union was the first in the history of mankind to show hundreds of millions of people on our planet an image of a human society which took as its banner peace, work, freedom, equality, brotherhood and the happiness of all peoples, regardless of their race, nationality or colour. 51. The victory of the great October socialist revolution and the birth of the Soviet Socialist State demonstrated in practice that it was indeed possible to eliminate imperialist oppression and end national and racial inequality among peoples. This victory of the revolutionary forces in Russia shook the foundations of imperialism, awakened the oppressed peoples and brought them into the common 53. One of the most important factors which contributed to the advance of the national liberation struggle among colonial peoples was the defeat by the peoples of the anti-fascist coalition of an unprecedentedly powerful fascist military machine, which threatened the peoples of the whole world. It fell to the lot of the Soviet Union to play a decisive role in the struggle against fascism. 54. It was precisely in conditions of an upsurge of democracy in the world, brought about by the victorious and just struggle of the peoples of the anti-fascist coalition against fascism and aggression during the Second World War, that the United Nations was established, with a Charter which reflected progressive democratic principles, including the principles of equality of rights and self. determination of peoples. 55. Throughout the existence of the United Nations, the Soviet Union, together with other States which take an anti-colonialist position, has advocated and continues to advocate the realization of these principles of the Charter and the eradication of colonialism and racism from the world, 56. It is therefore quite natural that the Soviet Union should have taken the initiative which successfully resulted in the adoption, in 1960, at the fifteenth session of the General Assembly, of the historic Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples which solemnly proclaimed “the necessity of bringing to a speedy . . . end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations” [resolution 1514 (XV)]. This Declaration has since become, together with the Charter, a historic and fundamental document of the United Nations in the struggle against colonialism and racism. 57. The principles set forth in the Declaration have been further developed in many United Nations resolutions and in the programme of action for the full implementation of the Declaration, which was adopted in 1970 at the commemorative session of the General Assembly [resolution 2621 (XXV)/. In that programme the United Nations reaffirmed the legitimacy and justice of the struggle of colonial peoples for their freedom and national independence, and called upon all States to render moral and material assistance to colonial peoples in their lawful and just struggle. The further continuation of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations was declared to be a crime which constituted a violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and the principles of international law. 59. This important historical event of our era is clear proof of the insuperable aspiration of peoples towards freedom, national independence and the complete eradication of the shameful centuries-old system of colonialism and imperialism. 60. However, colonialism has not yet been fully eradicated. In recent years, the process of decolonization has even slowed down somewhat, Imperialism and colonialism continue to maintain in southern Africa a colonial and racist stronghold which, although comparatively small, is still as dangerous as ever. 61. Southern Africa is a region in which imperialism is striving to retain its political, economic and military domination and creating a spring-board for a counter-attack on the independent African States. With the help of world imperialism, the racist Government of the Republic of South Africa, which is pursuing the fascist and inhuman poficy of apartheid, the illegal white minority Government in Southern Rhodesia, which has usurped power in that country, and the fascist Government of Portugal, which has refused to grant independence to Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau), are arrogantly defying the peoples of Africa and the national liberation movements, and setting themselves against the United Nations and the whole of world public opinion. To maintain their power and racist domination they resort to any methods, even the most monstrous punitive measures, against those fighting for freedom and independence, 62. The existence of colonialist and racist regimes on the African continent is fraught not only with a potential threat, but also with what in a number of cases has turned out to be a direct threat, to peace and security, as has been recognized in the resolutions of the Security Council and other United Nations organs. 63. In their aggressive policy, the South African racists and the Portuguese colonialists are to an increasing extent encroaching upon the independence and sovereignty of neighbouring countries. In their efforts to stabilize the racist colonial regimes in Southern Africa and win back the positions they have lost in other parts of the African continent, the imperialists are employing every possible means, even direct armed intervention. We know that imperialism has organized a number of aggressive armed attacks on independent African States, and that these attacks have been considered and condemned by the Security Council. 64. The acts of aggression committed by South Africa and Portugal against independent African countries, the waging 65. We often hear the United Nations criticized for the ineffectiveness of its decisions and measures aimed st liberating peoples from colonial servitude. Such comments have even been made here, at the meetings of the Security Council at Addis Ababa, by representatives of African countries. Certainly, a number of United Nations organs, including the Security Council, have taken measures aimed at eliminating the racist regime in Rhodesia, measures against the inhuman and shameful system of apnrrheid in South Africa, and also measures against the Portuguese colonialists. It is true that these measures have so far not produced the desired results. Here, during the Security Council’s meetings in Africa, we must give a more direct and clearer answer to the question of who is responsible fol the failure of these measures and decisions by the United Nations, and above all the failure of a number of Security Council decisions which are binding on all Members of the United Nations. Responsibility for this failure lies not with all the Members of the United Nations, nor with the Organization as a whole, but with the obstructionist line taken on such questions by certain imperialist countries-by the leading members of NATO and above all by the States which are providing assistance to the racist and colonial rbgimes, such as, for example, the United Kingdom, which is assisting both Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, or the United States, which has violated the United Nations decision regarding sanctions against Southern Rhodesia. Without the comprehensive economic and military assistance and the moral and political support of these countries, the colonial and racist regimes would be unable to resist the demands of the United Nations that they should grant freedom and independence to the peoples suffering under colonial and racist oppression. A number of representatives of African countries have, in their statements heie in the Security Council, already commented on and stressed these points, and have set forth the relevant facts. 66. Numerous examples have been given of actions aimed at maintaining and strengthening the domination of the colonial and racist regimes. They include the racistimperialist deal between Home and Smith which, as has been said here, was a betrayal of the Zimbabwe people. They also include the United Kingdom’s resumption of arms deliveries to the Republic of South Africa, the Uliitecl States decision to import chrome ore from Southern Rhodesia in violation of the binding decisions of the Security Council concerning sanctions, and the conclusion by the United States of an agreement with Portugal concerning military bases in the Azores and its provision of economic assistance totalling almost $500 million ta Portugal. 67. A major role in perpetuating the politics of colonialism and racism in southern Africa is played by the international imperialist monopolies which hold sway over G 68. The Soviet Union resolutely condemns the colonial regimes in Africa and the assistance provided to them by the imperialist Powers. 69. It supports the demands of the African countries for the immediate adoption of effective measures and for the implementation of decisions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and other United Nations organs on questions relating to the elimination of the remnants of colonialism in Africa and to the struggle against racism and apartheid. 70. In the programme of peace and international cooperation adopted by the twenty-fourth Congress of the 77. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the following the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mr. Brezhnev, in positions of principle in the Soviet Union’s foreign policy his message to the participants in the fifth conference of were once again stressed: the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization, held at Cairo in January of this year, stressed: “The United Nations decisions on the abolition of the’ remaining colonial regimes must be fully carried out. Manifestations of racism and apartheid must be universally condemned and boycotted.” 71. On questions relating to the anti-colonialist struggle, there has emerged in the United Nations a broad front of States which take an anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist stand. We, the Soviet representatives, are,proud of the fact that on these very important questions in the work of the United Nations, Soviet delegations and the Soviet Union have always been among the majority in the United Nations, along with the representatives and countries of Africa, Asia and Latin. America. The preservation and strengthening of the united front of all the anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist forces is of great importance to the implementation of the noble goals of eliminating the remnants of colonialism and racism. Certain social traitors who are attempting to split this mighty anti-imperialist front bear a great responsibility to the peoples of Africa.. “The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is invariably true to the Leninist principle of solidarity with the peoples fighting for national liberation and social emancipation. As in the past, those fighting against the remaining colonial regimes can count on our full support.” and just struggle for freedom and independence. 79. The importance attached by the Soviet Union and the 73. Recent events in Namibia show that the young other socialist countries to supporting the struggle of working class, the most forward-looking and revolutionary oppressed peoples for their freedom was also demonstrated 72. The peoples of the Soviet Union show full solidarity with the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea (Bissau), Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa in their courageous 74. To suppress the strike, military detachments and police have been sent in, strike leaders have been arrested and thrown into gaol and some of the strikers have been killed or wounded. The workers of Namibia have been faced with the threat of a bloody tragedy similar to that which took place at Sharpeville 12 years ago. 75. The Soviet delegation expresses is solidarity with the striking workers of Namibia, and considers it essential for the Security Council to condemn as resolutely as possible the repression by the South African authorities, and to demand an immediate end to it and the satisfaction of the just and lawful demands of the workers of Namibia. 76 The stand taken by the Namibian workers against the oppression of the international monopolies and the fascist and racist Pretoria regime is a striking confirmation of the fact that in the modern age the struggle against racist and national oppression is closely linked with the struggle against economic and social exploitation. “Today unity of action and the militant solidarity of the peoples of Asia and Africa, the peoples of the socialist countries and the democratic forces of the whole world are the primary conditions for the successful struggle against imperialism, and a sure guarantee of victory for the cause of national and social liberation.” 78. The Soviet Union has provided and continues to provide ah possible assistance, including material aid, to the national liberation movements of colonial peoples; it does so on the basis of the principle, which has been repeatedly reaffirmed by United Nations decisions, that colonial peoples have an inalienable right to struggle for freedom and national independence by all the means at their disposal, As stated in the. resolutions of the twenty-fourth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 80. The vital interests of Jhe peoples of Africa, as of all freedom-loving peoples of the world, require a further strengthening of solidarity and co-ordinated actions on the part of all those who cherish freedom, national independence, peace and social progress. The Organization of Aftican Unity is making a major contribution to this noble task. The enemies of Africa would like to split that Organization, to shatter it and to force it to recon$le itself to the perpetuation of colonialism and racism in the southern part of this long-suffering continent. The stronger the unity of the African countries becomes, the greater will be the resistance to the colonialists and racists by all the peoples of Africa, and the sooner will dawn the longawaited day when the peoples still suffering under the yoke of colonial and racist rdgimes will be liberated. The warning voice of the many sons of Africa who have spoken here in the Security Council has sounded forth loudly. The voice of Africa in our time is a powerful international voice. It was the countries of Africa which requested the convening of a special series of meetings of the Security Council in Africa, and in spite of the unwillingness and opposition of the forces of imperialism, this African demand was met. Africa won the victory in this matter, and imperialism was compelled to give way. 81, It is time for the imperialists, colonialists and racists to heed this voice of reason and humanity, to stop placing obstacles in the path of the United Nations and the Security Council, and. to provide real and effective assistance to the colonial peoples in their just struggle for freedom and independence. 82. The Soviet delegation wishes to stress that the Soviet Union is developing friendly relations and co-operation in all areas with all the independent African countries, on the basis of the principles of non-interference in internal affairs, equality of rights, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and offers these countries a wide range of economic, technical and cultural assistance, The development of friendly relations and co-operation between the USSR and the countries of Africa promotes the strengthening of international peace and of the independence of African States and reinforces their position in the struggle against colonialism, neo-colonialism and racism. 83. The delegation of the USSR expresses its conviction that the friendship and the mutually advantageous and fruitful co-operation between the USSR and the African countries in the United Nations will continue to develop. Guided by the Leninist principle of a peace-loving foreign 85. As far as the situation in Southern Rhodesia is concerned, the Security Council should, as the African countries propose, reject the shameful deal between the Government of the United Kingdom and the racist Smith rCgime, which is a betrayal of the Zimbabwe people. The Council should reaffirm that any settlement in Southern Rhodesia which is in accordance with the national interests of the Zimbabwe people must be based on the principle of universal suffrage on a basis of equality and of “one man, one vote” for the whole population, irrespective of race or colour. It should request the United Kingdom to take effective measures to eliminate the white minority’s illegal racist regime and to ensure an immediate transfer of power to the Zimbabwe people, based on the principle of majority rule. To this end, the Security Council should not only require strict compliance with the sanctions which it has already established against Southern Rhodesia, but should also increase their effectiveness. The sanctions should be extended also to South Africa and to Portugal, which are both themselves oppressing African peoples, and at the same time affording direct support and assistance to the racist r&ime in Southern Rhodesia. 86. In regard to the situation in South Africa, the Soviet Union advocates the strictest possible compliance with Security Council and General Assembly resolutions directed against the inhuman policy and practice of uparrheid in South Africa, and requiring an end to the occupation of Namibia by the Pretoria rCgime and the granting of independence to the Namibian people. One means of compelling the fascist authorities in Pretoria to comply with Security Council decisions would be to apply sanctions and an embargo on trade with South Africa, and to ensure the strictest possible international isolation of that rCgime. 87. The Soviet Union has always advocated the application of the specific, most effective and efficient measures which have been reflected both in Security Council and in General Assembly resolutions. We mean by this the application of sanctions against the Pretoria re’gime in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. At the twenty-sixth session of the General Assembly the Soviet Union, together with the Republic of Guinea, submitted the draft of a convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid. 5 88. As for Portugal,,the Security Council should take the most decisive measures to eliminate the dangerous source of tension created on the African continent by the aggressive policy of this fascist country, which is a member of NATO, 5 Ibid., Twenty-sixth Session, Atznexes, agenda item 54, document A/8542, para. 32. 89. The Soviet Union, faithful to the Leninist policy of the sovereign equality, freedom and independence of peoples, will do everything within its power to ensure that he cause of liberating the African continent from cola. dalism and racism triumphs completely. go. Mr. NAKAGAWA (Japan): It is a matter of great satisfaction for my delegation to attend this historic series of meetings of the Security Council at Addis Ababa. We think this is a significant occasion as it symbolizes the importance which the Council attaches to the problems of Africa. We are confident that this meeting will prove itself to be a significant and fruitful one, and I wish to congratulate the Organization of African Unity for having taken the initiative in bringing these special meetings to pass. 91. Taking this opportunity, I wish to express our warmest gratitude to our gracious host, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selnssic I, as well as to the Government and people of Ethiopia for the warm and generous hospitality extended to us in this beautiful capital city of Addis Ababa. 1 am confident that the traditional ties of friendship which unite Japan and the Empire of Ethiopia will be further strengthened in the days to come. 92. Before proceeding to set forth the views of my delegation on the substance of the questions on our agenda, 1 should like to say a few words on the significance, as we see it, of holding this series of meetings in Africa. 93. First of all is the great importance of the problems we are considering, and the fact that we are considering them here, in Africa, underscores their importance. They are important in terms of the maintenance of international peace and security on the African continent; they are important in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms; and, by no means least, they are important in the moral sense, because, after al.& there are moral values to ~h.kh virtually the entire international community subscribes and which are being violated in Africa. If these problems are of great importance to the countries and peoples of Africa-which they certainly are-they are also of great importance to other countries and peoples because the issues involved are deeply rooted in our common humanity. And, of course, these problems are of great importance to the United Nations because of the Organization’s mission and responsibility for peace, which is the primary responsibility of the Security Council, and for the advancement of human rights and freedoms. 94. From a somewhat different viewpoint, it must be said that the importance of the problems we are considering is matched by their complexity and intractability. But this is 9.5. Japan and the Japanese people are geographically very far from Africa and its peoples. Yet there is among our people a keen and growing interest in Africa. And this meeting of the Council which is held in Africa will further enhance that trend. It is a trend that my Government wishes to encourage as part of its general policy of strengthening relations with African countries. I think it is pertinent, therefore, for me to say a few words at this point about some of the practical means by which we are trying to implement that policy. 96. We believe in the high value of person-to-person relations and the Japanese Government has a programme of inviting leaders in various fields, principally from developing countries, to visit Japan. In addition, we have various programmes of cultural exchanges, by which journalists, scientists, scholars and so on are invited to Japan. It is our earnest desire to increase and strengthen such persona1 exchanges with African countries. 97. In connexion with our technical assistance programmes, we send a considerable number of young people to African countries through our Overseas Co-operation Volunteers Programme. These are in addition to regular technical assistance experts. Also a growing number of trainees from developing countries, including those of Africa, are received in Japan. We find the personal contacts established in these ways are very valuable not only to the individuals involved but also to the cause of good relations between the countries. We hope to strengthen these activities in our relations with African countries. 98. Up to now, our economic assistance has been concentratcd, for geographic reasons, mainly on the Asian countries. However, as our capacity increases, it is our intention to extend our aid programmes also to the countries in Africa. 99. I should like to turn now to the substance of the questions on our agenda. These questions have confronted the United Nations for a great many years despite the strenuous efforts to solve them that have been made by the united Nations and the international community as a whole. The crux of the problems is racial discrimination and colonial domination, which constitute violations of the principle of equal rights of peoples as prescribed in the United Nations Charter and the inalienable right to selfdetermination reaffirmed in the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 100, Japan shares the feeling of abhorrence of the African nations with regard to racial discrimination in any form. We strongly advocate the eIimination of all manifestations of racial discrimination and we strongly support the right of peoples to self-determination and independence. Yet racial discrimination continues to be practised in southern Africa on a massive scale, and the African people there continue to be deprived of their right to self-determination and independence . 102. My delegation deeply sympathizes with the victims of apartheid in their cruel plight. We also fully understand and share the feelings of frustration of the African nations as year after year goes by while the international community has not yet found the means to bring to an end the policies of apartheid of the South African Government. 103. We think that our approach must be realistic and practical. We must maintain a constant, unremitting pressure on the Government of South Africa, for example, through the faithful carrying out of decisions of the Security Council. Also we must by no means underrate the force of the public opinion of the peoples of the world. These meetings of the Council in Africa will certainly help to reinforce world opinion against apartheid and bring its inequity into sharper focus. 104. The most important decisions of the Security Council on this matter involve the arms embargo against South Africa. This embargo should be strictly observed. We strongly urge all countries to refrain from supporting South Africa by supplying arms. Japan has strictly observed all the resolutions of the Council concerning the arms embargo, and we shall continue to do so. I should like to add that Japan has no diplomatic relations with South Africa and has no intention of establishing suc11 relations. 105. Turning now to the question of Namibia, it is still very fresh in our memory that last September, when Japan occupied the Presidency, the Security Council held a special debate, with the participation of a very high-level delegation from the Organization of African Unity, headed by His Excellency Mr. Moktar Ould Daddah, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The purpose of that special debate was to consider the situation in Namibia in the light of the advisory opinion which the Council had requested from the International Court of Justice. 106. The situation prevailing in Namibia has caused us grave concern, particularly in view of the acceleration in the extension and enforcement of South African laws in the Territory-moves designed to destroy the national unity and territorial integrity of Namibia by a continuing process of racial and tribal partitioning, along with over-all incorporation of the Territory into the South African State. Such steps are in clear defiance of the decisions of the United Nations. The policy of South Africa with regard to Namibia is also the negation of the principle of selfdetermination, because it forecloses the free choice of the Namibian population as a whole. 107. My Government welcomes the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which, in effect, confirmed the validity of the United‘ Nations decision to 108. As a result of last September’s meetings, the Security Council once again unequivocally enunciated the firm position of the United Nations with respect to its responsibility to the people of Namibia, in its resolution 301 (1971). 109. With regard to the Territories in Africa under Portuguese administration, my Government deeply deplores the attitude of the Government of Portugal, which continues to strengthen its domination over those Territories and to deny to their peoples the principle of self-determination. During the past year the Portuguese authorities in Angola, Mozambique ‘and Guinea (Bissau) have further intensified their military operations against the liberation movements in those Territories. 1 IO. Furthermore, in July arid August 1971, the Security Council was called upon twice to act on complaints made respectively by Senegal and Guinea against Portugal. In fact complaints of the same kind have been presented to the Council on a number of occasions during the past several. years. We can well understand how the African States bordering the Territories under Portuguese administration feel constantly threatened by the Portuguese colonial presence in Africa. 111. I wish to reiterate the hope of my delegation that the Government of Portugal will recognize the force of the public opinion of the world, will realize the necessity and the wisdom of acknowledging the right to self-determjnntion of the peoples in the Territories and will adopt steps to lead them to independence. 112. The situation in Southern Rhodesia seems to have reached a critical stage. The “test of acceptability” that is now being conducted by the Government of the United Kingdom seems to be faced with much difficulty. 113. My delegation believes that the Government of the United Kingdom, as the administering Power, has the primary responsibility and obligation to restore constitutional government in Southern Rhodesia and to ensure thnt the African majority can enjoy all political and economic rights. We have consistently supported the principle of majority rule in Southern Rhodesia on the basis of universal suffrage. 114. In the light of these considerations, as I stated in the Security Council at the end of last year /I 622nd meeting], Japan has serious doubts and reservations regarding the so-called “proposals for a settlement” agreed upon at Salisbury by the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom and Mr. Smith. In particuiar I pointed out that these 115. We have also expressed the view that it would be advisable to have United Nations observers participate in the process of carrying out the test of acceptability in order to ensure that it is conducted in a just and fair manner, that all views are expressed freely and that the population is fully informed of thr details of the proposals. 116, From what we understand from newspaper reports, the test is facing difficulty and turbulence, and opposition seems to be prevalent. We believe that the Security Council should fully reserve its position vis-&-vis the “proposals for a settlement”, continue to consider all the relevant elements and follow closely all developments. At the same time, the economic sanctions decided upon by the Council remain in force and should be fully implemented by all countries. Japan will continue to do SO. 117. In the course of my statement, I think I have made clear the strength of Japan’s opposition to all forms of racial discrimination and oppression in southern Africa, as well as our equally strong support of the right of the peoples of the area to self-determination and independence. We shall maintain these views; we shall continue to comply faithfully with all relevant decisions of the Security Council, and we shall also continue to co-operate to the best of our ability in the efforts of the United Nations to solve these problems. 118. Mr, CAMARA (Guinea) (interpretation jbnz Frozclz): It is because of our confidence in the love that each man has for freedom; because we firmly believe that each one of the members of the Security Council aspires legitimately, fully and totally to peace and to its own security in the first instance, which is inseparable from international security, that we must and do hope that all those aspirations will henceforth become realities for the African continent. 119.. In agreeing to hold this session on African soil, the Council has at least demonstrated its desire to give closer attention to the burning and dangerous African questions which threaten the peace and security of the world. All the speakers, including His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I and President Ould Daddah, current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, have stressed the importance of the event which this series of meetings constitutes and its historic nature. 120. On the occasion of this event the I-lead of State of Guinea, President Ahmed SBkou Tour&, has addressed to our Council the following message which I shall now have the pleasure of reading: “The signal honour paid to the peoples of Africa in general and to their common organization, the brganization of African Unity in particular, lays upon US the “Thus for the first time in its history, the Security Council is meeting on the African continent, which only yesterday was excluded from the fora of international decision-making, “We Africans wish to believe, for the prestige and honour of the States Members of our Organization, that this is not merely a formality to appease by misleading resolutions the just indignation of the peoples of Africa at the barbaric acts which foreign Powers continue to perpetrate on our peoples. “We Africans would like to believe that the Security Council, aware of its role which is to engage effectively in the radical elimination of all causes of unrest and disturbance to international peace, will in the course of this historic series of meetings in Africa take and effectively implement in concrete terms all of the measures designed to ensure the elimination of hotbeds of war on the African continent. “For centuries Portugal has been occupying by force Guinea (Bissau) and the Cape Verde Islands, Angola and Mozambique, and has been barbarously oppressing the legitimate inhabitants of those Territories. That is a crime against humanity, and the inhabitants of those Territories have for many long years been carrying on an armed struggle in order to wrest from their oppressors their right to life. “It is no longer a matter only of preserving the peace, because we are confronted with outright war; it is up to the Security Council, to the extent that it does not wish to fail in the accomplishment of its lofty mission, to take, without delay, the radical measures necessary to ensure that the Portuguese occupying aggressors withdraw immediately, putting an end thereby to the crimes of genocide that they have been committing. “There is the Zimbabwe nation, which was colonized first by the United Kingdom which on withdrawal transferred it, still as a colony, to a wheeler-dealer oligarchy-newcomers who are exercising absolute political, economic and socio-cultural domination over the African population. Today the people of Zimbabwe, although they have no weapons, are carrying out a fierce combat against the occupier in order not to be wiped out. “The Security Council would be an accomplice in the crimes committed against the Zimbabwe people if it should fail to take measures to restore to the Zimbabwe people the full exercise of their political, economic, social and cultural rights through the development by the Zimbabwe people of a constitution setting up a majority government which would guarantee national independence and integrity. “There is also the case of Namibia, a nation ceded as a colony to the foreign administration installed in South “Unless the United Nations wishes to remain an accomplice of the administration installed in South Africa and the state of enslavement in which it maintains the Namibian people, the Security Council, meeting here in Addis Ababa, must renounce pious wishes and decide to put an immediate and complete end to any South African trusteeship over Namibia. “There are also the indigenous populations, the rightful owners of South Africa, who have for decades been subjected to the indescribable miseries of the system of apartheid. How can anyone fail to recognize the hateful nature of that system? How today can any State maintain relations with the administration installed in South Africa without by that very act giving up all respect for human dignity and all responsibility in the face of its destiny? “Moreover, having to our sad regret experienced on 22 November 1970 a reversion to gunboat diplomacy, we are in duty bound to draw attention to the fact that imperialist Powers in the areas of Africa still under their control are continuing preparations for aggression against independent States of this continent. “The Security Council, in order to promote true peace, which of necessity is inextricably linked to freedom, human liberty, the independence of peoples and the sovereignty of nations, should take an historic decision by proclaiming the immediate end of all colonization and all foreign domination so that all peoples of the world may accede to tlie dignity that flows from the exercise of their inalienable and unlimited right to govern themselves and to manage their own affairs. “We Africans call upon the current series of meetings at Addis Ababa to ensure that General Assembly resolution 1514(XV) of 14December 1960 is strengthened and supplemented by the fixing of a time-limit which the Security Council will have the historic duty of submitting to the forthcoming session of the Assembly.

I invite the representative of Nigeria to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. “Such, gentlemen, members of the Security Council, are some of the problems for which the Council, which is meeting on African soil, will have to find solutions that will no longer sidestep the issues. All of the peoples of Africa without exception invite you to do so. We say clearly all the peoples without exception. The fact that there can now be here, or there in Africa, personalities which are acting in complicity with countries or administrations which act as aggressors, or oppress or threaten certain Africll nations, in no way diminishes the determination of all African peoples without exception-some to fight to sieze their independence; others to fight to safeguard their independence and to lend to the former group all the assistance to which they are entitled. “The people and Government of the Republic of Guinea are determined, fully determined, regardless of “The people and Government of the Republic of Guinea are convinced that if all African States took a solid stand in the face of this common problem-the existence in Africa of African nations under subjugation -and would really undertake the fight for the liberation of the entire continent, imperialism, despite all its power, would let go its hold in Africa. “The people and Government of the Republic of Guinea solemnly invite all African States and nations which love justice, peace and progress to intervene, forcefully, in the Security Council, in the course of this historic series of meetings on African soil, so that the measures which will be taken will make it possible effectively to liberate immediately, without preconditions, all of the subjugated nations of the African continent. We should undertake this commitment if we do not wish to betray Africa and if we are still convinced that freedom and peace are indivisible and impersonal and that they continue to be the supreme good of mankind as a whole and are the prerequisite for all human progress. “We are convinced that this series of meetings of the Security Council-under the distinguished leadership of the dean of the Heads of State of the continent, His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, who represents incarnate all of the traditional values of Africa as well as its profound aspirations to progress, and with the effective presence of the current Chairman of OAU, our friend and brother Moktar Ould Daddah, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania-will mark a milestone with this its first series of meetings in Africa by setting out on the last and decisive step to the liquidation of the shameful system of foreign domination and usurpation of the sovereign rights of the peoples of Africa.”

One cannot over-emphasize the historic importance of the current meetings of the Security Council. The principal organ of the United Nations system, changed with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, has considered it appropriate to shift its seat from New York and for the first time hold a series of meetings on African soil. We welcome this decision as realistic and far-sighted and as one which should contribute significantly to the efforts of this Council in evolving solutions for the critical problems of peace and security in Africa. 123. It is also gratifying that the choice has fallen on Addis Ababa to play host to your current series of meetings. All of us in Africa regularly enjoy the unstinted hospitality of this beautiful city which, as the seat of the Organization of African Unity, remains the symbol and the 124. Let me also express the appreciation of my Government to the Security Council for acceding to our request for me to participate in these special meetings. I have come to Addis Ababa from the other side of the continent to join my colleagues and eminent leaders from all parts of Africa in an endeavour to communicate to the Council something of our deep concern in the burning issues of colonialism and racial domination which plague our continent. Our own concern in Nigeria is also rooted in the lessons of recent history. There is incontrovertible evidence that the wealthy imperialist countries which wish to preserve their economic predominance and perpetuate their political and ideological interests have continued to foment instability in Africa. The racist minority rBgimes implanted on the continent have assumed a major role in this enterprise of ensuring the continued domination of Africa. , 125. The Security Council is fully seized of, and has for some time now been engaged in the consideration of, the tiajor problems of international tension and instability in Africa. The basic issues involved, and the nature of the inherent conflict posed by these problems, are well known to this Council. It is therefore not my intention on this occasion to belabour an analysis of the questions. Fortunately, too, I am assisted in this position’by the felicitous agreement of the Security Council to grant audience to the representatives of the various African liberation organizations in the course of these meetings. I am certais,that the testimony and the body of evidence which will be forthcoming from these gallant fighters For human dignity and freedom will adequately complete the records of this Council in so far as the situation on the ground is concerned. 126. It is our considered view that what the Security Council lacks is not authentic evidence or detailed exposition of the conditions which prevail in southern Africa and other foreign occupied areas of the African continent. The official records of the Council are replete with resolutions and decisions which were designed to contribute to redressing the injustices and inequalities of racialism and colonialism hi Africa. The sad and baffling fact, however, is that the authority of the Council has so far made no decisive impact in the settlement of these problems. In the present circumstances what the Council, as the major instrument for the promotion of a stable and just international order, must do urgently is to apply its authority, within the provisions of the United Nations Charter, to further the solutions and the settlement of these grave issues of peace and security. 127. In this regard I submit that members of the Council should ponder seriously the prophetic ring in the words of His Imperial Majesty Emperor I-Iaile Selassie I when, in opening this series of meetings of the Council, he poignantly recalled that: “The League of Nations suffered a 128. It is also incontrovertible, whether in the regional context of southern Africa or in the other areas of the continent menaced by foreign colonial presence, that an explosive threat to peace and stability continues to exist. The dangers of a race war in southern Africa, it should now be evident, are not as remote as many pundits in the Western world had wished. The violations of the political independence and territorial integrity of several African countries by Portugal has become a recurrent theme of political events in Africa today. Independent African countries as a whole have, through the Organization of African Unity, committed themselves to the major obligations of ridding the continent of all manifestations of colonialism and racialism. For this purpose an OAU Coordinating Committee for the Liberation of Africa is active, with the support of the States members of OAU. While the entire international community is, in this Second United Nations Development Decade, engaged in the major enterprise of fostering the growth of the emergent economies, African countries are being constrained to allocate scarce resources towards the contingencies of defence against the hostile colonial and racist forces on the continent and in providing material support for the African liberation struggle. These, I would submit, are serious considerations for urging the Security Council to do something concrete and soon enough to reassure African expectations and to raise confidence in the will and capacity of the international community meaningfully to contribute to the peaceful development of this continent and make the United Nations more relevant to the aspirations of its people. 129, The issues of colonialism and racism in Africa are still increasing in scope and gravity. In South Africa the racist regime of Pretoria has not relented in the pursuit of its bogus doctrine of apartheid’ in spite of universal condemnation and the heroic protests of all liberal forces struggling to make their voices heard against the system of oppression and repression with which the policies and practices of apartheid are increasingly buttressed. The South African authorities have irrevocably set themselves against the course of history in inaugurating structures of Bantustans dressed up as homelands for the separate development of the African population. These Rantustans are no more than anthropological museum pieces established in economically unviable areas of a country otherwise richly endowed with 130, Beyond their own borders, the white supremacists of Pretoria are exporting their transparent policy of divide and rule. This is the objective which motivates their so-called outward policy in their relations with neighbouring independent African countries. This policy is also being pursued with defiant illegality in Namibia, a territory whose international status is beyond dispute. The Security Council itself has concurred in the judicial findings of the International Court of Justice, which affirms the international legal status of Namibia and, as a consequence, the Council has further solemnly called upon the South African authorities to vacate Namibia [resok&n 301 (1971)]. This authoritative injunction has remained unheeded and without avail. It is the view of the Nigerian Government that the Security Council can no longer continue to prevaricate and dither in its handling of the Namibian question without seriously damaging its prestige and authority. We therefore call upon this Council to invoke the appropriate enforcement procedures under the United Nations Charter to secure compliance with its injunction that South Africa immediately withdraw its administration from Namibia. 13 I. The armed confrontations between Portuguese colonialism and the forces of human dignity and freedom have remained unabated in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau). As Portugal continues to draw upon the encour- . agemint and support of its major NATO allies, it has been emboldened to carry forward its war of repression into committing open aggression against the territorial integrity of numerous independent African States. The military situation in all these Territories has now reached a point at which Portugal ought seriously to consider the wisdom of its seeking a less intransigent and negotiated settlement with the African nationalist forces concerned. The way is open to a realistic dialogue with the leaders of the liberation struggles if Portugal so chooses. We would urge that the Security Council act to facilitate contact and negotiation for the transfer of power to the leaders of these countries by their Portuguese adversaries. We would also urge that other States contribute to the success of such negotiations by not requiring Portugal to cling to its so-called overseas territories in order to safeguard the strategic interests of its NATO allies in some of those territories. The ahernative to such negotiated settlement is the continuation of a bloody war which Portugal is bound to lose however long it lasts. 132. We sit around this Council table in an historic effort to brighten the prospects for human relations and international stability, and while this is going on there are deliberate attempts proceeding to put back the hand of the clock in Zimbabwe, It is to the tragic situation in Southern Rhodesia that we must turn our immediate attention. 133. At the present time, an elaborate and well-oiled machinery of the British Government has been put to work purportedly engaged in a so-called “test of acceptability” to the Rhodesian people as a whole of settlement proposals negotiated and concluded between the Ian Smith regime “The Pearce Commission was sent to Rhodesia to find out whether people there accepted the settlement as the best Britain could do, not the best it ought to have been able to do.” The Economist further stated that: “It is no longer possible to argue that the main factor shaping British policy is a cool calculation of the interests of the Rhodesian population. It is the powerlessness of Britain to provide an alternative to failure-confessed failure or unconvincingly camouflaged failure-that has brought things to where they are.” 134. As for the African people of Zimbabwe, their heroic stand for human respect and the dignity of freedom has been clearly and distinctly proclaimed in various townships in Rhodesia from Gwelo to Umtali. The signs cannot be mistaken. But the process of consultations, which is supposed to test opinion of all segments of the Rhodesian population on far-reaching and complicated constitutional issues, is perforce kept in action in a most unsettled political atmosphere; an atmosphere in which the acknowledged nationalist leaders of Zimbabwe are barred in prison and detention; an atmosphere in which the expression of dissent is silenced with official victimization; an atmosphere in which defenceless people are being continually harassed and fatally attacked. According to the official count, 15 persons have lately paid the supreme prjce of death and at least 50 seriously wounded in their struggle for liberty in Rhodesia. Their martyrdom must not be in vain. And the United Kingdom, as the administering Power in Rhodesia, should not continue to pretend that there is not sufficient evidence naw that the majority of the African population in Rhodesia will not settle for the November 1971 proposals. The Pearce Commission has been adequately rendered superfluous and it ought to be recalled irnmecliately. 13.5, As far as the famous Anglo-Rhodesia settlement itseIf is concerned, the view of my Government is that the proposals are completely unacceptable and cannot be recommended for acceptance by the African population Of Zimbabwe as they are designed neither to prevent the perpetuation of white minority rule nor to guarantee progress to majority rule in Rhodesia. The proposals will not eliminate racialism and inequality in Zimbabwe. All the disguises of the proposed ,electoral reforms do not conceal the most important truth about the new arrangements which will enable Mr. Smith to frustrate and prevent African advancement. This development is ominous When we recall that GO years ago the British Government under Lord Balfour similarly abandoned the African and CO!* oured population in South Africa by agreeing to constitu-

The next name on the list of speakers is that of the representative of Ghana. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. 136. In the circumstances my Government urges:

Mr. President, may I first thank - First, effective United Nations commitment to Zimbabwe. YOU and the members of the Security Council for acceding to my request to participate, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, the National Redemption Council, in these historic first meetings of the Security Council on African soil. Somalia, under the inspiring leadership of Ambassador Farah, has played a distinguished role in bringing about this momentous occasion, and my delegation would therefore like to pay him a warm tribute. Somalia has earned the respect and admiration of all of us at the United Nations for its unswerving dedication to the cause of African liberty and progress, May these meetings of the Council open a new chapter in the history of the relations between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity and advance the liberation of the peoples of this continent so long oppressed, denigrated and discriminated against. - Second, the immediate introduction of a constitution in Zimbabwe which will provide for majority rule under United Nations auspices. - Third, the Security Council must do nothing nor condone any attempt to attenuate or erode the principle of no independence before majority rule in Zimbabwe. - Fourth, the existing international sanctions against the minority regime in Zimbabwe must be preserved and further reinforced both in their scope and in their effect. - Fifth, arrangements should be made for massive international aid for the economic reconstruction and educational development of African population in Zimbabwe. 141. This series of meetings of the Security Council has been called at the request of the Organization of African Unity to deal with burning African questions. The Heads of State and Government representing some 367 million of our population have won the respect and commendation of the overwhelming majority of the Members of the United Nations by the historic initiative they took in requesting these meetings of the Council. Today, in this historic city of Addis Ababa, the cradle of an ancient civilization of Africa, we are meeting in extraordinary session as a result of the generous hospitality of the Ethiopian Government and people, whose illustrious leader, His Imperial Majesty IEmperor Haile Selassie I, has captured world attention for generations as a symbol of Africa’s indomitable spirit of defiance to foreign oppression and its yearning for unity. By his wisdom and statesmanship His Imperial Majesty has made a lasting contribution not only to African liberation and unity but also to world understanding. It is therefore altogether fitting and proper that this extraordinary series of meetings of the Security Council should take place here in Addis Ababa, the birthplace of the Organization of African Unity. - Sixth, the provision of United Nations guarantee of the territorial integrity of the new independent Zimbabwe must be assured. 137. The United Kingdom Government, in view of its refusal to carry out its responsibilities as the administering Power in Rhodesia, should give maximum co-operation and support to the efforts of the United Nations to promote a just and durable path to self-determination and freedom in Zimbabwe. The withdrawal of the Anglo-Rhodesian settlement proposals and the immediate recall of the Pearce Commission are imperative if an atmosphere conducive to normal political activities and progress towards peaceful decolonization are to prevail in Zimbabwe. 138. The meetings of the Security Council being held in Africa and devoted to African problems has evoked profound interest in the continent and beyond. The attention of the world has remained focused in the past few days on the present deliberations of the Council. There is high hope and expectation that, on this occasion, the Council will discharge its responsibilities towards the peoples of southern Africa and other oppressed populations on this continent. My delegation strongly urges that these hopes and expectations should not be disappointed. We trust that after its current series of meetings, the Council will adopt a solemn declaration which will be unequivocally committed to the rapid elimination of racism and colonialism in Africa. We urge that such a concluding declaration be a document embodying a practical programme of action in which the political will and capacity, the sense of justice and the ultimate realism of all members of the Council will be fully engaged. My delegation also urges that an effective 142. Twenty-seven years ago, when this Organization was created from the ravages of war as a symbol of man’s abiding hope and conscience, only three African States were Members. Today Africa is well and truly represented by as many as 41 States. This is a remarkable feat of progress and achievement by the African peoples themselves, in which the United Nations, as an Organization, nevertheless played no small part. As each new African nation has won its independence and entered the United Nations, the forces of liberation have been strengthened and the tide of colonialism has been turned back still further. However, since 1960, the high watermark of African freedom, success has diminished, progress has “The new Government of Ghana reaffirms its support of the United Nations Charter and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we intend to play our full part in the United Nations and in its various organs for the achievement of the aims and purposes of the United Nations. “Our foreign policy will first of all be based on a vigorous and dynamic African policy. We intend to foster the closest and most cordial relations with all African States. Furthermore, we cannot remain indifferent to the plight of our African brothers still not free and who suffer indignity on the continent of their birth. Accordingly, we shall vigorously support the eradication of the last remnants of colonialism and racial discrimination from the African continent. Our fellow Africans, struggling for control of their own destiny under the racist r6gime of South Africa, under the rebel rCgime of Ian Smith, in Namibia and in the Portuguese-held parts of Africa will have our unflinching support. “Furthermore, we subscribe unreservedly to the Charter of the Organization of African Unity, and it is our resolve to lend effective support to all efforts aimed at making it an effective body for the expression and the realization of African aspirations. “Total emancipation of Africa from colonial domination will continue to be a cardinal principle of Ghana’s foreign policy under the National Redemption Council. Accordingly, we will give support, both moral and material, to independence movements in Africa and work within the framework of OAU. In this connexion we shall adhere to the OAU Declaration6 rejecting dialogue as a means of bringing about a change in the apartheid policies of the racist Republic of South Africa.” 144. This is the new spirit in Ghana. It is in this spirit and in this context that we appear before this important body 146. We do not share the view that it is financially indefensible for the Security Council to hold this series of meetings in Addis Ababa, nor do we agree with those who doubt that any positive result will come out of this meeting. We believe that the Organization was set up for the purposes stated in the Charter and that the United Nations should so organize itself as to enable it to discharge its duties effectively and thus respond to the needs and problems of the day. There is work for the United Nations to do and it must be enabled to do it. We believe also that there is a positive value in exposing the Council to the very environment of Africa. We are confident that the formal and informal contacts which members of the Council will make in their deliberations here will enrich their experience and strengthen their will to seek lasting solutions to the problems of Africa. 147. The Security Council is the primary instrument of the Organization for the maintenance of international peace and security. The Organization of African Unity has requested these meetings of the Council to deal with burning African questions. The question may well be asked: are these burning African questions all threats to international peace and security? The problems of Rhodesia, Namibia, the so-called Portuguese Territories and apartheid, violations of the territorial integrity of African States by South Africa and Portugal-these are the well-known questions of which the Council has been seized so unsuccessfully. At the root of all these questions is the basic issue of race-the persistence of the regimes in South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Portugal in the belief that the black man is inferior to the white man and that therefore he should be limited to the status of a slave or a second-class citizen. Some have held out the theory that the root cause is more one of fear rather than racial prejudice, that if only the white minorities in the African territories could be assured that eventual majority rule would not lead to the wholesale extermination of the whites there would be some progress in solving the burning African problems. 148. It does not take much effort to refute this theory. If we look at some areas of the world where racial prejudice persists we shall find that the blacks there are a minority which could not, by any stretch of imagination, be said to offer any significant threat to the overwhelming white majority. But there is still intense racial discrimination, violence and prejudice in these areas. 149. In the second place, in many of the independent African States today there are virtually more whites than before independence. There is no discrimination by the black majorities against the white minorities. Indeed some of the whites in these African States have elected to become citizens, and some have even become Ministers in the Governments of these territories, The theory that 152. Some members of the Security Council might say that the Council had determined only the Rhodesian question to be a threat to international peace and security and therefore deserving of action under Chapter VII of the Charter. But this is more a pose and an excuse for inaction rather than a realistic approach to the problem. The General Assembly, which embodies the conscience and opinion of the international community, has on several occasions adopted resolutions condemning apartheid and Portuguese and Rhodesian policies as threats to international peace and security. What is therefore needed is not to sit idly by till the inevitable breach of the peace occurs but rather to remove the hotbeds of tension and the threats to the peace. Our Secretary-General, who has assumed his duties with evident dynamism, and whom we were so happy to see among us, has said to his great credit that what is needed today is preventive diplomacy, both for the peace of the world ar.d for the effectiveness of the United Nations. This is the task of the hour. This is what OAU and indeed mankind expects of you at this historic meeting. Africa does not need your vetoes, it does not need your abstentions. It needs your commitment to action and your faith in and acceptance of obligations that flow from your membership of this Organization. 150. Thus, whether the Council is dealing with npnrtheid or Rhodesia or Portuguese colonialism in Africa or with South Africa’s annexation of Namibia, the basic issue is one of race and human rights. Neither the pseudo-intellectual liberal flavour of “separate but equal development” offered by the South African rkgime, nor the so-called non-racial policy of Portugal nor the Rhodesian slogan of “Government in civilized hands” can conceal the real truth that the whites in Africa are racist and are determined to deny fundamental human rights, cm racial grounds, to the blacks. If South Africa really believed in separate but equal development, why has only 13 per cent of the land, and the poorest at’ that, been given to the black majority of more than 70 per cent, in pursuit of the notorious policy of Bantustan? And if the policy of separate but equal development was genuine why have similar land allocations not been made to the equally different races of German, English and Afrikaans who by South Africa’s own definition are equally different races from each other, as they indeed are on the European continent? Similarly if the Portuguese were not racialist in their policy why did they pursue a policy of assimilation for so long, by which blacks were supposed to be educated out of a supposedly inferior civilization into a supposedly superior white one? The fact that assimilation is no longer official policy is no proof that Portugal has ceased to be racialist. The record of Portuguese rule by which the Africans have been consistently deprived of equal participation in political life and in social and economic amenities simply refutes the claims of the non-racialism of Portuguese policy. The record shows rather that Portugal has continuously cast negative votes, together with South Africa, on most resolutions of the General Assembly against the majority on questions of race, colonialism, human rights and self-determination. Nor can Rhodesia claim a non-racial policy when apartheid is as blatantly pursued there as in South Africa. Admittedly there are a few whites in all these areas who oppose racialism but they are either too few, or too indifferent or too impotent to count for much in the struggle for human rights. 153. Today, the single most burning question in Africa is the issue of Rhodesia. As we debate here a political farce of dangerous dimensions is being played out on the oppressed people of Zimbabwe. The Home-Smith proposals which were roundly condemned by the General Assembly at its last session as a violation of the inalienable rights of people by an Assembly vote of 94 in favour, 8 against, and 22 abstentions (resolution 2877 (XXVI)], are being forced through in Zimbabwe. But for the veto of the United Kingdom the Security Council would have adopted a resolution similar to the one adopted by the General Assembly. The brutal Smith regime has already shot 14 Africans dead, and hundreds more have been wounded and gaoled. 154. The normal responsibility of political leaders to explain issues to their followers has been denied to the legitimate leaders of the people of Zimbabwe and some British Lords and ex-colonial masters aye attempting to explain in a strange and foreign language what the local leaders should be explaining to their own people in their own languages. 155. In the Councjl recently the United Kingdom tried to display a curious concern for the democratic rights of the Rhodesian people when it urged the Council not to make a judgement on the Home-Smith proposals before the people themselves had had an opportunity to state their views about them through the Pearce Commission. But the basic issue is not whether or not the people of Zimbabwe are to 151. If this is the true state of affairs in southern Africa and Guinea (Bissau) there can be only one reaction from the oppressed African majority, for the lesson of history is very clear. Where there is oppression and injustice there is 7 See 0,fficial Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-fourth Sessiorl, Annexes, ngenda itetn 106, doculnent A/7754. 157. Namibia is the next burning question of Africa today. A United Nations Territory which is in a state of virtual annexation by South Africa, Namibia today is witnessing the heroic struggle of the Ovambo people against the oppressive contract labour system, itself an off-shoot of the shameful and illegal policy of apartheid. For years the falsehood was meticulously spread to the outside world by the South African Government that all was well and peaceful in Namibia, that the inhabitants were happy with their lot and did not wish to disturb the happy relations with South Africa. The recent successful strikes against the mining and other companies by the 1.3,OOO Ovambo workers because of poor wages and denial of elementary human rights like the right to have their families stay near them is one of the most refreshing things that have yet come out of that bleak territory. The Government and people of Ghana salute all the brave freedom-fighters of southern Africa and urge them to continue the liberation struggle until victory is won. Ghana will continue to support them. 158. The problem which calls for immediate solution in Namibia is the implementation of the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences for States of South Africa’s continued presence in Namibia. The opinion of the Court was clear and unambiguous: South Africa’s presence in Namibia is illegal and that it should therefore withdraw from there immediately; Member States have an obligation to recognize this illegality and therefore to refrain from acts and dealings with South Africa implying recognition of the legality of its presence there; and non-member States have an obligation to assist the United Nations in its actions on Namibia. 159. The problem of apartheid is so well known that it wouid seem unnecessary to rep&t .all that has beeri said on the subject. It remains, as it has always been, the most inhuman and cruel form of the denial of fundamental human rights. Since 1964 the Security Council has not considered this problem, except for the isolated aspect of it bearing on the arms embargo. Much ra.tionalizing of the breach of the arms embargo has been engaged in by those whose real motive seems to have been directed by narrow self-interest. They have made great play with the strategic importance of Simonstown, although they have had no hestiation in disengaging themselves from Malta in the Mediterranean. In this day of modern naval and aerial warfare it carries little conviction to defend Simonstown as an essential or vital strategic necessity, These are the same people who have consistently rejected all efforts to engage them in the noble work of the Special Committee on Apartheid. They and their friends are the same people who 161. What measures has the Security Council taken to date in resolving these burning African issues? With the exception of the sanctions imposed by the Council against Rhodesia and the arms embargo no serious solution has been provided by the Council. Even these limited solutions have been honoured more in the breach than in the observance. The Western members of this Council, particularly the permanent members, have often been the ones which have done their best to prevent positive action by the Council. They seem to have turned their backs on the Africans and given their support to South Africa and its allies. Considerations of kith and kin, unjustifiable eco. nomic, trade and military interests have prevented these members of the Council from living up to their membership obligations. The result is, that although the Charter provides many different courses of action open to the Council, the Council’s potential for finding solutions has not been exhausted. Rather it has been abridged and its effectiveness compromised by lack of use. By this policy of indifference and obstruction the West is creating in the minds of responsible Africans the idea that it is the enemy of African freedom. Africa can never forget such betrayal. 162, What then are the possible courses of new action open to us today since new solutions must be found if this Security Council series of meetings is to succeed, as succeed it must? It is clear to the Ghana delegation that no solutiorr that is based on a piecemeal territorial approach WI succeed. The problems of southern Africa are indissolubly interwoven with each other. The white minority regimes concerned are all racist and are locked in criminal co” operation against the advance of human rights and selrdetermination. Therefore, any solutions proposed must bo aimed at all three Powers concerned: South Africa, Portugal and Rhodesia. In the second place, the central role of OAU must be recognized and its co-operation with the United Nations ensured. Third, the special responsibility of the permanent members of the Council in finding solutions h inescapable not only because of a need to ensure their compliance but also because of the desirability of restoring the credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations. Fourth, the role of the liberation movements must be recognized and a relationship of partnership established between the United Nations, the Organization of African 8 Special Conunittee on the Situation with regard to the Implamentation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 163. We all know that the application of political solutions by this Council is very often hampered by two defects, two dangers: the danger of the veto and the danger of the consensus-the consensus which has virtually become a graveyard of poble intentions. However, we have ample precedents to work on. I would call to mind the action being taken by four of the permanent members in regard to the Middle East question. That is not taking place within the structure of this Council, although it is based on certain principles and decisions of this Council. I recall also the action being taken by the two super-Powers-if I may borrow the phrase-with regard to the strategic arms limitation talks. That is not taking place within the structure of the United Nations, although it is based on principles, aims and objectives endorsed by this Organization which we all support, and we all hope that something good will come out of those talks. Need I mention the cases of Viet-Nam, which is not being discussed in any forum of the United Nations but in respect of which we know that useful, constructive negotiations are taking place elsewhere? Could not some of the friends of Portugal, of South Africa, of Rhodesia and perhaps other members of the Council be asked to undertake to form some kind of group to get together with their clients and impress upon them the desirability and need for them to do something constructive in response to the burning desire that has been evidenced by several debates in the Council for some solution to the burning African questions confronting this Organization? The proposal to us is not as impractical as it may sound to others-that is, on one condition: if the members of the Council concerned have the same concern for African freeclom as they have for other causes. 164. On the basis of the conditions I have mentioned, the Ghana delegation would suggest that the following measures might be usefully considered: - First, this Series of meetings of the Security Council must issue a declaration of support for all liberation movements struggling for their human rights and their rights to self-determination and independence based on majority rule. - Second, it should call upon the ruling Governments of those parts of Africa which have not yet attained this goal - Fourth, it should recommend the suspension of all proposals presently being implemented for the political future of the African peoples which have been condemned by the General Assembly as contrary to United Nations principles and request the renegotiation of the proposals on the basis of these principles. - Fifth, the Council should condemn the policy and practice of apartheid as contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and as a crime against humanity. - Sixth, it must call for the early review of the laws of each State concerned in the direction of greater conformity with the Charter of the United Nations. - Seventh, it should decide on measures to implement the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Namibia. - Eighth, all States must be invited to offer assistance to the liberation movements either directly or through a new fund to be established for the purpose by the United Nations. - Ninth, the Council should widen and strengthen sanctions against Rhodesia and issue specific calls to Portugal and South Africa to implement this decision, Failure to do so after a reasonable time should result in a threat to consider the possible suspension of membership in the Organization of Portugal <and South Africa. - Tenth, the Council should call on the major trading partners of South Africa to reduce progressively their trade and economic relations with that country. We would urge in this respect that the United States, for instance, might decide to discontinue its sugar quota to South Africa, since this is nothing more than an economic insurance of the policy of apartheid. It should also desist from sabotaging the embargo on chrome importation from Southern Rhodesia. - Eleventh, all military aid to Portugal and South Africa should be stopped. - Twelfth, South Africa should be isolated from all sports and other cultural international competitions. - Thirteenth, the Secretary-General should be requested to make early contact with all parties concerned with the question of Namibia with a view to securing the eventual independence of the people there. - Fourteenth, the Council should decide that till Rhodesian independence is achieved on the basis of majority 165. Many of these measures should not be too difficult to achieve if members of the Council would face up squarely and honestly to their obligations as Members of the United Nations. This is now the time to act and act with courage. The Government and people of Ghana believe that if these and other similar action-oriented measures could be taken, a dramatic and favourable psychological effect would be created which would force the three sinister regimes of South Africa, Portugal and Rhodesia to begin to change course. The continuing deadlock in solving the burning African problems has to be broken and a beginning made towards a new, hopeful future, where disillusion and frustration now reign. Let us offer new hope to the oppressed, The new Government of Ghana pledges its full support to any such constructive effort that this Council might wish to take.

I invite the representative of Algeria to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. President, in thanking you for having acceded to our request to participate in the discussions of the Security Council, I must emphasize our satisfaction at doing so in this beautiful African capital, Addis Ababa. It is indeed significant and comforting for us that the Council consented to hold these meetings on African soil to discuss in particular problems which concern us directly but whose close relation with the questions of peace and international security is evidenced by the numerous meetings which the Council has devoted to them over the years. We view as a special favour to Africa the fact that this series of meetings should have begun under your Presidency, Sir, as representative of Somalia, and, beginning on 1 February, under the Presidency of the representative of Sudan. Not only do we see in it a mark of courtesy to our continent, but also, and more importantly, as a token of renewed interest in the problems facing our continent and as the expression of a real desire to make every effort to solve them. 168. I should like to take this opportunity to welcome the presence on this African soil of the new Secretary-General, Mr. Waldheim, to whom it is my pleasant task, both personally and as representative of Algeria, to repeat our congratulations on his election to that high office, and our warmest wishes for success in his new duties, We consider it a particularly happy augury for the future direction of his efforts that, despite the multitude of important and urgent problems requiring his attention, his tasks should begin within an African framework. 169. When at the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity at its last session it was decided to request that the Security Council 170. That phenomenon of becoming reconciled to events is extremely dangerous, because it permits the situation to worsen and deteriorate until it becomes an immediate and almost inevitable threat to the peace of the world. The efforts which are then made to extinguish the fire and to avoid the worst can only partially circumscribe the evil and barely manage to allay the accumulated rancours, to bridle the released passions and to establish a lasting equilibrium based on trust and justice. 171. It is the African continent which has suffered longest from colonial domination. The exploitation of its wealth has largely assured the prosperity of the Western nations which had divided its immense territory among themselves. The majority of present-day African States acceded to independence only after the Second World War-after an often bloody struggle and with the aid of the United Nations. Those young States must be organized, develop and adapt themselves to the modern world. They must first shake off the heavy heritage of colonial exploitation carried out in the exclusive interest of the governing Power. The state of under-development which is their common plight is not without some relation to the situation of dependency and subjugation in which they have been kept since the last century. Although they are perfectly aware that they must depend above all on their own resources to consolidate their independence and assure their progress, they legitimately expect that the international community should extend them its understanding, support and assistance in the immense and difficult task that they have undertaken. But it is clear that their efforts will remain compromised and uncertain as long as the African continent continues to suffer colonial domination, racial segregation, foreign intervention and economic exploitation. In joining forces with the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea (B&au), Rhodesia, Namibia and South Africa, they are taking up a battle for the dignity of the African man and for the freedom of African peoples, but they know that they are also defending their own dignity and independence. 172. International opinion has not remained aloof from their problems; evidence of this can be found in the innumerable condemnations of colonialism and apartheid by various international bodies, as well as by non-govemmental organizations. Thus there is between that unequivocal attitude on the part of the international community 173. How can we condone or justify that a small country such as Portugal, against the clearly-expressed will of the international community, should be able to maintain its colonial domination in Africa and to wage a veritable war of reconquest which leads it to commit acts of aggression against independent African countries, that South Africa should continue to impose an apartheid regime which provokes world-wide indignation and should continue to administer a Territory that is the responsibility of the United Nations, that a minority regime in Rhodesia should impose its law on 5 million Africans and should dispose at will of the wealth of that country? It 1s not without a feeling of profound grief that we have become convinced that the weakness of the international community is due, above all, to the betrayal of certain of its Members, and not the least, those who violate the rules ofthe game and who, despite the fact that they bear the highest responsibilities for the elaboration and enforcement of international law, act contrary to those decisions which they are the first to trample underfoot. 174. Portugal, Rhodesia and the authorities in Salisbury cannot stand against the rest of the world without the support and complicity of other countries which, after having joined in condemning them in international bodies, supply them with military, material and financial support which enables them to continue with impunity to defy the rest of humanity. But such calaculations are irremediably headed for failure, for they do not take into account the basic element which is represented by the African peoples themselves. The struggle which they have taken up to gain their liberty and to recover their dignity, places them in the vast movement which has shaken all the peoples of the world, and which nothing can now hold back. This struggle is based in the current of history, the evolution of our world, and its development is irreversible. To try to oppose this inevitably leads, sooner or later, to those explosive situations, which have already been created in other parts of the world and which have been resolved in shameful deeds and bloodshed, putting international peace to a rude test. 175. The recent events in Rhodesia constitute an edifying illustration of such a chain reaction of events-first of all limited and easy to control, but then taking on alarming dimensions. When the Security Council discussed the Rhodesian problem in December last, it could seem to some that there was no immediate danger and that it was still possible to indulge in intellectual speculations on the manner of guaranteeing, for some time yet, the supremacy of a white minority over the African population. The warnings which had been voiced by the African countries did not seem to be fully understood because one thought that they were marked by an excessive haste, basic subjectivism, and exaggerated fear. But, as it happens, serious incidents are taking place in Rhodesia. A moment of revolt has begun; cruel repression is being carried out; deaths have been reported, Is anything more necessary finally to arouse the interests of some people? But it would 176. Can we hope that the United Kingdom Government will find in these events the answer that it seeks in its settlement of the Rhodesian problem? We do not wish to recall here all that has been said in condemnation of the Anglo-Rhodesian agreement. We do not even have to repeat our position here, nor that of the African countries, nor of the international community in its immense majority. Under the plan set up by Lord Home and Mr. Smith the answer is given by the parties concerned themselves, and this makes it pointless to send the Pearce Commission to Rhodesia from London to obtain the opinion of the population in Rhodesia. 177. Therefore, this problem remains the same and it will remain so as long as there is a refusal to envisage the real facts. For it must be said that it is not a question of guaranteeing, in conditions which are claimed to be acceptable, the continuation of the domination of a white minority; it is a question only of restoring to the African majority the rights which belong to it and which for that matter no one has yet contested. Here lies the responsibility of the United Kingdom as the administering Power, a Power which should put an end to a rebellion against its own authority. This responsibility, moreover, which has been loudly claimed by the United Kingdom, makes the British Government accountable for its action before International opinion and international bodies. We shall never accept that it should end in the abandonment, whether it be open or disguised, of the African population to the discretion of the minority which took power in Salisbury; that is to say that the international bodies also have their part-and the most important part-of responsibility in the settlement of this problem. 178. The Security Council has up to this moment sup ported with its authority the measures advocated by the United Kingdom. Laclcing the power to persuade it to intervene by force if necessary, the Council has used economic sanctions against Salisbury and has imposed upon all Members of the United Nations the obligation to enforce them. But it is impossible for it to remain indifferent to the deterioration of the situation and the real dangers, now evident, that they conceal. 179. It is certainly not with Ian Smith that the British Government could validly study the steps that could be taken to meet the legitimate claims of the Zimbabwe people; it is with the African politicians themselves, the real representatives of the Africans of Rhodesia, that a satisfactory and realistic solution should be sought. They are the first concerned in this affair and any attempt to make a settlement without them, which does not take into account their point of view will be necessarily headed for failure. While awaiting the time when they can express their opinion freely and defend their rights, they will have recourse to the last means left to all people who have been 180. This struggle to recover fundamental rights recognized by the Charter of the United Nations, and many times recalled and repeated in declarations and decisions of international bodies, should be viewed as legitimate by the Security Council and should find the widest support of all international bodies. This will perhaps be the expression of the most authentic duty of ‘the international community in respect of a people whose sacrifices will contribute, in the end, to the triumph of the values for which humanity has never stopped fighting 181. We hope that the Security Council will do us this justice: that we have tried, while you meet on African soil, not to introduce any element of sentiment in our statements though we would be entitled to give free rein to our emotion and indignation because of the persistence of the injustice that strikes us through our brothers in Southern Africa; we have spoken with moderation and objectivity to try once again to make the international community aware of our difficulties, of our concern and of our sufferings. In asking the Security Council to meet on our continent, Africa wished to bear witness to its faith in the United Nations, its attachment to the principles of the Charter, its confidence in the wisdom and friendship of the Members. In accepting this invitation, the Security Council is assuring us that it attaches full importance to our problems, that it understands our concern and shares our impatience to put an end to a situation which tomorrow risks compromising international security. We are convinced that no effort will be spared to help us triumph over obstacles and make of this continent a land of peace and brotherhood, effectively contributing to the task undertaken for the welfare and happiness of mankind. It is on this optimistic note that I shall conclude.

I invite the Foreign Minister of Senegal to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

I thank you for giving me the floor, so that the delegation of Senegal may once again make its voice heard. But, first of all, I should like to restate my Government’s congratulations to Mr. Kurt Waldheim who, owing to the confidence of the Security Council and the General Assembly, has just been appointed head of the Secretariat of the United Nations. 184. MY delegation, together with all the African States, is pleased at the decision of the General Assembly and the Security Council, upon the request of the States members of GAU, to hold a special series of Council meetings in Africa, devoted primarily to the measures to be taken to implement the various resolutions of the Assembly and the Council on decolonization and the struggle against apartheid and racial discrimination in Africa. 186, Africa more than any other continent needs peace in order better to devote itself to the tasks vital to its development. It needs peace at a time when throughout the world we are witnessing real signs of a relaxation of tensions. The presence here of the great People’s Republic of China, which we must welcome, is evidence of this relaxation that brings with it a renewal of hope for the restoration of peace in the Far East. 187. To be sure, the General Assembly and the Security Council have adopted about 128 resolutions on decoloniza tion and apartheid since the Declaration of 1960 on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. But the problem remains intact, and the question is how to make a reality the application of the right to self-determination to all peoples who are still subjugated; it is again a matter of obtaining respect for the obligation laid upon administering Powers to restore sovereignty to the peoples still subject to foreign domination. 188. Within this frame of reference, I shall limit my statement to three essential points of the agenda: the problem of the Territories under Portuguese domination, the situation in Namibia, and the question of Rhodesia. 189. In truth, the problem posed by the anachronistic presence of Portugal on African soil is sufficiently well known, and armed action in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau) by nationalist movements should convince Portugal that it is pointless to seek brotherhood in domination and that there is no lasting peace with injustice, The United Nations and the Security Council have become daily witnesses to more attacks by Portugal against inde. pendent African States.’ That is another fact that is sufficiently well known. The Council has been called upon to speak out and issue condemnations to the effect that we all know. 190. The mternational community as a whole has already joined with Africa in condemning and rejecting cob nialism in all its forms. But what Africa today expects of these Security Council meetings, as has already beea stated by His Excellency Mr. Moktar Ould Daddah, the current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, is that the international community should proceed from mere rejection and mere condemnation to concrete meap ures which would put an end to the Portuguese presence, which is condemned from all sides: history, events and evolution all condemn it. 191. We know that there exist peoples and governments that constantly profess respect for elementary rights, that is, freedom, dignity and independence for the Africans. Great countries within NATO and elsewhere do not hesitate to condemn the Greek Government because democracy is not applied in Greece. They do not hesitate to speak out 193. The current Chairman of the Organization of Afric~i Unity recommended, at the opening of the present series of meetings of the Security Council, the creation, at the United Nations level, of an international fund designed to strengthen and reinforce the efforts that these people are making to accede to national independence. My delegation considers that this is a new idea which is likely to provide the United Nations with the tools to apply its policy and that it deserves to be considered by the General Assembly, in order better to reflect, for all peoples, the principles and ideas which are the foundation of the United Nations Charter. 194. In the view of my delegation, the situation in Namibia calls for equally bold measures and initiatives. 195. What was Namibia for the international community if not a German colony from 1884 to 1915, as were Tanganyika, the Cameroons and Togo during the same period? And it was in 1920 that tl!e League of Nations placed the Territory of Namibia under the Mandate of South Africa. In the same way, Tanganyika, Togo and the Cameroons were placed under the authority of Great Britain and France. The Cameroons and Togo became independent in 1960 and Tanganyika in 1961 under the name of Tanzania. All of these countries have recovered their international sovereignty in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and with the consent of the French and British Governments which had been given the Mandate to administer them. 196. Since 1946, however, the United Nations has been trying in vain to obtain the co-operation of South Africa to recognize the right of the people of Namibia to selfdetermination. 197. The attitude of South Africa concerning the United Nations Council for Namibia 1s no longer a secret to anyone. But never before in the history of the United Nations have the international community and the Security Council found themselves before such a clear situation, both in fact and in law. 198. The General Assembly solemnly put an end to the Mandate of South Africa over Namibia. The International Court of Justice has just stated in a recent advisory opinion that South Africa has the obligation to withdraw its administration from Namibia and that its presence in that Territory continues to be illegal. 199. It is incumbent on these meetings of yours, Mr. President, to study-in accordance with the felicitous formula of the Head of State of Mauritania-the ways and means to 201. But the problem which current developments have brought out with most striking clarity at these meetings is that of Rhodesia: on the one side, there are 150,000 settlers of British origin, and on the other side, 5 million blacks. And, as if by a disquieting irony, this white minority sets itself up against its country of origin, the very party from which it derives the power to dominate the black majority today. At the international level there is a whole arsenal of diplomatic and economic sanctions, which have proved through experience to be unsuitable for putting an end to the rebellion. 202. What have become of the countries which were formerly grouped together under the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland? Northern Rhodesia has given way to Zambia. Independent Nyasaland has taken the name of Malawi, while Southern E&odesia, the theatre of the upheavals which face us, is also the stage for a blind struggle to implant in southern Africa a r6gime based on racist oppression and apartheid. However, the upheavals we are witnessing are nothing other, in the last analysis, than the bitterly logical end result of the British policy in this part of Africa. 203. Great Britain caused Rhodesia to pass through three stages, defined in three Constitutions: the Constitution of 1898, the Constitution of 1923 and the Constitution of 1961. All three were imbued with the same spirit: disengagement of Great Britain vis-A-vis the country-which meant preponderance increasingly marked by the power of the white settlers-the will of these British settlers to assure their power in perpetuity and, at the same time, the carefully maintained belief that for the Africans Great Britain was the last resort against the arbitrary excesses of the ruling white minority. 204. That explains the hesitation of the African nationalists who still had confidence up to the eve of African independence, We must confess that the British Government as far back as 1961 raised the problem of Rhodesia in terms which in perspective seem to be highly enlightening. It was the Duke of Devonshire, then Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, who at that time told the nationalist leader Nkomo that there was too much British investment in Khodesia to allow the economy to be placed in inexperienced hands. It was this spirit which caused the nationalists Nkomo and Sithole to declare in connexion with the examination in London of the 1961 Constitution that for Great Britain it was a question of handing over to the settlers all power at the cost of concessions which for them would not entail the loss of that power. The fact remains that even the Constitution of 1961-which the African chiefs, under pressure which is no longer secret to 206. The constitutional reform that resulted from the agreements reached between Sir Alec Douglas Home, Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, and the authorities of Salisbury contains the following provisions. First of all, a new electoral list is drawn up for the black people. That list carries the name “black higher list”. The inclusion of blacks on this list follows the criteria that determined the inscription of whites on the electoral lists reserved for them, criteria based on income and level of education. The increase of the number of black representatives occurs through a machinery which deserves continued attention: it is provided that two additional seats will be attributed to the black community whenever the number of persons on the “higher list” is equal to 6 per cent of the total number of the electorate. This will apply until parity is established between the number of white representatives and the number of black representatives. 207. And then a new element comes into play: the creation of 10 new representative seats. The recipients of these ten new seats will be elected from a common list bringing together both the white electoral college and the black electoral college of the “higher list”. There is no provision for the increase in the representation of the 5 million Africans-neither their place in the economy, nor the size of the population, or the number or quality of the chosen elite. How can it be surprising, therefore, that the response to the test of acceptability entrusted to the Pearce Commission should be a revolt of the Africans which has again been put down in blood. 208. What the African States expect of the Security Council is that it should inject life into the aspirations of the African nationalists, who are calling on the United Kingdom to draw the obvious lessons from the increasingly apparent failure of the agreements concluded with Ian Smith and to engage in a fresh process of discussion and negotiation to arrive at an effective decolonization in Rhodesia. There is every reason to think that we should try, outside the troubled Territory of Rhodesia, to find a new framework better to guarantee the free expression of political opinion of all the elements of the population, the blacks as well as the whites. The current meetings of the Security Council will then have marked an epoch for the African peoples and even for the United Nations. 209. I did not have the privilege of hearing, at the solemn opening meetings of the Security Council, the appeal of ‘6 I . . “‘Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible 5 )N for evil to triumph.” [1627th meeting, paras. 7 and 16.] 210. What the Organization of African Unity expects of these meetings of the Security Council is that it break the silence of those who well know what the true solution is, that it should act to ensure respect for the rights and fundamental freedoms of the African peoples: those who are the victims of colonial domination, as in the Portuguese colonies, or subject to the racist oppression practised by South Africa and Rhodesia. That is the wish of my delegation, which reflects the fervent wish of the States members of the Organization of African Unity.

I call on the representative of the United States of America in exercise of the right of reply.

First, I must refer very briefly to the statement of my colleague and friend from Panama and express my deep regret that he raised the question of relations between our two countries, a subject that is not on the agenda of this meeting. The situation in Panama, which is based on mutual agreement between our two countries, is not analogous to colonialism in Africa, which is based on racism, deliberate policies of denying the right to self-determination and repression of basic human rights-rights to which we all subscribe. There is no,valid comparison here. 213. On the positive side, however, the representative of Panama pointed out that negotiations are in process to eliminate the points of friction that exist between our two countries, and certainly we shall do our best to ensure that they are successful, We share his conviction that negotiation is the proper road to the solution of problems, 214. I regret having taken the Council’s time to reply on a subject which is not on our agenda. 215. Lastly, on the subject on the agenda, I shall not answer each of the charges that have been levelled against the United States Government, not by Panama but by others here today. I would simply say now-and this will be expanded when we present the United States views-that we reject these direct and indirect allegations that we support racism. More important than pointing the finger, more important than blame and more important than big-Power propaganda or debating points is trying to come up with a constructive approach that just might contribute

I call on the representative of Panama in exercise of the right of reply. 217. Mr. BOYD (Panama) [interpretation from Spanish]: I should like to inform the Ambassador of the United States that as a result of the many congratulations I have received on my statement I can assure him that for the purpose of condemning colonialism and neocolonialism in The meeting rose at Z 30 p, m.