S/PV.1634 Security Council

As was agreed at the close of our meeting yesterday evening, we shall first of all conclude the phase of our work which consists of hearing statements by the persons invited to address the Council in accordance with rule 39 of the provisional rules of procedure, whose names are contained in documents S/10602/Rev.2, S/10604 and S/10605. Decisions to extend the invitations requested in those documents having already been taken, I propose first to hear the three persons whose names remain on the list. The first is Mr. Abdul Minty. I invite Mr. Minty to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. 2. Mr. MINTY: Mr. President, I should like to greet you and thank you and the Security Council for having granted me this hearing, and particularly the three African members for sponsoring my request. 3. I bring greetings from the Reverend Canon John Collins, President of the International Defence and Aid Fund, who sent me to Addis Ababa for this occasion. On behalf of Canon Collins and the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, we greet you, Mr. President, as you preside over this important series of meetings of the Security Council. We greet as well the new Secretary-General and congratulate him on his recent appointment. We greet too Ambassador F&h, your immediate predecessor, with 1 _. whom we have had a long and close association through the Special Committee on Apartheid, 4. The Security Council is meeting in Africa as a result of the initiative of the Organization of African Unity, and we pay a warm and special tribute to His Excellency the President of Mauritania and His Excellency Mr. DiaUo Telli, as well as to the Ethiopian Government and His Imperial Majesty, for having brought about this session on African soil to consider African questions. 5. Much has been said about the historic nature of this series of meetings, but, in addition, it also represents a great victory for Africa. Africa has ensured that all the questions concerning this continent are discussed together at a single series of meetings, and in essence they are all different aspects of one major problem. 6. It is for that reason that I have been sent, at some considerable expense, to Addis Ababa to add the voice of the International Defence and Aid Fund and the British Anti-Apartheid Movement to that of Africa and the liberation movements. 7. Anyone giving careful consideration to the background of all the items before this Council would reach the inevitable conclusion that on all those questions the policies and votes of three permanent members are identical in so far as they block all meaningful action by the Security Council to resolve the major problems of racial oppression and colonialism in Africa. The pattern is all too familiar, and the behaviour of the three permanent members has led the white regimes in Africa to defy the United Nations and flout its appeals and decisions because they have come to rely on Britain, France and the United States as their friends and allies in resisting the advance of African freedom. But it is more than that. The policies of the western Powers towards southern Africa have resulted in the permanent members themselves contravening collective decisions, and even mandatory resolutions, which they once supported and voted in favour of. 8. It is not, therefore, particularly surprising that in Africa and among democratic people in the West there appears to be little confidence in this supreme organ, when the majority of its permanent members ignore and violate decisions on the question of race and human dignity which was once acknowledged by Prime Minister Douglas-Home as being the greatest single threat to the peace and security of the world. p. SOme cl& that there is a crisis of contidence in the United Nations; the crisis of confidence, however, is not so 10. We, for our part, believe that there exists a considerable potential for the advancement of African freedom within the United Nations framework. That is why today in Addis Ababa we should like to pose through you, Mr. President, a question for three of the permanent members, namely, the United States, France, and our own Govern” ment, the Government of Britain: Tell us clearly, who are your allies? Portugal and Sou.th Africa or the African people? 11, That is the supreme question of this session; it is the Addis Ababa question to which the peoples of Africa and the world demand an answer. If this session of the Security Council does nothing else besides elicit a genuine commitment by France, Britain and the United States on the side of the African people, then this Council will have cured itself of a long paralysis and finally advanced towards discharging its solemn obligation to the world community. 12. As Honorary Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, which has associated organizations in Western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and . many other countries, I can say that we have from our inception declared ourselves on the side of the African people. We now ask the major western Powers, and in particular Britain and its allies, to do the same. 13. Since the 1960 Sharpeville killings in South Africa we have demanded a total arms embargo against that country. In 1963, the founding summit conference of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in this very hall, took the matter to the Security Council, which adopted the first resolution on the subject of the arms embargo [resolution I81 /1963/l. I3y December 1963 the Council considered that the situation in South Africa constituted a serious disturbance of the peace [resolution 182 /1963}]. 14. In 1963 and ever since, the western Powers have effectively prevented the Security Council from recognizing the situation in southern Africa and Guinea (Bissau) as constituting a “threat to the peace”. As a result of the special status of the three Powers, the Council has been prevented from recognizing reality-the reality that there is a fighting war of differing dimensions going on in African areas under white occupation. Instead the western Powers invite us to show realism by suggesting that the world community is impotent in challenging the white r@mes in Africa. We are urged to accept the status quo of African oppression and this is described as a policy of realism. 15. Realism involves the recognition of reality, seeing the world as it is and adjusting to change. The recognition of an illusory reality, one which involves a compromise with racial discrimination and colonialism, can only bring disaster to the oppressors as well as to their appeasers, not to mention the resultant catastrophe to mankind in general. That is why the peoples of the world that cherish freedom 17. I should like therefore to propose that the Security Council establish a standing committee charged wiih considering all the questions before this series of meetings in the context of a threat to peace and international security. That committee should be serviced by the Secretary-General and should sit in public. It should nalt, however, prejudice the existence and work of the two Committees which already exist at the moment, 18. Several speakers and representatives of liberation movements have referred to the situation in Rhodesia and we for our part are gravely concerned at the loss of life and brutal repression unleashed by the Smith regime against tlhe African opponents of the settlement, terms.* But we are even more gravely concerned that because of the courageous opposition of the African people of Rhodesia to the British proposals, the Smith regime will take even more ruthless reprisals as soon as the Pearce Commission leaves Rhodesia. We have every reason to believe that South Africa will also be ready to, increase its intervention to suppress the African people. We are gravely concerned ffor the safety of the African people in Rhodesia. We are also keen to know what action the British Government intends to take in the face of overwhelming African opposition to the settlement terms. 19. These meetings of the Security Council in Addis Ababa should only be the beginning. They should be followed by constant and dynamic action by the Council. We would therefore’venture to suggest that, immediately after them, the Council and the Secretary-General, together with high-level representatives of the Organization of African Unity, should go to London to confront the Helath: Government with its direct responsibility for the lives ;and safety of the people of Rhodesia. We would also venture to suggest that as soon as possible the Council should hIold another series of meetings on southern Africa at the foreign minister level to take adequate international action on the basis of the foundations laid at this historic series of meetings in Addis Ababa. 20. There is not much time to describe the important work of the International Defence and Aid Fund on the questions of southern Africa and Guinea (Bissau), but I should like to draw attentiop to the testimony of Canon. Collins last month to the Special Committee on ApartMi2 2 See A/AC.115/SR.190. 21. We in the Defence and Aid Fund and the Anti- Apartheid Movement will carry on with our work in support of the objectives of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity. 22. When we in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain urge our Government to ally itself with the African people, we do so in the firm belief that such a policy is in the best interests of the British people themselves. How can it conceivably help the people of Britain to be in alliance with the enemies of the African people? We see our role as a limited one of supporting the efforts of the oppressed African people who alone have the final responsibility and privilege to secure their own freedom., 30. We have come here representing 30 million Christians on the continent of Africa. While this is a minority of barely. one tenth of the total African population, it a& counts for men and women, boys and girls in the ancient lands of Egypt and Ethiopia as well as in the nascent nations of Zambia and Zaire. It accounts also for oppressed peoples in the lands of Zimbabwe, South Africa and of Guinea (Bissau). It also accounts for that element in the total African population that wields considerable influence over the course of political, social and economic events throughout our continent. Whether for good or ill, no one would deny the decisive impact of the Christian gospel on the lands and peoples of Africa over the last two thousand years. Indeed, it is largely through the unselfish and heroic labours motivated by that gospel that some of the first steps in education and some of the first help in medicine were made. Similarly, it is that same gospel that inspired non-Africans and Africans alike to spend themselves generously in the defence of personal dignity, human freedom and transparent justice for all men, regardless of their race, their religion or their social class. 23. Our duty, and we believe the responsibility of this Council, is to take meaningful action-and I mean actionagainst the racist and colonialist regimes in Africa and give every form of direct support to the liberation movements. 24. This Addis Ababa session provides the three permanent members with a unique opportunity courageously to declare themselves in alliance with the African people. However, should those Powers persist in allying themselves with South Africa and Portugal, then they will share a major responsibility for the racial holocaust which threatens to engulf us all. 31. We have, not come here to chant paeans for the Christian Church in Africa. Rather, we have come to identify the All-Africa Conference of Churches and its total constituency with the burning and urgent issues that our nations have laid before the Council. It is alleged that the Christian Church in Africa has been used to enslave our people spiritually and psychologically, thereby making us amenable to political, economic and social exploitation; therefore, we have come here to affirm our deep dedication to serving the cause of liberating our nations and our peoples from colonialism, racism and the subsequent underdevelopment those two evils procreate. 25. There may still be time to act, but decisive action must come soon. There is not very much time. 26. We need an urgent answer to the supreme question which we have posed. We believe that the world has a right to demand the answer to this question: On which side are the major Powers? That answer will help to determine whether the Security Council can act to advance African freedom and human dignity. We sincerely hope that it can.

I now call on the Reverend Canon Burgess Carr to take a place at the Security Council table and to make a statement. 32. We are here because of our commitment -to work--for reconciliation across all the barriers and all the frontiers men build to separate themselves from other men. The Lord whom we serve sends us into the world to do this work of reconciliation as our primary work. It is our understanding that the Security Council has a similar mission, entrusted to it by the peoples of the world. In this we share a common responsibility to bring hope and healing to the millions for whom all talk of moral commitment and “faith in fundamental human rights” is today fast becoming a series of bankrupt platitudes, signifying nothing. 28. Canon BURGESS CARR: I should like to express the deep appreciation of the All-Africa Conference of Churches for the honour that the Security Council has done us in inviting us to speak to it. We are further delighted that the Council’s awareness of the grave situation we face in Africa has prompted it to convene this special session in our midst. We felicitate the Council and pray God to bless the work it does here for the extension of his reign of freedom, justice and peace. 33. Thirty million of these people are on our continent. They account for nearly one tenth of our total population. They are found in Angola, Guinea (Bissau), Mozambique, Namibia, Rhodesia and South Africa, where they are tormented by the tyranny of white racism and colonialism. Their representatives are here among us, while their spirits 29. This is a solemn moment for all people. A little more than a quarter of a century ago the United Nations introduced into the world a moral commitment to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. That commitment derived from a reaffirmation of “faith in fundamental human rights, . . . in the equal rights of men 34. However, deliberations are not enough when human rights, and indeed human life itself, are in such desperate jeopardy as they are in southern Africa and Guinea (Bissau) today. Further resolutions will not suffice to halt the escalating violence and repression meted out to black African men and women, boys and girls, in the still subjugated Territories on our continent. 35. No one will deny that the United Nations has accomplished an immense task during the quarter-century of its existence by establishing a system of legal standards for the protection of human rights; nor can anyone minimize the positive significance of such monumental documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other international conventions on human rights, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 36. These are all hopeful signs that have fired the imagination of oppressed peoples in Africa with the expectation of an end to their oppression. These hopeful expectations have been heightened by certain other signiflcant procedures established by the Organization concerning the violation of human rights. For example, its Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, its Special Committee on Apartheid and other bodies have been empowered to hear petitioners, send fact-finding missions or establish conciliation commissions, through which communications from individuals, groups of individuals or States could be listened to and heard. But, alas, to what avail? Although these procedures and conventions have been adopted, sometimes unanimously, and promulgated after years of debate, the tragic fact is that the Member States of the Organization, particularly the major States, have shown little inclination to implement the limited provisions in respect of discrimination in human rights. This, more than any other single factor, is responsible for the erosion of the moral authority of the Organization and the accompanying escalation of conflict in the world. 37. Some of the reasons for this situation are of the Organization’s own making. For example, it might be recalled that the Commission on Human Rights operates under a very restricted rule, adopted as long ago as 1947, stating that “the Commission recognizes that it has no power to take any action in regard to any complaints conceining human rights”. As a result, complaint after complaint presented to the Commission is fJed away in what has been described as a “confidential list” of communications brought before the Commission. 39. As Churches, we consider our primary responsibility towards this meeting to be to warn in the strongest possible terms that, through the apparent determination of the United Nations to keep passing resolutions, promulgating conventions and issuing declarations, none of which the Member States, particularly the powerful ones among them, ever intend to implement, the United Nations is itself creating a situation in which this generation in Africa and succeeding generations the world over are predestined to the untold sorrow unleashed by the scourge of war. 40. Nowhere are the consequences of this lack of will to enforce its resolutions and declarations more dangerously seen than in qodesia, Namibia, South Africa and the Portuguese colonial Territories of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea (Bissau). In Namibia, not even the authority of the International Court of Justice seems sufficient to initiate a path towards a negotiated settlement of the Territory’s legal status. In Rhodesia it is one of the permanent members of the Security Council that has entered into collusion with the racist minority r&me, primarily on a kith-and-kin basis, to ensure succeeding generations of repression of the African peoples in Zimbabwe. Every day brings new evidence to indicate that the Anglo-Rhodesian settlement terms are a contrived sell-out. 41. The All-Africa Conference of Churches considers the fundamental presuppositions of the Anglo-Rhodesian settlement terms to be blatantly racist. They are inconsistent with the fundamental belief held by all men of faith and goodwill that the equal worth of men and women derives not from social or economic criteria imposed by other men but from the fact that they are created by God and loved by their creator. 42. The All-Africa Conference of Churches fully endorses the position of the African States and Governments that, within the total context of southern Africa, these two situations, Namibia and Rhodesia, should clearly be given the highest priority in the Council’s deliberations. We take this position partly because of recent developments in the two Territories and, more particularly, because of the direct involvement of the Churches in those recent events. 43. The fictitious myth, that the spirit and the will of Africans in the oppressed Territories in southern Africa were so calcified and encysted by their oppression that creative rebellion could not emerge, has been shattered, ’ and, we hope, once and for all. Once the Churches -Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic-threw the weight of their influence behind the forces fighting for liberation and justice in southern Africa, a new courage was born 50. Mr. President, with your permission, let me say how utterly bewildered African Christians are to find that those nations from which men and women have come to teach us the high values of human dignity, personal freedom and Christian love are the very nations which today openly aid our oppressors with economic, political and military support. They are also the very nations that can be relied upon regularly to provide diplomatic support, through their use of the veto in the Security Council, to prevent it from taking any effective measures that would eliminate injustice and oppression on our continent. 44. The recent massive industrial strike in Namibia was born in part out of the protest of two Lutheran bishops, a series of open letters written by pastors, many of whom have now been expelled from Namibia, and other sensitizing activities of Christian men and women. This confrontation between church leaders and the illegal South African regime in Namibia has brought renewed confidence to the Namibian people. 45. Similarly in Rhodesia, it is churchmen that have risen to the occasion and confounded both the British and the illegal Smith regime. The latter had expected that, with all the eloquent spokesmen against its illegal occupation of Zimbabwe imprisoned, detained or exiled, ready acceptance of the Home-Smith agreements was ensured. The very method devised to obtain that assurance indicates the ease with which it was expected that it would be forthcoming. 51. However, we see the curious paradox that those nations which we have been told to regard as the arch-enemies of God, religion, humanity, human dignity, freedom and peace are the very nations upon which we rely today for generous and unqualified assistance in our struggle to liberate our peoples from white racism and colonial exploitation. 52. AS Churches whose relationships are mainly to Churches in the “white western world”, we African Christians are scandalized and terrified by that fact. In our ,judgement, it holds frightful portents for the future of Christianity. as a reconciling influence in southern Africa and throughout the remainder of our continent. 46 The All-Africa Conference of Churches is chagrined by the notion that a matter as vital as the freedom and self-determination of 5 million men and women, boys and girls, and the future of an entire nation should be determined by a system of “interviews” conducted by an all-British, all-white commission. The All-Africa Conference of Churches takes the view that any determination of the test of acceptability of the Anglo-Rhodesian settlement terms should be the direct responsibility of the international community. We therefore call upon this Council either to demand the immediate withdrawal of the Pearce Commission or to provide for United Nations observers to be present for the remainder of the Commission’s proceedings. 53. We plead that this series of meetings of the Security Council in Addis Ababa, the capital of an ancient Christian land, belonging neither to the East nor to the West, may provide a fitting opportunity for the western Powers to make a fresh commitment to act effectively, concretely and boldly in defence of the cause of freedom, human dignity and justice, for which so many of their heroic sons and daughters have hallowed our, land with their blood and bones. 47. We reiterate our demand, contained in our message to Her Britannic Majesty’s Prime Minister, a copy of which was addressed to the Secretary-General on 25 November 1971, that all Zimbabwe nationalist leaders imprisoned, detained or exiled should be released and allowed to return to their own country in order to provide leadership for their people during the test of acceptability of the Anglo-Bhodesian settlement terms. 54. Today you are meeting in a situation where a permanent state of war exists. Your role in peace-making must most certainly include a recognition of that fact. If it does, then you may be able to recognize that beneath the apparent calm of “law and order” there are open ulcers of deep human injustice and racial oppression on our continent. If you are genuinely inclined to serve the cause of peace, then you must consider it to be your role to bring these conflicts and injustices into the open, to encourage the oppressed and suffering to recognize and to fight for their rights, and to oppose, limit-yes, even dispossess-the holders of usurped power and privilege who deny humanity and life and justice to other men. Such a stance will save you from any rash condemnation of the methods the oppressed employ to achieve their liberation. 48. We further urge the Security Council to prevail upon Her Majesty’s Government to ensure that all threats, intimida.tion and arbitrary arrests of the African people by the illegal Smith regime, as well as by industrial, commercial and other business interests operating in the Territory, are forcefully discouraged in order to ensure the free and objective response of the people of Rhodesia as a whole to the Anglo-Rhodesian settlement terms. 55. With that in view, the All-Africa Conference of Churches earnestly hopes that as a result of your deliberations here in Africa the Security Council will take the following concrete actions. 49. The All-Africa Conference of Churches wishes to record its strongest rejection of the view now current in British Government circles, that “violence and intimidation” by the African peoples are decisive in determining whetheror not the Pearce Commission should be permitted 56. First, with respect to Namibia, the Security Council should immediately take over administration of that Tert0 continue its inquiry. We are in close enough contact with 57. Secondly, with respect to Rhodesia, in addition to the measures I have already outlined, the Security Council should urge Her Britannic Majesty’s Government solemnly to reaffirm its commitment to pursue negotiations designed to ensure majority rule in Rhodesia within the immediate future. Those negotiations should be conducted away from the repressive atmosphere now prevailing in Rhodesia, and must involve the accepted leaders of the African people at every level of discussion and decision. Her Majesty’s Government should be requested to report to the Council on the progress of those negotiations before the next anniversary of Africa Liberation Day-that is to say, 25 May 1972. If by that date no significant advance has been made, the Council should invoke Chapter VII of the Charter in order to bring an immediate end to the state of rebellion and racist repression in Rhodesia. 58. Thirdly; with respect to the total liberation struggle against racist and colonial oppression in Africa, the Security Council during this series of meetings should authorize the establishment of a liberation fund, directly financed by the United Nations, to aid those movements fighting to eliminate racist oppression and colonial exploitation in Africa. 59: In conclusion, I wish to emphasize that the All-Africa Conference of Churches shares fully the aspirations of all the peoples of Africa for unity and for human existence in full dignity, justice and freedom. We are committed to the proposition that religious allegiance must not serve to exacerbate dissidence and polarizations in our nations; neither must it be used as an escape hatch through which foreign interference should continue to menace our stability and threaten our national sovereignty. The Churches in Africa are determined to assist the Council in finding a way to overcome colonialism and racism on our continerit. We are determined to work for reconciliation, so that injustice and tyranny may be brought to an end; so that the entire international ethos may be so radically transformed that Africa will be able to resume its march towards freedom, justice and human dignity for its people, and peace in the world.

The last of the speakers whom the Council has agreed to invite under rule 39 of the provisional rules of procedure is Mr. Johny Eduardo. I now invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

On the eve of the meeting of the Security Council held in March 1961 to examine the question of Territories under Portuguese domination, unparalleled violence broke out in the 62. At that meeting in March 1961, indignant at the barbarity with which the colonialists tried to repress this great historic movement of the masses, the Council called upon Portugal to put an immediate halt to the massacre of the population and to recognize the right of the people of Angola to independence and self-determination. 63. Eleven years separate that session from the one which, for the first time in the history of the international Organization, is being held in Africa. But the subject is still the same: colonialism, That is because Portuguese colonialism which receives wide moral and material assistance from certain capitalist Powers which have the right of veto in the Security Council, resists all the thrusts of the freedom fighters of the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). Even worse, the Portuguese colonialists, as if the napalm that has been showered upon human beings for more than 10 years was not enough, now have recourse to chemical products in Angola in the regions controlled by the FNLA, inhabited by several hundreds of thousands of people. 64. No one is unaware that, strengthened by the colossal financial assistance provided by the Americans under the most varied forms-loans, rentals, development aid, investments and so forth-strengthened by German uld French war matbriel, strengthened by moral, political, material and diplomatic support given by the British Government, the Portuguese colonialists, managers in Angola of raw material exchanges or international trusts, w-ill continue to greet with sarcasm, arrogance and the most lofty disdain the resolutions of the United Nations which are always weakened by the vetoes of some and the abstentions of their allies. 65. Thus, confronted by these sad realities, and although heartened by the honour done to Africa through the holding of this session in Ad&s Ababa, the Angolan people have the right to wonder if the NATO Powers will finally condemn and dissociate themselves, here in Addis Ababn, from an ally which various agreements, bonds and relationships force them to defend. But these Powers, because they believe that they serve their own interests in Angola by supporting Portuguese colonialism, inevitably lose the friendship of the Angolan people whose progress towards independence is inexorable, no matter what they do, For, in spite of this complicity and in spite of the temporary imbalance of forces, the Angolan people continue and will continue their struggle until total victory. 66. I should also like to take this opportunity offered to Angola from this high rostrum to inform international opinion that the Angolan people categorically reject the so-called autonomy proclaimed by Matcello Caetano, which is designed to create “another Rhodesia in Angola”. 67. It has long since been established that the persistence of Portuguese colonialism and the wars which this entails 68. But the Portuguese colonialists and their accomplices must realize that the independent peoples of Africa will continue to support the just struggle of the peoples of the Portuguese colonies, whatever the cost. African Govemmerits have already had the occasion of bringing before this Council complaints of the violation of their territory by the Portuguese army. Such a situation is a dangerous threat to peace in that part of the world, because one cannot foresee the reaction of the countries neighbouring the Portuguese colonies in the face of the continued violations of their sovereignty, often encouraged by the veto of certain members of the Council. 76. If in other parts of the world it is possible to be heartened by the present situation and to be optimistic especially on seeing the great Powers having closer relations and trying to co-operate, and if, for example, a new climate of detente in Europe can lead to optimism on the other hand in Africa, as in the Middle East; the situation continues to deteriorate dangerously and is becoming more dramatic each day-particularly where colonialism and apartheid still rage, constituting an affront to the conscience of mankind as well as a challenge to the international community. In fact, how can we qualify otherwise the present situation in Rhodesia, Namibia and the Portuguese colonies? 69. I refuse to believe that this serious situation will cease to leave the international ‘community indifferent only if African Governments, indignant at the bloody repression of which their brothers in the Portuguese colonies continue to be victims, and revolted by the massacring of their own people, use methods which have proved effective elsewhere in the world to secure peace, and security within their frontiers. 77. In Rhodesia, the General Assembly and the Special Committee3 ‘have been trying for about ten years to encourage the establishment of a regime which would equitably represent the black population, which outnumbers the white population more than twenty-fold. But all these efforts have so far been in vain. Beneiiting from the negligence of the Administering Power, the assistance of racist South Africa and of colonialist Portugal, the minority regime of Rhodesia, after having proclaimed unilateral independence, has continued this challenge until the present time, and has gone so far as to proclaim itself a republic-based on an illegal constitution. Persisting in its conciliatory attitude towards Ian Smith, the United Kingdom has unfortunately just concluded with him an agreement which leaves the fate of the Africans of Rhodesia at the sole discretion of minority and racist power in Salisbury. The response to the Pearce Commission by the Africans could not be clearer. The numerous uprisings in almost all the large towns and mining areas and in the countryside have given a massive and candid “no” to the Anglo-Rhodesian agreement. Under the circumstances, the Tunisian delegation considers that the British Government should take urgent measures to halt the dangerous evolum tion of this situation. 70. A heavy responsibility is therefore yours before history. This meeting which is being held on the African continent, where there are still large tracts of “occupied” land, must not be a failure, for, despite everything, millions of oppressed people in Africa are looking to Addis Ababa. You do not have the right to dash their hopes. 71. That is the message of the Angolan people; that is the message of the National Liberation Front of Angola.

The Security Council has concluded the hearing of statements by persons invited in accordance with rule 39 of the provisional rules of procedure as requested by the representatives of Guinea, Somalia and the Sudan in their letters contained in documents S/10602/Rev.2, S/10604 and S/10605. 73. The Council will continue its discussion of the item on its agenda, and I now invite the representative of Tunisia to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. 78. In Namibia the situation is just as dangerous, The United Nations has been dealing with this question for many years-indeed since 1946. Recently the International Court of Justice pronounced on this situation but there is still no solution in sight to the problem. South Africa has established its military and administrative presence there; it intends to defend with every available means what it considers to be its exclusive right. Yet Namibia has always been a Territory which, legally speaking, is within the competence of the United Nations. Pretoria’s refusal to leave is a violation both of the rights of the people and of United

On behalf of the Tunisian Government I should like first to extend to the members of the Council our thanks for having agreed to hold this meeting in this great African capital. I should also like to thank them for allowing us to be present on this historic occasion and to take part in the discussion of the African problems now being considered by the Security Council. But above alI, Mr. President, I would like to emphasize with legitimate pride the happy coincidence of seeing the Security Council meet for the first time on African soil to discuss and examine African problems at the same time that the Presidency is held by an African-one of the illustrious sons of a fraternal country, 3 Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the DCclaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 79. The concern of the United Nations regarding African Territories under Portuguese domination was first shown very forcibly in 1960, on the occasion of the adoption, at the fifteenth session of the GeneraI Assembly, of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. In 1963, at the request of 32 African States, including Tunisia, the Security Council adopted a resolution l-780 (196311 which became the basic statement of United Nations policy concerning the Portuguese Territories. In that resolution, the Council called upon Portugal to implement the immediate cessation of all acts of repression, to promulgate an unconditional political amnesty and to enter into negotiations on the basis of the recognition of the right to self-determination which would lead all Territories to the attainment of independence. Portugal refused to give way. It denied the international community th& right to determine the fate of these Territories, in which it continues to maintain its colonial domination and which it still insists in considering, in accordance with its own fiction, as provinces and not colonies. 80. The Africans reject the Portuguese constitutional fiction, the fiction that Portugal has invented in order not to have to render an accounting to the international community on its administration of the Territories and it is with full justification that all United Nations bodies, from the Security Council to the General Assembly including the specialized committees, have denounced this policy and these actions by Portugal which continues to consider these alleged provinces as non-self-governing Territories within the meaning of the Charter. In its desire to preserve peace, the Security Council must enjoin Portugal to conform strictly to previous resolutions of the Council and to carry them out. The Council must require Portugal to recognize the right of the peoples under its administration to self-determination and independence. In accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter, it must demand that an end be put to the futile colonial war. It must insist on amnesty for prisoners and political exiles. It must insist on negotiations with the nationalists, the true representatives of the black people, negotiations designed to work out with them the structure of the institutions that should enable them to accede to independence. This is the price of peace and security in Africa. 81. It is a fact that Tunisia has always considered itself to. be concerned with the problem of colonialism because my country, too, has suffered from colonialism and because, in its time, it had to fight against colonialism until it won its 82. It is obvious, as was so ably pointed out by the Secretary-General, Kurt Waldheim, at the inaugural meeting that the Council “will not be able, within eight days, to heal wounds which are several decades old” 11627th meeting, para. 731. However, as he explained, the Council can prescribe needed remedies. 83. For our own part, we hope that the necessary decisions and the remedies required, which have repeatedly .been described by previous speakers, can be prescribed and that action by the international community-vigorous and effective action-will assist in the liberation and the accession to independence and freedom of these peoples who are continuing to suffer. 84. We hope that these efforts will be crowned with success and that the United Nations, and in particular the Security Council, will be able to respond to the great hopes that the international community places in them not only in Africa but also in the Middle East., where the situation is as bad if not worse than it was before, where the Palestinian people has been expelled from its homeland, where territories are still occupied by military force, with this new system of military occupation and this new form of colonialism being brought to the verge of elimination. 85. We hope that wherever there are still challenges to human conscience and where these affronts to the international community and the human conscience still exist, the United Nations will be able to act effectively and respond to the hopes that the international community places in it,

I would like to thank the representative of Tunisia for the kind words he used concerning my country. Further, I think I would be interpreting the 88. For its part, Belgium is happy to take part in this collective reflexion on African problems which occupy such an importaIlt place in the activities of our Organization. We are particularly gratified that two great African statesmen, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia and His Excellency Moktar Ould Daddah, current President of the Organization of African Unity, have demonstrated by their presence the interest shown by this Africa, both so old and so new, in the success of our work. To the former, I should like to say how grateful we were for his words [1627th meeting] and how touched we were by the hospitality of his country. To the latter, I should like to state that we are very attentive to this African voice that he so eloquently raised [ibid. /. 89. Before getting down to the substance of the matter, I still have to discharge an agreeable duty, that of congratulating you, Mr. President, on your presidency of the Council. I should like to assure you of the co-operation of my delegation and express my best wishes for your success. 90. To the representatives of Somalia, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affaris, Omer Arteh Ghalib, and Ambassador Farah, permit me to, say how happy my delegation has been to meet under their presidency and how much we have appreciated the talent and sense of compromise with which they have conducted our proceedings. Through them, I should like to thank the Somali Government for the way it welcomed us and for its thoughtfulness towards us during our stay in Mogadiscio. 91. Now that the Security Council is meeting in the heart of Africa and deliberating the serious matters that are of such profound concern to the Governments and the peoples of this continent, the historic nature of this event compels US to place the debate in a broader and more significant perspective, Several of us will thus be obliged to ponder the relations that exist between the rest of the world and the great family of African States and, by so doing, to achieve a better understanding of these relations. For its part Belgium intends to do this. 92. In the course of this last century, history has bound part of Europe and part of Africa by special ties. The nature of those ties, thanks to the movement of emancipation which we witnessed after the Second World War, has been fundamentally modified. But the end of the colonial era did not lead to a break: more often than not, all parties concerned demonstrated the political will to establish, in independence and equality, relations of co-operation with 94. Thus Belgium can take pleasure in a successful development of its relations with the Republic of Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda. The principles governing our relations are those of friendship, co-operation and non-intervention in internal affairs. As evidence of the satisfaction of our partners and ourselves in this situation, may I recall the enthusiastic welcome accorded to the Belgian royal family at the time of its official visit to those countries in 1970. The Republic of Zaire and Belgium on that occasion consecrated the particularly close nature of their relations by the signing of a treaty of friendship. A similar treaty was concluded with Rwanda. 95. This friendship, of course, has influenced my country’s attitude towards problems of development. Belgium is at present one of the few countries to have undertaken to devote, in 1975, 0.7 per cent of its gross national product to official assistance to developing countries. The new Government has just confirmed that commitment. In 1971 the percentage of such assistance in relation to the gross national product had already attained 0.53 per cent and, by doubling its ‘effort in the very short period of the next four years, Belgium hopes to attain the objective it has set for itself. 96. Within the framework of co-operation, Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda enjoy a privileged place, because the bulk of bilateral aid goes to them. However, within the limits of its financial resources; my country decided to extend its network of co-operation agreements by undertaking corn mitments towards six other African countries. We intend to increase our budgetary resources in order to expand our policy of co-operation. 97. However, this bilateral approach has found further backing in the grand design which the European Community, from its very inception, has included in the text of its constitution. By associating with this Community, 18 African countries within an institutional system which provides for permanent dialogue between the two continents, Europe has demonstrated its will to give priority to the development of the region to which it remains linked by history. 98. The special relations which have thus been established and subsequently strengthened by a long and fruitful co-operation have not failed to confirm an African outlook which the six States, the founding members of the Communities, are now preparing to share with the new member States in a Europe which henceforth will be made un of 10 nations and thus assume its proper dimensions. Soon,- in preparation for the renewal of the Yaounde 99. Eslgium, for its part, hopes that an expansion of the Community can be accompanied by a parallel expansion of the circle of African States which find advantages in the system of association and opt for close co-operation with Europe. Such a policy demonstrates the interest of my country in bringing closer together Europe, on the one hand, and a regrouped and unified Africa, on the other. 100. It is in that spirit that I should like to recall the positions that my Government set forth to the OAU mission, led by His Excellency President Moktar Ould Daddah, on the problems of southern Africa. 101. With regard to the Territories under Portuguese administration, my country has long recognized their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. We continue to regret that Portugal is denying to the peoples under its administration, whether they be the peoples of Angola, Mozambique or Guinea (Bissau), the exercise of a right which flows from the Charter and which has been endorsed by several Security Council resolutions since I963. 102. It is not too late to prevail anew on Portugal to follow the lucid and generous task which has done so much honour to several European countries including Belgium, and to replace its present relations with those African Territories by new relations which flow from a new and irreversible historical trend. 103. For its part Belgium has informed Portugal of this attitude. At the same time we should like to reaffirm the other principle recognized by the Charter of our Organization, that is, that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of African States having common borders with Portuguese Territories must be fully respected by Portugal. By agreeing to join the Special Mission which the Security Council instructed, in July 1971, to investigate the complaint of Senegal against Portugal, my country wanted to demonstrate that it was acting in keeping with the principles I have just mentioned. 104. In so far as concerns Southern Rhodesia, my country considers that the settlement proposals agreed upon between the United Kingdom and the Ian Smith re’gime should be examined with the greatest care. My Government haa repeatedly stated that it accords no legality to that minority r&ime, which unilaterally proclaimed its independence in 1965 and has disregarded the right to self-determination of the peoples of the Territory. It is in the light of that fundamental principle that my Government has studied the settlement proposals known as the Salisbury agreement. 105. We welcomed as it deserved the initiative taken by the United Kingdom to break the deadlock over the political situation in Southern Rhodesia. Indeed, the 106. It is up to the United Kingdom, as the administering Power, to prepare the way for a new r&me in Rhodesia based on the principle of majority rule. It is also its duty to take ibe measures it deems appropriate to ensure the enjoyment by all the inhabitants of Rhodesia of their right to free expression. It is, finally, for that Government to discharge its responsibilities in the light of the special situation prevailing in the Territory. 107. In our view, the Security Council would be departing from its proper role if it attempted to take the place of the administering Power and impose in its stead any arrangements for a political settlement. Without relieving the United Kingdom of its proper responsibilities, the Council nevertheless has the right to concern itself with the application of the test of acceptability provided for under the Salisbury agreement. 108. My delegation has had occasion to state in the Security Council that it was leaving it up to the United Kingdom to consult, faithfully and diligently, with the African peoples concerned. It is important that such consultation should take place free from any intervention on the part of the de facto power in Rhodesia which could distort its result by preventing opponents, actual or presumed, from taking part in the consultation. It is also important for this consultation not to be discredited in advance because it would be unable to reflect the aspirations of the people. Finally, it is important that the people be able to express itself in. conditions of calm. 109. It was with the concern to be enlightened as fully as possible on the situation in Southern Rhodesia on the eve of the test of acceptability that my delegation agreed to have the Security Council hear representatives of the political parties banned by the illegal Rhodesian rdgime. 110. No philosophy of race reiations is more alien to our ideas than the policy of apartheid pursued, by South Africa, We therefore most energetically condemn this policy in all its manifestations and we affirm our attachment to the resolutions adopted by the Security Council since 1960. But it would be similarly alien to our ideas to reject South Africa and force it into an isolation which would only have the effect of strengthening its policy. That would be the case if the Council decided to apply against South Africa the sanctions laid down under Chapter VII of the Charter or any other equivalent measure such as the severing of diplomatic, economic and trade relations with that country. 111, These relations, which can in no way be interpreted as an approval of apartheid, nevertheless have the merit of maintaining contacts between South Africa and the outside world and of keeping that country aware of the unpopularity of a policy which cannot be justified on any grounds whatsoever. 112. May we not believe that the process of industrialization upon which South Africa has embarked will make it 113. The General Assembly has understood the advantage of maintaining some relations with South Africa since it has app&d to Member States to exert their influence in an attempt to prevail upon that country to renounce its repressive laws. For its part, my country anticipated that appeal and made representations to the South African Government for it to comply with the resolution of the S&urity Council of 7 August 1963 [resolution 181 (1963/j calling for the freeing of the opponents of apartheid. 121. Now that the Security Council is holding, at the invitation of the Organization of African Unity, a series of meetings in the historic centre of the African continent, we can aI acknowledge that this is indeed a significant event. We are close to the heart of Africa. We actually hear in this capital the beat of the African heart-a strong beat of which we occasionally hear the musical echo which reflects so faithfully its rhythm, spark of life and nature; in other words, the very essence of human nature. I shall ask for the indulgence of the Council when I say that this is a moving experience for the members of the Italian delegation and for me personally. We are in.fact meeting in Addia Ababa, the capital of an ancient country with which Italy has opened a new fruitful era of friendship and co-operation, following the long expected and very successful official visit which His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I paid to my own country in November 1970. This imperial visit definitively. sealed the reconciliation between our two nations, a reconciliation which had already been inscribed for a long time in the hearts of the Ethiopian and the Italian peoples. 114. This attachment to the resolutions of the Council has again been proved by my country by its application of the embargo on arms shipments to South Africa in all its particulars. It is worth recalling here that since 1963 Belgium, whatever people may say, has not supplied South Africa with any arms, has not granted it any technical assistance and has not trained any members of the South African armed forces. 115. To conclude with this subject, I should like to express once again the desire of my country to provide assistance to the victims of apartheid. Thus, Belgium has been making a substantial contribution to the United Nations Trust Fund for South Africa for many years. By so doing, we are aware of carrying out our humanitarian duty toward those who have paid by exile for their opposition to apartheid. 116. On the subject of Namibia, my delegation expressed its views in the Security Council on 14 October last [159&h meeting-J. We continue to hope that it will be possible to obtain the agreement of South Africa on arrangements to permit the Namibian people to exercise freely its right to self-determination. 122. We felt the same deep emotion during the short visit to Mogadiscio, the capital of a country with which Italy has maintained traditional relations of deep-rooted friendship, mutual respect and close co-operation.. 117. The statement made in this very room by His Excellency President Moktar Ould Daddah at the opening encourages us to persist in the search for a negotiated solution under the auspices of the Security Council, \ 123. We feel deeply indebted and sincerely grateful to His Imperial Majesty and to the Ethiopian Government and people for the warm reception and generous hospitality they have extended to us. Our grateful feelings go also to the Government and people of Somalia and to the Organization of African Unity. 118. It is in a dialogue between the United Nations and South Africa on the future of the people of Namibia and in the appointment of a representative by our Organization that we place our hopes for the settlement of a problem which has been of concern to the United Nations ever since its foundation. 124. Our African session was opened by an inspiring message by the Emperor of Ethiopia (1627th meeting]. In his usual sober style, His Imperial Majesty has conveyed to us some of his basic views which are everlasting, since they come from a source of experience and wisdom which have outlived the test of time. No one of us could fail to note in them the mark of real statesmanship. At the same time, the message of His Imperial Majesty has from the outset brought our debate to the high level and serene atmosphere which is fitting to such a solemn occasion and from which we hope not to descend. We are equally grateful to the current President of the OAU, His Excellency Mr. Moktar Ould Daddah, who, on the same high level, has clearly and forcefully expressed to the Council [ibid.] the views and expectations of the African peoples, of those which in the greatest number have achieved independence and freedom

Sir, I congratulate you and your delegation on your assumption of the high office of President of the Security Council. I have already had the privilege of appreciating the diplomatic skill and political wisdom which the Foreign Minister of the Sudan and you yourself have shown on several occasions at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York. I am looking forward to working together with you in the next few days, in the same spirit of friendly and confident co-operation I have experienced during the past short, but most rewarding, relationship. 126. The process of decolonization, reflecting the aspirations of the people of the world to enjoy equal rights and the desire to fashion their destiny of their own free will, has been a major trend of the international scene since the Second World War. In a relatively short time hundreds of millions of people have achieved independence; large and powerful colonial empires have gradually disappeared giving birth, often through vital processes of co-operation with the metropolitan Powers, to proud new nations. The fastgrowing membership of our Organization is a moving proof of these developments, in the face of which the persistence, at the end of the twentieth century, of a few colonial regimes is a shocking reality to the mind of modern man. It is a reality that is particularly hurtful for the Africans-and we fully share their feelings in this respect-since the remaining strongholds of colonialism are on African soil. 127. We are aware of the fact that these last colonial regimes desperately resisting the unavoidable turn of history constitute a very disturbing factor hampering the politicaI, social and economic development of the peoples of southern Africa. We fully understand that the independent African countries cannot accept the denial to millions of Africans of the most fundamental political and human rights. We fully realize that the persistence of colonial situations in Africa may have upsetting effects on neighbouring countries, Let me add that these colonial regimes are also dktrimental to the real long-term interests of those who maintain them in force. Where they are ruled by a distant, Power, they constitute a burden for its people; vast resources must in fact be devoted to the defence of those Territories and their development, thus raising very high the price to be paid for vain reasons of prestige, a sheer illusion or, I may say, a sort of hallucination. Where the colonial regimes are the result of the domination of a small group of settlers over a vast African population, they keep stored up a tragic future for the ruling minority if they last too long. 128. In other words, the remaining colonial situation in Africa is today an anachronism fraught with dangers, especially for its makers. We are therefore firmly convinced 6 Ibid., Twen@fourth Session, Plenary Meetings, 1783rd meeting, para. 20. 4 See foot-note 3. “ . . . we have read with interest the Lusaka Manifesto on Southern Africa which was authoritatively presented by the President of Cameroon and which, we hope, willnot go unheard. In this same spirit we look forward to the completion, in all parts of the world, of that irreversible historical process which requires the elimination of the political and economic structures of colonialism.“6 129. The Security Council is now for the first time reviewing the whole situation with regard to the remaining colonial questions and to the problem of racial discrimination in Africa and I wish to restate the position of Italy on those questions. I should also like to consider briefly what is for us, as Members of the TJnited Nations, our main problem, namely, how to make the best use of our Organization to help bring to an end colonialism and racial discrimination in Africa. But let me assure you, first of all, that the appeal of the independent African nations for the full realization of equal rights and the exercise of selfdetermination in their continent goes straight to our heart. We reco@ze that’ it stems out of.our own western heritage since what the Africans are demanding is nothing more than the application in Africa of those everlasting principles of democracy, human dignity and equality and self-detem& nation which were first proclaimed in the West as the outcome of the political struggles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were embodied in the American and French declarations of human rights and nourished the movements for freedom and independence in Europe, North America and L&in America. Those principles have now been largely-although not yet completely-realized in Europe, and while we Europeans shall strive for their full implementation in our own continent, we do not remain insensitive to the African appeal to our own heritage and we cannot fail fo feel morally committed to their affirmation and final triumph also in Africa. 130. I will not dwell at length on the problems which have been the object of our debates. They have been studied for a long time in the United Nations and are well known. Furthermore, many learned statements of African leaders in this hall have provided us with a deep and new analysis of the situation under consideration. 131, With regard to the Territories under Portuguese administration, Italy has for a long time maintained the position that their inhabtants should be allowed to exercise freely their right to self-determination. The Italian delegation has consistently stated that position in the General 132. The Italian Government has on several occasions voiced its concern at the abnormal situation created by the rebellion of the white minority in Rhodesia. Italy has, therefore, given unconditional, whole-hearted support to the measures adopted by the Security Council to bring the Salisbury regime to an end. The Italian Government has severed all relations with Rhodesia and has adopted special legislation, carrying penal punishment, to enforce the sanctions imposed on that regime. It is most unfortunate that those sanctions, while weakening the Rhodesian economy, have not brought about the downfall of the Salisbury regime. The Government of the United Kingdom, convinced that the situation in Rhodesia was deadlocked and might even become more detrimental to the interests of the African population, has deemed it necessary, in the fulfilment of its responsibility as administering Power, to negotiate with the Salisbury regime a set of proposals for a settlement. We expressed the view in this Council [1623rd meeting/ that, if considered in the light of principles or in the face of our ultimate objectives, the proposals fell very short of our ideas and hopes. We recognized, however, that in the present conditions-when the United Kingdom could not exercise any effective power in the Territory and the United Nations could not offer any valid alternative-the proposals were an attempt that might help improve the situation of the Africans and lead them towards selfdetermination. We suggested, in particular, that the socalled test of acceptability could provide the first opportunity in many years to reach individuals and groups of people in every corner of the Territory and to make the adult African population of Rhodesia think about its future and its fundamental rights. 133. The events that took place recently in the Territory show that the test is having, among other things, the effect of awakening the African population. It is most unfortunate that in some cases this awakening brought violence and repression on the part of the illegal authorities. We deeply regret the loss of human lives. We continue to think, however, that the test is opening the eyes of the African population and telling them-at a regrettable price-of the need for a more active political stand. On the whole situation the position of.Italy, as I defmed it before this Council on 30 December 1971, is unchanged. We think that the test of acceptability cannot under any circumstances be regarded as the exercise of self-determination and that the ultimate goal of this Organization for Rhodesia remains independence based on majority rule. 134. The position of Italy on the question of Namibia is Well known. My delegation voted in favour of General Assembly resolution 2145 (XXI), which terminated the Mandate of South Africa over Namibia. Italy was a member 135. Nothing is and has been more alien to the Italian people, more opposed to its culture, based on the values of humanism and on the principle of equality of all men, than the doctrines which pretend to base on the ill-defined and elusive concept of race the superiority of one people over the others. It is with this spiritual and cultural background that we look upon the policies of racial discrimination in South Africa with increasing abhorrence. Let me recall that Italy has not failed to take its position on this matter and that it voted in favour of General Assembly resolution 1663 (XVI), which condemned the policy of apartheid in South Africa. My delegation has supported in past years several resolutions on apartheid and during the last session of the General Assembly voted in favour of nine resolutions dealing with various aspects of the policies of apartheid. In particular, Italy voted in favour of resolution 2775 A (XXVI), concerning the arms embargo against South Africa recommended by the Security Council. My country intends to implement that embargo scrupulously. 136. I come now to the most complex and concrete problem we have to face as Members of the United Nations. We agree on the fundamental and general principles of decolonization and equality among races. How can we make ,the best use of our Organization to help us implement those principles? How can we increase the efficacy and the scope of the action of our Organization in the field of decolonization? Those are the two questions we pose. 137. We all know that at present the United Nations still suffers from many limitations; that, owing to the attitude of certain Powers, which are often ready to use the arena provided by the Organization for mere propaganda but are very reluctant to co-operate in a concrete manner with it, the United Nations does not yet have the means to intervene promptly and effectively in those situations which require the active and united presence of the international community. We all know that the United Nations is not yet that government of the world that most of us would like it to be. All this we know, and yet we are convinced that the United Nations is playing and must play a unique role in the world and that it is in our own interest to make every possible effort to strengthen this Organization. This needs on our part continuous, patient and painstaking action and a clear vision of what is practicable in all circumstances, since the more we are aware of Our limitations the better can we find the ways to overcome them. In dealing with the remaining difficult problems of 7 Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970),+ Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1971, p. 16. 139. Secondly, in our opinion, to help complete the process of decolonization, we need to put more flexibility and more imagination into the actions of our Organization. My delegation is convinced that we have not yet explored all the capabilities of the United Nations or made full use of them. We note with a certain satisfaction that the first progress in this direction has been accomplished in the deliberations concerning Namibia. There the Council, acting with striking unity, has opened the way for a long, gradual but persistent action which has to follow different lines and pursue different initiatives to enable the United Nations to come to grips with the various difficult aspects of the question. 140. The Council has adopted certain measures with ’ resolution 301 (1971) and has asked the Ad Hoc Sub- Committee on Namibia to continue to study the question and to submit further recommendations. However, the General Assembly adopted, last year, a very important resolution [resolution 2872 (XXKl)] which Italy wholeheartedly supported, which establishes a fund for a programme aimed at preparing the Namibians for independence and at showing South Africa, in concrete terms, the resolve of our Organization to settle the question according to the principles of international law. 141. At the same time, my delegation has suggested that all avenues be left open for contaots with the South African Government that could offer a unique opportunity for it to rid itself of the burden of a dangerous confrontation with practically the whole international community and to bring its position into line with its obligations under the Charter. This attempt on our part is a necessary complement of our different initiatives I have just mentioned. The draft resolution introduced by Argentina [5’/10376/Rev.l] would usefully serve that purpose. 142. The history of international relations is a history of struggles and negotiations. The two terms are not incompatjble; they are complementary; they follow each other. naturally, as light and shadow. Nations have no other way of dealing with one another. The emergence of an independent Africa is further evidence of this truth. Most of the 143. The same flexibility and imagination should be applied to other questions. In the past we have made several suggestions to this effect, and we shall have many more to offer. But to do so would require more time than the limits we were requested by the President to respect, and I do not wish to abuse your patience. Let me just conclude with some general remarks on our future course of action. 144. We should, in our view, rededicate ourselves to the principles on which the action of this Organization in the field of decolonization and racial discrimination is based. We should periodically reassess and reaffirm those principles in the most simple and clear fashion. Some are objecting that this is not necessary, since the principles in question have already been enunciated. We do not agree with that view. What is unnecessary and even harmful for this Organization is, rather, the tendency to develop and amplify principles intp long rhetorical resolutions. It is this verbal proliferation and escalation which produces deep lassitude and disenchantment among us; and when it is exploited for ideological and sectarian interests-which are alien to the essence of our Organization and to the interests of the people striving for independence-it hampers the continued co-operation of Member States in the various organs of the United Nations and constitutes a dangerous political blunder. 145. The simple and straightforward reaffirmation of principles must be, on the contrary, a useful means to unite us, to reinforce our determination to solve the remaining colonial questions, td encourage us to take new initiatives. This rededication to our fundamental principles is particularly appropriate for the Security Council, which has up. to now considered specific, and sometimes limited, aspects of the problems that confront us, and has never taken a stand on principles to guide its action. The solemnity of this meeting of the Council in Addis Ababa-the fact that it is devoted, for the first time, to a general review of the problems of southern Africa-offers a unique opportunity for such rededication to the basic principles of selfdetermination, human dignity and human equality. 146. I listened with great interest to those African leaders from all parts of this continent who have honoured us in coming to Addis Ababa to address the Council, My delegation will certainly study their statements further in view of our future deliberations. I have tried to state the Italian position on the main problem of southern Africa and to outline certain principles which, in our opinion, should be followed to deal effectively with those problems, They are not magic formulas for the rapid solution of such complex problems. We know that such magic formulas do not exist and that the road to a settlement of the various 8 See bffciaal Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-fourth Session, Annexes, agenda item 106, document A/7754, para. 12,

I thank the representative of 1taly very much for the compliments he extended to my Minister and to myself, and I am sure that the Somali delegation has taken note of the high compliments showered on Ambassador Farah. 149. I call on the representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, who has asked to speak in exercise of his right of reply.

The Soviet delegation has listened with great interest to the statements made at the Security Council meetings by prominent representatives of the heroic national liberation movements of southern Africa. Their statements, their arguments and the numerous facts they have cited demonstrate the insuperable and indomitable aspiration of the peoples they represent for freedom and national independence. 15 1, In expressing its solidarity with the struggling peoples of Africa, with the national liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea (Bissau), South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the Soviet delegation wishes them every success in their noble cause in seeking a full and final victory over the dark forces of imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and racism. It is the task of the Security Council to give them every possible help and assistance. 152. We regret that the proposal, introduced by the Soviet delegation and adopted by the Security Council in New 153. The Soviet delegation is very gratified to note that the representatives of the national liberation movements of southern Africa who have spoken in the Security Council have attached great value to the sincere and disinterested help and support given by the Soviet Union and its peoples and by the peoples of other socialist countries to the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea (Bissau), South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe in their heroic .and just struggle for freedom and national independence against the racist,‘Fascist and colonialist oppressors. We should like to assure all those struggling for freedom in Africa that the Soviet Union, following its immutable Leninist policy of support to peoples struggling against imperialism, colonialism and racism, will continue to give every possible assistance to the struggling peoples of Africa. They can always count on this help and support, until such time as colonialism and racism are completely eradicated from the long-suffering continent of Africa. 154. We consider it beneath our dignity to react to the hostile and slanderous attack on the Soviet Union by one speaker here, a person who, according to our information, represents nobody but himself; he was obviously speaking with someone else’s voice here in repeating vile fabrications and slander, culled from imperialist and other equally sordid sources, the authors of which are clearly endeavouring to split the united anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist front of the States and peoples of Africa and the countries and peoples of the socialist community. The meeting rose at I.2 35 p.m.