S/PV.1990 Security Council

In addition, I should like to inform members of the Council that letters have been received from the representatives of Algeria, Botswana, Guinea and Senegal in which they request to be invited to participate in the discussion of the question on the agenda. Accordingly, I propose, in accordance with the usual practice and with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion, without the right to vote, under the provisions of Article 31 of the Charter and rule 37 of the provisional rules of procedure. 3. In view of the limited number of places available at the Council table, I invite those representatives to take the places reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber, on the understanding that they will be invited to take a place at the Council table whenever they wish to address the Council. At the invitation of the President, Mr. A, Rahal (Algeria), Mr. T, Tlou (Botswarza), Mr. M. S. Camara (Guinea) arld Mr. M. Fall (Senegal) took the places reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber.

The first speaker is the representative of Sierra Leone, whom I now invite to take a place at the Council table and to make her statement.

Mr, President, on behalf of the Sierra Leone delegation, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this august body. It is a happy coincidence that you should be guiding the deliberations of the Security Council on the question of South Africa, not only within one month of your accreditation here, but within just a few weeks of your return from southern Africa where you no doubt had the unique privilege of a personal insight into the current situation down there. 6. Your recent visit to Africa, characterized by discussions with the Presidents of front-line States and freedom fighters, as well as with officials of the apartheid regime in South Aftica, takes on added importance when it is viewed in relation to your presidency of the Council at this time. Your experience, your academic background, your dynamism, your forthrightness, your personal dedication and that of your Government to human rights and black majority rule in southern Africa, when taken in conjunction with the importance which you attach to your present assignment, make us confident that you will guide the Council to a conclusion that will be fraught with meaning for the black man in South Africa. 7. In one of the statements made during the general debate at the thirty-first session of the General Assembly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of a Western country said: 8. It is perhaps easier to talk of what divides us on the question of South Africa than of what unites us, considering the many abstentions, negative votes and even triple vetoes that have been cast in connexion with resolutions against the apartheid rigime. We all agree, however, that the problem of South Africa is a racial one based on the pigmentation of the skin. And it is also a fact that for decades many statements have been made and many resolutions adopted in condemnation of the base system of apartheid. The world body has been united in identifying the problem of South Africa as one based on the false premise of the supremacy and superiority of the white man in South Africa. The incidents at Soweto and other townships have reminded us that the Sharpeville sacrifice of human lives was not in vain, and we are also united in the knowledge that the situation in South Africa remains explosive and can never be peaceful and calm until white minority power gives way to majority rule. 9. Even the Western Powers accept this fact, if the following quotations are anything,to go by. Speaking about distressing situations in the world which, in his words, “actually jeopardize peace”, Mr. de Guiringaud of France said: “I am thinking most particularly of southern Africa, where tension a,nd confrontation are becoming more acute . . . It is all too evident that racial discrimination is the underlying cause of the crisis.“* Referring to the‘ Soweto incidents, he said: “The recent tragic incidents should have made South Africa’s leaders realize at long last that such persistent contempt for the digni-ty of the human person in itself constitutes a source of perpetual conflict among men, and this could lock their country in a deadly cycle of unrest and repression.“2 Also at the thirty-first session of the General Assembly, Mr. Genscher of the Federal Republic of Germany said: “A second source of danger for international relations has developed in southern Africa. It is impossible to imagine the consequences which a racial war embracing the whole region would have.“3 Further, he added: “Everyone must realize, also in southern Africa, that racism and colonialism no longer have a place in this world. The sands have run out.“4 2 Ibid., pora. 110. 3 Ibid., 7th meeting, pnra. 95. 4 Ibid., pm. 97. 11, After the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, the South African Government embarked on a rapid buildup of its military forces. In 1960-1961 estimated expenditure on defence was 44 million rand; by 1975-1976, during the Soweto incidents, that figure had increased 21 times to nearly 1 billion rand. In 1975, Defence Minister Botha disclosed that South Africa was capable of manufacturing nuclear bombs and would soon be able to turn out heavy weapons and ultra-modern aircraft. Why does the apartheid rCgime of South Africa need such astronomical increases in military buildup except for the purpose of carrying out its determination to maintain the status qzm by force of arms‘? The incidents which occurred at Soweto and other townships in June last year and for many months after are by now well known to the Council as having started when children born in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre rebelled against the imposition of the white tribal language of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in the secondary schools throughout the nation, with the suppression of the tribal languages of the blacks and in preference to the English language that is common to both black and white. Peaceful demonstrators were gunned down by the same police of the apartheid r@irne which gunned down their parents at Sharpeville. Shortly after, a senior police officer said to the press: “We fire into them. It is no good firing over their heads.” 12. On 15 July, the South African r&ime put into force the indefinite detention provisions of the Internal Security Act and detained leaders of the South African Students’ Organization and the Black People’s Convention, giving warnings to opponents of a,vartheid not to get involved in the situation. Even those students who have now fled to neighbouring countries are being pursued by the South African police. A strike by black workers at Soweto was a welcome opportunity to shed yet more African blood. The police fired at the demonstrators and not less than 30 persons were killed in cold blood, Almost 50 per cent of the total African work force in the Johannesburg metropolitan area had taken part in that demonstration. 13. Two different groups of white and Coloured demonstrators in support of black protests against apartheid laws also met with brutal attacks in which hundreds were seriously injured. The official figures released after one of those incidents-no doubt only a fraction of the real total-were 176 persons killed and 1,139 wounded, many of them schoolchildren. What further manifestations of brutality are needed to render the apartlzeid rCgime an aggressor against the black majority? 14. Despite those naked acts of exploitation and violation of human rights in South Africa, the Western Powers have But the whites in southern Africa and their Western allies have refused to treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves. 15. A repeated call by the world body for a mandatory arms embargo against South AfYica under Chapter VII of the Charter has failed to gain acceptance from the Western Powers in the Security Council on the grounds that the situation in South Africa does not constitute aggression or a threat to peace and security in the area. But the Council is well aware of South Africa’s aggression against Zambia and Botswana, both of which have brought their cases to this very Council. South Africa’s involvement in Angola after its accession to independence, which was denied by the apartheid r6gime, is now in the open, and its present manoeuvres against the Government of Angola led by President Agostinho Neto and the MPLA /Mouimer?to Pop&w de Liberta@o de Angola] is also now no secret. Finally, it cannot be denied that South Africa holds the key to the independence of Namibia and the end of minority rule in Zimbabwe and that the racist regime has extended its apartheid policy across its own borders into those two States. Therefore, the excuse that Snuth Africa is not an aggressor and a threat to peace and bdcurity cannot now be seriously maintained, nor could it be accepted were it to be advanced. The South African Government has regularly ignored the decisions and resolutions of the Council condemning the policies of apartheid as a grave threat to international peace and security. 16. South Africa of course revels in something which has constituted a constant fear for my delegation: the fact that the Western Powers cannot turn their backs on it. South Africa is strategically important to the West because of the Cape route and South Africa’s mineral resources, trade, investment and tourism. Thus some Western Powers have decided to risk their reputations as Governments of the people and violate the arms embargo against South Africa. 17. France has agreed to sell South Africa two Corvette escorts in violation of the IJnited Nations arms embargo. France’s defence is that the escorts will be used to defend South Africa’s territorial waters and will have nothing to do with the perpetuation of apartheid and frontier wars. 18. After the June 1964 Security Council meeting OII an arms embargo against South Africa, the British Labour Government announced that it would honour the embargo against South Africa on the understanding that current South African orders would be filled. Kho was in a position to know what the existing contracks were, except the United Kingdom and South Africa? What was the duration of those contracts? In 1970, the British Conservative Government announced that it would sell arms to South Africa for external defence. Then came the Simonstown 19. All those armaments wodcl appear to serve three main purposes: they would promote internal security, which is another name for the suppression of blacks and the curbing of the activities and movements of guerritias along the coast; their sophistication and modernity would facilitate South Africa’s inclusion in some alliances, which would imply a general acceptance of apartIzeid by its new alljes; they would also be used to assist Ian Smith in Rhodesia to fight the blacks and to maintain a buffer zone between South Africa and the north. 20. The Western Powers have also been reluctant to accept economic sanctions against South Africa, with the explanation that withdrawing investments at this point would have devastating consequences for some economies. It has already been pointed out that if those investments had been withdrawn in 1960 the results would have been minimal compared with now when they have more than tripled. But worse still, if they are not withdrawn now, present and future investments are all likely to be lost in the holocaust of an imminent racial war. As for the argufilyrlt of investmtnts enhancing the economic position of the %!rtb Africai worker in relation to his other African colleague:,, I can only ask: what good is the rich slave’s money if III: cannot use it to live where he wishes in his own country? Which reminds me of a Norwegian proverb, similar to one in my own language, which says that it is better to be a free man in a small house than a slave in a big enc. The South African Government believes that those economic ties constitute the most effective way of preventing black Governments from taking any positive action against the system, 21. The move by South Africa to set up a Cabinet Council for Coloureds and Asians, to hold talks with black township middle-of-the-roaders, to adopt a new policy on lifetime home ownership for Africans in towns, while still retaining land as totally owned by the white Government, ;md in response to business pressures for more concessions to Africans cannot alter the fundamental system of economic exploitation in South Africa or the precarious political and economic situation that exists. 22. Hence those States which have collaborated with the Pretoria regime by allowing their nationals to continue to invest in South Africa, with the explanation that no Government can legislate effectively against such activities, share equally the responsibility for the persistent defiance and arrogance of the South African Government, because we all lcnow only too well’ of instances where those same individuals or companies would not dare challenge or violate restrictions imposed by their Governments against other States. 23. The South African Minister of Information, Connie Muldcr, has spoken of ties, other than militarv or eco- 24. Having drawn attention to that: I must say in passing that my delegation is encouraged for the future by the recent step taken by the new United States Administration to repeal the Byrd amendment, altll .mgh sceptics have argued that the repeal was rendered e;lsy by the fact that there could be a large stockpile of Rhodesia chrome in the United States which may minirnize the effect of what my delegation sees as a positive move towards enhancing majorrty rule in southern Africa. 25. Time has run out for the inhuman system of apart&icl in South Africa. There is always a breaking point in the peq.petration of despicable acts such as suppression, repression and exploitation. That breaking point has finally arrived in South Africa. The aim now is to proceed undaunted towards self-determination, regardless of the price. The Soweto incident of June 1976 is an example of the desperation of which I speak. Many of those young people who have crossed the borders of South Africa into the free world are not even keen to finish their studies; rather, they are anxious to receive military training which will render them fit to take part in the war of liberation that has already begun. 26. The Council must discharge its responsibilities in southern Africa by taking appropriate measures to tackle the central issue in that region, namely, South Africa. A black intellectual in his thirties is reported to have said that the Soweto demonstrators do not want any concessions or reforms. They do not want to modify the system: they want to do away with it. Demonstrations against the apartheid rCgime have taken place not only in obscure black townsllips in the Johannesburg area but also in areas with large white populations such as Cape Town. This should be of gr.eat significance to the Council. It is the hope of my delegation that the members of the Council will overcome that which divides us and harness a common determination to work together for the liberty, happiness dnd dignity of the black man in South Africa, for he represents miliions of human beings with flesh, blood and a soul like any others anywhere on this earth. 27. My delegation strongly condemns all acts of violence and suppression against the black people of South Africa and expresses its solidarity with all those struggling for the elimination of apartheid and racial discrimination. 28. To conclude, my delegation calls for an end to violence and repression against the black people and all other opponents of apartheid. We call for the release of all persons imprisoned under arbitrary laws and those who are 29. Finally, my delegation calls for measures that would lead eventually to a mandatory arms embargo under Chapter VII of the Charter, as we did when my Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Honorable Francis Minah /195&h meetingj, participated in the last Security Council debate on the question of Namibia. We believe that thii; measure is the least among various measures that should by Laken in an effort to put an end to the outrageous situaiirjil in South Africa. The alternative, as has already been stated by nearly all the speakers in this debate, will be a holocaust of racial war in which the investmints of Western Powers will not escape ruin and destruction. It is therefore in the interests of the Western Powers to look beyond the present economic gains and prepare for long-term friendship as well as economic co-operation with a majority government in South Africa in this worId of interdependence. 30. I should like now, Mr. President, to express through you my appreciation to the Council for the opportunity given to my delegation to participate in this debate.

The next speaker is the representative of Yugoslavia. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. 32. Mr. PETRI6: (Yugoslavia): Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to extend to you warm greetings in your capacity as President of the Security Council for the month of March. 1 avail myself of this opportunity to wish you much success, especially in the efforts which the Council and the United Nations are exerting in order to find the right and rapid way for the effective liquidation of apartheid and colonialism in southern Africa. 33. I should like to express to the representative of friendly Romania our deep feelings of heartfelt sympathy in connexion with the catastrophic earthquake which struck his country causing vast devastation and the loss of many lives. At the same time, I wish to convey our sincere condolences to the Government and people of Iran with regard to the victims of the recent earthquake in their country. 34. The debate on the question of South Africa was opened [1988th meeting] by the comprehensive and elaborate statements of the representatives of the Organi. zation of African Unity, the Special Committee against Apartheid, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-aligned Countries. Their presentation of the problem of apurtheid deserves our full support and appreciation and constitutes, in our mind, a basis for the decisions to be taken by the Security Council on the subject. 35. The fifth Summit Conference of non-aligned countries, held at Colombo, devoted considarable attention to 36. The racist Government of South Africa has imposed upon the people of that country a system of slavery which thrives on the massive denial and violation of all the fundamental human rights of the African people of South Africa. In its endeavour to preserve that system, the racist South African rCgime holds the international Territory of Namibia under its illegal occupation, waging a war in that Territory for the extermination of the liberation movement of the South West Africa People’s Organization and for the complete enslavement of the Namibians. The South African racist rCgime is helping the illegal minority rCgime of Ian Smith in Zimbabwe to maintain itself in power. In the recent past, it has committed acts of aggression against the young Republic of Angola and the Republic of Zambia, for which it was condemned by the Security Council. It supported the marauding attacks of Ian Smith’s mercenaries against Mozambique and Botswana. Vorster’s rkgime has openly arrogated to itself the right to engage in hot pursuit of liberation movements in all African countries south of the equator. The South African r6gime is engaged in a massive effort to modernize its armaments, including the strengthening of its nuclear capabilities. 37. What does all this mean’? It proves, first of all, that the conclusions of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly to the effect that the system of apartkeid poses a threat to peace and security in Africa and more widely are correct and that consequently the Security Council should take the necessary measures for the elimination of that threat, that is, for the eradication of apartheid and colonialism from southern Africa. 38. I shall now deal briefly with the individual aspects of this question. 39. The General Assembly has called upon the Security Council to take firm measures against the racist regime in South Africa, including the application of the provisions of Chapter VII of the Charter. The General Assembly has also recognized the right of the people of South Africa to self-determination and their right to fight apartheid with all the means at their disposal. The resolutions of the General Assembly have laid stress on the particular responsibility of the United Nations and the international community with regard to the enslaved people of So~~tll Africa who are deprived of their elementary rights and on the duty of the world Organization to lend support and assistance to their liberation struggle. 40. All this shows that the implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations and the application of sanctions, on both the bilateral and the broader international plane, have become the immediate task and obligation of all the Member States with their aim the rapid eradication of apartheid and racial ‘discrimination in southern Africa as the only means likely to prevent the current 41. The system of apartkeid, which is inhuman and contrary to generally accepted moral norms, in fact constitutes the most brutal form of racial discrimination. it is a system of absolute negation of all the fundamental human rights, freedoms and principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Covenants dn human rights, Actually, it is a system which legalizes the enslavement and exploitation of peoples and human beings on the basis of racial discrimination. Apartheid is founded on racist ideology and its objective is to perpetuate the exploitation of human potential and natural resources for the benefit of the racist white minority. 42. The racist rCgime in South Africa has, in recent years, intensified its policy of terror, mass murder, imprisonment and the detention of innocent people, thus defying the United Nations and the international community as a whole. In spite of the intensified terror, the struggle of the people of South Africa has assumed the character of a nationwide struggle. Sharpeville and Soweto will go down in the history of South Africa as examples of the determination of the oppressed people to fight for their freedom, independence and self-determination. 43. The time for general condemnations and indignation at apartheid has passed. What we need at present are deeds. They can be achieved through common action by all the Member States of the United Nations and particularly the permanent members of the Security Council. The first and essential condition for such action is that those Western countries which maintain various forms of relations with tile system of apartheid should bring their policies into harmony with the Charter and the relevant resolutions of the Organization. In conformity with their public condemnations of apartkeicl and their declarations in favour of the peaceful solution of the crisis in southern Africa, they should definitively and unconditionally put an end to all military co-operation with the racist rbgime. They should refrain from any further investment of capital and withdraw capital already invested. They should put an end to all trade with the racist regime. If they fail to implement any of the measures demanded by the United Nations and Africa, they will assume full responsibility for further developments. 45. The strengthening of the military power of the racist r&ime in South Africa is causing serious concern in Africa and throughout the world. Providing the apartheid rBgime with nuclear weapons or enabling it to manufacture them in itself constitutes a grave threat to mankind and is fraught with unpredictable consequences. My delegation feels the time has come for the Security Council to adopt a resolution imposing a mandatory embargo on the export of weapons to South Africa,,provide for sanctions for the violation of the embargo and, if necessary, apply other measures under the Charter, Litho in United Nations, New York Price: $US. 1.00 (or equivalent in other currencies) 77-700014anuary 1978-2,200 47.’ Finally, the elimination of apartheid and racial discriminalion is a priority and urgent task for the United Nations and the international community. The basic prin. ciple underlying the implementation of that task is the right of peoples to self-determination and freedom. Racism, apartheid and oppression in southern Africa represent a massive violation of fundamental human rights and principles of justice, freedom and humanity and constitute a threat to peace and international security. 48. We hope, Mr. President, that on this occasion and under your guidance the Secui-ity Council will adopt resolute and effective measures. The meeting rose at 11.55 a.m. 5 See A/AC.1 I SlL.462.