S/PV.2272 Security Council

I should like to inform members of the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Burundi, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Pakistan in which they request to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. In accordance with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the provisional rules of procedure. 1. Adoption of the agenda 2. The situation in Namibia: Letter dated 10 April 1981 from the Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/14434) The meeting ws clrlled to order nt noon. Adoption of the agenda The ngendo ws cuiopted, At the invitaiion of the President, Mr. Simbananiye (Burundi), Mr. Burl~~in (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) and Mr. Shcrhi [Pakistan) took the places reservedfar them ot the side of the Council chamber. The situation in Namibia: Letter dated 10 April 1981 From the Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/14434)

In accordance with the decision taken at the 2267th meeting, I invite the President of the United Nations Council for Namibia and the delegation of the Council to take places at the Security Council table. 1, The PRESIDENT: In accordance with the decisions taken at previous meetings [2267th to 227/st ~~feeff%sl, I invite the representatives of Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Democratic Yemen, Ethiopia, the Federal Republic of Germany, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Romania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Togo, the United Republic of Tanzania, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, At the invitation of the President, Mr. Lusaka (President of the United Nations Council for Namibiu) cmd the other members of the delegation took places tu the Council table.

In accordance with the decision taken also at the 2267th meeting, I invite Mr, Peter Mueshihange to take a place at the Council table. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Benynkia Mwia), Mr. J orge (An&u), Mr. Kaiser (BanladeshI, Mr. Houng~~vou (Benin), Mr, CorrCu da Costa @rflZit), Mr. Morden (Cannd~), Mr, Malmierca (Cuba), Mr. Ashrnl (D emocratic Yemen), Mr. Gedie- Giorgis W%opia), Mr. Jelonck (Federal Republic of Gerf?~aflyj, Mr. Coumbnssa (Guine(r), Mr. Rrro (Indict), At the invitation of the President, Mr. Mueshihange took u place at the Council table.

I should like to inform members of the Council that I have received a letter dated 23 April [S//44.56] from the representatives of the ?+tli!;cf*. T~miia and Uganda, which reads as follows: Mr- Kloumclcltt?la~i~l (Itjt/onc.sro) ilfr. 5Sllr,(fI (‘1. 6. If I hear no objection I shall take it that the Council agrees to this request. If was so decided.

I should like to draw the attention of members of the Council to document S/14457, which contains the text of a letter dated 23 April from the representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the President of the Security Council.

Mr. President, I wish at the outset and in the name of the Chinese delegation to congratulate you heartily on your assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for this month. I have no doubt that you will discharge the responsibilities of this high office with distinction. I would also like to pay tribute to Ambassador Florin for his contribution as President of the Council last month. 9. We feel greatly honoured by the presence here of so many Ministers for Foreign Affairs from friendly African and other non-aligned countries and wish to express our warm welcome to them. 10. The question of Namibia is a major issue confronting the world today. Consideration of this question by the Council at this time is most appropriate and highly significant. We have listened carefully in the past couple of days to the important statements made by the distinguished Ministers for Foreign Affairs of various African countries who, entrusted by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and speaking on behalf of the African countries and people, have voiced strong indignation at the South African racist authorities’ persistent obstruction and sabotage of the implementation of the United Nations resolutions and plan regarding Namibian independence. At the same time, the Ministers have presented a number of positive and sound proposals for an early settlement of the Namibian question. The Chinese delegation fully endorses the just position and reasonable demands enunciated by the Ministers on behalf of the African States and people. 11. A little over a year ago, the people of Zimbabwe finally achieved independence after a long and arduous struggle. Since the birth of the Zimbabwean Republic, the Zimbabwean people, led by Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, have scored remarkable successes in consolidating their independence, healing the wounds of war 12. The question of Namibia has become the most salient issue in the decolonization struggle now. The African countries and people, and indeed the people all over the world, strongly demand the immediate termination of the illegal occupation and colonial rule of Namibia by South Africa. They advocate early independence for Namibia through the implementation of the relevant United Nations resolutions and plan. The OAU, the front-line African States, Nigeria and other countries concerned, as well as the United Nations, have made tremendous efforts to this end. The Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non- Aligned Countries, meeting at New Delhi in February, the thirty-sixth ordinary session of the OAU Council of Ministers held at Addis Ababa earlier this year and the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries which concluded a few days ago have all sternly condemned the South African racist rkgime for its intransigent position and strongly demanded comprehensive mandatory sanctions against that rhgime. They have also called for the speedy implementation of the relevant United Nations resofutions and plan regarding Namibian independence, All this goes to show that the Namibian people’s quest for their national aspirations enjoys abundant support and is a part of the historical tide which no force on earth can $urn back. 13. The South African authorities should be held solely responsible for the failure thus far to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions and plan for the independence of Namibia. Those authorities have resorted to double-dealing on this matter during the past three years. They advanced all sorts of absurd pretexts to drag out the negotiations while intensifying military provocation and threat against the front-line African States. Meanwhile, they stepped up an “internal settlement” plan by fostering the so-called internal parties which are nothing but their puppets, in a vain attempt to stage a sham independence of the bantustan-type, thus trying to prolong their illegal occupation of Namibia. This was precisely what motivated the South African authorities when they blatantly sabotaged the Geneva meeting last January. 14. These motives and underhand tactics of the South African racist regime represent the major stumblingblock in the way of Namibian independence. That rCgime should therefore be sternly censured, and sanctions should be imposed on it. It should be emphatically pointed out here that the United Nations and all justice-upholding countries and people of the world illegal occupation of Namibia. However, world opinion as well as far-sighted people in the Western countries have clearly indicated that any support for or condoning of the position of the South African racist rhgime would only antagonize the broad masses of the African people and inflate the arrogance and truculence of the racists. This will lead to greater turbulence in the region and provide an opening for intervention and expansion by hegemonist forces from the outside. The great people of Africa, including the Namibian people, cannot be bullied. No one can turn the tide of history. The South African racist regime would be lifting a rock only to crush its own feet if it persists in its intransigency. 15. The Namibian people may still face obstacles on the road of their advance, but they have acquired abundant experience in their struggle. We are convinced that, under the leadership of SWAP0 and with the extensive support of the countries and people of Africa and, indeed, the whole world, the Namibian people will ultimately fulfil their national aspirations and win genuine independence as long as they close their ranks, intensify various forms of struggle and dispel all interference and sabotage by outside forces. 20. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Mr. Shahul Hameed, was to have been with us today in accordance with the mandate entrusted to him and a number of other distinguished Ministers for Foreign Affairs by the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries held last week at Algiers. Mr. Hameed had to return to Colombo after the ministerial meeting at Algiers for a meeting of South Asian States which Sri Lanka has been hosting this week. This, as well as some other important engagements, has unfortunately accounted for his inability to reaffirm personally in this forum the unqualified and unflinching support of Sri Lankafor the struggle of the people of Namibia for freedom and justice. 16. The Chinese delegation enunciated its comprehensive position on the question of Namibia on 30 January 1981 [2263rd wzeefing] during the Security Council’s consideration of the Secretary-General’s report on the result of the Geneva meeting and again on 4 March during the General Assembly debate on the Namibian question at its resumed thirty-fifth session.’ We would like to reaffirm here that the Chinese Government and people have always firmly supported the Namibian people in their just struggle for national independence and liberation and sternly condemned the South African racist rCgime for its illegal occupation of Namibia and stubborn refusal to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions. We endorse all the correct views and proposals of the African countries. The international community should take effective measures to compel South Africa to implement the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, We deem that the Council should accept the justified demands of the African countries. It should call on the international communitY to give greater support to the just cause of the Namibian people. It should, without any further delay3 enforce in its totality the United Nations plan for the settlement of the Namibian question, which

The next speaker is the representative of Sri Lanka. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make a statement.

Mr. President, let me at the outset thank you, and through you the members of the Security Council, for affording Sri Lanka the opportunity to participate in this debate. 19. To you, Mr. President, my delegation extends its best wishes. To reach Ireland from Sri Lanka one has to cross many seas and many oceans, but your emerald isle and my island of gems have always maintained close and friendly relations. Your diplomatic skill, sense of balance and ready wit, not to mention the traditional luck of the Irish, will stand you and the Council in good stead in this difficult debate. 21. It is not my intention to make a long statement. A number of preceding speakers have, with greater eloquence than I can aspire to muster, presented the unimpeachable case for the people of Namibia and the righteousness of their struggle against racist oppression, injustice and servitude. 22. Whatever the discussions now taking place in other forums regarding the future of Namibia, one cannot overlook the fact that since 1966 Namibia has been the clear responsibility of the United Nations, It is within that framework that the Council adopted resolutions 435 (1978) and 439 (1978), spelling out the 23. The people of Namibia and SWAPO, their sole and authentic liberation movement, have given more than a chance to that plan. Leaving aside a number of other decisive and forceful options, SWAP0 accepted the assurances of South Africa that it would implement the plan. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Niger pointed out earlier in the debate [2267th meeting], it is thanks to SWAP0 that the worst has not happened in Namibia. SWAPO’s patience and statesmanship should not be exploited to delay a peaceful settIement of the Namibian question or to help South Africa to entrench its illegal occupation more deeply in Namibia. 24. The contact group of Western States must genuinely Iive up to its responsibilities to implement the United Nations plan, which was based on its proposals. The group must effectively exert the considerable leverage that it enjoys with South Africa to persuade South Africa to heed the voice of reason and to honour that country’s once-declared commitment to the United Nations plan, not only in the interests of the people of Namibia but also in the interests of peace and security in southern Africa. If the United Nations pIan is now repudiated, revised or compromised beyond recognition in order to accommodate a small intransigent minority which has shown contempt for the United Nations, that would not only affect the credibility of the Western Powers with regard to their policies in southern Africa but also affect their standing in a wider area of international negotiations and commitment. Calls for peaceful solutions sound hollow when, at the same time, brutal police action, repression, torture and killings by the regime continue. 25. South Africa has advanced a rather strange argument that the United Nations shows partiality and bias and therefore cannot be trusted to implement its own independence plan for Namibia, South Africa seems to have forgotten that the United Nations is in fact the acknowledged voice of the international community. For a small racist caucus to accuse the entire international community of being biased, while it deludes itself that it has a monopoly on fair play and justice, is indeed a perversion of truth, 26. The non-aligned countries, which met at Algiers last week, were keenly ahve to attempts to distort the nature of the question of Namibia, which is specifically a problem of decolonization and of illegal occupation. What we are dealing with is not a clash between conflicting ideologies but a struggle between freedom and oppression. 28. History has shown that the selection of a genuine spokesman to represent the people of a colonial Territory in negotiations relating to their independence has always been a complex process. I am glad to see that it is the representative of SWAPO, the acknowledged voice of the people of Namibia, who is seated at this table. It is necessary to be alert to the danger of small groups of individuals being persuaded to act as agents for the colonizer against the interests of their own people. 29. While thanking the Council for its patient hearing, I would conclude by stating that Sri Lanka cannot accept the prolongation of illegitimacy in Namibia. We cannot accept the continued oppression of the Namibian people.

The next speaker is the representative of Democratic Yemen. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. 31. Mr, ASHTAL (Democratic Yemen): Mr. President, my delegation is gratified to be participating in this debate under your wise leadership. We have already remarked your qualities as a skilful and judicious diplomat hailing from Ireland, a country with a long anti-colonial tradition. 32. May I also congratulate Ambassador Florin, who successfully presided over the work of the Council last month. 33, It is rather unfortunate that this debate on the situation in Namibia opened with an ominous procedural haggle. Not surprisingly perhaps, we were witness to a calculated manoeuvre to confer legitimacy on the so-called DTA (Democratic Turnhalle Alliance), a puppet party created by South Africa. At best it was an attempt to undermine the authenticity of SWAPO, the universally recognized representative of the Namibian people. At worst it was an act of bad faith by those Powers which claim to promote an internationally accepted settlement that would secure the independence of Namibia. 34. Predictably enough, South Africa retorted by saying that the Security Council was no different from any other United Nations organ in its bias in favour of SWAPO. Indeed, the United Nations, faithful to its 35. Namibia is a case of outright colonialism and illegal occupation. Attempts to distort the nature of the question of Namibia serve only to prolong the agony of a people subjected to systematic repression and plunder. For nearly a hundred years, the Namibian people languished under the yoke of colonialism, with all its ugly manifestations. I need not delve into Namibia’s painful history, in which the United Nations was itself involved, I should like, however, to invoke the moral obligation of the United Nations and its Security Council to put an end to this injustice and to allow the Namibian people to exercise its inalienable right to independence and statehood. 36. The apar’theicl regime of South Africa could not have defied the whole international community and continued its illegal occupation of Namibia had it not been for its allies and partners in the pillage of Namibia’s resources and the exploitation of its people. 37. The activities of the transnational corporations in Namibia are well documented. Those Western Powers whose interests will be undermined by the decolonization of Namibia can very well afford to wait until the next election here or there, or the next meeting here or there. But the Namibian people cannot wait to raise their national flag and live in liberty and peace. There are too many South African soldiers in Namibia to wreck the peace, and too many international corporations to steal the wealth of the Namibians. 38. It is that combination of Western military strategic advantage and Western economic interests that acts to buttress the Pretoria regime against the international public consensus that colonialism in Namibia must be ended. 39. The continuing illegal occupation of Namibia is not only a destabilizing factor in southern Africa; indeed, it constitutes a breach of international peace and security. Having established its massive military Presence in Namibia, South Africa is launching from that Territory constant armed attacks against neighbouring countries. The Security Council has on many occasions censured those acts of aggression against Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. Moreover, South Africa is feverishly expanding its nuclear capabilities, with the collaboration of Israel, with which it shares a common policy of colonial domination. The military incursions of South African forces into neighbouring States can only be compared to the recurring Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon. 41. As current Chairman of the Group of Arab States at the United Nations and on its behalf, I should like to express our unreserved support for the decision taken at the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries, held at Algiers, to request the Security Council to apply mandatory comprehensive sanctions, including an oil embargo, against South Africa, as provided for in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. 42. We reiterate once more our most emphatic support for, and solidarity with, SWAPO, the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people.

The next speaker is Mr. Clovis Maksoud, Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States, to whom the Council extended an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure at its 2268th meeting. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement. 44. Mr. MAKSOUD: Mr. President, I should like to express to you, and through you to the members of the Security Council, the deep appreciation of the League of Arab States for having extended this invitation to us, thus providing us with the opportunity to identify ourselves with our sister regional organization, the OAU, and with the aspirations and the struggle of the people of Namibia, I should like furthermore to express to you the deep and strong friendship and affinity that we have for the people of Ireland, especially because of the noble contribution which you have made diplomatically, as well as in human terms, to the fulfilment of the mandate of the United Nations in the south of Lebanon. 45. We have listened to the deliberations of the Security Council, and it seems that we are compelled again to face a situation in which the United Nations is dealing once again with an intransigent, racist regime which believes that it can render itself unaccountable to the world community while at the same time trying to make the world community answerable to its aggression. 46. The Security Council, seized of this crisis, is determined to disabuse the racists, the occupiers and the colonialists of that conviction. The League of Arab States and the Arab world in general have for many years had experience on their own territory of an intransigent, racist entity seeking to discredit the United Nations and international consensus. They 47. At this juncture, therefore, the experience of the Arabs is joined with the experience and the Struggle of the people of Namibia, because the similarities are so glaring between what the people of Namibia face and what the people of Palestine are facing, not only in the very nature of their unfolding liberation struggles, but also in the very identity of the behaviour which characterizes both Israel and South Africa in trying to render the United Nations inoperative. 48. It is that identity of purpose, that similarity of experience, that similarity in the nature and the pattern of those we confront, that has cemented further the unity of our struggle, the closeness of our empathy, the mutuality of our understanding. Is not the attempt to question the representivity of SWAP0 by proliferating representatives of the people of Namibia aimed at making the people of Namibia, as well as the international community, lose its sense of focus and forget the fact that SWAP0 is not only an ideological group, that it is not only the representative of the Namibian people in the same way that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the representative of the Palestinian people, but that it is the framework of the Namibian people, the symbol of the people’s unity and of the clarity of their purpose? Any attempt to circumvent that representivity becomes an exercise in futility and a contribution to the destabilization of the region. 49. Have we not seen that time-tables have been spelled out in detail without any time framework being established, because ambiguity in the phasing of the right of self-determination has been the means by which to distort the function of self-determination? That is whq:, when we identify ourselves with the people of Namibia in their legitimate struggle for self-determination and independence, we realize that they are in the vanguard of those confronting the last bastions of racism in the modern world. Any attempt to be permissive with those entities that deny the people of Namibia their rights, any attempt to buy more time for them further to distort the struggle and deflect the international community from shouldering its immediate responsibilities, must be met with an insistence on the part of the world body-and it is so met on the part of the world community-that the comprehensive mandatory sanctions not only are a penalty for denying a People its right to self-determination but, in dealing with racists and colonialists, are an incentive to them to comply with the Charter of the United Nations and the laws of the Organization. 50. It is by this fortifying of the international consensus that we can determine that objectivity and impartiality are not a position equidistant between truth and falsehood, between right and wrong, between the oppressor and the oppressed, between the racists md the people who believe in human equality.

The last speaker is the repre, sentative of Romania, whom I invite to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. President, may I first of all convey to you and to all the members of the Security Council my gratitude for your having agreed to my country’s request to participate in this important series of Council meetings and to reaffirm its position on the problem of Namibia. At the same time, it is a particular pleasure for me to congratulate you warmly as representative of Ireland and a distinguished diplomat on your assumption of the presidency of the Council this month. Our congratulations go also to Ambassador Florin, representative of the German Democratic Republic, on the exemplary manner in which he discharged his important functions in March. 54. The deadlock which still persists in the United Nations efforts to bring about the independence of Namibia, as well as the aggravation of the situation in southern Africa following the acts of aggression and the adventuristic policy of the South African racist rCgime, has aroused the profound concern of the international community. 55. This concern, which has been emphasized by the failure of the Geneva meeting-a failure for which South Africa alone is responsible-has, over the last six months, led to a series of new political and diplomatic actions designed to find ways of overcoming existing obstacles and of implementing without further delay the inalienable right of the Namibian people to national independence. 56. Be it the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs OF Non-Aligned Countries at New Delhi, or the resumed thirty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly, the summit meeting of front-line States at Luanda or the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non- Aligned Countries at Algiers-a meeting at which mY country was represented by a delegation-all those important meetings have one element in common: legitimate concern and determination on the part Of the vast majority of States to find a solution to the grave situation persisting in Namibia which imperils peace and security in Africa and in the world. 57. That concern and determination have been accurately reflected in the broad participation, at a very high political level, in the work of the present series 0’ Council meetings and in the particular interest shown ifl 66. The President of Romania reaffirmed the militant solidarity of the Romanian Government and people with the just cause of the Namibian people and thei] determination to continue in the future supporting its struggle, under the tried and tested leadership of SWAPO, for the exercise of the inalienable right to a free and independent existence, 59, Indeed, the present international situation and the conditions in which the Council is considering the problem of Namibia require US t0 put an end to procrastination, to the creation of obstacles and to the manoeuvres aimed at blocking the Namibian people’s accession to independence. We must no longer accept the state of paralysis of the effcirts to implement the United Nations plan for Namibia. 67. It has always been clear to us that, in the face OI the obstinate position and the illegal actions of South Africa, the Namibian people is fully entitled to have recourse, under the leadership of its legitimate representative, SWAPO, to all political, diplomatic and other means of struggle, including armed struggle, in order to realize their legitimate aspirations to freedom and national independence. After many years of valiant struggle, SWAP0 naturally emerged as the most authentic representative of the Namibian people. No formula for bringing independence to Namibia can therefore be viable without taking into account the decisive role of SWAPO, the sole legitimate representative of the Namibian people, recognized by the United Nations, 60, Little more than a month ago, the General Assembly adopted a number of resolutions on Namibia [r.es&ltjons 35/227 A to F], reaffirming the Namibian people’s inalienable right to self-determination, freedom and national independence, and calling upon Member States and all United Nations organs to discharge their responsibilities fully and take resolute action to that end. South Africa’s response is well known: not only has there been no sign of change in its racist policy or in its brutal denial of the Namibian people’s right to independence, but, indeed, that policy is becoming ever more arrogant, threatening and aggressive. 61. That is why the Council is duty bound to come back to the problem of Namibia and, above all, to consider the specific initiatives and measures which must be taken to ensure implementation of the United Nations plan. 68. While encouraging a political solution for the Namibian problem, in accordance with the United Nations plan, we believe that sustained effort and broad support on the part of democratic and progressive forces throughout ‘the world in many countries and all continents, including from the outset my own country, are designed to help the people of Namibia to circumvent the manoeuvres of the South African racist authorities and win their independence. 62. As has been amply stressed, that plan, which took SO much time and effort to work out and won the unanimous support of the Security Council, contains all the necessary elements to bring about a just aad equitable solution to the Namibian problem. 69, In providing multilateral support to the Namibian people and its national liberation movement, Romania is associating itself with the sustained efforts of the African countries and all the non-aligned countries to promote the cause of the independence of Namibia. 63, The people of Namibia, the African countries and all other countries in the world quite rightly expected that plan to be implemented without delay, and one ofthe last vestiges of colonialism thus to be eliminated. All those actions, however, including the tireless efforts of the Secretary-General, came up against the obstructionist and delaying tactics of South Africa and the aggressive policy of a rCgime which defies all the n11es of international law, morality and reason and which is a constant destabilizing factor and a threat 10 peace. 70. Many representatives of African and other countries who have spoken before me in this important debate have traced the history of the heroic and lengthy struggle of the Namibian people for self-determination and of the efforts of the United Nations to put an end to the racist and colonialist rCgime of occupation and oppression maintained by South Africa. 71. If we in turn recall that 15 years ago the United Nations assumed direct and sole responsibility fur Namibia and its people, it is not simply because we want to go into history for its own sake; it is above all to stress that, through that act which was of such tremendous political and juridical importance, not only the Organization but also its Member States have 64s More than ever before, the Security Council must ---whether it likes it or not-face its responsibilities vis-i-Vis the Namibian people and the maintenance of international peace and security. 65* The Profound concern of the Romanian people Over the tension created in southern Africa by the con- 72. The plan drawn up in Security Council resolutions 385 (1976), 435 (1978) and 439 (1978), in which a tremendous amount of effort has been invested by a large number of States, constitutes the universally recognized and entirely valid framework for bringing about the peaceful transition of Namibia to independence. The efforts of the Council and of the international community as a whole must be focused on the immediate implementation of this plan. 73. In our view, if there is true commitment to an acceptable solution of the problem of Namibia on the basis of the United Nations plan, this commitment must be manifested in the attitude taken towards the implementation of this plan and in the efforts aimed at compelling South Africa to give up its position of defiance by utilizing all appropriate means to that end. 74. The solution of the Namibian problem must have as its point of departure the legitimate rights and the will of the Namibian people. Neither political, economic or strategic considerations nor the existing tension in the present international situation should sidetrack our efforts from the unanimously accepted goal: the independence of Namibia in accordance with the inalienable right of its people to decide on its own destiny. 75. Similarly, no “internal solution” imposed by a colonial apartheid occupation regime which has the arrogance to represent itself as a bulwark of democracy can be accepted as an impediment to the full exercise 76. The overriding interests of peace and security and the defence of international legality call for all countries-in particular the five Western countries of the contact group, whose role in working out this plan is well known-to support effectively the action of the Security Council in order to prevail upon the South African Government to commit itself without delay to the implementation of the plan for Namibia. 77. In the Romanian delegation’s view, the Security Council, by virtue of the responsibilities entrusted to it, is today in duty bound to consider the most energetic measures provided for by the Charter of the United Nations and commensurate with the gravity of the situation in southern Africa in order to prevail upon South Africa to abide by the decisions and the resolutions of the Council and the General Assembly and eliminate the opposition and the obstacles which have been posed to the free exercise of the inalienable rights of the Namibian people. 78. For its part, in solidarity with the just cause of the Namibian people, Romania intends to continue to work together with other countries for the implementation of United Nations decisions with regard to Namibia, so that the Territory can become independent. The meeting rose nt 1 p.m. NOTE ’ Cjfficiol Records of the Gencrul Assembly, Thirty-jifih Session, Plcnnry Meerings, 107th meeting.