S/PV.2351 Security Council

First of all, I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to an amendment which has been proposed and which is acceptable to the sponsors of the draft resolution in document S/14960. It replaces operative paragraph 2 by the following text: 8. On behalf of the delegations of Togo. Uganda and Zaire and the Group of African States, on whose behalf we speak. I wish to commend to the Council the draft resolution which is before it. It is our hope that it will be adopted unanimously. This is literally a matter of life and death for the three young patriots. “UIXPJ all States and organizations to use their influence and to take urgent measures in conformity I IO. The PRESIDENT (i/7tc’/.l,/‘(Jtr/tion 3~~77 Fwm~h): I shall now speak as representative of ZAIRE. I I. On 5 February 198 1, after considering the letter dated 28 November 1980 addressed to the President of the Security Council by the representative of Senegal [S//4277], the Council authorized its President, the representative of France. to appeal to the Government of South Africa to avoid aggravation of the situation in that country and to take into account the concern expressed by the international community for the lives of Mr. Johnson Lubisi. Mr. Naphtali Mamma and Mr. Petrus Tsepo Mashigo. The text of the statement by the President of the Council was immediately sent to the President of the Republic of South Africa. It is regrettable that the Pretoria rkgime rejected that appeal of the Council. that it did not deem it fit to give the appeal the attention it deserved and that consequently the Pretoria Court of Appeal on 7 April 1982 confirmed the death sentences imposed on Mr. Johnson Lusibi. Mr. Naphtali Mamma and Mr. Petrus Tscpo Mashigo. 12. The legitimacy of the liberation struggle of the internationally recognized liberation movements has been acknowledged by the entire international community. which regards them as the legitimate and authentic representatives of the peoples of South Africa. It is therefore unacceptable for the Pretoria @me to continue treating the freedom-fighters as common-law criminals. thereby denying the -just claims of the South African black majority for respect for their inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms and for the emergence of a truly democratic society. 13. This is certainly the time for all the enlightened people of the world struggling to ensure respect fat human rights and fundamental freedoms to demonstrate the full extent of their dedication to the defence of those values by intervening with the South African Government to urge it not to carry out the death sentences against the South African patriots members of the ANC. 14. The Republic of Zaire has associated itself with the efforts of the Group of African States and all the members of the Council to induce the Pretoria rigime, for profoundly humanitarian reasons, to commute the death sentences imposed on these patriots and to free them. purely and simply. It cannot have escaped the attention of the South African authorities. or the au- IS. I now resume my role as PRESIDENT of the Council.

The delegation of the United States was very pleased to be able to associate itself affirmatively with the draft resolution before the Council. We commend its sponsors for their agreement to make a critically important amendment to operative paragraph 2. ‘17. The United States is deeply and continuously concerned with the preservation of human rights. with the extension of human rights in South Africa and throughout the world. We ground our association with this resolution in the same concern that we presently feel for the four prisoners of conscience in Moscow. now in the eighth day of a hunger strike. seeking desperately to focus the world’s attention on their request to be permitted to join their spouses, who are living in three other nations of the world. We ground our concern in the same concern that we feel for the people of Poland who are being deprived of human rights. and the people of Afghanistan. of Kampuchea. and. unhappily, of a very long list of other countries in every part of the world. 18. In this context, and in the context of our understanding that “relevant international instruments” include of course the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. the United States endorses and supports the resolution.

The representative of the United States. using an old tactic. has today preferred to speak not on the agenda item now before the Council but on a question quite alien to that agenda item, I wish only to say a few words on the conduct of the delegation of the United States. strictly on the item now under consideration by the Council. 20. This is not the first time that the Council has been obliged to consider an item connected with the threat to the lives of freedom-fighters and patriots in South Africa. In February last year, the Council considered this issue [2264th muting]. What was the 21. Today we were called to urgent consultations because the South African regime had ignored the appeal made by the President of the Council in February I98 I [S//4.36/ 1, and because the lives of these three patriots were once again threatened. The United States once again took part in the discussion. And what was the price it demanded from the other members of the Council. and from the Council as a whole, in exchange for its agreement? 22. The amendment which it submitted was designed to change the entire context-that is. the context of the saving of the lives of these three young patriots. That context is completely clear: it is to be found in Security Council resolution 473 (1980), which was adopted unanimously on 13 June 1980. Paragraph 3 of that resolution states that the Council:

In the interest of thorough and accurate rather than selective history. and with reference to the context in which I put the resolution before us and the United States vote on that resolution. I too should like to quote from resolution 473 (1980), adopted on I3 June 1980 with the affirmative vote of the United States. In the seventh paragraph of that resolution the Council reaffirms: “Rcr!iflim.v that the policy of rrpartheid is a crime against the conscience and dignity of mankind and is incompatible with the rights and dignity of man. the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration.of Human Rights, and seriously disturbs international peace and security.” 23. That is the context in which the Council must consider and is considering the issue of the threat to the lives of these three patriots, What was the reason for the manoeuvre on the part of the United States today? What is the meaning of this attempt-which indeed failed-to make the Council bend to its will? The United States wanted us to consider the threat to the lives of these three patriots in the context of the violation of human rights and not in the context of the policy of rrprrrthrid. a policy incompatible with human rights and dignity. This attempt has failed. but 24. Mr, WYZNER (Poland): My delegation regrets that the representative of the United States saw fit to deviate from the grave and urgent subject on our agenda and to make a totally unfounded reference to my country. We firmly reject that reference as having nothing in common with the truth. “its recognition of the legitimacy of the struggle of the South African people for the elimination of optrrthcid and the establishment of a democratic society in accordance with their inalienable human and political rights as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” HOW TO OBTAIN UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS United Nations publications may be obtained liom bookstores and distributors throughout the world. Consult your bookstore or write to: United Nations, Sales Section. New York or Geneva. COMMENT SE PROCURER LES PUBLICATIONS DES NATIONS UNIES Les publications des Nations Unies sont en vente dam les librairies et les agences dcpositaires du monde entier. Informez-vows aupres de votre libraire ou adressez-vous B : Nations Unies. Section des ventes. New York ou GenPve. COMO CONSECUIR PUBLKACIONES DE LAS NAClONES UNIDAS Las publicaciones de las Naciones Unidas estan en venta en librerias y casas distributdoras en todas partes de1 mundo. Consulte a su librero o dirijase a: Naciones Unidas, Seccibn de Ventas, Nuevd York o Ginebra. Litho in United Nations. New York 00300