S/PV.944 Security Council

Mr. President, l shalllimit myself strictly ta the procedural aspect ofthe adoption of the agenda, as you have justexpressedyour wishes. 3. l would like to begin with a confession. Frankly, my delegation knows very little about conditions in Angola as my country has not haddirect relations with that region. We are, therefore, notinaposition to pass judgement on the nature of the problem presented or on the proper forum to have a discussion. However, it· l'l.ppears to my delegation that in this case, as in all borderline cases, a discussion may afford as much useful information and muchneededelucidation. Under the flexible procédures of the Security Council inscription by itself. does not and should not prejudice the rights and claims of any party concerned. For these reasons my delegation is ready to defer to the wishes of the representative of Liberiafor inscription of the item.

On this occasion the deiegation ofChilecontinues to adhere to its Government's traditional policy of not opposing the inclusion of items in the CouncU' s agenda. However, as in the past, it is alive to the need to respect and protect human rights and shaH continue to be so in future, and, since the CouncU is not now dealing with the substance ofthe question, but only with 6. Such valid cases as those of Algeria and the Union of South Africa were referred directly to the General Assembly, and the only reason why this Council dealt with the latter case last year, as was recalled in the discussion, was that previous decisions on the matter adopted by the GeneralAssembly had been disregarded. 7. Consequently-and this does not imply taking any stand on the substance of the question ofAngola which the Liberian delegation has brought before us-my delegation prefers not to vote on the matter and thus reserves its position as regards its constitutionality.

1 have no other speakers inscribed on the question of the adoption of the agenda. If no other representative wishes to take the floor, and if there are no objections, 1 shall declare the provisional agenda adopted. Letter dated 20 February 1961 from the representative of Liberia addressed tothe President of the Security Council (S/4738)

1 call on the representative of the United Kingdom who wishes to make a statement in connexion with the adoption of the agenda.

1 am gratefut to the President for allowing me to speak at this juncture. 1 should like to make a few comments, on hehali of the Government ofthe United Kingdom, on the decision which the Council has just taken. 11. We have adopted as our agenda the item referring to the letter dated 20 February [8/4738] fTom the representative of Liberia. This letter formally requests a meeting of the Council "to deal with the crisis in Angola", and it goes on to call for action by the Council "to prevent further deterioration and abuse of human rights and privileges in Angola". 12. The letter also refers to the statement which the representative of Liberia made in this Council on 15 February, in the course of which he rer.d out to us a statement which had been issued by his Government. That statement included the following words: "The Government of Liberia wishes to observe that what appear to be authoritative reports fromAngola indicate that fundamental human rights are, contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, being violated in Angola, and this is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security." [934th meeting, para. 9.] 14. The Government of the United Kingdom has considered very carefuUy such reports as it has received of recent events in Angola. In addition, several representatives around this table gave more or less detailed accounts this morning of events which it is aUeged have taken place in Angola. At this stage, 1 shaU make no comment on these accounts. AU Iwouldsay is this: My Government has not so far seen any convincing evidence that these events canproperlybe represented as constituting a situation likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. It is therefore the opinion of my delegation that in spite of aU he said at the last meeting, to which 1listened with great attention, it remains for the representative of Liberia ta establish that there is in fact such a situation and consequently a prima facie reason for the Security Council to be seized of this question. 15. There is another point in connexion with the adoption of our agenda which 1 should like to make. My delegation offered no objection to the adoption of the agenda. Nevertheless, as the United Kingdomdelegation, bath in the Security Council and in other organs of the United Nations, has often emphasized on previous occasions, we continue to attach the greatest importance to the principle embodied in Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter. We maintain our strong view that nothing in the Charter authorizes the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentiaUy within the domestic jurisdiction of any State. 1 must therefore inform the President and the members ofthis Council that the United Kingdom Government will approach any debate on the question now before us with this point in mind.

1 caU upon the representative of France, who wishes to make a statement in connexion with the adoption of the agenda. 17. Ml'. BERARD (France) (translnted from French): Thank you, Ml'. President, for giving me the floor. 1 shall follow your advice. 1have no intention of entering into the substance of the question before us; 1 merely wish to make a few observations of a juridical nature on the problem of placing it on the agenda and the Council' s jurisdiction, in order to explain the position of my delegation. 20. My delegation wonders whether it is really relevant to cite that Article. My delegation has been very deeply moved by the unfortunate clashes which have taken place between various elements ofthe population of Angola. But are those incidents reaHy such as might lead to an international dispute? Surely ta assert that they are would be to stretch the meaningof Article 34 in a way which was not intended by its authors. This would involve the danger of attributi11g to any dispute or incident which occurs in a country, however regrettable and distressing it may be, a meaning and signtlicance which it does not have. Article 34 adds that the purpose of the Council' s investigation shaH be "in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likelyto endangerthe maintenance of international peace and security". Happily the incidents at Luanda had no sequeI. 21. The dutYof the United Nations andofthis Council is to maintain international peace and security; it should strive to quell passions and not to rouse them. If the Counci! acts otherwise, the salutary nature of its action may be open to doubt. It will lay itself open to criticism, attacks and sooner or later possible to discredit. That is why my delegation considers that the Security Counci! must refrain from intervening in matters which are not indisputably within its jurisdiction.

1 call upon the representative of Turkey, who wishes to make a statement in connexion with the adoption of the agenda.

The itemunder consideration has been brought to the attention of the Security Council by the delegation of Liberia. In that great African continent which is at preseIit writing a new and glorious chapter of its history, Liberia is one of the oldest independent countries. For this reason, we understand the deep interest which the Liberian Government has always shown in an aspects of llie in Africa. At the same time, the Liberian delegation has a brilliant recordwithin the United Nations which shows its allegiance to the and Purposes and Principles of our Organization. The question under consideration involves Portugal, a country with which my country has sustained friendly relations for many centuries. 24. Now while as a member of the Security Council we have not objected to the inscription onthe agenda of the item proposed by Liberia, 1 wish to state that my delegation is not certain at this stage whether the Security Council is the proper forum for discussion and whether Article 34 of the Charter is applicable. 26. These are some ideaswhich my delegationwishes to state at the outset of this discussion on the question of the adoption of the agenda.

l calI on the representative of Ecuador to make a statement in connexion with the adoption of the agenda. 28. Ml'. BENITES VlNUEZA (Ecuador) (translated from Spanish): The adoption of the agenda does not usually give rise to a debate requiring an explanation of votes. It was mydelegation'sunderstandingthatthis is a purely procedural question which does not affect the substance of the item. 29. Rule 9 of the provisional rules ofprocedure of the Council states that the first item to be dealt with by ~he Council shall be the adoption of the agenda. Surely there is no need to engage in dialectics in order to show that the agenda is the methodical classification of the items to be discussedduringtheday. That being so, it is clear that acceptance of the agenda does not mean approval of the items it embraces. Consistent with that line of reasoning, my delegation continues to abide by the principle of voting in favour of inclusion in the agenda and it does so for three reasons: on legal grounds, because it considers that the question is purely one of procedure; on politicalgrounds, because it holds the view that every State, large or small, has the right to bring to the attention ofthe United Nations any matters that it deems to be permissible under the Charter; and on ethical grounds, because it believes that nothing can be decided unless it is judged and nothing can be judged unless it has previously been carefully examined with a viewto establishingwhether the alleged facts are relevant to the l'ule or precept invoked. 30. It is the view of my delegation that the next step. after inclusion of the iteminthe agenda, is to establish where the jurisdiction lies. It has had doubts and still has doubts concerningthe Council' s jurisdiction, within the limits and powers assigned to it inthe Charter, and it hopes to be in a position to express its views in greater detail at a later stage of the debate.

In accordance with rule 37 of the provisional rules of procedure of the Security Council and with the consent of the Council, l propose to invite the representative of Portugal to the Council table in accordance with his request [S/4760]. At the invitation of the President, Mr. Vasco V. Garin (Portugal) took a place at the Council table. 34. I must admit that the action of the delegation of Liberia in pressing for t~e inscription of an item relating to incidents pertainingexclusivelyto the internal security of Portugal came as a great surprise to my delegation. At the 934th meeting on 15 February1961, the Liberian representative attempted to by-pass the rules of procedure on this same topic, but he was clearly shown by the President that his motionwas out of order. We frankly thoughtthat the matterwould rest there. 35. Unfortunately, it would appear at times thata few delegations have nothing more constructive to offerto the international community of nations than their efforts to violate the principles of the Charter of the United N'ltions, with the vain hope of instilling poison into the national affairs of sovereign Member states. 36. Therefore, my delegation wishes to express the most vehement protest of the Portuguese Government against the action of the Liberian delegation and of the delegations supporting it, an action which makes a mockery of the letter and the spirit of the idea which presided at the foundation of the United Nations. 37. The inscription of this item in the agenda of the Security Council is bothillegal and absurdo Let us first see why it is so patently illegal. 38. In the terms oÎArticle 24 (2), the Security Council has its competence specifically limited to matters referred to in Chapters VI, VII, VIn and XII of the Charter. These Chapters refer to Chapter VI, Pacific settlement ofdisputes; Chapter VII, Actionwith respect to threats to the peace, B:reaches of the peace, and Acts of aggression; Chapter vm, Regional arrangements; and Chapter XII, Article 83, functions relating to strategic areas under international trusteeship. 39. No mention has been made of anydispute between the Portuguese state and any'other State Memberof the Organization likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, nor has any proof been presented of the existence of a situation which would cause a dispute of that nature. Clearly there must be at least two parties-and under the Charter the parties must also be sovereign independentStatesif there is to be a dispute or if such a situation is to existe Therefore, none ofthe cases foreseen inArticles 33 and 34 is under consideration. These two Articles are the only ones which would justify anyaction of the Security Council within the scope of Chapter VI. IlAlI Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence ofany State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations." 1 repeat-" in their international relations". 41. Thus, the application of Chapter Vil would have required the existence of a breach of international peace in the form of attempted aggression or aggression against the territorial integrity or political independence of a State or the threat or,the use of force against such territorial integrity or independence. No such allegation was made against Portugal, nor could it have been made. Therefore, the case is obviously outside the scope of Chapter VII.• 42. The proVlsIOns of Chapters VIII and XII, Article 83, are aIso irrelevant. No regional treaty is at stake, nor does the matter concern a strategie area under an international régime of trusteeship. Therefore, there is no provision whatever of the Charter which would justify the consideration of this matter by the Security Council. 43. Actually this self-evident premise was recognized by the delegation of Liberia. As a matter of fact, the Liberian representative in his intervention of 15 February-an intervention, incidentally, which was ruled out of order-based his request for the inclusion of the item under the provisions of Article 34 of the Charter. Subsequently, however, presumably after studying the Charter a Uttle better, the Liberiandelegation deleted any reference to that Article of the Charter when it submitted the formaI request to the President of the Security Council. This manifestly shows that the Liberian delegation could not in effect find any legal premise which would justify its submission of the matter to the Security Council. 44. Thus, the Liberian delegation decided to base its request or complaint on a vague reference to human rights and privileges. Even then the excuse was not a happy one. In effect human rights are exclusivelywithin the province of Chapter IX of the Charter. Emphatically again, by the provisions ofArticle 24, paragraph 2, the jurisdiction of the Security Council is specifically limited to the matters contained in Chapters VI, VII, VIII and XII, neither of which can conceivably apply to the present case. 45. This Interpretation has been sanctioned by the Security Council, as for example in the procedure adopted with respect to the case terrorism in Greece, 47. If any doubts should still persist in the minds of the members of the Council regarding the incompetence of the Security Council to occupy itself with the question based on alleged violations of human rights, even li those violations should exist, which is not the case here, it should suffice to recall the interpretive clarüication approved unanimously by a plenary session of the San Francisco Conference of 1945 relating to Chapter IX of the Charter. That decision states: "Nothing contained in Chapter IX can be construed as giving authority to the Organization to intervene inthe domestic affairs of Member States."Y 48. The absence of any legal provision recognizing the competence of the Security Council to concern itself with this matter brought up by the Liberian delegation signifies, therefore, that in taking up this case the Council is manliestly exceeding its functions, thus violating areas of alien jurisdiction-in this case an area of alien jurisdiction which the Council must respect, not only in obeisance to the general rules of international law, but also in conformitywiththe principle established by the Charter itself, namely, the principle of Article 2, paragraph 7. This principle is over-ridiIig. By the terms of Article 2, paragraph 7, nothing authorizes the Organizationor any ofits organs to intervene in matters essentiallywithinthe domestic jurisdiction of any State. 49. The so-called crisis related by the Liberian representative refers, of course, ta the recent disturbance of public order in Luanda, Angola, which occurred without any previous unrest, commotion br demonstration of any sort. In fact, the disturbance involved only small groups of hooligans and hirelings who could not conceivablyrepresentanysegmentofthe population of Luanda, a population whichwas caught by surprise and reacted with general indignation. 50. In allowing that the Council should occupy itself with this matter, are the Council members perchance accepting a new principle to the effect that the maintenance of public order in cities of sovereignMember States is not essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of those States? It certainly would be a revplutionary new conception for every State. Such a precedent would cause almost unimaginable consequences. For one thing, it would signify that no authority would be recognized to a sovereign State to deal with disturbances of public order within its own territory.lncidents of public disorder occur In every country repy Officlal Records of the Securlty Councl1, Firth Year, No. 35. 'Y United Nations Conference on International Organization,. P/20. 52. The primary function of aState is to guarantee the security of its citizens. Thus the State has more than just the right-it has the obligation-to restore public order whenever disorderly or subversive elements criminally disturb it. 53. In the view of my delegation, a view which is faithful to the letter and spirit of the words w:ritten in the Charter, the word "nothing" written in Article 2, paragraph 7, in the context "Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State • .• " means exactly "nothing". Legally, semantically or otherwise, the word "nothing" is one of the few in the vocabulary of any language which has but one meaning, nothing, no matter how hard certain delegations may tryto distort its meaning for political expediency. 54. If nothing in the Charter authorizes the Organization to intervene in this matter, and, again, if nothing in the Charter recognizes the Council jurisdiction on the matter, even on a pretextfalsely invoked, it follows that there is no valid basis whatever.. in the light of international law, for the considerationofthe matter by the Security Council. Logically, then, if the Security Council should insist on following a path of illegality in this case it would, ipso facto, undermine its own authority in doing so. 55. However, even if we leave aside the legal objections to consideration of this subject by the Council, the question'inevitably arises, "Whytheanxïetytopick on Portugal?" How many disturbances of public order leading to loss of life have occurred in recent times throughout the world? On what grounds is it now proposed to single out Portugal where, in point of fact, this type of disturbance of public order has occurred more rarely thah in almost any other national of the world? Are we to assume .that aIl members favouring the placing of this item on the Council's agenda will, from now on, whenever disturbances of public order occur in their countries, willingly submit to the considerat~on in this Council of their efforts to maintain law and order intheir nationalterritories ?Ifit is to be done, although illegally. in the case of Portugal, it should then be done in the caseof aU violent disorders against the authority of Member States. Are the members of this Council, and the Members of the General Assembly as weIl, prepared to accept supervision by the United Nations ovel' the maintenance of public order in their cities, to\;Vns and villages, or, if the Members are not willing to submit themselves to the absurdity of such a notion, is my delegation to assume that it is simply a case of singling out Portugal in the most brazen, discriminatory manner? Would not such an attitude on the part of the Council make a mockery 56. Let us now look into the absurdity ofthe premise which, on its owncontention, led the Liberian delegation to propose this item. In his bizarre statement before the Security Council on 15 February the Liberian representative, in a desperate searchfor arguments to justüy his motion, went as far as to quote what he caUed one of Shakespeare's mostmemorablephrases, to wit, "Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower safety". 57. The Liberian representative, in his literary prowl to engage Shakespeare as an ally in an unprovoked attack on my country, has brought forth a new dimension to this debate. Thus, to sober his thoughts on the matter, l shall offer him in return another memorable quotation, although not from Shakespeare: "Oh,what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive~" 58. l am sorry that l have ta bring flowery literary quotations to the fore,. as the Liberian representative did on 15 February, but l havedoneso deliberately, to show, as it were, how preposterous a debate in the United Nations can become when representatives, like the representative of Liberia and afew others, toss the principles and the facts out of the window in order to concentrate on deception by words. 59. To our knowledge Portugal does not nowhave any dispute with Liberia, or Liberiawith Portugal, nor has there been any such dispute in the pasto The Portuguese GovernmeIit has never received any note from the Liberian Government about any dispute invol\ri..ng our two countries. And it is, of course, inadmissible that Liberia should bestowuponitselfthetaskof interfering with the regular functions of the Portuguese police in Portuguese territory. Yet the statement by the representative of Liberia that the crisis cannot be long postponed is not, in his mind, open to doubt may l'aise doubts as to whether the Liberian representative has inside knowledge of an international plot to carry anarchy ta Portuguese territory. 60. The absurdity of the inscription of this item can be seen in its proper perspective if one looks hones~y at the incidents in Luanda, of which,outof courtesy to the Security Council, l shall in due course give a clarüying account. What the Luanda police force did then is exactly what the police of any other city or country would have or shouldhave done-that is, defend the population of the city, ofbothAfricanand European extraction, against the forays ofthe foreign-led criminaIs and arrest the assassins ofthe police officers and 61. To complete the absurdity, we have this clear-cut case of the maintenance of public order in a sovereign State being brought up before the Security Council by the Government of Liberia. There was a situation indeed, but a situation which is exclusively within the competence and responsibility of the nationalauthorities of a sovereign State-in this case, of the Portuguese authorities at Luanda. It would only become a dangerous situation-and then mostly for the 10CEl! population-if the security forces were not able to cope with the criminals or if, by some distorted notion of right and wrong, anarchy and murder were permitted to flourish. 62. The Liberian representative can rest assured that in internaI matters of the maintenance of public order in the Portuguese nation wedonotneed his concern nor do we tolerate the interference of his Government or of any international group or body. 63. One may wonder whether this rather clumsy exploitation of the recent Luanda incidents is a kind of test for future intervention by the United Nations in every disturbance of public order in any country. It certainly would establish three dramatic precedents: first, that the letter and spirit of the Charter-any Chapter of the Charter, for that matter-can be successfully violated so long as the violation is carried out, truly or falsely, in the name of some popular notion shared by the majority of the Security Council or of the General Assembly, as the case may be; secondly, that all internaI matters of sovereign Member States become international disputes if they run ' against the doctrinaire beliefs or if they happen to conform to the particular dislikes or special idiosyncracies of other States; and, thirdly, that the apprehension or repression of any common criminal who shoots a policeman in cold blood or fires on a peaceful citizen anywhere, at any time, maybecome an item for discussion in the Security Council, if the criminal in question has a friend who will introduce him to this august body as a patriote 65. It is ironic that the Liberian representative' s letter to the Presidentofthe Security Council, formally requesting t.~e inscription of this item, invokes the pretext of preventing "further deterioration and abuse of human rights and privileges in Angola". Parenthetically, it might be mentioned again that abuses of human rights, if they did exist-and this is not the case in the Portuguese nation-would not be within the competence of the Security Council. Yetmydelegation is not concerned with that, and for two self-evident reasons: First, only the most malevolent or blind opinion can connect the incidents of Luanda with any violation of human rights. Secondly, in the Portuguese multi-racial society, in which by law, tradition and application there is no colour or religious bar, human rights are at the very foundation of our political and social structure. It is, l repeat, ironic thatthe representative of Liberia should be the one flippantlyto invoke human rights in his letter to the President of the Security Council, for he represents a nation which by constitutional law and practice imposes clear-cut racial discrimination; only persons ofAfricandescent may acquire Liberiancitizenship and only citizens may own real estate. l mention this only because, in his statement to this Council on 15 February, the Liberian representative referred to Portuguese constitutional provisions and questioned them, and again, inhis letter to the President of the Security Council, the same representative gratuitously refers to what he calls IIdeterioration and abuse of human rights and privileges" in a province of Portugal. 66. The moti.c-n of the Liberian delegation saddened and s·:.lrpriseü us. But the support lent to that motion by the Soviet delegaÜon did not surprise us at alla Everyone here knows that what is good for chaos outside the Soviet empire is good enough for the Soviet Union. The Soviet representative mentioned this morning about half a dozen names of alleged victims of the Portuguese authorities in Angola. Now, if l were to recite to the Security Council the names of all the victims of Soviet tyranny and atrocities, it would take such a long time that. babies born today would have white hair before l had finished the liste 67. Out of considerations of courtesy to the members of the Security Council-and even beyond such considerations-I shall give the Council a description of the incidents which took place in Luanda. But l must stress.in advance that this does not constitute an explanation on our part, an explanation which, per se, would be inappropriate, given the purely internaI 68. These efforts by the parties to which l refer are dictated by their failure in denting the wall of resistance which the solidarity of the Portuguese people, of all races, offers to attempts of subversionfrom the outside. It also becomes imperative to bring forth exact knowledge of the events because, apart from the bearing it has on our contentionthat inscriptionof this item was illegal, public opinion has bee!). misIed by a segment of the international Press, including widely read newspapers and magazines in the United states, which have grossly distorted the events and misrepresented their signliicance. 69. During the night from 3 to 4 February 1961, at 2.30 a.m., in the city of Luanda-where, as in the rest of Angola, there had been no previous unrest or commotion of any sort, where llie was going on with the usual tranquillity-a few gangs of men armed with katanas, pistols and tommy guns, in a simultaneous action, attacked the house of military detention, the civil prison of St. Paul, for common criminals, and a station of police of public security, which is the uniformed police, or more simply, the citypolice. Taking advantage of the night and of the fact that no special security measures had been taken, because there was complete calm and tranquillity in Luanda, calm which persists now after the incidents, the assailants were able to kill the sentries at the police station and at the civil prison of St. Paul. Then they launched attacks on the three buildings. The alarm was sounded and a fight ensued. As a result, apart from the sentries killed by the assailants, several agents of the city police and military police were gravely wounded and are still hospitalized. AmLng the criticallywounded, there were three Portuguese police officers of African race. 70. In the meantime, one of the gangs attackeda jeep belonging to the police, on a routine patrol, and killed its four occupants, mie of them of African race. The bodies of the four police officers were savegelymutilated by the assailants. At approximately the same time a police officer on .his regular night beat, near the radio broadcasting station, was murdered byone ofthe gangs and another policeman was wounded in the sarne place. Incidentally, l have in my possession a dossier containing pictures relating to these crimes. 71. In the assault on the house ofmilitarydetentionwhich the assailants expected to be more strongly guarded than the civil prison or the police station-the gang used mainly tommy guns. The evidence is still quite clear in the walls of the building. Thanks to the quick and courageous soldiers of the guard, and particularly to the bravery of one of them who, though 72. Due to the rapidity of the assults and to the fact that the criminals fled as the police and soldiers entered into action to repel the assailants, the task of capturing immediately the responsible ones became difficult; and yet it was possible to do so with considerable speed, thanks to the spontaneous co-operation of the population of African race who furnished the leads and the assistance which led to the capture of a large number of culprits. This spontaneous reaction of the peaceful population of Luanda shows unmistakably their feelings of repulse for the criminals who had fled and for. the murders they had committed. The criminals also shot down eight innocent bystanders, aU of them of African race, and perpetuated violence against others who refused to join them. 73. On 5 February nearly 50,000persons-Portuguese of both European and Atrican origin-accompaniedthe funeral procession for the victims of the assailants. It was an eloquent demonstration of revulsion for the murders committed by the gangs of bandits, ademonstration witnessed by many foreign correspondents who were then at Luanda. Ar.'\ong the mourners, mal'ching along with the procession, and, as it is customary in Angola, absolutely 'without any armed escort or bodyguard, there were the Governo.r-General of the province and aU the Government and civic leaders of the city. During the burial ceremony at the cemetery, several shots were fired by agitators hiding in a saw miU near the cemetery. As a result, women and children-in large numbers among the crowdwere understandably seized by panic and it became difficult for the police to restore calm immediately, on account of the many thousands ofpeople crowded in a small area. Thus groups of civilians, bothblack and white, and l stress this point because it is the truth, became excited and attacked the agitators who had fired on the crowd. Before the police could restore order, five of these assailants were killed and several wounded by the civilians, whose reaction when fired upon by the cowardly assailants is understandable. But, l repeat, the police were able to restore order; otherwise it could have been worse. 74. The statements made by the criminals arrestedsorne of the gang leaders among them have been identified-and also the laboratory tests on the prisoners proved, with01.lt the shadow of a doubt, that the great majority of the assailants, before they set out on their rampage, had beengivenintoxicatingdrinks and stimu- 75. In the statements by the criminals arrested there are frequent references to "foreignAfricans", and one of the leaders was referred to by the others as "the Congolese". The active participation of a few white men is also revealed by the prisoners. According to their statement, one ofthesewhite men spoke a foreign language Incomprehensible to the prisoners who received orders directly from their gang leaders. One of these gang leaders, wounded and captured during the assault on the house of military detention, revealed in his sworn statement the presence of these white men in the organization which prepared the assaults. It is interesting to note that, in conformity with the usual technique of agitators, the white men and others who planned the assaults were notpresentwhen the assaults took place, thus leaving their recruits to their fate once the acts of terrorism had been committed. 76. Obviously, the organizers knew that the acts of terrorism would not find any favourable climate on the part of the population of Luanda, blackorwhite. These terrorists are only interested in causing any kind of disturbance of public order so as to create an appearance of rebellion with political undertones, which then would be explored-as these incidents were-by those international subversive forces which are at war with Portugal, for the very simple reason that peace and harmony reign in the Portuguese nation, whether in Europe or in Africa; peace and harmony beingthe two most formidable obstacles to the external forces engaged in bringing subversion to my country. These terrorist instigators, planners and actual leaders of the assaults are the culprits responsible for the crimes committed and for the lives lost in Luanda both among police officers and soldiers, innocent bystanders and assailants. 77. The thorough investigations being carried out have already led ta the arrest of three white men; the responsibility of one of them in the organization of the assault has been proved definitely. He is a European of low moral calibre and also a communist follower. 79. The perfect technique of the terrorist agitators, for which there are special schools in certam countries of the world, is demonstrated by the fact that the pistols and tommy guns captured hadtheir seriaI numbers expertly erased to make it difficult to identifythe immediate origin of the weapons, although no great imagination will be required to make a good guess. 80. At the last meetingthe Soviet representative himself revealed th~t the Communist agitator named Andrade, had requested the support of the Soviet Union; but he did not give us the answer to that request. 81. Furthermore, an internationalorganizationknown as DRIL, which openly declares itself responsible for the organization of acts of terrorism and subversion directed against the Portuguese nation, is connected with the events in Luanda. We have ample proof of that, and individuals admittedly connected with DRIL have recently brought up that connexion in print in the international Press, with the excuse that this international communist-controlled organization, DRIL, was assisting their efforts to overthrowthe Portuguese Government. 82. The attitude of the entire population of Angolathe population of both races-shows unmistakably that these terrorist efforts succeeded only, to their complete surprise, in disrupting public order for a very short time. The regular securityforceswere more than competent to restore the tranquillity and public order which prevailed before and which continues to prevail now in Luanda. 83. It is deplorable that certain Governments should attempt to lend to the common criminals of the Luanda incidents-criminals led by terrorist agitators-the aureole of rebels. Genuine rebels are supposed to be in favour of something. In this case, rebels in favour of what? In favour of the murder ofpoliceofficers, black and white, and of innocentbystanders, black andwhite? In favour of a reignofterrorismamongthe population, with the strings being pulled by some far-off international communist organization? In our book, those are not rebels; they are commoncriminals and will be treated as such. The absolute solidarity ofthepopulation of Luanda, of both European and African races, against these bandits and their leaders is the ultimate proof, if proof were needed, that the apprehension of a 84. Mantlestly, the international "agents provocateurs" have replaced truth with falsehood in a vain at"'f tempt to disrupt the peace and racial harmony which exist in every Portuguese territory. 85. It is alsotobedeploredthatsomeof the reporters who were in Luanda at the time did not hesitate, in their thirst for sensationalism, to invent, l repeat invent, episodes which had never taken place, with the aim, presumably, of rendering their accounts more exciting than those of the many honest reporters also present. Some of these fictitious dispatches were so fantastic that the employees at the telegraph office at Luanda, who had witnessed the incidents just as the reports had, could not believe their eyes. l have here copies of some of these almost incredible dispatches. 86. For example, after the incident, already described, which took place on 5 February 1961, during the funeral of the victims ofthe assaults by the bandits in the early morning of 4 February, a few of these enterprising reporters composed dispatches for their papers stating that they had seen and heard the armoured cars of the police machine-gunning the populace for hours throughout the night. The Sovietrepresentative also mentioned that today. It is onlypertinent for me to clarüy the fact thatthe Luanda police do not possess any armoured cars whatsoever, and no mechanized military unit ever left its barracks. At any rate, the same gory dispatch, describingthe armoured cars of the police machine-gunning the populace for hours throughout the night concludes withthe information that, this action resulted in the death of five persons. The very wording ofthese dispatches reveals the absurdity of the contents. Needless to add, the honest reporters who were then at Luanda never saw or mentioned auy such happenings. 87. Another eloquent example was the attemptby other foreign reporters tofabricate photographie evidence of racial strüe among children of both races in a grammar school in Luanda. To this end, the solicitous reporters organized at the school a soccer game between two teams of children, in the course of which, at the urging of the reporters, black and white children engaged in fist fights for the benefit of the camera. The only reason why these photographs did not appear in international magazines was the lucky accident that, when the parents arrived at the schooltopick up their children, the reporters andphotographer were aboutto finish their dirty work. The parents caught on to the trick, destroyed the film and camera and chased away the producers of the show, whofledwithout shame. The parents were, of course, of both races. Actually, the only thing that these dishonest reporters accomplished was to prove to themselves the fact which everyone should know by this time-the fact thatblack and white children sit together in the same classes, by al- 88. However, considering the character of the anti- Portuguese campaignabroad, itwouldnotbe surprising if the suppression of these malevolent pictures of fabricated situations was presented inthe international Press as an exarnple of curtailing the freedom of information. 89. In the view of my delegation, itis most important to stress the nature of these facts-of which 1 could give many examples-in order to realize how world public opinion is geared at times to entirelyfalse conceptions, and how falsely guided public opinion caninfluence the acts of Governments which may base their cases on evidence or information of the sort which 1 have described. 90. The behaviour of some dishonest reporterssensation-seekers, if you prefer-which became immediately apparent in Luanda, because theywere quite obnoxious and open with their tricks, did cause a great deal of animosity on the part of the population against foreign corresPondents, many of. whom, 1 must say, maintained a correct attitude. These circumstances led the authorities to take aU precautions to protect the correspondents, providing aIl ofthemw:ith identification documents in Portuguese requestingfor them the necessaty facilities and support in the fulfilment of their news-gathering mission. The Luanda authorities protected and granted aU facilities to proper newsmen even when their points of view and reports were critical of Portugal. 91. The acts of a few of the foreign correspondents who were in Luanda at the time of the incidents-the few who were eager to distort the true events for purposes of sensationalism-becameprogressivelybitter. It is a matter of public record that four of them went as far as to force their way into the offices of the Government liaison and information services, insulting coarsely the officiaIs who tried to brief them on the events. 92. As a result of such outlandish behaviour on the part of supposectly responsible journalists, who attempted to pose as victims of uncivil treatment by the authorities, the GoveI'nor-General was forced to invite the four correspondents in question to leave Angola. Somebody mentioned this matter here this morning, MI'. President so Iamalsoreferringtoit. At the sarne time, aU the othercorrespondents,whoseactionswere normal and civil, regardless of whether or not they were favourable ta or criticalofthe Government, were given aU the necessary assurances and facilities for the fulfilment of their news-gathering mission. 94. The Portuguese Government has no doubt that incidents, of the same nature as those whichoccurred at Luanda, are beingprepared elsewhere in Portuguese territories by the agents of international terrorism with the same characteristics of the Luanda incidents and with exactly the same purpose, falsely attempting to depict these incidents as symptoms of rebellion against Portuguese sovereignty. The Portuguese authorities are quite prepared and forewarned about these terrorist incidents to be, butfor security reasons the moment would not be opportune to elaborate on them. 95. We have been accused for blaming the international forces of communism in connexion with the incidents of Luanda. Now, may 1 ask, when the Portuguese authorities have proof, including even the evidence of the agitators now in jail, thatthe incidents of Luanda were organized by paid agents of international subversion, who else should we blame? Or is it that such forces, whichhave sucha notorious record - all over the world, have suddenlybecomesweetangels beyond reproach? The photographs 1 have here of the murdered police officers of Luanda and the bodies of the innocent bystanders, aIl Portuguese Africans, also murdered by the terrorists, tell a different story. 96. The Portuguese populations, of aIl races and creeds, have demonstrated a firmness and decision which must have bewildered the agitators who are used to softer grounds for subversion. Among the millions of people in the territories of the Portuguese nationas in any other nation-it will always be possible for the agitators to recruit a handful of criminals, as they did in Luanda, with the help of intoxicating drugs and bribes. The percentage ofderelicswhich the organization of international subversion could recruit in other countries would certainly be muchhigher. Is that handful of criminals representative of the population of Angola? 97. It is quite apparent, particularly in the Ughtof the recent events in Africa, that the Organization of the United Nations, if it should encourage aIl ideas and schemes of.extremist African nationalism, would in actuaUty . promote a new kind of intolerant racism: anti-white racism, the condemnation of the white man on the basis of the colour of his skin. To the Portuguese, who have always been free of racial considerations in their political and social thinking, this anti-white racism is perhaps one of the most shocking developments of recent times. 98. Three of the members of the Council in their speech before the inscription of the itemon the agenda referred erroneously to Portuguese constitutional texts to draw the wrong conclusions. Thus l am compelled to correct their data on the.subject. Legal texts 99. In this connexion it is appropriate to quote an early seventeenth century ruling of the Royal Council: "Goa and the other lands overseas with whose Governments this Council is concerned are not distinct nor separate from this realm, nor yet do they belong to it by union but they are members of the same realm as the other provinces such as Algarve ••• and thus he who is born and lives in Goa or in Brazil or in Angola is a Portuguese as he who lives and is born in Lisbon." This is a Royal Decree, as 1 said, of the early seventeenth century. 100. To the territorial unitY there corresponds an absolute unitY of the Portuguese people who make up an example, certainly an unusual one, of an equal multiracial society, the acquisitionofPortuguese nationality being ruled by one single law which applies equaUy to everyone as provided by article 7 of the Constitution. As far as we are concerned, there is not the slightest question-the Portuguese overseas provinces are independent with the independence of the nation. We are dealing with historieal facts for which itwould be vain to seek to fashion either to alienpoliticalphilosophies or outside standards of measures. 101. The knowledge, by the entire Portuguese populâ- tion, of aU the facts 1 havepointedout in the course of my statement about the true nature ofthe events which took place in Luanda, as weU as their daily experience with life as it exists in the Portuguese territories, would make it impossible for them to accept, without vehement protest, that this subject should have been taken up in violation of the relevant Articles of the Charter, by this Council. This is likewise the position of my Government. 104. However, in his intervention, the Soviet representative in particular embarked on a rampage of unprovoked, Ul'l.justüied, unwarranted, gratuitous and thoroughly malevolent accusations against my country which cannot pass without an immediate protestonthe part of my delegation. 105. The Soviet representative accusedmycountryof practising colonialism and imperialism, of violating human rights. of imposing forced labour,ofpromoting economic exploitation, of creating conditions or situations which may endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. These are outrageous slanders, and my delegation, on behalf of the Portugese nation and its Government, vehemently denies such allegations and repudiates with contempt ~very one of them. 106. As they were based on falsehoods and typical Soviet fabrications for the purpose ofpropaganda, most of these gratuitous accusations hardly merit a reply. They are entirely baseless, and, should the representative of the Soviet Union pretend to prove them, he would have to offer still more fabrications. Yet 1 will return to this topic in the course ofa statement which. as 1 have said, 1 intend to make during this debate. 107. For the moment 1 will only say very calmly, in commenting on the allegations of the Soviet representative, that my country does not practise any type whatsoever of colonialism in the Portuguese nation. Portugal has been for centuries a unitarian nation and it has always been recognized as such by the international community. It waS as a unitarian nation that we entered this Organization. Our land and people are dispersed, not unlike other States and nations, on several continents, but we make up only one unity, completely independent and solidary-one countrywith the 'same national feeling. 108. Nowhere in my country is there any subjugation of peoples to foreign domination, as we are a multiracial society, structured by the interlacement of peoples of different races, colours and religions. From the viewpoint of economic initiative, noparticularpart of the nation enjoys any special privileges or benefits in relation to other parts. We could never violate 109. On the other hand, l will sayto the Soviet representative that there is no doubt about the existence in the world of a system of ruthless colonialismand imperialism. That system has torn the world asunder; that system represents one ofthemostcrueltyrannies in the annals of humanhistory; that system subjugates, oppresses and exploits hundreds of millions ofpeople; that system persistently attacks free men and their institutions, in a self-admitted great design to conquer total world power; that system uses a vast arsenal of weapons, includingpropaganda, subversion, blackmail, economic pressure, political warfare and constant threats of armed intervention in order to attain that aim. That system has constatntly perpetratedflagrant acts and crimes against humanity, sacrüicing human freedom, justice, religion and national dignity to absurd and outworntheories, alreadyproved to be impractical, but which continue to be practised by a minority of fanatics who seem to draw their strength and morbid joy from the practice of all forms ofoppression. That system is in actuality the distant but real culprit manipulating the events we are now discussing here, as it is the real culprit manipulating most of the acts of violence which take place in the world today. 110. The country that is theforemost representative, inventor and promoter of that system was most appropriately accused the other day inthis room of having declared war on the United Nations. l believe that it has for many years done much more than that: it has declared war on mankind itself. l certainly could not recognize to its representative here, the Soviet delegate, any moral authority or moral standing to make any kind of accusation against my country or, for that matter, against any other country.

l wish to speak only briefly, in exercise of my right of reply, because the Liberian delegation is itself surprised that the representative of Portugal pretends surprise at the fact that the Liberian delegation is bringing up a purelyAfrican question in this .Council. Who else seated in this Council would be a more likelydelegation to do so than ourselves? 112. l am sure the representative of Portugal entirely misunderstands the intentof mydelegation, representing the African countries, inseeking the insc:t:iption of this item on the agendaofthe Security Council. We are 113. 1 am sure also that the interpretation of "international conflict" is not confined tu big Powers, to European Powers-Britain against France, for example, or the Soviet Union against Turkey. 114. We therefore hope that Africa is considered by the Portuguese as a part of the world and that its people are also considered to be human beings. 115. MI'. ZORIN (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) (translated from Russian): MI'. President, 1 do not propose at this late hour to make any reply to the illnatured remarks thathave justbeenmade by the representative of Portugal. 1 merely wish to draw the attention of the Council and of the Po!"tuguese representative to one point. 116. The representative of Portugal referred to inter- .national communism, to subversive activities and to various acts of terrorism, organized in certain quarters, and so forth. He also spoke of laws and decrees promulgated in Portugal during the seventeenth century. 1 should like to point out to the representative of Portugal that he must live not by the laws of the seventeenth century, but by the laws ofthe second half of the twentieth century. And the second half of the twentieth century, by its very nature, spells the end of colonialism, includi1?-g Portuguese colonialism. 117. If the Portuguese delegation is goingto be guided by the laws of the seventeenth century, it can expect no profit therefrom, and the representative of Portugal must realize that if forty States insist on a discussion of Portuguese administration in Angola, the matter cannot be brushed aside, however much he may vociferate about international communism. That, MI'. President, is aIl 1 wanted to say. 118. MI'. GARIN (Portugal): 1 will be very brief. 1 should simply like to make a few comments on what the Soviet representative has just said. He said that 1 had invoked the laws of the seventeenth centUl'Y. It is true that 1 invoked those laws. But, in the context of what 1 said, 1 was invoking the laws of the seventeenth century to say that we were practising in the seventeenth century what everybody expects us to practise now in the second half of the twentieth century. Our laws of wlity have not changed since the seventeenth century; our fundamental aspirations have not changed. 119. Regarding the decision that as the Soviet representative says, was taken againstPortugal by a certain majority, 1 should like to read the following statement "A group of States which at any Ume commands a majority can, of course, secure the adoption of a decision which is advantegeous to it. Butthat is only a Pyrrhic victory. Such 'victories' do damage tothe United Nations, and are instrumental in ruining it."Y These are words pronounced two years aga in the General Assembly by Mr. Khrushchev.

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