S/PV.952 Security Council

As the Cey- Ion delegation, a co-sponsor of the resolution before the Council [S/4828], happens to speak after hearing the representative of Portugal, 1 should like to make sorne brief observations on the subject of competence before proceeding to the main theme of my statement. 3. When we had the occasion to take up the subject of Angola before this Council three months ago [943rd to 94êth meetings], this same subject of competence of the Council to consider it was discussed and, by inscribing the item on the agenda, the Council decided that it was a matter of which the Council should be seized. The representative of Portugal seems once again ta have tried to engage us i11 an exercise which, because of the earlier decision, was unnecessary. In fact, considering the worsening of the situation in Angola, it is quite clear that this Counnil is fully competent ta consider this matter as one of urgency again. 4. There is no point in belabouring this obvious and quite clear facto However many red herrings are drawn across the trail, or however much people refrain from facing realities, facts remain facts, and there is no doubt that the situation in Angola is a potential danger to international peace and security. Hence, the subject is one that this Council should consider. Under no stretch of the imagination is Angola an internaI question, but one that threatens the peace of a very large area of Africa and is, therefore, without any element of doubt, a potential danger to international peace and security. Hence, this challenge regarding the competence of the Council to consider this subject is without foundation. 5. In the course of three months the subject of Angola has called for the attention of the United Nations on three occasions. In March the subject came before the Security Council; in April it was before the General Assembly; and now it is once again before the Security Council. The interest that the Members of this Organization take in this subject is, therefore, quite clear. In fact, it is also equally clear that the Members of this Organization consider the situation in Angola as one of greaturgency. The letter dated 26 May 1961, [S/4816 and Add.1], signed by forty-three Members of this Organization, is eloquent testimony to the importance they attach to the subject of Angola as one that constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security. 6. We are aware that, despite the censorship which has been imposed on the transmission of reports, still the reports that have managed to reach us speak of thousands of persons who have been killed. Nor is "Thus two forces are in reckless collisiop-one entrenched, immensely stubborn, courageous, prepared to be cruel to whatever point is necessary to protect its heritage, living blindly on from the nineteenth century into the twentieth; the other swarming out of the bush, lying in wait to kill, savagely reckless of lives whether white or black, intoxicated by its first successes, sure of its tomorrow." These are the words of a nlan who had been able to get relatively close to the scene of this tragedy: Ml'. Armstrong at the time he wrote this article had returned from a two-month visit ta Western Africa. 8. As to world public opinion, the very fact that the latest letter has been signed by such a large number of Member nations and that others have expressed overwhelming sympathy in this respect is eloquent testimony. As the Manchester Guardian Weekly of Thursday, 11 May 1961, comments editorially under the heading "Revolt in Angola", the situation: "represents colonialism in its death throes; to the Portuguese it is a challenge to their civilizing mission which must be met firmly even if it involves such uncivilized methods as burning the rebels out and hunting them down 'like game'. Out~ siders can see who is going ta win and who, in the long term, undoubtedly should win." 9. The Ceylon delegation intervenes at this juncture of the debate for the primary purpose of stressing the futility of any attempt ta hold back the evolution of dependent peoples to independence in the presentday world. The Ceylan delegation repeats what it said at a meeting of the Security Council on this subject on 10 March 1961-namely, that: "Four hundred and fifty years of colonial history is being reversed in a matter of a couple of decades and its final stage is being reached inAfrica, where vast social and political changes are taking place. Angola may be one of the last bastions of colonialism. Nevertheless it is a bastion that will and must fall." [943rd meeting, para. 52.] No power on earth will be able ta resist this process of evolution, and the sooner this is realized the better it will be for us all. The emergence of dependent peoples' ta independence in the present era is a hard fact of life. Ta take a stand against it is ta take a -futile and helpless stand. It is necessary for us ta move with the time in which we live. 10. As an indication of the thinking of our time; it is pertinent ta refer ta two documents which, as the pages of history unroll, will stand out as two significant contributions of nations ta the thinking of our "2. AU peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determiJ". their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. "3. Inadequacy of political, economic, social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence. "4. AU armed action or repressive measures of aIl kinds directed against dependent peoples shaH cease in order to enable them to exercise peacefully and l!'eely their right to complete independence, and the integrity of their national territory shaH be respected." [General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV).] These form morally binding articles of faith for any Member of the United Nations, particularly by virtue of the fact that this Declaration was accepted without the casting of a single negative vote in the General Assembly. 11. 1 should now like to make a few comments on the report of an interview with Ml'. Salazar. This report appeared in The New York Times of:31 May 1961. It carried a note to the effect that the questions referred to there!n were put in advance of the interview with the Premier and that the replies were in the form of written answers. Further, we have been informed that the English translation which appeared in The New York Times was an authoritative one. 1 have recapitulated these details in order to underline the fact that here we have something that is authentic to go by, and therefore we cannot be told that we are qasing our views on this subject on what are aHeged to be garbled versions. 12. From the reported interview, one gathers that the total indigenous population under tribal administration is 4,583,833. The white and mulatto population, together with that element of the indigenous population which has become "assimilated", numbers 271,386. In terms of percentages, this means that 6 pel' cent of the population enjoys civic rights and 94 pel' centdoes not. 13. According to this statement, the Portuguese authorities apparently accept the fact that today the pace of change is proceeding quickly. 1 should like to quote the relevant words in the report of the interview: "It is true that the evolution of societies today proceeds at a much quicker pace than in time past, but this does not permit bringing about in months or even in seant years what other societies took centuries to accomplish." It is indeed heartening to find in the first part of the sentence this admission of the quickening pace in regard to the evolution of societies today. At the same 14. Further, in this interview it is also stated that: "A law recognizing citizenship takes minutes to draft and can be made right awayj a citizen, that is a man fully and consciously integrated into a civilized political society, takes centuries to achieve. Il Rere, again, our comment is that the Portuguese authorities had the centuries they wanted by their own measure, but have again failed in their selfimposed mission. That only 70,000, or 2 pel' cent, of the population has been assimilated after nearly five centuries of Portuguese rule in Angola is indeed a sad commentary on the so-called mission that Portlgal has undertaken. 15. 1 am even prepared to concede, as the reported interview again makes out, that this sèlf-imposed mission should be taken to have commenced in real earnest only in the nineteenth centurYj as it is claimed was the case with other European nations in similar circumstances. Even if that were the case, still the achievements in Angola fall far short of what, in fact, those others can lay claim to. Rence, there is no getting behind the fact that 2 pel' cent of the "assimilados" is still a very pOOl' commentary on a socalled and self-imposed mission. 16. It is pointed out that this low percentage is explained by the action taken to protect "people still under tribal administration" and that the 2 pel' cent quoted reflects only the "first generation" of "assimilados" and not those of the second generation. But whatever these contentions are, there is no gainsaying that in terms of achievement or, might 1 say, the lack of it, Portuguese administration in Angola stands self-defeated. That there is a recognition of this failure is evident in the admission made in the reported interview when it states: "In any case something has to be done in this respect, even though it may mean abandoning the basis of the system, for it is possible that we have erred on the side of excessive caution and tolerance." 17. What the Ceylon delegation is urging is, in the words of the same quoted interview, that something has got to be done and will have to he done in a degree commensurate with the vastness of the task involved and in keeping with the trends of the day. Our . concern is that if no adequate steps are taken to save the situation in Angola it will develop-as indeed is already so very evident-into a conflict of untold suffering, bringing in its wake aU the complications for the preservation of international peace and security. 19. The draft resolution before this Council which Ceylon has the honour to co-sponsor with Liberia and the United Arab Republic[8/4828] is self-explanatory, We commend it for consideration by this Council and seek the Council's support for it.

May I be permitted, first of aH, to thank the President and Members of the 8ecuri.ty 1 Council for their courtesy in inviting my delegation to participate in the discussions of the Council on this important occasion. 21. The fact that my delegation has co-sponsored, along with forty-two other countries, the request for consideration by the Council of the situation in Angola as a matter of urgency [8/4816 and Add.1], and that it has asked for participation in the debate, is a measure of our deep and, I would say, almost oppressive sense of responsibility and of our awareness of the tremendous gravity of what has been happening in Angola. For, in our view, these tragic happenings have overwhelming significance, not only to the millions of dependent peoples in the worId still struggling to be free, but for aIl peoples who realize the value of freedom as an indispensable factor for world peace, and who have been profoundly moved by the brutality with which Portuguese colonial power is trying to ,suppress the freedom movement of the African'People in Angola. 22. Tt will be recalled that, some three months ago, the question of Angola was raised in the 8ecurity Council by the delegation of Liberia [934th meeting]. The 8ecurity Council discussed the question but unfortunately, by the narrowest of margins, failed to adopt a resolution [946th meeting]. The draft resolution [8/4769] on that occasion was a moderate one, since it merely asked for the appointment of a subcommittee under Article 29 of the Charter and urged the Portuguese authorities to introduce reforms and measures in Angola which would ensure the participation of the people of Angola in their country's affairs and would constitute an initiative toward the transfer of power to the people of Angola in accordance with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) on the ending of colonialism and the granting of independence to colonial peop16s, which had been unanimously adopted by the General Assembly last year. 23. 8ubsequently, the matter came before the General Assembly at its resumed fifteenth session, as indeed it was bound to do, since historie freedom movements and world reactions thereto admit of no abatement or obstruction. The General Assembly, in its wisdom, adopted an excellent resolution by an , overwhelming majority of votes at the resumed session of the General Assembly. 24. Tt will be recalled.that this resolution [1603 (XV)], which in substance was the same which the 8ecurity Council had failed to adopt, had but two dis- 25. In that resolution, after full consideration, including examination by the Special Committee cf Six which recommended the principles for determination as to whether an obligation existed or not for transmission of information in respect of a Non-Self- Governing Territory, the Assembly decided that the so"'called Portuguese Overseas Provinces were to aIl intents and purposes Non-Self-Governing Territories or colonies. In respect of them. there was an obligation to transmit information, and the whole basis of the United Nations Charter under Chapter XI, which clearly says that such territories are a sacred trust, was equally applicable. Portugal, however, still adamantly refuses to transmit information and has also refused participation in the Committee on Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories. 26.- It was clear from the statement made by the Portuguese representative before the Council last March, as indeed from Portugal's boycott of the General Assembly's subsequent consideration of this matter, that Pprtugal had no intention of budgingfrom its position. One has only to recall the statement of the representative of Portugal in the Security Council on 14 March: "The Portuguese have been in Africa for five centuries and they intend to stay, whatever the cost." [945th meeting, para. 156.} It has been clear as broad daylight that Portugal was determined to suppress the freedom movement in Angola at aIl costs. ïndeed, the worst fears entertained in this connexion have materialized and, since the adoption of the General Assembly resolution, there has been a veritable holocaust in Angola. Despite severe cens01'- ship and the expulsion of many foreign joul'nalists and representatives of news agencies, information that has filtered through from Angola shows that the Portuguese authorities and the European population of Angola. with the knowledge and connivance of the authorities. have. contrary to the most elementary concepts of the rule of law. been engaged in the massacre of thousands of Africans whose only fauIt has been to demand freedom and to try to shake off the dead weight of colonial rule. These atrocities have caused a wave of indignation throughout the world and leaders of Governments and public opinion. notably in Africa and Asia, have joined in condemnation of such outrages. The whole continent of Africa has been . stirred and African -~ople everywhere are deeply agitated and anger( J .)y the massacre of fellow- Africans in Angola. 27. What are the elements of the situation. which have impelled nearly half the membership of the 28. As l have indicated earlier, the Portuguese attitude has been one of complete lack of co-operation with the United Nations. There has been no sigu on the side of Portugal of even the slightest move or intention to act in accordance with the General Assembly resolution 1603 (XV) of 20 April 1961, such as introducing reforms, adopting the elective system with broad franchise, etc. On the contrary, during the last seven or eight weeks news has reached the outside world, despite severe Portuguese censorship, of large-scale killings and massa~res. Towards the end of May British journals estimated the number of Africans killed in recent weeks in Portuguese operations against the people of Angola at 20,000 to 30,000. According to the New Statesman and Nation, _"some 35,000 virtually defenceless Africans have already been butchered by machine-l?;Uns and napalm". A writer in the independent conservative weekly "~ tator quoted the figure of 20, 000 as the "most apparently trustworthy and by no means the largest of the figures that have slipped through the terrorstruck censorship". The Economist, a weekly of high standing, says that the killing of Africans had been "indiscriminate" and puts the figure at "thousands or tens of thousands". A correspondent of the British Daily Mirror who visited Angola recently has stated in an article in that paper under the heading "Agony in Angola": "During the past few weeks thousands of Africans have died in savage revoIt and brutal repression in the Portuguese colony. The Portuguese claim to have slaughtered already 30,000 African men, women and children alike." The correspondent goes on to say that "the African wind of change has blazed into a tearing hurricane of death and destruction". 29. The Daily Herald, another British paper, on 16 May 1961, said in an article captioned IlAner the Rain-Terror": "Violence and terror on a scale never before known in Africa are expected any moment in the Portuguese colony of Angola, now that the rainy season has ended. For 25,000 Portuguese troops and _airmen, with modern arms, will then be ready to start a 'death or submission' campaigu against the poorly-armed African rebels in the northern part of the country-estimated at a quarter million. And the death-roll of the past eight weeks-900 Europeans murdered, and possibly 20,000 Africans shot or burned to death by napalm bombs-will seem small in comparison when this promised campaign starts." 30. Be it noted that these estimates are by journ'lls of a country which is commonly referred to as Portu- 31. l do not propose to tire the Council by reading out gruesome details from other newspapers and reports, many of which have already been cited by representatives of Liberia, the United Arab Republic, the Soviet Union and Ceylon. Indeed, it is clear from what little information has reached the outside world regarding the situation in Angola, that a vast massacre of Angolans is taking place in Angola. As Prime Minister Nehru said recently: "Itis slaughterjust slaughter-and there is no mitigating factor." 32. This is a result of the combined action of the Portuguese authorities and of the Portuguese population in Angola, and anyone who has lived in colonial conditions knows that the two are indistinguishable. Little wonder that nearly 80,000 refugees have fled Angola to seek asylum in the Republic of the Congo. It is an open secret tha:t Portugal has sent, and is continuing to send, large-scale armed reinforcements into Angola. There are now said to be at least 25,000 modern and well-armed Portuguese troops in Angola and Portuguese armed units have bombed and strafed and killed the African population indiscriminately and burnt villages and towns. The white Portuguese population, numbering 200,000, has been allowed or connived at by the Portuguese authorities to take the law into its own hands. 33. As has been pointed out by Ml'. Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Editor of the Foreign Affairs magazine, who has just returned from Western Africa, in an article in The New York Times Magazine of 21 May 1961: "Arm.y planes are strafing African villages, and civilians have been armed not only for defence but for revenge. Together they have disposed of at least five Africans for every Portuguese victim." 34. Mu.ch is made of the fact that some elements among the Angolan people have killed a fairly large number of Portuguese in various parts of Angola. While one cannot condone killings of civilians, whoever they may be, one has to understand the plight of the Angolan people. Muzzled, cruelly exploited, subjected to the most ruthless system of forced labour, denied any voice in the government of their own country and made to feel as strangers in their own homeland, provoked by mass killings of fellow Angolans, is it any wonder that many among them feel that they .have no choice left but to take recourse to arms and to retaliate? Indeed, the fact that the Angolan people, a peace-loving African people, are in their present plight after hundreds of years of Portuguese rule and have been driven to resort to arms for the vindication of their rights, is the gr~atest condemnation of Portuguese rule in Angola and proof of the severity 35. These then are the facts of the situation; facts which stare the United Nations in the face and cannot be ignored by the international community. One cannot forget that these outrages, these massacres which virtually amount to genocide, are being perpetrated by a colonial Power which, by subscribing to the Charter of the United Nations, and by vil'tue of the General Assembly's resolution 1514 (XV), has responsibility towards the people of Angola as a saCl-ed trust. 36. Much has been said by the Portug"uese represelltative at the Security Council to deny the competence of the United Nations and of the Security Council to discuss the situation in Angola. It is contended that the Angolan situation is entirely a domestic issue and, therefore, its consideration is barred under Article 2, paragraph 7 of the Charter. By inference, it is said that what the Portuguese authorities do in Angola, whether they commit mass killings or not, is of no concern to anyone else, not even to the United Nations. 37. We are constrained to observe that these views reflect an outmoded and almost medieval mentality. Such pleas are based on complete unawareness of the changes that have taken place in the concept of human rights and of the very fundamental thinking behind the formulation of the United Nations Charter. Apart from the scientific and technological progress registel-ed in the last two or three centuries, particularly during the last two or three decades, there has been a tremendous revolution in human thought, in international thinking and in the norms of international behaviour as' between peoples and peoples, even though one may sadly admit that the stature of man has not grown nearly as fast as the pace of scientific achievement. 38. The Charter of the United Nations itself crystallizes these changes. One would do well to recal! sorne of the noblest ideas which inspired the drafting of the Charter. In the memorable words of Field Marshal Smuts in San Francisco: "The New Charter should not be a mere legalistic document for the prevention of war. It would suggest that the Charter should contain at its very outset and in its preamble, a declaration of human rights and of the common faith which has sustained the Allied peoples in their bitter and prolonged struggle for the vindication of these rights and that faith••• "Let us, in this new Charter of humanity, give expression to this faith in us, and thus proclaim to the world and to posterity that this was not a mere brute struggle of force between the nations but that for us, behind the mortal struggle, was the moral struggle, was the vision of the ideal, the faith in justice and the resolve to vindicate the fundamental rights of man, and on that basis to found a bettel', freer world for the future•••• "The peace we are striving for, and are taking such pains to safeguard, is a peace of justice and 39. One of the most momentous results of the agony and travail of the two World Wars has been the quickening of the sense of human values and a realization of the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for the maintenance of world peace. Today, thanks to the mass media of information and world-wide communications, there has developed what has been aptly described in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Ruman Rights, as the "conscience of manldnd". There is no doubtthatthe events that are happening in Angola, the brutality with which the aspirations of the people of Angola are being crushed, have shocked the conscience of mankind and anything which does that necessarily becomes a source of international friction and conflict. 40. Today, freedom movements gather round them vast waves of sympathy. African nationalism does not merely inspire great numbers of Africans. Africans are not alone in their struggle to be masters of their own destiny. In their resolve to expurgate colonialism from the soil of Africa, many hundreds of millions on the vast continent of Asia are solidly and four-square behind them, and they have also the support, if 1 may say so, of larg9 elements of public opinion in North America, Latin America and in Europe. Already some African countries have made no secret of their resolve to render assistance to the freedom fighters of Angola by all possible means including, if necessary, the supply of arms, and to take unilateral action against Portugal. Therefore, the whole situation is one of extreme explosiveness, an actual and potential source of international friction and a threat to international peace and security. 41. Time and again Portuguese representatives have stated before the United Nations that Angola and other Portuguese colonial territories are "overseas provinces" of Portugal. The fact that on every occasion such a plea has been rejected is enough proof of the hollowness of such a claim. Yet Portugal seems to cling pathetically to this exploded mythe As a matter of fact, after examination by the Special Committee of Six, which laid down the now famous twelve principles for determination as to whether or not obligation to transmit information in respect of a No:n-Self-Governing Territory exists under Article 73 e of the Charter, the General Assembly decided, in its resolution 1542 (XV) that the so-called Portuguese "overseas provinces" in Africa and Asia, were Non-Self-Governing Territories within the meaning of Chapter XI of the Charter. In the twelve principles, which were adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 1541 (XV), on the recommendation of the Special Committee of Six, it was laid down that: "Principle VIII "Integration with an independent State should be on the basis of complete equality between the 11 United Nations Conference on International Organization. P/I3. "Principle IX "Integration should have come about in the follow·· ing circumstances: "(a) The integrating territory should have attained an advanced stage of self-government with free political institutions, so that its peoples would have the capacity to make a responsible choice through informed and democratic processes; "(b) The integration should be the result of the freeÏy expressed wishes of the territory's peoples acting with full knowledge of the change in their status, their wishes having been expressed through informed and democratic processes, impartially conducted and based on universal adult suffrage. The United Nations could, when it deems it necessary, supervise these processes." 42. It is obvious that in the case of Angola not one of the conditions listed in Principles vm and IX is fulfilled. Except the "assimilados", who are but a small fraction of the Angolan people, the latter do not enjoy the elementary civic rights and have no voiee in the government of their country. Portugal's unilateral declaration that Angola and its other colonial territories in Afriea and Asia are part of Portugal cannot he regarded as anything but capricious and a legal fiction. 43. The sacred-trust undertaken by a colonial Power towards the inhabitants of a Non-Self-Governing Territory under Chapter XI of the Charter necessarily creates the obligation of accountability to the United Nations. During the past two decades, there has been the development of a strong world attitude towards colonialism. Peoples and eountries which have, during the post-war period, shaken off the colonial yoke, have been increasingly vocal and articulate in matters concerning the freedom of dependent peoples and have, in no uncertain measure, influenced international thinking and attitudes towards the colonial system. A milestone in this development was the declaration of the Bandung Conference: "that the subjection of peoples to allen subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, was contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and was an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-operation". 44. This was the voice of Asia and Africa, the unanimous expression of opinion on behalf of half the world's population. The Bandung declaration came about în 1955 and stimulated and influenced the course of international relations; and five years later on 14 December 1960 the General Assembly in its now famous resolution on-the granting of independence to colonial countries and peop~es, 1514 (XV), confirmed the same by an overwhelming vote. Thus coloniallsm, 45. l may quote here the words of Prime Minister Nehru: "What is happening in Angola goes very much beyond the normal pale of human tolerance andpolitical tolerance", taken in conjunction with the other e1ements of the situation. The situation in Angola is one in which it is the duty of the Security Council to act. 46. Thus, to summarize, the situation in Angola has the following serious elements: first, the massacre of thousands of indigenous people, whose only fauIt is that they desire freedom, is a gross violation of human rights; secondly, the perpetration of such violence in a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the Portuguese armed forces and others amounts to a colonial war for the suppression of the people of Angola, which is contrary to the ethics of the United Nations as clearly expressed in the Charter and reaffirmed in detail in the anti-colonial resolution, operative paragraph 4 of which reads: "AlI armed action or repressive measures of all kinds directed against dependent peoples shall cease in order to enable them to exercise peacefully and freely their right to complete independence, and the integrity of their national territory shall be respected." [resolution 1514 (XV)]; thirdly, the great wave of sympathy for the Angolan people and indignation at the indiscriminate killings of African people throughout the continent of Africa and the determination of peoples and Governments of African countries to prevent such killings; fourthly, the moral challenge posed to the United Nations by the outrage against the conscience of mankind being perpetrated in Angola; fifthly, the denial ofelementary civic rights to the African people of Angola, including rights and opportunities for their effective participation in the Government of Angola; sixthly, the inevitability of the people of Angola, who like other African peoples still under subjection are yearning for freedom, taking recourse to violence in the absence of any other means for the redress of their grievances. 47. These are the circumstances which make the Angolan situation a highly explosive one likely to cause international friction and a threat to international peace and security. It is imperative, in our opinion, for the Security Council to act in this matter. Action by the Security Council may make all the difference. It may put a brake on the ruthlessness of the Portuguese authorities in Angola and might induce Portugal to initiate immediately those processes which are contemplated in General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), which would lead the people of Angola 48. If the Security Council is for some reason unable to take action, we fear that the consequences in Angola and, indeed, for a large part of Africa may be very serious indeed. In this connexion, we must point out that Portuguese colonial rule seeks to derive sustenance from its allies and its military alliances and partnerships with some big Powers. Under cover of its membership of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Portugal has been able to put up a front in the United Nations, where it has often been supported by its great allies. This is not the occasion, nor is it my intention, to speak on the military alliances which honeycomb the world today, but we feel that those concerned ought to realize that alliances such as NATO, which has been invoked in the past for the defence of Portuguese colonialism, become vitiated in the minds of millions of people in Africa and Asia. Fortunately, in very recent months, there has been a welcome realization by some big Powers of the danger of identification of the NATO alliance with the Portuguese colonial system, and my Government has wholeheartedly welcomed the change in the policy of the United States indicated by its support for the draft resolution on Angola in the Security Council in March [946th meeting] and later in the General Assembly.Y We hope that the other Powers concerned will see the situation in Angola in its true perspective. It is, of course, the sovereign right of any country to be an ally of another, but to let alliances, political or military, come in the way of a correct appreciation of the tremendous issues posed by the existence of colonialism would, in our view, not be conducive to true international co-operation and harmony. The world has to recognize that this century will live in the history of mankind as the one that sounded the death knell of colonialism and saw colonialism's end; and the quicker and smoother the exit of colonialism the better it would be for aIl concerned and for world peace. 49. The draft resolution that is before the Security Council [S/4828] seems to us a good one and has the full support of my delegation. We believe that the Security Council, in aIl the circumstances of this case, would have been justified in adopting a much stronger resolution. We are conscious of the fact that a Sub-Committee has been appointed by the General Assembly in pursuance of resolution 1603 (XV). We think it would be very wise for the Security Council to adopt a Sub-Committee for its own purposes: that is to say, the same Sub-Committee may be asked to undertake an investigation and report to the Security Council as weIl as to the General Assembly. We feel that the gravity of the situation demands an urgent and expeditious report by the Sub-Committee. We trust that every facility will be given by the Portuguese authorities to the Sub-Committee to proceed

On his return from a recent colonial tour of inspection in Angola, the Minister for the Colonies of the Salazar Government, Mr. Adriano Moreira, brazenly stated at Lisbon: "What is happening in Angola is aggression, and its purpose is cIear-genocide." 51. We who know the true situation in Angola found Mr. Moreira's whole statement to be a tissue of blatant untruths, revealing beyond any doubt the state of mind of the Portuguese dictator, Mr. Salazar. and showing clearly the spirit behind the plan of Mr. Salazar's fascist and very colonialist Government to suppress the Angolan revolution. 52. So, according to the Minister for the Colonies of the Lisbon Government, it is the Angolan people which is systematicaIly exterminating all Portuguese nationals in Angola. According to Mr. Moreira, therefore, the Angolans are the aggressors against the Portuguese people. AlI Mr. Moreira has to do now is propose to Mr. Salazar that he should ask the United Nations to intervene in order to stop Angolan aggression against Portugal. There can be no doubt that Mr. Salazar and his Government firmly believe that the world is very simple-minded. In fact, everyone knows perfectly well that in Angola and Cabinda it is a matter, no longer of so-caIled clearing or moppingup operations, but of a war unleashed by Mr. Salazar against the Angolan people-a war which he wages ferociously, by methods and means known to us aIl. Liners such as the Vera Cruz have been turned into troopships and are landing, in Angola, whole contingents of soldiers with modern equipment; there will soon be 20,000 such troops. In Angola itself, we find aIl Portuguese citizens of military age mobilized, airborne forces based in Angola or sent from Portugal brought into aci1on, new local ml.litia forces organized and hurriedly trained, a large supply of modern weapons sent to angola, and new strategie bases prepared-that is what, in fact, is happening. 53. On the political level, is it not true that sinee Mr. Salazar launched his attack he has frequently reshuffled his Cabinet, putting his cwn men in the key posts-men of whom he is sure and who have agreed to carry out his orders for extermination rigorously and pitilessly? Do not the Salazarists loudly and clearly proclaim their readiness to fight to the last man in order to keep and maintain Angola under the Portuguese colonial system-Angola, this colony which 55. Whom does Portugal think it is fooling when it tries to make us believe that it is Angola which is practising genocide against the Portuguese people? 56. In several of his statements, Ml'. Salazar has spoken of aggression in Angola, of a war against Portugal, in arder to justify-in the eyes of the Portuguese people and of the world-the mobilization of his military forces against an African people which, despite its limited resources for the fight, is winning sympathy and gaining the admiration of those countries that love justice, peace and freedom. 57. We say, therefore, that there is war in Angola and that the episode we are witnessing is only one phase of it. Ml'. Salazar's colonialist press agency, faithfully carrying out his diversionary tactics, clearly reveals its lack of regard for the truth when it puts out reports such as the following: "The forces of order have dispersed concentrations of Africans, considered to be suspect, in the neighbourhood of Malanja, 425 kilometres east of the capital of Angola. "Also in the North, detachments of riflemen, paratroops and infantry have carried out a largescale clearing operation in the Negro villages of the Negage region, where the rebels were hiding. The Portuguese troops have taken many prisoners. In the Damba region, an African village was attacked for several hours by the outlaws, who finally withdrew after suffe"ring considerable losses.••" 58. That is the kind of report you get in the war bulletin published every day by Portugal. You may be sure that the truth is carefully camouflaged in such cases. For the Portuguese information bulletin is careful not to publish every day the numbers of people killed, of women disembowelled and of children mutilated. Portugal is repatriating many Portuguese families from Angola while its soldiers land in the country. Ml'. Salazar talks of aggression and of a war against the Portuguese people. In the daily bulletins published by the Portuguese press agency one can find a certain number of facts which show clearly who the real aggressor is. 59. In the face of all this, does Ml'. Salazar think he can make us believe that this is a matter which concerns only the Portuguese Government because Angola is a Portuguese province? It is beyond our understanding. Portugal's representative here is constantly talking about the Portuguese province of Angola, and a Portuguese informationbulletin actually states that "the Portuguese troops have taken many prisoners". Prisoners from what country? Are the Portuguese taking each other ,..risoner? 60. We have seen many cabUS of civil war. But in our opinion there is no resemblance between those 61. The truth is that Mr. Salazar is more than ever determined to kill off the Africans; and the crude excuse he offers to justify himself, in the eyes of those who are willing to listen and to believe him, is that he is fighting communism. 62. As the immortal President Lincoln so rightly said, "You may fool aIl the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people aIl the time, but you can't fool aIl of the people aIl the time". Mr. Salazar can expect to get a shock very soon, as he cannot go on fooling aIl of worId opinion for very long. It is clearly quite untrue that the war Mr. Salazar is waging in Angola is against communism. We are not telling "Professor" Salazar anything new if we point out that, if you wish to deal with an evil effectively, you must attack it at the roots. So why does not Mr. Salazar attack the Soviet Uniondirectly? 63. Is it that Portugal, which in aIl its history has never sustained itself and emerged victor in a war, suddenly wants to distinguish itself in Africa, against peoples which claim no more than peaceful liberation from the colonial yoke? Are the innocent Negro children, who are killed practically every day in Angola, communists? Did Salazar's bullets find Communist Party cards on the pregnant women who were killed and disembowelled in Angola by his savage Portuguese soldiery? 64. But if Mr. Salazar insists on treating the Angolan nationalists as communists, other Africans will join them and be communists too, if communism is the only effective means, the only way, tofree peoples that are under foreign domination. 65. The way in which events have developed in Cabinda and Angola has led the Government of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) to drawthe following conclusion: the events in these African territories which are struggling to achieve independence-that is, to achieve the same status as most African States already enjoy-have now become a matter of public concern and therefore cannot possibly be misinterpreted. Until the Portuguese Government adopted towards the nationalist movements a policy of active and bloody suppression, we could hope that it would be possible to persuade it to follow a policy of progressive evolution, the ultimate aim of which would be self-determination for the peoples of Angola and Cabinda. Our concern is aIl the greater since we have had an opportunity to speak to many Angolan and Cabindan refugees and it seems to us that the Republic of Portugal, under Mr. Salazar's leadership, is calmly embarking on a policy of liquidation-in the . first place of the people of Cabinda, with a view to making that enclave a jumping-off ground for the military campaign against Angola. It seems to us that the situation in this respect can be summarized as follows: the population of the Cabinda enclave is about 60,000 to 70,000 persons. More than 7,000 of 66. Such is Ml'. Salazar's diabolical programme for the Cabinda enclave. You, Sir, representative of Portugal, can tell Ml'. Salazar, your master, here and now that so far as that programme is concerned, his defeat is a foregone conclusion. 67. In the case of Angola, it is harder for Portugal to apply the same policy. Angola is fourteen to fifteen times larger than Portugal itself, and its froutiers are not very weIl defined. It is virtually impossible for Portugal to police them integrally and, in that way, to prevent nationalist elements from intervening in Angola. It is obvious that the independence movement in the Portuguese colonies is now gathering momentum, and that the Portuguese representative is mistaken when he tries to make us believe that in Angola we have what he calls a "threat to international peace and security arising out of the situation prevailing in the northern region of the Portuguese province of Angola". 68. Moreover, the Portuguese representative does not believe his own statements, and is well aware of the fact ,that Portugal's political and diplomatie heaIth is at present in need of serious attention precisely because Ml'. Salazar has stubbornly refused to take the prophylactic measures recommended to him by his closest friends. For Portugal is aState member of NATO in which, apparently, it plays an important l'ole in Atlantic defence. Of NATO, however, the Government of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) knows but the name. On this issue we have no ties with the Government of any country. This is aU the more understandable in that our country is an independent State bordering on the Portuguese colonies and the course of events in these colonies has internaI repercussions in our country, if only because of the problem of the refugees and the considerations of solidarity and brotherhood which it involves. 69. With regard to the problem of Angola and Cabinda we cannot defend any policy other than that of the decolanization of the dependent African territories-which, in particulaI', means that we must: first, claim the right to self-determination and independence for all the African territories subjected to the colonial yoke; secondly, request the international bodies ta which we belong not only to adopt a clear-cut attitude in that respect but also to take effective steps designed to bring about the independence of the territories which have not yet been liberated; thirdly, give assurances of our support to those now fighting for the independence of their countries, and consequently pursue-as we. are doing-a policy of solidarity and brotherhood towards those who, 70. Such, in clear terms, is our policy towards the colonialist countries, and particularly towards Ml'. Salazar's Portugal. 1 do not intend ta revert to the brutal acts committed by the Salazar Government in Angola and Cabinda. Ml'. Salazar may think that the world does not know of his present actions there; if so, he is mistaken. 71. What! In 1960-at a time when, after some eighty years of colonial imperialism, the United Kingdom and France have granted freedom and independence to Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Cyprus, the Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroun, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), the Central African Republic, Chad, Madagascar and Somalia, while Belgium has recognized the sovereignty of its Congolese colony-Portugal, that little country which glories in the voyages of its adventurers that should be blamed for thé dispersion of Africa's black race, Portugal, 1 say, still wishes to hold in perpetuaI slavery the peoples of Mozambique, Angola, Cabinda and what is caUed Portuguese Guinea, those African peoples that are watching their brothers' progress towards freedom and independence. 72. Moreover, Portugal has been exploiting them since the fifteenth century. Until quite recently territories such as Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, the two Congos, Somalia, etc., were called colonies. Portugal, too, made a proud showing of its colonies. What is the explanation of the fact that, alI these colonies, except those of Portugal, have become independent States? Will you, Sir, representative of Portugal, teU us this? 73. Ml'. Salazar is issuing a brazen challenge to the present-day world. In his view, the Chiefs of State who have granted independence to their colonies are merely spineless, while he alone is a strong and indomitable leader who knows how to preserve for his country, in the middle of the twentieth century, African slaves whom he is pleased to calI "the Portuguese peoples of the province of Angola or Cabinda". 74. Try and obtain from Ml'. Salazar permission to go and see the people in Angola and Cabinda whom he derides by calling them "the Portuguese of the overseas provinces". They are, to put it plainly, unhappy wretches. Ml'. Salazar has his own reasons for preventing everyone, at this juncture, from entering Angola or Cabinda. We are on the eve of an extension of the war in Angola. 1 was not being fanciful when a moment ago 1 said that the episode we are witnessing is merely one phase of this war, since at this very stage-contrary to the Portuguese representative's assertion-it is a question no longer of some minor troubles in the northern part of Angola, bordering on what used to be the Belgian Congo, but of an armed conflict ranging over almost the whole of Angola's territory. The news concerning this situation is not being invented by us; it emanates from the hardpressed, desperate Portuguese Press itself. 75. Barely three weeks have gone by since 1 saw, with my own eyes, thousands of Cabindan refugees to whom we have given shelter. While waiting for their 76. Our refugee brothers are perfectly calm. Ml'. Salazar's administrative authorities, in their perfidy, craftily seek to establish contact with them in order to persuade them to return to Cabinda. But it is the opposite result which is being achieved, since the flight of the people is gathering momentum; it is in our land that these refugees have their first taste of freedom. 77. l can see them still, those men standing all together with their womenfolk and children. Every day more refugees came to swell their numbers, but aIl of them, also, spoke of the day when they would go home. Portugal has sent too many Africans into exile since the fifteenth century for present-day Africa to let the Portuguese carry on as hefore. 78. The relations between the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) and Portugal, and the problem of whether they will be continued or broken off, have not, it is true, come up for consideration sofar. No doubt, sooner or later, we shall give them our attention. But there will never be any lack of solidarity between us and the other African countries in the decisions that will be taken regarding the practical measures to be vlgorously applied against Ml'. Salazar. 79. Meetings are already being held by Africans nearly everywhere, and the Angolan problem is always the subject of very careful study. The various resolutions and motions adopted at these meetings leave no doubt as to the standpoint of the African countries. On 9 May 1961, for instance, the students of the Congo (Leopoldville), Ruanda and Urundi, at a congress held at Leopoldville, defined their position with regard to Ml'. Salazar's policies in Africa. That position is far from being favourable to him. 80. The African countries which recently met at Monrovia stated unequivocally, for the!r part, the steps that should be taken to stop Portuguese aggression. 81. We shall give moral and material support to Angola. Ghana, backing words with deeds, has just shown Ml'. Salazar how it proposes to take its stand in relation to the war in Angola. Because· of Ml'. 8alazar's atrocities and of the extension of the conflict, the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville), in its turn, has denounced a certain l1umber of colonialist agreements of which Por-tugal is a co-signatory. ThrQughout the world, African students are showing their solidarity by denouncing Portuguese barbarism. It might perhaps he useful to remind Ml'. Salazar that African students represent the future offraternal Africa as a whole. 82. The Security Council has before it a draft resolution [8/4828] which, in my Government's view comprises logical provisions. Nevertheless, they 84. The primary reason for the existence of the United Nations, of which the Security Council is a main organ, is precisely that it should maintainpeace throughout the world. In Africa, at this juncture, one of the major threats to peace comes from Portugal. 85. If you support this draft resolution you will not be committing an unlawful act, despite the assertions of the Portuguese representative, who speaks without conviction but is forced to maintain a position condemned, almost unanimously, by the General Assembly in April 1961- 86. Once again we adjure you to cast your vote in such a way as to ensure the preservation of peace in Africa, where a great many countries are facing countless social, economic and cultural problems. We do not want war, which militates against any forward steps on the road of material and spiritual progresse 87. Before 1 conclude, 1 should like to read to you the texts of two documents which 1 received this very morning from the Committee of Angolan and Cabindan Refugees. They are as follows: "Now that the Security Council is about to meet in order to rule on the fate of Angola and to send there the Sub-Committee of inquiry set up for that purpose, all Angolans have heaved a sigh of relief. They greet the five members of the Sub-Committee not as mere observers but as true witnesses of the devastation which the Portuguese have now, within three months, wrought throughout Angola. The eminent investigators will thus be in a position to explain to international public opinion the suffering of the Angolan people, now under systematic extermination by colonialism in one of its most inhuman forms. Observing this chaotic situation, they will realize the bad faith of the Portuguese who, in seeking to foist responsibility for their own abominations upon the Angolans, are indicting simply themselves. Did they not proclaim, only yesterday, that their overseas province of Angola was an oasis of peace and that the Angolans had no feelings of hatred towards them? "We know that unless good care is taken, the Portuguese authorities, in an effort to prove their thesis, will organize a 'guided tour' for the benefit of the Sub-Committee-for which Angola is truly terra incognita-in order to prevent it, by every means in their power, from visiting the regions most affected by the massacres and the bombing. "In such circumstances, the mission of the Sub- Committee of inquiry may well he compromised if its basic information comes solely from statements made by the Portuguese, in view of the fact that the Angolans who have been bribed and trained by the colonialists for the purpose of the inquiry cannot, on pain of death, make statements contradicting such information. "With regard to Northern Angola, the regions most affected are: Cambatela, Nambuangongo, Nova Caipemba, Quitextl, Negage. Ambriz, Icolo, Catete, Bengo valley, Cabiri, Funda and the regions of: Uige (Carmona), Bungo, Sanza-Pombo, Sacandica, Beu, Cuilo-Futa, 31 de Janeiro, Mucaba, Damba, Quibocolo, Mavoio (mining centre), Quimbele, Maquela do Zombo, Sao Salvador do Congo, and the regions of the Cabinda enclave. "Without visiting these regions, the Sub-Committee of inquiry will be unable to see the scope of the operations for which Portugal has mobilized aIl its forces, namely: aIl the land forces: infantry, cavalry, rifle units, the Portuguese Legion (a paramilitary civil defence organization); the Navy; the Air Force, including paratroops and bomber crews and aircraft; the NATO forces-not to mention the police, the 'gendarmerie' and aIl the settlers and traders in Angola who have been organized as militia units. "This formidable military machine, which is still being reinforced, is intended for the torture, deportation and massacre of the Angolan people, who lack equal weapons and whose sole crime is the claiming of their most sacred and inalienable rights. Will it be denied that the Portuguese have sworn to exterminate in an impunity the indigenous inhabitants, whose title to the land of Angola is not and cannot 00 rlisputed, in order to make the country, after this gerocide, into a receptacle for Portugal's overflow? "Since the only sound that comes out of Angola is the tolling of a bell, Portugal, by diabolical manoeuvres, seeks to hide its responsibility by means of mendacious press statements designed to mislead world opinion by ascribing to the nationalists, whom it calls 'terrorists', the carnage which aIl the Portuguese are free to wreak in shameful manner among the Angolans, including those who had loyally served them but had been unable to escape. "In order to justify the massacres of the Angolans of which theyare guilty, the Portuguese accuse the nationalists of using weapons stolen from the 'Blue Helmets' depots at Matadi. In their greater concern for the coffee crop, and with complete contempt for human life, they are sacrificing the few Angolans who did not succeed in escaping and, under threat of arms, are turning them into a military labour corps whose members, subject to military discipline without being soldiers, have to harvest the coffee crop on which the Portuguese economy depends. "At the same time, these 'military labour' units serve as a kind of bulwark against the nationalists and are made to face the latter during their incursions. In other words, these wretches are at the "The position of those who managed to cross those frontiers and seek refuge in the two Congolese Republics gives cause for serious concern. since by reason of their numbers, which are constantly being added to, they are becoming an overwhelming burden for the Congolese authorities which, from motives of solidarity and humanity, spare no effort to alleviate the suffering of their brothers. uThe Sub-Committee of inquiry would accomplish its mission if, having noted the massacres in Angola, it could proceed to ascertain on the spot the wretched state of these refugees, with its attendant problems such as shortage of food, epidemics, and a higher death rate due to the fatigue caused by long treks on foot, by night and by day, in adverse conditions. "Confronted with this situation and with Portugal's obstinacy, the Angolan people relies on the United Nations, an international organization, to request Portugal to reconsider its imperialist stand and to recognize the Angolan people's right to selfdetermination. "We believe that the General Assembly and the Security Council will not confine themselves, as they usually do, to the mere expression of wishes which, if they remain without effect, QO more harm than good to us colonized peoples, reduced to the last extremity by Portuguese dictatorship. For, each time a resolution is adopted but not acted upon, Portugal, drawing strength from that weakness, becornes more intractable towards the Angolans, whom it subjects to pitiless repression for having become intoxicated with this august Organization's promises. That is what happened in the case of the resolution adopted last year by the General Assembly which recommended that the Non-Self-Governing Territories should be represented in United Nations organs in order that they might themselves defend their interests. Today, we have to witness the consequences of that weakness, which has been fully exploited by the Portuguese colonialists. "Since the Angolan people regards this Sub-Committee of inquiry as the first step towards a solution of the Angolan problem, we venture to insist that its mission should not be abortive, since that would give the Portuguese another pretext for conquering the land of Angola. "The Angolan leaders are unanimously in favour of opening negotiations with Portugal, provided they are conducted on neutral soil and under the auspices of the United Nations; without an international referee, no effective solution can be reached by the Angolans and the Portuguese, in "We believe that after this final intervention by the United Nations it will at last become possible to begin the negotiations so long awaited by the Angolans and by aIl the freedom-loving countries, with a view to achieving general pacification through a genuine solution of the Angolan problem, in the form of the Angolan people's independence." 88. Yesterday 1 received the following telegram: "Excellency, the situation deteriorates more and more. Each day that passes is marked by myriad horrors. Men, women, and children are massacred pitilessly. Others are first mutilated, then beheaded, or else slaughtered straightaway. Elsewhere, as at 31 de Janeiro, the faithfulnon-political priests were martyred and nailed on crosses before being burnt. Babies were torn in two by the legs. Pregnant women were disembowelled. Entire regions such as Maquela, Quibocolo and others were wholly evacuated by survivors and their possessions were pillaged by the Portuguese settlers. The conclusion is that Portuguese fascism is worse than ..naziBm and that Salazar is more diabolical than Hitler. Only an energetic intervention by the Security Council, military if possible, can reduce the genocide practised against the Angolan people by Portugal. Report follows." 89. You have heard me read two authenticdocuments sent by Angolan and Cabindan rel.lgees at Leopoldville and Brazzaville. 90. By voting in favour of the draft resolution [S/4828]-as 1 am entitled to hope that you will doyou will help prevent the spreading of this war in Africa by Portugal which, it would seem, has not yet come to realize the foUy of Mr. Salazar, its leader.

The subversive movement which foreign conspirators have long since been threatening to launch in Portuguese Africa had its first performance in Luanda, the capital of Angola, in the first week of February. 92. It is undeniable that we were in the presence of a foreign-sponsored movement with world-wide tentacles. The supreme wire-puller was always the same. The marionettes were Communists, extremists and anarchists. In short, they were the usual people normally utilized for the prosecution of schemes of subversion in the free world. 93. One thing. however. was certain: by no stretch of the imagination could the incidents in Luanda be 95. Since then, the northern region of Angola has become a martyred land. The terrorists kept coming in great numbers. They obviously feIt support for their intervention and criminal acts of savagery and aggression in the subsequent debate which took place in the General Assembly. It was considered by them as a kind of "green light" for the continuance of their dastardly acts of savagery. 96. The victims, indiscriminately, were white and blackj men, women and children of both races. There is, therefore, no distinction in the attacks between white and coloured, but betweenterrorists commanded from the outside and the loyal people of Angola. This is important; it is a matter which must be stressed to the fuIlest. 97. The terrorists have shown an unbelievable ferocity and savagery. They attack under the influence of drugs. They wear certain charms which they are told make them immune to buIlets. Thus, they are no longer human beings. 98. With your permission, Mr. President, l will show members of the Council photographs iIlustrating this tale of human degradation. They demonstrate a gruesome terrorism that no decent man can look at without a deep feeling of horror. 99. l have shown only four of these pictures, as l do not dare to show many of the others in public, so horrible and sickening are they. But l have them here, and anyone who may wish to see them may do so; th~y are right here. And we have still more, many more, in our office. This is the bare, sickening evidence of the unbelievable savagery of the terrorists who came across the border of northern Angola to slay, rape, and mutilate our women and children in 100. An American Negro journalist, George S. Schuyler, writing from Luanda for the Pittsburgh Courier, in describing the atrocities committed by the terrorists in northern Angola, said: "Whole families have been violated, murdered and dismembered, and the enterprise of a lifetime destroyed in a trice". 101. Wherever they attacked, the terrorists committed untold atrocities and horrifying crimes against defenceless men, women and children. An example, among many: In a farm where the inhabitants were being attacked by a group of 400 assailants, a Portuguese African, running short of ammunition, tried to reach the house next door to get sorne more. He was caught by a band of wild terrorists who eut off his head and sexual organs. Whilst holding these human remains above their heads like trophies, the terrorists danced and sang victoriously, proud of their barbarous crime. 102. The eye-witness, who lived to tell this particular story, watched how other men and women were murdered. He heard the shrieks and prolonged screams of those wretched people. The terrorists, while their victims were still alive, were pulling out their eyes, cutting off their hands, chopping their bodies in pieces, removing their intestines and committing many other inhuman acts. Sorne, whites, mulattos and Africans, were skinned while they were alive. 103. The women, of all colours, were dragged from their homes, while the terrorists threw their babies into the air and played football with their innocent bodies. The assailants eut off the hands and feet of 104. This particular massacre by the terrorists took place in a large farm called Fazenda M'Bridge, and the name of the survivor, who is still suffering from shock, is Manuel Lourenço Neves Alves. The terrorists who committed these horrifying atrocities in Fazenda M'Bridge were not known in the region. They had come from across the Congo-Angola border. The date-15 March 1961. 105. In another instance, the terrorists came across a group of defenceless women, whose presence had been revealed by the cries of their young. Not one survived the murderous, savage and cowardly massacre. When their men came back, they found their wives, mothers, sisters and children of aIl ages, cut into pieces. The women, whose breasts had been cut off, showed evident signs of having been sexually abused by numbers of assailants. They removed the baby from the body of a pregnant woman and chopped off its head. The children's hands and feet were cut off and their eyes removed while they were still alive. 106. These atrocities were committed in the village of Madimba, northern Angola, by savage terrorists again unknown in the village; the date, 16 March 1961- We have pictures of these dastardly acts, and a few surviving eye-witnesses. 107. It should be added that these horrible acts of terrorism, in a peaceful region where no security forces were stationed, came without the slightest provocation, as a cold-blooded plan of murder engineered outside our borders. 108. And now, in a display of the most repulsive cynicism, we hear in this Council representatives of countries, which have encouraged and are encouraging the terrorists and murderers, blame the Portuguese for atrocities. 109. Yes, there is indeed a tragedy in Angola, a great tragedy brought about by the criminal schemes of the forces of international subversion and terrorism-is this expression a cliché? Maybe, but it is a true one, unfortunately for humanity. 110. No matter how loudly some representatives here shout about fictitious Portuguese atrocitiesincluding the tirades by the Soviet representative, God help us!-we will never forget the unprovoked murder, rape, mutilation of many, many hundreds of our defenceless men, women and children; the pitiful evidence of many of these cases remaining forever in our memory through these horrifying photographs taken by the rescuers, who arrived much too late. 112. Our Minister of Overseas, Mr. Adriano Moreira, while in Angola recently, said: "No responsible person who has seen the living, dead or dying witnesses of the vandalism wreaked upon this peaceful community can honestly maintain that the point at issue is the emancipation of a people." 113. Relations with our peoples overseas were always characterized by a sense of human equality. We take pride in the capacity which we showed to constitute a community unprejudiced by race or religion. This was ever our strength, the expression of the will to live in equality, peacefully united in aIl continents, loyal everywhere to the same flag. This is the socalled "scandaI" which we are giving to the world of today. Because of it, our enemies are deliberately attempting to destory, in a few months, the successfuI efforts of centuries to bring together many cultures and many races. Recent history provides sufficient examples of the liquidation or the deportation of enormous masses of population. It has happened in the East, in Europe and in Africa. Experience has shown that it is possible-taking advantage of the inertia or confusion of so many influential minds in the world-to destroy whole ethnie groups. 114. This has been termed genocide at international conventions called to prevent such a monstrous crime, but one which nonetheless continues to be practised. For this reason, genocide was quietly included in the syllabus drawn up by our enemies. Training schools were organized and techniques developed for its implementation. Numerous peoples, such as the Nagas, the Volga Germans, the Tartars, a number of non-Russian nationaHties in the Crimea and the Caucasus, are disappearing, or are being or have been eliminated from the face of the earth. 115. A famous trial now taking place has placed on record the dreadful ways and means that can be employed, and these have been neither forgotten nor abandoned. The dispositions on those shameful acts are a blot on humanity. Compare them with the offensive against our people in our sacred land of Angola and it is plain that we are witnessing the same attempt at genocide, carried out with the same cold determination, with the same cunning cruelty, with the sarne appalling indifference. The purpose is to implant racial hatred in a land where formerly the Christian principle of brotherly love ruled, and next, systematically to annihilate a whole ethnie group of whites, mulattos and Negroes who oppose racialism and do not regard nationality as a question of latitude. 117. The natural understanding of our people made it difficult for them to comprehend the nature of the danger suddenly thrust upon them. That understanding, however, is not shared by, nor serves as justification for those who, in their own historic domains, are responsible for identical crimes-though they claim to be ashamed of them-and who, with only the visible aim of satisfying their own imperialistic or economic interests, actively participate in the task of misleading international public opinion. We hope that such a vile practice will not distort forever the understanding of responsible leaders of the worldwho one day will realize that their task is something more glorious than just strewing flowers of rhetoric on the graves of those who have been abandoned or betrayed. 118. For our part, we would be playing into the hands of our enemies if we allowed them to carry out their plan to create a rift between any two ethnie, cultural or religious groups, in any part of our national territory. We will always bear in mind and conscience that our strength lies in our capacity to live in common, without racial, cultural or religious prejudices. Exactly because that is our greatest source of strength, our foes directed their main attack against this fundamental asset by spreading dissension and creating conflicts for which theyhoped there would be no solution. 119. Whilst controlling the agents of the crime of genocide organized against us, we will at the same time continue to summon aIl our powers of fellowship in order to safeguard without reservation and to carry out, purposefully and persistently, our work of progress according to our traditional policies of racial understanding and equality of men. 120. The main tool that international terrorism and subversion have utilized in this monstrous crime of aggression against the peaceful populations of northern Angola is an organization called the UPA. The leanings of the organization are clearly communistic. It operates on the cell system, most members knowing the identity of only one or two others. The cell chiefs received indoctrination in the Congo, even before that country became independent. They managed to find a number of converts among thousands of Angolans who had been living in that country, some of them for years, and many of them entirely denationalized. They had sent a certain number of them back to their villages, as a füth column, ready to foster terror when the hour for the aggression was at hand. Many of them called themselves "refugees" from the turmoil of the Congo. AlI were trusted and received with traditional Portuguese hospitality, whatever their colour or race. "You must spend much money for support of our illustrious friend Patrice Lumumba, whom the tribalists would like to choke. We delivered to Mr. Lumumba 5 millions which will permit him, without any doubt, to obtain the necessary means to conquer and liberate Angola ••• "In a few words here is our plan for the future: Sekou Touré must reign over North Africa, Comrade Nkrumah, the Centre and your servant Holden Roberto the South. We hope that our eminent comrade The Devil, strictly between us, will help us to bring about that destiny. Besides the future is being forged. Don't believe in nonsense; communism is not bad. On the occasion of our stay in Moscow we had the opportunity to see many magnificent things the Westerners will never have ••• '"Money, money, and more money. First Lumumba, then ourseIves. Comrade Devil is standing by, watching over." The letter finishes with these words: "Long live Communism! Down with concentric tribalism!" It is signed by Holden Roberto and by two or three others. 122. l have another document here, this one in Portuguese dated 3 December 1960. It was found in possession of a UPA terrorist who has beenarrested. l will read a few lines: "Long live UPA-Long live Nikita-Long live Angola ••• "Prepare your arms ••• We are going to open fire ••• We have no fear, Russia will give us weapons and Lumumba will help the UPA. Let us kill the whites ••• Lumumba has given authorization ••• "Long live UPA. Long live Khrushchev ••• Long live Angola." 123. l also have here a photostatic copy of another letter. This one is addressed by L'Alliance des Bakongo-to the Alliance des jeunes Bakongo-and it is dated 26 October 1960. It says, in English translation: "We call your attention to the fact that we are in possession of concrete evidence proving that UPA is ••• pro-communist. For this reason we invite you to boycott UPA in Leoj>oldville and in the lower 124. Now I wiU read, with your permission, Mr. President, the translation of passages of anotherUPA circular-letter distributed in Angola a few weeks ago: "No Portuguese will leave Angola alive ••• We will not have an hour of rest until even one of those dogs is alive .•• We will have no pitY on those, among you, who play the game of the enemy, unless they change their ways and join us. They will be considered our enemies as the Portuguese, and they also will die ••• "Take great care of these words, all traitors, and especially the chiefs, the 'sobas', the 'regedors' and also the 'cipaios' and others who help the whites. Many have already received the punishment they deserve, but we will not stop••. AlI those who do not help us ••• cannot expect a good end ••." 125. I have this UPA document with me also. I hope it has shown the members of the Council the fundamental instructions with which the communist UPA terrorists were unleashed against the peaceful people of northern Angola. To those who resist-whites, blacks or mulattos-no quarter would be given. Men, women and children, they all were to be slaughtered. To the others-intimidation: if intimidation did not succeed they also would he slaughtered-men, women and children. Such intimidation has been followed to the letter in the now martyred region of northern Angola. These are "patriots", as the Russian representative calls them, who surely would be only too glad to install in Angola a new socialist people's republic. But we, and indeed aIl honest peoples of the world, have to consider them bloody terrorists, indoctrinated tools of the great scourge of our times, the Communist régime, and we will not fail in defending our population against their crimes and de~radations. 126. The terrorists, we must admit, took us by surprise. There was not the slightest kind of unrest in the entire area, which had lived in peace for many decades. Practically nobody was armed, either whites or blacks. They lived in small villages or isolated farms in an atmosphere of friendship and brotherhood, as they do in aU Portuguese communities. The terrorists struck during the rainy season, when the fields are covered with grass eight feet high or more. This helped their movements since it provided the element of surprise to our small security forces. This explains the terrorists' successful massacres of the defendants, white and black people. 120. The authorities are receiving full cc-operation from the people. As the forces of order approach the affected regions, those who had been compelled, by in\:imidation, to join the terrorist bands, immediately placed themselves under the protection of the forces of order and returned to their normal life. Many coloured Angolans distinguished themselves by their bravel'y, fighting terrorists alongside their white brothers. 1 am speaking of civilians and farm hands as -,"ell as of coloured Angolans of the armed forces. Many of the black civilians gallantly resisted the attacks of terrorists, even when there were no whites among them, and continued to work the farms. There is certainly no better denial of the accusations of forced labour. than this attitude shown by thousands of coloured Portuguese. An over northern Angola whites and coloured have suffered andfoughttogether. 129. There was an upsurge of tel'l'orism, as expected, when it was announced that the General Assembly of the United Nations was going to discuss Angola on 13 April 1961, proving once again that there is an intirnate connexion between the anti- Portuguese forces and the propaganda it makes through this Organization. 130. During the Assembly meetings, there were terrorist attacks for the first time in Cabinda. The assailants entered Portuguese territory at three frontier points: in the north through the forest of Maiombe, coming from Congo (Brazzaville), and in the east and south, in the region of Dondo-Zenza and Iona, respectively, coming from Congo (Leopoldville). 131. Fresh infiltrations likewise took place in other parts of the Province. The attacks that took place after 13 April were carried out by bandits armed almost exciusively with automatic weapons, whereas in the earlier attacks machetes were predominant. 132. Recently T.l1e command of the terrorists has apparently changed its tactics. Instead of attacking in large numbers, with firearms and machetes, they bore down on the people in small bands, armed with modern weapons of war, including rifles, machine guns, bombs and hand grenades. Many uf these arms are of the same type as those used by NATO forces. This leads us to conclude that they must have be0n obtained in the Congo, either stolen or possibly bought, from former Congolese soldiers. Many are marked UPA-Lumumba. 133. As regards the refugees, they are on the whole peaceful people who had escaped from the turmoil and destruction caused by the terrorists and their policies of intimidation. Tt appears that quite a number crossed the border and went to the Congo as the nearest place of refuge. Others living in areas more to the south fled to other regions in Angola. Reliable 134. Can it be doubted that terrorism in Angola, and the legitimate action we are taking against it is a matter of internaI security and of internaI law and order-essentially a matter of domestic jurisdiction? It cannot even be said that terrorism in Angola has an internaI political background. 135. If one looks at the events in Angola one cannot help feeling, if one is unbiased, that the wave of crime unleashed by the terrorists in that province has nothing to do with any political ideal which can be admitted as such by a civilized society. Either civilization or barbarism is at stake. The crime of killing peaceful people, including women and children, for no other reason than their white skin, and killing coloured people because they helped white people and are loyal to their motherland, cannot he justified for pseudo-political reasons. This is barbarism pure and simple. And it must he remembered that suchheinous crimes are presented as a collective movement of peoples, who in fact do not show any interest in it. The real authors of the crime, those who have coldly included it in their programme, are behind the screen, making use of people whom they dope and dupe with the most fantastic and unrealistic promises. 136. Yet many countries in the United Nations seek to give this crime their solemn blessing and try to stop Portugal from taking measures to prevent it. Thiis is the degradation into which a great part of the so-called civilized world of today has fallen. Nay, by a diabolical inversion of situations, there are people who accuse Portugal of the very crimes which are being committed against us, when Portugal has throughout history given the world a unique example of racial harmony. The Satanic crimes committed by the terrorists who came into Angola are pushed into the background. Only the defensive action and reestablishment of order by the Portuguese Government is being, as usual, stressed and smeared, though it is legitimate, humanitarian, rnoderate, and fully justified by events. 137. Fantastic statements or declarations are slanderously attributed to Portuguese officiaIs, always anonymous, but the noble words, which l am going to quote, are from our Minister of Overseas Mr. Adriano Moreira, a high responsible authority, not an anonymous source. Mr. Moreira did not get a line in large sections of the international Press, namely "Our main duty lies in insuring ways for the relations between the different ethnic groups to be such as to continue to make possible the functioning of our social structure, and for this reason an our authorities are under instructions to multiply their efforts in order that no irijustices .be committed, because in no circumstances can the just suffer for the sinner•••" "If we have the duty to put an end to terrorism in the Province, it is our correlative duty to protect the populations to whom we gave the national background they lacked and who expect from us the protection to which they have a right••." 138. The intelligence and the conscience of human society are obviously going through a perverted crisis for some and an emotional blindness for many others. Let us hope that wisdom does not return too late for aIl of them. As for ùs, we would not believe it worthwhile living in a world transformed in the graveyard of our highest moral values, through the perversity of many and the naïveté of others. We will continue to act serenely and firmly toward the principles alone by which civilization can he maintained. And we earnestly hope that those minds and consciences which sometimes seem to be deaf to the warnings of evil will wake up in time to save themselves, and will then recognize and be thankful for our persistence, our sacrifice, our friendship and our example. 139. Peace and complete calm reigned for many decades in our overseas provinces. But outside these provinces, in the Congo, Guinea, Ghana and othersincluding countries ruled or inspiredby communismcommittees, leagues and parties were organized against Portuguese unity. Radio broadcasts from various points support them and seek to disturb the tranquillity of our people. These agitators have at their disposaI important funds and special protection. They publish manifests and small newspapers to exploit public credulity. Their leaders appear even in important capitals and worm their way into Press organs of a category which are considered responsible. We now see the results of aIl that nefarious and siniste_r activity. 140. As my Prime Minister said only last year: "Things have changed-and greatly-in a short time. At one time there were certain rules that guided the conduct of States and in some ways controlled their admission into the international community. Tt was possible to give asylum topoliticians in disgrace, but it was not permitted tOJrganize bands of guerillas to intervelle in the territory of others, to encourage programmes of defamation, to finance rebellion within peaceful populations, to 141. The Prime Minister of Portugal, Ml'. Salazar, made a very important statement to the Lisbon correspondent of The New York Times, which was carried in full in this newspaper on 31 May. l wish to quote a few of the more important parts of this statement. Ml'. Salazar said: "Recent events in Angola are the result of a terrorist action instigated and directed from the outside, with such violence and savagery that military means are forced upon us as the only immediate way to a solution. "It should, however, he understood that such means aim exclusively at punishing criminal acts and re-establishing order; the action is solely designed to restore peaceful conditions and guarantees of life and property, without which the work essential to the progress of the territory and the life of the populations cannot be carried out." On new measures the Prime Miilister said: "The populations will be brought more and more into local political and administrative life; that the rhythm of implementation of programmes of social advancement, with special reference to education, health and housing, will not be slowed down but rather the contrary, if possible; lastly, all the available financial resources-those of the province, or those of the metropolitan country, or again such as may proceed from foreign capital-will continue to be applied to economic developmentwith a view to creating more wealth and employment." The Prime Minister also said: "Contrary to what many suppose, the administrative system has not been maintained unchanged. Thus, since 1914, not to go back any further, the overseas provinces, namely Angola and Mozambique, have enjoyed limited self-government; in 1933 the system evolved into one which we might define as 'temperate self-government', meaning a greater measure of autonomy in local affairs; and in the constitutional revision of 1951-53 the local Legislative Councils not only acquired a marked elected majority but were also empowered to pass legislation. "The system then set up will tend to develop further in harmony with the progress achieved in political, economic and social fields toward higher forms of autonomy. Such forms, however, may he 143. l have here a map of Angola showing the area where infiltration of terrorists has taken place. As you can see, it is a very small area, containing perhaps less than 5 pel' cent of the total population of the province. AIl the rest of it is in peace and quiet, as it has been for many decades; and let those who, for many years, have alleged that the peace prevailing in our provinces of Africa was the result of military and police repression, who still play the same tune, let them now realize that the savage work of the terrorists was only possible because, as late as February last, the total armed forces of the whole province consisted of 10,000 soldiers, of whom 8,000 were black troops, and in the whole province the police force, including all branches, was far less than 1,000 strong. In all, 11,000 military personnel to keep a vast territory under terror. But l am sure those representatives will now find it convenient to forget that the sarne accusations they are making today, they were making yesterday; for today's evidence, if it does nothing more, at least denies yesterday's affirmations. 14\4. Since terrorism started, our military forces have naturally been increased, not for operations of repression, not for destroying villages, not for savage killings-but rather for defensive purposes, for the protection of our men, women and children, black and white alike, to ensure the conditions necessary to guarantee life and property so that the progress of the territory and the life of the population can be continued. The military means thus imposed on us aim exclusively at punishing criminal acts and re-establishing order; but those are routine operations which, in the over-riding majority of cases, have not required more than the simple presence of the troops, since the local populations are the first to co-operate with them in denouncing and finding the criminals in those few cases where they are still around. In the course of such operations we have so far made about 1,000 prisoners. 145. Mention has been made here of fantastic numbers of victims and even to the alleged dangers of epidemics as a result of so many bodies being left unburied. There are victims, indeed. Although not final, we know_ the approximate number of men, 146. As we stressed earlier, the situation in Angola is a most unwarranted and illegal item ta have been inscribed on the agenda of the Council. It is a cIeal' attempt on the part of some members of the Council ta internationalize problems of public order within the national territory of a Member State, an attempt which is manifestly contrary, and therefore a violation, of the letter and spirit of the Charter. 147. We consider it the duty of the Council to avoid giving any encouragement to terroristic infiltration as a resuIt of this debate. Waves of agitation, an atmosphere of subversion and certain frames of mind can be used to exercise pressure on those nations which are outside the great clans of this Organization, unless the Council does its duty in this debate. 148. As l said yesterday, and as l think Ihave reason to repeat today: "Indeed, there is, unfortunately, every reason ta fear, in the light of previous experiences, that this debate may bring more loss of life and further misery and destruction in Angola. If, no doubt, some desire that, my delegation feels that it is incumbent upon the Council ta bear in mind the great responsibility it is taking by the mere fact of engaging in this debate." [950th meeting, para. 105.] 149. The CouncH, at least the great majority of the members, cannot ignore the winds of agitation and subversion which a certain political system is trying ta blow aIl over Africa. 150. Not long ago, in this great city of New York, Ml'. Stevenson publicly denounced this threat, inviting the Soviet Union not to interfere in the internaI affairs of other countries, and ta abandon its deliberate actions for disturbing peace in Africa. Similar thoughts were expressed by President Kennedy in Paris. At least, on these occasions, Portugal could not have been accused of being the author of such a denunciation. 151. The events of Angola were a resuIt of the same malevolent forces which are trying ta set Africa aflame, by taking the cold war to that continent in the pursuit of their openly admitted design ta subjugate the world. 152. Perhaps the Council should consider the moment opportune, at least in regard to Africa-and this would certainly he legal action within the functions of the Council-to condemn solemnly, as indirect aggression committed by a State, the following types of intervention in the domestic affairs of others: first, 153. AIl the points 1 have just mentioned are contained in a draft resolution of the 1956 Special Committee on the Question of Defining Aggression,ll a text submitted by the Soviet Union, one of the permanent members of the Security Council. It would he legitimate to hope that the very permanent member of the Seeurity Council which defined these principles of aggression in the first place, in 1956, would not apply its veto against the principles it sponsored five years ago. The strict Implementation of those principles would eertainly he a most important contribution to keeping Africa out of the eold war and leading the whole of the continent towards the road of peaee and prosperity. 154. A numher of specifie faise accusations, monstroùs distortions and fabricated statistics have bean presented to the Council by our detractors. 1 have not answered them today sinee 1 do not wish to burden the Couneil any longer•.However 1 shall, with the President's permission. ask to exercise my right of reply pérhaps tOtllOi'row, in order to make a statement eorrecting the deliberate falsehoods and fabrieated statisties. 155. The P~SIDENT: The next name on the list of speakers is that of the representative of Ghana. Does he wish to speak this evening, or would he prefer to spaak tomorrow morning?

1 am completely in the hands of the Council.

If either time is convenient to tlie representative of Ghana, 1 would suggest that the Couneil should now adjourn and meet again tomorrow morning at 10.30, when the representative of Ghana will be the first speaker. It was sa decided. The meeting roseat 6.20 p.m. V Official RecordS of the General Assembly. Twelfth Session. Sup: plement No. 16. annex Il. section 1. Litho in U.N.