Sir, it is with great satisfaction that we see the post of President
of the thirty seventh session of the General Assembly occupied by the
representative of a friendly people with great historical traditions
of struggle for freedom, peace and progress. The Hungarian people
succeeded in preserving their dignity and personality for all time by
heroically resisting Hitler's fascism and building a socialist
fatherland free from foreign domination. Strong ties of friendship
and solidarity forged during our armed struggle for national
liberation from colonialism bind our two countries. After the
proclamation of our independence, these ties took on a new dimension
and scope, extending to multidisciplinary cooperation, the basis of
which is the defense and pursuit of the fundamental interests of our
peoples and Governments and building and defending socialism. In
expressing our firm guarantee of close cooperation in the fulfilment
of the weighty responsibilities that have been entrusted to you, my
delegation joins previous speakers in warmly welcoming you and
congratulating you on your unanimous election. We wish also to
express our appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Kittani, for the
skilful and intelligent manner in which he conducted the work of the
last regular session of the General Assembly. This was no easy task
considering the grave crisis existing at the time in international
relations, in which dialogue and mutual trust among nations gave way
to cold war language, threats, aggression and intimidation. We extend
our greetings to the Secretary General, whose action in defense of
the Charter of the United Nations and in the endeavor to find
peaceful solutions to world problems at the most critical times is
deserving of the respect and confidence that the international
community extended to him when it elected him one year ago. The
disdain in which the United Nations is held as a privileged forum for
discussion and for the search for peaceful solutions to international
conflicts is expressed in the constant violation of the purposes and
principles set forth in the Charter. The overwhelming majority of the
speakers at this session have denounced the aggravation of the
already critical situation prevailing in all parts of the world.
There is an atmosphere of insecurity and latent warfare, which seems
likely to lead to a holocaust. As if the already existing hotbeds of
tension were not enough, we are witnessing the outbreak of new
hotbeds and the emboldening of localized conflicts. This situation
forces peoples to divert their human and material resources from the
solution of problems inherent in underdevelopment, such as hunger,
homelessness, illiteracy and disease, in order to concentrate on the
defense of their sovereignty and on the fight to achieve and preserve
their freedom. To the obstinate refusal to acknowledge the right of
peoples to self determination, the peoples respond with the
resolution to die rather than live in slavery. Harmonious relations
and cooperation among nations require the creation of a climate of
peace and security in the world and absolute respect for the
fundamental right of peoples to self determination and independence.
It was the ideals of peace, justice and liberty that inspired the
people of Mozambique. When we took up arms against colonialism in
Mozambique we fought to eliminate the causes of war in our county; we
were moved by the noble aspiration to establish, with all the peoples
of the world good and just relations founded on sovereign equality
and mutual respect. This is a just aspiration for which all the
peoples of the world, in which inequities and imbalances are
increasingly felt, are prepared to fight. With the achievement of our
national independence we established the conditions for the
expression and development of our culture and our personality, which
had been trampled upon and inhibited during the centuries of
exploitation and domination. But the scope of our ideals was not
circumscribed by the liberation of our territory alone. We were
forced, shortly after independence, to wage another war, imposed upon
us by Smith's racist regime.
A/37/PV.26
In expressing solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in their just
struggle, Mozambique was contributing to the elimination of one of
the causes of war and instability in our area. The independence of
Zimbabwe made it possible for a climate of relative peace to be
restored, which enabled broad perspectives to be opened up for our
economic development and stimulated cooperation among the countries
of southern Africa. Since then it has become possible for us to
concentrate our attention on the search for solutions to the numerous
problems facing our people. Our objective is to promote the material
and social wellbeing of all the people in Mozambique, who were denied
this throughout the entire period of the domination of their country.
The relative peace that we achieved was of short duration. In
defining and using an illegal minority racist, regime as their
principal ally in the area, the imperialist forces consciously,
wilfully and impudently gave Pretoria the moral strength which, more
than any technical or technological means, allows it to provoke war
and occupy parts of the territory of Angola, a sovereign State,
spreading death and destruction to all the front line States. This is
a deliberate action which is typical of heir redoubled
aggressiveness, the basis of which is the refusal of the imperialists
to recognize the right of peoples to independence, freedom and
peaceful and harmonious development: the face of the qualitative
advances achieved by our people in the reconstruction of our country
the imperialist forces have intensified their activities against the
People's Republic of Mozambique. They are trying by all possible
means to prevent the establishment of a civilization without
discrimination, which the building in Mozambique of a socialist
society, free from man's exploitation by man, represents in our part
of the world. No longer able to rely on a political and
administrative structure in Mozambique, something they were able to
do until recently, imperialist forces are today resorting to other
more insidious and brutal means of attacking us. Using as a spearhead
the racist minority regime in South Africa, imperialism is waging a
true undeclared war against us, committing direct armed acts of
aggression against our country through the use of regular South
African troops and special detachments of armed bandits. The Pretoria
regime recruits and trains, finances and equips, arms and outfits,
transports and supplies, evacuates and commands armed bands in
Mozambique in order to commit crimes against our people, spread
unrest and terror and destabilize our country. The target of these
bandits is the helpless civilian population, intimidating them and
committing all kinds of atrocities. They savagely torture, mutilate
and assassinate children, women and the elderly. They rob peasants
and loot their property. These armed bandits also perpetrate
kidnappings and assassinations against foreign nationals who
contribute with their labor to the progress of the People's Republic
of Mozambique. These armed bandits are recruited by South Africa from
among those former members of the political police force of the
colonial regime who did not have the courage to join in the process
of national reconstruction and thus to wipe from their hands the
blood resulting from their crimes. They are recruited from among
those elements of the colonial army such as commandos and special
units which, like the former, rushed cheaply to themselves to new
bosses instead of waiting for the clemency of the people. They are
recruited from among traitors to the fatherland, marginal elements
and foreign mercenaries. The common denominator of these bandits is
their anti social character, parasitism. Characteristics of the
decadence of the so called free world. They do not pursue any
political objectives. Their motivation is crime for its own sake, and
drug the nature of their acts and their criminal motivation
characterize them as bandits. The armed banditry taking place in our
region today is a new phenomenon, a new form of mercenarism. In
organizing and utilizing armed bandits, imperialism and the apartheid
regime a aiming at implanting among the world public the false idea
that opposition and a climate of insecurity exist in Mozambique.
Concurrently with the acts of armed aggression, the enemy is
infiltrating spies into our country and promoting economic sabotage.
In promoting a vigorous campaign of slander and misinformation on the
international scene, the enemy endeavors to project to the world the
impression that there exists in Mozambique a permanent state of
terror and panic. It promotes an economic blockade, thus hampering
sound and fruitful cooperation with other peoples of the world. It
endeavors to hamper the consolidation of our independence enforcement
during this phase of our development process and tries to discredit
socialism, a system freely elected by the people of Mozambique. In
this struggle, in which the enemy is using the most subtle methods of
aggression, our people has demonstrated the highest degree of
critical consciousness and has become that cannot be penetrated by
the designs of imperialist agents. We wish to express our gratitude
in all those members of the international community that have in
various ways extended support to us and that contributed progress of
our country and the strengthening of fair and equitable cooperative
relations. We reiterate our appeal to the international community to
maximize its assistance to the People's Republic of Mozambique so as
to enable us to reinforce our defensive capability and successfully
to carry out the struggle gains underdevelopment. The existence of
colonialism, racism and apartheid is the fundamental cause of the
tension through which we are living in southern Africa and our
permanent confrontation with the South African regime, which
obstinately refuses to accept the course of history. South Africa
continues to intensify its criminal actions against the South African
people, whose struggle for national liberation is growing in scope
and depth and spreading to practically all sectors of the economic
and social life of the Pretoria regime. To the wave of
assassinations, detentions, the torture of those who oppose and the
repression of trade unions, in which many whites are now also
militantly involved, the people of South Africa respond with positive
actions of resistance, causing the erosion of the very establishment
of the Pretoria regime. The people is fighting heroically against
oppression, discrimination, repression and humiliation. Large
sections of the white population are rising against the restriction
of liberty, repulsed by the brutal nature of apartheid, whose
criminal action is beginning to be felt in their own homes. Thus
contradictions deepen in the very heart of Botha's racist minority
regime in the face of its manifest inability to contain by force the
liberation. struggle of the South African people under the leadership
of the African National Congress. Confronted by a wave of popular
uprisings, and unable to fi: 3 a solution to its internal strife,
Pretoria chooses to generalize the conflict in the area. South Africa
attacks and occupies part of the territory of the People's Republic
of Angola, at the same time supporting and promoting puppet groups
such as the Union Nacional para la Independence Total de Angola. It
continuously and systematically commits acts of armed aggression
against Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, violating the
territorial integrity of those sovereign countries and showing no
respect whatever for the ethical conduct governing relations among
States signatories of the Charter of the United Nations. The
objectives pursued to bring about permanent destabilization are in
the last analysis intended to divert ns from the struggle for
economic independence under the Southern Africa Development
Coordination Conference. That Conference is the weapon of the nine
countries of the region for independent development and the gradual
elimination of dependence on South Africa and imperialism in general.
South Africa is taking action again. It aimed at its disintegration
in the face of the progress achieved in the various sectors of
cooperation, particularly in the area of transportation and
communication. We continue to be preoccupied with the question of
Namibia. Arrogant and irresponsible, South Africa continues to use
dilatory maneuvers to delay the self determination and independence
of the people of Namibia, which, like every other people, has the
right to freedom and independence. In Namibia, it is the people that
is fighting for independence. That is the reality which is being
obliterated. That is the reality which is being conjured away. That
is why any attempt at connecting the independence of Namibia, either
directly or indirectly, with the withdrawal of internationalist Cuban
forces from Angola is not only intolerable interference in the
internal affairs of the People's Republic of Angola but also a crime
against the people of Namibia, because by this subterfuge an effort
is being made to prolong war and massacres. The internationalist
Cuban forces are in Angola because the racist regime in South Africa
violated the sovereignty of that territory. Therefore we must demand,
in the first place, the unconditional withdrawal of the invading
South African troops from Angolan territory and an absolute guarantee
that such aggression will not be repeated. In fact, all the
independent countries of the area which are being threatened and
invaded by the forces of the apartheid regime are demanding
guarantees of security. The foreign forces which are attacking,
assaulting and occupying independent States in southern Africa in
violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of those
States are not Cuban. The only invading forces which, as the entire
world knows, attack and occupy the territories of the independent
States of southern Africa are the forces of South Africa. It is
absurd to set the security of South Africa as a pre condition for the
independence of Namibia. Namibia is not the first country bordering
on South Africa to fight to achieve its independence will not come
from outside South Africa. It is the children of the people of South
Africa who will overthrow that hideous regime from within. If it were
a matter of involving foreign forces in the struggle for the
liberation of South Africa, they could have used the territory of
Zimbabwe for more than two years now and the territory of Mozambique
for more than seven years; and the territory of other independent
countries bordering on South Africa could have been used even
earlier. The sovereignty of the people of Angola cannot be used as
currency in exchange for the liberation of Namibia. The liberation of
Namibia is an integral part of the universal emancipation movement of
peoples. The People's Republic of Mozambique reaffirms once again its
unconditional support for the struggle of the people of Namibia under
the leader ship of the South West Africa People's Organization its
only legitimate representative. As far as we are concerned, Security
Council resolution 435 remains the political and juridical framework
for the fair solution of this problem. No pretext designed to impede
the implementation of that resolution can stand up to a correct
analysis of the reality. The remaining problems could easily be
solved if there were the essential political will on the part of
South Africa and its allies. We are of the opinion that even during
this session of the General Assembly it should be possible to define
an electoral system for the election of a constituent assembly. It
should be possible during the current session to establish the forces
of UNTAG and a date and the conditions for a cease fire in Namibia.
This is the International Year for the Mobilization of Sanctions
against South Africa; nevertheless, the indices of economic growth of
the regime show an ever increasing connivance by Western
countries in maintaining and reinforcing that abominable and hideous
regime. While it is said that to apply sanctions against South Africa
is a useless exercise, sanctions are being applied against other
countries. Where, then, is equity, justice and integrity? Today we
are observing the international Day of Solidarity with South African
Political Prisoners. On this day, dedicated to the struggle, we
salute the determination and the courage of the peoples of South
Africa. We demand that the freedom fighters be released from South
African prisons. The action of imperialist forces is not confined to
southern Africa: its scope spreads throughout the African continent.
At the present time those forces are endeavoring to implement their
strategy aimed at the manipulation, paralysis or even disintegration
of the Organization of African Unity, an important anti colonialist
and anti imperialist instrument. We are certain that the African
countries will know enough to turn down the blackmail, intimidation
and bribery and reject the divisive tactics, and to work towards the
consolidation of the OAU. We repeat our support for the admission of
the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic to the OAU and reject the idea
that that may be a cause for division within our continental
organization, since it is based. The forces that will overthrow the
apartheid regime on the principles embodied in the OAU charter and in
the Charter of the United Nations. We reaffirm our active solidarity
with the just struggle of the people of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic
Republic. It is a struggle that could find its resolution through
negotiation, which unfortunately is hampered by the intransigence of
the Morocco regime. This intransigence is the reason for the
protracted state of war, which threatens to spread and even involve
other countries, because of the involvement of alien forces on the
Moroccan side. That danger must be averted by countries which cherish
freedom and the independence of peoples. The image of the massacres
in Beirut is a blown up picture of a Dantesque world transferred to
the latter part of the twentieth century. Beirut invaded, Beirut
bombed, Beirut besieged, deprived of water, food and medicines, will
remain forever engraved in the history of the resistance struggle of
peoples. It was a gratuitous demonstration of Zionist murderous fury,
the purpose of which was the total elimination of the Palestine
Liberation Organization. Despite the powerful weaponry unleashed by
the Zionist regime, the PLO and the progressive Lebanese forces
resisted the slaughter and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We
hail their heroism. The People's Republic of Mozambique supports the
struggle of the Palestinian people, with the certainty that it will
end with the creation of a Palestinian State, autonomous and
sovereign, and the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab
territories, which is the only acceptable solution to the conflict in
the Middle East. The illegal occupation of East Timor continues. The
expansionist Indonesian regime insists on the criminal occupation of
that Territory, denying the Maubere people its inalienable right to
self determination and independence. How many times must the events
in Beirut be repeated in Dili before we can say enough and finally
acknowledge the right of the Maubere people to exist and build its
independent and sovereign State? Independence is not a privilege of
those who are richer or more powerful. It is not an attribute of
Moslems or Catholics. Independence is an inherent right of all
peoples, regardless of geo strategic, religious or other
considerations. Every people has its history, its culture, its
personality. By preserving them, the people can face any obstacle and
accept any sacrifice from the best of its children. It is because
they are making such sacrifices and because their struggle is a just
one that the Maubere people deserve our support. The curtain of
silence drawn around the massacres and the famine to which the
Maubere people are being subjected can no longer muffle the cries of
the hundreds of thousands of people of Timor who are resisting the
brutal Indonesian occupation. Both Republican and Democratic United
States, Senators have recently called attention to the gravity of the
situation. The situation in East Timor was compared by them to that
of Biafra at the time of the secessionist war and that of Kampuchea
during the Pol Pot era. They clearly admitted that the Maubere people
had not exercised their right to self determination. We cannot watch
these atrocities in silence. In East Timor there are people who,
under the leadership of Frente Revclucionaria de Timor Leste
Independents their legitimate representative, reject the annexation,
resist Indonesian occupation and fight for the affirmation of their
national rights. They have our admiration and our solidarity. We are
certain that in Dili the banner of liberty of the Maubere people will
be raised. In Korea, the presence of United States troops in the
southern part of the territory contributes to the creation of
tension, hampering the reunification process of the Korean nation a
dismembered country, split in two by an imaginary line drawn in
conformity with geo political concepts, to the detriment of national
reality. We support the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in its
efforts to ensure the peaceful reunification of its nation. Its
proposals for direct negotiations between North and South Korea with
a view to the creation of a confederated republic constitute a
positive contribution to the unification process. In Latin America,
Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada are the targets of constant threats of
aggression. The imperialist aggressiveness ranges from economic
blockade to imminent invasion and occupation. The peace and stability
of the area must necessarily be contingent on the cessation of the
use or threat of force or of any type of coercion against Cuba,
Nicaragua and Grenada, free countries which have the right to choose
in full sovereignty their own way of achieving socio economic
development. In Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala popular uprisings
are developing and apologists of Western civilization are endeavoring
to intensify their military and financial support of the
dictatorships in the area. No bayonets can silence the people's cries
for freedom. Fairness and moral considerations dictate that we
support the peoples of those countries in their struggle to gain
their freedom and tum their countries into lands free from terror and
repression, where no one need any longer live with the fear of never
again being reunited with his loved ones. The People's Republic of
Mozambique reaffirms the principles of solidarity with all peoples
who fight for their political and economic emancipation and for
peace. We meet again in an international debate in an atmosphere
tense and heavy with threats. The crisis expands and worsens and is
being felt most acutely in developing countries. The dramatic effects
of this crisis on our countries are well known: the imported
inflation, the growing deficit in the balance of payments, the
deterioration in the terms of trade, the food shortages, and so on.
Developing countries are faced with all the symptoms of
underdevelopment, where hunger is the overpowering scourge of the
people. Specific short term and long term measures must be taken with
a view to the eradication of the hunger and malnutrition that ravage
Africa. Our continent is becoming ever more dependent on imports of
food because of the lowered production and the natural catastrophes
that have periodically devastated our region. The adoption of
coercive economic measures aimed at the attainment of specific
political objectives is so common today that it is as though an
attempt were being made to replace the norms in the juridical
instruments governing the Organization by that practice. It is thus
that the countries that freely chose paths to development which led
them to real independence have fallen victim to blackmail and
pressures. Taking into account the present international economic
situation, we are concerned by the insistence of some developed
market economy countries on taking unilateral and arbitrary decisions
and refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations. The initiation of
global negotiations on international cooperation for development is
of primary importance. The People's Republic of Mozambique calls for
the exertion of all possible efforts during the current session of
the General Assembly to ensure the initiation of global negotiations.
We wish to assure the Assembly that our country will sign the
recently adopted United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,'
which establishes a new juridical order for the utilization of the
ocean space as an instrument of justice, peace, development and
international cooperation among States. true cooperation among States
based on a common examination of international economic problems and
on common action is absolutely necessary. Only then will it be
possible for us to respond to the yearnings of all peoples for
equitable and rational development in all parts of the world. It is
important to ensure the appropriate conditions without delay,
establish normal economic relations among all States, regardless of
their socio economic systems and to reinforce international
cooperation as a means of stabilizing peace. The exploitation of the
weak can no longer be regarded as the right of the rich, nor can
poverty, hunger, ignorance and disease continue to be the lot of the
peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The struggle for peace is
the greatest preoccupation of our time and most of mankind is
involved in it. The struggle for peace means the reduction,
destruction and Final elimination of the causes of the conflicts that
rage around the world: imperialism, colonialism, neo colonialism,
racism, apartheid Zionism. It means, in addition, that we must apply
all our efforts to achieving general and complete disarmament. That
is why the failure of the second special session of the General
Assembly devoted to disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, is
of great concern to the People's Republic of Mozambique. The wanton
armaments race and the use of the ocean space and the stratosphere
for purposes of warfare are serious obstacles to development and to
cooperation among States. Development for the peoples and the
promotion of worthwhile social and material wellbeing cannot be
achieved unless all available human and material resources are used
for peaceful purposes. In the realm of the struggle for peace, the
People's Republic of Mozambique considers that nuclear disarmament
has the highest possible priority, since the devastating effects of
this type of weapon represent a serious threat to our very survival.
It is essential for the sake of all mankind to prevent a nuclear
conflict, and this must be a matter of fundamental concern in the
policy of every Government. A threat to peace continues in the Indian
Ocean region, where we see the consolidation, expansion and
nuclearization of imperialist naval and military bases. Some Western
countries persist in their firm opposition to the convening of the
world Conference to adopt measures to give effect to the Declaration
of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace free from nuclear weapons. We
hope that those countries will change their position in order to make
possible the implementation of General Assembly resolution 36/90,
which provides for the Conference to be held during the first half of
1983. The struggle for the implementation of peace and cooperation is
one of our greatest priorities. Peace is necessary in the struggle
against underdevelopment. Cooperation among the people of the world
emerges as a necessity in the history of humanity and as an
instrument in the struggle against underdevelopment, in particular
through the creation of a just international order. The People's
Republic of Mozambique reiterates its commitment to contribute,
together with the other members of the international community, to
the search for a just and equitable solution to the problems that
beset all of humanity. Despite the systematic and deliberate
violation of international legal instruments by certain Member
States, we reaffirm our adherence to the principles and purposes of
the Charter. The People's Republic of Mozambique expresses its full
confidence in the Organization and in its everlasting dedication to
the struggle for the achievement and preservation of international
peace and security. The struggle continues.