83. Permit me to take this opportunity to pay to you, Madam
President, the respectful tribute which is your due, and to
offer you the congratulations of the Government of the
Ivory Coast on your election to the honourable position of
President of our General Assembly. The Ivory Coast, which
has the most fraternal and close relations with Liberia, is
proud of this trust placed in you, which redounds to the
honour of all African women and the whole of Africa. We
desire that you may discharge this heavy task with great
success and that your maternal love may lead you to place
all your experience at the service of the world in general
and of Africa in particular, so that we Africans may never
stray from the road of brotherhood among men and the
path to peace.
84. Twice, in 1914 and 1939, the peace of the world has
collapsed. Although, paradoxically, the two resulting wars
freed colonial peoples and released nationalism, we still
think that peace remains the most important objective for
the future development of peoples. It must, however, be a
peace that is not only an absence of war but also a constant
construction of a harmonious society in which all men,
being equal and having a higher standard of living, will feel
the need to settle all their disputes by peaceful means.
85. Such a peace has to be worked for; it requires a special
type of behaviour and attitudes, forbearance, tolerance — a
whole set of conditions which may not fit a partner’s
temporary interests. But the Ivory Coast has chosen them
as the substance of its internal and foreign policy and, on
that basis, has vowed to explore tirelessly every path which
might lead to such a peace. Having made this choice, we
shall appeal to your indulgence, your tolerance and your
understanding — since you are all aware of the need for
coexistence in diversity — to hear us state the position of the
Ivory. Coast on the various problems dividing the world.
86. The Ivory Coast is guided at all times by humane
principles, which are the constant factors in its diplomacy.
Acting thus, we seek neither to please nor to offend, but to
do all in our power to contribute to the preservation of an
orderly peace.
87. A war is raging in the west of Africa. It is entering its
third year. In it, one ethnic group faces others. It has
already caused almost two million deaths. This war is being
waged in an undeveloped country where the medical
infrastructure and the network of food distribution are
insufficient, where the quality of building materials in the
villages is rudimentary, where bomb shelters do not exist.
88. Yet, because of the intervention of some great Powers
and with their connivance, this war is being waged with the
most modern and sophisticated weapons; British and
Russian bombs are being dropped by Ilyushin planes on
defenceless villages. All these factors have made it the most
devastating, murderous and inhuman war that the modern
world has known; two million dead in two years, in such a
small area.
89. Death is caused there by weapons, disease and hunger,
without distinction of age. Children, whom the Ivory Coast
and some other countries, in a praiseworthy humane and
charitable effort, are trying to keep alive, come to us in
such a state of malnutrition that, despite the most modern
treatment we can provide, they will remain indelibly
marked, handicapped and weakened at a time when Africa
needs healthy and vigorous men.
90. It is inconceivable that the prolongation of such a war,
the accumulation of so much misery, can have any other
result than to kill out in these men, these widows, these
disabled, any will, any design, even any idea of wanting or
being able to live in harmony within a united Nigeria.
91. Biafra was born from the disintegration of Nigeria
after a succession of seizures of power which created a
climate of insecurity, fear, terror and tribal hatred.
Contrary to the view of some of our friends, who believe in
curing evil with evil, we firmly believe that the war is
adding to that insecurity, fear, terror and tribal hatred, and
that it is only further deepening the gap between the two
communities.
92. The principle which induces some countries to ignore
this tragedy, on the pretext that it is simply a matter for
Africans, is unacceptable. This tragedy, by its scope and the
number of its victims, extends beyond its African setting
and threatens international peace and security.
93. The United Nations is in duty bound to concern itself
actively, alongside the regional organizations, with anything
likely to endanger peace or human rights, as it did in
Cyprus, the Dominican Republic and the Congo. History
teaches us that the Swiss Confederation, which has similarities
with our young countries, composed as they are of
conglomerations of tribes with different languages and
religions, was in 1848 likewise torn asunder by quarrels and
conflicts born of its own diversity of language and religion.
It has become what it is today only because some cantons
and other countries not involved in the disputes offered,
either on their own initiative or upon request, their
mediation and good offices and proposed a compromise
peace to the parties at variance.
94. This war must cease, in the interest of Nigeria, of
Africa, and of the world. Let us unite in exerting pressure
on the great Powers turned arms merchants to cease
transforming this part of Africa into a suppurating focus for
their ideological struggle and conflicts of interest.
95. We are therefore deeply convinced of the pressing
need for a person of incontrovertible spiritual authority,
such as yourself, Madam President, or the Secretary-General,
to address an urgent appeal to the parties to cease
hostilities immediately and start negotiations to find a just
and fair solution acceptable to all.
96. As for the Middle East, it is drifting into a war of
attrition with disquieting aspects. The Governments responsible
are no longer in control of the situation, which has
been taken over by the Palestinians themselves. War
operations are extending beyond the Middle East, in the air
and on the ground, and are arousing deep apprehension
among innocent peoples far removed from the scene of the
conflict.
97. His Holiness Pope Paul VI sees in this situation
portents of a generalized conflict.
98. In a joint declaration dated 20 September 1969 the
great Powers declare that all the States of the region have
the right to exist; yet they continue to give them arms to
destroy each other. It is high time that the great Powers
responsible for the situation in the Middle East increased
their efforts to lead the parties towards a search for a
peaceful solution; military means having proved useless,
dialogue becomes a necessity. It may assume various forms,
taking place either face to face or through intermediaries,
so long as the participants act in good faith. The Ivory
Coast affirms its belief in a negotiated settlement based on
the declaration of the great Powers and on the implementation
of Security Council resolution 242 (1967) dated 22 November 1967.
99. At last, after twenty years of war, twenty years in
which Viet-Nam has been divided and torn asunder, twenty
years during which economic development has been sacrificed
to war needs, negotiations have begun. Better late
than never. It is never too late to do good; therefore the
Ivory Coast welcomes the Paris conference on Viet-Nam
and expresses the wish that the parties will continue the
dialogue with patience and determination and in good faith.
May their efforts be crowned with success, so that peace
may return for ever to Viet-Nam.
100. We shall soon be celebrating the tenth anniversary of
the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to
Colonial Countries and Peoples [resolution 1514 (XV)].
Yet African territories remain under the domination of an
out-dated colonialism. Nearly twenty-five years ago, our
Charter solemnly proclaimed the equality of all men; but in
southern Africa a State Member of the United Nations,
which subscribed to that Charter, is writing racial discrimination
into its law. We must keep a constant watch on this
state of affairs, for it is weakening our Organization.
101. As to the Portuguese colonies, the legal fiction to
which Portugal clings in order to retain these colonies is
largely obsolete. The events which have shaken Africa since
the Second World War are deeply rooted in that nationalism
which broke up the great empires of Europe and Asia.
These are “novas ideas”, as the Old Man of Cabinda said.
Guns will be of no avail; these ideas will bring the
independence of Africa to completion and free it for ever
from colonial domination. Although assimilation originates
in an idealistic and praiseworthy spirit, Portugal must face
the obvious; in the context of present-day Africa, there is
no other acceptable road than that of self-determination.
We are ready to help Portugal, which has become a prisoner
of its own system, but on condition that it categorically
proclaims its acceptance of the process of leading its
territories to independence.
102. Apartheid also seems to us a consequence of the
“great fear“. Its advocates are trying to reserve part of the
territory of South Africa exclusively for the white race, and
endeavour to justify their attitude by so-called scientific or
biblical principles proclaiming racial superiority.
103. However, we must try to convince those whites of
South Africa that their fear is not justified, that the
decision to live in Africa implies the acceptance of a
mixture of races and civilizations, giving birth to a
composite civilization and manifesting the progress of
mankind, and that if, unfortunately, apartheid were to stay,
the accumulated hatred would impel Africa on the road to
vengeance. A war of attrition, like that raging in other parts
of the world, would then become established in Africa, to
the prejudice of the economic progress which is indispensable
for the well-being of all peoples living on our continent.
104. Happily, not all the whites in South Africa are
racists. There is a minority, but one that is gagged. Threats
from the outside can only add to the difficulties of this
élite. Those threats, therefore, must be replaced by a
realistic policy likely to help that minority to grow. Thus
the United Nations could convene a world conference on
apartheid, not in order to utter platonic condemnations but
to bring together scientists, theologians of all religions,
politicians, businessmen and workers from all over the
world, including both communities of South Africa. Its
work would demonstrate and expose the fallacy of the
scientific and biblical arguments put forward in support of
apartheid, would seek the true and deep-seated causes of
this scourge, and would suggest remedies.
105. Some great Powers have made mistakes whose
consequences will be with us for a long time. Rhodesia is
one of the mistakes made by the United Kingdom, that
champion of Nigerian unity, which divided Ireland and the
Indian Union, and is about to transform the Rock of
Gibraltar into a mini-state. From the time of the dissolution
of the East African Federation to the creation of the
Rhodesian State, the United Nations by many resolutions
has vainly striven to persuade the administering Power not
to hand over the armed forces to the white minority
government of Rhodesia, not to concede the 1961 Constitution
and not give up the legal powers which the United
Kingdom held by virtue of earlier constitutions and through
which it could prevent the adoption or promulgation of
discriminatory laws. But, as one position after another has
been abandoned, the last example being the recall of the
British Governor the day after the comedy of the referendum
on the so-called Rhodesian Republic, the fait accompli
has now been consecrated and legalized. It is easy to take
the next step and to say that the United Kingdom can do
nothing since it no longer has any relations with Rhodesia:
the representatives of the British Government have almost
said as much from this rostrum. And let us note in passing
that the remarkably peaceful attitude adopted by the
United Kingdom during the Rhodesian tragedy, which is
not nearly over, is in very strange contrast with the activist,
or even bellicose, attitude it has adopted elsewhere.
106. No matter what happens, the Ivory Coast continues
to consider the United Kingdom responsible and hopes that
it will find an adequate solution whereby to lead Rhodesia
towards independence with majority rule.
107. That is the Ivory Coast’s position on the problems of
apartheid and decolonization. However, although this situation
is a matter for serious concern, it is not nearly so
horrible as that prevailing in western Africa as a result of
the conflict between Nigeria and Biafra. It is all very well
for Africa to boil with rage over this question, but that it
should remain indifferent to this vast slaughter which has
already claimed two million victims, that it should stand
aside from the chain of human brotherhood which is
leading members of charitable organizations and men from
other continents to risk their lives to save innocent African
women and children — this is something that we simply fail
to understand.
108. Therefore, as a protest against this attitude, which is
a disgrace to African humanism, the Ivory Coast has
decided to abstain on any resolution dealing with this
question until this shameful fratricidal war is ended.
109. The peace that I have defined in my statement
requires an improvement in the living level of populations.
Yet we are witnessing a very disquieting phenomenon, the
widening of the gap between the wealthy and the poor
countries. It is widening because what the economists call
the terms of trade have deteriorated, so that the countries
producing primary commodities are becoming poorer while
the developed countries, no matter what their economic
system, are becoming scandalously richer. The failure of the
World Trade Conference in New Delhi was deeply and
bitterly felt in our countries. If this situation grows worse
and no compensatory machinery is devised, it is likely to
cause such trouble in the world that peace will become
precarious. Experts have proved that the loss of earning power
resulting from that situation cannot be offset by the paltry subsidies
doled out to our countries. Therefore an equalization
system on a world scale must be found to stabilize prices.
110. But we must admit that our peoples will benefit fully
from economic well-being only so far as we can set up in
our countries stable and democratic governments. And our
governments will only be. stable when we learn to abolish
seesaw politics and to keep away from the bipolarity
dividing the world into two blocs. Only by doing so can we
avoid the familiar theory of limited sovereignty which is
invoked to shore up some sort of ideological system.
111. We in the Republic of the Ivory Coast believe in the
future of the United Nations. We believe in the principle of
collective security, of international brotherhood; and our
attitude can be explained only by our desire to help the
United Nations as best we can to fulfil our common pledge
to save future generations, on all continents and in all
countries, from the scourge of general or local war.
112. To conclude, I repeat again that the silence of some
influential Members about the tragedy in western Africa
makes me anxious.
113. One of our illustrious and eminent colleagues, who
devoted his whole life to supporting the United Nations and
fell in that struggle, the late Professor Belaunde, said with
characteristic humour:
“The United Nations is a body in which something is
for ever disappearing: when two small Powers quarrel, the
quarrel disappears; when a great Power and a small Power
are in conflict, the small Power disappears; when two
great Powers quarrel, or when two small Powers have a
dispute in which the great Powers are involved, the
United Nations disappears.”
It was that venerable old gentleman’s way of pointing out
to the impetuous young diplomats which we were at the
time the imperfections of our Organization and its paralysis
by the great Powers’ veto.
114. But I am convinced that the United Nations will
answer our appeal and not disappear in the face of this
horrible war which is devastating Biafra, however ill-advised
the intervention of the great Powers.