1. Madam President, the Yemen Arab Republic delegation
wishes to offer you its warmest congratulations on the confidence
expressed in you by the Member States of the United Nations in
electing you to the Presidency of the General Assembly at its
twenty-fourth session. My delegation also wishes to pay tribute
to the late President of the General Assembly at its twenty-third
session, Mr. Arenales, who presided over that session with
great tact and ability.
2. Yemen has just emerged from a great struggle to
establish and preserve its national goals: freedom, peace and
government by consent. Yemen had to pay a high price for
the realization of those aims. Not only did the Yemeni
people have to cope with local and indigenous difficulties
but they also had to face foreign interventions, which cost
the country tens of thousands of lives and shook the moral
foundations of the whole nation. In spite of these overwhelming
difficulties, the Yemeni people were able to gain
their freedom, bring peace to the land and re-establish their
age-old tradition of democracy, by electing a national
assembly which in turn appoints the Government.
3. Historically, Yemen has contributed substantially to the
cultural heritage of mankind. A few thousand years before
Christ, civilization thrived in that part of the world. The
legendary Queen of Sheba, whose real name was Belquis,
was only one of the numerous Yemeni monarchs ruling
over that period of history when Yemen led the world in
irrigation, dam construction, skyscraper building, mining
and smelting and in numerous other fields of civilization.
4. Now that peace and security have been achieved, the
Government of Yemen is faced with the task of reconstruction.
It is striving to bring about widespread and basic
changes in the structure of society. Schools for both sexes,
women’s societies and athletic and cultural clubs are being
widely constructed, subsidized and encouraged. Great
efforts are being made for the construction of roads, school
buildings and small and medium-sized factories, with the
use of locally available materials.
5. In these and in various other fields, co-operation with
friendly nations and the assistance of various United
Nations agencies have been essential and important factors.
This is a practical manifestation of international goodwill
and understanding. It is our conviction that peace and
friendship between nations could be well served by such
practical co-operation in the various fields of development.
6. It is gratifying to note that, particularly during the past
two years, the Government of the Yemen Arab Republic
has stood firmly by the principles of the Yemeni revolution,
in itself a human attempt to restore and preserve the
dignity of man in its comprehensive and complete sense. It
is an established fact that a democratic form of government
based on popular choice now exists in the Yemen Arab
Republic. Since November 1967, Yemen has been rid of all
the dictatorial diseases. Political persecution, arrest without
warrant, imprisonment without trial, torture and all the
practices of a police State are regarded by the Yemeni
people with horror and contempt.
7. The experiences the Yemeni people have endured
during the past seven years have been engraved on the mind
and in the heart of every individual citizen in the country.
These were very cruel experiences but, on the other hand,
they were extremely useful and revealing.In fact the
Yemeni people look back with awe on the past seven years
while still cherishing the historical lessons gained. They are
therefore determined to keep the memory of such experiences
alive for generations to come.
8. The Yemeni people are now more than ever convinced
that peace in this world can be established only if nations
respect each other’s sovereignty and refrain from interfering
in each other’s internal affairs. They are prepared to defend
and preserve their freedom, whether internally or internationally.
They also recognize that nations of the world have
every right to complete and true independence as well as
the right to adopt the form of government they choose. In
accordance with these principles, the Yemen Arab Republic
maintains relations with all countries of the world, regardless
of their social systems or forms of government.
9. The United Nations was established to further world
peace and security, to protect and preserve the rights and
freedom of mankind, to work for the elimination of
colonialism in its various forms, for the liberation of
peoples still ruled by colonial Powers, for the eradication of
racialism and for the settlement by negotiation of world
problems and differences.
10. Small nations place great hopes in this Organization
and though the United Nations and its various agencies have
realized great achievements, those hopes have been greatly
disappointed because this Organization has not been effective
in quelling aggression or punishing and isolating the
aggressor. That is clearly manifest in the case of the Israeli
aggression against the Palestinian and other Arab peoples.
11. When we consider the United Nations Charter, which
embodies those noble aims and principles, we cannot fail to
realize that those principles are constantly being violated by
Israel, which has shown that it has neither respect for the
Charter nor any regard for the world community. Israel was
established at the expense of the indigenous people of
Palestine. Not only did the Israelis usurp the land, houses
and property of the Palestinian people but they also
conducted an aggressive and expansionist campaign against
the neighbouring Arab countries.
12. History has shown that no matter how long colonialist
Powers occupy and exploit usurped lands, the rightful
people always regain their land and their freedom. The
Palestinians are now conducting a war of liberation against
the Israeli colonists. The struggle will be bitter and long,
but right will triumph as it has triumphed in other parts of
the world where, under popular pressure, colonialists have
had to evacuate the occupied countries.
13. Viet-Nam is another area where world peace and
security are endangered by the presence of foreign troops
which continue to be the major obstacle to a just and
honourable settlement of this problem. We support the
legitimate rights of the Viet-Namese people for self-determination
in accordance with the principles outlined in
the United Nations Charter. Therefore, we call for the
immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from Viet-Nam so
that the Viet-Namese people may practise their right of
self-determination.
14. The racial régimes of South Africa, Rhodesia, and
some colonial Powers in other parts of Africa are practising
the most detestable policy of racial discrimination against
the people of Africa. The United Nations has condemned
racial discrimination, but has been unable to persuade those
racial régimes to abandon their inhuman practices.
15. It is also sadly disappointing that this Organization has
failed to restore the lawful rights of the People’s Republic
of China with regard to membership in the United Nations.
It is doubly disappointing to see it continue to ignore the
rights of a great people and a great country with more than
one sixth of the world population. The persistence of this
odd and irrational situation is in itself an infringement of
the principles and provisions of the United Nations Charter.
It is an ideal manifestation of self-contradiction. The time
has come for all nations of the world to free this
Organization from this self-contradictory situation by
inviting the People’s Republic of China to participate in the
activities of the United Nations.