96. Madam President, the fact that it is you who guide our
work in this temple devoted to freedom, on the eve of its
twenty-fifth anniversary, is more than a political event; it is
a sign, a historic message which we, as representatives of
States, political men and men of action, must interpret if
we intend to have a place in history and remain worthy of
confidence and respect in the eyes of world public
opinion—worthy, quite simply, of ourselves.
97. Africa, your land and ours, the land of all Africans,
the Africa which has summoned you, a daughter of its first
free republic, to receive in this forum the homage rendered
to you by free men, this Africa, as you know, is perplexed
and full of doubt.
98. How could it not be in doubt when it sees millions of
its children oppressed, 24 years after the peoples of the
United Nations had sworn at San Francisco that never again
would one man be oppressed by another?
99. How can the faith of our continent in the solemn
commitment of the United Nations not falter when, in
South Africa, Namibia, Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique,
Guinea (Bissau), the Cape Verde archipelago, a terrible
colonialism still maintains, in the sight and with the
knowledge of the entire international community, millions
of our brothers in a state of subjection of a barbarity rarely
equalled in history?
100. How can the hopes of Africa remain intact when
despair daily tightens its hold on millions of human beings
who have long since reached the limits of suffering and
endurance? The night grows darker around them; the
madness of their oppressors increases; the prisons, the
Bantustans — those veritable concentration camps — resound
with their cries of anguish; and we here, in these precincts,
continue innocently to believe and seriously to proclaim
that freedom is the absolute and natural right of all.
101. The Governments of Pretoria and Lisbon, the authorities
of Salisbury, take us with so little seriousness, and find
our lack of consistency so reassuring for their policy, that
they are no longer even embarrassed when declaring their
intentions; they no longer even disguise their aims, whether
immediate or distant.
102. For the immediate future they intend to continue
and intensify repression, to enact laws which every day
grow more implacable in their inhumanity, and to consolidate,
militarily, economically and legally, the basis of
this veritable “agreement of defiance”. On the basis of
present action, it is not difficult to imagine the features of
the last great colonialist bastions of the distant future: the
exclusive rule of white societies freed from all trace of what
was the African man.
103. Unless those who have already lost all finally manage
to proclaim their ultimate refusal in the face of their
oppressors, to rise up in tragic despair and, powerless to
save their lives and happiness, to bear witness, so that
history, humanity and future generations may know that
they were men and that they were willing to give their lives
as the price of their dignity and their humanity.
104. Unless also the colonialists, in one final burst of evil
and in the resolve to maintain their aberrant system,
unleash their policy of collective suicide, with the danger
that millions of innocent people in Africa and the rest of
the world will perish along with them.
105. There is no dearth of signs that our fears are well
founded. On the one hand, the freedom fighters in those
martyred lands have courageously broken the chains of fear
and resignation; their blood still flows, but this time in a
battle of men. On the other hand, Pretoria is transforming
South Africa into a diabolical arsenal, while Salisbury
morbidly savours its latest victory — the adoption of a
constitution for the rebel régime — and Lisbon sends its
aircraft to bomb peaceful villages in Zambia.
106. Who, then, can fail to realize the extent of the danger
to international peace and security constituted by that new
“axis”? Nevertheless, there are Powers — Powers that are
ultimately responsible under the terms of the Charter of the
United Nations for the peace and security of the world —
which are helping to pave the way for the catastrophe by
pursuing a policy of the closest political, economic and
military co-operation with South Africa, Rhodesia and
Portugal.
107. Since the decision of the Organization to impose
economic sanctions, South Africa and Rhodesia have never
been more prosperous. As far as Portugal is concerned,
despite its extremely limited national resources, it is waging
its anachronistic war on several military fronts with
complete success. What is to be said, again, about the
fratricidal war - which is tearing Nigeria asunder — a war
which, unfortunately, is being prolonged by the supply of
weapons to both sides by certain developed countries? We
are. convinced that, without those deadly weapons which
neither side manufactures, the warring brothers would be
left faced with their real problem — that of working together
and struggling together for their common development.
108. Africa is not the only continent still suffering from
the evils of colonialism, nor the only one which is resolute
in paying a heavy price for freedom. There are other men,
also brothers of us Tunisians—brothers, indeed, of all
peace-loving people: the Palestinians — who, despite all
obstacles, have undertaken to force the hand of destiny,
and, spurred on by their miraculously restored dignity, are
making sacrifices which astonish not only their oppressors
but the entire world.
109. Israel, however, has spared no effort in its endeavour
to achieve the total Zionist absorption of Palestine, a course
it has pursued for the last 20 years; nor does it hesitate to
use any means, even going so far as to abet an attack on the
Holy Places placed under its responsibility as occupying
Power. What a sacrilege for a people that claims to be the
partner of God! Aware that the God of the Palestinians is
also their past and their identity as a nation, Tel Aviv,
borrowing a classic colonialist practice, has not hesitated to
disfigure everything in Jerusalem that was calculated to
keep values and traditions alive either in the memory or in
the actual life of its inhabitants. It was also to be expected
that little by little, Zionism’s pernicious plans would lead to
the fire which seriously damaged the Al Aqsa mosque; it
was in the logic of events. And things being what they are,
one is entitled to fear concerning the fate of the rest of the
national and cultural Palestinian heritage, whether Moslem
or Christian.
110. What is more, there is reason to fear that the Middle
East conflict, already a grave threat to peace because of its
Palestinian and Arab dimensions, has, since the criminal act
of 21 October 1968, acquired a third dimension — that of
religion — which, by extending the conflict to other regions
of the world, can only make it even more tragic. The
debates in the Security Council, which had been convened
to consider that question at the request of 26 Moslem
countries — one of them my own — and resolution
271 (1969), adopted by the supreme organ of the United
Nations, have clearly demonstrated the correctness of the
viewpoint expressed by the President of the Tunisian
Republic at the news of the disaster, in messages addressed
to the Secretary-General, U Thant, and to the Heads of
State and Government of the four great Powers.
111. No serious political leader can fail to recognize that
the Zionist military adventure which began in Palestine in
1947 has since broadened its horizons in incredible fashion,
as witnessed by the fact that Israeli troops today occupy
the banks of the Suez Canal and of the Jordan, and the
Golan heights, and that the settlers of the “chosen people”
are busy setting themselves up in the very heart of the Arab
world, in new territories conquered by force.
112. More than two years have elapsed since the last
expansionist drive by Israel, and each day brings us more
alarming news: Israeli raids on what remains of the military
and economic potential of Egypt, Jordan end Syria;
devastating reprisals against Lebanon, which is supposedly
responsible for the acts of courage of the Palestinian
fighters; the destruction of entire Arab villages; provocative
statements by various leaders of the Jewish State — in a
word, acts of defiance to the world, one more exasperating
than another — acts nurtured by the arrogance of the
soldier-occupier, only equalled in our times by the arrogance
of the South African, Rhodesian and Portuguese
colonists in southern Africa.
113. Yet the rule of law could have been established in the
Middle East. A formal and precise framework, marked with
the seal of universality and a pledge of justice for all, has
existed since 22 November 1967. Carried away by a sense
of omnipotence after its victory in the June 1967 war, and
following the example of other conquerors whose tragic
fate is recorded in history, Israel has blindly preferred the
fascination of territorial expansion and has taken the easy
road of a policy of fait accompli.
114. Who, then, however favourably disposed to the
United Nations he may be, can reconcile himself to
acceptance of this shocking reality? How can he keep his
faith in the Organization when Israel, its own creation — the
State which was to set an example of respect for law—has
grown in size, and intends to continue to grow, by means of
fire, bloodshed and faits accomplis? Small countries like
mine, whose only strength until then consisted in a firm
belief in a really operative and protective international
order, are today a prey to distress and anxiety at the
evidence of the scandalous degradation of the system of
rules on which civilized nations had hoped to see a new
society built after the nightmare of the Hitler era. The
situation created by the Israeli occupation of Arab territories
opens the way to international anarchy in which
naked force will replace the rule of law.
115. Because of the state of insecurity prevailing throughout
the world, it is understandable that some countries
choose to arm themselves in their turn. Every State has the
absolute right to defend its territory, its national existence,
its people and its wealth. To believe that, in the absence of
rules of conduct that are recognized, accepted and respected
by all, States would lightly give up a right which,
throughout the history of mankind, has constituted the
very basis and the concrete expression of their being, which
has always proved to be their last recourse against the
threat of extinction, would be to show if not bad faith, at
least a strange lack of realism.
116. Who in this forum, who among men, unless he has a
perverted mind, would prefer war to peace, if peace can be
achieved in freedom, justice and dignity? Far be it from us
especially, peaceful people that we are, to glory in
destructive violence. Tunisia, on good terms with itself, its
neighbours and the world, maintains one of the smallest
armies on the African continent, devoting the major part of
its resources and efforts to building a society which it hopes
will be prosperous, just, harmonious and untroubled.
117. Moreover, we have never neglected an opportunity of
contributing to the promotion of international peace and
security. We have signed and ratified the Moscow Treaty of
1963 banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in
outer space and under water. We have acceded to the 1925
Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of
Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacterio-
logical Methods of Warfare. Finally, we have welcomed the
conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)] as a major step
towards the establishment of peace.
118. In our opinion, the prospect of planetary suicide has
introduced a measure of rationality into the strategic
relations between the two super-Powers. While we must
welcome the results of this rationality, we nevertheless
deplore the persistence of obstacles, of old ways of
thinking, of fears and irrational suspicions, which still
prevent the United States and the Soviet Union from
reaching agreements that are more favourable to peace. Is it
not absurd that the two super-Powers should continue to
build up their arsenals of nuclear weapons and to perfect
and deploy anti-missile missile systems? The unending
nature of the race, the generally recognized impossibility of
ensuring the superiority of one State over the other — in a
word, the futility of that race — should convince the two
great Powers of the need to resume and seriously pursue
conversations such as those which led to the conclusion of
the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
119. There are areas where reasonable hopes exist of
concluding agreements as long as there is a firm and sincere
political will to do so. To prohibit underground nuclear
tests, to stop — either through an agreement or through a
moratorium accepted by both parties — all work on the
perfecting of new delivery systems, whether offensive or
defensive. of strategic nuclear weapons, to prohibit chemical
and bacteriological weapons, to prevent the extension of
the arms race to the sea-bed and the ocean floor — those are
some of the measures that could lessen the “mad pace” of
the arms race, to use the words of our Secretary-General.
120. On the specific question of the use of the sea-bed and
ocean floor, Tunisia believes it to be its duty to denounce
any attempt, from whatever source, to set up nuclear bases
in the seas, especially in the Mediterranean basin where the
situation is already explosive enough. In adopting this
unequivocal attitude, we remain faithful to our own
principles, since we have never ceased to believe that
military installations outside a State’s territory, far from
promoting the peace and security of nations, only aggravate
international tension.
121. The measures that we recommend for adoption, and
others, should contribute to general and complete disarmament
with, it goes without saying, the single final goal of
creating a peaceful atmosphere. Peace itself, that is to say
not only the absence of war, but also and above all
co-operation — indeed interdependence — among nations,
without either political or economic recriminations, true
peace will remain to be built patiently and laboriously by
eliminating the causes of war.
122. Our profound conviction is that it is not always the
mere existence of armaments that leads to their being used,
but that it is the conflict of aspirations, of interests and
dreams — in a word, dissatisfaction — which drives peoples
and States to war, and for that purpose to manufacture,
improve and accumulate weapons. Lucid thought must lead
us to recognize that the elimination of the instruments of
war, whether rudimentary or sophisticated, would not
simultaneously eliminate, above all in the state of international
insecurity of our times, either the reasons for fighting
or the will to fight.
123. The status quo being invariably to the advantage of
the stronger and of the victor of the hour, nothing is more
natural than that one opposing party should seek to
perpetuate the situation and the other to change it, each in
his own favour. The major stabilization that followed the
Second World War is about to disintegrate before our eyes,
whether on the political, the strategic or the economic
level. We believe that there is still time to prevent the
present confrontation from ending in apocalypse. While the
economic problems facing mankind — destitute and refusing
in despair to accept a reality fashioned without its
knowledge and at its expense — call for more imagination,
more effort and more forceful means to solve them,
nothing but goodwill is required for the just settlement of
conflicts of a geopolitical nature.
124. In the Middle East, peace depends essentially on the
unequivocal acceptance and the total implementation by
Israel of the resolutions of the United Nations, and
particularly of Security Council resolution 242 (1967). Let
the leaders of Zionist Israel abandon their fantastic dreams,
let them realize, in the interests of the well-being of almost
two million Jews whom they have involved in their
adventure, that the spoils of war are never finally secure,
and tomorrow, instead of occupation, of tactical combats,
of raids of reprisal, in other words instead of the infernal
cycle of violence, an atmosphere favourable to a just and
honourable peace will have a hope of emerging and of
blossoming in this Middle East which has suffered all too
much. Or else we must draw the lesson which seems
dictated by the failure of the Jarring mission and conclude
that because of the arrogant intransigence of the Israeli
leaders and their narrow interpretation of the role of the
Swedish diplomat—an interpretation which has been explicitly
rejected by Secretary-General U Thant in the
introduction to his annual report [A/7601/Add.1,
para. 67] there remains no real hope of peace in the
Middle East except through concerted, direct and immediate
action by the four great Powers, members of the
Security Council, which are ultimately responsible under
the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and
security.
125. For its part, Tunisia, which has always stressed the
necessity and urgency of an initiative by the four Powers to
resolve the crisis, welcomes the French plan for quadripartite
consultations which was recommended and approved
by the Secretary-General, welcomed by all peace-loving
men as a contribution to the restoration of peace,
and finally adopted as its own by the United States
Government. These consultations, however, do not seem to
have achieved the desired results. Our hope is that, faced
with the resumption of violence in the area and the threat
of a general renewal of hostilities, the four Powers — and
above all the United States and the Soviet Union — will once
again seriously consider the question. It has become
obvious today that, left to itself, the Middle East will sink
once again into catastrophe, a catastrophe which may
involve the entire world in chaos.
126. Nor, if left to themselves, would South Africa, the
illegal authorities in Rhodesia and Portugal, choose freedom
for the peoples that they oppress. The detestable policy of
apartheid practised by Pretoria will not yield tomorrow to a
régime of freedom for all, in which the rights of man are
respected, unless the political, commercial and military
partners of South Africa were to oblige their protégé to
adopt such a solution.
127. We must also admit that the Rhodesian settlers will
make no effort of their own to lead the African majority to
self-determination; here again, the solution of the problem
lies with the ex-protector, the former administering Power,
the United Kingdom.
128. In the case of Portugal, a change of Government
might have been expected to bring about a change in
attitude towards the colonial territories and towards the
fundamental question which arises therefrom, namely
independence. Today we are obliged to revise our ideas and
to admit that the blindness of Lisbon and its obstinacy in
continuing to live in an outworn past leave no doubt of the
need for intervention by its protectors to change the course
of events.
129. In South-East Asia, too, the conflict is basically
geopolitical. The martyred land and people of Viet-Nam
have learnt that painful fact over the past quarter of a
century. Nearby China, quarrelling both with itself and
others, nevertheless dominates by its gigantic power the
destiny of that part of the world and even, since its
acquisition of nuclear weapons, that of the whole world. It
too poses a political problem which, as in the case of
Viet-Nam, cannot be solved unless all parties share a sincere
desire for peace.
130. In the circumstances, all those concerned should
accept unequivocally, and respect without reservation, the
principle of the self-determination of peoples. We would
then see the Viet-Namese, the Chinese, all the peoples of
the region, adopt in serenity and freedom the political
system of their choice and thus South-East Asia would
enter into an era of peace.
131. While hoping that the Paris Conference on Viet-Nam
will contribute to that result, Tunisia considers it useful to
stress once again the need to assist China to overcome its
convulsions by welcoming it into the concert of nations. In
the name of justice, but also for reasons of prudence and
realism, it seems to us imperative to recognize the urgency
of such action, for already today the future of the whole
world no longer depends on the polarization of Washington
and. Moscow, but on a wider pattern of forces in which
Peking, because of the area, resources, population and
nuclear weapons possessed by China, is a determining
feature. It is for the United Nations to find a formula which
would permit that great Power to play its fitting role within
the Organization. It would still be necessary to secure the
assent of the People’s Republic of China, for it goes
without saying that, in our opinion, the formula should in
no way prejudge the fate of Taiwan nor its presence in the
United Nations.
132. These are the political conflicts which are tearing our
world apart and which, unless there is a genuine will to
peace, could lead it into an even more deplorable situation.
Any efforts we make towards their solution today would
not only create conditions conducive to an atmosphere of
peace—peace by negation—but also and principally make it
possible to release from the sterile conflict of pride the
efforts, resources and means necessary to face a both
formidable and exalting task, through which alone can a
future of positive peace be assured. I refer to the task of
overcoming under-development.
133. In this field the international community, thanks to
the experience of the First United Nations Development
Decade, already has a pattern for action.
134. Many opinions, often contradictory, have already
been expressed on the results and merits of this undertaking.
For our part, we believe that it has enabled the
organs of the United Nations system, as well as Governments,
to identify the problems to be faced and the limits
of any international action. Through this First Decade it has
also been possible to collect information and to make the
studies that are indispensable for any major action to
promote development on a scale commensurate with the
needs of the countries of the third world as a whole. We
thus now have several diagnoses of the situation which the
international community is called upon to remedy.
135. We express the hope that the preparations for the
Second Decade will be carried out under the most
favourable possible conditions. The abundant material
available, if properly utilized, should enable more substantial
results to be obtained during the next such period.
136. The fact that the General Assembly has decided to
establish a special committee to prepare for the Second
Decade is evidence of the importance which we attach to it.
What is needed, in our opinion, is to determine the
framework within which adequate action can be under-taken
by Governments and by the international community
to combat under-development.
137. It is no less necessary to reach agreement on a certain
number of urgent measures which countries, both developed
and developing, would commit themselves to take in
the course of the next 10 years. The list of fields requiring
firm initiatives has already been drawn up; among the most
important, I would mention in particular international
trade, trade eXpansion, economic co-operation, regional
integration among developing countries, financial resources
for development, the development of human resources, and
the transfer of technical and scientific knowledge to the
underprivileged countries.
138. Adequate solutions can and should be found to the
problems from which international co-operation suffers in
these fields. It would not be realistic to expect radical
changes before the Decade is even launched, but the
achievements of the Decade should be such as to raise it to
the level of an historic event.
139. The conception of a Development Decade is that of a
dynamic and continuous process involving the convergence
towards an identical goal of the various actions and
activities of Governments and of organs of the United
Nations. This is a complex target, but it is now generally
recognized that it can only be achieved by harmonizing a
number of coherent actions so that they constitute the
interdependent parts of a single whole.
140. In this task the principal responsibility rests, in our
opinion, upon the poor countries themselves. What they
have already accomplished in this matter is recognized by
all, but in view of what remains to be done, their continued
efforts are more necessary than ever. By sincere and
productive endeavours they will impose respect and lead
the richer countries to increase their assistance, which, in
turn, can stimulate the mobilization of domestic resources.
141. It is indeed time that the concept of aid should be
precisely understood and its meaning clarified in the
context of international co-operation. This will be to the
advantage of all participants, since in the last analysis the
development of the third world, in addition to freeing
millions of human beings from suffering and poverty,
would in large measure benefit the industrialized countries
themselves and increase their prosperity.
142. With regard to this war against poverty, I would pay
a special tribute to the action undertaken by the United
Nations Development Programme. But here again, the lack
of resources from which the Programme suffers imposes
restrictions on its work. I venture to hope that the
successive appeals launched by its dynamic Director,
Mr. Hoffman, and by the Secretary-General, U Thant, for
an increase in its resources will meet with a favourable
response from all contributing Governments.
143. The motives of war, and the stakes risked, have
always been territory, resources, the domination of peoples
for the sake of glory and, in our time, for the triumph of an
idea. Nothing could be more natural, since these are the
prizes and the underlying conditions of any political
society.
144. The same battle is being fought today, but with other
means. Once again, nothing is more natural, since fundamentally
man remains the same, despite the evolution and
growing sophistication of his knowledge and his techniques.
145. What should have been “nuclear peace” in the
shadows of the death-factories built by the Sparta and the
Athens of our times has not succeeded in stiffening the
protest of the dissatisfied nor in preventing conflict in the
form of guerrillas, wars and “limited warfare“; and this
simply bears witness to man’s genius for adapting him elf
and facing each hostile historical situation with the means
most suited to his particular character. To believe that our
debates here and now, or the deeds of generations to come,
will, as in some fantastic vision, bring about the reign of
that perpetual peace of which all philosophers have
dreamed and which certainly remains the deep desire of
every man is to ignore the lessons of history and the facts
of science; it is to feed on illusions and to invite the worst
disappointments; in a word, it is to condemn oneself to a
facile scepticism.
146. Anyone who opts for lucidity will readily admit that,
all in all, history, and above all our contemporary history,
has developed in the direction of increased freedom, justice
and prosperity for the human community. He will also
recognize that, in spite of all its imperfections, the world
we inherited from the Second World War, even though it
has failed to live in mutual understanding, has survived the
disorder for which motives have abounded during these last
30 years. Unless one seeks to quarrel with oneself, there is
therefore in the final analysis more cause for optimism than
for pessimism. Unless we are unfair, we must grant that the
United Nations, established in 1945 to save future generations
from war and to serve as an instrument for political,
economic and social progress, has played a preponderant
role in this happy state of affairs.
147. Within the limits that we have just mentioned, limits
determined by history, human nature and the far-flung
international situation which emerged out of the last World
War, it is nevertheless reasonable to expect a greater
contribution from the Organization to the establishment of
justice and peace. We may be clear-sighted, but we are also
realistic, and realism demands that we draw attention to the
scandalous disparity between the Organization’s theoretical
power and its real power to find solutions for the crises
which disrupt international life. Without conceding that
world opinion is completely in the right, we are bound to
admit that the Eden which the Charter may conjure up in a
naive and fertile imagination, and the thousands of resolutions
adopted by the United Nations, are in no way
consistent with the state of insecurity, colonial oppression,
the policy of the fait accompli, arrogant defiance, war and
injustice, or with the state of misery in which hundreds of
millions of human beings live.
148. In these conditions, the alternative before us as
Member States is simple: either to reform our understanding
or to reform the Organization. To reform our
understanding would be to draw the conclusions which
flow from the ineffectiveness of the United Nations. To
reform the United Nations would be essentially to remind
the four great Powers, members of the Security Council, of
their ultimate responsibilities under the Charter for the
maintenance and promotion of international peace and
security. It is incontestable, and the facts prove it, that all
the crises afflicting the world today are in the last analysis
matters involving the responsibility of the four great
Powers. Everything leads .us to believe that if they do not
take action as called for by the Charter — a contract under
the terms of which we small countries have, as a counterpart
to their commitment to maintain and promote
international peace and security, practically consented to a
virtual surrender of sovereignty in their favour — to ensure
respect for and the scrupulous application of the decisions
of the Organization, the latter will wither away, and with it,
the world will fall into uncertainty and chaos. We believe
that there is still time to save future generations from this
fate. Like Machiavelli, we believe that, if history is a matter
of chance, a raging river that uproots everything in its path,
it is nevertheless true that chance governs only half our
actions, and the other half remains under the control of our
free will, so that hope is still justified. With the exercise of
will, of goodwill, peace may reign at last tomorrow.