Once again, Mr. President, allow me to congratulate you most warmly on your election to the Presidency of this session of the General Assembly, both on my own behalf and on behalf of the delegation of the United Kingdom of Libya. The signal honour which the General Assembly has conferred upon you and the great confidence it has placed in you by choosing you to preside over its work show its respect for and appreciation of your experience, wide knowledge and personal qualities of tact and courtesy.
146. I should like to take this opportunity to assure you of Libya's deep respect for your great country, Ireland, and to pay a sincere and warm tribute to it for its Sound policy in world affairs and for the effective and helpful part played by the Irish delegation in the United Nations. You have told us most eloquently of your hope that this Assembly will be the Assembly of humanity: the Libyan delegation sincerely hopes, Mr. President, that you will exercise this important international function with your customary authority, dignity and wisdom, so that this Assembly may successfully carry out its tasks.
147. I should also like to express again the Libyan delegation's deep gratitude to the President of the last session of Assembly for the distinguished way in which he discharged his duties.
148. The delegation of the United Kingdom of Libya to the fifteenth session of the General Assembly is honoured and pleased to greet the distinguished delegations of Member States from this world rostrum. We are very happy-to assure them of our loyal and sincere co-operation. We hope that this Assembly will carry on its debates in complete harmony and that its work will be crowned with brilliant success. It is the Libyan delegation's pleasant duty to welcome the eminent Heads of State and other important figures who have taken the trouble to demonstrate, by their presence here, the importance they attach to this session of the General Assembly. This is indeed a turning-point in history.
149. It is also our privilege to express, on behalf of the King, the people and the Government of Libya, our best wishes for the progress, prosperity and peace of all the nations united in their love of freedom, justice and the noble principles of the United Nations Charter, for the fulfilment of which men and nations are working to strengthen world peace and to promote harmony and co-operation among the members of the growing family of nations.
150. Libya was delighted to welcome the admission of sixteen new States to the United Nations. This auspicious event is an important milestone on Africa's hard road to freedom and also marks the final settlement of the Cyprus problem, which has been a cause of instability and insecurity in the eastern Mediterranean. The family of independent African States, with its numbers increased, can now make a constructive contribution to the work of the United Nations and help provide a stronger and more consistent foundation for world stability. The family of independent African States is also called upon to assume its responsibilities in securing the application in Africa and throughout the world of the principle of self-determination to all those peoples who are still dependent and often oppressed, thus speeding their final liberation and helping them realize their legitimate aspirations to human dignity, national independence and territorial integrity.
151. Once again, on behalf of the King, the people and the Government of Libya, we pay a most heartfelt tribute to the peoples and leaders of the newly-admitted States for the efforts and sacrifices they have made to attain their national objectives. On their admission to the United Nations, we wish them every success in international co-operation, combined with peace, prosperity and progress.
152. The United Kingdom of Libya, in its fervent desire for the creation and maintenance of world conditions conducive to lasting peace, has observed the deterioration in the international situation over the last few months with grave anxiety. The failure of the Paris Summit Conference, which collapsed before it began, blighted all men’s hopes that the two opposing blocs which now cover two large sections of the world' s surface, would have an opportunity of trying to put their relations on a more normal footing, find the right solutions to their disputes and thus usher in the era of harmony and understanding required for the maintenance of international peace and security. Libya deeply regrets the abrupt breaking off of the discussions between East and West, and joins with all the other peace-loving nations of the world in hoping most fervently that wisdom, common sense and good will will prevail over the forces of discord, strife and tension. In a world threatened by the terrifying perfection of instruments of total destruction, it is more necessary than ever that everything humanly possible should be done within the United Nations to bring about a resumption of the East-West discussions, in order that the two parties whom history has made responsible for world peace may try to settle their differences by negotiation and peaceful means.
153. Libya believes that the growing number of small Powers in the United Nations should spare no effort to assert their will for peace. They should use all their strength and their increasing moral authority to. help the two super Powers of the world of today to overcome their present difficulties and to sacrifice empty considerations of prestige for the sake of the safety of mankind.
154. The United Kingdom of Libya takes every opportunity to affirm its unswerving devotion to the United Nations. Libya, as an independent and sovereign State, was born under the auspices of the United Nations, and since its independence wait proclaimed, it has been guided by an unshakable resolve to abide faithfully by the ideals and principles of the international Organization which enabled it to realize the aspirations of its long struggle for dignity, freedom and independence.
155. At a time when the United Nations is going through a difficult period, which some have even called a United Nations "crisis”, Libya feels it more necessary than ever to proclaim its undying faith in the United Nations. The Libyan people's devotion to the international Organization which found a just and equitable solution in Libya's own case, is now strengthened by its firm conviction that this Organization is an essential instrument for the maintenance of peace and Security and for the establishment of world understanding, harmony and co-operation.
156. The alarming and dangerous developments in the international situation over the last few months have provided irrefutable proof of the necessity of keeping the United Nations alive in the tortured world of today. One can easily imagine what would have happened after the break between the two opposing blocs, if there had been no final appeal to the conscience of the world in the Assembly.
157. Apart from and above the duel between the two super Powers of the world of today, the United Nations is still the last resort of the oppressed peoples, sustaining. and strengthening their hopes that they will one day enjoy their fundamental freedoms, realize their natural aspirations to self-determination, and enjoy their right to freedom and human dignity. I should like to take this opportunity of expressing to the Secretary-General and his assistants the Libyan Government's gratitude, encouragement, and good wishes for the success of their efforts on behalf of the United Nations.
158. Inasmuch as its major concern is to defend its territorial Integrity, Independence and national sovereignty and to preserve its ideals, its traditions and its spiritual and national values, the United Kingdom of Libya is doing everything in its power to maintain the friendliest relations with the western Powers and the most correct and normal relations with the eastern Powers. These relations are based on mutual respect and understanding, in order to protect the interests of both sides and further international co-operation. This is how Libya proves its heartfelt desire to work dispassionately and with an unprejudiced mind for understanding and harmony, as is implicit in honest acceptance of the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations, for the sake of an improvement in international relations. I would add that Libya's international relations are governed above all by its resolve to work tirelessly for the triumph of the principles of self-determination, dignity and freedom in the interests of world peace and tranquillity.
159. Libya is continuing to work in complete harmony and solidarity with the independent States of Africa and Asia to extend their co-operation and so help realize the principles on which the African-Asian community is based. The principles and resolutions of Bandung, Accra, Monrovia, Addis Ababa and, more recently, of Leopoldville, bear eloquent testimony to the solidarity of the independent countries of Asia and Africa and to their common desire to work together for the greater moral and material well-being of their peoples. This African-Asian solidarity is strengthened by their joint action to fulfil the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations and to secure broad international co-operation for peace and security.
160. In these troubled times, and in the crises which beset the world, the independent countries of the African-Asian group are uniting their efforts to bring about a stability favourable to peace and better international co-operation. The moral and spiritual values of Asia and Africa, and their rich heritage of wisdom, which light the way before their independent States, are a precious guide to a better future. I should like to add in this connexion that the principles of freedom and dignity and the noble human values which are and always have been the glory of the valiant nations of Latin America, are shared by the renascent peoples of Africa and Asia, and thus link the African-Asian and Latin American communities together with firm, ties which should be further strengthened for the sake of peace and in the interests of the principles and work of the United Nations.
161. Libya has worked hard to establish the close and most cordial relations with its brother Arab States. These relations are based on a common belief in brotherhood, friendship, mutual respect and the fulfilment of a common destiny. Libya is therefore committed to working with the other Arab States to Strengthen co-operation for the good of all, to maintain peace and tranquillity in the whole region and to spread understanding of the obligations of good neighbourliness. Because of its geographical position, Libya is playing its natural role as a link between the eastern and western parts of the Arab world. Libya folly understands the importance of this role, and has endeavoured to maintain cordial relations and ties of brotherhood with all Arab countries.
162. In order to attain these ends more systematically and effectively, Libya joined the League of Arab States, immediately after gaining its independence. Within this regional organization, Libya loyally and consistently faces its responsibilities and fulfils its obligations, in the firm conviction that it is thus working for greater unity among the Arab peoples in the future and for ever more fruitful cooperation between member States in all fields in order to make the region more prosperous and to raise its inhabitants’ level of living. The League of Arab States is a regional organization dedicated to the maintenance of peace and security. As such, and because of its efforts to enable the region to develop in every way and of its achievements in spreading the principles of the United Nations, the League of Arab States deserves to be recognized as a regional agency, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Charter dealing with regional arrangements.
163. One of the essential reasons for instability and tension in the eastern part of the Arab world, the Near East, is that the principles of the United Nations and successive resolutions of the General Assembly have been trampled underfoot, and that those who perpetrated the aggression against the Arab homeland in Palestine continue to hurl defiance most arrogantly at the international Organization. The tragic result is that over a million Palestine Arab refugees, Christian and Muslim, have been living, since the assault on their homeland, in the most appalling conditions of exile, poverty and hardship. The land of their ancestors, their homes and their fields were despoiled by foreign invaders,
164. That was the most painful episode in human history, when the most unpardonable crimes were committed against the fundamental right of human communities to protection against mass expulsion by methods of banditry and terror, and when the sacred right to private property and to the enduring existence of one’s country were scandalously violated. Pending the attainment of a just and equitable solution capable of repairing the indescribable wrongs done to the Palestine refugees and to their country and permitting them to go back to their homes, their fields and their native land in accordance with the resolutions of the General Assembly, it is of the highest importance that the United Nations should continue to assume responsibility for the Palestine refugees and to provide them generously with the material and moral help they need.
165. The Arabs in occupied Palestine are subjected to the most excessive extortions and extraordinary legislation. In the Negev, they are the victims of unjust measures which threaten their very existence. It is the duty of the United Nations to take action to put an end to this serious situation, which is contrary to human rights.
166. Everyone has been gladly proclaiming from this rostrum that 1960 is the year of Africa. That is true in so far as it is admitted that 1960 can and must be the year in which the United Nations, convinced of the justice and legitimacy of Africa’s aspirations to dignity and freedom, decides to espouse Africa’s cause once and for all, and to intervene in order to root out altogether the causes of the evils which are shaking and troubling it. The Africa of 1960 is the Africa of victimized and despised Algeria, which is malting heavy sacrifices to recover its dignity and freedom to choose its own destiny and is heroically facing injustice, terror and inhuman repression by colonialist aggressors. The Africa of 1960 is that of the African people of South Africa in revolt against segregation and racial discrimination and undergoing savage repression for the simple reason that it is claiming its natural right to live on its African land in dignity and equality. The Africa of 1960 is the Congo tom apart, mutilated and thrown into chaos, and undergoing physical suffering to protect its newly acquired national independence, its unity and territorial integrity which are threatened by manoeuvres and intrigues. The Africa of 1960 is that of numerous African peoples still dependent and often oppressed, who claim the enjoyment of their natural right to self-determination and to liberation from the yoke of foreign occupation and rule.
167. I should now like to present briefly the views of the Libyan Government on these questions which, in our opinion, place this year of Africa in its true, but unhappily tragic, context. Hard by our Western borders, the war, more deadly than ever, is still raging in Algeria. To the heavy and sinister toll of victims of military operations on both sides must be added the unspeakable sufferings and miseries of the civilian population which is subjected to extortion, arbitrary treatment, repression and revenge. More than two million Algerians, uprooted and displaced, are living herded together in reassembly camps under the most distressing conditions. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been forced to seek shelter in neighbouring countries, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco, leaving behind them their villages in ruins and their fields laid waste. But the Algerian people is steadfastly determined, in the face of these injustices and privations, to stake its all and to meet every obstacle with fortitude in order to assert its natural and legitimate right to live in its own country in freedom, dignity and independence. Nothing can stop the Algerians in their march towards liberation. Moreover, the frightful war waged by France in Algeria is a grave threat to peace in Africa and seriously hinders the development of the young neighbouring countries whose security and tranquillity it disturbs.
168. This session of the General Assembly is the sixth successive session during which the Algerian question has been the subject of a full-scale debate within the United Nations. Each time, the advocates of a certain doctrine put forward the prudent advice that It was absolutely essential to give the two parties concerned the opportunity to settle their differences and that United Nations Intervention would tend to obstruct a generous solution of this problem by France. This way of thinking is in fact nothing but a reflection, whether involuntary or engineered, of French tactics, which each time have merely sought to gain time in the hope of stifling the Algerian nationalist revolt by force of arms and dealing a decisive blow to check the urge towards liberation which has aroused the whole of Algeria.
169. For our part, while explaining over and over again that the Algerian revolt was an irrevocable decision of the Algerian people, we have constantly recommended that it was the duly of the United Nations to intervene seriously and positively with a view to enabling France and fighting Algeria to arrive, under United Nations auspices, at a peaceful negotiated solution of the Algerian conflict in the overriding interest of peace and in the ultimate interest of France itself. We were all the more emphatic in putting forward this view at the last session because we thought that an encouraging starting-point had finally been reached, namely the agreement of both parties on the right to self-determination as the basis of a negotiated settlement for the restoration of peace in Algeria. This starting-point, we thought, gave the United Nations the desired opportunity to throw the weight of its authority into the balance in order to provide the necessary means for the consultation of the Algerian people on their ultimate destiny in conditions of freedom and with all due safeguards.
170. Some delegations, well-intentioned, certainly, but unfortunately ill-informed as to our tragic and bitter African realities, were convinced by the persistence, not to say the intrigues, of those who loudly proclaimed that any intervention by the United Nations, whatever form it took, would be both ill-timed and dangerous, and that this time France must be given the opportunity to find her own solution for the Algerian conflict. It was therefore impossible to adopt a resolution which quite simply expressed universally accepted fact, that is to say, the recognition of the right of the Algerian people to self-determination and an appeal for "pourparlers" for the purpose of finding a peaceful solution based on the right to self-determination in accordance with the principles of the United Nations. Representatives will remember the strange circumstances of the vote on a draft resolution which, after gaining the requisite two-thirds majority in the voting on separate paragraphs, did not obtain the same majority when voted upon as a whole.
171. But the evolution of the Algerian question during 1960, the year of Africa, has clearly shown the futility and danger of the wise and prudent advice that the United Nations should not intervene and that France should be given an opportunity to find the desired solution to the conflict.
172. It may be worth while to review these developments briefly. In accepting the principle of self-determination as the basis for a peaceful solution of the Algerian problem, the provisional government of the Algerian Republic insisted that it was essential to ensure its fair and loyal implementation. To this end, it offered to enter into "pourparlers" with the French Government with a view to determining the conditions of a cease-fire as well as the necessary safeguards for the honest and genuine execution of a free consultation. At the same time, it appointed a delegation to begin the "pourparlers".
173. The provisional government of the Algerian Republic explained clearly that it had no intention of negotiating about the political destiny of Algeria, but would leave the decision on that subject to a vote by the Algerian people.
174. Not only did France refuse categorically to enter into discussion with the appointed representatives of the provisional government of the Algerian Republic, but French leaders, including General de Gaulle himself during his famous "tour of the mess halls" after the tumultuous riots at Algiers in January I960, stated clearly that France alone would determine the conditions of the referendum, even adding that the French Army would supervise the future elections!
175. Without losing heart, and in spite of the deadlock caused by the French Government’s attitude, the provisional government of the Algerian Republic has constantly asserted that it was anxious to enter into negotiations at any time with France with a view to settling the conditions for a cease-fire and to reach a peaceful negotiated solution of the Algerian conflict.
176. Not wishing to let slip any opportunity of putting an end to the conflict and finding a definitive solution, the provisional government of the Algerian Republic sent an affirmative reply to the invitation which General de Gaulle finally decided to send it on 14 June 1960, that is, only a few months before the opening of the General Assembly session.
177. On 20 June, the provisional government of the Algerian Republic announced that it had decided to send a delegation led by Mr. Ferhat Abbas to meet General de Gaulle and was instructing two emissaries, Mr. Boumendjel and Mr. Ben Yahia, to go to Paris to prepare for the Algerian delegation’s journey. Thus, from 25 to 29 June 1960, at Melun, the first official meeting was held between the accredited representatives of the two parties to the Algerian conflict. This gave rise to a ray of hope; a large section of French opinion favouring peace and the Algerian nationalists as well as the peoples of the whole world, could dare to hope that the process of restoring peace in Algeria was beginning. Unfortunately, the world, anxiously awaiting the end of these preliminary discussions, was soon to be sadly disappointed. On 29 June, the French Government issued a communique stating peremptorily that its representatives - had made known the conditions under which "pourparlers" could be arranged. This high-handed and intransigent attitude taken by the French Government was tantamount, in the circumstances in which the Algerian side was situated, to a refusal to negotiate. All the proposals and suggestions put forward by the Algerian emissaries were categorically rejected. Under the conditions stipulated by France, the Algerian delegation would have been in a position totally incompatible with honour, freedom and dignity, that is to say, incompatible with the status of negotiator.
178. On 4 July 1960, the provisional government of the Algerian Republic issued a communique in which it explained the reasons for the failure of the preliminary conversations at Melun and clearly demonstrated the French Government’s responsibility in the matter. But it left the door open, and asked only that the conditions should be compatible with the principle of negotiation.
179. The whole world Was then expecting to see General de Gaulle intervene with a noble gesture to save the situation in accordance with the demands of realism and good sense. Unfortunately, in his statements during his tours of the French provinces. General de Gaulle confirmed France’s position as announced at Melun. His subsequent statements on the Algerian question have been no more helpful to the process, which had seemed about to begin, of moving towards a negotiated settlement of the conflict. What is worse, the French Government has initiated a process of so-called evolution in Algeria by means of Commissions d’élus, (Commissions of Elected Persons) under a system of French administration far removed from the real will of the Algerian people. This policy can only result in complicating the situation in Algeria still further.
180. This discouraging development led the provisional government of the Algerian Republic to draw the obvious conclusions. On 22 August 1960 it announced: "The provisional government of the Algerian Republic has taken note of General de Gaulle’s refusal to negotiate on the conditions and safeguards for a free consultation of the Algerian people. French policy is depriving self-determination of all democratic content and seeks to impose by force a status which would tend to ’Balkanize’ Algeria. In these circumstances, the provisional government of the Algerian Republic considers that the consultation of the Algerian people must be conducted by means of a referendum organized and supervised by the United Nations.”
181. The war in Algeria has cost too dear in victims and in misery. The sons of Algeria and of France are felling in thousands in this senseless and futile war which France is waging against the Algerian people. The war is continually increasing the threat to peace in Africa in particular and in the world in general. In the awakening African continent, the danger is that it will spread, with incalculable consequences for the future of Africa’s relations with the Western world. It is time, therefore, that the United Nations felly shouldered its responsibilities and settled once and for all the difficulties preventing the sound implementation of the principle of self-determination for the Algerian people, by means of a referendum organized and supervised by the international Organization. It is also time for the allies and friends of France, if there is to be any meaning in calling this year "the year of Africa", to bring their authority and influence to bear in favour of settling the Algerian question through the arbitration of the United Nations. Otherwise it will be too late to win the friendship of the African peoples, who are bound to draw inferences from what is liable to be regarded as proof of complicity and connivance on the part of the Western leaders and their henchmen in what is called the free world.
182. Only a few days ago. President Eisenhower said in his remarkable speech, which was largely devoted to Africa: "In the developing areas, we must seek to promote peaceful change as well as to assist economic and social progress. To do this — to assist peaceful change — the international community must be able to manifest its presence in emergencies through United Nations observers or forces." [868th meeting, para. 50.J
183. If there is any region in Africa where peaceful change ought to be promoted and where there is a typical case of emergency, it is certainly Algeria. This is an additional reason for the United Nations to take its responsibilities in the Algerian crisis seriously.
184. Now that France has recognized the Algerian people’s right to self-determination, the competence of the United Nations in the matter and its duty to help in arriving at a peaceful solution of this conflict can no longer be in the slightest doubt, either in the realm of law or in that of political expediency.
185. On this point Mr. Gabriel Marcel, a distinguished member of the Institut de France, commented, in an article entitled "Splendid Isolation" published by the newspaper Le Monde on 27 September 1960: "There is one observation to be made. Are not our opponents, and even our friends, justified in saying that there is a contradiction between admitting the right of the Algerians to self-determination and declaring that the Algerian question is a domestic matter? It is difficult to see, in fact, how these two propositions can be reconciled. To speak of a purely domestic matter is to say that Algeria is a French province, and in that case it is no more entitled to recognition of the right to self-determination than is Brittany or Provence. "To admit that right, on the other hand, is to acknowledge that Algeria cannot be likened to a French province, and in that case the claims of the United Nations no longer appear inadmissible. Quibbles designed to evade this dilemma will convince no one."
186. While voicing the absolute and unfailing support of Libya for, the Algerian people in their heroic Struggle to realize their national aspirations, I should like to express once again the most fervent hope that through United Nations arbitration a new era will dawn in the relations between France and an Algeria which has freely and genuinely determined its own policy so that these relations may be based on renewed friendship, mutual respect and truly fruitful cooperation.
187. The deterioration of the situation in the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) causes Libya the gravest concern. The Libyan Government, which severely condemned Belgium’s military intervention in the Congo, considers that it was the ensuing secessionist movements which plunged the new State into the maelstrom of difficulties now besetting it and created serious threats to its unity and territorial integrity.
188. Actuated by feelings of fraternal solidarity with this new African State, Libya hastened to offer everything in its power and within the limits of its capabilities to assist the United Nations in the fulfilment of its responsibilities in the Congo. The Libyan delegation wishes to assure the United Nations and the Central Government of the Republic of the Congo of Libya’s desire to give its unconditional support and make its contribution in keeping with the true national aspirations of the Congolese people. The people and the Government of Libya, while affirming the necessity of preserving the Congo’s unity and territorial integrity. wish to assure the Central Government of the Republic of the Congo of their fullest solidarity and to express the hope that all the Congolese leaders will realize the urgency of doing everything possible to safeguard unity, mutual understanding and co-operation in the higher interests of the Congo and of Africa as a whole. This is the only way to protect their young homeland from secessionist threats and neocolonialist machinations designed to dismember it.
189. It is in that spirit that Libya took part in the work of the recent African Conference at Leopoldville and gave its full endorsement to the resolutions adopted there, with the overriding aim of ensuring African solidarity and world peace. Also in conformity with this attitude, and in order to give, full support to the Central Government of the Republic of the Congo, the United Kingdom of Libya will do all it can to help carry out the provisions of the resolution [1474 (ES-IV)] adopted at the end of the fourth emergency special session recently devoted to consideration of the Congo crisis by the General Assembly.
190. Libya is deeply concerned at the explosive situation in the Union of South Africa. The systematic policy of segregation and racial discrimination exalted into a "raison d’état" by the Union Government, the domination exercised by a minority of whites over an overwhelming majority of Africans and the denial of fundamental human liberties constitute a grave danger to the peaceful evolution of the southern part of the African continent and for harmonious coexistence in a multiracial society.
191. Being profoundly attached to the fundamental freedoms of the human person and to the innate right of Africans to live in liberty and dignity on the soil of their ancestors, Libya considers that the present situation in South Africa, besides involving the most flagrant violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter, constitutes a grave threat to peace and security, not to mention the alarming international frictions to which it is continually giving rise. We all remember the dramatic situation created last spring by the wholesale killings of unarmed populations, who were peacefully demonstrating against the violation of their elementary right to move about freely in their own country. There is a more pressing need than ever for the General Assembly to devote its most earnest attention to the question of "apartheid" in South Africa, and to recommend measures as effective as possible, including the appropriate sanctions, if necessary, to put an end, during this year of Africa, to the most flagrant violations of the elementary liberties of Africans in their own African territory.
192. The Libyan delegation will follow with the greatest interest and with close attention the discussion of the questions relating to the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, in the hope that the General Assembly will find a speedy solution in conformity with the right of peoples to self-determination. In this spirit the Libyan delegation will support to its utmost any United Nations declaration in favour of the final abolition of colonialism and the immediate granting of independence to all peoples who are still dependent. Such a declaration would, eloquently express the true significance of this year of Africa.
193. The United Kingdom of Libya wishes to reaffirm its conviction that it is incumbent on the United Nations, in view of its responsibilities for the maintenance of world peace and security, to continue to work tirelessly in quest of ah acceptable solution to the disarmament problem. Libya is deeply concerned at the general armaments race and is following with great interest and fervent hope the efforts being made under United Nations auspices to seek a satisfactory solution in the field of disarmament. The Libyan delegation profoundly regrets that the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament was not able to continue its, work. We consequently consider it extremely important that the United Nations continue its efforts, undismayed and unwearying, to bring about the resumption of international negotiations for a constructive solution, under the aegis of the United Nations, leading to general and complete disarmament under effective international control.
194. The Libyan delegation, besides wishing to express its satisfaction at the voluntary de facto suspension of nuclear tests, considers that the technical negotiations on the control of nuclear tests give grounds for hope that the bodies concerned may eventually reach a satisfactory agreement in this sphere. The Libyan delegation hopes that the suspension, and later the final prohibition of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, besides protecting mankind from total destruction, will usher in an era when atomic energy will be used solely for peaceful purposes,
195. It is nevertheless very regrettable that France, in spite of friendly pleadings, protests, condemnation and appeals by the United Nations, should have persisted in carrying out the first atomic tests in the heart of Africa. All Africa was profoundly shocked by, and condemned, these acts so dangerous to health and wounding to the dignity of its peoples and independent States. We shall continue to voice our vigorous protests against these attacks on the integrity of Africa in defiance of the unanimously expressed will of its peoples. The United Nations, for its part, should shoulder its responsibilities with regard to these acts, which were condemned in the General Assembly resolution [1379 (XIV)] on the French atomic tests in the Sahara.
196. The Libyan delegation also maintains that the remarkable achievements of man in the exploration of outer space should be used for peaceful purposes, for the good of mankind and scientific progress.
197. The vast funds expended in the armaments race could more profitably be devoted to the cause of peace; they could greatly aid the exploration of the world’s natural resources, and serve to raise the standards of living of populations at the mercy of such scourges of mankind as poverty, ignorance and disease. The Libyan delegation would like to avail itself of this opportunity to express its appreciation of the efforts being made by the United Nations, in the shape of technical assistance., to combat these scourges and thus help improve the lot of their victims.
198. Situations representing a latent threat to peaceful progress now exist in various parts in the world. We therefore consider that these situations should continue to receive the constant attention of the United Nations, in the discharge of its permanent responsibilities for the maintenance of stability, peace and security in the world. Libya, being deeply anxious that conditions conducive to the consolidation of peace should prevail, considers it of the greatest importance that at the critical points in Europe, the Middle East, the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, Africa, South East Asia and the Carribbean, disputes should be settled by peaceful means with due regard for the real and genuine aspirations of the populations concerned. The Libyan delegation believes that, to this end, the United Nations must remain the supreme arbiter before whom all international disputes should find their peaceful solution.
199. In assuring the other delegations of our close and sincere co-operation, I should like to conclude by expressing the unshakable resolve of Libya to work with other Member States for the triumph of the ideals and principles of the United Nations, and by once more wishing the General Assembly every success in its work during the present session.