Mr. President, I would like to associate the voice of my delegation with that of previous speakers in extending to you our congratulations on your unanimous election to the high office of President of the eighteenth session of the General Assembly, Your election to this office is indicative of your eminent qualifications, which I am sure will enable you to guide our work with wisdom and a high degree of competence. You have brought to your country a great honour. Indeed this honour extends to the whole of Latin America.
35. I also wish to extend my delegation's thanks and great appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, for the dedicated way in which he discharged his duties and the valuable work he has rendered to this Organization during his tenure of office, I would also like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, U Thant, who with his great efforts and determination has enhanced the authority of this Organization and successfully steered it out of a variety of difficult situations.
36. This session certainly opens with a favourable climate in the international sphere. The relaxation of international tension in recent months culminated, as you know, in the conclusion of the Moscow treaty for a limited nuclear test ban. My country was among the first to sign the treaty, and we did so in the earnest hope that this would lead to general and complete disarmament, The limited nuclear test-ban treaty is, no doubt, a step in the right direction, but it is far from being an answer to the problems that confront us. Underground testing still continues, and nuclear Powers still have a stockpile of nuclear weapons in addition to their huge stock of conventional arms. There are still other States which are set on being nuclear Powers and to this end they have speeded up their efforts. Furthermore, there are many other Powers which also maintain relatively large stocks of conventional arms. The balance of terror is still maintained, the armaments race continues. The tension between the nuclear Powers might be temporarily reduced, but the danger of war, nuclear or conventional, is still high.
37. We earnestly hope that the present limited test-ban treaty will open the way to a series of agreements that will lead to general and complete disarmament. Until we achieve this objective, which is our ultimate goal, the danger of war will always be hanging over our heads.
38. While welcoming the reduction in world tension, my delegation feels that the admission of the Chinese People's Republic to the United Nations not only will enhance the universal character of this Organization but also would go a long way towards reducing further world tension. We consider the admission of the Chinese People's Republic to the United Nations a vital necessity. Many issues which are being discussed here can have no real meaning if they do not take into account the views of several hundred million Chinese, who constitute a substantial proportion of the world population.
39. My Government is happy to have taken note of the significant improvement in the Congo situation and we are gratified by the assurance in the introduction to the Secretary-General's report [A/5501/Add.1] that external military interference in the Congo has ceased, that the territorial integrity of the country has been secured and that law and order have generally been restored. This represents a great achievement for which the Secretary-General deserves our gratitude and tribute.
40. Three years ago the General Assembly adopted almost unanimously the resolution on the granting of independence to all colonial peoples [resolution 1514 (XV)]. It appears that no decisive result has been achieved so far, and that we are instead witnessing a desperate resistance on the part of the colonial Powers, which are trying to prolong their existence both in Africa and elsewhere.
41. The Government of Portugal is still allowed to persist in its ridiculous fiction that Portuguese colonies in Africa constitute an integral part of metropolitan Portugal, a proposition that does not deserve any serious discussion.
42. In defiance of the principles of the Charter and the various resolutions of the United Nations, the plight of our African brothers in Angola, Mozambique and the so-called Portuguese Guinea is regrettably still unaltered. This is particularly shown in the resolution of 4 April 1963 [A/5446/Rev.1, chapter II, para. 251] adopted by the Committee of Twenty-Four, wherein the attention of the Security Council was called to the grave situation in Portuguese colonies and wherein appropriate measures against Portugal were requested, to compel it to refrain from aggravating an already explosive situation.
43. Because the racist Portuguese Government is permitted to entertain its colonialistic theories, millions of Africans are flagrantly denied the right to self-determination and are subjected to the most unbearable brutalities.
44. The United Kingdom Government is likewise perpetuating its colonialistic policy in Southern Rhodesia by protecting the interest of a racially minded minority of Europeans who are strongly opposed to the aspirations of the African people. We cannot overstress the danger inherent in the present Constitution of Southern Rhodesia, which preaches the racial conception of white supremacy. Apart from being unacceptable to the majority of Africans, this Constitution may well be the source of conflicts which could endanger peace and stability in the rest of the African continent.
45. We are often accused of being emotional when requesting the early and equitable settlement of colonial problems, but we firmly believe that no real stability can be established unless these inhumane practices of the colonial Powers are brought to an end. It is for this reason that we call on the States Members of this Organization to take such action, diplomatic or otherwise, as would expedite the removal of the colonial yoke and speed up the march towards the liberation of the oppressed African people for whom we pledge our unconditional support.
46. As regards South Africa, my delegation feels that it is not enough for us to use mere words in condemnation of the policy of apartheid, which stands out as a classic violation of human rights, but that we must collectively take, both in this Organization and in its specialized agencies, concrete action to purge the world of the shame of apartheid and all other forms of racial discrimination once and for all.
47. I am in complete agreement with the speaker from Uganda that the minority white Government of South Africa is a diseased organ of the body politic and that the Organization has no alternative but to amputate this diseased part before the infection spreads to other parts adjacent to it. We should now seriously consider the expulsion of South Africa from this Organization and its specialized agencies, in so far as all other measures have failed to be effective and have met with that country's open disregard for the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
48. The same strong measures may very well prove to be the only reasonable answer to the abominable policy of the fascist Government of Portugal.
49. In my delegation's previous speeches to this Assembly, we were compelled to draw attention to the unhappy and menacing situation that exists in the Horn of Africa which has its causes in the brutal partitioning Of the Somali people and their land by the colonial Powers in their scramble for Africa in the nineteenth century. Such cruel partitioning of the Somali people in that area, sharing as they do a common religion, language, culture and creed, has created a serious situation which has culminated in some parts in actual fighting and the shedding of Somali blood for no other reason than that they are committed to the defence of their right to self-determination and unity,
50. None the less, I do not intend to go into detail over this matter and my delegation reserves the right to raise it at an appropriate time. However, in exercise of the right reserved by my delegation to reply to the statement of the United Kingdom delegation, I should like to say that the United Kingdom has tried to link Kenya's independence with the rupture of diplomatic relations between our two countries and claimed that we have undertaken this action because they have refused to dismember Kenya. My delegation cannot understand where the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom got his facts.
51. The United Kingdom stands today on this rostrum and pretends to champion the cause of Kenya's independence, yet only recently it perpetrated the worst form of cruelty against the African people of Kenya simply because they were demanding their freedom. The present Prime Minister of Kenya, Mr. Jomo Kenyatta, himself languished in a British prison for over ten years for the same reason; not long ago the last British Governor described Mr. Kenyatta as a leader of darkness and death. Indeed the majority of African leaders in Kenya have suffered a similar fate. It is a matter of surprise to us, and, if I may venture to say so, to all ex-colonial countries, that Britain should be the spokesman for the interest of a dependent nation when its history in its colonies proves that it is exactly the opposite.
52. We have no quarrel with the assertion of the United Kingdom that it supports the will of the majority, but what we cannot accept is that the territory of any nation should be detached from its parent body and incorporated into another territory by an imperial edict dictated by the interests of the United Kingdom without the consent of either people and in complete disregard of the facts, history and ethnic alliance of these peoples. In this situation we can never accept the argument that a territory annexed to another under duress should some years later constitute a part of that territory to which it has been forcibly annexed.
53. To illustrate my point, it is appropriate that I should quote here what Sir Charles Elliot, the then British Commissioner of the East Africa Province —as the East African countries of Uganda, Kenya and Zanzibar were then known— said in the early part of the century: "If it were possible to detach the districts inhabited by Somalis, it would be an excellent thing to form them into a separate government, as they are different in population, economic and physical conditions from the other Provinces; but unfortunately, they are too small to form a separate administration, and the adjoining Somali territories are not British." The adjoining Somali territories referred to were under Italian domination at the time but today they constitute the sovereign State of the Somali Republic.
54. Britain’s lofty pronouncements that it supports the will of the majority cannot absolve it of its history of duplicity and double-dealing wherever the British have been, as is evidenced by the situation they have left in many countries, including our own, with regard to the secession of several of our territories and their annexation to a foreign country. Is there a nation in the world that did not attain its independence from the United Kingdom, or, for that matter, other colonial Powers, without great sacrifices and, indeed, without bloodshed? Where were these honourable sentiments of the United Kingdom Government when it dismembered the Somali nation time and again without the consent of the majority of the Somali people? Why has the United Kingdom acted in contravention of the established principle of the right of self-determination?
55. The only possible conclusions are: the selfish interests of the United Kingdom Government have led to a wilful suppression of all rights which might appear to conflict with those interests; the United Kingdom Government has come to the conclusion that its interests are better served by the existence of a state of tension and conflict in the Horn of Africa; in support of this policy the United Kingdom Government is determined to avoid any odium which might attach to it in East Africa whilst it attempts to clean up the mess for which it is largely responsible,
56. In spite of what the United Kingdom is trying to provoke between us and our Kenya brothers, we affirm here, as we have always affirmed, our unqualified support for Kenya's independence, and we rejoice at the fact that it will attain its independence in December of this year.
57. It is therefore quite clear that the United Kingdom policy is directed at creating a state of conflict and dissension between us and the new African Government of Kenya, as it has already done between us and another neighbouring African country. As a re suit of this deplorable tactic, the situation in the Horn of Africa today is, to say the least, highly explosive. In fact, there are alarmingly persistent reports of armed clashes involving considerable losses of Somali lives and property in the area. We sincerely hope that our African brothers and neighbours will be watchful of these imperialistic manoeuvres as, in like manner, we hope that they will appreciate the natural desire of the Somali people to unite in exercise of their right to self-determination.
58. There is yet another Somali territory under foreign domination. French Somaliland is the only such French possession in Africa. For some curious reason, that territory is almost denied any further constitutional advance and the French Government appears to be even less inclined to hold out any hope for an early constitutional change. Not content with denying the people of that territory their right to independence, the French local administrators have mounted a campaign of terror and intimidation against the Somali people in their attempt to silence any claim of the people to independence and unity with their fellow Somalis across the border.
59. What is extremely shocking is the attempts of the French colonial administration to reduce the Somali representation in the Legislative Assembly to that of an insignificant minority group when it is well known that not only are the Somalis, as the indigenous population of the area, the overwhelming majority, but the country is indisputably theirs.
60. My Government is aware of the attempts that are being made by the French colonial authorities in the territory to change the name of the area from "French Somaliland" to some other name. We hope, however, that good counsel will prevail and that the French Government will recognize the inalienable right of the people of French Somaliland to self-determination and independence, as they have done with the rest of their possessions throughout the African continent.
61. In short, my Government desires no more than to see the right of self-determination granted to all the Somali people under foreign rule. In our complete adherence to the principle of self-determination not only are we committed to see this right properly accorded to the Somali people, but we firmly support the unity of all artificially divided countries if they so desire. Being one of these artificially divided nations, the German people have, unsuccessfully but relentlessly, sought the reunification of their country since the imposition on them of the present artificial political boundaries at the end of the Second World War. Once more we reaffirm our sympathy for the German people in their efforts to achieve national unity and assure them of our whole-hearted support for their right to self-determination and unity.
62. Finally, allow me to turn briefly to another problem —that is, the problem of economic and social development. Many of the countries in Africa and Asia that have recently acquired their political independence are facing a considerable measure of economic strain, and their need for assistance from the more prosperous countries is more acute at this stage of their development than at any other time. One of the essential tasks facing a developing country is the urgent need to raise the standard of living of its people and to improve their social condition. The need of these countries is not for financial assistance alone, but embraces several other factors, particularly the need to make available to them markets for their raw materials and other products, with a corresponding right to be paid a fair compensation for their goods. At present the developing countries are not receiving adequate compensation for their products, agricultural or otherwise, in the international market. These countries are facing insurmountable difficulties. Every year they are receiving less for their exports while paying more for their imports. The developing countries may increase their production and, subsequently, their exports, but their total revenue does not necessarily increase, thanks to the deterioration of the terms of trade. The present structure of international trade is such that the underprivileged countries are providing greater advantage to the economically more fortunate ones. This may seem paradoxical, but it is a reality. Thus the developing countries will not benefit from an increase in production, along the present lines, proportionally in terms of foreign exchange. The problem here is that the developing countries are required to pay more for their imports at a crucial moment when their demand for capital goods is at an all-time high. We hope that the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will find a satisfactory way to deal with this very important problem.