SDN

Mr. President, on behalf of the delegation of the Republic of the Sudan, it gives me the greatest pleasure to congratulate you on your election to this high office of unique responsibility. Your unanimous election is a reflection of one of the measures of the esteem in which you and your country, Venezuela, are held by the Members of this Organization. A son of the native land of Simon Bolivar, born and brought up in the admirable traditions of Latin American civilization, endowed with the intelligence, competence, integrity and wisdom which we all recognize in you, you possess all the qualities and attributes that promise us a smooth and hopeful sailing on this eighteenth voyage of our ship of the United Nations. The signs on the horizon, as we read them, promise us fair winds. 2. The United Nations is now eighteen years old. The ashes of the Second World War under whose warmth the San Francisco Conference was held, have by now been blown away by the winds of change onto the shores of reality. In the broad historic process of these eighteen years, each session of the General Assembly has marked a step forward —though a slow and hesitant step— towards the attainment of the ideals of the Charter. We join our prayers to yours, Mr. President, that this eighteenth session will be no exception, all the more so since it convenes in the auspicious wake of the Moscow Treaty and the Addis Ababa Conference. 3. In your eloquent and wise opening address to this session of the General Assembly [1206th meeting], you referred to three political imperatives, which since the Second World War have emerged with irresistible force and are shaping the course of history in this second half of the twentieth century. You, Mr. President, have categorized these as: first, the outlawing of war as a means of settling international disputes; second, the abolition of the dependence of certain peoples on others; and third, international co-operation with a view to improving the standards of living of the developing countries. We fully agree with this general categorization of the problems that face mankind today. 4. Although I intend to devote the main theme of my intervention to these imperatives, I intend, in the process, to make some short comments on two other closely related categories of imperatives whose challenge to the cause of international harmony is not less ominous. I am referring to the misery that man is capable of inflicting on man as symbolized by the Palestinian tragedy and the apartheid regime in South Africa. 5. With regard to the first imperative, disarmament, my delegation has this to say. The problem is not a new one. Even before the days of the United Nations, going back to the League of Nations, its persistence had for a long time been the nightmare of good men in every land. The question of the necessity of finding solutions to the problem was clearly spelt out in the Charter of the United Nations as a necessary ingredient in the maintenance of international peace and security. If, in the pre-atomic world, the question of disarmament had constituted one of man's cardinal problems, in the atomic age in which we have been destined to live for the last eighteen years the problem has assumed staggeringly fearful proportions. We have always maintained in this forum that the question of the cessation of nuclear tests and the control and destruction of existing stockpiles of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons was an indispensable first step on the road to the ultimate goal of general and complete disarmament. 6. This year we meet in an atmosphere of optimism, resplendent with hope and rich in opportunity. The historic partial test-ban treaty signed in Moscow on the eve of this session of the General Assembly came as a shaft of light across the darkness which overshadowed the future of humanity. The Moscow Treaty is, as a principal signatory to it has rightly remarked, "a step towards peace, a step towards reason, a step away from war". For the first time in history we have seen that the leaders of the great Powers have mirrored the sentiments, both of hope and fear, of the whole of mankind. We consider that this treaty, although limited to three environments only —in the atmosphere, outer space and under water— and although marginal to the central problem of general and complete disarmament, is an important step in the direction we all wish to travel together. 7. Although this treaty will directly serve the humanitarian purpose of limiting the pollution of the air which we all breathe, and although it will restrict the proliferation of nuclear weapons, it leaves much to be desired, even at this initial stage. It does not encompass underground testing, whatever the arguments for or against that kind of testing. It will not halt or restrict the production of nuclear weapons. It will not dispose of or reduce existing stockpiles. It would not, after all, restrict the use of these weapons if a war, against humanity's anguished prayers, were to take place by calculation or accident, and under present conditions such a war might put an end to all forms of life on this planet. And if from such a war there were likely to be any survivors, these survivors would have every reason to envy the dead. But none the less, this is an opportunity, an historic opportunity, which we should make the most of to reduce international tension, to slow down the perilous nuclear arms race and to check humanity's slide down to the abyss of final oblivion. 8. Let us make this treaty, however partial, universal in its obligation by the accession of all States to it. We should follow this up by sustained efforts to secure a treaty banning underground tests. When we have succeeded in this, as succeed we must, we should then concentrate our immediate attention on the important question of convening a conference for the purpose of signing a convention on the prohibition of the use of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons. The Sudan has already intimated to the Secretary-General its support of this proposal and its willingness to subscribe to such a convention immediately it is open for signature. 9. These things we are in duty bound to do, not only for the sake of all of us, whether strong or weak, who live in these anxious days, but for the same of our children and grandchildren and those who follow in their wake. Posterity, it has wisely been said, has no lobby in the nuclear capitals or in the United Nations. 10. As has been pointed out, another historic development that will mark 1963 as unique in the annals of history is the conference held at Addis Ababa which saw the birth of African unity. There the Heads of States and Governments of all independent African nations assembled, for the first time in history, in solemn conclave to devote and dedicate themselves and to commit their nations to the cause of our mother continent and that of her sons and daughters. For many years now, since the first Conference of Independent African States in Accra in 1958, the goals of African unity have been the specific objects which have occupied our minds at all times. 11. To many, especially outside Africa, this seemed a far-removed dream, a deceptive mirage or even an inaccessible utopia. We knew there were difficulties on the road to the ideal of unity. The sceptics, who even on the eve of the Addis Ababa Conference were in the majority, succumbed to the temptation of exaggerating our differences. They maintained that the divisions left behind by colonialism could not be transcended. It pleased them to think that differences of cultures, of race, of language, of heritage, and so on were incapable of solution. 12. These sceptics in particular dwelt on the political groupings that existed in the pre-Addis Ababa Africa as an obstinate barrier to unity, but, as is now common knowledge, once the Heads of African States and Governments met in solemn conclave in Addis Ababa, each of these barriers was shaken and was revealed to be more artificial than had been supposed. We do not claim that we solved all our differences in Addis Ababa, because, after all, the participants were men, like any other group of men. But in Addis Ababa we effected an historic confrontation and, thanks to God, we came to an agreement. We produced and adopted a charter of unity which we trust, as it is binding on us, will establish a title to respect by the international community at large. 13. Those who read and ponder the contents of the Charter of the Organization of African Unity will no doubt find out that we are a league for the good not only of Africa, but of humanity at large. Consonant with the maxim that charity starts at home, we naturally paid the bulk of our attention to Africa, but we did not try to shun or evade our collective responsibility to the rest of humanity. In article II of the Charter of the Organization of African Unity we explicitly and solemnly undertook to "promote international co-operation, having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". 14. We, in the Sudan, have embarked on the irreversible path of translating the promises of the Charter of the Organization of African Unity into living tangible realities. Our capital, Khartoum, has been accorded the honour of playing host to two conferences designed to put teeth into the Addis Ababa resolutions. The Conference of African Finance Ministers has already agreed on the establishment of an African development bank, with an initial capital of $250 million, to help realize productive development projects on a continental basis. Last month the heads of thirty-five African universities and university colleges met on the campus of the University of Khartoum on the banks of the Nile to lay the solid cornerstones of Africa's educational and cultural co-operation —one of the fundamental purposes of the Charter of the Organization of African Unity. 15. As was to be expected, the main thoughts of the Addis Ababa Conference were addressed to the questions of colonialism and racialism, and this brings me to the second imperative, that is, the abolition of the dependence of certain peoples on others. We must say that great strides have been made in this field in the post-war period: the members of this family of sovereign independent nations have more than doubled over the past eighteen years, with the result that we are coming closer and closer to the realization of the Charter's objective of universality. But to say this is not to say that colonialism, though cataleptic, is completely dead. 16. In the African continent we still witness numerous forms of the injustice, domination and oppression which characterize this obsolete and evil system. The situation in the Portuguese territories, as is well known, continues to deteriorate. A fierce armed conflict is raging in Angola and Portuguese Guinea between the forces of liberation and freedom and those of senseless oppression. The dormant volcano in Mozambique threatens to erupt at any moment. The Government of Portugal has not, we regret to note, made the slightest move to comply with the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions with regard to these unhappy territories. They have instead continued to take shelter behind the transparent myth that these African territories constitute integral parts of metropolitan Portugal or that those Africans leading the struggle for liberation are bands of terrorists deriving inspiration from outside subversive influences. Both of these claims have, of course, been rejected by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, because no such claims can be accepted by any reasonable man living well into the second half of the twentieth century. Portugal would do well, even for its own sake, to adopt the example of former colonial empires in Africa. 17. Colonies are made to be lost. They are born with the cross of death on their brows. The measures adopted by the African Heads of State in Addis Ababa, and subsequently ratified by individual Governments, with regard to Portugal's policy in Africa, were not, and could not have been, prompted by any intrinsic vindictiveness towards Portugal per se. We will all be happy, and Portugal herself will stand to gain, when Portugal sees the wisdom of drastic changes in its archaic policies in Africa, changes that will respond to the realities of the times and will ensure for the African people in Portuguese-dominated territories their legitimate right to self-determination, freedom and human dignity. We agree with the conclusions of the Sub-Committee on Angola when, in its report of 1961, it said: "What is needed is readiness to understand the new forces in the world, courage to accept change, and wisdom to formulate and pursue viable means towards an enduring peaceful solution." 18. The situation still obtaining in Southern Rhodesia is by no means any happier. It is a situation of which we are all so unhappily aware. The reaction of the Government and people of the Sudan to the recent regrettable turn of events in that territory was stated to the United Nations during the sixteenth session of General Assembly [1113th meeting]. Then we denied, as we deny today, the contention of the United Kingdom delegation that, because, in their view. Southern Rhodesia had enjoyed a measure of self-government since 1923 based on a special relationship, that has presumably subsisted since that day. The United Nations has, however, notwithstanding British contentions to the contrary, decided that Southern Rhodesia is a Non-Self-Governing Territory within the meaning of Chapter XI of the Charter. Recently, the attention of the United Nations was brought into focus when the Security Council was convened last month to discuss the recent disturbing situation resulting from the decision of the United Kingdom Government not only to transfer the powers and attributes of sovereignty to the white-minority Government, but also to transfer to that Government a white army of four battalions and one of the strongest air forces in Africa. 19. One would have thought the decision of the Security Council prohibiting the shipment of arms to South Africa would be a sufficient guide to Members, especially the permanent members of the Security Council, with regard to the situation prevailing there. The situation in Southern Rhodesia contains the same elements of danger as the one in South Africa. We all know that the two Governments champion the same discreditable cause and would naturally be expected to come to each other's aid. The Government of the United Kingdom has, under the Charter, an obligation to the African people of Southern Rhodesia —comprising 90 per cent of the population— which it cannot and should not shun. We hope and pray that the United Kingdom, true to its tradition and its colonial record, will do nothing in Southern Rhodesia which will indelibly mar that tradition and irreparably damage that record. 20. The Government and people of the Sudan are unreservedly opposed to any manifestations of racial discrimination and intolerance wherever they are practised, anywhere in the world. In this connexion, the General Assembly is once again seized of the question of the race relations, or the so-called apartheid, in the Republic of South Africa. This obnoxious policy has gone down in the annals of history as a criminal policy, to use the terms of the historic summit conference of the Heads of African States and Governments held in Addis Ababa in May of this year. 21. In spite of the twenty-eight resolutions passed by this Assembly and the Security Council in condemnation of this practice, and in spite of the countless voices raised throughout the whole world against the continuance of this obsolete myth of racial superiority, we note with profound indignation that whenever the United Nations passes a resolution condemning the practice of apartheid, the Republic of South Africa responds by tightening up these repulsive policies and practices. Apartheid is the evil within that disturbs the peace without. So much is known in the world about this ghastly drama that one feels sick in speaking about it. No logic, however counterfeit, will countenance the arguments advanced in defence of this policy and no stretch of the imagination, however malevolent, can succeed in justifying this deliberate senselessness to any reasonable human being, and even less so in the eyes of God, Who does not classify His creatures by the colour of their skins. Religion, law and morality aside, what is there in politics to justify this situation? Cannot the authorities in South Africa realize that even if they were somehow able to keep a man down for a time, they could never do so forever? This is the law of life as ordained by the Almighty God, and no minority, however momentarily strong, can change that eternal law. Nobody has any intention of denying the white settlers in South Africa a place in the land in which they have chosen, by their own will, to make a home. They need only to live in amity and equality with the indigenous majority of the population. 22. The Security Council, in its decision of August, has for the first time recognized that the racial policies of apartheid not only are a violation of basic human rights under the Charter, but are also a source of disturbance to international peace and security. 23. We note with satisfaction, from the introduction to the annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization [A/5501/Add.1, section V], that after three years of tragedy and anxiety the Republic of the Congo has embarked on the road to national unity and stability. We note from the introduction to this report that the Secretary-General advocates, inter alia, that, in view of the considerably improved situation, especially in the military field, an early withdrawal and winding-up of the United Nations Force in the Congo should be envisaged. While we fully understand all the reasons which have led the Secretary-General to advance this suggestion, and while we agree with the suggestion that the time must come when the Government of the Congo must assume all responsibility for security and law and order in the country, nevertheless the Sudan Government is sympathetic to the appeal made by the Government of the Congo for the United Nations Force to remain in the Congo for the first half of 1964. We trustingly hope that in spite of the difficulties involved, this Organization will find its way to a favourable response to the appeal of the Congolese Government, in the hope that that Government will not find it necessary to renew a similar request at the end of the extended period. We feel that it would be a pity if the United Nations, after all the sacrifices it has made in the Congo over the past few years, were to leave behind in the Congo any feeling of resentment or sense of abandonment. 24. In many fundamental respects similar to the situation prevailing in the Republic of South Africa is the equally evil phenomenon that has brought about the tragedy of Palestine and given birth to a situation that has plagued life in the Middle East for the last fifteen years. It is particularly painful, although imperative, for the Sudan delegation to refer once again to this question because of the most ominous threat it poses to stability and security in one of the most explosive regions of the world, the Middle East. If we are agreed that this eighteenth session of the General Assembly is meeting in an auspicious climate, if we agree that we should take advantage of this favourable climate to discuss fairly, constructively and truthfully all the major problems that disturb, sometimes very violently, the tranquillity of international life, that impair amity among nations, and that embitter and poison relations between man and man, we should agree that the question of Palestine is not merely a question of keeping 1.5 million human beings alive. Feeding the Palestine Arab refugees, although a necessary act of human solidarity, is no solution to the basic problem. 25. The problem is basically political and national. It is the problem of an entire nation torn away from its ancestral national home by forces of treachery and aggression and thrown into a life of injustice, torture, despair and degradation beyond the facilities of expression. It is a cold fact of history that these people who are now made the object of international charity, had before 1947 enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the Middle East. It is also a fact that these Arab refugees own 90 per cent of the land of Palestine —property worth billions of dollars, the annual income of which is much greater than the amounts collected by the United Nations to keep them alive. 26. As is well known, the General Assembly prescribed a remedy for the problem as far back as 1948. By resolution 194 {III}, the General Assembly set the basic juridical norm with regard to this question. That resolution gave the refugees a free choice between returning to their homes or being compensated for their losses. That verdict of the General Assembly has been reiterated over and over again up to this day. 27. In the intervening years we have heard various arguments. Israel contends that the smallness of the territory and the scarcity of resources rule out the possibility of repatriation. How can we accept that thesis in the face of the incontrovertible fact that Israel is actively encouraging immigration of alien Jews from every corner of the earth to come and settle in Israel? In 1948 the Jewish population of Palestine was about 750,000. Today we are informed that the population has jumped to almost 3 million. 28. Another thesis that has also been advanced in recent years is that an approach to a solution of the problem should be based on what is called "a recognition of the realities of the situation". In the light of what I said a while ago, I wonder what these "realities" are. To condone aggression? To flout United Nations resolutions? To throw one-and-a-half million human beings into gas chambers, where no such things exist? Or, through compulsion, to pull the trigger firing a highly loaded magazine, the explosion of which might engulf areas beyond the Middle East? 29. In our humble view, the problem of Palestine can be solved only by impartial recognition of the origins and facts of the situation and on the principle of elemental justice to the Palestine Arab refugees, who have done nobody any wrong. 30. The situations I have felt called upon to refer to —though drastic in their bearing on international peace and security— by no means exhaust the list of irritants to the Organization's quest for international peace and harmony. The ancient, small and peaceful people of Oman and their neighbours of the southern Arabian Peninsula have been left with no choice but to enter a tragic struggle between unequal forces to vindicate their God-given right to achieve their legitimate aspirations to independence and dignity. The struggle of the people of Oman and their neighbours of the southern Arabian Peninsula to shake off the suffocating yoke which the interference of colonialism has tightened around their necks should receive from this Organization recognition and assertion of their right to self-determination and to liberty. We have always maintained, as we maintain today, that the United Nations is under a duty, juridical as well as moral, to bring its influence to bear to find an equitable solution that will ensure to the people of Oman and the other people of the southern Arabian Peninsula the free exercise of their right to self-determination and thereby take a step forward on the road towards peace among nations. 31. Neither are we unmindful of events in Southeast Asia which have added new problems to the heavy weight of responsibility with which the United Nations has to live. The Sudan has always upheld the principle of religious beliefs and freedom of worship. We are a multi-religious State whose citizenship includes Moslems, Christians, Jews, animists and pagans. As such, we are opposed to religious discrimination or persecution wherever it takes place. 32. I referred a while ago to the question of the universality of the United Nations. Some States which some of us recognize as entitled to membership are excluded either because they are divided or because of their political and social systems. Regarding the first category, we believe that we should voice our disquiet at the possible development of the question of countries divided by war or by the ruthless interplay of power politics. I have in mind Germany, Korea and Viet-Nam. We believe that in this field the big Powers have a responsibility to discharge. We hope that they will spare no effort in the way of direct consultations to put an end to these human tragedies and to work conscientiously in order to achieve solutions based on the will of the people concerned and the principles of the Charter. 33. Prominent in the second category is the question of the proper representation of the People's Republic of China. The United Nations was clearly not intended as a club of "like-minded States". Widely differing ideologies and political and economic systems were meant to find their place. We feel that the United Nations will gain in strength and prestige if it does not close its doors to the established representatives of a quarter of the inhabitants of the earth —a Government whose decisions can colour in very strong relief the chart of the future march of humanity. In humanity's anxious efforts to find solutions to its most pressing problem —disarmament— China's military significance cannot be conveniently or safely ignored. 34. Another question on which my Government feels very strongly is the question of the expansion of the principal organs of the United Nations in order to ensure a more equitable and balanced representation for the sixty new Member States that have joined the Organization since 1945. Our arguments in this regard are simple and have been made known over the years. The Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, as presently constituted, do not reflect the changed composition of the membership of the Organization. Some regions of the world are over-represented, some are under-represented, and others are hardly represented at all. We know that we can rely on all the Members of the Organization to understand and sympathize with our concern over this matter. 35. Before I conclude, I should like to say a few words about the third political imperative, that is, international co-operation with a view to improving the standards of living of the developing countries. 36. The world economic community must take pride in the fact that it has achieved, during the past year, some progress in its consistent and indeed concerted attack against poverty and under-development. Modest as they were, these achievements represent a movement in the right direction. The principal feature of this development has been the relative growth of exports in international trade and a slight increase in commodity prices. Further, there has been a wider recognition of the role of international trade as an instrument of economic development. 37. The programme of action formulated during the GATT Meeting of Ministers last May, although not fully adopted, will nevertheless provide the basic principles that will guide the next round of international trade negotiations between the contracting parties. It must be emphasized in this connexion that the principle of reciprocity may have a determining effect in any forthcoming trade negotiations between the developed and the developing countries, and the outcome may largely depend on the form which the concept of reciprocity may eventually assume. In the view of my delegation, it is not realistic on the part of the developed countries to expect full reciprocity from the less-developed areas, because the latter view of trade expansion in the context of balanced economic growth. Full reciprocity on tariff and non-tariff protection is bound to impede the development of industry and other means of diversifying the economies of primary procedures. 38. Another encouraging feature on the world economic scene has been the formulation of specific and positive proposals for the United Nations Development Decade. However, these proposals will remain a dead letter unless we translate the objectives of the Decade into practical realities. The means of financing the Decade, whether in terms of external development capital or internal domestic savings, are lagging. The recent changes in the pattern of aid allocation, the decline in the flow of long-term private capital and the increased consciousness by the developed countries of the so-called economic effects of foreign aid on their own capacities have in combination depressed the prospect of providing adequate financing for the Development Decade. If this tendency should persist, the developing countries would have to rely on their own domestic resources and export proceeds to promote their economic development and compete in the international money market. However, the rate of progress will be far below the targets envisage din the Development Decade, It is doubtful that the modest increase in multilateral assistance and in the loanable resources of international finance institutions will fully meet, in the near future, the global need for long-term low-interest investment capital. I am sure, however, that the developing countries appreciate the efforts of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association in having extended the scope of their activities, as well as those of the International Monetary Fund for the recent relaxation of its policies on the use of its resources. In the past fiscal year, the International Bank has committed the highest volume of funds in its history to financing development projects. 39. It is in this framework and for the reasons implied in my past observations that my Government welcomes whole-heartedly the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which is to be convened in Geneva on 23 March 1964. I am glad that the idea of the Conference has survived the avalanche of controversy and disagreement which has marked its development ever since it was conceived two years ago. My delegation has had the honour of supporting the project and of co-sponsoring the various resolutions that relate to it. I therefore do not propose to go into any detail beyond expressing our firm belief in the objectives set out for the Conference and our great hopes for its success. If the Conference proceeds as envisaged, it will, lam sure, be the greatest single economic event in recent history and the largest conference ever held under the auspices of the United Nations. It is unique in its diverse membership, in its long duration, in its complex agenda, in the painstaking and careful preparation currently being undertaken by the United Nations Secretariat and, above all, in its basic theme, namely, that expansion of international trade is a major component of development plans. This is indeed a significant emphasis and a principal departure from the outmoded consideration of trade and development in water-tight compartments. 40. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development cannot succeed if we approach it with a divided heart. It cannot succeed if it is to be used as a forum for exploration and academic discussions and a mouthpiece for expressing lofty hopes and noble sentiments. In our view, it is a business conference of the first order and should be treated in the most serious and business-like manner. It must define the problems of international trade and development and seek specific solutions. It must formulate a programme of work and devise the proper implementing machinery. It must have immediate results and effect long-term adjustments and transformations. Finally, it must harmonize the conflicting interests of its members lest these conflicts generate forces which will undermine its very basis. 41. I feel that I could not leave this rostrum without paying my delegation's warm tribute to our Secretary-General, U Thant, and his collaborators of all ranks and all grades —whether military or civilian, whether serving at Headquarters or in the field— for their singular devotion to the cause of peace. The important role which the Secretary-General personally played during the Cuban crisis of last year contributed in great measure to the easing of the tensions which had brought us so close to the brink of nuclear calamity. Of no lesser measure has been his contribution to the considerably improved situation presently prevailing in the Congo. His constant, patient and courageous efforts in narrowing the gap between the protagonists in the cold war have earned him universal acclaim. We wish him success in all his endeavours on behalf of peace.