Mr. President, please allow me to join my colleagues who have preceded me at this rostrum in congratulating you on your election to preside over our present deliberations.
144. May it be given to this Assembly to rise to the needs of the great historical moment at which it convenes. This is indeed a time when a most careful appraisal and the wisest of decisions are particularly called for.
145. The principal nuclear Powers were previously blamed for failing to agree on positive steps towards banning and eliminating nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons. It is now the pleasant duty of all to thank them for their determined and successful efforts, which have resulted so far in the recent Moscow Treaty banning all but underground nuclear tests and the more recent understanding between the Soviet Union and the United States relating to a ban on the orbiting of atomic arms in outer space.
146. It would be a mistake either to over-estimate the importance and significance of the agreement reached or to underestimate it and overlook and bypass the opportunity it affords of being used as a new impetus for further accomplishments in the vast field of disarmament and the maintenance of international peace. Although, in this regard, by far the longer distances to our goals remain to be covered, it could not be contested that the Moscow Treaty and the following understanding —whether by themselves and from the point of view of their immediate effect, or as a small window looking out upon clearer vistas and wider horizons— are among the most welcome and hopeful events of recent years.
147. These and related considerations were naturally taken into account when the Government of the United Arab Republic announced its almost immediate adherence to the Moscow Treaty. My Government, furthermore, readily agrees to the proposal of the Soviet Government that leading statesmen, at the highest level, representing States participating in the Conference of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament should meet in the first quarter or first half of 1964 to discuss both the question of general and complete disarmament and special measures to achieve the further alleviation of international tensions. It also welcomes the statement by the President of the United States, Mr. Kennedy, that further steps should be taken towards disarmament, including a ban on underground nuclear tests. It considers that a stop should be put immediately, as has been suggested, to the dissemination of nuclear weapons, pending their ultimate destruction.
148. My Government shares, at the same time, the determination that Africa should be declared a denuclearized zone, as affirmed by the Heads of African States and Governments at Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963. It looks favourably on the proposal for the denuclearization of Latin America, as recently reaffirmed by the declaration of 29 April 1963 signed by the Presidents of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico [A/5415]; and also on the similar proposals of the Governments of Poland and the Soviet Union relating to parts of Central Europe and to the Mediterranean, respectively. Finally, like all the other Governments represented here, my Government is anxious to see the day when the whole world will be denuclearized.
149. The position of my Government regarding most of these matters has been expressed repeatedly and in detail on previous occasions, whether here or at Geneva. I shall consequently confine myself at present to the expression, in this connexion, of my Government's earnest hope that the adherence to the Moscow Treaty and the related understanding which followed it will become universal and that France will refrain from any further nuclear experiments, in the Sahara or anywhere else.
150. A number of other important steps relating both to disarmament and to international security have been suggested by various speakers; they include the Soviet Government's suggestion that a non-aggression pact should be concluded between the States parties to the Warsaw Treaty and the States members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. My delegation finds many of these steps well worth considering; and it thinks that, for example, to those who consider that the nonaggression pact which has been referred to would be superfluous in view of the clear stipulations of the Charter against any aggression, it could be answered that, as the French say, "si cela va sans dire, cela ira mieux en le disant". For our part, we see no harm at all, and the possibility of good, in the reaffirmation that all shall keep the peace and that no aggression shall be committed.
151. Let us hope that the spirit which inspired and the determination which marked the recent nuclear negotiations will equally inspire and mark the policies of all concerned in other aspects of inter national, interracial and interreligious relationships.
152. I come from the continent of Africa; and I ask leave to evoke here some parts, at least, of the moving picture of that continent as it has been recently unfolding.
153. At the first Conference of Independent African States, which was held at Accra in 1958, only eight States were present, as virtually all the rest of Africa was still under the yoke of colonial rule. In 1963, the Addis Ababa Conference rallied thirty-two independent African States. It will be further to the glory of both the African fighters for freedom and those who, from outside Africa, understand, sympathize with, and help their struggle, when the coming Conference of Independent African States will rally, as we wish and trust, an all-independent Africa, still willing and more able to contribute to the prosperity and the peace of the world
154. Meanwhile, no less than thirteen African nations are stubbornly and short-sightedly still held under colonial rule, and apartheid and racial discrimination blemish parts of the African scene and retard Africa's complete rehabilitation and freedom.
155. The independent States of Africa have expressed themselves in clear terms when they proclaimed at Addis Ababa their determination to eradicate those evils and help, by all means, the remaining dependent peoples of Africa to regain their independence.
156. We trust, furthermore, that we shall see in the immediate future a change in British policy. We wish and trust that the United Kingdom will end its persistence in allowing such conditions to prevail in Southern Rhodesia as those which have resulted in the imposition there of a government representative of only a small heterogeneous minority; and that the attaining of independence by Southern Rhodesia will be concomitant with the setting up of a government which would be really representative of its people at large. Thus the United Kingdom will have properly discharged its obligations toward that country, and will have wisely avoided the recurrence in Southern Rhodesia of such a state of confusion and of strike as that which it allowed to materialize in the wake of its mandate on Palestine.
157. We wish, at the same time, that Portugal would, even if reluctantly, wake up to the new dawn of this day and discover that we are already in 1963, and no longer a century or more before, and we earnestly urge that the African territories which are at present under its domination regain their independence in a peaceful way, without the need to resort to force.
158. It will, moreover, be a day of wisdom and of good cheer when apartheid and racial discrimination disappear from South Africa, where a government of a small minority subjects to those humiliations the original inhabitants of the country who makeup 80 per cent of the population. That minority government has been, for this reason, condemned rightly and justly by the United Nations, by the African States at their various conferences and by the world at large.
159. As far as we are concerned, we are all determined in Africa to do everything possible, and the well-nigh impossible, so that such worthy aims will be soon attained. In this connexion we have heard and read in the newspapers during the last few days that the Government of South Africa is again wielding with the utmost brutality against the African nationalists and their sympathizers arbitrary, laws and measures for detaining political suspects for successive ninety-day periods, beyond the reach of courts of law or lawyers. Among those victimized by those laws and measures are eleven nationalists who are at present facing the danger of being tyrannically sentenced to death or life imprisonment, without their having the civilized guarantees of the law and of human rights. This is obviously a most disturbing and a most urgent matter which the Assembly should take up immediately if it is to act in time and to discharge its obligations properly in this regard. The Assembly's actions should, in our view, aim at the. immediate release of the political leaders and prisoners in that unfortunate country whose only crime is to take a stand on freedom, on human rights and on the worth of the human person. We wish and hope that such action by the Assembly will not be delayed and that at long last in this connexion we shall see an application of our recognition, since the inception of the Charter and the United Nations, of the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.
160. Looking around throughout the Arab world, we find it a source of constant and deep grief that the Arab people of Palestine have been, until today, denied their political and human rights. While world political Zionism holds their homes and their homeland, its leaders and representatives go on spreading, here and elsewhere, one smoke-screen after another of false professions of goodwill.
161. The Arab people of Palestine, like their Algerian brothers have done before them, will, for sure, as their delegation will tell us again soon, spare no effort and begrudge their cause no sacrifice until justice is done. As we have been with our Algerian brothers, we are one with our Palestinian Arab brothers in their noble struggle for the restoration of all their rights,
162. The Assembly, as well as the Security Council, has been made to listen for many a year, in relation to Palestine, to an endless amount of argumentation by the representatives of Israel, whose cavil in the face of facts, law and morality has known no limits.
163. For our part, we choose not to play that kind of game; and I therefore take leave Instead to put before the Assembly some straightforward questions.
164. Does the Arab nation of Palestine have political and human rights, to the restoration of all of which it is entitled?
165. Are these rights largely recognized and confirmed by United Nations resolutions?
166. Are we all, without dissension, ready eventually to abide by the choice of the Arabs of Palestine to return to their homes and their homeland, a choice to which their title Is recognized by United Nations resolutions and which would be made freely through a plebiscite, organized and supervised by this Organization?
167. Are we all equally ready to see to it that a stop be put to the Jewish influx into Palestine, which has by now reached the most disturbing and most unjust extent of nearly a million and a half in the last fifteen years?
168. These and related questions clearly have reference to the rights of the Arabs of Palestine, rights which are their own, and which no one else has any warrant whatsoever either to detract from or to forfeit.
169. Casting a glance at this point around the Arabian Peninsula, we note to our regret that the United Kingdom still denies several peoples in that area their right to self-determination and independence. This includes in particular the people of Oman who, for quite a long time now, have risen in revolt against such denial, and the people of the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, which was arbitrarily severed from Yemen by the United Kingdom, on whom the United Kingdom has imposed a fictitious federation and whose right to self-determination has, nevertheless, been recognized and supported by the Committee charged with implementing the Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples.
170. A word is due here about the situation which has been developing recently around Yemen. It is well known that the people of Yemen, in the exercise of their undeniable right to choose their own Government, have established a new regime aiming at progress and at bringing the country in line and in pace with modern times. Since last year, shortly after its establishment, this Government has been represented here as an honoured Member of the United Nations. It has also expressed its desire to the Government of the United Arab Republic that the latter extend its co-operation in the economic development of Yemen, and in safeguarding it against hostile foreign intervention. Our colleague, the Chairman of the delegation of the Yemen Arab Republic, has already spoken on this and related matters, clearly and in adequate detail. It remains for me therefore to say how ardently the Government of the United Arab Republic, together with many others, desires to see an end to all outside hostile intervention in the internal affairs of Yemen, and a full measure of peace around that noble and ancient country which is doing its best to step into modernity and to be able, as it is willing, to make increasingly an abundant contribution to sound international life and the prosperity of the world. With all this in mind, we are happy to recall the role in this respect which the United Nations, the Arab League and some other well-wishers have been playing, so that the remaining difficulties besetting the road to constructiveness in that direction should be soon overcome.
171. As everyone is aware, a matter which deserves particular attention is the rapid growth in the membership of this Organization, a growth which is both a natural parallel to the coming of age of many countries which had been hitherto deprived of their independence, and a reminder that a new assessment and a new readjustment are due in some respects, including the equitable distribution of the membership of various organs of the United Nations. In this connexion, my Government shares the feeling that the continents of Asia and Africa should be more adequately and equitably represented in those organs.
172. I should also like to reiterate my Government's view that the Government of the People's Republic of China should promptly occupy its seat in this Organization.
173. Before closing, I take the liberty of referring to the economic aspect of present-day international life. I shall limit to mere references the few words I am about to say in this connexion, and shall refrain from dealing with this aspect at any great length. My colleague, the Minister of the Treasury of the United Arab Republic, has already done so yesterday in the Second Committee [888th meeting].
174. I therefore merely express the hope that the realities of international economic relations will live up to the already widespread convictions relating to them, convictions which are clearly and definitely for the superseding of exploitation by co-operation, and for ending the division of the world into nations which are poor and lagging behind and nations which are opulent and far ahead. Full expression will thus be given to the sound and sane reality that, just as world peace is indivisible, so is world prosperity, and utmost advantage will thus be obtained from modern science and from the greatest thing which God has ever created, the mind of man.
175. May I, at this point, submit, in all humility, on behalf of my country, that it is doing its part as much as it can in this regard, refashioning and reinvigorating its spiritual and physical life, sending to other countries many thousands of its educators and technicians, and welcoming within its borders also many thousands of educators from abroad.
176. In the meantime, and among other things, the Suez Canal is running smoothly and its service to international navigation is functioning increasingly well; the High Dam, near Aswan, is steadily nearing completion; and the Nubian monuments, thanks in good part to the generous technical and financial help from the United Nations, and from many countries and individuals, are now assured safety from disappearing forever under the floods of the Nile. Still carrying well their thousands of years, they will be saved for an ever-grateful Egypt and a graciously helpful world.