Mr. President, please accept on your own behalf, and also on behalf of the Vice-Presidents, the congratulations of the delegation of Sierra Leone for having been elected to preside over the eighteenth session of the General Assembly.
2. Our able Secretary-General has presented a report on the work of the United Nations for the past year [A/ 5501], for which we congratulate him and his staff. We are proud that we belong to an Organization which, despite the many problems which confront it, has nevertheless not deviated from the noble purpose for which it was founded, namely, the maintenance of lasting peace everywhere. The year has seen a significant easing of the tensions between East and West, particularly following the agreement to cease from nuclear tests on land, sea and in the atmosphere. By signing this agreement in the three capitals where it is open for signature, the Government of Sierra Leone has publicly expressed its gratification at this sign that the nuclear Powers have not turned a deaf ear to the pleas of mankind that the great advances of science may be used for peace and human development rather than for the destruction of humanity. We also regard this step towards an eventual complete banning of nuclear arms as a real achievement for the United Nations.
3. My delegation believes that no useful purpose is served by a lengthy discussion of problems which will be more adequately dealt with at the appropriate time in relation to the agenda and in Committee. In keeping with the pledge made by the Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, the Right Honourable Sir Milton Margai, when he spoke from this rostrum on the occasion of our admission two years ago [1018th meeting], we will play our part in the work of the General Assembly with only one purpose, namely, that every decision reached will contribute to lasting peace, justice and a full realization of human dignity in all parts of the world.
4. There are before us, however, a few hard-core problems to which no early or easy solution is yet evident. To mention them here is to express the sincere hope that the door to frank and open discussion and patient negotiation will be kept open. I refer to the relations between Cuba and its neighbours on the American continent; the question of Berlin and of a peace treaty with Germany; the heart-rending problem of Arab refugees which is both cause and result of the dispute between Israel and its Arab neighbours; the ceaseless struggles in the Indo-China region; the question of liquidating the remaining colonial holdings. There is not a single one of these problems that is insoluble and that should needlessly continue to tie up physical and human resources which are so badly needed for more constructive purposes.
5. There are three questions on the agenda on which my delegation, and every African delegation, must speak out clearly.
6. The first is the question of the apartheid policies of the Government of South Africa. I do not intend to go into the substance of the problem which is one of the most thoroughly documented ones before the Assembly. My delegation feels strongly, however, that this Assembly must not permit the Government of South Africa to confirm to the white minority in South Africa that, in the final analysis, in spite of the repeated protests of the African countries, the United Nations is powerless to act against South Africa as long as the great Powers, whose financial resources are heavily invested in South Africa, continue to pour money into South African commerce and industry, thus proving that there is nothing wrong with apartheid if the country in which it is practiced is such a safe place for investments.
7. The Government of South Africa must be made to see that world public opinion demands, and is prepared to back this demand with suitable measures of economic and diplomatic isolation, that South Africans of all races must enjoy equal rights and assume equal responsibilities in the economic, social and political life of their country. Perhaps the time has also come to pray for the leaders of the Government of South Africa, that the scales may fall from their eyes so that they will see the bright and happy future of their country, which they are needlessly endangering by a stubborn refusal to let the majority play their full part on terms of equality and full co-operation as first-class citizens of their great land. All that the African countries ask of the United Nations is to deal firmly and decisively with South Africa within the framework of the Charter as long as it continues to act in defiance of the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
8. The second question is the refusal of Portugal to accept historical reality and to step into line with world public opinion with respect to its colonies. This Assembly must, in this case also, find a way to make the Portuguese Government see that it is its clear duty, in conformity with the obligations of Portugal under the Charter, to accept once and for all the principle that the residents of the Portuguese colonies have a right to decide for themselves by popular democratic vote how they shall be governed and to create their own political institutions.
9. Thirdly, this Assembly must find a just and reasonable solution to the question of a fair geographic representation of Africa in the Security Council and in the other organs of the United Nations. My delegation does not share in the reluctance to amend the Charter, if necessary, to achieve such a fair representation for Africa, and we are equally unwilling to wait until the Charter is amended before this injustice is corrected. We sincerely hope that our insistence on what we regard as our right will not be interpreted as hostility towards any group or region which might be called upon to accept reduced representation in order that Africa will be fairly and adequately represented.
10. In another two years we shall have occasion to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations. Is it too much to hope that, as a result of our determination to take a fresh look this year, and next, at the questions on our agenda, we shall find solutions which will help us to celebrate the twentieth session of the General Assembly as the session at which we take a fresh, bold step into the future with full satisfaction in what we have done in our first twenty years?