While preparing to represent his country at this session of the General Assembly, our Minister for Foreign Affairs had an accident, as a result of which he died in the prime of life. On behalf of His Majesty the Mwami of Burundi, the family of the deceased Minister and the Government, and on my own behalf, I thank the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, all delegations accredited to the Organization and all individuals and bodies for their kind expressions of sympathy.
138. I offer my warmest congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your election to your present post. This election is undoubtedly an honour for you and your country, but it is also an honour for the United Nations which has placed at the head of one of its highest organs a person of such great intellectual and moral qualities.
139. Burundi has been Independent for only one year. It was in June 1962 in this Assembly that it was decided to cease regarding Burundi, internationally, as a dependent territory. Yet our ties with this great and noble Organization are as old as the Organization itself. In connexion with the 1914-1918 world conflict, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers, deciding to place German East Africa —of which Burundi was a district under international control, brought us into relationship with the international organization of the day: the League of Nations. At the time when the League collapsed because it had not been true to its raison d'être —the maintenance of peace— the principle of nationalities, in fashion during the nineteenth century, had become the right of men to self-determination. Our country progressed from the status of a Mandated Territory to that of a Trust Territory, and the foreign Administering Power undertook to co-operate fully with the United Nations General Assembly and Trusteeship Council in the discharge of all their functions. All this was settled during the first years following the Second World War. But not until 1962 was it recognized that in our case too it was not for one people to dominate another,
140. I remember the atmosphere which reigned in the lobbies of this Assembly when our accession to independence was being considered. The future of our country was anxiously discussed. On the one hand, the sad example of the Congo was in the delegates' minds, and was recalled by the representative of that country himself, Mr. Matiti [1119th meeting]. On the other hand, Burundi had a representative Government and had nothing to wait for but the termination of the trusteeship. We were encouraged and supported in this advance towards what all peoples aspired to —independence and progress. May we here record the full measure of our debt to the States which bestowed upon us this mark of goodwill and understanding.
141. Elsewhere, Algeria had entered a transitional period which was to lead it to independence. The FLN was on the point of obtaining what for seven years it had been seeking by every means, including the most agonizing, to secure. Rwanda, Uganda, Western Samoa and, after the break-up of the British West Indies Federation, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were going to proclaim their independence. The Netherlands and Indonesia had ended their thirteen-year-old dispute over West New Guinea. Nyasaland had been given the right to secede from Northern Rhodesia. In short, many people could say that it was the beginning of the end of political and racial supremacy.
142. The chapter of decolonization, in the history of the world, was thus on the point of being closed. One would have liked to say the same about the cold war, but that was not the case; on the contrary, the nuclear tests which were said to have been abandoned were recommended shortly afterwards, as reprisals. The Disarmament Committee at Geneva was achieving no results. In Laos, the negotiations between the three princes, representing the so-called pro-Western, procommunist and neutralist factions respectively, bore no fruits until 23 July 1962 at Geneva. The number of incidents at the notorious Berlin wall was increasing, and discussions on this subject were not showing the slightest progress. In addition, there were still Cuba and the Congo which, of course for different reasons, were feeding the fires of the cold war,
143. Since that time, that is since 1 July 1962, much progress has been made. The most notable instances are the Conferences of Addis Ababa and Moscow.
144. At Addis Ababa, the representatives of thirty- two independent African States decided to unite all the potential energies of Africa in order, first to put an end to the shameful system of foreign domination and exploitation on their soil in particular and in the world in general, and secondly to enable the vast African masses to overcome their technical and economic backwardness. The Conference of Addis Ababa is merely the natural outcome of the Africans' struggle to liberate themselves from the fetters of the colonial system, and of their desire to give concrete expression, through African unity, to their philosophy of brotherhood. The sure success of African unity will be the best vindication of the principles of our Charter: peace in action, complementarity in equality, and the certainty that Africa, previously disregarded, can be an example to the rest of the world.
145. In Moscow, the representatives of the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have just concluded a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.
146. With regard to decolonization and the campaign against hunger, the meeting at Addis Ababa is of unprecedented importance. It holds out hope for a substantial reduction in international tension as a result of liberation of a large area of the world. It also, through an attitude based solely on respect for sovereignty, brings an entire continent within the scope of international relations.
147. In the field of peaceful coexistence, the meeting in Moscow is a great encouragement on the journey towards a world without war, without fear and perhaps without hunger. It gives hope for the achievement of an agreement on general and complete disarmament; it also holds out the prospect of a reduction of the ever- increasing gap between levels of living in the developed countries and in the formerly dependent countries, through more extensive aid to the less favoured and the use, for assistance purposes, of the resources liberated by disarmament.
148. Since we have been a Member of this Organization, our contribution to its objectives has been loyal and sincere, although limited by the fact that we are a small country. This is true so far as international peace and security are concerned; it is also true in the field of the rights of peoples and of citizens.
149. With regard to international peace and security, we, like other nations, are obliged to safeguard our country's future. Like others, we know that a conflagration, if it broke out, would not be restricted to regions defined in advance. It is therefore the duty of each nation and each Government to spare no effort to avert a general catastrophe; this is a responsibility which we will not and cannot shirk. This philosophy stems from an essentially active pacifism which is the basis of our international policy, and it will determine our position during this session of the General Assembly.
150. Burundi is convinced that all international questions can be solved according to the provisions of the United Nations Charter. It is sure that there is no dispute which cannot be settled by peaceful means. Every problem will be resolved whenever the parties are sincerely determined to examine it realistically and in accordance with the rules of law. What we primarily require of a solution is that it should be lasting; it must therefore be in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
151. During the session, my delegation will support any proposal for the establishment of genuine peaceful coexistence. In particular, we shall support any proposal for the achievement of complete agreement on the cessation of nuclear tests. We shall side with all those who have proclaim d, once and for all, that science must dispel both the fear of war and the fear of hunger. My delegation will support any resolution for the expansion of membership of the United Nations, on the basis of the principle of universality. My country is opposed to the policy of quarantining other countries. This is the reason for my delegation's attitude in respect of Communist China.
152. The world must not find itself in a situation in which force prevails. The vast majority of people lack the means of subsisting. The race to help our fellow- men could quite well be a source of honour to the contestants, in which case intimidation would cease to be a method habitually resorted to in international relations; shows of force, or any other type of threat, would be consigned to ridicule.
153. As far as the rights of peoples are concerned, the colonial system is the most crushing insult that history has ever addressed to the human race. The man subjected to it is forced to stoop, to cringe and to become just one of the objects, like a towel, which the colonialist uses and abuses. The man who practices it is obliged to pervert himself, to claim that he is a superior being and to postulate the superiority of all his passions and all his creations. This system is based on theories of racial supremacy which have given rise to atrocious practices in the liquidation of human lives. In its development, it has taken the form of a system of oppression, exploitation and domination of one people by another. Today it is denounced by all the working masses, the world over.
154. This description of imperialism and colonialism represents, naturally, one point of view; there maybe others. Portugal proves me to be quite right here. In any case, my analysis has the advantage of being not exclusively my own but that of all exploited peoples of the world in general and of the colonial world in particular; it is therefore, in fact, that of the great majority of human beings. It is this analysis, this understanding of human relations which has called forth general indignation and resulted in the colonial revolution; what is more, on the basis of the facts we can say, without fear of being mistaken, that the liquidation of the colonial system is imminent.
155. Unfortunately, there are still vast tracts of Africa where the people live in hourly fear of massacre, pillage and extermination. The representative of Portugal dares to flaunt himself here before the eyes of the world, which we represent, while his Government engages in practices contrary even to the laws of warfare. Portugal is provoking the nations of the world in the extreme. A country like that has no place here; it should have the courage to change its policy or to withdraw before the United Nations is forced to take other steps. Some Africans States have already recognized the patriotic government of Holden Roberto; he should be here to receive the heartfelt tribute paid by all free countries to those valiant fighters whose names will go down in history as defenders of the honour of Angola.
156. At the present moment, there is still one Hitler type of State on this earth, one solitary Government whose political morality consists of hatred, degradation and racial dictatorship —the Republic of South Africa; one Government which consigns nine-tenths of its population to concentration camps and yet dares to send ministers to the United Nations to boast at this world rostrum of the benefits of racialism and the concentration-camp paradise of the Negro. Is there one voice raised here in favour of the presence of an instigator of this kind? My delegation —together with many other delegations here— believes that there is not.
157. Concrete action must be taken against this retrograde State which uses guns to dominate a peace-loving people. The United Nations courts destruction if it merely stands by, and, like the League of Nations, looks on at the massacre of a people by an anti-democratic Government, on the pretext of non-intervention,
158. Although always contrary to the most elementary morality, colonialism, at a certain point in historical time, was accepted in the colonialist world as a system of political administration or as a legal constitutional form. In other words, the rule of force and the negation of fundamental human rights were political norms. Today, this is no longer the case. Under the pressure of the working people of the world, the colonial system was first called into question and then sentenced to death, and today in fact we are witnessing its last dying throes.
159. It is a happy fact that, in the United Nations, the resolutions adopted on colonialism reflect the unswerving will of the peoples for self-determination. The conscience of mankind has rejected colonialism for ever, and its spokesmen have presented the colonial system as an injustice, an anomaly, a source of increasing friction and a constant threat to equilibrium. The proposed solution is the re-establishment of this equilibrium, the restoration of fundamental human rights and national independence. The United Nations has had to learn by experience that, once begun, a colonial revolution enters the course of history and from then on it is futile to attempt to restrain it. Happily, that lesson has now been learnt.
160. However, colonialism has often served as an excuse for intensifying the cold war, thus impairing the authority of the Organization. An outworn form of colonialism practised by certain Powers in defiance of world opinion still lives on. Resolutions intended to make these Powers see reason and justice have been quite simply ignored. Some other Powers have displayed an attitude of duplicity and inconsistency. All these considerations move us to deplore the existence of a retrograde spirit within the Organization and the inability of the United Nations to check it through the application of its fundamental principles and of the Charter,
161. Yet there are other areas in which action by the Organization has had a positive effect on this revolution. The fact that problems have been brought to the international scene has often made it possible to discern factors conducive to a peaceful settlement. Many lives have been spared in Africa and Asia through the good offices of the Organization. Its recommendations have often been of great utility to countries attaining self-government or independence. To sum up, the Organization has been able to create, all through the colonial world, a spirit of mutual understanding which will lead to peace and a new era of co-operation in freedom and equality.
162. The colonial revolution is, in fact, directed against domination by force and against the exploitation of one man by another. It thus constitutes in unparalleled contribution to world peace and stability. Experience has taught us that when the colonialists persist in their policy of domination and inequality, conflicts and wars unfailingly break out in the colonial countries, which inevitably increase international friction. There can, moreover, be no lasting peace without universal freedom, and there can be no universal freedom until the structure of colonialism is completely abolished. Therefore, in order to have peace on earth, it is necessary, as the thirty-two independent African States, including Burundi, have suggested, for the whole world to work to wipe out the last vestiges of colonialism where these still exist.
163. With regard to human rights, it must be said at once that Burundi is one country in the world where the gaols are free of political prisoners. This little democratic country can set an example. Its new Government is fiercely opposed to political imprisonment.
164. Since the fall of the Hitler régime, which made racialism a government policy and a pretext for exterminating millions of human beings, racial prejudice has begun to cause pangs of conscience. All over the world, the idea is spreading that while all men are different from each other, in some respects, and this is one of the fundamental factors in human progress, they are in essence all the same because they all, as human beings, have the same rights to equal treatment, a decent life and the free development of their physical and intellectual capabilities. The adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the adoption by the Council of Europe of the Human Rights Charter 11/ and the constant practice of the great international organizations bear witness to the vigour and influence of the trends hostile to racialism.
165. But let us have no illusions. The coldly calculated murder of millions of human beings has not succeeded in rooting out racial prejudice, nurtured on mistrust and ill-will against certain ethnic or religious groups simply because they are different in outward appearance or perhaps in their way of life or thought.
166. In the beginning, racialism was a sort of defensive reflex and a means of self-justification. This is particularly true of those peoples who have held others in subjection. In such a situation, it is essential to have a system of rules upholding discrimination for the benefit of the dominant group. It is impossible for a man who must keep a large number of other men under his authority to do so by force alone. He must carry symbols which reinforce the impression of his superiority, although this may not always be real. He needs to find artificial supports to disguise his physical weakness. The subjugated peoples must be cheated into believing that they owe obedience and respect to their conquerers. In short, authority becomes depersonalized, and the subject is won over to the idea that he is obeying not a man but a system, a hierarchy constituting a part, as it were, of the natural order of things.
167. Thus, in its original form, discrimination is not born of racial prejudice. Rather prejudice is born of the practice of discrimination. The pressing and permanent need to justify themselves forces the governing class to invent insignia symbolizing their rank. Skin-colour is the first in a long series of such insignia, others being the nature and degree of civilization.
168. Racial discrimination was born at a time when racial myths were exacerbating hatred among peoples, exalting bellicose patriotism and multiplying wars. Its origin lies in doctrines of racial superiority, which also serve the cause of colonialist expansion and the development of imperialism. Its chief cause is the fear of economic insecurity, the fear of losing prestige. Just as a disease disappears when the virus causing it is killed, so must we, in order to abolish racial discrimination, change the conditions out of which it grew. To eliminate racialism, we must give a more solid foundation to the feeling of personal security. It is a question of education. The Western Powers, and particularly the United States of America which is doing a great deal in this direction, must urge the Republic of South Africa to change its philosophy, lest in the end it sets fire to the African continent and thus threatens the peace of the whole world.
169. Problems of development have brought men to recognize the existence of two zones, the largest of which is marked by a passionate longing for freedom and a desire to catch up economically. It is a part of the world only recently independent or still colonial, a world of hunger and illiteracy. The men who live in it are anxious about the future and nostalgic about the past. Their importance and their future will inevitably grow. One day, their choice and their evolution will determine the course of history. In the meantime, they turn to the other half of the world, believing that it will help them in their struggle towards speedier economic and cultural development.
170. It is in this context that relations between the unequally developed countries must henceforward be framed. Instead of relations of domination as they were in the past, they must increasingly become relations of solidarity, uniting partners equal in rights and dignity. In order to survive, the profit economy must call upon the assistance of a donor economy. Of course, this goal still seems far off; the resistance of habit and selfishness and the inertia of the established order stand in the way of the bold measures that are needed. Let us hope that the decision is not put off until too late, when it has to be made in haste and confusion, under the pressure of events,
171. In this order of ideas, the United Nations has concentrated its attention on two types of problem; technical assistance and economic development.
172. Technical assistance is one of the foundations of the effort that must be made to enable the underdeveloped countries to provide for their own needs and become less dependent on external aid. The ever- increasing gap between rich and poor countries can be reduced by using present technical knowledge. The acquisition of such knowledge must be encouraged and made easier, and must be kept free from all political considerations. There must be a recognition that in undertaking such action the poor countries risk falling an easy prey to the rich countries. It must be recognized that there is a great temptation for the latter to create a state of dependence which is to their own advantage. In any event, the aid must be such as to introduce not hindrances but elements which are likely to accelerate a prudent course of development. Such at least is the spirit of the new relationship between Burundi and Belgium.
173. Development is a complex problem. It has too many aspects to lend itself to any single approach. It is reflected in an improvement in human life, from both the material and intellectual points of view, whereby men are helped to free themselves from superstition and servitude. In short, it is a transition from a state of mediocrity to a better one.
174. As to the type of development to be sought, much has been said in this Assembly of specialization, integrated development, the paramount importance of industry, and agriculture, financing and many other things. There has even been a discussion of the system most propitious for the development of the less developed countries. Development depends quite as much on the efforts of those countries themselves as on the combined decision of the wealthy countries. Being firmly determined to put an end to their state of poverty, the poorer nations must be able to secure the greatest possible return for the least possible effort from their natural and moral resources as quickly as possible. The wealthier countries must make these efforts less painful by stabilizing commodity prices, removing restrictions on international trade and abolishing all discrimination in this field. In this connexion, the delegation of Burundi looks forward hopefully to the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. J2/
175. In our efforts to raise ourselves to a decent standard of living, our attitude in the United Nations is governed by both economic and practical considerations. From the economic point of view, our attitude is a reflection of what all the Members of the Organization have affirmed in article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely: "Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality." From the practical point of view, our attitude is that the infrastructure essential for eventually carrying out projects which economically are reasonably sound can only be built up through non-profit-making investments. The Special Fund provides the answer in this respect. My delegation therefore urges that the Special Fund should be strengthened. Private capital in its traditional form, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development with its present terms of reference, and technical assistance alone cannot provide the answer to our appeal for the liquidation of glaring social inequalities. Our only salvation lies in action which raises the national income or, in other words, helps to increase production. Such results are only achieved by improving methods of production. This in turn can only be done through savings, but savings are non-existence because income is low, and income is low because savings for investment are very low. My delegation believes that the problem of financing infrastructure development —and thus the problem of the Special Fund or of strengthening the Special Fund- must be solved at this session of the General Assembly outside the classic rules of capitalist financing.
176. In essence, the United Nations is a great human experiment directed towards the creation of an international climate favourable to peace and progress. To be successful, the experiment requires proper instruments. Methods which do not produce the required results must be rejected in favour of others which must be found.
177. In any event, Burundi would have preferred the General Assembly to adopt fewer resolutions on Burundi and more on the assistance Burundi is requesting.
178. At San Francisco in 1945, the United Nations Conference on International Organization divided the world into agricultural regions, rich or poor, and industrial regions, rich or otherwise. This analysis was still accurate in 1946; it is no longer so in 1963. It was within the framework of this analysis, however, that the United Nations Charter was written. The Charter is based in certain considerations of which some are less pressing now than they were in 1945, Let us not, moreover, forget that certain Powers saw fit to deem themselves peace-loving and that consequently the Charter has been forced to remain inoperative as far as they are concerned up to 1963. Burundi would like to believe that all these countries are really peace-loving. At the same time, it could wish that all the countries of the world shared its opinion.
179. At all events, it is surprising to note that the membership of the organs of the United Nations that was decided upon for a forty-five Member Organization in 1946 remains unchanged today when there are 111 Members. It is somewhat disturbing that the countries affected by this situation are those which have always suffered in the history of relations between peoples and civilizations. The situation should be redressed in favour of Africa and Asia, if not by means of an immediate revision of the Charter, at least by creating precedents and making appropriate arrangements.
180. To speak now in general terms, it is high time that the world's capacity to master the forces of nature was matched by a capacity for examining and solving problems relating to the survival and progress of mankind
181. In Burundi we have a saying that, Africa is like a tadpole which, as it grows, will become a frog. It is our hope that the present-day world —from the economic point of view so like a tadpole, with an enormous head made up of the rich countries and a tail of poor countries tapering away behind— will grow in the same way. We should like the inequitable world in which we live to have so developed by the end of this decade as to give hope of its final metamorphosis.