96. I wish, on behalf of my delegation, to offer to the President warm and sincere felicitations on his election to preside over this session of the General Assembly. His qualities of statesmanship, his intellectual strength, his varied experience, his humane cultural endowment as well as his unfailing charm, are well known and recognized by all who have followed his remarkable career. My delegation is confident that he will continue to guide the affairs of this Assembly in the highest traditions of Latin American diplomacy, which he represents with such impressive distinction. I gladly assure him of our hearty co-operation.
97. I wish, at the same time, to place on record the deep appreciation and gratitude of my delegation for the services so ably rendered to the international community by His Excellency Corneliu Manescu, the Foreign Minister of Romania, as the President of the General Assembly at its twenty-second session. My delegation fondly recalls the sense of relief from past intolerance and the high hopes for a newly-born broadmindedness which were signalled by his election as the first representative of a socialist country to the high office of President of the General Assembly. In a year of difficult international developments, Mr. Manescu performed his functions and discharged his responsibilities in a manner which contributed significantly to sustain and encourage our sense of hope and confidence in the United Nations Organization.
98. Our highly distinguished and respected Secretary-General, His Excellency U Thant, in the sensitive but dispassionate introduction to his annual report, concluded that we are confronted with a situation today which calls for a renewal of “our efforts to promote the cause of international understanding and rededicate ourselves to the principles of international order and morality set out in the Charter” [A/7201/Add.1, para. 205]. The Nigerian delegation fervently shares his conviction, It is in this spirit of rededication and renewed commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter that my delegation will face the work of this session.
99. In this our ever-shrinking world—thanks to modern techniques of media of mass communication — tragedies and incidents, otherwise personal and national, soon assume
international dimensions as they are brought to countless homes and hearths in far-away lands. This could be a healthy development, if it would promote the idea of common humanity and universal brotherhood. But too often the press, radio and television of the world have tended to dramatize in raw fashion incidents and situations out of their historical contexts, perspectives and proportions. Human joys and achievements do not make news. Remarkable records of personal and national successes are conveniently forgotten. But tensions and divisions are fanned and played up, more often than not, to serve external socio-political interests. Thus truth is sacrificed for the sake of sensation and selfish interests. Thus in an age of anonymity, heroes and knaves are suddenly created and causes espoused, regardless of their origin, relevance and consequences.
100. It does not require any effort of imagination to recognize the fact that Nigeria is a sovereign entity which attained political independence on 1 October 1960 and was admitted to membership of this Organization as a Member state on 9 October 1960 as a corporate and indivisible country. When, therefore, a group of its citizens, motivated by narrow selfish interests and supported by foreign economic and neo-colonialist interests, resorted to armed rebellion and declared war on their fatherland, it was the duty and responsibility of the Government of Nigeria to quell that rebellion. Similarly, my Government expects that the Government of any Member State would do the same if any province of such State were to proceed to secede from it in armed rebellion.
101. Over the last fifteen months, my Government has watched with increasing horror and dismay how the facts and events of our national life have been reported and frequently distorted by certain sections of the world press. Many of these reports are based on hearsay and several others on the work of public relations firms who have been hired by the rebels in my country to promote their secessionist cause. Through their skilful and clever propaganda, emotions of otherwise well-meaning friends have been aroused and manipulated at will. The concern and compassion for the human sufferings arising from our internal conflict that have manifested themselves have therefore sprung from reasons of diverse interests and motives of uneven quality — frequently tendentious, subjective, irrational, and at times based on reasons of pure financial consideration. The impression is given that the causes of our internal conflict no longer matter and that the survival of a nation no longer counts. The impression is also given that the conflict is merely to inflict death and starvation on innocent women and children. Hiding, therefore, behind the cloak of humanitarianism, a curious combination of neo-colonialist, political, economic, religious and ideological interests is today assailing our national sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity.
102. Never before in history has a rebellious faction in a sovereign State been accorded diplomatic recognition for so-called humanitarian reasons. Never before have otherwise reputable relief organizations chosen to act and speak without regard to accepted norms and their constitutive laws. Never before have honest and reasonable men been so much beguiled by contrived pictures and stories of death and starvation used as blackmail to sustain and support an armed rebellion and war against a fatherland. Our recent experience should serve as an object lesson to all the small and militarily and economically weak countries of the world.
103. As the rebel leader retires into a concrete bunker, reminiscent of another false hero, it is a relief that the world has begun to realize that the internal conflict in my country concerns the concept and acceptance of the fact of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all African States. Were we to permit secession and armed insurgence based on tribal states, Africa, so much in need of union and unity, would again be fragmented into thousands of tribal principalities; Africa, again weakened and uncertain of itself, would be recolonized and more intensively exploited by foreign Powers.
104. The impartial reports of the team of international observers, comprising representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity, Canada, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, who are at present visiting the war-affected areas of Nigeria at my Government’s invitation, have revealed quite categorically how false and mischievous have been some of the reports on the situation in my country. The reports of these eminent observers have revealed the true nature and circumstances of the conflict and how spurious and malicious have been some of the references made to the events in my country by some of the speakers before this Assembly.
105. The task of crushing the rebellion in my country is now almost completed. We have therefore begun to tum our attention to the more important task of rebuilding the human and material bridges that have been broken and to the reconstruction of our national life in fuller dignity and freedom. We are sparing no efforts or resources in doing this. Urgent relief supplies of food, medicine and clothing to those in need is the immediate and overriding preoccupation of my Government. We have prepared plans, which are now being implemented, and have made substantial budgetary provisions’ for the relief and rehabilitation work in the war-affected areas. A National Rehabilitation Commission, headed by a Commissioner of Cabinet rank, has been established to supervise and implement the relief and rehabilitation programme for the victims of the conflict. In fact, as of now, and even when the conflict was at its height, the Federal troops carry not only their rations but vital relief supplies for the civilian victims as they fight on against the rebel elements. The International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF and a number of other charitable organizations have been rendering a most signal service in this respect. I salute them all on behalf of my Government.
106. At this juncture, I wish to thank, on behalf of my Government, the various Member States of this Organization and of the Organization of African Unity, and in particular, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, and the other distinguished Heads of State — members of the Consultative Committee on Nigeria of the Organization of African Unity — who, faithful to the high principles and purposes of both Organizations, have shown so much understanding and sympathy for the cause of Nigeria. The historic resolution of Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of Africa Unity with respect to Nigeria, adopted on 16 September 1968 in Algiers, by which inter alia: they called “upon all Member States of the United Nations and the OAU to refrain from any action detrimental to the peace, unity and territorial integrity of Nigeria”, was a triumph for Africa and a vindication of my Government’s cause.
107. I also wish to express the deep appreciation and gratitude of my Government for the understanding, sympathy and assistance which the Secretary-General of our Organization has extended to my Government, consistent with the powers and responsibilities of his high office which we recognize as the worthy repository of all the moral and humanitarian values of this Organization.
108. My Government has never and will never stand in the way of any humanitarian organization or men of goodwill who genuinely want to help us in alleviating the sufferings of the civilian victims of our internal conflict. We have never placed any obstacles in their way. Indeed we warmly welcome them. We shall continue to do so and to provide them with every possible facility and assistance. My Government assures them of its continued service and full co-operation. We do insist, however, on full respect for Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We also demand strict adherence to the established norms of international law and behaviour in the fields of international co-operation and humanitarian assistance.
109. My delegation has listened with interest to the speakers before this Assembly who have had cause to refer to the situation in my country. Much as we appreciate that some of them have been prompted by humanitarian considerations, my delegation takes a firm and categorical objection to any incursion into matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of my country. References such as we have had to the so-called “tragedy of Biafra”, the so-called “martyrdom of the Ibo people", and the suggestion founded on a patently erroneous construction of certain provisions of the Charter of this Organization that a solution must be found to our internal problem so as to give effect to certain imaginary rights, amount to a flagrant violation of the basic principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of Member States.
110. Self-determination for a so-called “people of Biafra” has been canvassed. But what is “Biafra” other than a manifestation and an ugly repetition of the lamentable tragedy of Katanga in Africa? What is it other than a cancerous symbol of disunity and disintegration — a concept which exists only in the aberrant imagination of those who refuse to accord Africa the dignity and recognition which they reserve for themselves? It is neither a political entity nor even a geographical location.
111. They talk of the so-called “Biafra” as the land of the Ibos, deliberately losing sight of the fact that the former Eastern Region of Nigeria which those now in rebellion against their fatherland purported to incorporate into their dream empire consisted not only of the Ibos but also of other ethnic groups amounting numerically to more than five-and-a-half million people. Indeed their dream empire was to include the Mid-West State and the Western State, which they proceeded to invade and occupy in August 1967 and from which they were later driven out in October of the same year. In that region there are three States, each equal in status and rights to the other nine constituent States of the Federation. Two of these three States have now been completely liberated from the rebels by the Federal Government of Nigeria and are integrated effectively into the existing federal structure of my country.
112. The Ibo-speaking people of the former Eastern Nigeria constitute the third State — the East Central State. Over two-thirds of the area of this State has also been liberated from rebel control and reintegrated into the federal structure. The liberated areas are currently administered by an Ibo administrator assisted by other Ibos who, inter alia, man all the law enforcement agencies now effectively operating in such areas. Significantly, in all such areas, the civilian Ibo populations, now realizing the barrenness of rebel propaganda, are coming out in large numbers to co-operate with the federal authorities and indicating in very certain terms their willingness to take their rightful places in the Federation of Nigeria. Besides, Ibos participate on an equal status with other Nigerians in the national life of the country and hold responsible positions in the federal services of Nigeria.
113. Therefore there can be no question of denial of human rights to any section of the Nigerian population. The much canvassed right to self-determination of the East Central State is sacred and relevant only in the over-all national context of Nigeria — in just the same way as, for instance, it is in Brittany or Alsace-Lorraine.
114. It is the view of my delegation that it is mischievous to characterize as martyrs the people of any section of my country in the current internal conflict. If one were to look for martyrs in the recent history of colonial Asia and Africa, it is to the people of Indo-China and Algeria that one would readily turn. The dogged determination and bloody struggle for eight years by the people of Indo-China, with such episodes as Dien Bien Phu, directed towards the recognition of their rights to self-determination — that is martyrdom. The millions of the fraternal people of Algeria, who for seven years were sacrificed on the altar of bigotry and colonial tyranny, whose defenceless villages were napalmed and gassed, burnt and bombed because of their heroic struggle for their right to self-determination — they are the martyrs. The blood of those African martyrs today waters the flourishing tree of liberty, equality and fraternity in that great sister Republic.
115. There has appeared on the African political scene another Moise Tshombe. Behind this reincarnation are some of the financial circles that inspired and attempted to sustain Katangese separatism. Both with open expressions of support and sympathy and clandestine financial assistance — in money and in arms and ammunition — and by complicity in foul propaganda, these circles have attempted, and continue to attempt, to sustain the rebellion in my country. By urging the rebels to hold out in spite of the realities of the situation in the hope of gaining ultimate victory through world intervention, they have encouraged them to exploit human suffering for political advantage.
116. Those same neo-colonialist circles pretend that their stances and utterances are motivated by humanitarian feelings and not by other concrete and more rewarding considerations. We would ask: why are these so-called humanitarian feelings not so readily expressed with respect to the human plight of the 16 million Africans of South Africa, whose oppression and suppression depend largely on the supply of arms by a certain major Power, contrary to Security Council resolutions? Why are they not being expressed with respect to the death and suffering in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea (Bissau), Southern Rhodesia and Namibia? If I should ask these questions, it is not to minimize the terrible consequences of our internal conflict. These are our problems. It is our duty to deal with them with speed, magnanimity and patriotic zeal. We expect our friends to look at them in their correct perspective. As for those of our brothers in Africa and the Caribbean who have thought it fit to meddle in our internal affairs, I can only forgive them. I am sure that the cause of world order would be better served if they paid a little more attention to the solution of their own internal problems.
117. I now turn to the state of international affairs which really is the proper responsibility of our Organization. This Organization has more than doubled in size since its foundation twenty-three years ago. Of necessity, new membership has brought new focus and fresh emphasis. These are elements of vitality, not sterility. They compel growth, not a studied promotion of a congenial status quo. The world would move much closer to the model envisaged in the founding of the United Nations if the principle of sovereign equality guided the action of every Member State of this Organization. The threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Member States would be greatly diminished if the sanctions of our Charter and not the privilege of power — military, economic and political — were permitted to prevail in the conduct of international relations.
118. One area in which this Organization can claim justifiable pride in its achievement has been in providing the impetus for the historic post-war development of decolonization. The present membership of this Organization itself attests to this record of achievement. But, today, as the United Nations becomes more half-hearted in the handling of African decolonization, the millions of oppressed people in southern Africa seem progressively condemned to permanent white minority domination and subjugation. In spite of repeated international condemnation and in utter defiance of the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, the apartheid régime in South Africa remains unyielding to the admonitions of human decency and morality. Dr. Vorster and his collaborators have not only persisted in their abominable philosophy and practice of racism; they have proceeded to export and extend them to the neighbouring territories, notably Namibia and Southern Rhodesia. The racial tyranny of apartheid flourishes; and it will continue to flourish as long as some Member States of the United Nations, particularly the major trading partners of South Africa, through their political, economic and military collaboration with its Government, encourage that Government to persist in its apartheid policies.
119. Taking shelter comfortably behind the power, indeed protection, of their friends, the authorities in Pretoria have not only refused to bring South Africa into the mainstream of international civility and respect for the values of human worth; they have also assailed the will of the international community and the inalienable rights of the people of Namibia. Almost two years ago today, this Assembly, by resolution 2145(XXI), made a virtually unanimous decision that South Africa, by its own actions, had forfeited the right delegated to it to administer Namibia. Six months after that historic decision, this Assembly, by its resolution 2248(S-V), proceeded to establish a United Nations Council to administer the Territory with a view to bringing it to early independence. But, today, this goal is hardly in sight. The United Nations appears to lack the will to discharge the responsibilities it has assumed towards the people and Territory of Namibia. This, surely, is a sad state of affairs.
120. South Africa compounds the illegality of its continued occupation of Namibia by subjecting its people to arbitrary arrests, deportation, illegal trials and forcible
evacuation from their homes to more segregated locations. The recommendations of the Odendaal Commission are now a reality. Formal legislation has been passed in Pretoria, and Namibia is now being dismembered into Bantustans. The wards of the United Nations under resolution 2145(XXI) are now being dispossessed of their fatherland. The Namibian people are left with nothing more than despair and disillusionment.
121. The United Kingdom recently stated that, with the accession of Swaziland to independence, British colonial rule in Africa had come to an end. My delegation
congratulates the United Kingdom for what it has achieved so far in this field. But the claim for British colonial success in Africa will sound even more impressive and convincing when Southern Rhodesia, for which the United Kingdom remains the administering authority, can apply and be accepted to membership of this Organization.
122. It is over eighteen months since doth the General Assembly and the Security Council determined that the situation in Southern Rhodesia constituted a threat to international peace and security. Since then we have found that the diplomatic and mandatory economic sanctions so far applied under Chapter VII of our Charter against the illegal minority régime of Ian Smith have been of no significant avail. My delegation is happy to note that a negotiated settlement of the Rhodesian problem is presently on the way. We hope that the Government of the United Kingdom will not betray the trust of the international community, of which it is such a great champion.
123. Portugal continues to impose on Angola, Guinea (Bissau), Mozambique and the other so-called Portuguese possessions off the coast of the African continent a grotesque colonial doctrine which claims that those portions of African soil are extensions of Portugal. After our terrifying experience in which the island of Sāo Tomé has been freely used by the rebel elements of my country to prosecute their rebellion, and after the permissive use of Angola by white mercenaries to attack the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I hereby reaffirm my Government’s support for, and our readiness to extend assistance to, the freedom fighters in those territories.
124. The Nigerian delegation is happy to welcome the imminent accession of Equatorial Guinea to freedom and independence. Speaking on the eve of this historical occasion, I hasten to take this opportunity to welcome and salute the nascent nation. Equatorial Guinea is a close neighbour of Nigeria with which we have close ties of fraternity and affection. I therefore pledge, on behalf of my Government, that Nigeria shall continue to maintain and promote the existing fraternal relations and co-operation between the peoples of Equatorial Guinea and my country.
125. It is right and proper at this juncture that I should also welcome the admission of Swaziland into membership of the United Nations. My Government felt very proud and
honoured to co-sponsor the resolution by which Swaziland was admitted. Because of its geographical position and the inspiring quality of its people, Swaziland will serve as a beacon of hope to the oppressed millions in southern Africa.
126. Compared with its other achievements, the record of the United Nations in the economic and social fields seems impressive, though still very short of expectation. For the moment at least, the Organization has the institutional arrangements and establishments necessary to give impetus to the development of the underdeveloped world. But these institutions and organs lack the tools and, often, the political will and support on the part of the industrialized countries to enable them to perform their tasks as stated in Chapter IX of our Charter, which are to promote conditions of economic and social progress and development. As we approach the closing days of the first United Nations Development Decade and are on the point of launching the second decennial period of international co-operation for development, it is the view of my delegation that we must mow take stock of our past achievements. The industrialized countries, during the current Development Decade, have registered unprecedented rates of growth, while the developing countries, on whose behalf and for whose benefit the first Development Decade programme was launched, are still hopelessly in conditions of poverty and hardship. It is mot too to stress that it is essential that we lay the foundations of the coming Development Decade in a manner that will do full justice to the developing countries.
127. It is crucial to this concept that the developing countries should not be permanently allotted the status of recipients of foreign aid and technical assistance. What my Government wants is the promotion of an international economic system in which the developing countries will not suffer from unfavourable terms of trade and can stand on their own feet economically, paying their own way. It is for this reason that the Nigerian Government has always paid particular attention to the work of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the role which that body can play for bringing about a more equitable international economic order. The second session of UNCTAD in New Delhi was a disappointment to my Government. The unwillingness of the industrialized countries to disavow the existing imperial patterns of trade and to translate into policy and effect the aims and purposes of the first session of UNCTAD is a sad commentary on all our resolutions on world trade and development. In this connexion, I must reiterate that my Government is keenly interested in the work and future of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Not only should a blueprint of a world industrialized development strategy for the 1970’s be prepared; its contents must also be implemented in practical terms. We welcome the interest which the Secretary-General has focused on the programme of work of UNIDO.
128. I should also like to mention that the United Nations Development Programme has been doing commendable work within its limited resources. The significant increase in its expenditure for projects from $26 million in 1959 to an estimated $176 million in the current year, as reported by the Secretary-General, is a testimony to the dynamic vision of its eminent Administrator. It is also a measure of the immensity of the work yet to be done to eradicate the appalling contrasts between the rich and poor nations of the world.
129. At its resumed twenty-second session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 2373(XXII), gave its blessing to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It will be recalled that both at the deliberations of the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee in Geneva and in the consideration of the draft treaty in New York, the Nigerian delegation clearly expressed its reservations about the omission of certain important prerequisites. However, we warmly supported the Treaty in the strong belief that it was in itself a momentous achievement. Since then, the Conference of the Non-Nuclear-Weapon States has been held in Geneva, and there the States concerned produced important ideas regarding security guarantees, unimpeded access to the vast potentialities of nuclear energy for peaceful uses and for ensuring accelerated disarmament measures. However, in spite of the existing international atmosphere, my delegation strongly hopes that the treaty will be ratified with the same zeal and enthusiasm with which the General Assembly recommended it for signature.
130. The Nigerian delegation is encouraged to note that the two parties directly involved in the tragic war in Viet-Nam are now engaged in talks in Paris for the purpose of paving the way towards meaningful negotiations. A peaceful solution of the conflict which has for too long plagued the people of Viet-Nam is now overdue.
131. The Middle East crisis continues. The tremendous human suffering resulting from the unceasing tension in the area persists. The world still painfully lives with the bitter consequences and grim prospects of the war of last year. That war resulted in tens of thousands more refugees. Nigeria, as a member of the Security Council at the time, made its modest contribution to the resolution which was subsequently unanimously adopted by the Security Council, as resolution 242(1967), on 22 November 1967. My Government strongly believes that the principles laid down in that resolution as well as the mechanism it provided for promoting a just solution of the problems of the Middle East remain as valid as they were last November. We therefore appeal to all the parties concerned to avail themselves of that resolution. My delegation further calls upon the parties to co-operate fully with Ambassador jarring, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, in his mission for peace in the Middle East.
132. In the beclouded atmosphere in which this Assembly is progressing, there may be some who have written it off as abortive and unnecessary to further the cause of international peace and order. The Nigerian delegation rejects that point of view. My delegation would rather err on the side of optimism. We therefore reaffirm our faith in this Organization as the best instrument for the pursuit of our common aspirations for peace and progress.