Sudan

83. Mr. President, in the name of the people and Government of the Sudan, I greet you and congratulate you most sincerely on your election to your high office. Your election is a token of the confidence of the Members of this Organization in your statesmanship and qualities of leadership. 84. If we hailed the election of a Member of the socialist countries during the last session because the Organization should not favour certain social systems over others, we rejoice at your election because you are the representative of Latin America. Your illustrious predecessor has proved worthy of the confidence that the Members of this Organization reposed in him. He conducted the affairs of the Assembly with utmost skill and led it to complete success. 85. We have no doubt, Sir, that your sure hand at the helm will conduct this Assembly amidst stormy seas to the harbour of success and thus prove that you are equal to your difficult task and worthy of the confidence of your colleagues. The Sudan pledges to offer you every assistance. We extend our hand to you in co-operation with other members so that, under your leadership and the wise guidance of our Secretary-General, U Thant, whose constant care has always been a factor in the forward march of the Organization, we shall all endeavour to make this Organization more positive and more effective. 86. We feel that world peace is constantly threatened and that the danger of war looms large over the horizon. There is a raging war in South-East Asia. There is aggression which does not show any signs of abating. The situation in the Middle East may explode into armed conflict at any time. The African people are rising in revolt against foreign domination. There are conflicts on many fronts between the colonial Powers and the developing countries. In this situation, we are prompted to resort, once more, to the United Nations in the hope that it will stem the evil before it becomes uncontrollable. We resort to the United Nations in the firm conviction that it represents the ever alert conscience of mankind. It is as the eyes and ears and expressive voice of mankind; it is the hope and ultimate refuge — or thus it should be. 87. It is regrettable that the United Nations has not been all that we have hoped for, that the confidence of mankind in its efficacy is not now as firm as it used to be. 88. Many of the smaller free nations have realized, with great sorrow, how some great Powers have used the Organization for the realization of their own limited objectives or in order to obstruct and frustrate the legitimate aspirations of other Members. On the other hand, some Members of the United Nations not only continue to neglect its decisions but they have rejected and repudiated those decisions. The Organization is thus unable to curb aggression or redress the grievances of the aggrieved. 89. We, the Arabs, feel this most acutely. We have often been surprised to hear the voices of some of the great Powers rise in condemnation of what they claim to be aggression. We have been surprised because the same great Powers endeavour by every means to perpetuate oppression and to justify aggression elsewhere by extending their moral support and military assistance to the aggressor. 90. Five days ago we heard the voice of the United States of America rise in condemnation of what was described as aggression against the territory of others; and yet this same voice did not rise to condemn the present and patent aggression in the Middle East. The voice of the United States did not condemn the Israeli occupation of Arab territories. It was as if the United States was not aware of this aggression. It was as if it did not see or hear; and thus it did not utter a word of condemnation. But we stand as witnesses, and so does the whole world, that Israel, under the protective umbrella of some great Powers, has continued for twenty years to defy the decisions of this Assembly and those of the Security Council with impunity. Israel’s aggression against the Arabs has continued from June 1967 to the present day. 91. Israel has refused to implement Security Council resolution 242(1967) of 22 November 1967, which enjoins its withdrawal, as it has refused to implement other resolutions — both of this Assembly and of the Security Council. The United Nations has been powerless to respond to this defiance. 92. Now one hears the claim, often repeated by some Member States, that the only way out of the impasse is for the victims of aggression to negotiate with the aggressor on the terms of their release. This call for negotiations comes from some great Powers which could helped, had they so desired, to provide a just solution for this problem; if they had cared to exert their considerable influence firmly and positively on the side of justice, those great Powers could have achieved the implementation of the resolutions of this Assembly and of the Security Council. 93. Israel has been occupying Arab territories in Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank of the Jordan and the Golan Heights for over fifteen months. During the whole of this period, the Arabs have endeavoured by various means to arrive at a peaceful solution through the United Nations and through the mediation of various States. Some of the great Powers, however, have been instrumental in bringing all these efforts to nought. The Arabs have meanwhile been patiently witnessing their compatriots, men, women and children, being subjected to suffering, to torture and humiliation, which befell them in equal measure, whether they stayed in their homes under the oppressive Israeli occupation or whether they were obliged to join the refugee camps outside the occupied territories. The Arabs have paid for their respect of the United Nations in blood and destitution and homelessness. They have been patient, yet their patience is not inexhaustible. 94. It is not an excessively pessimistic assessment of the situation to consider that, if the United Nations should fail to provide a just solution for this problem by compelling Israel to vacate its aggression immediately and without conditions, the Arabs will have no alternative but to resort to means that they have so far endeavoured to avoid. The equivocation and the doubtful tactics of some Powers could force the Arabs into a position that may well lead to a devastating armed conflict. If such developments should take place, the burden cf responsibility would fall upon this Organization whose neglect of its primary objectives in the realization of peace and justice has been the result of the obstructive position of some great Powers, which abdicated their responsibility for the establishment of peace and justice. 95. A matter of the first importance must be emphasized here. The withdrawal of Israel from occupied Arab territories, will take place sooner or later, whether Israel is willing or not. It is only a matter of time. 96. Yet, there is the question of the people of Palestine. If we now demand the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the lands that they occupied after 5 June 1967, this does not mean that we have forgotten the roots of this problem, the problem of the Palestinian people. It is well known how the people of Palestine were deprived of their property and driven out of their homes in order to make way for the Zionist colonialists who came from all parts of the world to usurp the land from its rightful inhabitants. 97. The Arabs of Palestine have been awaiting the restoration of their rights all these long years. They have hoped that the conscience of mankind would one day awake and show some awareness of their tragedy. Now that they have exhausted all other means they are resorting to armed resistance. They have not shirked the supreme sacrifice, to offer lives for the liberation of their country and the restoration of their rights. 98. While we hail their heroic struggle, we declare that we support them by every means available to us. We are sustained by the certainty that the Palestinian resistance movement is bound to prevail and the conviction that “only they who dare to sacrifice their life shall live". We believe that this is true of the people of Palestine. 99. The dilemma that Israel presents to the world is the arbitrary and confused identification of Judaic faith with certain racial and ethnic connotations. The Arabs, both Christians and Moslems, have lived with the adherents of the Judaic faith for many centuries in peace and tranquillity, in many parts of this world. Even in Palestine, the adherents of the three faiths had lived amicably, side by side, enjoying equal rights and obligations as equal citizens. 100. Now, if the Palestinians were to return to their land, the alien immigrants would have to return to their countries of origin, for they do not belong to the land of Palestine. The Palestinians, of all faiths, Jews as well as Moslems and Christians, would then live in peace. But if this does not happen, if the situation in Palestine should remain unchanged, we can be virtually certain that sooner or later we shall be engulfed in a ruinous conflagration. 101. The Israeli occupation of Arab Jerusalem, its rejection of United Nations resolutions, the infringement of the rights of its Christian and Moslem inhabitants, the constant effort to obliterate the Arab character and the substitution of Israeli modes and observances, without regard to the traditional religious susceptibility of the Arab population, not only have inflamed Arab feelings, but have been censored by Christians and Moslems all over the world. Yet, the United Nations seems powerless in the face of the Israeli defiance, heeding only the dictates of some great Powers whose narrow objectives and colonial ambitions have silenced the voice of conscience and obliterated the call of human compassion. 102. Yet, the Arabs will not rest until they remove the threat to the Holy Land for the sake of both Moslems and Christians. If the Arabs continue to be frustrated in their efforts for the achievement of a peaceful solution it will not be long before the situation is resolved, perhaps not in peace, but theirs will be the cause of righteousness. 103. Turning now to the raging war in Viet-Nam, one wonders whether the pledge of the Charter has been rendered devoid of all relevance and meaning; for the scourge of war has blighted for years the land and the valiant people of Viet-Nam with scarcely any demur from the United Nations. This brutal war, waged by the powerful United States of America in pursuit of its own ends, is morally condemnable and should be so condemned as an unjust colonial war of aggression. 104. The war in Viet-Nam has been condemned not only by the younger generation and by thinking men and women in all walks of life in the United States, but by countless others both within the United States and outside it. Opposition to that war has mounted with every escalation undertaken by the United States in its vain hope that the destruction of crops and the devastation of the land will break the spirit of the Viet-Namese people. Yet, the heavy tonnage of explosives, the napalm that has been showered on Viet-Nam, North and South, seem to have been ineffective. In fact the Viet-Namese people have shown every sign of increased determination to continue their struggle. 105. The war in Viet-Nam is no longer a civil war. It has now become a colonial war to which the United States has committed more of its armed forces than it did in Korea, more in fact than it has done in any other war except the two world wars. The United States, which has spent billions of dollars on instruments of war and destruction, would do well to recall its forces and stop its intervention, and spare the lives of the Viet-Namese as well as of its own people. 106. We are aware that such a demand may be construed as one-sided—as indeed it is. We are on the side of the people of Viet-Nam in their struggle against colonial domination. The Viet-Namese, whether from the north or the south, are one people. They are a people which has suffered a great deal in the struggle for freedom. It ought to have been obvious that foreign intervention would only exacerbate the differences and disagreement between the two parts of the country and result in war and destruction. It is time that the people of Viet-Nam were left free to shape their own destiny. This is their right. 107. We have had reason for satisfaction and optimism at the signature of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons by so many States. Our optimism has been due in no small measure to the fact that we consider this Treaty an important and significant step in the disarmament effort. It is therefore with regret that we now observe that the climate of confidence and goodwill that prevailed two months ago seems to be giving way to doubt and mistrust. 108. We realize, more than ever before, that the smaller nations whose development depends on the prevalence of peace have a special duty to try collectively to help dispel these doubts. It is the duty of the unarmed small nations to exert their efforts in every way available to them so that the great Powers may move again towards detente. 109. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [see resolution 2373(XXII)], when it comes into force, cannot stand alone, since it would sanction only the existing monopoly of possession of nuclear weapons by the greater Powers unless the embargo on proliferation is followed by the prohibition of underground nuclear tests and eventually by the conclusion of an agreement to limit the production of nuclear weapons and the reduction of existing stockpiles, as a prelude to general and complete disarmament. 110. The choice for humanity has now narrowed to two alternatives, disarmament or destruction. 111. We have declared from this rostrum, year after year for the last twelve years, that the effectiveness of this Organization would be enhanced if it were to admit the People’s Republic of China to its membership. We advocated the admission of the People’s Republic of China even before our recognition of its Government and our exchange of diplomatic relations with that Government. Our advocacy has been based on the principles of universality of this Organization, on the criterion that the councils of the United Nations are open to the representatives of the Governments that are in effective control of their territory, and on the conviction that the continued exclusion of the People’s Republic of China is in violation of the Charter. 112. The arguments that have been advanced for the exclusion of the People’s Republic of China throughout the years have revealed how some of the Members of this Organization are capable of using a double standard to achieve their aims. It is a travesty of logic for the United States to claim, as it has claimed, that the People’s Republic of China is not entitled to membership of this Organization nor is it worthy of this membership because it does not subscribe to the peaceful purposes of the Charter. 113. The Government of the Sudan has maintained its stand in favour of the restoration of the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China to the membership of this Organization because it is convinced that, as long as China remains excluded, the United Nations will continue to fail in its purpose as a guardian of peace and will continue to exhibit all the symptoms of the malaise that it has suffered from for the last two decades. 114. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the People’s Republic of China is not only worthy and deserving of representation at the United Nations but that the cause of peace may benefit as a result of its membership. The Government of the People’s Republic of China is a nuclear Power and it is unrealistic for the United Nations to ignore the fact that its participation is necessary if disarmament measures are to have any credibility or effectiveness and if it is to preserve world peace. 115. This session affords us a most needed opportunity for the assessment of the United Nations achievements in the liquidation of colonialism in fulfilment of the provisions of the Charter and its Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. 116. For us in the Sudan, the complete eradication of colonialism in all its manifestations is a national objective and an irrevocable commitment. This stand on our part stems from our keen awareness of the lessons of our own history and the history of the continents of Africa and Asia. 117. The recognition by the General Assembly of the legitimacy of the struggle of the peoples under colonial rule and its invitation to Member States to provide moral and material support to the national liberation movements in colonial Territories was paralleled by a single-minded determination on our part to support and participate in the struggle for freedom and expedite the progress of dependent peoples towards complete independence, and our rejection of the exploitation of human and material resources and the subjugation of the soul of a people to an alien will. We have therefore taken the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples seriously and are endeavouring to implement it. 118. In recent years, the United Nations has made a positive and constructive contribution despite some pernicious efforts designed to halt the process of decolonization. This Organization has witnessed with pride the accession to sovereign independence of many new Member States. It is with great joy and gratification that we welcome the independence of Swaziland and the prospect of the attainment of independence by Equatorial Guinea. 119. Nevertheless, there remains the sad realization that colonialism, in spite of its defeat in many areas at the hands of the peoples of the world, has not changed in its essential nature. The gallant struggle by the colonial peoples has inflicted deep wounds but it has not brought about a crushing defeat of colonialism. An implacable resistance to the cause of national liberation developed in the southern part of Africa. Today we see the forces of African nationalism to the north of the Zambesi River and the forces of white supremacy to the south, facing. each other in a fateful confrontation that carries with it the danger of racial conflict that could inflame all of Africa and may indeed involve the whole world. Let us not be unmindful of the dangers of the situation in southern Africa where the struggle for freedom has been inextricably linked to the battle against racial oppression. Let us be fully aware that the determination of the African people to bend events to their own will and shape the future of their own destiny is bound to triumph. 120. The ascendancy of the Smith régime in Southern Rhodesia represents a violation of the principles of justice and morality and a negation of the values that the United Nations holds supreme. The Government of the United Kingdom is largely responsible for this deterioration in the situation, since it neglected the opportunities for prompt and effective action to ensure the downfall of the present régime and pave the way for majority rule. Instead of undertaking such action, Britain embarked on the doubtful policy of economic sanctions the failure of which was patently apparent, whether they were voluntary or mandatory, selective or comprehensive. 121. Africa has spoken with one voice on the question of Rhodesia, in demanding the application by Britain of the only penalty that suits the crime committed against the people of Zimbabwe — the use of force to crush the rebellion and to establish majority rule. Our concern over the Rhodesian tragedy ha» prompted us to disavow all connexions with the predatory régime of lan Smith and even to break diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom for some time. For an African Rhodesia, a Zimbabwe, is of special significance in the African struggle for the liberation of southern Africa; it represents our vanguard action in the campaign against Portuguese oppression in Angola and Mozambique; it is the prelude to the defeat of apartheid and white supremacy in South Africa. 122. As the perverted logic of imperialist Portugal would have it, the height of African aspiration should be to become Portuguese for, as long as an African is unable to acquire this status he will not be a citizen of his own land, and so long as he is not a citizen he has no rights. But the people of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau) have rejected assimilation and embarked on a gallant struggle against the Portuguese oppression that is aided and abetted by the allies of Portugal, members of the NATO military pact. It is that aid which is strengthening the vain hope and fostering the illusion of Portuguese colonialism that it is in Africa to stay. The allies of Portugal share with it the responsibility for the damage to lives and property that Portugal is causing in the African continent and the indignities it has been inflicting on the African people. It may even be true to say that Portugal’s allies should bear the main responsibility, for without their collusion Portuguese colonialism would have succumbed long ago before the onslaught of the African struggle for freedom. 123. The United Nations has proclaimed that the people of Namibia have a right to be free and that it is willing to aid them in their struggle. The defiance by the South African authorities of the collective opinion of mankind as expressed in the revocation of the Mandate leaves the United Nations with one inevitable step to take; that is, to aid its wards, the Namibian people, by every means in its power and to free them from the bondage of apartheid. 124. As a nation that believes that colonialism and peace are irreconcilable, we strive to put an end to the last vestiges of colonialism as all nations, of whatever persuasion, should also do. We reiterate our pledge to support colonial peoples and call upon the United Nations to join us in defending the right of all colonial peoples to freedom and independence. 125. This year, that of the twentieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has been designated by the General Assembly as the International Year for Human Rights, to be dedicated to the observance and support of the principles of human rights. But it is a matter of great concern and sorrow that this year has not witnessed the attainment of human rights for the people of southern Africa. The Year has almost come to a close while the Government of Pretoria has been reinforcing its unjust system of apartheid — a system that deprives the non-white population of all their legitimate rights and derogates from their human dignity — in order to perpetuate an unjust and immoral society that feeds upon the labour of the African, who has been reduced in his own land, amidst the plenty that surrounds him, to a state of deprivation. 126. The situation in Southern Africa is an explosive and dangerous one. This is due not only to the obstinacy of the Government of Pretoria in following its policy of apartheid; the danger arises also from the ever-increasing extension of its unjust legislation, in both its scope and application, to other regions of the continent. Members of this Assembly are of course aware of the extension of the system of apartheid to Namibia, where the Government of South Africa, not content with its unlawful usurpation, has embarked on a division of the country into two regions in order to separate the two racial groups, thus putting the rightful owners of the land and its wealth in the poorer, less-productive region, while reserving the wealthy southern part for the white minority. Namibia also has thus been defiled by the system of apartheid. 127. The United Nations should have taken further measures to ensure compliance with its resolutions. But some of its Members have not been willing to go so far. They have, in effect, extended their protection over the Government of South Africa. They have even supplied that Government with military equipment in order to suppress the African revolution. We should not fail to demand of these Members that they return to the path of morality and put their trust in the cause of justice, to assist rather than hinder the United Nations in its effort to break the resistance of the Government of South Africa. 128. In making this demand, we of the Sudan applaud the unrelenting struggle of the people of Southern Africa and pledge once again our continued support. 129. The process of decolonization cannot be effectively completed unless it is carried over to the economic sphere. The achievement of political independence by the former colonies has to be closely followed by the development of their economic viability, either separately or within the framework of regional integration and co-operation. 130. The problem of development has consequently gained international recognition and importance and has become the subject of attention of international bodies, both within the United Nations and outside this Organization. 131. The first United Nations Development Decade and the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization have undoubtedly given substance to the concept of international co-operation by attempting to provide the necessary organizational machinery for such co-operation in the fields of industrialization and trade. The recent measures adopted by the General Assembly to put the United Nations Capital Development Fund into operation may be termed a brave attempt to fill an important gap which continued to exist in the system of international co-operation. These developments, however, have not been without their shortcomings. The first Development Decade is drawing to a close, but has fallen far short of its declared policies and aims. This may be attributed partly to the lack of political will on the part of those who are in the best position to help in achieving those ends, and partly to circumstances arising from the world economic situation. Politicians and economists may argue about the real causes of this disappointing situation; but what should concern us here are the ability to learn from the experience of the past, and the desire and will-power to map out a more comprehensive global strategy for the next Development Decade. The Capital Development Fund must be put into operation to make available the resources for follow-up investments to a growing list of feasibility studies already completed through United Nations assistance resources. We have noted with deep appreciation the generous contributions made by a number of developing countries at the last pledging conference of the Capital Development Fund, and we hope that those countries’ example will be followed by the other developing countries. We also hope that the group of socialist countries and the smaller west European countries will finally be able to identify their interests with those of the developing countries in supporting the Capital Development Fund. Another organ which will continue to need our attention and support is the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. 132. The establishment of that organization was marked by a degree of unusual hesitancy on the part of many developed countries. Many aspects of its operations were the subject of criticism even before the organization really started to operate. There have been attempts to limit the powers of the Industrial Development Board and thus hinder the growth in the power and resources of the organization in an effort to stem its development into a specialized agency. The decision taken lately, at the second session of the Board [see A/7215, annex VI, resolutions 3(II) and 12(II)], to set up a working group to examine the current and future programmes of work, as well as their financial implications, two weeks before the annual session of the Board is, in the view of the Sudan Government, a step in the wrong direction. Not only does it tend to limit the powers of the Board, but it also tends in effect to make of it a rubber stamp organ. It is well known that the developing countries have some difficulty in attending all the international conferences that they are called upon to attend because of lack of resources or personnel. To ask them, therefore, to send delegations to attend the meetings of a working group to do the same work that should properly be done by the Board will eventually discourage them from attending the working group and thus play into the hands of those developed countries, which will undoubtedly make use of this opportunity to dominate the working group and draw up its recommendations and conclusions to meet their own purposes. My delegation believes that the powers of the Industrial Development Board should be restored and consolidated by the abolition of the working group. The organization must be further strengthened by pledging resources directly to it, to give it the means to get on with the job of assisting the industrialization of the developing countries. 133. All countries should co-operate in making the forthcoming pledging conference of UNIDO a success, and in this respect the developing countries are in duty bound to make the necessary contributions, since many developed countries have repeatedly shown and expressed their lack of enthusiasm for the organization and its future development. 134. Thus we do not wish the United Nations to reflect the reality of the primacy of the great Powers and the triumph of expediency. We would wish to see the United Nations reflecting another kind of reality: the reality of the will to co-operation and the love of peace, the reality of the brotherhood of man and the goodness that is within his soul. We would wish to see the United Nations support the values of freedom, equality and justice. We would wish to see the members of the United Nations uphold these values and defend them with sincerity and conviction. 135. Let us hope that this may still be realized.