101. At the beginning of this statement my delegation has the very pleasant duty of offering hearty congratulations to Mr. Arenales, as several previous speakers have done, on his brilliant achievement in being elected to preside over the Assembly at its present session. As the outstanding intellectual, professional and human qualities of the President have, with reason, been sufficiently lauded, there is no need for me to dwell on them again now. We sincerely hope that after a speedy recovery Mr. Arenales will again be able to take his place on this rostrum as soon as possible, as we are convinced that his impartial guidance will allow our discussions to proceed in the necessary atmosphere of calm, and perhaps even lead to enlightened solutions that are in line with our hopes.
102. We should like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Mr. Manescu, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Romania, who presided so impartially and efficiently throughout the difficult work of the twenty-second session, and displayed masterly control over our proceedings.
103. The admission of a new African State to the United Nations is, as it always must be, a source of satisfaction to the Government and people of the Congo (Brazzaville). We are therefore particularly nappy to offer our warmest congratulations to the Government of Swaziland, and to its valiant and industrious people. We hope and firmly believe that despite the difficulties of all kinds that Swaziland will face in the difficult process of consolidating its independence, it will make a worthy contribution to the struggle for liberation being waged by the other peoples of Africa against the last shameful citadels of a degenerate and retrograde imperialism which gives our continent daily cause for mourning.
104. We are also very happy to offer our warm congratulations to the people and Government of Equatorial Guinea. By achieving independence this sister country swells our ranks in our fight to the death against all forms of subjugation of our beloved Africa, old or new.
105. The General Assembly, sad to say, is once again opening in an aura of the most justifiable pessimism, of the most understandable disillusion, and of fear prompted by the threat which is imposed on the world by the repeated acts of certain Member States, carried out with unparalleled cynicism and a supreme contempt for law and morality. Our discussions are opening in conditions that are particularly difficult for the Organization, in a world where storm clouds are continually gathering, in a world where there is mounting alarm at the repeated violation of the provisions of the Charter and of fundamental human and civic rights. There are no doubt some who are in the habit of expecting miracles who will say that we are being unduly pessimistic. While such people may create artificial diversions so as to try and obscure the truth, we personally consider that the examples of this grave threat to peace are so numerous throughout the world that they cannot be hidden behind any smoke-screen. In Africa, Asia, the Middle East — everywhere the fires of aggression are being kindled, and unless an effort is made to settle these conflicts by peaceful means — despite the difficulties and delays involved in negotiation — these fires could become uncontrollable and lead to war.
106. The Government of the Congo (Brazzaville) is determined, despite its limited resources, to shoulder the dual burden of its national and international obligations. At home our authorities are absorbed in the task of setting the nation’s house in order and carrying out a revision of our revolutionary institutions on democratic lines. Abroad, as you know, our aim is now as it always has been, to maintain relations of friendship and co-operation with all freedom-loving and peace-loving peoples, on the basis of the most scrupulous respect for our independence. It is with this admirable aim that the Government of my country is working to promote a climate of trusting and brotherly friendship, tolerance, fruitful co-operation and peace with the other States of Africa, notably in our region of Central Africa with our sister States in the Equatorial Customs Union. Colonialism is the festering sore of this century, fostering poverty and perpetuating ignorance, and Congo (Brazzaville) is therefore determined to wage war relentlessly, at the side of other progressive countries against this scourge, and against the new forms of it that are appearing here and there in our countries in what is known as the third world.
107. It is because of its African character, which forms the corner-stone of its international policy, that the Government of the Congo (Brazzaville) has never missed any opportunity of stressing the gravity of the problems involved in the liberation and development of Africa. We count on your forbearance, as it is difficult for us to depart from this tradition — I might almost say this tendency — to look first at the situation in our own geographical area, before turning our attention — with equal seriousness, believe me — to the major issues in the world of today. The situation in our continent is fraught with drama: Africa has become one of the last bastions to which the forces of evil are desperately clinging, unfortunately still unaware that the pages of history cannot be turned back, and that they are irrevocably damned.
108. In their blind obstinacy these sorcerer’s apprentices still cherish illusions, particularly in southern Africa, where entire regions are for the moment held down by the power of guns, the spectre of napalm, and the terror spread by police who use the most criminal and barbaric methods — in short, by every means that tramples underfoot the fundamental rights of the individual, on the strength of an ideology that is as wrong as it is obsolete, and which is certainly contrary in every way to the fundamental aims laid down in the Charter signed at San Francisco. The trio formed by the diabolical alliance of Smith, Vorster and Salazar thus intends to continue in unalloyed satisfaction with their unpunished crimes, defying all logic, all reason, all morality, and supported in their activities by certain Western Powers which still dare to proclaim themselves as friends of our Africa.
109. One of these bastions of colonialism still active in the oppression of Africa is Portugal, which would have little chance of survival if it did not reap fat profits from its colonies, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau). It remains obdurate, and flouts all the various resolutions adopted by the United Nations. This attitude of insolent indifference is hardly surprising, since Portugal is assured of the military and financial support of its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That organization no doubt approves of the mission conferred upon Portugal, on behalf of civilization and Christianity, which was defined on 12 March 1968 by Mr. Nogueira, the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the following words:
“Portugal is in Africa to protect the interests of the West”.
110. Thus the Portuguese occupation of African territories can be regarded as a bulwark against any emancipation of the African people. What is more, Portugal is further strengthening its ties with the racists of South Africa and Rhodesia, to the point where its interests are intimately linked with those of its two associates. My delegation views the ungodly alliance of Pretoria, Lisbon and Salisbury as a threat to international peace and security, and at the same time a negation of fundamental human rights and freedoms. My country, which has a common border with one of the so-called Portuguese territories, knows of the physical cruelty and the unspeakable humiliation inflicted upon the freedom-fighters by the Lisbon regime. The determination of these valiant sons of Africa, and their constant victories, sound a serious warning which the Lisbon Government should heed without delay.
111. One of the most anachronistic situations to appear in the middle of the twentieth century, in an age when the watchwords are democracy, freedom and peace, could be looked for only in Southern Rhodesia. The disastrous policy of the United Kingdom Government has been confined to pretended negotiations on supposed sanctions, doomed in advance to fail, for any sanction against Rhodesia, be it selective, compulsory or general, can only be a blunted weapon as long as courage is lacking to apply it also to South Africa and Portugal, its two best known trading partners.
112. That is why my delegation feels that it would be naive to expect the Western Powers, who after all still have a decisive influence in the Security Council to tie their hands with any draft resolution that would harm their trading interests. All we are offered in a series of pleasure trips on ships with such spectacular names as the "Tiger” and the “Intrepid"; my delegation considers that the chief responsibility lies with the administering Power, which failed in its historic task the moment it refused, with pious and fallacious excuses, to use force, the only means of putting down the rebellion.
113. The question of Namibia seems to my delegation to be a problem that people persist in making insoluble. Indeed, in the light of the many resolutions adopted here, the manifest powerlessness of the Organization is becoming clearer day by day. The latest resolution (resolution 2372 (XXII)) adopted just recently by the General Assembly has simply been shelved. Numerous setbacks have been recorded, the most recent being the attempt by the Council for South West Africa to go to Windhoek, the administrative capital of Namibia, during the month of April 1968.
114. The independence of Namibia, a territory that has theoretically been under United Nations administration since the decision taken by the General Assembly on 27 October 1966 (resolution 2145 (XXI)), ought to have been celebrated at the end of the first half of 1968. If such a ceremony had taken place, it would have lightened the agenda for the present session, to our great satisfaction. But alas, here we are today still absorbed in this problem which the Machiavellian will of certain Powers renders difficult and interminable.
115. My Government, like so many others, remains convinced that in our time colonial adventure has become simply a matter for renegades and irresponsible persons. More than ever before, history is providing many concrete examples showing that colonial conquest must inevitably lead to failure, to a defeat whose consequences are often difficult to surmount. More than ever before, our century demands respect for the human person and the co-existence of peoples, based upon co-operation that is free of any complex and is hence a guarantee of true and lasting peace.
116. In Nigeria, a country which inspired Africa with such hopes by reason of its human potentialities and the wealth of its natural resources, a country which was the pride of our continent for its balance, its enthusiasm, its dynamism, an unjust and bloody war has set the sons of one and the same country against each other, causing innumerable victims unnecessarily and bringing grief to every home under the fallacious pretext of an obsolete tribalism which serves as a cover for the unbridled appetites of the merchants of politics, the foes of our continuing trend towards maturity and of the prospects for a happy Africa, who give utterance everywhere to the siren voices of discord and division. While we condemn the war, with its train of horrors and injustices, we no less strongly condemn the secession cunningly instigated and encouraged from abroad, whose purpose can only be to weaken the Federation of Nigeria, the better to organize the plunder of the rich mineral resources of its eastern portion. My delegation therefore whole-heartedly supports the resolution adopted on 15 September 1968 by the historic Conference of Heads of States and Governments at Algiers, which has made it possible to safeguard the unity and to respect the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
117. African problems should not divert our attention from the grave questions of concern to other parts of the world, Asia and the Middle East in particular. The question of Viet-Nam, though not on the agenda, continues to have serious repercussions throughout the world, and particularly in this Assembly. The aggression perpetrated by the United States of America in defiance of the Charter and of morality — of those Christian ethics to which the so-called civilized States appeal so often — constitutes, as my delegation sees it, one of the gravest threats to the maintenance of world peace.
118. My Government has said in the past, and it continues to say today, that only the immediate and unconditional cessation of bombardments of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam can constitute a first step towards the restoration of peace in that region. My delegation takes this opportunity to pay tribute to the heroic resistance of the valiant Viet-Namese people in its righteous struggle against the American aggressor.
119. Another centre of tension in Asia is Korea. Our Government has made it clear on many occasions, and we must repeat it here, that this question, the restoration of the unity of a territory that is temporarily divided, is a domestic matter for the Korean people, which should be settled by it alone and that no interference, even of the United Nations, can be admitted. Our delegation therefore shares the view that the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea, which is the main obstacle to unification, should be dissolved. At the same time, the American troops and the mercenaries of the satellite countries occupying the southern part of the country should withdraw without delay in order to enable the Korean people freely to choose its destiny.
120. The Congo remains deeply attached to the idea of disarmament, but general and complete disarmament, without mental reservations. It is therefore prepared to support any effort to that end. My delegation, like many others, believes, however, that, despite the important stage in the progress of disarmament which the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons represents, earnest efforts should be continued to reconvert atoms for war into a force genuinely designed for the exclusive service of peace.
121. But this disarmament will be genuine and effective only if the People’s Republic of China emerges from the banishment into which certain States have driven it. China must therefore be restored to its legitimate rights and must once again take the place to which it is rightfully entitled. One of the causes of the weakness of our Organization — and undoubtedly the greatest cause — is that it has kept up a fiction. For the issue here is not, in our opinion, that of whether China shall be admitted to the United Nations or not; what we must do is to give an objective and clear answer to the question: Who represents China and 700 million Chinese? Is it the régime of Chiang Kai-shek, which, repudiated and spurned, was hurled into the sea by the Chinese people, and is now artificially maintained by American troops? Is it not, as we are firmly convinced, the Government at Peking, the indisputable emanation of the will of the great Chinese people? No screen of slanderous charges and imputation of motives can conceal the fact that the People’s Republic of China, by its decisive, active and inestimable contribution in the very important fields of science, technology and economic progress, is now one of the great Powers of our century.
122. Another crisis point in the world is the Middle East, which remains a subject of great concern to the international community. Grave incidents continue to occur and may at any time cause war to break out again. The occupation of Arab territories by Israel can only lead to an exacerbation of the nationalism of Arab patriots and is consequently driving us further and further away from the prospect of a lasting peace. The position of the Government of the Congo (Brazzaville) in this matter is well known. While we recognize that the State of Israel has a right to exist, we do not intend to accept the fait accompli of the acquisition of territories by force, Resolution 242 (1967) of the Security Council, adopted on 22 November 1967, is, in our view, the only real basis for a settlement calculated to achieve a just and lasting peace in that part of the world. It conditions the ability of the parties in dispute to contribute to the success of the mission of the representative of the Secretary-General, U Thant.
123. Lastly, may I be allowed to make a few brief comments on the world economic situation. Everything has been said on this subject, as a matter of fact, and I need not revert to it. In the light of the statements we have heard, the value of international co-operation is now universally acknowledged. So we shall confine ourselves to drawing up a balance-sheet of the situation two years before the expiry of the first United Nations Development Decade and after the meeting of the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at New Delhi. The least we can say is that the debit side is still heavy with the many disappointments which we have unfortunately experienced. On the credit side the results have only been slight, if we bear in mind the undertaking, nominal and problematical as it is, by the highly industrialized countries to transfer 1 per cent of their gross national product to the developing countries. At the same time, we note with some regret a downward trend in the economic assistance to the countries of the third world and the continuous deterioration in the terms of trade. In view of this situation and of the failure to devise any remedy, we are bound to admit that the first Decade has not achieved its targets and that the New Delhi Conference, which some have rightly called a “vanity fair", did not seriously consider the problems set out in the Charter of Algiers. We are therefore entitled to assume that the third world is destined to cherish only distant hopes for a long time to come.
124. While we are bound today to see the international outlook as very sombre — a view which unfortunately emerges from any objective analysis of the political, economic and psychological state of the world — we must not abandon our hopes in the United Nations, but must with all our strength help to eradicate all factors of dissension, incoherence, inertia, barren egoism and arbitrariness and try to stimulate a flow of generous and constructive ideas.
125. Wherever it is invited to take part in a dialogue calculated to hold out any hope of a lasting solution to the problems of concern to the whole world, Congo (Brazzaville) will answer the call, not in order to seek the triumph of its own views but, in full awareness of its responsibilities and duties, to fulfil its essential pledge to work towards promoting every factor likely to foster peace and co-operation in a broad spirit of understanding and fraternity among peoples.