1. Twelve months ago, the twentieth session of the General Assembly was convened on a note of great hope and optimism. The frustration and recriminations which had marred the nineteenth session had subsided. The deadlock which had paralysed all meaningful political activity was resolved, or so it might have been presumed. And because the danger of confrontation over Article 19 of the Charter had been avoided — because certain nations agreed to make voluntary contributions while other nations agreed to keep quiet and not press an awkward constitutional issue — we bought time and Member States were enabled to believe that there was nothing seriously wrong with the United Nations or the state of international affairs. It is now very evident that the reality is quite the contrary. The United Nations still faces serious problems of representation, financing and organization for peace-making and peace-preserving. We are in deadly danger of backing blindly into a third, most catastrophic world war. And we have allowed ourselves to become diverted from the great tasks of building a new and more just international society. Such is the pessimistic outlook which, if we are honest, must be admitted to be facing this twenty-first session of the General Assembly.
2. Many delegations within and outside the Assembly have been pleading that the Secretary-General agree to take another term of office. Tanzania is second to none in having the highest esteem for our able, devoted and honest Secretary-General and would like him to continue. My delegation, however, fully understands the most embarrassing situation in which an honest gentleman like U Thant is put in the kind of circumstances under which he is called to serve the United Nations. What must be even more disturbing to such an honest person is the fact that the same Members whose conduct in the international scene has made it difficult and perhaps impossible for him to agree to stay on in office are also in the forefront of the efforts to make him stay.
3. U Thant says, "Stop aggression under whatever cover it is conducted." He urges, "Be honest with yourselves and remove the racial domination of majority by minority in southern Africa." And he pleads with the rich, "Instead of merely paying lip service to the problems of developing countries, be more realistic, ease the terms of trade and increase your aid." But alas, none of this is heeded. And yet, Members continue uttering in the United Nations words hardly matched by their conduct.
4. My delegation shares the great regret, voiced by other delegations, at the failure of the Special Committee of thirty-three nations to find a satisfactory formula for our guidance in the conduct of future peace-keeping operations, I wish to pay tribute to the perseverance and sincerity, of which there is abundant evidence, with which the members of the Committee addressed themselves to their task. Nevertheless, the depressing fact remains that, after almost two years, the ingenuity and devotion of our most talented and experienced representatives have not been able to devise a means of avoiding a repetition of the constitutional and financial debacle we have already once experienced.
5. After so many years of discussion and effort with so little fruit, no one expected that miracles would occur in the sphere of disarmament. But we were at least entitled to expect — and did hope — that the discussion of the Seventeen-nation Disarmament Committee at Geneva would have carried us some little step further on the way towards general and complete disarmament. It is disappointing to learn that all of its efforts during the preceding twelve months came to virtually nothing. Neither on non-proliferation nor even on an extension of the partial ban on the testing of nuclear weapons has there been any progress or any substantial change of position since the twentieth session.
6. My delegation gave a warning during the twentieth session that we were concerned about the atmosphere of unreality in which these disarmament talks take place at Geneva. We shall have to take another serious look at this matter during the present session, Is anything worthwhile really likely to result from these disarmament discussions, from which one nuclear Power absents itself and another is deliberately excluded? How much longer can we continue what has become almost a ritual, in which agree out of the five nuclear Powers debate with several oral potentially near-nuclear Powers proposals designed to keep the latter from achieving the former's status? And even if they managed to achieve some verbal formula to which all were able to subscribe, what would be its value in the light of the almost certain boycott by the two absent nuclear Powers?
7. It was with the hope of dissipating some of these unrealities which encumber the seventeen-nation discussions at Geneva that my delegation joined the great majority of other Members in supporting at the last General Assembly proposals for a world disarmament conference. We are still convinced of the value of the idea. But we cannot fail to be aware that such a conference will probably be as short of results as the Geneva discussions unless certain prerequisites for its success are fulfilled. The most important of these is the question of attendance. The conference must have the attendance and participation of all the world's major Powers. Such universality, in the opinion of my delegation, is the best guarantee of a solution to the problem of disarmament which is fair to all and hence stands the greatest chance of success.
8. That brings us naturally to the question of the conditions likely to hinder the holding of such a universal conference. One of these certainly is the existing war in Viet-Nam. The Government and people of Tanzania view with sadness and alarm the daily mountain of casualties in that unfortunate war. The steady escalation, the attack on the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, the use of inhuman and outlawed methods, and the violations of international treaties and agreements are all-too-evident signs of involvement to the point where the will to win is in danger of eclipsing the very existence of the Viet-Namese people. Tanzania believes that these dangerous violations should be brought to an immediate end. What is required is not the hammering out of something new to bring peace to the combatants, but the use and observance of the provisions already agreed to in the Geneva Agreements of 1954.
9. My delegation believes that nothing justifies the use of force to settle disputes between nations in this era of our existence, except under the auspices or approval of the United Nations. The League of Nations Convenant, the Stimson Doctrine of non-recognition of the fruits of aggression, the Nuremberg and other trials of war criminals, the United Nations Charter and the consensus of disapproval of the interventions in Suez in 1956, all confirm the outlawing of war and of the use of force as an instrument of national policy. The use of armed might by one or more nations against another, except where approved or authorized by the institutionalized procedures of the United Nations, is an international legal as well as moral wrong. That is why the continuance of the war in Viet-Nam is a tragedy for the United Nations and the international family as a whole. We further believe that, if left alone, the Viet-Namese people could settle the issues in the best interests of Viet-Nam, Asia and the world.
10. My country fully shares the views of those who believe that the People's Republic of China must take its rightful place as a Member of this Organization. It is the further view of my country that, in taking its place as a Member of the United Nations, the People's Republic of China must replace completely the regime of Taiwan, which pretentiously purports to represent the Chinese people here. The United Nations must achieve its goal of universality. The exclusion of one quarter of the world's population from membership of this Organization detracts too much from the desired goal. It leaves in this Organization a vacuum which in all honesty cannot be tolerated.
11. Some big Powers, championing the absurd cause of hindering the realization of universality of membership of the United Nations, have advanced as a reason for their taking such a stand their own allegations to the effect that the policies of the People's Republic of China contravene the Charter provisions. Apart from the fact that these allegations are unfounded and that they are in fact only a smokescreen for the ulterior motivation of ideological struggles in power politics, it will be accepted that many States Members of the United Nations today have their own imperfections.
12. Those of us who have had the opportunity of having close contact with and seeing the great country of the People's Republic of China cannot help appreciating its tremendous achievements. Even more than that, we cannot ignore the very obvious lessons that developing countries can derive from such tremendous achievements under circumstances very closely related to our own. Once again, it is our firm view that the People's Republic of China must have its rightful share of participation in this world body.
13. There are other indications besides the Viet-Nam war that international relations are entering a regressive stage. The high hopes and noble sentiments which, six years ago, inspired the launching of the United Nations Development Decade have shrivelled before the cold winds of economic chauvinism. Year after year we have seen the modest gains made in increased agricultural production wiped out by the falling prices of our commodities and the steeply rising costs of the manufactured goods we must buy. Assistance to the developing nations by way of grants and loans from multilateral and bilateral sources has never been enough to offset these unfavourable terms of world trade. Now we see to our great concern a trend to diminish even these modest grants and loans on which we rely for the implementation of plans for better agricultural methods and the beginning of industrialization.
14. The people of Tanzania, together with those in many other countries in Africa and other parts of the world, placed high hopes, on attaining their independence, in the united efforts of the international community to remove the crushing burden of social and economic backwardness which they had borne through many decades of colonialism. The situation whereby two thirds of the world's population lived in squalor and disease while one third basked in affluence and splendour seemed to us clear evidence of maladministration of international affairs and "malaise" of international society. This imbalance not only persists after more than half of the Development Decade but is increasing yearly.
15. We in Tanzania are united and determined in our struggle for a better way of life. We achieved our independence in 1961 but we took over a country whose development had been neglected by the former
administering Power and a political system which was most unsuitable for our needs. Left in a state of relative poverty, Tanzania had to take immediate and serious steps of far-reaching consequence, not only in the economic field but also in all matters pertaining to the social and political well-being of the people of Tanzania. In our struggle to improve the standards and living conditions of our people, we have had some help from some of the more fortunate member.-, of the world community. These include, I am happy to state, some Members of the United Nations, as well as some presently excluded from its councils,
16. My delegation would like to state that, because of that assistance and because of the united efforts of the people of Tanzania, through self-help in every corner of the country and belief in self-reliance, we have managed to make appreciable progress in contrast to what was done under colonial rule. The masses of our people have fully responded to the call to build the nation effectively made by our beloved President, Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere. We hope that the developed countries will try to make greater contributions to the economic development programmes of the developing nations.
17. It almost seems as if the world has forgotten all the lessons of the past five decades and we have to learn anew that no nation is an island, that poverty and desperation are the begetters of revolution and war and that co-operation by the rich in the uplifting of the poor nations is a most enlightened form of national self-interest.
18. It is obvious that another big threat to world peace is inherent in the world social and economic situation. The threat does not lie so much in the fact that problems are not yet grasped; nor is it difficult to find agreed solutions to those economic and social problems. In fact the contrary seems to be the case. Since the 1964 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development most of the world's problems of underdevelopment have been analysed and the solutions to most of them are also known. If the world did not, have sufficient material and human resources, we from the developing countries could compromise and console ourselves with half-hearted attempts. However, everyone is agreed that the world possesses enough resources and sufficient science and technology to bring about the desired ends. Only through lack of the needed political sagacity and will-power has the rich third continued to neglect the two thirds of the world who live in squalor, disease and ignorance. This imbalance persists although we have only three years left before the end of the Development Decade, and, as I have already stated, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening at an accelerated rate. Through modern technology we are all becoming close neighbours of each other, and it is impossible for poverty and affluence to continue in peaceful coexistence.
19. Our distinguished Secretary-General has said:
"The slow rate of progress on virtually every recommendation of the first UNCTAD Conference, even those adopted unanimously, may be a reflection of the preoccupation with immediate and relatively narrow interests...".
20. A broad view of the world economic and social situation and its interdependence is clearly called for, particularly from those who are best able to take concrete remedial action. These countries should be encouraged by what we in the developing countries have been able to accomplish. We have well conceived development plans. We have a higher absorptive capacity for more aid — between $3,000 and $4,000 million for the next five years. We have increased mobilization of our domestic savings and have undertaken needed economic reforms. That is why the Secretary- General pointed out:
"The current World Economic Survey... rebuts the arguments of those who have contended that the developing countries have done little in the last five years to movilize their domestic resources. ... There is good reason to believe that the developing countries will succeed in improving still further the movilization of their internal resources for development during the second half of this Decade.
"In an impressive number of instances, the main limitations are not domestic but rather the insufficiency of external resources."
21. We should heed the warnings of Mr. Prebisch, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, when he asserts:
"I am profoundly convinced that the world is in need of a radical change, not on account of the economic concerns of the industrialized countries, but on account of economic, social and political considerations affecting the developing countries; and because the large industrial countries, despite their great technological achievements, have not found, and are not likely to find, any way of immunizing themselves against what is happening and what is going to happen in the developing world unless there is a momentous policy of international economic co-operation built upon solid foundations." [A/6315, annex C.]
22. In the economic and social field, it would be advisable for this Assembly to initiate studies of the ways and means of meeting some of the obligations within the targets set for the Development Decade. Such studies might be extremely useful in the preparations for the second phase of the development efforts in the 1970s.
23. It is in the area of human rights and basic freedoms that the most grievous set-backs have recently occurred.
24. The forces of racism and fascism, recovering from wounds which were never as mortal as we ha.d supposed, are again rearing their ugly heads unashamedly in different parts of the world. In the southern part of the African continent they have joined forces with the most reactionary of colonial systems fighting a last-ditch battle for survival. It is well known that there is an unholy alliance among the United Kingdom, Portugal and South Africa.
25. In Rhodesia, a minority racist regime, after illegally coming to power, breathes defiance at the British Government which claims to be the responsible Power. The latter, which apparently lacks either the will or the power or both to deal properly with the situation, has, until now, been unwilling to allow the United N mas to do so. In the view of my delegation, the time is now long overdue for the exercise by this Organization of all its powers under Chapter VII of the Charter.
26. The policy — if it may he called such — of the British Government with regard to Rhodesia is now completely discredited and in ruins. What it had urged would never work with regard to South Africa, namely, economic sanctions, it has proceeded to prove ineffective with regard to its rebel colony. The "talks about talks" which 't has Initiated, under a cloak of secrecy and obscurity, were designed both to cover up and distract attention from the British lack of an effective policy. Two things have been convincingly proved by the handling of the situation to date: first, that the British by themselves can never or will never put an end to the illegal regime and, secondly, that the use of force and/or application of mandatory sanctions under international authority will rectify the situation created by the Rhodesia Front's unilateral declaration of independence. Provision must also he made by this General Assembly for the