103. Mr. President, it is an honour for a representative of the Republic of Burundi to have been given this opportunity to extend his warm congratulations to Mr. Arenales on his election to the Presidency of the twenty-third session of the United Nations General Assembly. I am sure that his many qualifications will contribute to the success of the current session, and I can assure him of the positive collaboration of the delegation of the Republic of Burundi.
104. The delegation of Burundi would also like to join with all those who have preceded it in paying tribute to the President of the previous session, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania, Mr. Manescu, whose competence, authority, clear-sightedness and objectivity did honour both to his country and to the United Nations. Yes, he did do honour to the United Nations, and for that he is deserving of our praise, for he succeeded in doing what many are no longer able to do because they no longer respect the Charter.
105. To do honour to the United Nations means respecting man himself, for United Nations ideals all focus on man. To do honour to the United Nations means recognizing equality among men; it means recognizing the colonial peoples’ right to independence; it means respecting the sovereignty of nations and their territorial integrity; it means doing nothing that could compromise world peace and, lastly, it means contributing to man’s full development by taking an active part in the fight against ignorance, disease and poverty.
106. Yet how blatantly, also, have those ideals, of which we are all aware and to which we all subscribed in adhering to the United Nations Charter, been flouted by those very people who in the name of an allegedly higher civilization and culture preach the equality of man in churches and public places, but deny Africans the right to enjoy their freedom!
107. Even today, during the twenty-third session of the United Nations General Assembly, when we could reasonably hope for relative peace thanks to the Organization’s constant efforts, the picture of the international situation reveals in many places too many disquieting shadows.
108. In South Africa — as many speakers have emphasized — the status of the black man gets worse instead of better. He is subjected to every conceivable humiliation as if to convince him that his only value is his market value. And yet who among the South African leaders could substantiate the white man’s claim to superiority over the so-called coloured man? We know that they would not attempt it. Science defies them to do so. But what they do know — and it is at this point that their malice takes on a criminal aspect — is that by keeping a man in conditions unfavourable to his mental development, by denying him education, by depriving him of his freedom, by enmeshing him in a system of inhuman laws, they are depriving him of the means to react against his debasement.
109. What the advocates of apartheid do not know, however, is that the so-called coloured man does not believe in either the superiority or the inferiority of the inventor of apartheid, but believes firmly in equality among men. Thus, he maintains his balance and acts in conformity with the ideals of a Charter that is vainly trying to restore to him his rights.
110. That South Africa, whose shameless practices are well known to us all, should remain a member of the United Nations flouts morality and discredits the Organization. Furthermore, that it should refuse to grant independence to Namibia and systematically practise its policy of apartheid there, shows just how determined it is to defy mankind. No one will deny that.
111. The United Nations must take urgent steps to lead this territory — Namibia — to independence. It is true that the key to the problem is in the hands of the great Powers. What a fine example of international co-operation and participation in the betterment of man those four great Powers — the United States, the Soviet Union. France and the United Kingdom — could give us if they would undertake for a fixed period, on behalf of the United Nations, the task of leading that country to independence.
112. Of course, I realize the hazardous nature of my reflection if it were to become a proposal, and I fear the competition of ideologies and interests on Namibian soil. I also realize — and this is merely stating a fact — that in the twentieth century the age of miracles is past, or almost. It is perhaps due to the progress of science.
113. In any case, if we add to this unhappy South African picture the shadow that the Ian Smith régime has cast over the map of Africa by Rhodesia’s unilateral declaration of independence, Africa has no reason to rejoice, and the United Nations has no reason to be proud.
114. Of course the phrase has become common usage and everyone talks about the “unilateral declaration of independence”, whereas in fact it would be more correct to speak of Rhodesia’s “concerted declaration” of independence; for the Republic of Burundi has certainly never believed that the Rhodesian settlers would have set that infernal machinery in motion without the tacit agreement of the United Kingdom Government. The passivity of the reactions to the “concerted declaration” of independence corroborates the view that there was complicity on the part of the United Kingdom Government.
115. From the outset, the Republic of Burundi has made it clear that the United Kingdom alone was responsible for this usurpation of the territory of Zimbabwe by the English settlers, and that it was for the British Government alone to restore its lawful rights to the Zimbabwe people.
116. We firmly believe that economic sanctions are nothing but a subterfuge to distract international public opinion and that the United Kingdom Government is equally convinced of their ineffectiveness, whence the importance it attaches to that kind of manoeuvre.
117. The Government of the Republic of Burundi has never ceased to believe that the only way for the British Government to prove the sincerity of its intentions, and consequently its desire to stamp out what it calls the “Rhodesian rebellion”, was by using force. We do not think that regular meetings, like the one that has just taken place at Gibraltar between the Head of the British Government and Mr. Ian Smith, are planned in the interests of the people of Zimbabwe.
118. They are rather — and that follows logically from the “concerted declaration” of independence — regular meetings for the co-ordination, the redefinition of a joint strategy and of the methods to be employed to perpetuate colonialist domination in that region of Africa.
119. The moments for the meetings are well chosen, for attention must be paid to international public opinion. The first session of the last meeting was held — it will be remembered — at practically the same time as the opening meeting of the present United Nations General Assembly. How ironical! How deceitful!
120. As we can see, there are few grounds for optimism. African pessimism is further increased when we find that the most backward country in Europe—Portugal—refuses to grant independence to Mozambique, Angola and Guinea (Bissau) and persists in practising the evils of colonialism on the African continent.
121. For Portugal, it matters little that the United Nations has condemned colonialism and called for those colonies to be given their independence; the important thing is that, despite the chronic under-development of its own territory, it is mobilizing an army of 140,000 men to crush the freedom fighters and perpetuate its exploitation of African soil. The delegation of the Republic of Burundi pays a ringing tribute to the victims of Portuguese colonialism. But since Portugal is a Christian country, since it is Catholic and since it rejects legal arguments, ought it not perhaps to be reminded that exploitation of African soil is stealing and that stealing is a sin. Perhaps it would be sensitive to the Christian principle which says that all men are equal? There can be no doubt that Portugal believes in that principle, but it adds a qualification; it says “All men are equal except before economic and financial interests".
122. In fact, it is by virtue of that qualification that apartheid is practised in South Africa, that Namibia is denied independence, that Southern Rhodesia has proclaimed so-called unilateral independence, and that Portuguese colonialism continues its massacre of the innocents. Wherever men are suffering, there are economic and financial interests at stake.
123. Nigeria has not escaped this sad state of affairs. To be sure, the Nigerian war has caused and is still causing many victims, and we regret that. The Government of the Republic of Burundi is very sensitive to Nigeria’s sufferings. It has proposed a cessation of hostilities, but it also remains very much aware of the danger that besets Africa. If a secession, for whatever motives, were to succeed in Africa, it would inevitably mean the disruption of the majority of African States. Africa has no interest in seeing the war continue, but we must also ask where the province of Biafra is getting its arms from. Providing it with arms is taking part in the slaughter. Providing it with food-stuffs and medical supplies is performing a humanitarian deed. And out of respect for Nigerian sovereignty, everything should go through Federal Government channels.
124. It is illogical to speak of respect for national sovereignty elsewhere and to ignore it when it comes to the African countries. Those who talk about independent States and of the right of self-determination should be asked straight out exactly what meaning they attach to that principle. We will not dwell on the point; the danger for young African States is all too obvious, for the meaning they attach to it is subject to the demands of imperialism. Let us hope that human lives may be spared, and that Nigeria may retain its full integrity.
125. That integrity we hope for everywhere, including the Middle East, where Israel still occupies territories it usurped in the June 1967 war. The Republic of Burundi has said more than once what it thought of that war and its consequences. It would be superfluous to repeat it. What it must, however, repeat is that Israel, by refusing to implement resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November last, is seriously compromising the chances of peace in that part of the world.
126. It is also timely to repeat that, just as Israel has the right to exist, so it does not have the right to occupy territories that do not belong to it. We sincerely believe that it is high time a lasting solution was reached to the Middle East problem, failing which there will continually be an obvious risk of armed confrontation between the antagonists and the great Powers.
127. What causes us the greatest anxiety is our conviction of the interest of the great Powers in that region and of their determination to make the Middle East problem their own. We can easily see the implications for world peace if we continue to provide the great Powers with opportunities to exercise their imperialism in that region. Israel must withdraw from the illegally occupied Arab territories. That is how that country can contribute to the restoration of peace in the Middle East.
128. Peace is what the world needs everywhere: in Africa, in the Middle East, in Viet-Nam, in Europe.
129. In Viet-Nam, with the opening of the Paris talks, we had thought we saw a glimmer of peace on the horizon. Unfortunately, those talks have now been going on for several months but the war is still raging. That war would surely have ended by now if the Viet-Namese had been allowed the opportunity to settle their problems themselves without outside interference.
130. Non-intervention in the domestic affairs of States is a principle that must remain inviolable. The recent events in Czechoslovakia can no more be justified than those in Viet-Nam. In 1968, also, imperialism will not have been, as we always thought, the monopoly of the capitalist powers. Can the presence of foreign troops in Czechoslovakia really be explained except by the feelings of power and hegemony that actuate the occupying Powers? If, in the name of ideological orthodoxy, a super-Power can occupy any country whatever which follows the same ideology, how can there be any respect for the sovereignty of States? The Republic of Burundi has always protested against such practices.
131. So long as international morality continues to be governed by force, the situation of small States will remain precarious.
132. The situation recently created in Europe is not calculated to inspire confidence in the States which have already signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)], and is causing those States which had intended to accede to it to hesitate. The Republic of Burundi, for its part, feels that the Treaty does not contain sufficient safeguards for non-nuclear States. Moreover, the Government of the Republic of Burundi sees behind the Treaty the great Powers’ determination to preserve the bloc policy. Two Powers will go on dictating the law to the world without any possibility of other views being heard. The Republic of Burundi will not refuse to sign the Treaty once it has an assurance that all States in the same position as itself are protected. It will always be ready to join those who seek peace.
133. Similarly, it will always be ready to join those who observe the rules of logic in international relations, especially when logic can lead to a détente among nations. Because of the machinations of certain Powers, the United Nations does not behave logically. A nuclear Power whose technical
and industrial achievements command the admiration even of its enemies, and whose more than 700 million inhabitants make it the world’s most populous country, the People’s Republic of China is still absent from the United Nations; we sincerely believe that it would help the cause of peace if it were to admit it to the United Nations. Incidentally we are glad to see that some European countries which formerly opposed China’s admission to the United Nations have realized that it is better to adopt the logical policy of détente and that in the long run there is nothing to be gained by persisting in a mistake.
134. Unfortunately, to this gloomy picture of the international political situation must be added the no less gloomy picture created by the immense discrepancy of wealth among countries and by the protectionist trends of the richest States. As a member of the Group of Seventy-Seven, which recently grew to eighty-nine, and suffering the fate of the economically deprived countries, Burundi cannot help but regret the refusal of the industrial powers, at the second UNCTAD session at New Delhi, to abandon their traditional trade machinery. It goes without saying that the protectionist measures applied or projected by the developed States are an obstacle to the progress of the developing nations. It must also be recognized that international co-operation is impeded when equality of rights is not observed in trade agreements between members of the international community. A better order of world trade cannot be established without the determination of the industrially developed States to remove the obstacles and restrictions on imports of products from the developing countries. Since UNCTAD is responsible for the improvement of trade relations among Members of the United Nations, it should set to work to abolish as rapidly as possible the restrictive practices that are hampering and retarding the flow of imports from the poor nations.
135. We hope that during the second Development Decade the efforts of the United Nations will be directed to remedying the causes of the setbacks of the last ten years and to translating into reality the resolutions adopted at the second session of UNCTAD, particularly those for the establishment of a world economic balance and international trade co-operation conceived as an instrument for the development and progress of mankind.
136. However, if we had to choose which should be given priority, whether economic problems or decolonization problems, we should have no hesitation in saying that the United Nations must first set out to extirpate the cancer that is gnawing the vitals of southern Africa, for we are convinced that once man regains his honour, he will find the necessary means to conquer natural evils.