158. Mr. President, allow me to repeat my congratulations to you on your election to the Presidency of the General Assembly at its twenty-first session. This election, Mr. President, shows the esteem in which your great country and people are held. It is a measure of your country's contribution to the maintenance of world peace.
159. It is also a tribute to yourself, to your long and varied experience which will, no doubt, make the term of your Presidency a memorable and significant chapter in the history of this Organization in its endeavours to perform the responsibilities entrusted to it. May you have every success in your task for the good of all humanity.
160. I also pay tribute to Signor Amintore Fanfani, who performed his task as President of the Assembly at its twentieth session with the zeal and devotion worthy of his great talents and experience as a statesman.
161. It is with great joy that I see amongst us the delegation of Guyana, representing the independent and free people of Guyana. On behalf of the Government of the Sudan, I greet the Government of Guyana and its people and wish them all prosperity.
162. The 30th of September and the 4th of October of this year were freedom days in Africa, when Botswana and Lesotho attained their independence; and I ask the indulgence of this Assembly to speak yet again of the joy we feel at the expansion of the domain of freedom on the African continent which has, for too long, been restricted and fettered by colonialism.
163. I welcome Botswana and Lesotho and hope that they will not be retarded in their endeavour for freedom and progress by the difficulties that stand in their way. The people of the Sudan, who share with them the objectives of a united and prosperous Africa, need not alert this Organization to its responsibility and undertaking in fulfilment of its historic resolution to prevent any encroachment on their independence. They are outposts of freedom in the wilderness of racial oppression.
164. This session of the Assembly has started in confidence and hope. Such hope and confidence must be our constant companions on the long road ahead of us. It is only with confidence in the joint efforts of all peace-loving people and hopeful optimism in the ultimate victory of peace that we are sustained in our endeavour to assert our will for living in a world without war.
165. But, there is no denying the fact that we have felt some misgivings, since the Organization has failed to meet the challenge of the ever-present threat to peace. Such misgivings are truly reflected in the Secretary-General's decision to relinquish his post in spite of the fact that States Members of this Organization are unanimous in the opinion that it is necessary for him to remain.
166. The failure of this Organization to explore new avenues for the maintenance of peace has led the Secretary-General to take this decision. In his letter to the Security Council on 1 September he expressed, in no uncertain terms, the nature of the crisis that threatens the very existence of the United Nations. The crisis of the United Nations stems from its hesitancy to take new initiatives for peace and cooperation in a world where the pressure of events may, at any moment, plunge the whole of humanity into its doom.
167. While this Assembly proceeds with debates, the world is at war. For, although the war in South Viet-Nam is localized in its most brutal aspects at the actual scene of battle, it is nevertheless a war whose repercussions are not confined to Viet-Nam, but extend across the seas and continents to the whole world.
168. The people of Viet-Nam, who are crushed by the intolerable burden of this war on its land, have an inalienable right, like all people of the world, to determine their own future without any foreign interference. Certainly, the Charter of the United Nations and the provisions of the Geneva Agreements of 1954 should, and do, provide the principles for resolving this conflict and the means to rescue the people of Viet-Nam from their fate, and perhaps save the peace of the world.
169. The United States of America, as a great Power with special responsibilities for world peace, owes it to itself and to the world to take the first giant step with courage and promptitude. The first step towards peace is to stop the bombing of North Viet-Nam. The first move in the effort for peace and a political solution is to give up trying to impose a military solution whose failure is now patently apparent.
170. Let us not be unmindful of the dangers of the escalation of the war in Viet-Nam, but let us be fully aware that confining the conflict in Viet-Nam is not our desired goal, nor can the peace of the world be maintained by offering up the people of Viet-Nam on a sacrificial altar. Its maintenance should be based on the principles of justice, with the United Nations as its universal guardian.
171. The universality of the United Nations is a necessary condition for its effectiveness; hence our belief in the absolute necessity of the admission to the United Nations of the Government of the People's Republic of China, the effective Government and the legitimate representative of the people of that country. The people of China have great potential strength and a definite role in helping this Organization to be worthy of its great task in the maintenance of peace and the realization of progress and prosperity for humanity. We are denying this Organization the advantages of the immense fund of intellectual experience and the backing of a great nation while China remains beyond the pale. We are restricting and hampering the United Nations by this denial from soaring into wider horizons and more meaningful and fruitful endeavours.
172. Our present century has witnessed a great awakening, a great extension in the territories of the free; but we have yet to see the end of colonialism. The liberation struggle of the people has compelled colonialism to recede until now it is left only in some pockets here and there throughout the world. What is left of colonialism, however, is still enough to fan the flames of national liberation movements and to urge the colonial peoples to undertake their last supreme efforts. For the remaining bastions of colonialism are most unyielding. Hence, the relentlessness of the peoples' heroic struggle and the magnificence of their certain triumph.
173. In the southern part of Africa, where the struggle for freedom from foreign domination is inextricably bound up with the battle against racial oppression, there is an imminent threat to world peace, because an oppressive minority — rejected by the world — persists in its misguided way to impose its will on the majority. But its days of domination in the African continent will soon come to an end — perhaps a violent end.
174. The defiance of the will of the people and the violation of the principles of justice and morality, which was exemplified in unilateral declaration of independence by the minority regime in Rhodesia, on 11 November 1965, will find retribution in the assertion of the peoples' will and their ultimate victory. We of the United Nations could have anticipated and assisted this triumph had we not been diverted by the false promise of a peaceful solution. From the start of the rebellion in Rhodesia, African Members maintained that any measures, short of the use of force, would be worse than useless. We have now seen how all these measures have failed, as they were bound to do. Economic sanctions have failed, the embargo on oil has been ineffective; while the Smith regime remains entrenched.
175. The Government of the United Kingdom is largely responsible for this failure, because it was this Government which by declaring that it would not use force to end his regime, made it possible for Ian Smith and his clique to defy the world. It was the Government of the United Kingdom that denied the right of the United Nations to intervene in support of the rights of the Zimbabwe people, claiming that an economic boycott would be enough to dislodge the Smith Government. When all failed, the Government of the United Kingdom, while seeking the support of the United Nations for enforcing limited sanctions, did not refrain from embarking on negotiations with the "rebel'1 and the "traitor". The African people of Zimbabwe were left to their fate.
176. But the people of the Sudan, in their unshaken belief in the inalienable right of the African people of Zimbabwe to freedom and independence, have not abandoned them. We declare, before this Assembly of the nations of the world, that we will not deny them any means available to us to restore their rights.
177. Not long after the Rhodesian setback, the African people — and indeed, the conscience of mankind — had to suffer another shock. The barriers against the South African usurpation of power and the extension of apartheid to South West Africa were removed by the most recent Judgment of the International Court of Justice. We have rejected this Judgment of the Court because it is an abdication of a United Nations responsibility towards the people of South West Africa.
178. We now declare that the time has come for a more equitable and adequate representation of the emergent nations on this Court, in consonance with their representation in other organs of the United Nations. And again we declare, before this Assembly, our irreversible commitment to shoulder our share of all United Nations efforts towards the restoration of freedom to the people of South West Africa.
179. This Assembly, in adopting the resolution on South West Africa sponsored by the Afro-Asian countries, will demonstrate in no uncertain manner its awareness of the extent of its responsibility and its determination to discharge it in support of the will of the overwhelming majority of its Members.
180. The Sudan Government reiterates its condemnation of the Government of apartheid in South Africa, which has allied itself with the other forces of oppression — with Portuguese colonialism and with the Smith regime in Rhodesia — in order to keep the African peoples in a state of subjection. The Sudan Government renounces all forms of friendly dealings with South Africa, and only acknowledges the existence of that Government inasmuch as it is an obstacle in
the way of African progress, which it will endeavour to remove.
181. The struggle of the African peoples against Portuguese colonialism in Angola and Mozambique gains momentum day by day. We support this struggle, and we condemn the Government of Portugal for its insistence on maintaining its colonial regime in Africa.
182. President de Gaulle's recent visit to the territory known as French Somaliland was an occasion for the people of that country to demonstrate to the world that they have chosen freedom and independence. The people of so-called French Somaliland are not French, nor do they want to be. They are of Africa, and will remain African.
183. We in the Sudan have been shocked to see the United Nations historic declaration of freedom — its resolution 1514 (XV) — constantly flouted by the colonial Powers in Africa, We, on our part, have taken this declaration seriously and are endeavouring to implement it, as all Member States are in duty bound obliged to do. Furthermore, the Sudan, as a member of the Organization of African Unity, supports, materially and morally, all the movements for national liberation in Africa.
184. The Middle East has long been an area where the peace of the world remains in a precarious position. This land, which gave of its heart and soul all the values that humanity holds most sacred, has been violated by colonialism. But the people of this area have suffered the oppression of conquerors many times. Their history is a record of their heroic struggle against foreign domination and a testament of their victory.
185. The problem of Palestine is an example of the struggle for national liberation and human dignity such as that in which the people of Asia and Africa have engaged. Israel, the foster-child of colonialism, is kept alive only by ministrations from the colonial Powers that have constantly supplied it with offensive weapons and financial support to enable it to stem the tide of liberation in that area. This has not been easy for the colonialists, who have been meeting this with ever-increasing resistance. The Liberation Army of Palestine, which we hail from this rostrum, is in the vanguard of this resistance; it is the embodiment of the will and determination of the people of Palestine to be masters of their destiny.
186. What of the United Nations? The United Nations is primarily responsible for the plight of the people of Palestine. This legal and moral responsibility must be discharged adequately and fully.
187. The Palestinian refugees, living in camps only a few yards away from their former homeland, deserve not only assistance and commiseration from the United Nations: the United Nations should be even more actively engaged in their welfare and repatriation. The refugees cannot be left for the host countries to keep and sustain indefinitely; attempts to precipitate such a situation through restricting relief contributions must be discouraged by all means.
188. The whole wide world will not hold the Palestinians, whose only aim is to return to their usurped homeland.
189. In the Arab South the struggle against British colonialists continues unabated. The British design in that area seems to envisage the installation of unrepresentative Governments owing allegiance to them, while they suppress the legitimate aspirations of the people. The Sudan, in condemnation of the British colonial schemes, calls upon the United Nations to uphold the right of the people to self-determination. There should be a constitutional conference, representing all interested parties and under the auspices of the United Nations, to determine the people's wishes and establish a constitution. There should be popular elections, conducted under United Nations supervision, for the establishment of a democratic government in an independent country, free from British influence. The British colonial and military presence in the area extending from Bab el Mandeb to the Arabian Gulf has been the main threat to peace in the region and to the peace of the world.
190. The Sudan Government, however, regrets that the United Kingdom has almost succeeded in diverting the issue of its colonial presence in the Arab South from its true colonial context, thus making it appear in a false light — through its recent complaint to the Security Council — and implying a denial of the right of the people of the Arab South to rid themselves of colonialism and to determine their own future in freedom.
191. The entire Arab world speaks with one voice on these three Arab issues: Palestine, Aden and Oman. The Arab world, moreover, is unwavering in its determination to free Arab soil from foreign domination. If the peace of the world should be jeopardized as a result, the responsbility must be borne not by the Arabs but by the usurpers of their rights.
192. Our world of today is divided by economic disparity into two parts: the countries of the northern hemisphere possessing all the means of power, directing the international economy according to their interests and exploiting all the economic potentialities in an armaments race; while the countries of the southern hemisphere are facing the everpresent problems of food and shelter. The industrial nations seem to lack the broad outlook to see the advantage to themselves of bridging the everwidening gap.
193. At the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, held in Geneva, the developed countries chose to withhold their support for the recommendations concerning the establishment of equitable prices for primary commodities, the provision of grants and soft loans, and the strengthening of international economic co-operation by providing the resources necessary for economic development- such as funds and technical assistance.
194. It is clear that the developing countries cannot disentangle themselves from the vicious circle of under-development, except by adequate parallel efforts in the different fields of economic development such as agriculture, industry, transportation, and so forth. The economic structure of these countries depends upon agriculture and mining, that is to say, the primary commodities which suffer from a continuous drop in prices on world markets, while prices of manufactured products continue to rise.
195. In addition to this, the developing countries continue to struggle to carry out their economic development, which becomes, in the circumstances, burdensome and insupportable without adequate funds in foreign exchange and without technical know-how. This, in our opinion, makes it imperative for the various international organizations to exert every possible effort to make available the assistance necessary for industrial development.
196. We maintain that the Sudan was reflecting the general desire of the developing countries when it called for the establishment of a United Nations Organization for Industrial Development, a specialized agency to assist the developing countries in this important field. It is equally essential to create an international fund to finance development, especially in its industrial aspect. The United Nations has kept on debating this issue year after year without any palpable results because of the negative attitude of the developed countries. This is a sorry state of affairs, since the disparity between the developed and the developing countries increases day by day.
197. The element of time acquires an additional importance. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development tried to take a step in this direction when it recommended the transformation of the United Nations Development Programme by setting aside some of its resources for economic development, provided it is gradually transformed completely to development purposes. The developed countries of the West continued to oppose this recommendation, until they succeeded in deleting the whole idea of transformation from the scheme of the merger. Surely the persistence of the developed countries in this direction will lead to most serious consequences.
198. The problem posed by the adverse balance of payments of the developing countries, on account of the deficit resulting from payments for imports over income accruing from exports, emphasizes the urgent need for financial liquidity.
199. The United Nations Development Decade was the subject of many recommendations and resolutions passed by the General Assembly. Half the Decade has now passed and these resolutions and recommendations are far from realization. If we are not to fail completely, we must redefine the role of every organ and agency of the United Nations in relation to the development programme of the Decade. Every organ and agency concerned with economic development must further check its effort and effectiveness and present a periodic progress report on the fulfilment of the targets set for it.
200. Any success that the United Nations can achieve in disarmament would lead, of necessity, to a lessening of international tension, but it would also lead to the provision of bountiful resources for economic development. In spite of all the efforts which were exerted, we still anticipate and look forward to the day when humanity will realize its hope in complete and total disarmament. The accord achieved by the great Powers in prohibiting nuclear tests in outer space makes us hope that the area of agreement will be extended to include all other nuclear tests.
201. We must not overlook the Tact that the problem of economic development is connected with the establishment of the effective sovereignty of the developing countries over their natural resources. If foreign capital demands every means of security for its flow into the developing countries, it is only fair for the developing countries to strive to protect their natural resources from unprincipled exploitation. They must confirm and emphasize their sovereignty over their resources to avoid a recurrence of the type of exploitation by foreign capital which was the favoured and current practice throughout the last two centuries.
202. We believe that in relations between individuals and in international relations, our actions should derive from this supreme principle of respect for the dignity and worth of the human person. This principle is the basis for the democratic system of government in our own country and our rejection of all forms of despotism and dictatorship. This principle is the basis for our struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination, those twin scourges and constant companions. We in Africa have suffered from colonialism and racial discrimination for too long and we shall not rest until we are free of them — free all over the continent of Africa.
203. We have chosen in our country to be the masters of our own destiny and hence our support and defence of the right of all peoples to self-determination, and our rejection of foreign interference that detracts from the full and unfettered exercise of national sovereignty. We consequently believe in maintaining neutrality in our relations with the Eastern and Western blocs. Our neutrality, in its positive aspect, is based on the supremacy of our independence and sovereignty, so that we do not adopt any policy or line of action unless it has, as its main objective, the good of our people. The good of our people, which we desire for ourselves, we desire also for all those who have suffered from colonial domination. Our own sovereignty, which we guard most jealously, will be threatened if our neighbours are not also their own masters. Our own freedom will be jeopardized if we do not accept the right of all peoples to be free — in South West Africa as well as in Viet- Nam, or the Arab South, or French Somaliland.
204. We have often, from this rostrum, appealed to the great Powers to uphold the fundamental rights of all peoples to be free because, in so doing, they will better serve their own ends and replace our condemnation with gratitude and approbation. The great Powers have great responsibilities arising from their immense potential for the service of humanity, or its destruction. It is time that they faced these responsibilities with determination and courage. Disarmament is certainly a step in the right direction, but it is only a step. We have to realize — and to act as if we realized — that in this Organization we have the best system yet devised for the fulfilment of man's dream of brotherhood and universal co-operation.
205. Let up all strive towards this end and perhaps our efforts for a peaceful and prosperous world will one day be rewarded by our attainment of this goal.