1. Mr. President, allow me, first of all, to reiterate on behalf of the Ethiopian delegation my warmest congratulations on your unanimous election to the Presidency of the twenty-first session of the General Assembly.
2. Having, in my capacity as the current Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, already welcomed Guyana to membership of the United Nations, I should now like to convey once more to the representatives of Guyana the great joy and satisfaction of the Ethiopian nation and its Government over the accession of Guyana to independence last May. It is in joyful anticipation that we now await the independence of Lesotho, Botswana and Barbados within a short time. My Government also happily welcomes the resumption of Indonesia's membership of the United Nations and would like to assure the Government of Indonesia that the Ethiopian delegation will, as in the past, accord it its full co-operation.
3. To those of our brothers, near and far, who are still struggling to occupy their rightful place in the community of free and sovereign nations, in freedom and independence, we extend encouragement and hope and the assurance that they are not alone in their struggle, which often entails the sacrifice of life itself. For the peoples of the United Nations, who, over twenty years ago, declared in the Charter of this Organization their determination "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person ...", will certainly not fail to carry out that pledge, in the conviction that the rights and dignity of the human person suffer most when people are subjected to alien domination and are not masters of their own destinies.
4. It was to discharge the solemn obligation undertaken in the Charter that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the historic resolution [1514 (XV)] containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960 — an epochal decision which has contributed immensely to the expansion of the membership of this Organization to its present total of 119. In this context, a few words on the splendid work being done by the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples are quite in order. The instrumentality of the Special Committee in the rapid liberation of so many countries under colonial rule, in the last few years is so widely known as to require no detailed recital. The fact that the Committee, for the second consecutive year, has held part of its meetings on the continent of Africa is of no little significance, and we hope that the practice will be continued until colonialism is completely eradicated from that continent.
5. I should like to mention, in connexion with the work of the Special Committee, the views of my Government with regard to the territory of Djibouti, which were set forth in its memorandum to the Committee. The basic policy of my Government with regard to Djibouti was affirmed in no uncertain terms at a recent press conference at Addis Ababa by my august sovereign, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I. My Chief of State unequivocally stated that the Ethiopian Government fully supports the exercise of the right of self-determination by the people of the territory, provided that that process is unfettered in any manner whatsoever and that its sole purpose is to enable the majority of the indigenous inhabitants of the territory to decide their destiny in consonance with their genuine and lasting interests. Hence, let there be no misunderstanding of the clear position of my Government on this score.
6. Historically, and prior to the colonialist invasion of the African continent, Djibouti, together with other adjacent areas, constituted a unit of the only independent political entity which then existed in that region, under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian nation. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, the territory of Djibouti was an integral part of Ethiopia.
7. Consideration of the territory of Djibouti in its historical perspective brings up the following pertinent questions: first, where do the genuine and strong bonds of ethnic and social affinity of the vast majority of the people of the Territory lie? Secondly, what is the source of the economic life of the inhabitants of the territory, where are the sources of their life-springs, where their lasting interests are to be found? Thirdly, what are the historical and geographical realities of the territory? And fourthly, what are the exigencies of Ethiopia's national security with regard to the territory?
8. I hardly need add that any decision which will take into consideration the aspects of the problem of the future of the territory which I have just enumerated, if founded on the free and unhampered will of the majority of its indigenous inhabitants, will have the full support and co-operation of my Government. Conversely, any move designed to jeopardize the abiding interests of the people of the territory of Djibouti, who, as I have stated, are our kith and kin, will be opposed by my nation with all vigour. The one single lesson that my people have learned from their bitter experience of the events of the 1930s is that our natural outlet to the sea must never again fall into, or be controlled by, unfriendly hands.
9. Speaking from this rostrum last year, I recall expressing, at the start of the work of the twentieth session of the General Assembly, my delegation's immense relief over two developments that took place almost on the eve of that session: first, the resolving — temporarily at least — of the difficulties which had prevented the nineteenth session of the General Assembly from functioning normally; and second, the halting, through the timely action of the Security Council, of the conflict which had developed between two neighbouring Asian countries. I regret that on this occasion I cannot repeat the same sentiments.
10. Today, as we engage in our annual stocktaking of the accomplishments and shortcomings of this Organization during the past year; as we pause to reflect on the changes in the international situation since our last meeting in this hall; as we consider the prospects of world peace and security and the numerous problems and difficulties which have hindered progress in disarmament negotiations; as we speculate on these and other issues, I confess that certain developments of the past year have given my delegation and myself reason to feel a sense of disquietude and heaviness of heart. I should like to share some of these thoughts briefly with the representatives assembled here today.
11. My first thoughts focus upon the decision of our Secretary-General, U Thant, the tireless and conscientious servant of peace, not to seek re-election for a second term. In the five years that U Thant has served the United Nations, first as Acting Secretary-General and then as Secretary-General, this Organization was faced with crucial difficulties and problems which at times threatened to split the Organization to its very foundations or to push the world towards the
brink of a holocaust. These catastrophes were averted, in considerable measure through the courage, dedication and perservance with which the Secretary-General pursued the goal of peace and the survival of the United Nations.
12. Perhaps the cataloguing of the many accomplishments of the distinguished Secretary-General in the cause of peace and in the interest of the United Nations should best be left to history and posterity. But there can be no doubt of the high value that each of the 119 nations represented in this hall places on the great services rendered by the Secretary-General during his tenure of office as the chief executive of this Organization. I am sure all will agree with me when I say that while it may be true, as the Secretary-General himself declared in his statement to the members of the Security Council on 1 September 1966 [see A/6400], that no particular person is indispensable for any particular job, it is also true that the present world situation is such that a major displacement such as that involved in changing the Secretary-Generalship of the United Nations at this moment might well trigger off a highly unstable international situation and lead to regrettable consequences. With his thorough grounding in United Nations and international affairs; with the reliance placed on him by the membership of this Organization, especially the great Powers; with his instinctive tact and sensitivity to the requirements and characteristics of individual nations; with his devotion to duty, his firm idealism and his strength and ability to carry out plans; and above all, with his deep understanding of United Nations and world problems, we are convinced that the right man for the right job at the right time is U Thant, and that he should remain as Secretary-General of the United Nations at this period of the world's — and the United Nations — existence.
13. Yet, even as I reiterate the appeal of my Government and people for the Secretary-General to continue in office for a second term, I should make it quite clear that we well understand the personal sacrifices, the unremitting labours, the constant frustrations which the holder of this high office has to endure. I believe we are all aware of the enormous difficulties which successive Secretaries-General have had to bear, and of the fact that those difficulties have proportionately increased as the Organization's activities have expanded and multiplied; and in consequence, the present Secretary-General, U Thant, has inevitably had to bear a greater share of the burden of responsibility and work than did any of his predecessors, So much is apparent from the candid statement released by the Secretary-General's office in connexion with his recent decision.
14. A question for consideration at this point Is: to what extent are Member States of the United Nations, and in particular the great Powers, prepared to take the necessary steps with a view to the strengthening of this Organization, and hence, of the role of its Secretary-General, in the service of international peace and security?
15. This question leads me to consideration of some of the developments in the world political situation In the course of the past year. These developments remain a source of deep concern and anxiety to my Government, the most serious of them being, in our view, the intensification of the conflict in South-East Asia.
16. On previous occasions, we have persistently held that the immediate halting of the brutal war in Viet-Nam is vital to the preservation of world peace and security. But even more urgent is the stopping of the senseless massacres committed day after day on the Vietnamese people by the combatants in the conflict. Not a day has passed in the last several years without our reading in the international Press of the continuing tragedy in that unhappy land, which has borne so much suffering for so long. The savagery of the war and the agony of the Vietnamese people increase as the escalation of the conflict continues. Ideas, suggestions, and proposals to end the war have not been wanting, Yet, they do not affect any of the parties in the conflict. While valuable proposals have been put forward such as a general call for the reconvening of the participants in the Geneva Conference of 1954, the halting of bombing raids, the neutralization of the whole region, and the commitment to withdraw the armed forces of one of the combatants, my Government urges once more, as a first step towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict, an immediate and complete cease-fire under international supervision. We appeal to the parties concerned and their allies not to insist on preconditions to a cease-fire and negotiation, the more so as it is now generally recognized that continuation of the war presents, not indeed victory to one side, but the spectre of a widespread conflagration that will engulf the rest of the world. It therefore behooves the General Assembly to employ to the utmost all its resources and energies towards having the parties concerned and their allies set an early date for a cease-fire, and, to this end, to make a formal appeal to all concerned.
17. Closely related to the events in Asia and, indeed, to the entire world situation, is the question of the representation of the Government of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. My Government has on previous occasions stressed the vital necessity of the participation of the People's Republic of China in the councils of nations, and our views on this subject have become even stronger in the interval since the last General Assembly session. In matters that concern international peace and security, one cannot be less than realistic. Yet, how can we continue to think of achieving a comprehensive test-ban agreement, a non-proliferation treaty, nuclear disarmament, and general and complete disarmament, while continuing to exclude from negotiations and from membership in the United Nations a Government which represents one of the world's most populous nations and which, at the same time, is a world Power to reckon with? Our plea for the participation of the Government of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations is based not only on the Organization's ideal of universality, but — even more importantly — on the clear, cold reality that, for better or for worse, the People's Republic of China must perforce be a party to any international arrangement or treaty, if it is to have any measure of effectiveness and universality. In this connexion, my delegation finds it encouraging to note from reports in the Press that even those who have traditionally opposed the representation of the Government of the People's Republic of China are reconsidering their past positions and attitudes. I wish to express my delegation's earnest hope that their decision will be tempered by an awareness of the realities of the times and the recognition of the fearful consequences involved in disregard of those realities.
18. It is pertinent in this regard to take note of the occasional but persistent reports in the news media that the Government in Peking has made certain extraordinary demands as prerequisites to its admission to membership in the United Nations. If the allegation is true, then it creates an unfortunate situation, and I wish in this connexion to express my delegation's fervent hope that the Government of the People's Republic of China will, as befits a great people and a great nation, become cognizant of its responsibility towards humanity and the preservation of civilization, to which the people of China have over the centuries contributed so magnificently. My delegation would therefore urge the General Assembly to invite the Government of the People's Republic of China to membership of the United Nations as soon as possible, and to join the family of nations in solving some of the most urgent problems of mankind. My delegation is aware that such a proposal may sound, in view of the apparent intransigence of world politics, rather naive. However, it should also be apparent that, if our objective is survival, there is no alternative. Obduracy and increasing harshness of attitude will certainly not carry us closer to the solution of our problems.
19. Another matter of grave concern to my Government — and, I am sure, to other Governments — is the vexations impasse in disarmament negotiations. It is true that, since the establishment of the Eighteen- Nation Committee on Disarmament, there has been a better understanding of the complexity and difficulties of the disarmament problem and of the respective positions of the great Power groupings and alliances. But, to date, the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament has failed to make any appreciable progress in achieving its principal mandate — to negotiate a treaty on general and complete disarmament — and on the specific measures referred to it from time to time by the General Assembly.
20. We recall that the problem of the spread of nuclear weapons had engaged the serious attention of the General Assembly at its last session and that considerable time was devoted to it both in the First Committee and in plenary meetings. Pursuant to resolution 2028 (XX) of the General Assembly, the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament gave urgent consideration to the question of negotiating an international treaty to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. But in spite of the tireless endeavours of the non-aligned members of the Committee to achieve some progress toward negotiating a nonproliferation treaty, the gaps which remained between the positions of the major nuclear Powers with regard to nuclear armaments within alliances have, unfortunately, militated against any positive outcome. In this connexion, the joint memorandum of the nob- aligned members of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, as well as the separate memorandum submitted by Ethiopia, offers, in our view, sound suggestions for the major nuclear Powers to act upon.
21. But, in the meantime, how is the frightful prospect of the further spread of nuclear weapons to be avoided? How, indeed, are the various specific measures discussed at the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament to be implemented, as preliminary steps to a treaty on general and complete disarmament, if the major nuclear Power remain— as it appears — hesitant in taking the necessary initiatives commensurate with their great responsibilities for the preservation of international peace and security? To this fundamental difficulty is added the truly vexatious problem of the non-participation of two of the nuclear Powers.
22. While the Ethiopian delegation will endeavour to present specific suggestions on disarmament matters when the subject is discussed in the First Committee, I should like at this juncture to urge that the General Assembly make a solemn appeal to the Governments of the French Republic and the People's Republic of China to discharge their obligations to mankind by participating in disarmament negotiations and effectively making their contribution towards the realization of general and complete disarmament. My delegation firmly believes that any disarmament measure to which not all the nuclear Powers are parties will remain ineffectual and illusory.
23. I believe we all know that any specific disarmament measures and the paramount goal of an international treaty on general and complete disarmament cannot be achieved in a power vacuum, as it were. It is vitally important, therefore, that the United Nations security system be strengthened and rendered more effective. Such a step, however, is inevitably tied up with the settling of outstanding issues related to the financing of United Nations peace-keeping operations. The United Nations Special Committee on Peace- Keeping Operations, which was set up during the nineteenth session [see General Assembly resolution 2006 (XIX) of 18 February 1965] and of which my country is privileged to be a member has, as we all know, continued its discussion of the problem in the current year. But because of the inherent difficulties in negotiating formulae acceptable to all concerned and reaching agreement on concrete proposals to recommend to the General Assembly at its present session, the Special Committee has, regrettably, not been able to indicate any further progress. The very able Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Francisco Cuevas Cancino, the representative of Mexico, aptly summed up the whole situation when, at its last [22nd] meeting on 13 September 1966, he said:
"The difficulties inherent in this question and the divergencies of opinion are only too well known to all, but I refuse to become victim to a mistaken and dangerous pessimism. Through the quiet work that the Committee has carried out this year, it has been possible for both large and small Powers to consider calmly and conscientiously the various possibilities enshrined in the future of peacekeeping operations."
24. Obviously, none who has at heart the best interests of the future of the United Nations and its peace-keeping role will disagree with the contention that the Organization, in order to fulfil the manifold tasks assigned to it by the Charter, must, primarily be solvent. There is scarcely any divergence of opinion on this score. It is therefore our recommendation that the General Assembly should, while making the appropriate appeal to all concerned, renew the mandate of the Special Committee on Peace-Keeping Operations in order that it can continue its quiet negotiations with a view to evolving guidelines acceptable to all.
25. Of the various other international problems affecting world peace and security — matters of the utmost concern to the General Assembly — I wish to make specific reference to the situation in Southern Rhodesia, the question of South West Africa, and the policies of apartheid of the Government of the Republic of South Africa.
26. Long before the illegal seizure of power and authority in Southern Rhodesia by the minority settler group, my Government had expressed serious misgivings about the systematic transfer of the means of effective power and authority by the United Kingdom Government to those who now wield it to their advantage. Furthermore, Ethiopia's representatives in the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, as well as in the regular sessions of the General Assembly, had given warning, publicly in this hall, that the situation was fraught with dangerous consequences. If I might refer once more to my statement at the twentieth session of the General Assembly, I said then;
"...I must solemnly draw the attention of the General Assembly to the fact that any attempt by the settler regime in Southern Rhodesia to declare unilateral independence will be fraught with far- reaching consequences affecting the peace and security of the African continent." [1348th meeting, para, 44,]
Yet, despite these protests and warnings, the Government of the United Kingdom proceeded to transfer control of the armed forces in the Territory, as well as other attributes of sovereignty, to the minority settler regime in Southern Rhodesia, and, despite repeated assurances to the contrary by the British Government, Ian Smith made his long-threatened unilateral declaration of independence on 11 November 1965, thus nullifying in one bold stroke all the assurances of the United Kingdom Government that the rights of the vast majority of the indigenous inhabitants would not be jeopardized.
27. The subsequent events are, of course, known to the whole world. Despite the United Kingdom Prime Minister's prior warning that any move towards a unilateral declaration of independence by the settler regime would be regarded as an unconstitutional and treasonable action, the United Kingdom Government, instead of discharging its responsibilities towards the majority of the population in Southern Rhodesia, to the Charter of the United Nations, and to the community of nations, was content to institute a partial and ineffective economic boycott and to tell the world that the rebel regime would be brought to heel in a matter of weeks.
28. It is now ten months since then and, the economic hardships and sacrifices of the courageous people of Zambia notwithstanding, the rebel regime of Southern Rhodesia, supported by like-minded racist regimes such as the Governments of South Africa and Portugal, has, as we know, been able to survive thus far any inconvenience that the British economic boycott is supposed to have inflicted. Nor have the recommendations of the Security Council contained in its resolution 217 (1965) borne any fruitful results. The grim fact is that the rebel regime in Southern Rhodesia has, with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal, successfully circumvented the effectiveness of the Security Council resolution just referred to. Thus, while the United Kingdom Government vacillates in indecision, while it alternately attends Commonwealth conferences and engaged in fruitless negotiations with Ian Smith — all the while endeavouring to absolve itself, before world public opinion, of any responsibility for the Southern Rhodesian situation and trying to convince everyone that everything is being done to restore the Territory to its constitutional status — Ian Smith is busily consolidating his power and tightening his grip on the destiny of the millions of Africans in the Territory.
29. Should Smith commit himself completely to the vicious policy of apartheid and form an unholy alliance with South Africa and Portugal, then the world may well expect to see, in the not too distant future, the continent of Africa convulsed in the most savage racial wars. Let there be no doubts about this. African patience and genuine endurance are by no means inexhaustible, and the fundamental rights of entire peoples cannot indefinitely be trampled upon with impunity.
30. However, there appears to be some hopeful note in the recent Commonwealth communique issued in London on 14 September 1966. The Ethiopian delegation finds this, on the whole, encouraging. To the extent that the communique's reaffirmation of the British determination to end the rebellion in Southern Rhodesia, to release the nationalist leaders who have been arbitrarily detained, to apply the principle of "one man, one vote", to repeal repressive and discriminatory laws — to the extent that these promises are all implemented, to that extent will Ethiopia find satisfaction and put faith in the actuations of the United Kingdom Government in Southern Rhodesia. We also welcome the realization by the British Government of the necessity of instituting mandatory economic sanctions against the rebel regime in Southern Rhodesia, although I must state that we have a certain reservation regarding the restrictive term "selective" used in connexion with the matter of effective mandatory economic sanctions.
31. In view of the critical situation in Southern Rhodesia, we would urge that the competent organs of the United Nations act now, before it is too late, and, pursuant to the relevant provisions of Chapter VII of the Charter, take the necessary appropriate measures. We are fully aware of the implications of such a procedure and of the resistance that certain Interests are bound to offer. However, it is our belief, as it is the belief of other countries which are concerned about international peace and security, that the commercial and economic interests of a few should not be allowed to endanger the interests of the great majority of nations and to shackle the United Nations in the performance of its main functions. Since the inept handling of the situation by the constitutional authorities responsible for Southern Rhodesia has unfortunately precipitated matters, my Government urges that the United Nations community, in all conscience, take effective measures as early as possible.
32. I should like at this stage of my remarks to refer to an editorial in The New York Times in its issue of 14 September 1966. In connexion with the choice of a new Prime Minister for the Republic of South Africa, the editorial stated:
"South Africa nationalist leaders have flouted world opinion in the most dramatic manner possible by selecting Balthazar J. Vorster as their new Prime Minister.
"None of the other prospective successors to Hendrik F. Verwoerd symbolizes so utterly the Republic's oppressive racial policies and police- state laws as the fifty-year-old Minister of Justice who enforced them and wrote many of them. No other nationalist leader would be so certain to inflame African opinion and offend sensibilities outside Africa as the man who was imprisoned by his own Government for underground pro-Nazi activity during World War II.
"The appointment of Mr. Vorster means simply that South African nationalists in fear have turned over the reins of government to the most extreme, most ruthless, most totalitarian of their party leaders, whatever the eventual consequences.
"The only positive thing that can be said about this selection is that Mr. Vorster probably will pursue and extend most of the major policies of his fallen predecessor with less pretence, less camouflage, less downright hypocrisy.
"Mr. Vorster, for example, is likely to be more open in his support of Prime Minister Ian Smith's white regime in Rhodesia. Dr, Verwoerd saw to it that adequate assistance was extended to keep the rebel regime afloat, but he never formally recognized it as an independent state and always pretended that South Africa was merely carrying on 'business as usual' with its neighbours north of the Limpopo."
I have quoted the editorial at length because it is quite to the point and should serve as a warning against any relaxation towards the South African Government and its policy of apartheid. The 'old adversary is dead, but in his place is one far more brutal and more inaccessibly conscienceless, from all evidence and reports. If such is the case, then the developments in South Africa augur ill for both the continent and the world, and it behooves the United Nations and the rest of the community of nations to take stringent, effective measures as soon as possible, in order to prevent the spread of this malignant growth on the world body before it engulfs everything in its path.
33. It is pertinent at this point to call attention to those countries, both inside and outside the membership of this Organization, which still continue to supply the racist Governments with the means to carry out their oppressive, inhuman policies, in spite of numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council which request, inter alia, the cessation of the sale of arms and ammunition to South Africa. In this connexion, we noted in recent press reports that mandatory sanctions against the minority rebel regime in Southern Rhodesia are not favoured by a certain permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, the reason being that such sanctions would be ineffective unless they applied to South Africa as well; however, any application of sanctions against South Africa would, it fears, have adverse effects on its trading relations with that country.
34. We should like to state that, much as we respect the legitimate concerns of States Members of this Organization, my Government is certainly not prepared to endorse the superiority of the economic interests of individual States over the sanctity of the principles of the Charter and the interests of the majority of the Member States of this Organization. As I have suggested earlier, what we urge on the United Nations vis-a-vis the Rhodesian situation is nothing short of effective measures in the form of mandatory sanctions.
35. The virulent racism of South Africa and the suppressive colonial war being waged by Portugal in the African territories under its administration should not, we believe, be regarded merely as means to frustrate any effective move on the part of the United Nations, but as logical areas which an effective mandatory sanction should encompass. My delegation, therefore, would urge the General Assembly to give its serious thought and immediate attention to this matter. The fate of the League of Nations in the 1930s and its subsequent extinction should be a lesson writ large for all of us in this Organization.
36. Of no less concern to the family of nations represented in this hall is the future of the Territory of South West Africa, In the wake of the calamitous decision handed down by the International Court of Justice, contrary to its previous rulings and on the flimsy technical ground that the Governments of Ethiopia and Liberia did not have sufficient legal interest in their claim, a shocked world could not but question the integrity of the Court and its freedom from political and other pressures. Noteworthy is the fact that the decision handed down by the Court was arrived at by a minority of the Judges and required the deciding voice of the President of the Court. While comments in the international Press at the time the Court's decision was announced revealed the relief felt by certain Powers at the fact that a substantive decision on the merits of the case was at least delayed, the Government of South Africa evidently jumped to a hasty conclusion, namely, that the decision of the Court was a licence to proceed to an outright annexation of South West Africa and the extension to that Territory of the racist policy of apartheid. My delegation has made a separate statement on the question of South West Africa [1414th meeting], and that being so, I should like to limit myself, in this regard, to reiterating just two points.
37. In the first instance, unlike the International Court of Justice, this Organization, as the successor of the defunct League of Nations, is bound by its Charter to uphold the paramount interests and well-being of the people of South West Africa. In the circumstances, therefore, my delegation reiterates its appeal to this Assembly for the revocation of the Mandate over South West Africa and the assumption by the United Nations of its responsibility for the administration of the Territory.
38. Secondly, since it has become increasingly apparent that a change in the composition of the International Court of Justice is urgently called for, my delegation would like to propose that such a change be instituted on the lines adopted in enlarging the membership of the Security Council and of the Economic and Social Council in order to ensure an equitable geographic distribution of Member States in those organs. The Ethiopian delegation specifically urges the amending of Article 3 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice with a view to enlarging the membership of the Court so that it will reflect the increase in the family of nations and thereby ensure the effective representation of all regions in that body.
39. If, in my remarks thus far, I have dwelt at some length on the international political situation, to the exclusion of the economic and social activities of the Organization, it is not that my Government attaches little importance to the latter. On the contrary, like many other nations represented in this hall, we fully recognize the outstanding achievements of this Organization in the social and economic field, particularly in the amelioration of the lot of peoples throughout the world, and in bringing about effective international co-operation in these spheres. Nevertheless, we must express some concern over the fact that the momentum of economic development anticipated as a result of the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) two years ago has not been as encouraging as expected. It is significant that, in the introduction to the annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization [A/6301/Add.l], the loss of momentum of international aid is singled out as the gravest single factor in the developments of the year since the last session of the General Assembly. My delegation expresses the earnest hope that the more affluent States Members of the Organization will do all in their power to help to improve this situation; for we believe that in a body politic, such as the United Nations community of nations, there should be unceasing effort to close the widening gap in living conditions between the developed and the under-developed nations, thus enabling all States, great or small, to contribute to world economic and social progress. We believe that the General Assembly should give due consideration to that part of the Secretary-General's report to which I have alluded and make the appropriate appeal to all concerned.
40. in conclusion, I should like to express the hope that the representatives of the great Powers, in particular, will seize and utilize to the utmost the opportunity afforded by this meeting in assembly to engage in a frank and open exchange of views, with the constant thought that so much of the well-being of peoples everywhere lies, in great measure, within their control. As has so often been remarked, the world is rapidly shrinking as vast reaches of interstellar space come within man's ken and the means of communication become swifter than ever. Barriers, physical and cultural, are falling everywhere and, as a concomitant, people must perforce learn to live with one another —despite differences in race, creed and social and economic circumstances — or perish. The great Powers, in particular, which wield such immense power and influence in practically every significant area of the world today — political, economic, social, technological — to such a degree that they have polarized a great part of the rest of the world in sympathy, support, or alliance with one or the other side, must perforce learn not merely to abide one another, but to consolidate or join their tremendous resources for the common good of mankind, I believe that it is not mere wishful thinking, but a matter of swift and relatively easy accomplishment, to hope that the great Powers, cognizant of the moral responsibility that power confers, will in the near future join forces in the endeavour to find solutions to the urgent problems that plague the world. It is the deep and abiding hope, the profound yearning, of all the peoples of this earth, especially those of the smaller nations, that the great Powers may instead of wasting their resources and energies in hostilities towards one another, pool these resources and energies for the benefit of lesser developed nations. The idea is certainly not new, but one cannot help experiencing a quickening of the pulse, a feeling of joyful expectation, in reflecting that one day in the not too distant future the great and powerful of this world will heed the universal yearning and co-operate with one another to help to solve problems of food, population, housing and disease, and to eradicate the evils that limit and benight the mind of man — illiteracy, prejudice and bigotry born of ignorance and deprivation of the education which opens up new horizons to the world of art and imagination.
41. However, cognizant of the fact that everything worth endeavour in this world has its basis in hard facts and plain hard work, I feel that I must, in closing, turn once more to some specific considerations. One of the most urgent, I hardly need remind this Assembly, certainly concerns the twin problems of nuclear proliferation and the continuing nuclear test explosions. It is the solemn duty of this Organization, as the one body evolved and created by men for the solution of common ills, to give this matter its immediate and most earnest attention.
42. Allow me to add here that all our objectives — political, social, cultural, and economic — can be achieved only under the aegis of the United Nations. Hence, it is imperative that the machinery of the United Nations for the implementation of our common goals should be further strengthened, and the Organization itself rendered a truly effective instrument for the fulfilment of the underlying principles of the Charter.
43. My delegation does not offer ready solutions to the manifold problems that disturb mankind today. I must repeat that the key to these problems lies not in our hands, nor, indeed, in those of other small or medium-sized nations; it rests with the great Powers of today. It is fervently hoped by my nation, as, I am sure it is by other nations represented in this Assembly, that the great Powers, fully recognizing that the means for the well-being and progress of mankind — or its extinction — lie within their absolute grasp, will elect to fulfil their sacred responsibility towards their fellow-men, and ensure that future generations shall live in peace, security, economic abundance and social harmony.