57. First, Mr. President, I should like to associate.my country very sincerely with the tributes, offered by all those who have spoken before me, on the occasion of your election. Your outstanding qualities of heart and mind make it natural that you should be destined to guide our debates at an especially difficult moment in the international situation. Your well-known moderation, courage and equanimity will be more necessary today than ever before in helping us to accomplish our high mission.
58. We are grateful, too, to your eminent predecessor, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Amintore Fanfani, who is well-known in my country for his qualities as a statesman and for the rare but precious combination of an oecumenical approach, unruffled courage and an acute sense of responsibility with which he but lately presided over our work.
59. Today, as always, the General Assembly is confronted with problems of two kinds: economic problems, which are permanent because they are connected with an imbalance in development and world trade; and political problems, which, although they are certainly current problems, nevertheless spring from matters which are the constant concern of our Assembly: I refer to decolonization, the sterile demagogy of ideologies, the expansionist appetite of the great Powers and their will to power — these, alas, feed the short-term calculations of some and the spiritual surrender of others.
60. In regard to economic problems, which are the keystone of international co-operation, it is no secret to anyone that, since the last two meetings of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the gulf between privileged and under-privileged nations has steadily widened. It will go on widening until such time as the privileged third, enjoying 80 per cent of the world's resources, arrives at a more real and concrete sense of common cause with the two thirds of humanity living from common resources under the permanent shadow of hunger, disease, illiteracy and even, alas, thirst.
61. It is time, therefore — and we barely have time — to agree, courageously and in the common interest of our community, to reverse the present trade pattern, inherited from a nefarious trading system. It is no longer enough to restore a balance between primary commodities and manufactured goods: a new world economic order must be instituted, and very quickly. Reference has been made in this hall to the "organised pillage" of the resources of one third of the world. The remedy must be a bold one: in other words, it must be proportional to the gravity of that indictment.
62. That is why we deplore the stagnation of assistance to the non-aligned countries and the proposal made by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for a sum of 1 per cent of the gross national product; the stagnation, after all, was foreseeable, for the great mistake was to set targets country by country, when it was rather the global aspect of the problem that should have been envisaged. In that respect the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in its annual report for 1966, notes, not without concern, that;
"While the increasingly heavy debt burden of developing countries points to the need for funds on easier terms, recent legislative authorizations suggest that the average terms of total bilateral assistance may become less, rather than more, concessionary".
And further, that;
"A major anomaly in the present system of aid lies in the inconsistency between the justifiable insistence by those who provide assistance that recipient countries formulate longer-term development strategy and policies, while they themselves can make no commitment of aid beyond a period of one year.
63. Indeed, with our increasingly well-organized reception structures, we could better prepare and apply our development plans if the countries supplying aid would give us a reasonable indication of the level of assistance to be expected during the period of implementation of our plans* W§ believe that one of the conditions for our orderly growth resides in the will of the industrialized countries to give priority to aid for the development of our young States. If we ask that aid be supplied under reasonable conditions, it is in order to enable us to break the vicious circle of unreasonable increase in the growth volume of assistance, while maintaining the transfer of real resources to the non-developed countries at a given level.
64. In regard to the problem of world trade, in order to be equitable we must in future look at it more from the standpoint of market organization. In the rich countries, for example, the State already guarantees farmers a sale for their products at prices described as attractive. With a little imagination and an effective spirit of solidarity, there would be no technical difficulty in extending this method and practising, on a world scale, a rational organization of trade guaranteeing today's poor countries a turnover of their agricultural and even their manufactured products at fair and rewarding prices. The organization of the edible oil market in the free zone and the more modest but promising experience of the sugar agreement among member States of the Common Afro-Malagasy Organization seem to us, despite their still limited character, to point the way for the future.
65. At present the evidence shows that more and more is being required from the developing countries in thus making common cause, but that their effort is still as ill-rewarded as ever, because of the selfishness of the rich countries and the deterioration in the terms of trade. In 1965, for example, there was a strikingly great increase in agricultural production, of the order of 5; per cent or more; yet our countries have never suffered greater losses on such products as, for example, cotton, than they did in that year.
66. The unfavourable effects of this fluctuation in the value of trade in primary commodities are important, particularly in the less developed primary producing countries, for fluctuations in export earnings directly affect the stability of their domestic economies. This instability becomes a decisive additional factor aggravating the various factors inherent in under-development and seriously hampers the planning and implementation of economic and social development programmes. It is therefore becoming urgent to envisage effective compensation measures, whether in the form of currency reserves to reinforce the present action of the International Monetary Fund, or in the form of long-term credits, or in the form of an equalization fund operating at world level as an insurance fund for development; or, better still, by harmoniously combining the multiplying effects of these different modes of intervention. The prerequisite for all this to be translated into reality is international co-operation, resulting from frank and patient negotiations and the conclusion of a series of agreements between industrialized countries and under-equipped countries with an essentially agricultural economy; such agreements would have to cover both the terms of technical and financial assistance and the arrangements for trade relations.
67. In order to remedy the fluctuation of prices and the currency drain caused by it, and while awaiting the advent of this new world economic order for which we call with all our heart and strength, my country will continue to pursue and improve, realistically and discriminatingly, the consolidation of groupings among developing countries within an appropriate geographical framework.
68. If these regional groupings are to become dynamic, effective foci of rapid economic expansion, they must keep their doors wide open, first to neighbour countries, then to similar groupings on other continents and, finally, to international organizations. It is in the light of such concerns that one must understand our fruitful relations with the Special Fund and our effective association with the European Economic Community, which is setting an example of disinterested aid and a noble spirit of co-operation and strengthening our faith in the future relations between developed and developing countries.
69. These economic preoccupations, however, urgent and compelling though they are, are far from constituting the only concerns of the United Nations. With this twenty-first session the General Assembly reaches its majority. This is more than ever the moment for it to face the real problems besetting it — that is, courageously to find concrete solutions for those problems. World opinion will no longer be content with this escape route whereby resolutions pile up, no sooner adopted than forgotten. The hour for bold decisions has arrived, for in Angola and Mozambique, as well as in so-called Portuguese Guinea, the Lisbon Government, with the same obstinacy as in the past, is still resisting all development. Claiming that these colonies are on the same footing as metropolitan provinces, the Portuguese Government is keeping them in a state of strict dependence and, when their populations seek to emancipate themselves, it subjects them to rigorous repression. The Government of Niger cannot but deplore that obstinacy; it hopes that the inhabitants of the Portuguese colonies will before long be in a position to exert their right of self-determination in a real sense. It is nothing short of a tragedy for the Portuguese people, once so attentive to the trend and lesson on history, to find itself today drawn by the blindness of its present leaders along the retrograde and anachronistic paths of modern colonialism, at a time when other European nations have for years been giving it lessons in progress and in the morality of relations among communities.
70. The illegal Government of Rhodesia gives us another example of blind obstinacy; for, despite the fact that it has been disowned by the entire world, with the exception, of course, of South Africa and Portugal, it is trying to perpetuate the domination of a minority of foreign settlers over the great majority of the country's inhabitants.
71. The sanctions applied by a number of countries represent a worthy but totally inadequate effort. Admittedly, they are inconveniencing Rhodesia, but everything leads one to believe that they cannot in themselves make Rhodesia give in, mainly because of the permanent violation of the blockade by South Africa and Portugal. It appears, therefore, that a new effort mus, be made by the United Kingdom; it is for that country to do everything possible and, if necessary to resort to force, to checkmate the Rhodesian rebellion. We have always maintained that the Rhodesian question is primarily a question for the United Kingdom. Our confidence in that great Power must dictate to it the measure of its responsibilities.
72. The recent assassination of the Prime Minister of South Africa has once again drawn attention to the sad situation reigning in that country, where, once again, a minority imbued with racist theories seeks to maintain indefinitely its domination over the rest of the population. World opinion must not tolerate such flouting of human rights in that part of our continent. Despite the small effect, so far, of the economic sanctions adopted against Rhodesia — but in view of the existence of those sanctions — a total embargo should be imposed on South Africa. It seems to us, moreover, that such measures would have greater force if they were applied to South Africa as well as to Rhodesia.
73. I now come to the particularly grave question of South West Africa. My Government profoundly regrets that the International Court of Justice, after so much procrastination, did not find it incumbent upon itself to adjudicate on the substance of the complaint submitted by Liberia and Ethiopia. For our part, no doubt is possible and it is not going too far to refer to this iniquitous judgement as frivolous. Be that as it may, my country, in the name of human rights, rejects the conclusions of a juridical formalism inspired by obsolete notions of race, colour or civilization.
74. For years South Africa has been defying international opinion, making a mockery of our unanimous resolutions and violating the mandate entrusted to it by the League of Nations by refusing, despite the opinion of the Court of Justice, to accept any United Nations supervision over its administration and by applying to that unfortunate Territory the nefarious system of apartheid. As was recently proposed by the Committee of Twenty-Four, we demand that the United
Nations General Assembly, the heir to the League of Nations, take back from South Africa the mandate entrusted to that country by the League. Measures of an economic order, identical with those which I have just advocated, should, of course, be immediately taken against the Pretoria Government in order to compel it, if that is still possible, to relax its hold on the international Territory of South West Africa.
75. To reject the apartheid policy in the name of international morality, of morality tout court, and at the same time to stand passively watching its systematic installation in South West Africa, is hypocrisy and blindness which nothing can pardon. The time has come for the United Nations, in face of the defiance and dilatory decisions of South Africa, to assume its responsibilities and vigorously take all appropriate measures, while mere is still time, to remove South West Africa from the effect of the nefarious apartheid regime.
76. In regard to the new countries of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, we rejoice to see that the first two have achieved independence; but we well know the difficulty of their situation, surrounded as they are by South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal. We therefore ask the United Kingdom, in the first place, to do everything to ensure that their territorial integrity and independence are guaranteed.
77. No country is more anxious than Niger to see the United Nations, in keeping with its own fundamental principles, recover the universal character which the peoples of the whole world expect of it. That is why we welcome the return of the Republic of Indonesia, whose successive delegations and Permanent Representatives have always enriched our debates, to its legitimate place. We welcome with equal enthusiasm the arrival of the Republic of Guyana among us; its history of struggle, heroism and self-control is the guarantee of the positive contribution it will make to our work.
78. It is in the name of this universality that we are solemnly launching from this rostrum an anguished appeal, first to the peoples of Europe, then to all the peoples of the world, for an end to the absurd situation of a divided Germany. This anachronistic situation is keeping out of our Assembly the third greatest economic Power of the world and, moreover, is creating, out of the accumulated feelings of humiliation, frustration and injustice, an explosive situation in the heart of Europe. Whatever sufferings may have been endured not long ago, the scars of which are still far from healed, the future of peace and security on the old continent, and therefore in the whole world, demand a policy of reconciliation and interchange with the German people. Whether this is or is not to the liking of some, whether it causes one to rejoice or to deplore, the relaxation of East-West tension- indispensable to Europe today—depends on German unity. We who are glad to appreciate the blessings of self-determination, which we continue to demand as an inalienable right for the peoples of Africa, Asia and America, call for it in no less certain terms for the German people.
79. But, by the same logic and with the same insistence we claim it for the peoples artificially and dangerously divided in Korea, Viet-Nam and elsewhere, The permanent policy of my country in this connexion is nothing less than the application of simple, just and healthy principles: namely, free elections under international control, unification and self-determination, permitting these peoples freely to choose their own destinies.
80. Still in the name of the universality of our Organization, we are continuing to support the legitimate rights of the Republic of China, known as Formosa China, to sit with us as long as its foreign policy continues to be based on the sacred principles of international co-operation and scrupulous respect for the United Nations Char her,
81. Let our Assembly take care not to let itself be inveigled by the bias of formal juridical concepts on to the slippery slope of proclaiming a debatable principle, "one country, one seat", a principle which would not only deprive us of the effective co-operation of the Republic of China, to the advantage of countries which, unfortunately, do not hesitate to raise subversion, naked interference in the internal affairs of other countries and lordly contempt for small nations to the level of political dogma — and my country has suffered from that in its most frightful form, fratricidal war — but which also, if applied rigorously, would lead to a revision of the very composition of our Organization and would plunge it into a crisis far greater than any it has yet known.
82. Accordingly, as recent events have taught us, we must be wary, while there is still time, of certain protestations, apparently dictated by ideological rigidity, which are merely a mask for inordinate national pride, seeking to find allies rather than to promote general emancipation.
83. That having been said — and it had to be said forcefully from this rostrum — the Republic of the Niger would not be the last to rejoice at seeing the great Chinese people return to its age-old virtues of tolerance, hospitality and unshakable calm and at last take its proper place in the concert of nations.
84. In regard to the war in Viet-Nam, we very sincerely regret that the words of wisdom, moderation and experience pronounced in Phnom Penh by the President of the French Republic should have found no echo among any of the parties interested in varying degrees in that situations, with the exception of North Viet-Nam.
85. We shall go even further. In order to create genuine and sincere conditions for a dialogue and, therefore, for negotiation, in other words for an unconditional return to the Geneva Conference, it is not enough merely to have military de-escalation, although that would contribute decisively towards disentangling the present situation: in reality what is needed is reciprocal de-escalation — military, in the first place, followed by political and ideological. Everything is in fact happening as though the extinction of Viet-Nam as a State matters less than the triumph of ideologies or the self-esteem of other States. Everything that goodwill can do must be done simultaneously to prevent the infamy of a nation’s disappearance in Viet-Nam and to avoid what for man
kind as a whole is worst of all, the spectre of a third and perhaps final world conflagration.
86. In present circumstances it seems to me that we cannot hope for any good to come from what has been called the various appeals to intransigence; nor can we look for rationality in the attitude of those who, through lassitude or helplessness, cherishing the naive hope that time or a final calamity might make things go their way, are willing to put up with a situation in which the people of Viet-Nam, in the north and in the south, are dying. One might think, in view of the gamut of events, from the pitiless military escalation in Viet-Nam to the hate-inspired outbreaks of the Red Guards, that the final calamity had already started. No sane man can accept this or come to terms with it, for twenty-five years of war, ruin and every kind of devastation, with their accompaniment of tears, blood and corpses, are an experience that the martyred people of Viet-Nam can well do without. For the reasons I have rapidly enumerated, one does not have to be a sage in order to realize that the international situation, far from improving, has started dangerously to deteriorate. This calls for great calmness and clear-headed courage on the part of each of us and each of our countries. Today more than ever the hard but noble task of maintaining peace demands of those responsible the dedication of a fruitful imagination to the service of a sacred mission.
87. That is why the President of the Republic of the Niger, Mr. Diori Hamani, could write to Secretary-General U Thant:
"At a time when your mandate is coming to an end we are happy to send you our warmest congratulations; for your determination, your tact and, above all, your great wisdom have enabled you to keep our planet from plunging into the most frightful cataclysm.
"For us, whose permanent preoccupation is the struggle against under-development and all its evils — poverty, sickness, ignorance and illiteracy — our faith in the objectives and ideals of the Charter of the United Nations remains unshakable. We remain firmly convinced of the necessity of devising a new world system as soon as possible, one which will offer better prospects for peace and justice. We must continue to try and find ways of guaranteeing that peace and justice to all, no matter what differences may divide us.
"The world situation being, despite our wishes, what it is, we young nations have an interest in seeing you, Mr. Secretary-General, continue your high and difficult mission.
"For our part, we young African nations give you the assurance that you will continue to receive from us the same firm and loyal support as in the past.”
88. However great our continuing respect for your decision and the scruples inspiring it, Mr.Secretary-General, you cannot give up your work for peace, nor the work you have so successfully started in another sphere of United Nations activity, one which is most important for us: the restoration to the French language of its legitimate rights, in order that the French-speaking delegations may be able to go on making a
steadily greater contribution towards building the ideal so wonderfully enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
89. So, despite clouds and difficulties, there is still hope for the future. The United Nations, which has weathered so many storms in the last twenty years, must triumph over present difficulties. The love of peace, which all men share, the future and the survival of the human race, demands this. It would be no small merit of our generation if we could, patiently but with confidence, open the way towards realizing the dreams of a species, the meaning of whose existence is enshrined in the fundamental principles of the Charter.
90. For we must, after all, accept the evidence: that today, more than ever before, we are all in the same boat, tossed by the winds in the once harmless, but today dangerously threatening eye of the atomic tempest, as we all strive to reach the same shore, the common haven for men of every race and every ideology.