83. Mr. President, it is a particular pleasure for me and for my delegation to convey to you the very warm congratulations of the people and Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on your election to the Presidency of the twenty-first session of the General Assembly.
84. Your remarkable human and diplomatic qualities, your broad understanding of international problems, your profound humanity, which makes you sensitive to the troubles and aspirations of all the nations represented here, mark you out as particularly fitted for this heavy task, I am sure that your great experience in this Organization, enriched as it is by your talents and your knowledge, will help you to overcome the innumerable difficulties of that task. Permit me to tell you, Sir, how certain my delegation feels that the twenty-first session of this Assembly will, under your guidance, be one of the most, if not the most, fruitful in the history of the United Nations.
85. I should like, at the same time, with your permission, to thank from this rostrum the members of this distinguished Assembly, whose friendship and understanding have made it possible for the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assume, at your side, the office of Vice-President. I do not need to emphasize that this is the first time such an honour has fallen to my country here in this Organization; so you will understand my delegation's interest in the work of this session,
86. Permit me also to convey my delegation's congratulations and good wishes to the new Member State which has just joined us, Guyana. For a young State it is always a felicitous and promising event to attain independence and join the United Nations. We are certain that this young State will make a valuable contribution to our endeavours here to build a peaceful international community, freed from fear and need.
87. Lastly, I should like to express my own and my Government's pleasure at seeing the distinguished representative of the great people of Indonesia among us. His presence here, after a temporary absence, is an additional pledge of the universality towards which the United Nations strives and of the hope that we should hold for it.
88. The twenty-first session of the General Assembly is meeting at a time when the term of office of our Secretary-General is expiring. For honourable reasons, all of them concerned with the survival of our Organization and the maintenance of international peace, he has announced that he is unwilling to contemplate another term of office. Need I say how distressing that decision is to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, In recent years U Thant has personified the United Nations and also everything that, in suffering humanity, makes for a better world, freed from the spectre of war and the tragedy of hunger.
89. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is particularly grateful to him, because, worthily continuing the work of Dag Hammarskjold, he has assured the primacy of law in our country and has contributed to the restoration of law and order and of our country's unity and territorial integrity. That is why the Democratic Republic of the Congo perhaps feels, even more than other nations, the distress felt by the whole world at the thought that the Organization is going to lose such a guide and the international community such a shepherd.
90. The Secretary-General will, I am sure, permit me to express my country's Joy on learning that he has agreed to bear his heavy responsibilities until the end of this session. My delegation, in associating itself with this strong feeling, begs all Powers to be sincere and not hypocritical in their appeal to the Secretary-General. We earnestly appeal to all nations to give him the grounds for hope that would encourage him to meet our request that he remain at the head of the United Nations.
91. The delegation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo would like, first of all, to proclaim its faith in the United Nations. This faith is not based solely on the aspirations shared by all peoples; in our case it is based on specific facts. The Congo cannot forget that when, on its emergence from the dark night of colonialism, foreign interests and monopolies whose conduct was dictated by the vilest and most sordid rapacity joined together to bring about secession and civil war in the very heart of our country, it was this Organization which came to our aid.
92. Our country had just achieved independence. It was young, full of hope and promise. It lacked experience and still had much to learn. The most disgraceful interests, in coalition with one another, were trying to sow and maintain discord in our country. It was then that the United Nations, of which the Congo was a new Member, responding to our appeal, took an historic step: it chose, for the first time in its history, to intervene in order to safeguard the unity and territorial integrity of one of its Members.
93. If I speak today of the ordeals through which the Congo has passed, it is to throw into sharp relief the positive contribution this Organization brought to the solution achieved. Thanks to that assistance my country has made a new start which, even if at times we are still troubled by growing pains, will in the end bring it up to full, calm maturity.
94. The regime in power at present is, for its part, extremely concerned about the misfortunes which have plunged our country into mourning in the six years of its independence and is therefore firmly resolved to bring about first of all domestic peace and security for the whole people; otherwise it will be impossible to get down to any economic development.
95. We have simultaneously launched another crusade: its aim is to liberate our country .completely from the sordid and shameful exploitation in which it is still being kept, on the economic level, by foreign monopolies. We are well aware that the resources and wealth of our soil should first of all serve the interests of the Congolese themselves. We have never forgotten, however, to take into account the foreign interests established in our country; the Democratic Republic of the Congo unquestionably derives benefit from them. Our concern is to reconcile and harmonize those interests with our own aspirations, our dignity and fundamental interests. Unfortunately, this is no easy matter, for the financial powers which exploit us, feeling their privileges threatened, have undertaken against us a systematic campaign of denigration and subversion. Their hostility takes forms ranging from press campaigns to attempts at subversion that could cause Congolese blood to flow. What has recently happened in my country, particularly in the martyred town of Kisangani, where our troops have had to put down a mutiny, was merely a demonstration of this attempt at destruction; but, whatever ambushes .and traps our enemies place in our path, the Congolese Government is still smiling and in the midst of its misfortunes has never closed its doors to bilateral or multilateral co-operation. We cherish the firm hope that the United Nations will always lend an attentive ear to our problems and our worries; and it is just this faith in the nations that makes it possible for the Congo, more than any other country, to concern itself with the development of the world situation in certain fields.
96. In the economic field, first of all, we cannot but note that, despite the efforts made during the United Nations Development Decade, the gulf between poor nations and rich nations has steadily widened. Therein lies a serious cause of instability in world relations. Admittedly, an effort is being made, particularly in regard to my country, within the framework of the United Nations itself.
97. In this connexion I should like to say how much we have appreciated, ever since our independence, the assistance received from the United Nations Development Programme. With good reason, the effort of the United Nations Development Programme was from the outset focused on the crucial problem of lack of technical personnel; but the assistance furnished to most of the training institutes is to end in the course of 1969 and we should like to know at the beginning of 1968 how future development is being contemplated. However that may be, this phase of training constitutes a first stage in the assistance given to the Congo and we are grateful to the United Nations for it: but it is now time to think about and plan a second stage, which ought to be concerned principally with development assistance.
98. In the context of this general statement, I should like to mention the Congo's own specific problems, for they seem to me to reflect those of the Third World as a whole. The request for training assistance, taking its place within the framework of a more general development assistance, raises a problem which concerns all the less developed countries and which must be solved if we want to bring about in the world the economic equilibrium which is the guarantee of political stability and peace.
99. It is paradoxical indeed that, at a time when men are trying to conquer outer space and the moon, no thought is being given to eliminating hunger and poverty from our own planet. How can we explain that in certain parts of the world men are still dying of
hunger, while others live in abundance and affluence? How can we explain the destitution and poverty of peoples, when fantastic sums are being spent every day solely for prestige purposes or, what is worse, to sow destruction?
100. This poverty is creating all the more tension because sometimes it exists side by side with wealth in the same place. Would it not be possible, before thinking of lunar enterprises, to allay our poverty on this poor earth, before we carry it to other planets? Would not that be a positive contribution to the work of peace with which each of us is so concerned? But peace requires other efforts and I am here wondering whether it is really useful for a country like mine to discuss a question on which apparently only the great Powers have a say. I sincerely believe that, at a time when the means of destruction are exceeding our imagination, peace is of interest to each of us and that it is up to us all to co-operate in preserving it.
101. I should like to mention here the will displayed both by Africa and by the United Nations to take a considerable step towards peace by achieving one of its essential conditions, denuclearization. The Assembly will recall two resolutions on the denuclearization of Africa [resolutions 1652 (XVI) and 2033 (XX)]. It is high time those resolutions were implemented and that would be an important step towards what we all hope for — the ending of the atomic terror.
102. It seems to us pointless to talk about disarmament so long as the Powers go on building up their arsenals of destruction. A valid attempt at disarmament would therefore begin by halting the manufacture of new weapons; the second stage would be the reduction of existing stocks, under international control. Unfortunately, with our minds clouded by the power of atomic and nuclear weapons, our attention has been diverted from conventional weapons of no less devastating effect. We believe that the disarmament should be aimed at both atomic and conventional weapons. The marvellous technology which is bringing about miracles must be in the service of man, It must never contribute to his enslavement. All that is today being wasted for military purposes in this field would serve humanity so much better if it were devoted to development, particularly the development of poor nations.
103. After referring to the joint effort of our Organization and Africa to consolidate peace, I should like to deplore the relative deadlock reached in the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations, despite the remarkable talents and tireless efforts of its President, Mr. Cuevas Cancino. Yet the United Nations today has such need of powers in this essential field of peace-keeping.
104. Admittedly, in Europe the way seems open to certain attempts at the creation of a system of peaceful relations based on growing understanding between the two existing blocs. But there again our hopes can be only very limited, for the German problem remains untouched and, as long as it does remain, will always constitute an encumbrance and a threat hindering the efforts made for peace in that part of the world. The solution to this problem cannot, in our opinion, be shirked. It must be based on a principle dear to the United Nations and to each of us: namely, self-determination and the freedom of peoples to decide on their own fate.
105. Africa, too — and I shall come back to the woes of that continent later — is trying to create through the Organization of African Unity an organization aimed at peace and development.
106. In Asia foci of tension still exist in the Near East. It is to be hoped that the parties involved will be patient and, trusting this Organization, will succeed in settling their differences by peaceful means, without recourse to arms.
107. Viet-Nam, the centre of our interest, is being torn apart by a war which is at once civil and international. The Congo is particularly concerned with the sufferings of the Viet-Namese people and with the threat to world peace implicit in that conflict. In this respect very interesting proposals have been made in this Assembly. My delegation believes that the 1954 Geneva Agreements must be taken into account in choosing solutions. But the proper implementation of solutions will nevertheless be possible only with the co-operation of all States involved, particularly that of all the Asian States.
108. This inevitably raises the Chinese question. It is no longer possible to ignore here the most populous country in the world and I am happy to echo, on this occasion, President Johnson, who has courageously recognized this fact. My delegation feels that the People's Republic of China must take part in the work of the United Nations. It is our duty to see that it does so. But it is self-evident that the possible admission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations could in no case have as its corollary or consequence the eviction of Nationalist China from membership in the United Nations. In advocating the participation of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations I must nevertheless say and stress that China itself should help us towards this end. Unfortunately, certain of its actions in various parts of the world, particularly in Africa, can give rise only to concern and hostility.
109. During the years 1964-1965, as everyone knows, a rebellion caused particularly terrible bloodshed in our country. It cost thousands of Congolese lives and reduced part of our infrastructure to rubble. Those events betrayed unequivocal and direct intervention on the part of the People's Republic of China. Yet one of the sacred principles of international relations is non-interference in the internal affairs of other States. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has the legitimate right to live in tranquillity, protected from foreign intervention. Hence, if the People's Republic of China does not respect that right, we shall, in self-defence, not be able to respond favourably this year to that country's right, if right there be, to membership in the United Nations.
110. No one will be surprised if, after speaking of Europe and Asia, I now turn to the problems of my own continent, Africa. I should like to start off on a pleasant note and convey our fraternal greetings to our two sister countries of Lesotho and Botswana on their accession to independence. These two countries have succeeded in escaping from the colonialist tentacles of South Africa and joining the independent countries of Africa as States. Our happiness when, as we soon shall, we see them here among us as Members of the United Nations, will nevertheless, I must admit, be clouded by the threats with which their freedom is menaced by the underhand intrigues of South Africa. I should like these two young nations to know that in their fight for territorial integrity and independence the Democratic Republic of the Congo and all the countries of Africa stand at their side.
111. Having expressed our pleasure at seeing our two sister countries achieve their freedom, I must now express more than the concern, rather the pain of Africa at finding that the last bastions of slavery remain on its soil. While Belgium, France and the United Kingdom have voluntarily renounced their African empires, we must note that Portugal has not changed its position by one iota. Despite the numerous resolutions and declarations of this Assembly, Portugal maintains full domination over the Territories which it has enslaved, arguing that they are an integral part of the metropolitan country. The conscience of certain nations seems to have become so blunted that the cannot react to the ruthless, inhuman and bloody repression Portugal is inflicting on the patriots in their struggle for emancipation and independence. Every day hundreds of Africans are forced to flee their burning villages and seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
112. Our Organization must pay more attention to this veritable genocide which certain consciences no longer seem even to consider as particularly serious. Yet there has only to be a riot or a popular demonstration in which a white person suffers, and we hear cries of alarm, protests and condemnations reverberating on all sides. Emboldened by this conspiracy, Portugal does not restrict itself to repressions in the Territories under its administration: it is now going on to subversion throughout Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
113. Portugal has long been playing the sordid role of broker in a vast operation for the recruitment and training of mercenaries for the purpose of troubling our peace and destroying our country. I should here like to thank the Security Council for its unanimous vote on 14 October 1966 [resolution 226 (1966)] to protect peace on our continent. My delegation sees in that vote additional reasons to hope that our Organization may yet react and find an effective remedy to the problem of decolonization.
114. If I may be permitted, I should like to acquit myself, before this Assembly, of the enormous debt of gratitude my country owes to France. It is indeed thanks to the firmness, friendship and realistic policy of France that it has been possible to break up the huge network of mercenary recruitment which was designed to plunge our country again into ruin and destitution. My delegation earnestly hopes that the other countries will be able to follow in the footsteps of France.
115. Portugal, moreover, does not disguise the support it is giving simultaneously to South Africa and Southern Rhodesia — that Southern Rhodesia which is only the prey in the grasp of rebels in conflict at
once with the international conscience and with their own motherland. I have three reasons for reserving a special section of my statement to the problem of Southern Rhodesia. First, there can be no question but that the situation in that part of African territory causes us grave concern, for everything affecting Africa, whether near at hand or far away, is necessarily a subject of concern to us. Moreover, we are facing a repugnant situation which must shock every human heart that loves equity, liberty and justice. Lastly, a sister country with which my country maintains fruitful relations, Zambia, is profoundly affected. For all these reasons the Congo is inevitably interested in a rapid and effective solution of this problem. For a long time we considered that the Rhodesian affair fell solely within the competence of the British Government, and, from the legal point of view, my delegation considers that it still does. It is therefore the business of the United Kingdom to remove this problem without further disastrous delay for the African populations of Rhodesia and Zambia. I should like to say, however, that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has from the very beginning been frankly sceptical in regard to the effectiveness of the economic sanctions adopted by the United Kingdom. Those sanctions might still have had some chance of success if they had been mandatory and rigorously applied by all the States of the international community.
116. For that to happen it would have been necessary for Rhodesia to be surrounded by progressive countries, such as Zambia and Malawi. Unfortunately, the world knows only too well the kind of neighbours which, apart from the countries I have just mentioned, are adjacent to Rhodesia. Is it necessary for me to list them? I refer to the fascist masters in Pretoria and Lisbon. They, for reasons easy to guess, cannot but support and aid the abhorrent and execrable regime of Ian Smith. These reasons were summarized in a fascist journal in Brussels, in which the following passage occurred:
"To what extent does President Salazar realize that he has two excellent reasons for being firmer in Africa and never renouncing his colonial possessions? Angola, fourteen times larger than the metropolitan country, has 4,600,000 black inhabitants, whereas the white population amounts to only 200,000. Very large phosphate deposits have recently been discovered there and the prospectors are explicit: apart from diamonds and oil, there are bauxite, tin and tungsten. Lisbon has therefore good reasons for keeping Angola. Mozambique is equally important, for its river, the Zambesi, can alone provide a power potential of 5 million kW. Mining has hitherto been confined to coal; but as a recent report by OECD experts notes: 'Numerous strategic ores are to be found in Mozambique — iron, manganese, copper, uranium —which, thanks to the immense hydro-electric resources of the Zambesi, could be used to create a zone of heavy industry."
"In the light of these facts and prospects we can understand the tenacity with which Salazar has held on to his African provinces. Nevertheless, their existing wealth and their future possibilities are extremely tempting prey for the great Powers which are influencing, manipulating and using the politicians of the new small republics of the black continent."
117. The sympathy of Lisbon and Pretoria, moreover, is part of a vast plot to preserve the solid bastions of reactionary imperialism and colonialism, bastions which could be used as a strong-point from which to reconquer the former colonial empires only lately abandoned by the other nations.
118. We are happy to note that the United Kingdom was itself the first to state that the attitude of the so-called Government of Salisbury constituted an open rebellion against the British Crown. Nor is it the first time that Her Majesty's Government has had to face rebellion. Each time the rebels have refused negotiation, the solution has been the same: they have been crushed and forced to yield. But, instead of a handful of black men who could be ruthlessly crushed, the rebels of Southern Rhodesia are white-skinned brothers whose white blood is too precious to spill, even through the blood of black men may flow copiously,
119. Despite our scepticism we resigned ourselves, wanting to test the good faith of the United Kingdom Government. Unfortunately we have been forced to realize only too well the ineffectiveness of these economic sanctions. The United Kingdom Government has itself recognized the shortcomings of its system, for in his statement before this august Assembly the British Foreign Secretary revealed that his country was thinking of applying new, more drastic measures. We await with impatience and great interest the result of this new sanction machinery. We hope, however, that the poverty of 4 million Africans enslaved by a minority of white adventurers can be very quickly relieved.
120. In any case, the United Nations cannot allow another South Africa to flourish long in the heart of our continent. It would be a denial of justice and a challenge to history and the conscience of the world; it would be the betrayal of the Republic of Zambia and of the African people of Rhodesia. The United Kingdom must realize the enormous responsibility it bears to the world and history. It is therefore up to the United Kingdom Government to take more radical and more effective measures without delay, or to put the matter into the hands of our Organization.
121. As for South Africa, it stands before us indicted on two counts: that of apartheid and that of its failures in respect of its Mandate over South West Africa. Apartheid is one of the greatest scandals in the world today. This violent expression of racial discrimination is equivalent to the violence that Hitler inflicted on the Jews, against which the whole civilized world rose up in 1940. The civilized world cannot accept it today any more than it did yesterday. Sanctions are demanded; they must be unanimously adopted and applied. In regard to South West Africa the scandal Is even worse. A sacred Mandate entrusted to South Africa has been travestied and betrayed In the most abominable fashion and turned Into a colonialist instrument for the vilest and most contemptible servitude, the most shameful bondage that the world has ever known. I regret to have to note that the International Court of Justice, the sanctuary of international law, has made itself accomplice in this unprecedented scandal, so that we can say of it, as Racine did of Nero:
Among men as yet unborn thy name will be Foul insult to the foulest tyranny.
122. A draft resolution on South West Africa is now before the Assembly [A/L.483 and Add 1-3]. This draft resolution strips South Africa of its Mandate, of which it has proved unworthy, and entrusts our Organization with the task of assuring the independence of that martyred Territory. Who would dare to vote against and oppose the implementation of so just a text, after seventy-three resolutions have in vain been addressed to the criminal Government of Pretoria?
123. Portugal and South Africa must be made to understand that they cannot indefinitely go against the irreversible current of history or continue with impunity to ignore the feelings and conscience of all mankind. They must understand that their effrontery in enslaving the African populations can only postpone their death-throes. The time is at hand when the whole of Africa, acting in unison, will in a single motion and with irresistible force put an end to their antiquated and monstrous domination.
124. The United Nations was born on the morrow of the implacable struggle waged by the champions of freedom against one of the most appalling attempts at domination that the world has ever known. It was created in order that never again could such an attempt be made. Today a similar attempt is again being made by Portugal, Southern Rhodesia and, above all South Africa. It is the duty of all free peoples represented here to oppose them and to free the slaves subjugated by these three evil Powers. The Democratic Republic of the Congo solemnly appeals to the Organization to perform that duty.