79. Mr. President, the Liberian delegation desires to associate itself with other delegations in congratulating you on your election as President of the thirteenth session of the General Assembly. We are firmly of the opinion that, with your experience, you will bring to this body the benefit of your knowledge at this crucial period in international affairs. The Liberian delegation would also like to pay tribute to the retiring President, Sir Leslie Munro, on the splendid work he did during his term as President of the Assembly.
80. There is still no lessening of the tensions in international affairs as we meet at this thirteenth session of the General Assembly. Despite our wishes and desires, despite our hopes for peace, we stand on the brink of a world catastrophe and live in constant fear. Is it necessary that this should be? Or must it be our fate to pass our existence under the shadow of death? Should our happiness and very existence be forever haunted by the nightmare of ruin and destruction for us and our children?
81. These are questions that should obsess all peoples, whether they comprise small nations or great ones, whether they live in highly developed centres of the world or in the woods and jungles of some remote places. If we are all fearful of war and anxious for peace, the question arises: why do we allow ourselves to live under this sword of Damocles? To my thinking, the answer is to be found in ourselves. Our material progress has far outstripped our spiritual and moral development. Morally and spiritually, we are no further advanced than the ancient Romans, whilst in things material our comparison with them is like the pigmy and the giant.
82. We have been able to wrest from nature many of its secrets. We have made ourselves the masters of the sky. We have conquered the earth and made it subservient to our will. We have charted, explored and brought under our control the mighty seas, both above and beneath. We now seek with some success to explore unknown worlds set in outer space, which to our ancestors would have been tantamount to something sacrilegious. Man today is indeed the master of his own destiny. In him the future lives or perishes; in him, the splendid past revives or dies forever.
83. Despite these miraculous material achievements, man has not been able to establish a moral code which he is prepared to adhere to and honour in his dealings with his fellow man. The world has had many great teachers and philosophers such as Christ, Mohammed, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, Confucius and others who sought to lay down certain concepts of religion and moral conduct; but men, like nations, have generally interpreted such codes to meet their own designs and purposes based generally on location, nationality, expediency and sometimes even on the pigmentation of the skin.
84. In our age we regard ourselves more highly cultured and civilized than our ancestors, the savage and the barbarian. We might be by far their superiors in things physical and material, but in things spiritual and moral the difference seems infinitesimal. The barbarian had no moral code except that of "might makes right", which he felt bound to honour and respect. We in our age have adopted certain concepts such as "all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights", but how often have we failed to follow the provisions of such a code in point of fact when it has not suited our convenience? How often have we held and are even now holding peoples all over the earth in subjugation, exploiting them and denying them the rights and privileges of freedom, independence and nationhood?
85. The barbarian had no definite moral standard and therefore was bound by no particular code of moral ethics. His wars were limited in scope and the weapons that he used were equally limited in their extent of destruction. He made war with the prime purpose of winning, thereby increasing his natural wealth. If he failed, his entire fortune and even his liberty were lost; but there was no fear of total annihilation. He always indulged the hope that after every such conflict he could pick up the remnants and continue to make progress.
86. Unfortunately for us, with the discovery and manufacture of modern weapons, war in our age means mass destruction, mass suffering and obliteration. There can be no victor, only the vanquished. It therefore seems ironical when we speak of waging war in defence of the principles and justice of our cause, for there might be no one to record whether such a principle was right or such a cause was justified since the dead have never been known to speak. It should be in this context and with these views in our minds that we should here attempt to debate some oi the problems that confront us in present-day international affairs.
87. To small countries like ours, situated in a world encompassed by great nations, we cannot but welcome and support the idea of the United Nations Emergency Force. We are not unaware, judging from the record of the Force in the Middle East, of the valuable assistance it has rendered to the peoples of those areas in maintaining peace and order.
88. The principle that has led to the formation of the Force cannot but appeal to us. Its troops have been drawn principally from small nations not directly entangled in the East-West conflict. As such those nations have been able to render inestimable service in the cause of peace by having been divorced from power politics. A United Nations Force like the one now on duty in the Middle East would be welcome by all small countries should they ever have the need to appeal to the United Nations for similar assistance. It is our belief that this is one of the few instances in which this world Organization has not only passed a resolution but has had the physical force with which to implement it.
89. Let us therefore hope that the nations will come to realize that with the establishment of a permanent force of this kind, supported and maintained by all nations, the question of world disarmament would present us with no formidable obstacle, as we would have a power of our own creation delegated to the United Nations. We could all be assured that the right and justice of our cause would be well defended.
90. May I be permitted to quote excerpts, which I think might be of interest to you, from a statement made to the people of Liberia and to the world by our President on the occasion of the one hundred and eleventh anniversary of our Independence. He said: "We have established one of the finest organizations in the world — the United Nations — designed to cope with any of the problems which may arise, and we have had the vision, the wisdom and the patience to spell out in detail the rules and regulations by which we might obtain satisfactory solutions. But we ourselves have searched for and fostered ways and means of circumventing, flouting and even defeating those self-same rules and regulations. Because of this we are constantly bickering over issues which, with a little more tolerance and mutual understanding, could be resolved in a climate of equal respect and genuine friendship. "We say that we are conscientiously and diligently seeking peace and endeavouring to pursue it so as to lessen the tension now extant in every quarter of the globe, and It cannot be doubted that in our century there have been and still are eminent leaders of church and state who have sincerely dedicated their noblest efforts to the cause of peace. But despite this almost universal search, these earnest endeavours continue to meet with stubborn resistance, and the international horizon is rife with the awful threat of destruction, devastation and hate. Mankind, it seems, Is on the brink of self-extinction. "What could be the cause for this prevailing unrest, this relentless struggle between nations? Can it be that man has lost confidence in himself or in his ability to discern clearly the difference between right and wrong, Justice and injustice? Have we strayed away from fundamental principles of morality and religion? I do not think that this is the case. On the contrary, I am convinced that man is confident in himself and in his native abilities because, having delved deeper into the hidden mysteries of nature and having emerged with a greater knowledge of and control over these forces, he has armed himself with new inventions. With this new power he has tried to build a new world. "But regrettably this new world is mainly synthetical rather than analytical. Man's whole concept seems to be based upon the synthetical approach and he is endeavouring to live by over-worked formulas which were used in the old world. "In that old world of conventional weapons of war we observed the formulas and niceties of international law to break diplomatic contacts, and when and if there was violent disagreement, there was a formal declaration of war and armies met in the fields and fought. Women, children, the aged, the infirm were spared the horrors and destruction of war, being protected by treaties and conventions which were not lightly violated. Today we disregard every principle of international law and attack scores of Cities without regard to women and children or churches, infirmaries, sanatoriums or hospitals. Never before in history has mankind evinced so much wickedness. "Men and nations must get out of this deep-rooted attitude and obsession of selfish ambition and must change, the. symbols representing their national aspirations from the lion, the bear, the eagle, the scythe, the dagger, the tiger, the leopard and the elephant, which are predatory and ravenous beasts of the forest and instruments of destruction. We cannot put new wine into old bottles or mend old garments with new patches and expect any reasonable degree of satisfaction. So long as we do this, the satisfaction, I believe, which we achieve will be momentary and our efforts will continue to be frustrated."
91. We deprecate present prevailing attitudes and means of approach to questions of differences arising between nations in our day and time. The niceties, polish, finesse and refinement of diplomacy and its parlance that obtained in the past do not prevail today. It is regrettable that the language employed — especially by some nations — on vital questions affecting the very existence of nations and peoples, is harsh, threatening and characterized by venom and hatred. To persist in this attitude will, in our opinion, sooner or later lead to a situation where events will get out of hand and no earthly power might be able to save the nations from running headlong into a global cataclysm that may well destroy all that man has been able to achieve through centuries of research and sacrifices of lives and money.
92. We would appeal to the great Powers and point out- that some of them are young, strong and virile nations. There are others that have had three, four, five and even six centuries of national existence, and there are others of us which are still younger in nationhood but which are strenuously endeavouring to develop our natural resources so that we too might make more and more concrete contributions towards the peace and prosperity of the world.
93. Let us liken nations to men in their old age, young men in the prime of life and youths in adolescence. It is always considered a tragic thing for a person to die in his youth or even in manhood. It is bad enough for death to seize, as its prey an old man; but in any case, death, whether it comes to old men, young men or to youths, is a disconsolate affair, especially if it comes as a consequence of their own deliberate and unreasonable attitude and action. That is suicide.
94. Because of the tense situation now prevailing and the dark clouds under which we are assembled, and as a means of creating a more favourable atmosphere in which to deliberate, the Liberian delegation recommends and suggests, first, that such items of the agenda for the present session as may generate greater tension and lead to further misunderstanding be temporarily suspended. The Liberian delegation feels that to debate such items of the present agenda on the floor of the United Nations might end in a stalemate. Decisions may be taken on a few or all of these issues which may be dictated less by a sense of fairness and justice than by expediency or individual or collective blocs and national honour. We are fully aware that the United Nations is not a juridical body but, in order to succeed, even political institutions must predicate their decisions upon principles of honour, justice and fair play.
95. Secondly, the Liberian delegation recommends that a United Nations special emergency commission composed of equal representation from the Western and Eastern blocs, excluding the great Powers, be constituted at any level deemed advisable, to study the actual causes of bitterness and of the apparently Irreconcilable gulf between East and West and to formulate plans and recommendations to be presented to the General Assembly, to be deliberated upon and disposed of with a view to bringing East and West together.
96. We realize that there already exist permanent committees to whom these matters should be referred; but because of the grave uniqueness of-the situation, and the peculiar and dangerous state of world affairs', it Is our feeling that a special body should be constituted for this purpose. The members of such a commission should- be strictly charged to divorce themselves of their individual or national attachments, alignments or preferences to either side and act in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, based upon the principle of fighting for what is right and against what is wrong.
97. We submit this proposal because we feel that just as a physician diagnoses a patient's case before treatment so as to ascertain the cause and apply the correct remedy, so likewise is there urgent and immediate need for a thorough diagnosis of the present international situation to be made and recommendations submitted for its treatment So as to heal the wounds and rifts that have almost destroyed brotherhood and understanding among men.
98. The special commission should be empowered to make a complete study of the Algerian question, the admission of the People's Republic of China into the United Nations, the Formosa, Quemoy and Middle East situations, the Korean question, the reunification of Germany and all other matters which are contributory towards the present lack of understanding.
99. My Government considers that the above-mentioned questions are the underlying causes for the inability up to the present to reach agreement on disarmament and the cessation of nuclear and thermonuclear tests.
100. Our recommendation in this respect is predicated upon the feeling that perhaps the great Powers themselves are gravely concerned at the consequences of the risks that are being taken but national honour and national prestige prevent them from introspecting and convicting themselves where they are wrong; for they must realize the wrong that is in themselves as well as the wrong that is in others. We cannot continue taking risks such as are being taken all over the world and be assured of any kind of long-term peace or security. One could say: "O judgement! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason".
101. Permit me to narrate a story about two he-goats that fought every time they met. Finally, one day, both of them met face to face in the middle of a log across a large river; the log was too small for either of them to turn back, so they stood up, looked each other squarely in the face, then looked down on both sides of the log and saw under them the swiftly moving current of this tremendous river. Quickly they exercised the animal instinct of self-preservation and concluded that, if they undertook a fight on that log, both of them would lose their lives. They decided that one would lie on the log while the other passed over him, and by so doing each would be able to cross safely over to the other side. Acting upon this common sense, both of them crossed the river on the log safely, and their lives were saved.
102. We need to exercise some such animal instinct so as to save ourselves and our posterity from any head-on collision which appears imminent; for it cannot be doubted that East and West have almost met, as it were, on a single log, over an abyss of hatred aflame with nuclear and thermo-nuclear flares. To engage in battle over this abyss would be fatal to all.
103. We hope to offer a draft resolution along the lines of our recommendation at a later date.
104. May I express the earnest hope that our deliberations at this session of the General Assembly will be productive of the better world order and peace for which humanity yearns.