1. The great honour has fallen to me, Mr. President, of presenting to you, on behalf of my Government and my delegation, our heartiest congratulations on your splendid election to the presidency of this illustrious Assembly. This choice is but the recognition of the intellectual, and human qualities which are readily acknowledged by all who have had the opportunity of meeting you. To the love of religion you add a knowledge of the mind and a taste for tolerance. Once again we are happy to observe that your election is a fresh tribute 'to the non-aligned countries.
2. The General Assembly has just proclaimed the admission to membership of the United Nations [1122nd meeting] of four new friendly States which have come to widen the circle of our great family. We therefore, take this occasion to welcome amongst us Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.
3. We must admit, however, that despite appearances our conscience is still troubled because of the grave problems confronting mankind at this moment. Like everyone else; we feel the greatest concern about the tension and rivalries by which the relation: between those who hold the destiny of our planet in their hands are dominated. We thirst for peace, for that peace which is the basic condition for our survival and for the creation of a better world from which the spectre of universal catastrophe will be banished for ever. Alas, facts and political reality conspire to lessen our legitimate hopes. At a time when a large part of mankind is beginning to emerge from the colonial night and is trying to contribute to the establishment of a new universal order, the sad truth forces them to replace the old complex of servitude by that of fear.
4. The great Powers are settling down comfortably into the cold war, which seems to govern all contemporary international problems. There is not a single question in international relations which is not considered by the great Powers within that sinister framework.
5. One of the permanent manifestations of the cold war is the feverish race to perfect weapons of mass destruction and the pursuit of nuclear tests, which are spoken of by those responsible as if it were a matter of harmless laboratory experiments.
6. The Conference of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on- Disarmament, which has been going on for several months at Geneva, did give rise to some optimism, because for once we believed that the principal protagonists were meeting with the intention of arriving at definite solutions. Unfortunately, we are obliged to recognize that despite the admirable efforts made by the representatives of the non-aligned countries this Conference has not produced any tangible results.
7. The nuclear Powers, acting as if they recognized that a war, was inevitable, continue to follow the same policy of making increasing quantities of more and more effective weapons and of inventing ways of delivering them to their destination with frightening precision.
8. Last year, the pretext for resuming nuclear tests revolved, as befitted the circumstances, round the subject of the moratorium. One side had not respected this moratorium and consequently the other side felt itself free to resume its own tests; with the faults of one side justifying those of the other. there was nothing left for them to do but to go on revolving in a vicious circle.
9. This year we are being given to understand that the disarmament negotiations are marking time only because of disagreement on control, procedures and the modalities for the destruction of nuclear delivery vehicles.
10. The truth lies in the fact that no agreement will ever be reached if those who possess the power to wipe out the whole of humanity, thanks to their diabolical arsenals, do not succeed in agreeing on a minimum of the ideological principles which separate them fundamentally. Indeed, what.is fundamentally lacking in the dialogue between the two colossi is trust; and trust can only prevail if they recognize that it is possible for countries with different political, economic and social structures to coexist and if they make this a rule for day-to-day action. Is that not one of the best illustrations of the principle of peaceful coexistence which is provided for in the United Nations Charter and to which both of them appeal?
11. Ever since its creation the United Nations has, been giving its attention to this vital question of disarmament, without being able to reach any positive conclusions. Why not convene a world conference, under United Nations auspices, at which all States would be present without any discrimination and whatever their political regime, to examine the problem of general and complete disarmament? We do not think that a situation which is so fundamental to peace can be settled only by those who possess nuclear weapons. The life of all mankind threatened and we should all join together to contribute to the discussion and make the weight of the universal conscience felt.
12. This perpetual threat to peace makes us realize, still more clearly our importance, the importance of the non-aligned countries in international affairs. We are also aware however, that to exorcise the influence which is our due and which everything seems to con firm, our own unity is necessary and appears each day to be an inevitable imperative.
13. In the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, we are well aware of this truth because we have experienced it and are still experiencing it within our small country. The lessons drawn from our own national experience prove to us that unity is possible if good faith and respect prevail. As we have, achieved national unity within our country, thanks to the desire of the Blacks and the Whites to live in common and to fight for the same ideal, it was natural that we would participate outside our country in any form of regrouping whose direct or indirect aim was to achieve African unity on a continental scale. It is for that reason that we have been an ardent supporter and a loyal member of the African and Malagasy Union ever since its inception.
14. The reason we are so proud of belonging to the African and Malagasy Union is that in our eyes it represents the best instrument for African unity. With its technical bodies — the Association of African and Malagasy Economic Co-operation and Development, the Regional African and Malagasy Postal and Telecommunications Unions, the Defence Pact, the "Air Afrique” transport company — the African and Malagasy Union is now one of the rare African organizations which has such vast and realistic possibilities.
15. This movement towards African unity is taking place in auspicious circumstances since the Monrovia group and the Casablanca group, leaving far behind them everything which might divide them, are now embarked on the path of essential co-operation. There is no doubt that the brotherly discussions between these two groups, will lay the foundations for the complete unity of our continent, in which the golden rule will be respect for existing sovereignty and a search for new formulae for co-operation and coexistence.
16. My delegation would like to take this opportunity of greeting, on behalf of my Government, all the African leaders who have made and are today still making untiring efforts to bring all the African Heads of State together round one table. To these apostles of friendship, and particularly to Mr. Sékou Touré, the President of the Republic of Guinea, we extend our thanks.
17. In this quest for unity in the cause of peace and international collaboration, the small countries, or the under-developed countries, as it is now customary to call them, should organize their solidarity and; their struggle in the different fields with which we are concerned in a more definite way. If the non-aligned States want to make their voices heard more strongly, if they wish to limit the disagreeable consequences of the cold war and its variants, and if they want to play the important role which is their due, it is more urgent than ever that they should present a united and solid front to the two giants whose positions on the problems of peace and peaceful coexistence are becoming increasingly rigid. My delegation earnestly calls for another conference to be held in the coming months, like the historic Conference held at Bandung in 1955, from which a sacred charter of the non-aligned countries would emerge.
18. It is now more than two years since the General Assembly, on 14 September 1960, adopted the Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples [Resolution 1514 (XV)]. Some States, faithful to their national spirit and inspired by their age-long traditions, have understood the needs of our century and have not disappointed us. From this rostrum, we pay a sincere tribute to them.
19. We are particularly grateful to France, which set the first examples to h& followed in the matter of decolonization. Under the liberal inspiration of its great leader, President de Gaulle, a friend of Africa who is admired by the Africans, France has dosed the annals of colonialism for ever. It has done pioneer work and has anticipated history in organizing new relationships of cooperation and friendship with its former colonies. We who have never ceased to proclaim everywhere our sincere friendship with France, a friendship now claimed by those who vilified it and us along with it, can only rejoice at its splendid achievements.
20. The situation in certain territories under United Kingdom control causes us considerable concern. The United Kingdom deserves our admiration on more than one count; that is why we hope it will find adequate solutions in response to the legitimate aspirations of the indigenous peoples of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland, and thus spare our continent a new conflagration.
21. What can be said of the Powers which still refuse to decolonize and still cling to their colonial empires, sowing hatred and destruction in our continent? All our thoughts are turned towards martyred Angola. Portugal, whose expulsion is desired by all the States belonging to the African and Malagasy Union, systematically refuses to bow to the evidence and continues to organize vast massacres in Angola, Mozambique and so-called Portuguese Guinea. It is time that Portugal seized its last chance of establishing normal relations with the Africa it needs so much.
22. This year we find South Africa still firmly attached to its retrograde policy. At the Conference held at Libreville in September 1962, the Heads of State of the African and Malagasy Union recommended its outright expulsion from the United Nations, since it continues to flout the principles of the Organization and to treat it with sovereign scorn. South Africa’s attitude to South West Africa is an example of one of the most senseless forms of annexionist colonialism. It is imperative: that South Africa should take note of the indignation of the whole of Africa at the policy of racial segregation it has cynically adopted as a fundamental principle. It must realize that the present situation is the prelude to a most cruel tragedy which it is preparing to inflict on Africa and on the whole world. We hope that during the present session the severest sanctions will be imposed on South Africa.
23. It must be recognized that the expulsion of Portugal and South Africa from the United Nations will probably have only a symbolic and moral effect. That is why it would certainly be much more effective for representatives of all the African countries to meet together in order to work out the organization and, practical means for putting into effect a general and complete boycott of all relations with those two countries. A carefully chosen body could thus be set up to ensure the frank and loyal application of this boycott and to determine all the necessary measures of control.
24. It Is therefore becoming a matter of urgency to break off all commercial relations with these countries and to deny their ships and aircraft access to all, African ports and airports and, further, to bring our concerted efforts into harmony, in all foreseeable fields and taking into account the new possibilities, in order to give full effect to this policy of isolating Portugal and South Africa.
25. We firmly believe that by giving definite moral and material aid to all the so-called Portuguese territories — and to Angola immediately — and by organizing a genuine economic boycott of Portugal and South Africa/we shall arouse fresh hopes in the hearts of our brothers who are struggling for their dignity and liberation.
26. The Islamic Republic of Mauritania will always be on the side of those countries which are fighting for complete liberation and for respect for their universally recognized territorial integrity. This being so, Mauritania has always favoured a just solution of the Congolese problem which, while taking into account the interests of the various provinces, would ensure the unity and sovereignty of this sister country. We need scarcely say that we welcome with satisfaction the plan worked out by the United Nations for the settlement of the Congolese crisis on a federal basis.
27. We are convinced, however, that rapid action is essential if order Is to be finally established in the Congo (Leopoldville), for every day that dawns beings new evidence that Mr., Tshombé is building up and consolidating his position, with the obvious prompting of his Rhodesian, South African and Portuguese friends. It is already to be feared that, after serving as the cat’s paw of foreign financial interests, he play in his turn become the master of these same interests and may seriously complicate the execution of the plan proposed by U Thant, the Secretary-General. We hope that every possible means will be used to bring the secession of Katanga to an end once and for all, whether it be by persuasion and pressure or by force, for this is an essential condition for any workable solution.
28. Before I bring this chapter on colonialism to a close, I cannot but refer to the happy outcome of the war in Algeria. We are waiting with impatience to welcome to this Organization the representatives of a people which has aroused the admiration of the whole World and which has written in letters of blood one of the finest pages of the struggle against colonialism. This is a source of pride and consolation to us in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, for we are linked to the Algerian people by every possible tie: proximity, race, religion, language and, above all, the same ideals. Did not Mr. Moktar Ould Daddah, the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, say on 16 November 1961, in this very Assembly: "As soon as my country was able — on the basis of the reforms instituted by the ‘loi-cadre’ concerning the internal self-government of our States — to make its voice heard, it took a stand in support of Algerian nationalism and advocated that the conflict between our brethren and our friends should be settled by negotiation." [1056th meeting, paragraph 35.]
29. This attitude to Algeria was not expressed in any spirit of emulation but because it corresponded to our deepest feelings. It should perhaps be recalled at this point that the Islamic Republic of Mauritania has always refused to join the Common Organization for the Saharan Regions, thus forfeiting a considerable flow of investment, for fear that its joining might cast even the slightest doubt on the purely Algerian character of the Sahara.
30. It Is high time for Algeria to resume the prominent place which is its by right in Africa. Through the quality of its men, the magnitude of its resources and the realism of its experience, it will be the country best placed to set a new stamp on relations between the States situated on both sides of the Sahara and to play the predominant role which falls to it in building up African unity.
31. We are deeply attached to the United Nations and we consider that just solutions can be found here for all the problems with which we may be faced. It is because we are convinced of the importance of the part played by the United Nations in international affairs that we believe it is necessary to make the Charter which governs it more democratic.
32. Since the San Francisco Conference the number of Member States has almost doubled and the political context has developed considerably. In order to give the United Nations a still more pronounced universal character, the new world conditions must be taken into account. Although the purposes and principles of the United Nations are fundamental and consequently unchangeable, the same is not true of its working methods and on the structured its various bodies.
33. It is becoming a matter of urgency to carry out the reforms which are essential in order to ensure the equitable representation of all the areas of the globe and to enable all problems to be dealt with effectively. In particular, the Security Council must be freed for ever from the unjust system of the veto. The number of its members should be considerably increased and Africa should be given equitable representation on it.
34. A careful study of the rules governing the International Civil Service should be undertaken without delay within the general framework of the United Nations, in order to ensure that here, too, each country has the number of staff members to which it is entitled and has a share in the administrative life of the Organization.
35. Our generation has the good fortune to be a witness of the historical process which is sanctioning the birth of many States whose peoples were hitherto subjugated and deprived of any international existence, and this process is continuing today, to thereat benefit of peace. In order to bring about better harmony in the world, however, this political evolution towards the elimination of all the after-effects of colonialism must create the right conditions for an all-embracing effort to achieve economic progress and social advancement.
36. Three, quarters of humanity are still languishing in hunger and poverty, while enormous resources are squandered for destructive purposes, Thus over and above the political and ideological differences we have economic and social differences which emphasize the division of the world by erecting a great barrier between the industrialized countries and the countries which people like to call under-developed, in order to remedy this state of affairs, it is high time to reconsider the arrangements for giving aid to countries which are desperately trying to build up their economies.
37. Those whose good fortune and, indeed, whose duty it is to come to the aid of countries which have been deprived of their heritage must imbue themselves with the feelings of fellowship which arc essential in, order to rid their assistance programmes of any political character. All too often bilateral aid programmes are accompanied by more or less disguised political conditions. The benefits of multilateral aid are frequently acclaimed, but this form of co-operation is often made difficult by certain tacit divisions into economic zones of influence. In their understandable haste to establish a sound economic and social infrastructure and to ensure a modicum of well-being for their people, many of the new African States are unable to escape the necessity of belonging to new forms of tones of economic solidarity. They will take care, however, as far as they are able, not to allow their association to be the means of perpetuating the simple colonial system of the exchange of commodities for manufactured goods or to act as a brake on their industrialization.
38. It is here, within the United Nations, and particularly within the framework of the Economic and Social Council, that we should work out, in all urgency, a new doctrine of co-operation between all nations, in order to Solve the problem of under-development, and methods of assistance which are adapted to the new needs.
39. That is what I had to say and I now have pleasure in concluding with the words spoken in this very Assembly, almost a year ago, by the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, who said: "...I would appeal to those who now face each other in a futile competition and who would, at the same time, be the guides of this tortured world, to think of the two thirds of mankind that is still suffering from poverty, hunger and disease... May they, instead, help us to bring peace to all men and to preserve our common heritage." [1056th meeting, paragraph 49.]