The thirty-seventh session of the General
Assembly is taking place at a particularly
crucial time in international life, characterized
basically by a series of grave crises: political
crises that endanger international peace and
security, social crises stemming from unchecked
population growth, economic crises unprecedented
since the establishment of the Bretton Woods
system, crises in international structures and
institutions. ,
Hence we see before us the United Nations, with
its imposing structures and prestige, facing the
greatest difficulty in ensuring that
international law is respected. We see the
Organization displaying its impotence in the
tragedy taking place in the Middle East. Never
before, in the discharge of its responsibilities,
has the United Nations been so convinced of the
futility of its decisions—witness its resolutions
being trampled underfoot by certain Member States
whose duty it is because of their capacity to
negotiate, to set the course of justice and
reason.
This preliminary assessment of the world
situation was necessary in order to highlight the
immensity of the task of presiding over the
Assembly since, through our deliberations and
decisions, it may be possible to restore
confidence in the United Nations and in all those
that never lost faith in its calling. In
extending our most sincere congratulations to Mr.
Hollai on his election, our delegation would like
to offer him our best wishes for the success of
our work. He may be assured that my country,
which as a Vice-President is working with him, is
anxious to give him all possible support and
assistance. I also address my best wishes to the
Secretary-General for success during his term of
office. The way he has discharged his
responsibilities during this first year, so rich
in events, is striking proof of his skill and
ability to direct the Organization. Moreover, his
report on the work of the Organization contains
lucid comments and guidelines which have the full
support of the Upper Volta.
Last year, looking back on the situation in the
world, at the 28th meeting of the thirty-sixth
session, I spoke of a momentum and of hopes which
should not be dashed. Today once again these are
our wishes, although the ills that envelop and
afflict our world make despair a constant
companion.
In the Middle East, first, in spite of four
special sessions of the General Assembly, several
Security Council meetings, a special meeting of
the non-aligned countries and many appeals by the
international community, Israel placed greater
faith in war than in dialogue. AH the efforts
made to reach a just and lasting settlement of
the Palestinian question crashed against the wail
of death and bellicose arrogance erected by
Israel—Israel which, having become a constant
aggressor, proclaims and defends its own rights
while trampling on those of others.
The tragic events in Lebanon are proof enough
that 37 years after San Francisco a State is able
to invade another with impunity under the pretext
of being a liberator. After events in
Afghanistan, Kampuchea and Lebanon, who would
dare to speak of international morality? For
those of us not having double standards, those
acts of aggression are all equally reprehensible.
Thus, we see the Hebrew State, not content with
occupying Arab lands, now interfering in Lebanese
affairs. In this respect we condemn the principle
of fait accomplit. This is why my country fully
supports the Security Council resolution which
demands the establishment and maintenance of a
multinational force whose primary mission would
be to guarantee the security of Palestinians and
to consolidate the integrity and independence of
Lebanon. The massacres of Shatila and Sabra can
in no way wipe out the inalienable rights of the
Palestinian people. Israel, above all, should
know this. Israel should know that as regards the
struggle for the right to life and freedom more
often than not everything follows the well-known
biological phenomenon of organic regeneration. In
other words, the Palestinians who died for
freedom and justice. In these conditions, where does
victory reside? Regardless of the final solution
found and regardless of the means used, the
tragedy in the Middle East cannot be resolved by
force of arms. Only frank and sincere
negotiations between the parties can lead to an
equitable settlement of the dispute. That
settlement must be based on the relevant
decisions of the United Nations, with mutual
recognition of the right to existence of both the
Palestinian people and the Israeli people as an
indispensable prerequisite. In this context, the
Arab peace plan which resulted from the Twelfth
Arab Summit Conference at Fez is an initiative in
the right direction.
Israel must understand this wisdom, this
sacrifice, and respond by giving up all the
territories occupied by force and beginning a
dialogue with the Palestinian people, through its
legitimate representative, the PLO. A policy of
domination or revenge on either side would be a
dead-end policy, catastrophic for the region,
which needs peace so much in order to regain
unity and pool its vast resources to promote its
economic and social development.
The region is also the arena of another conflict,
which has for two years now pitted Iraq and the
Islamic Republic of Iran against each other on
geo-strategic and political-ideological grounds.
The Upper Volta is increasingly concerned by the
magnitude of that confrontation, which, if not
soon honorably resolved may lead to foreign
intervention, thus endangering international
security. We appeal to those two non-aligned
States to conform to the ideals of the
non-aligned movement, which are based on peaceful
coexistence, and put an end to a fratricidal war
which wounds and weakens us all.
Africa and Asia are also hotbeds of tension, and
here again we cannot but be pessimistic. With the
complicity of certain Powers, the racist regime
of Pretoria stalks and murders the freedom
fighters who struggle to recover their dignity as
free men. In spite of these vicissitudes, the
African National Congress and SWAPO are
continuing their heroic struggle for a completely
free South Africa and an independent and
sovereign Namibia.
The blind hostility of apartheid to the
objectives of Africa lead to repeated incursions
against the frontline States, inflicting human
suffering and material damage upon them and
arousing only verbal condemnation from the Powers
which oppose any sanctions against the South
African regime. None the less those sanctions are
necessary to compel the South African authorities
to be more reasonable. Those sanctions are
essential to put an end to the odious
segregationist system which still, at the end of
this twentieth century, dares to institutionalize
as a system of government the theory of racial
superiority dear to the Fascist regimes. In the
name of justice and dignity, we wish to reiterate
our support for the front-line States, whose
determination and perseverance do honor to all
Africa. In the name of justice and freedom, we
ask the members of the contact group to apply all
their skill in persuasion and negotiation to make
the Pretoria regime understand that the
independence of Namibia is inevitable and
necessary.
As regards the events in Chad, every African
country had its own opinion, and positions were
often contradictory and even conflicting. What is
comforting is that we were able to exercise
self-control and turn to will rise again from
their ashes the OAU, which had its first
experience of maintaining peace in a country prey
to civil war. Despite the difficulties it faced,
the OAU accomplished useful work in Chad. In
these circumstances, who would venture to
question the usefulness and importance of that
organization? It follows that the disagreements
that now exist within the OAU because of the
question of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic
will not inevitably lead to its disappearance. On
the contrary, the enthusiasm and faith that
presided over the organization's birth must not
wane and give way to disputes and excommunication.
On the question of Western Sahara, my country's
position is very clear: it is based on our desire
to work sincerely for the unity of Africa and on
our wish to respect the norms of law, without
which that unity would be only artificial. We in
the Upper Volta are accustomed to independent
thought and action, because the Upper Volta does
not belong to any outside school; it has its own
school. This underlies our vision of African
unity; it also underlies our position on the
question of Western Sahara, whose solution must
involve an awareness of the following realities.
The question of Western Sahara is an exclusively
African question; hence there is no need to refer
it to the League of Arab States. A just and
lasting settlement of the question must be based,
above all, on the original principles of our
organization; it is essential that the nineteenth
session of the Assembly of Heads of State and
Government of the OAU be held, as planned, at
Tripoli.
Above and beyond misunderstandings and
sensitivities, what is important is cohesion and
unity. In the life of any institution at some
time or other there are difficulties that must be
overcome. Let us, therefore, rally to safeguard
our own unity. This is a categorical need,
because an Africa bedeviled from within cannot
allow itself to be destabilized or distracted by
hegemonic designs.
Similarly, as regards Asia, we deplore the clear
interference of foreign Powers in Afghanistan and
Kampuchea. In the case of those countries, just
as wherever else it is violated—in Africa, in
Latin America—we wish to see respect for the
principle of noninterference.
The question of Korea has always been a matter of
concern to my country, which calls for and works
towards reconciliation between the two Koreas and
their reunification. The Upper Volta urges them
to settle the Korean question by peaceful means,
through negotiations, without foreign
interference.
Now the force which brings together the countries
of Latin America, Asia and Africa, the non-
aligned movement must preserve the integrity of
its basic principle, non-alignment. Increasingly
lost sight of, non-alignment is increasingly
necessary, vital and consistent with our
fundamental interests. Without strict respect for
the principles of our movement and in the hands
of hegemonic Powers, we become pawns in a game
that they play and control to satisfy their own
strategic interests. Our ideals transcend that
sad destiny, and our actions must no longer doom
us to it. Our task is to contribute balance and
justice to the international community. We must
also work fervently for a world based on true
collective security.
In this context we can only be disappointed and
frustrated that the second special session of the
General Assembly devoted to disarmament, in which
all countries had placed such great hopes, ended
in failure. The main cause was the bad faith of
the nuclear States, which kept raising objections
and reservations in an attempt to make
disarmament their own preserve. Even if their
arsenals warrant such pretension, it still
remains true that peace is everybody's business.
In spite of those disappointing results, we
consider it necessary, within the framework of
the World Disarmament Campaign, to continue to
mobilize world public opinion in favor of peace.
The future of the world economy arouses deep
concern in my country. The present crisis,
because of its multifaceted nature, spares no
country, whether of North or South,
industrialized or developing. Inflation and
unemployment have sounded the alarm everywhere.
The elements of a crisis similar to that of the
1930s are again present and, as if this were
enough to overcome it, certain economic Powers
have taken protectionist measures, which have had
the immediate effect of producing disorder in
international economic trade. In the long term it
is to be feared that those same measures may lead
to social and polemical upheaval, with
unforeseeable results.
Another feature of the present situation which is
equally disturbing to my country is the slowing
down of the humanist movement towards
international co-operation which had led to the
creation of a number of bodies within the United
Nations system designed to Foster the development
of the least-favored countries.
As proof of that I would cite the enormous
difficulties now faced by UNDP, whose capacity to
intervene in the sphere of international
development has fallen in 1982 below what it was
10 years ago. For the countries that benefit from
that assistance this situation will most
certainly lead to the elimination of many
projects whose economic and social impact is
clear.
123. The concern that I have just shared with the
Assembly is not confined, unfortunately, to UNDP:
it extends also, I am afraid, to such specialized
agencies and bodies as UNICEF, FAO, WHO, UNEP,
and others. It is as though in recent years the
interest that led to the creation of such bodies
has waned; it is as though the suffering, poverty
and penury of millions of human beings prey to
hunger, thirst and the most diverse and cruel
ills no longer awakened ;he conscience of men of
good will.
It is therefore not surprising that this
worldwide economic recession, whether we call it
inflation, an energy crisis or deterioration in
the terms of trade, which paralyses the growth of
the most prosperous, powerful economies should be
destroying the development efforts of the
third-world countries, and, more specifically,
the least developed among them. In Africa, and
more particularly in the Sahelian countries,
these ills, together with natural disasters and
their consequences tend to become a veritable
psychosis.
By the end of this session of the General
Assembly we expect to see an increase in the
number of African countries classified as among
the least developed, which will bring to 52 per
cent the proportion of States on our continent in
that category. These figures speak for
themselves; they are proof that in spite of the
struggle of the African countries since their
independence and in spite of the Lagos Plan of
Action and the efforts of the international
community to help our continent emerge from its
chronic underdevelopment, the results have not
met the expectations of our peoples. Indeed, the
results have even been negative in certain
respects.
It is often said that comparisons are odious.
Without trying to draw analogies between the
present situation of the developing countries and
that of postwar Europe, my country, the Upper
Volta, is convinced that only massive assistance
to those countries along the lines of the
Marshall Plan could help them to solve their
economic problems. Obviously, the success of such
a plan depends on the political will of all
States, particularity the major Powers. In our
view, the latter should reverse the arms race and
devote the resources thus released to the
peaceful purposes of economic and social
development.
It is within this framework that the Upper Volta
attaches particular importance to resumption of
the North-South dialogue and renewal of global
negotiations on economic development. We
therefore appeal to the rich countries, and to
their political will, in particular, to recognize
that the interests of mankind and the very
survival of the human race transcend
self-interest, demand the prompt resumption of
those negotiations and must be the basis of their
philosophy.
The Upper Volta, a land-locked country and one
which is geographically disadvantaged and
classified among the least-developed countries,
welcomed with great satisfaction the adoption of
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea' on 30 April 1982. The decisive adoption of
that instrument constitutes, in our view, a
striking victory of an international community in
search of its identity, an important step towards
a more just and lasting balance in inter-State
economic relations. Is that not an example, if
example be needed, of the value of dialogue?
I should like on behalf of my country to take
this opportunity to appeal to the States that for
different reasons were unable to adopt the
Convention on the Law of the Sea to review their
position. On a Convention of such importance,
consensus would make it possible for us to mark
one more milestone on the path towards peace and
detente.
Before concluding, I should like to restate my
country's full confidence and faith in the United
Nations and in its noble mission, which is that
of bringing about an era of peace and progress
for the well-being of mankind. The Upper Volta
has attentively followed all the efforts made in
that direction during the past year, whether it
be the World Assembly on Aging, a matter which is
increasingly of concern to the national
community, or the Second United Nations
Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space which took place in August at
Vienna. We believe that all these activities
share a clear vision of objectives to be attained
in order to make our world more fraternal and
more humane.
It is urgent that the United Nations, through the
proposals for renewal suggested by the Secretary-
General, regain its place and its role in
accordance with the principles of the Charter. It
is essential that all the nations of our world
give the United Nations every support to enable
it to accomplish its mission in our troubled
world, that of safeguarding peace and justice.
Above and beyond the difficulties of all types
that today disturb international life, above and
beyond national selfishness, tension and
conflicts which govern inter-State relations, one
truth remains: never before since the emergence
of life on earth has mankind been more
threatened, more haunted. Never has peace been
more precarious, never has our world been more
anguished, more disturbed; disturbed at the
present, disturbed for the future. In these
conditions, our only chance of survival is to
mobilize all our energies in the service of
greater justice, greater equity on earth.