I have the honor of extending to Mr. Hollai, on behalf of the
delegation of Rwanda the warmest congratulation, echoing those
already addressed to him from this rostrum by those speakers who have
preceded me. His election to the presidency of the thirty-seventh
session of the General Assembly is a tribute. Indeed, it duly
recognizes the confidence which is owing to his personal qualities,
particularly his competence, to which solemn homage has thus been
paid. His election, moreover, is a mark of recognition of the
important role that his country plays within the international
community in the promotion of the ideals and principles inscribed in
the Charter. In this context, the Rwandese delegation, whose
readiness and sincere co-operation are assured him, is convinced that
under his presidency the work of the current session will yield the
results which the international community is entitled to expect in
view of the objectives justifying the existence of the United
Nations. May I also pay a tribute to Mr. Hollai's predecessor, Mr.
Kittani of Iraq, who deserved well of the Organization by the wisdom,
devotion, talent and dynamism with which he led the debates, which
were undeniably long and difficult, that took place during the
thirty-sixth session, as well as those of the seventh and ninth
emergency special sessions and those of the special session devoted
to disarmament. I should also like to take this opportunity to
reiterate the congratulations of the Government of Rwanda to Mr.
Perez de Cuellar following his election as Secretary-General. The
Government and people of Rwanda again express their best wishes for
his full success in his noble and difficult mission and commit
themselves to supporting him and assuring him of their full
co-operation, within their means, in giving concrete form to the
ideals for which the United Nations remains the guarantor and trustee.
In accordance with established tradition, the General Assembly is
gathered here to take stock of a year of activities by the United
Nations, primarily for the purpose of preparing for the future in
accordance with the lessons, experiences and results of the past. As
happens every year, a privileged opportunity has again been given to
all Member States publicly and solemnly to express their positions
with regard to problems which are currently of concern to the
international community, as well as their hopes for the future-hopes
whose realization will depend on the mobilization and contribution of
all peoples within the framework of increasingly active solidarity,
above and beyond pious wishes and simple declarations of intent.
$53
The concerns of the Rwandese delegation bear first of all on the
international economic situation, which scarcely prompts optimism,
following a structural crisis which is creating an increasingly wide
gap between the industrialized countries and the developing
countries. World recession, monetary upheavals and increasingly heavy
and crushing indebtedness confront the developing countries with
problems that are at times inextricable and they are threatened in
the end with bankruptcy.
During the year which is drawing to an end, no tangible development
has occurred to modify in any positive or lasting way that tragically
alarming trend, which the international community has been deploring
for several years. The world continues to flounder in this crisis,
which reduces to naught the ambitions and hope of enabling the
majority of three quarters of humanity to escape the suffering of
poverty and wretchedness.
The disorder of the international monetary system thus aggravates the
problems of the third world countries which, while on the path to
development with precarious resources, difficulties which are
characterized notably by the persistence of inflationary pressures,
the increasingly marked deterioration in terms of trade and the
reduction of resources of institutions whose mission is to ensure
financing.
For many such countries, the deterioration of the food situation has
already gone beyond the point at which they are forced to increase
their dependence on imported products to such a degree that they are
no longer in a position to make the adjustments necessary to break
the spiral of a worsening food shortage.
In this context, the countries which can afford to should abandon an
exceedingly comfortable and simple attitude of inward withdrawal and
should devote further efforts to ensuring that their official
development assistance reaches the target of 0.7 per cent of gross
national product set within the framework of the Second United
Nations Development Decade. In that connection, the Republic of
Rwanda would like to hail the decision already taken by a certain
number of industrialized countries, which intend to devote 0.15 per
cent of their gross national product to assistance for the least
developed countries, of which my country is unfortunately a member.
My country at the same time welcomes the fact that the target of 0.15
per cent has been approved in the Substantial New Programme of Action
for the 1980s for the Least Developed Countries, a programme which
the General Assembly endorsed in resolution 36/194. My delegation
ventures to hope that donor countries, as well as all potential prime
lenders, will take adequate steps forthwith so as to ensure the
effective implementation of the Substantial New Programme of Action.
My delegation is thinking particularly of immediate steps making it
possible to satisfy the most urgent needs of the least developed
countries. I should like to refer, by way of example, to the
provision of substantial resources to reduce shortages of foodstuffs
and energy resources, immediate financial assistance in the form of
the cancellation or (rescheduling of debts and support for the
balance of payments, and the immediate provision of supplementary
financial support, especially for identification of projects, the
carrying out of feasibility studies and the detailed preparation of
investment projects.
The hardly encouraging picture of the world economy shows that the
establishment of a new international economic order based on justice
and equity is an urgent and imperative need. In that regard, I need
not dwell on the disappointment caused by the impasse regarding the
global negotiations. Since the eleventh special session of the
General Assembly, in August 1980, two years have elapsed without
delegations having succeeded in finding a compromise acceptable to
all parties so as to permit the effective resumption of global
negotiations.
Although the present situation is undoubtedly one of impasse, certain
parties like to praise the therapeutic virtues of the free play of
market forces, which unfortunately benefit only the powerful and the
strong, inasmuch as they do not fall within the framework of a real
strategy of international co-operation and disregard economic
interdependence, thus threatening to exacerbate the disagreements and
disparities among States.
The Government of Rwanda is firmly convinced that the development of
the third world depends on a fundamental restructuring of
international economic relations as a result of reforms designed to
put an end to the present system, which tends to keep the poor
majority subordinated to the wealthy minority. Interdependence is a
crucial element which must constantly be borne in mind: it should
inspire greater solidarity and complementarity in the organization of
the economic relations between the industrialized countries, which
possess the technology, and the developing countries, which possess
raw materials. To disregard that reality would be to close our eyes
deliberately to the facts and risk plunging the international
community inextricably into a crisis.
Interdependence should not, however, be limited to North-South
relations; it should also be an important element in South-South
relations, and should be understood to apply particularly to
co-operation among developing countries-co-operation which the
effective implementation of the Caracas Programme of Action would al
low to develop and strengthen yet further.
In this connection, Rwanda is working unceasingly and with all its
strength to promote and strengthen its co-operation with other
developing countries in general and neighboring countries in
particular. With the latter Rwanda is endeavoring to develop
relations of friendship and co-operation on the bilateral level and
also within the framework of the sub regional communities. The
Rwandese delegation is convinced that such co-operation, which is
fully in keeping with the objectives set forth in the Lagos Plan of
Action for the Implementation of the Monrovia Strategy for the
Economic Development of Africa constitutes, with regard to the
countries concerned, an important contribution to the achievement of
international economic relations which serve the interests of all the
parties. We are also convinced that we must foster exchanges which
could enable the third world countries to confront the difficulties
inherent in the imbalance of the present system, which is reflected
in persistent disorder and profound structural problems.
It is high time all States understood that all hope of peace and
security will be vain as long as the world is ruled by a system which
maintains three quarters of mankind in the worst conditions of
poverty, malnutrition, hunger and even abject, pathetic and revolting
squalor.
The conclusions of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of
the Sea have shown the skeptics that the Organization constitutes an
ideal framework for constructive dialogue on problems and questions
of world interest. Rwanda welcomed the adoption last April by a great
majority of countries of the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea. It is not necessary to recall here the entire background of
that Conference; its origins are well known to all delegations at
this session of the General Assembly. My delegation would simply like
to pay a well-deserved tribute to all the delegations that took an
active part in the work of that important Conference, at which there
were lengthy negotiations before arriving, after more than 10 years,
at the drafting and adoption of an effective international instrument
on the law of the sea.
As a representative of a developing country which is, furthermore,
deprived of direct access to the sea, I should like to take this
opportunity to express, on behalf of the Government and people of
Rwanda, our sincere satisfaction with the provisions of the
Convention concerning the right of access to and from the sea and
also the exercise of the rights provided for in the Convention,
especially those pertaining to the freedom of the high seas, the
common heritage of mankind and the enjoyment of freedom of transit
through the territory of transit States by all means of
transportation. The land-locked countries would certainly have liked
to see other provisions included in the Convention, but they
refrained from insisting on that point so as not to jeopardize or
block the consensus which was sought by all parties.
We hope that the Convention will enter into force as soon as possible
and that it will serve as a model for the management and sharing of
the wealth of our planet for the benefit of all mankind in general
and of the poorest in particular. With this in mind, my delegation
hopes that the delegations that so far have not, for various reasons,
been able to support the Convention on the Law of the Sea will
reconsider their position and join the majority, so that the
objectives which in this sphere are common to all Member States may
be achieved.
With the same optimism, we hope to see substantial and noteworthy
progress made in the sphere of international trade, which for several
years has been the object of important negotiations within UNCTAD.
The gradual fall in the prices of raw materials and the inexorable
increase in the prices of finished products make the economic
situation of the developing countries increasingly catastrophic, for
the deficits and the gaps to be filled compel them to contract more
and more crushing debts and thus to become insolvent, which
jeopardizes their future not only socially and economically but also
politically.
I shall not engage in the futile exercise of enumerating all the
problems confronting the developing countries in general and the
least developed and the land-locked countries in particular. I will
simply draw the attention of the Assembly once more to the fact that
all the defects of the world economy are at present affecting even
more seriously this category of countries with weak and vulnerable
economies. Therefore I reiterate that the time has come for
solidarity and co-operation based on sharing, justice, equity and
complementarity, in the framework of the democratization of
international relations, which is an urgent necessity.
The role of the United Nations is to contribute to this and thereby
to achieve its primary objective, that of promoting and ensuring the
maintenance of peace, security and justice, while working for
individual and collective well-being and progress, for the benefit of
all the peoples of the world.
We are bound to note and to deplore the fact that the world does not
seem to be prepared to lead from history and to give concrete form to
the noble ideals to which all the Member States freely and solemnly
subscribed.
Since the policy of detente, which would allow different
socio-economic and political systems to lay the groundwork for
fruitful co-operation, is increasingly losing ground to confrontation
and tension; we face a future fraught with anguish and uncertainty.
The arms race in nuclear, bacteriological and classical weapons is
accelerating at an alarming pace to the detriment of investment that
might help save people in developing countries from dire poverty.
Some references to problems of our times and a rapid overview show
that overt conflicts and areas of tension which bring to bear grave
threats to international peace and security are very much with us.
Some are due to anachronistic colonialism or to the hateful and
cynical policy of apartheid. All are linked to flagrant violations of
the Charter and norms established by international law.
In Africa, above and beyond socio-economic problems, one of the major
concerns remains the situation prevailing in the southern part of
that continent and the sufferings, sacrifices and tragedies imposed
on the Namibian people and on black South Africans struggling for
recognition of their most basic rights.
As regards Namibia, which is still illegally occupied and
administered by the minority racist Pretoria regime, the many actions
undertaken by the United Nations to lead that Territory to
independence-a matter for which the United Nations bears
responsibility-have thus far come up against the intransigence,
hesitation and dilatory maneuvers of South Africa, which arrogantly
defies the international community. How can we fail to deplore the
procrastination and the attempts to torpedo the United Nations plan
for Namibia, when every day the Namibian people thirst for
independence, for which it will continue to pay a heavy price,
through the sufferings of freedom fighters who go as far as making
the supreme sacrifice to emancipate their homeland?
The Government of Rwanda, which has had the privilege and signal
honor of taking part in the delegation sent by the OAU to the Western
countries members of the contact group on Namibia, bitterly regrets
that this year is likely to end without the date on which the
Namibian people is to achieve self- determination and independence
being firmly set. In this connection my delegation would like to
reaffirm the conviction of the Government of Rwanda that the United
Nations plan for Namibia remains the only realistic framework for any
initiative pertaining to the future of the Namibian people. That is
why the five Western countries that make up the contact group cannot
bow out without betraying the hopes and desires that the overwhelming
majority of the international community have for Namibia. That is why
those countries should be encouraged to show greater determination,
willingness and commitment to compel South Africa to agree to strict
implementation of Security Council resolution 435 (1978).
The right of the Namibian people to self-determination and
independence should not, under any circumstance or any pretext, be
sacrificed to the selfish interests of certain States Members of the
United Nations, States which, deaf to the repeated appeals of the
international community, happily continue their collaboration with
the Pretoria regime in economic, military and other matters.
The accession of Namibia to independence is an inevitable process
which goes along with the tide of history. It is thus absolutely
necessary for the Namibian people to be able without further delay to
exercise its right to decide on its future for itself in complete
independence and to choose for itself, free of any external
interference, the political regime and socioeconomic system that
would be in keeping with its legitimate aspirations.
In recalling this position the Rwandese delegation once again hails
the nationalist and anti-colonialist struggle being waged by that
valiant people of heroes and martyrs under the aegis of SWAPO, its
sole legitimate representative, to which Rwanda solemnly reiterates
its unflagging support.
The return to the policy of gunboat diplomacy and the wanton and
exclusive quest for spheres of influence, which sacrifice principles
sacred to the entire international community as well as the
elementary rights of peoples, will in no way affect the justness of
the cause of the Namibian people. It will at the most delay matters;
it will not at all undermine the heroism of that people.
I should also like to express the Rwandese Government's solidarity
with the front-line States of southern Africa and more specifically
the People's Republic of Angola and Mozambique, which are constantly
victims of the bloody, barbarous aggressions and acts of sabotage in
which the racist minority regime of South Africa takes pleasure.
In South Africa itself the proponents of apartheid-the iniquitous,
hateful and inhuman policy they have established as a system of
Government, thus enshrining racism and racial segregation as State
policy-are attempting to maintain domination without regard for
morality and right. So it is-and this is only one of many
examples-that they install the majority of the population in
so-called independent Bantustans and have recourse to ignoble
practices such as assassination, kidnapping, torture and imprisonment
against nationalists.
This regime, which has been abhorred by the great majority of Member
States, furthermore stubbornly defies the international community by
terrorizing all of southern Africa through armed invasions,
assassinations, massacres, infiltration, political de- stabilization
and acts of economic sabotage against neighboring States. Quite
obviously such practices amount to a desperate strategy in the face
of the sacred cause of the liberation of peoples defense of which is
daily mobilizing greater strength and determination within South
Africa itself. That tangible progress compels the South African
Fascists to launch escalated guerrilla warfare and frequently to
resort to the use of bands of mercenaries.
In this context, in this International Year of Mobilization for
Sanctions against South Africa it is important that the diplomatic
world redouble its efforts to isolate completely the minority racist
regime in South Africa, politically, economically and militarily.
The situation in Chad is also a matter of concern to the African
continent. The fratricidal conflict which has ravished that country
has seemed for some months now to have died down to some extent, but
what is temporary threatens to last, jeopardizing the settlement of
the crisis, unless all the protagonists abandon once and for all
their bitterness and resolutely commit themselves in a spirit of
national reconciliation to the quest for a peaceful solution which
will safeguard the higher interests of their country and, especially,
preserve its territorial integrity. Such a development is an
important prerequisite for the reconstruction and development of that
country, tom by internecine strife. That reconstruction and
development will be the taskof all its vital forces, and Member
States will not spare their support in this long-term endeavor,
thereby showing the value they attach to the maintenance of peace and
security, which the people of Chad so badly need.
Still in Africa, the question of Western Sahara is also a topical one
and a major concern for our continent. For my country, the essential
aspect of this issue is the need to apply the universal principle of
the right of peoples to self-determination. It is in that spirit
that, since 1976, it has recognized the Sahraoui Arab Democratic
Republic.
Reference to the principles which inspire and underlie international
ethics and politics requires that the African countries, which have
always shown their support for peoples struggling for recognition of
their right to self-determination, bury their disputes on Western
Sahara in order to preserve their vital unity in the OAU, without
denying the principles they have freely subscribed to or sacrificing
either the interests or the rights of the Sahraoui people.
Other fratricidal conflicts which play their part in the
proliferation of areas of tension continue in Africa, where they
seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the regions and
areas concerned and could encourage outside interference.
With full respect for the sovereignty of other States, the position
of Rwanda with regard to these conflicts and tensions, which
constitute grave obstacles to development, is to put its trust in the
wisdom of the parties involved and hope that the spirit of
conciliation will prevail over hatred and that recourse to compromise
solutions will help to preserve peace, security and stability in
Africa, with strict respect for the principles of the charter of the
OAU and that of the United Nations.
For more than 30 years tension and murderous confusion have persisted
in the Middle East, against the background of the intolerable
martyrdom constantly imposed on the Palestinian people. Today more
than ever this troubled region is characterized by the intransigence
and barbarity of the State of Israel, which scorns the decisions of
the international community and resorts to the policy of an ostrich,
burying its head and refusing to recognize the right of the
Palestinian people to self-determination. In the orgy of fire and
Mood of which Lebanon has recently been the scene, this year has been
marked by an unprecedented increase in acts of violence, launched by
Israel on the pretext of reprisals against the PLO and of
self-defense against the other States in the region.
At the same time, the repression in the occupied Arab territories has
never been so brutal and savage. Armed with its arrogance, which has
been denounced and condemned many times by the Assembly, Israel
arrogates to itself the right to annex the Syrian Golan Heights in
flagrant violation of the Charter and of the established principles
of international law. Its invasion of Lebanon, its provocation and
harassment of all kinds in the occupied territories and the
establishment of new settlements are all elements which clearly
illustrate Israel's contempt for international morality and ethics as
affirmed in many resolutions of the United Nations, to which that
ungrateful State owes its birth.
The many repercussions of the situation in the Middle East
demonstrate the absolute and imperative need for a comprehensive
solution. In this context, Rwanda remains convinced that any just and
lasting solution in this region must necessarily involve the
restoration to the Palestinian people of its fundamental and
legitimate rights, especially its right to self-determination, the
right to its own homeland to establish there, under the aegis of the
PLO, its sole legitimate representative, the governmental structures
of its choice. As long as this key problem is not satisfactorily
solved, as long as the State of Israel refuses to return the Arab
territories it has been occupying by force since 1967, including the
Holy City of Jerusalem, as long as it persists in rejecting full
participation by the PLO in the initiatives designed to promote the
peace process in the Middle East, it will be an illusion to expect
positive and constructive developments in this region so vital to
international peace and security.
The diaspora imposed on the valiant Palestinian people will not give
the slightest legitimacy to acts designed to stifle its legitimate
aspirations, any more than the policy of terror and occupation of the
Israeli Government will deflect the international community from its
duty to promote, everywhere and in all circumstances, peace and
justice, which are the foundations of the Charter.
Above and beyond the Israeli-Arab conflict, the state of war which
persists between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite the
many attempts at mediation, also continues to be a cause of deep
concern in that already explosive region and for the whole of the
international community. That war, in which the victims can be
counted in thousands, is seriously disrupting the economies of the
two parties to the conflict, for which it involves a considerable
loss of business. The Rwandese delegation pays a tribute to all
people of good will who have spared no effort to seek a settlement of
this fratricidal conflict. Rwanda hopes that these two non-aligned
countries which, furthermore, have the some Islamic faith, will not
remain deaf to the urgent appeals of the international community
urging them to find once again the way to concord and co-operation,
instead of following the easy way which leads to hatred and
destruction, and so that they may seek the honor of promoting peace,
understanding and co-operation.
In central Asia, the Afghan crisis persists and clearly shows the
precariousness and fragile nature of East-West detente. The events
which have occurred in Afghanistan have in fact provoked a deep
division in the policy of detente, a division which has increased
following the Polish crisis, exacerbating suspicions which have
become only too commonplace when they involve a struggle for
influence on the international scene.
Rwanda believes in the need to establish and develop a calmer climate
which may allow all nations to make further development efforts.
Rwanda feels at the same time that attempts to promote detente cannot
exclude the third world in general, and Africa in particular, without
running the risk of being ineffective.
In Indo-China, Kampuchea is still torn asunder by a continuing
fratricidal struggle, with outside interference, for the control of
power.
The Rwandese Government believes that respect for the sovereignty of
States, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries
and the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes should allow for
an end to such conflicts, which are obstacles to the security and
peace needed by the international community, for they go hand in hand
with the arms race.
As regards divided nations, Rwanda supports the right of peoples
directly concerned in this problem to seek ways and means to
rediscover their unity. They should exercise this right peacefully,
free from any interference or outside pressure.
It is with this in view that the Rwandese Republic remains firmly
convinced that the Korean nation cannot achieve its reunification
unless all foreign troops withdraw from that area.
The Rwandese Government also considers that current relations between
the two German States are a reflection of the spirit of detente which
underlies their relations. The co-operation established between those
two States should attenuate at least to some degree the effects of
division and gradually create a political climate which will not
exclude the idea of a free and peaceful reunification of the German
nation.
Our concern in the face of an increase of areas of tension and the
persistence of conflicts should not lead us to forget that the
greatest danger to international peace and security is the unbridled
arms race which causes the threat of an unprecedented holocaust to
loom large over the world.
The second special session on disarmament, which was of such great
interest to the General Assembly, showed sufficiently that the
provisions of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the
General Assembly were not applied in a satisfactory manner.
The dawning of an era of peace, progress and justice for all peoples
is still impeded by the constant increase and spectacular improvement
of massive means of destruction. Research programmes and military
development in this regard are disquieting, for immense financial,
material and human resources are being increasingly mobilized to
refine the techniques of the extermination of the human race, thereby
increasing the risk of conflict and conflagration.
The Rwandese Government solemnly reiterates its appeal that this
formidable scientific and technological potential, as well as the
financial means and human resources which allow for its development,
be further exploited for peaceful purposes, especially to reduce the
gap separating the wealthy from the still developing countries.
Will the international community be able to face the great challenge
of our century, that is, the close relationship between disarmament
and development? This is the outlook which all States Members of the
United Nations-especially the developed countries in general and the
great Powers in particular-should adopt in seeking elements of a
solution to the problems of our times, without any ulterior motive or
evasion, but armed first and foremost with the firm determination and
genuine will to promote concord, solidarity and co-operation among
all peoples.
This is the message of hope which I wish to transmit from this
rostrum on behalf of the Government and people of Rwanda, in the
conviction that the work of this thirty-seventh session of the
General Assembly will lead to results specifically in keeping with
the expectations of the United Nations, the Organization which is
responsible to the whole international community for results which
will consolidate and enhance its prestige.