I bring to the General Assembly and to the United
Nations the greetings of the people of Mauritius
and of their newly elected Government. I wish to
convey to the President my warmest
congratulations on his election to preside over
our deliberations. I am confident that under his
wise and able leadership the Assembly will, in
the superior interests of mankind, give concrete
shape to the aspirations of the peoples of the
world. I seize this opportunity to express to his
predecessor, Mr. Kittani, our warmest
appreciation for the highly impressive manner in
which he presided over the deliberations of the
previous session of the Assembly.
53. It is indeed a moment of intense emotion
for me to address the Assembly for the first time
in my capacity as the head of a new Government
overwhelmingly mandated by the people of
Mauritius to take the destiny of the country
firmly in hand, to make it play the role it
should play in mankind's search for enduring
peace in the world and to make it contribute its
share, however modest, to the eradication of all
forms of injustice at home and abroad.
54. I wish here to record our appreciation of
the work done by the Secretary-General. It takes
great courage, Mr. Secretary-General, to
undertake on behalf of humanity the difficult
tasks that your office carries with it. The
international community has seen you at work in
the past year in some of the most trying
situations, where your tact, your moderation and
your perseverance have inspired universal
admiration. The year ahead, unfortunately, does
not promise to be any easier for you than the
year that has elapsed. In your first report on
the work of the Organization you have focused on
the need for an urgent review of the United
Nations and, in particular, of mechanisms set up
for collective action for international peace and
security. You have argued for a more forthright
role for your office of Secretary-General and you
envisage for the Security Council a kind of
diplomatic system. Finally, you say you would
like to see more concrete follow-up action to
debate in the Assembly. Many of the proposals you
have made could be put into effect immediately if
the political will of Member States was
galvanized for the purpose. You can therefore
rest assured that my delegation will co-operate
fully with your office and with the other Member
States for an early implementation of any
resolution arrived at in respect of the
reorganization envisaged.
55. It is a matter of deep regret that the
principle of the universality of United Nations
membership does not yet actually prevail.
Unilateral action and exclusive alliances have in
fact not been disowned. Spheres of influence and
considerations of balance of power, regrettably,
continue to actuate the policies of many nations,
despite the fact that they fail to produce the
desired results. Added to this is a considerable
and formidable interference in the internal
affairs of many countries, the powerful making
their presence felt in many ways, relentless in
their endeavour to enlarge their spheres of
influence. Countries like Mauritius, which have
only recently acquired freedom, have a strong
attachment to the United Nations and inevitably a
special stake in its functioning. I have come
here to reiterate my country's deep commitment to
the principles and purposes of the Charter.
56. I believe that we come here not to save
face but to save and protect life. We come here
not to deliver speeches only and then make our
exit but to make action follow our words. We come
here not as a matter of mere formality and to pay
lip service to the ideals of peace and justice
but to show how serious we are in our intentions
to work for the superior interests of the whole
of mankind. We come here not out of selfish
motives but to show how willing and prepared we
are to forgo a little bit of our own ego for
international good in a spirit of compromise, so
that the world may live and the human race
survive. We come here not to add to problems but
to find solutions satisfactory to all parties. We
come here because we believe in man and in all
the inherent good there is in him which, if it
prevails, will be the safety valve of the human
race.
57. What is urgently needed is a unified view
of the world's resources and the world's
experience and of man's power of invention. The
change we desire, the change which must come, is
one not of pace, quantity or manner but of the
basic quality of what man is and can be. We all
need to make earnest and well-considered efforts
to subdue and check national ambitions and
rivalries in the superior and wider interest of
the preservation of civilization and the survival
of humanity.
58. It is in the context of what I have just
said that I invite representatives present here
to bear in mind the human dimensions of the
issues we shall be deliberating upon. The average
man does not ask for much; he is not interested
in leading a life of frivolous affluence and
frenetic consumption. We are gathered here to
give substance to the yearnings of the average
man, to give voice to the wishes of the
voiceless, for that is the primary responsibility
of those who govern. The great tragedy of the
present situation is that the world order as it
now exists has been unable to satisfy the basic
universal aspirations of man —dignity, peace and
security.
59. In June the people of Mauritius gave an
overwhelming mandate to those whom they perceived
to be the champions of the dignity of man. We
have given a solemn undertaking to our people to
defend the oppressed and the weak and we will be
true to that undertaking. It is equally in this
spirit that we want to add our voice to that of
this concert of nations in our denunciation of
all forms of injustice and to work to better the
lot of suffering mankind.
60. The major and continuing threat to the
dignity of man comes from the prevailing economic
order, characterized by built-in
self-perpetuating inequality which results in an
unjust distribution of the world's limited
resources. Year by year the inequality grows, the
injustice of the system becomes ethically more
revolting and at the receiving end deprivation
and misery become more unbearable. It is patent
that this system cannot be allowed to continue.
Change may be too gradual in the developing
countries for our liking but we realize that it
can come only out of patient dialogue. We are
today faced with the Herculean task of
restructuring an economic order which has been
shaped by four centuries of colonialism. This
cannot be done quickly, it cannot be done
painlessly, but it has to be done and it will be
done. The real question before us is whether we
want to continue frittering away our energies in
useless disagreements and quarrels or whether we
want to look seriously into the future of mankind
and act to make people really prosperous.
61. Both the rich and the poor nations have
pressing and paralleled problems which cannot be
solved independently. The present crisis is a
crisis of international structures. The present
system needs fundamental institutional reforms,
based upon the recognition of a common interest
and upon mutual concern in an increasingly
interdependent world. New vitality and urgency
have to be imparted to the North-South dialogue.
The very survival of both developing and
developed countries depends on the success of
this dialogue. We have to moderate the shrillness
of the demands made, as well as the obdurate
arrogance with which those demands have so far
been rejected. I believe that we have in the Lome
Convention given the world a small but
significant example of what cooperative
North-South could be like.
62. My Government also calls upon the members
of the international community to direct its
efforts to the equally important transformation
of the international order relating to the
oceans. The traditional legal order in that Held
has been eroded by technological and political
developments and must be replaced by a new legal
order which would permit the exploitation of the
ocean space—the largest and most valuable region
of our planet—in the interests of all mankind.
After many years of intense and very complex
negotiations, in which over 150 States have
regularly participated, the Third United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea has produced a
Convention which ought to be hailed as a triumph
for mankind in laying the foundation for
international co-operation in the use of the
oceans.
63. All the major industrialized Powers
played a very active role in the shaping of the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
which largely reflects their interests, concerns
and preoccupations. It is on account of this that
we fail to appreciate the attempt being made by
certain major Powers to scuttle the Convention by
their decision to opt for a mini-treaty among
like-minded States, a mini-treaty which
inevitably will create new areas of tension in
international relations likely to lead to a
situation which endangers international peace and
security.
64. We call upon all States to sign the
Convention in order to make the concept of the
common heritage of mankind a reality. The
Convention on the Law of the Sea should be
treated as a special convention and we urge the
major industrialized States to forgo their fears
about the precedent setting nature of this
Convention. All States should embark on this
enterprise in a spirit of trust and good will.
65. Quite apart from its determination to
work with other countries of the third world for
the elimination of the poverty curtain that
divides our planet into a world of the affluent
and a world of the poor, Mauritius militates
against the equally pernicious division of the
world into two hostile camps dominated by the
so-called super-Powers, which, in their pursuit
of world domination, threaten the security of
States the only concern of which is the social
and economic development of their people, free
from external interference. Mauritius is
committed to a policy of active and determined
non-alignment. We intend jealously to protect and
guard our hard-won independence; we intend to
condemn unequivocally all aggression, all forms
of imperialism and all hegemonistic ambitions. We
aspire to a world of true interdependence of
genuinely free and equal States, whose relations
are based on co-operation rather than on
confrontation.
66. The Government of Mauritius, in pursuit
of its policy of strict non-alignment and in
conformity with General Assembly resolution 2832
(XXVI), the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a
Zone of Peace, will work with other peace-loving
members of the international community for the
demilitarization of the Indian Ocean. During the
years which have elapsed since the adoption of
the resolution, we have witnessed the expansion
of the Ocean's geopolitical dimensions and the
conversion of this intended zone of peace into a
zone of war and mobilization for war, with all
the attendant dangers for the countries of the
regime. The Ocean has gradually expanded beyond
its own waters; it is now linked to the States of
South-East Asia and to developments in West Asia
and the Middle East. The so-called modest
communications facility in Diego Garcia has been
converted into the formidable and horrendous
nuclear base which threatens the security of all
Indian Ocean States, and there has been a
scramble to secure port facilities along the
so-called arc of crisis, that is, the Horn of
Africa, the Arabian peninsula and the vital
Persian Gulf area.
67. With the alarming increase in a foreign
military presence in the Indian Ocean, the
fervent hope of the States of the region for the
holding of the Conference on the Indian Ocean has
receded. Mauritius and the other States of the
region are not hoodwinked by the tactics and
ploys adopted by some States, which are designed
primarily to cause confusion, postpone
indefinitely the holding of that Conference and
create a smoke-screen to hide their warlike
designs. We solemnly appeal to all the members of
the international community to give their full
support to the United Nations so that the
Conference on the Indian Ocean can take place in
the very near future. We also call upon the
foreign military Powers present in the Indian
Ocean to exercise mutual restraint and to
initiate a gradual and balanced withdrawal of
their forces from the region, which would then be
open exclusively to commercial navigation. It is
our conviction that the security of the sea lanes
in the Ocean can best be protected by the States
of the region.
68. At this juncture I should like to dwell
on an issue which affects the vital interests of
Mauritius; I mean the Mauritian claim of
sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, which
was excised by the then colonial Power from the
territory of Mauritius in contravention of
General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV) and 2066
(XX). This dismemberment of Mauritian territory,
the violation of our territorial integrity, has
been made all the more unacceptable by the fact
that one of the islands of that very Archipelago,
Diego Garcia, is now a full-fledged nuclear base,
which poses a constant threat to the security of
Mauritius and to that of all the littoral and
hinterland States of the Indian Ocean, the very
Ocean declared to be a zone of peace by this
Assembly in 1971.
69. I solemnly appeal to the peace-loving
Members of the Organization to extend all their
support to the legitimate Mauritian claim of
sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago. In
helping Mauritius to regain its national
heritage, the United Nations will be living up to
its own principles and proclaiming loud and clear
that it expects its resolutions to be implemented
by its Members. As the Diego Garcia issue
involves two fundamental principles of the United
Nations, namely respect by the administering
Power for the territorial integrity of its
colony, and the right of peoples to live in peace
and security, I venture to say that the return of
the archipelago to Mauritius will bring the
Organization the respect that is so indispensable
to its continued existence.
70. Times are bad, very bad. The world
economy in fact teeters on the brink of a
depression that could be wider and deeper than
that of the 1930s. For the weakest national
economies, and therefore for hundreds of millions
of people, little short of catastrophe looms.
Such a situation, wherein the world is perilously
poised on the brink of an economic precipice, is
not conducive to peace. An extended recession,
excessive interest rates, highly unstable
exchange rates, widespread protectionism—all
these constitute threats to peace in a world of
inescapable interdependence. Our political and
economic systems should provide conceptual space
for the reality of an interdependent world
economy. Regrettably, the search for the world
economy recovery that is so desperately needed
remains derailed and we drill towards the abyss
of economic disaster.
71. As far as Mauritius if concerned, we
shall participate fully in the North-South
dialogue and, indeed, have great expectations of
progress resulting from that dialogue, but we
believe that much can be achieved through
South-South co-operation. The Island States of
the south-west Indian Ocean are actively engaged
in promoting co-operation at the regional level.
We hope in the near future to set up an Indian
Ocean commission which will provide the
institutional framework for co-operation among
the States of the region. It Is no mean measure
of our firm belief in the concept of an
interdependent world economy that we are already
looking beyond the immediate present to the day
when the grouping of the south-west Indian Ocean
States can be associated with other regional
groupings.
72. Violations of human rights constitute
another serious threat to the dignity of man. In
too many countries do people live under constant
threat of arbitrary arrest, torture, appearance
and execution after trials that are away from
civilized norms of justice. We unequivocally
condemn all violations of human rights wherever
they occur, under whatever social or political
system that occur.
73. We have a special abhorrence for a system
so inhuman, so immoral, would be unimaginable but
for the shameful fact that it exists. This odious
system of institutionalized racism will eternally
tarnish the claim of our epoch to a place of
honour in the history of civilization. We have a
duty to our brothers in South Africa. We also owe
it to ourselves to eliminate all vestiges of this
iniquitous system; otherwise the judgement which
posterity will pass on our times will be indeed
very harsh, and deservedly so.
74. We believe that freedom is indivisible,
that peace is indivisible. One of the first
foreign policy decisions of my Government was
formally to recognize ANC. Mauritius will stand
by ANC in its hard struggle to secure the
emancipation of the people of South Africa; ANC
can depend on the unflinching support of the
people and Government of Mauritius.
75. We shall give the same unconditional
support to SWAPO in its struggle for the
decolonization of Namibia. It is unacceptable
that the Republic of South Africa should continue
in its illegal occupation of Namibia in defiance
of the basic tenets of international law and of
international opinion. This defiance has to be
opposed by united and determined action. We
should not permit economic considerations to
hinder our action when the basic norms of
universal morality are being trampled upon, and
we should vigorously condemn the tactics adopted
by the South African regime, tactics designed to
modify the terms of Security Council resolution
435 (1978). Mauritius, moreover, sees no linkage
between the presence of Cuban troops in Angola
and the withdrawal of South African troops from
Namibia and demands that the South African regime
should no longer be allowed to invoke such a
linkage to delay the accession of the Namibian
people to independence.
76. We in Africa will, we hope, soon be rid
of the last vestiges of colonialism, and the
emancipation of the South African people will
inevitably be accomplished in the near future.
Racist domination in southern Africa is the
major, immediate problem we face, but it is by no
means our only problem.
77. I should like to impress upon the
Assembly that the African peoples want to dispel
the image that the African continent is only a
rich source of raw materials and nothing more;
nor is it fertile ground for the manoeuvres of
outside Powers and it is now determined not to
tolerate such manoeuvres. Africa calls open all
outside Powers to keep out and to let Africans
get on with solving their problems and be of help
for countries in the solution of these problems
is not to be ignored, provided there no sinister
ulterior motives, We in Africa are in urgent need
of technology, of capital, of know-how. Our
problems, both economic and social, call for the
joined, sustained effort of all of Africa. 0ur
greatest challenge is the maintenance of African
unity and the consolidation of our independence.
78. I come now to an area distant from
Mauritius. The issue at stake, however, is close
to the heart of every Mauritian. Tre PLO as the
sole representative of the Palestinian people has
our unreserved support; our identification with
the Palestinian cause is total. We believe that
the people of the Middle East will remain
supportive towards Palestine until Palestinian
aspirations are fulfilled. Mauritius has studied
the various peace proposals with great attention
and we are ready to give our backing to any peace
plan put forward that is acceptable to the PLO.
79. We call upon all those who can do so to
bring pressure to bear on Israel to stop
forthwith its aggression against the Lebanese and
Palestinian peoples. Prospects of peace in the
area suffered a severe setback with the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon and the unspeakable,
cold-blooded carnage of innocent civilians in
Beirut.
80. The fratricidal war between Iraq and the
Islamic Republic of Iran drags on, to the
satisfaction of those who would wish to see the
third world in a perpetual state of turmoil and
underdevelopment. We call upon both parties to
the conflict to cease hostilities and to stop the
death and destruction this war is inflicting on
the peoples of Iran and Iraq.
81. This war has led to the postponement of
the Seventh Conference of Heads of State or
Government of Non-Aligned Countries. This
postponement comes at a time when our movement is
faced with problems requiring immediate
solutions. Afghanistan, a member of the movement
finds itself under foreign occupation for the
third year. It is imperative that foreign forces
withdraw from Afghanistan, that all foreign
interference in its internal affairs cease and
that its non-aligned status be restored.
82. The conflicts, the inequalities and the
injustices of the world scene could easily lead
us to be disheartened at the precarious state of
the world. But we cannot allow ourselves to be
disheartened, for that would be an abdication of
our responsibilities towards our children and
towards posterity. An important aspect of my
Government's socialist creed is faith in the
innate goodness of man. Man fights the forces of
evil and darkness, conscious that, however long
and arduous the way may be, the victory of good
over evil is assured.
83. I believe that the Charter is the
concrete embodiment of one of the instances where
good has triumphed against tremendous divisive
odds. The Charter is our yardstick by which are
judged the acts of nations. I can assure the
Assembly that my Government's actions find their
inspiration in the Charter.
84. The world has always faced one crisis or
another, but today's crisis is deeper and more
far-reaching. No thinking, sensitive and
right-minded nation can remain silent. But it is
not enough merely to speak out: we should peak
out when the occasion for action comes, but,
above all, we should act, because the occasion
for action is here and now.
85. On behalf of the people of Mauritius and
on behalf of their newly elected Government, I
pledge our continuing and unflinching support for
the United Nations and our respect for its
Charter.