First of all I wish to convey my warm
congratulations to Mr. Hollai of Hungary on his
elections to the presidency of the thirty seventh
session of the General Assembly. His country
attachment to peace, together with his
statesman-like and diplomatic qualities, as well
as his perfect mastery of the major problems of
international concern, gives us the certainty
that the work of this session will be conducted
with competence and efficiency. The delegation of
Zaire assures him its whole hearted co-operation.
I also express our appreciation to his
predecessor, Mr Kittani, for the competence,
devotion, tact and efficiency with which he
conducted the proceedings of the thirty sixth
session, at a particular difficult time of
international affairs. I should like in addition
to extend once again to Mr. Perez de Cuellar the
sincere congratulations of the President, the
Executive Council and the Republic of Zaire on
his election to the post of Secretary General, to
assure him of our whole hearted cooperation and
to express our best wishes for success in
discharge of his mandate in the ultimate interest
of peace security and development in the world
The delegation of Zaire wishes to pay a special
tribute to the Secretary-General for his report
on the work of the Organization, in which his
lucid and striking analysis confirms the merits,
competence and experience of a man eminently
aware of our common concern for international
peace and security, progress and development
through the confident cooperation of nations and
peoples. This report is an invitation to all of
us to renew our commitment to the letter and
spirit of the Charter and to reaffirm our
commitment to the maintenance of international
peace and security, the promotion of co-operation
for development, the easing or reducing of
tension in the world, the adoption of measures to
increase confidence m international relations,
recourse to the collective security machinery
provided for in the Charter; in a word, the
principles of international law governing
friendly relations and co-operation among States.
The Republic of Zaire, whose policy has always
been guided by the goals and principles of the
Charter, attaches the utmost significance to the
role of the Organization. Our struggle for the
recognition on our right to security, a
prerequisite of development, and of our right to
development and to a share in world prosperity,
and our right to our own identity, stems from a
peaceful vision of international relations; the
same vision which one can glimpse in the words of
the Charter and which fails well within the
framework of the general struggle of the peoples
of the third world for greater justice and equity
in international relations.
We have never committed aggression against
anyone, nor have we threatened to, and it is our
firm intention, as firm as it ever was, to pursue
a policy of peace, good-neighborliness,
co-operation and openness to all nations of the
world, on the basis of mutual advantage, and with
respect for our sovereignty, our dignity and our
right to a separate identity.
All our efforts in Zaire are focused on the
building of a democratic, peaceful, modem and
prosperous Zairian society, open to the enriching
contributions of the outside world, but at the
same time profoundly rooted in and respectful of
our own authentic values
On behalf of the President and Government of the
Republic of Zaire, we wish to state that we
threaten no one, politically, ideologically,
economically, or militarily, and we expect that
our partners in the world need commitment on our
part. The peace loving nature of our country,
open to friendship and internationalism,
co-operation, derives not only from its colonial
history, which was marked by suffering and
depredation of every kind, but also by the
incessant struggle in different ways for national
liberation. It also derives from our history
after independence, one of division and secession
resulting from two evils ótribalization and
servile adoption of imported ideologiesóbut also
one of a courageous struggle waged by the popular
movement of the revolution, our party of the
rally of the masses, headed by its founder,
Mobutu Sese Seko, to regain its cultural identity.
We base our struggle for cultural liberation on a
policy of a return to our authentic values. It
can be defined as a critical and vigilant
approach in which, without disregard for the
contributions of other cultures, we draw, above
all, from our own rich cultural heritage whatever
is likely to permit us to affirm our own identity
and personality and to achieve our overall
objectives in the building of our country, and
thus contributing to world civilization. We want
to live in peace and friendship with other
States. We do so as a country situated in the
heart of the African continent, which shares more
than 10,000 kilometers of borders with nine other
countries, each with its own history, and using
as a means of expression the French, English,
Portuguese and Arabic languages.
This policy of peace, friendship and co-operation
followed by Zaire has been demonstrated in each
particular case by policies of
good-neighborliness, attachment to Africa, and
respect for the policy of non-alignment and the
principles of the Charter governing relations
among various countries.
Speaking of peace, what can we see about us
today? At the present time, failure to respect
commitments, in terms of peace, decolonization,
international co-operation, the interdependence
of States, human solidarity, the rights of
peoples and individuals, and general and complete
disarmament under effective international
control, are today the major sources of tension,
conflict, war and mistrust in international
relations, of economic and moral crises and of
the failure to attain the objectives unanimously
proclaimed in the Charter.
If the 1970s ended on a note of bitterness, the
prospects for the 1980s hardly seem more
promising. political, economic and social matters
of major concern, which were the focus of the
international community's attention, at the
thirty-sixth session of the General Assembly and
elsewhere, have remained, in some cases, without
satisfactory solutions, and in other cases
deadlocked.
There is every reason to believe that the
international situation will continue to be
marked in the immediate future by increasing
tension, distrust in relations between States, an
escalation of the arms race, interference in the
internal affairs of other States, recourse to
violence, and difficulties in international
co-operation for development, thus jeopardizing
peace and, hence, the very survival of mankind.
The crisis, at once political, economic and
social, which is at present unsettling the world,
has severely handicapped the United Nations in
awning its objectives. This inability of the
United Nations, resulting from the failure of
States to respect commitments freely entered
into, has had the effect of adding to the
complexity of the problems of the world today,
and has aroused a general feeling of insecurity.
Article 2 of the Charter lays down the principles
of Jus Cogens, which has binding force and binds
all States in the international community.
Unfortunately, however, a number of States, in
abusing their power, quite often shirk their
obligation not to have recourse to force, not to
interfere in the internal affairs of other
States, and peacefully to settle their disputes,
thus undermining the authority of the
Organization of which they are Members. Some go
so far as to institutionalize methods of
violence, the sole goal of which is to ensure
that they continue to benefit from unjust and
arbitrary situations.
Since the creation of the United Nations 37 years
ago, the question of disarmament has been the
subject of numerous rounds of negotiations.
Resolutions and treaties are concluded and by
negotiating bodies, both within and outside the
framework of the United Nations, and proliferate.
Unfortunately, and this must be said, none of
this has served to halt or turn back the arms
race. Quite the contrary, the arms race proceeds
apace.
In spite of the international instruments prohibiting nuclear-weapon testing,
we are daily shocked to learn of new developments
and improvements in weapons whose destructive
capacity boggles the imagination. Under the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons, many States have undertaken not to
produce or to possess such weapons. Nevertheless,
the major Powers continue the nuclear arms race
in the name of a so-called balance of power and
the dangerous theory of deterrence, each day
accumulating ever- greater quantities of nuclear
weapons and refusing to give negative guarantees
to the nan-nuclear-weapon States.
Thanks to the facilities granted it by certain
Powers in contravention of Security Council
resolution 421 (1977), imposing an embargo on
arms shipments to South Africa, and in disregard
of the OAU Declaration on the Denuclearization of
Africa, South Africa's possession of the atomic
bomb, places all African States, and its
neighboring African States in particular, in a
situation of total insecurity.
If the nuclear arms race is quite rightly a
matter of concern to the international community,
the question of conventional weapons must also be
the subject of our concern, because they are the
weapons that are at present being employed
wherever hotbeds of tension exist in the world.
The Republic of Zaire welcomed the adoption by
the United Nations on 10 October 1980 of the
Convention on the Prohibitions or Restrictions on
the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May
Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects, and three Protocols
thereto.
However, to be more fruitful, subsequent
negotiations should examine the most crucial
aspects of the problem posed by conventional
weapons, namely, their overproduction, their
sophistication and their transport towards areas
of tension. Responsibility for this state of
affairs lies solely with the manufacturers, who
are more concerned about the profits they earn
from the arms industry than about the danger the
dissemination of weapons poses to international
peace and security.
The Final Document of the Tenth Special Session
of the General Assembly, devoted to disarmament,
aptly laid stress on the need to approach the
gamut of disarmament problems from the standpoint
of development, because the arms race swallows up
considerable resources that could be used to
solve urgent economic and social problems.
Indeed, in 1981 alone, arms expenditures amounted
to $600 billion at a time when UNICEF, to mention
only that organization, was drawing attention to
the tragic plight of children throughout the
world. Only 1 per cent of that figure would have
been enough to alleviate their suffering.
The reduction of military budgets is something
that falls within the context of the goal of
halting and reversing the arms race in order to
free the resources necessary for economic
development, in particular that of the developing
countries. Resolutions adopted by the United
Nations to that effect have not been implemented
because the international community's interest
has not been sufficiently aroused. This impotence
of the international community has once again
been illustrated by the failure of the second
special session of the General Assembly devoted
to disarmament, which was able only to produce a
programme for the World Disarmament Campaign.
As the President of Zaire recalled at the recent
conference of heads of State of France and Africa
held in Kinshasa, the tragic events in Lebanon
have highlighted the complexity of the crisis in
the Middle East, where the situation remains
extremely disturbing
The search for a comprehensive, just and lasting
settlement of the Middle East conflict is on a
difficult road. The importance the international
community attaches to a rapid settlement of the
Middle East crisis emerges clearly from the
various peace initiatives or proposals put
forward over the past few years. It would appear
that the international community has genuinely
become aware of the true gravity of the situation
that exists in this part of the world that is
particularly sensitive, regarding the maintenance
of international peace and security.
In General Assembly resolution 181 (II), the
United Nations assumed the historic
responsibility for guaranteeing the existence in
Palestine of a Jewish State, an Arab State and a
special international regime for the Holy City of
Jerusalem. The Security Council, and the five
permanent members of the Council in particular,
should envisage the adoption of special measures
to guarantee the security, stability and
integrity of all States in the region in order to
usher in an era of peace, stability and harmony
in that part of the world. The Palestinian people
have the same rights as do the people of Israel,
namely, the right to form an independent State,
to a homeland of their own and to live in peace
within secure and recognized frontiers free from
acts of force.
We are convinced that the settlement of the
Middle East conflict requires, at the minimum,
respect for and implementation of the following
principles: first, recognition of the right of
each State of the region to live in peace within
secure and recognized frontiers; secondly,
respect for the territorial integrity, political
independence and sovereignty of each State;
thirdly, mutual recognition among States in the
region; fourthly, respect for the principle of
the inadmissibility of the acquisition of
territories by force; fifthly, recognition of the
fact that the question of Palestine lies at the
heart of the Middle East problem and, sixthly,
recognition of and respect for the inalienable
rights of the Palestinian people, including the
right to create an independent State under the
leadership of the PLO, the sole, legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people.
All these elements can be found in General
Assembly resolutions 181 (II) and 194 (III) and
in Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and
338 (1973). Taken together, those four
resolutions contain all the elements necessary
for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement
of the Middle East problem, for they are mutually
complementary and provide for a global approach
to the various aspects of this problem. It is in
that context, in particular, that we welcome the
French-Egyptian initiative in the Security
Council and the conclusions reached by the
Twelfth Arab Summit Conference at Fez. The
international community and the United Nations
can today find in all those initiatives based on
good faith the elements necessary for resolving
the conflict.
Zaire, a member of the Security Council, has
associated itself with all the resolutions
adopted by the Council since the outbreak of the
Lebanese affair and it will continue to give its
support to the effective implementation of those
resolutions in the recognized interests of
Lebanon. Zaire, whose policy is based on the
goals and principles of the Charter and which
attaches great importance to the role of the
Organization, associated itself with the
condemnation of the criminal massacre of
Palestinian civilians in the Shatila and Sabra
camps and demands that the rights of the civilian
population be respected, without any
discrimination, while at the same time it
censures all acts of violence against civilian
populations. We believe that those responsible
for these massacres cannot remain unpunished. As
was quite rightly stated by the President of the
Republic of Zaire in his masterly statement on 8
October 1982, no morality, no pretext of any kind
can possibly justify the massacre of innocent
civilians.
With regard to the problem of Namibia, the
position of Zaire has recently been recalled most
clearly by the President of the Republic in the
aforementioned statement, and we venture to
repeat its main points in the Assembly.
In terms of the proposed settlement of the
Namibian question approved by Security Council
resolution 435 (1978), Namibia was to become
independent in 1978. But, five years after the
approval of that proposal, the transfer of power
to the people of Namibia with the assistance of
the United Nations has still not been carried out
and South Africa is maintaining its illegal
occupation and administration of this Territory,
in defiance of the relevant resolutions of the
United Nations and international public opinion.
While SWAPO has repeatedly given proof of its
constant readiness to co-operate in the
implementation of the United Nations settlement
plan, South Africa's attitude has been
characterized by frequent recourse to delaying
tactics and other maneuvers designed to impede
the implementation of Security Council
resolutions 385 (1976) and 435 (1978) and to
postpone for as long as possible the inevitable
independence of Namibia.
We must all realize that the continuance of the
illegal occupation of Namibia by South Africa,
together with the denial of the inalienable
rights and fundamental freedoms of the Namibian
people, the extension of the policy of apartheid
to this Territory and the transformation of
Namibian territory into a springboard for attacks
and aggression against neighbouring independent
African States, in particular Angola, Mozambique,
Zimbabwe and Botswana, constitute a grave threat
to peace and security in this region.
Furthermore, the injection into the Namibian
matter of extraneous factors which can serve only
to distort this problem, which is in essence
colonial, contains within itself the germs of a
grave threat to international peace and security,
while at the same time removing the protagonists
even further from the climate of tranquility and
confidence so necessary for a negotiated
settlement of the Namibian question.
Africa as a whole desires authentic and rapid
independence for Namibia. Although we are
convinced of the need to take into account
certain practical considerations, we believe that
resolution 435 (1978) remains the only basis for
a negotiated settlement of the Namibian question
that will bring about authentic independence, on
conditions acceptable to the Namibian people and
hence to the international community.
We have been following with keen interest the
consultations among the five members of the
Western contact group and all parties concerned,
and we have noted with satisfaction the
constructive approach of SWAPO and the front-line
States to the most recent proposals of the
contact group. South Africa must adopt a similar
approach in its consideration of these proposals
and respond to them without delay.
I should like to take this opportunity to repeat
our firm condemnation of the illegal occupation
of Namibia by South Africa and its repeated acts
of aggression against neighboring States, and we
appeal for an increase in material and financial
assistance to SWAPO in its just struggle for
national liberation. Aware of its
responsibilities towards Africa, Zaire will do
everything within its power and its means,
together with other members of the OAU and the
United Nations, to help Namibia to become
independent in 1983.
To talk of Namibia is in a sense also to refer to
the distressing situation in which the black
peoples of South Africa have been kept for
decades. To these victims of atrocious
humiliation, who are suffering in the middle of
the twentieth century, under the shameful yoke of
the criminal policy of we say that Zaire, in
unison with all the States of the world that
cherish peace, justice, freedom and equality,
reaffirms its solidarity in their just struggle
for national liberation and the recovery of their
rights.
The situation prevailing in South Africa has all
the characteristics of a typical colonial
situation, aggravated by the elevation of racism
and racial discrimination to the government
policy known as apartheid, an outrageous policy
which the United Nations and the whole civilized
world have condemned as a crime against humanity.
It follows from this condemnation that every
State, every member of the international
community, is duty-bound to help to ensure the
abolition and eradication of
and to refrain from any action that might
directly or indirectly give comfort to South
Africa in its pursuit of this policy and its
denial of the inalienable rights and fundamental
freedoms of the black population of South Africa.
It is our dearest hope to see emerge in South Africa a genuinely democratic
society governed by the majority and guaranteeing
the rights of all the minorities without
distinction as to race, color, sex or religion.
The situation which has arisen in the extremely
sensitive area of the Gulf with the persistence
of the conflict between the Islamic Republic of
Iran and Iraq, two brother countries members of
the non-aligned movement, is particularly
disturbing. We can only deplore the fact that the
efforts which have been made so far within the
United Nations and the non-aligned movement, as
well as the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, to bring about the peaceful
settlement of this conflict have not proved
successful.
We should like to appeal once again most urgently
to the parties to overcome their differences and
co-operate in good faith in a search for a
negotiated solution in accordance with the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations. HO. The situation in South-West
and South-East Asia is another matter of profound
concern for the whole international community.
Indeed, at its thirty- fifth and thirty-sixth
sessions the General Assembly adopted resolutions
which in particular condemned the invasion and
occupation of Kampuchea and Afghanistan and
demand the withdrawal of all foreign forces of
occupation from those countries. Unfortunately,
those resolutions have not been complied with.
Difficulties persist with regard to the
implementation of those resolutions and the hopes
that their adoption had aroused seem to have been
dashed by the hardening of the positions of the
parties concerned.
In Kampuchea the military conflict continues. The
human, material and food situation of the Khmer
people both within the country and on its
frontiers has not improved.
In Afghanistan the foreign intervention and
occupation is continuing. That situation is
fraught with danger to international peace and
security.
Only strict respect for the relevant resolutions
of the United Nations, particularly General
Assembly resolutions 34/22, 35/6 and 36/5 on
Kampuchea and resolutions 35/37 and 36/34 on
Afghanistan can bring about peace in these areas.
We therefore appeal urgently once again to the
foreign occupation forces to evacuate these
countries and leave their peoples to determine
their own destinies in freedom.
In the Korean peninsula there has been constant
tension for 37 years now as a result of the
division of the country by the victors in the
Second World War. We believe that it is for the
Korean people alone to settle the problem by
peaceful means through dialogue between the North
and the South, in a climate free from any
external pressure or interference, in accordance
with the principles of the Charter. In the
interests of peace and detente, the United
Nations should take new initiatives to create
favorable conditions for the resumption of
negotiations between the two Koreas.
Faithful to its policy of non-alignment, Zaire
has recognized the two Koreas and maintains with
both excellent relations of friendship and
co-operation. We believe that the admission to
the United Nations of South Korea and North
Korea, without prejudice to subsequent
reunification, could, as in the case of the two
Germanies, contribute to an easing of tension in
that part of the world.
With regard to the question of Cyprus, the
resumption of intercommunal talks appears to us
to be the best method of bringing about a just
and lasting settlement of the crisis afflicting
that country. We believe that the United Nations,
through the Secretary- General, should continue
its efforts to help the two communities to find a
negotiated solution to their differences and
create the necessary conditions for the
restoration of peace.
In the economic field, the international
community is facing a serious crisis, a symptom
of a profound breakdown in the structures of the
present international economic and monetary
order. Indeed the present international economic
order is widening the gap between North and South
and seems incapable of dealing with the problems
facing both the developing countries and the
developed countries themselves. There are
tendencies towards protectionism and impediments
of all kinds to international trade. Similarly,
the machinery of co-operation is being distorted
by prolonging relations of domination and
exploitation. In this regard, the situation
contains the seeds of a grave threat to
international peace and security, particularly
because the industrialized countries are
continuing to refuse to make the structural
changes called for by the vast majority of the
States of the world.
The various economic summit meetings of the
countries of the North in which the countries of
the South had placed so much hope have not lived
up to their expectations; the multilateral trade
negotiations continue to mark time, while the
global negotiations remain deadlocked.
In the realm of trade, the developed countries
continue to be both judges and parties by
unilaterally setting prices for primary
commodities, to the detriment of the third world
countries, for which the increasingly serious
decline in the terms of trade, the high rate of
inflation, unemployment and the increase in the
burden of foreign debt lend dramatic dimensions
to the crisis.
The negotiations under way in UNCTAD, in the
framework of the Integrated Programme for
commodities, have made no progress. Of the 18
products on the Nairobi indicative list only
coffee, cocoa, tin, natural rubber and sugar have
been the subject of agreement. The Common Fund
for Commodities which should in particular
contribute to the financing of measures for
commodity development so as to improve market
structures and strengthen competitiveness and the
long-term prospects for these products, has not
yet been put into effect.
We hope that the wealthy countries will
demonstrate a greater measure of political will
so that the sixth session of UNCTAD, which will
be held in June 1983 in Belgrade, can produce
better results than the fifth session.
In the industrial field, the objectives pursued
since the Second General Conference of UNIDO in
Lima in 1975 are far from having been attained.
We hope that everything possible will be done to
ensure the success of the Fourth General
Conference of UNIDO, which will be held in Kenya,
and we appeal once again for a spirit of sincere
co-operation on the part of the industrialized
countries.
The Vienna Programme of Action on Science and
Technology for Development, adopted in August
1979,s has so far not even begun to be
implemented and no agreement has been reached on
its financing. The same applies to an
international code of conduct for the transfer of
technology negotiated within the framework of
UNCTAD. I should like to stress the role and the
importance which the third world countries
attribute to this question of the transfer of
technology as a catalyst for development, whether
it be within the framework of the International
Development Strategy for the Third United Nations
Development Decade in the more general framework
of the establishment of a new international
economic order.
It is appropriate here to make an urgent appeal
to all Member States to embrace a new ethic of
international solidarity, without which no
progress is possible. At a time of
interdependence, we believe it essential that
international development aid, technical and
financial assistance and all other forms of
international co-operation be derived from this
new ethic and be based upon the principles of
complementarity and mutual advantage. Indeed to
be effective the organizing of development aid
and technical and financial assistance must take
into account the mutual interests of the parties
as well as the specific realities and the dignity
of the recipients.
If there is one thing on the credit side of the
balance sheet for this year, it is undoubtedly
the adoption on 30 April of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea. We must,
however, deplore the fact that it was adopted by
a vote and not by consensus and that some States
have not felt that they could undertake to sign
it. This Convention represents a victory for
reason and it is an important step towards bringing
about the new international economic order.
The results achieved after such difficult
negotiations have certainly not satisfied all
delegationsómy own includedóbut nevertheless they
constitute a basis which will allow for some
improvement in the course of the work of the
Preparatory Commission for the International
Sea-Bed Authority and for the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
There remain a certain number of problems,
particularly for the developing countries that
are land producers of the same mineral resources
as those found in the sea-bed and ocean floor,
and the Republic of Zaire has already, from this
very rostrum, drawn the attention of the United
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea to the
harm that may be done to land producers,
including ourselves, as a result of uncontrolled
exploitation of the resources of the seabed and
the ocean floor and any disruption of the
structure of international markets which may
follow.
That is the international environment in which
economic relations between States are evolving at
present. All projection studies indicate that
this international environment will continue to
be marked by an increase in protectionism on the
part of the industrialized countries, their
adherence to an outmoded and anachronistic
international economic order and the erosion of
multilateral co-operation, leaving the way clear
for politically and ideologically inspired
bilateralism.
In the view of my delegation, the time has come
for the international community to take specific
measures to ensure the launching of global
negotiations under the auspices of the United
Nations, which is the only appropriate framework
for a global, coherent and integrated approach,
in conformity with General Assembly resolution
34/138 and the Charter of Economic Rights and
Duties of States.
In parallel with these actions, the developing
countries should continue and strengthen their
efforts to promote fruitful and mutually
advantageous cooperation. We cannot repeat too
often that that should be considered a
fundamental requirement for the establishment of
the new international economic order. It must
make it possible for us to constitute a force,
not against the North, but to strengthen our own
position as equal and full partners in
international economic relations.
It is in this context that we call upon the
international community to support the Caracas
Programme of Action^ and the Lagos Plan of
Action, the purpose of which is to put into
effect a strategy of collective autonomy.
Another question which continues to concern the
international community is that of hunger in the
world. My delegation believes that to build a
world system of effective food security, rather
than confine ourselves to emergency assistance,
the international community should over the long
term focus its efforts on increasing agricultural
production.
I turn now to the questions of the draft World
Charter for Nature, which is before us for
adoption at this session, and Zaire's particular
problems in transport, transit and access to
international markets.
It will be recalled that in its resolution 35/7
on the draft World Charter for Nature, the
General Assembly invited Member States to conduct
their activities in recognition of the supreme
importance of protecting natural systems,
maintaining the balance and quality of nature, in
the interests of present and future generations.
Last year, at the thirty-sixth session, the
Secretary-General presented to the General
Assembly the revised draft World Charter, which
took account of all the observations made by the
vast majority of Member States. Following the
adoption of the Nairobi Declaration, which
recognized the fragility of the environment, I
should like to express the sincere hope that the
final version of the draft World Charter will be
adopted by consensus.
With regard to Zaire's problems in the matter of
transport, transit and access to international
markets, I remind the Assembly that because of
its geographical situation Zaire was placed in
the category of semi-land-locked countries by
UNCTAD resolution 110 (V), adopted at Manila in
1979." That resolution called for studies to be
carried out with a view to helping countries in
that category overcome their difficulties.
Following that, the General Assembly adopted
resolutions 34/193, 35/59 and 36/139 in 1979,
1980 and 1981, and the Economic and Social
Council adopted its resolution 1981/68 in July
1981. The Republic of Zaire hopes that at the
current session the Assembly will consider
concrete measures to accelerate the
implementation of those resolutions, on the basis
of the Secretary-General's report.
That is the substance of what Zaire wishes to say
at this session, which, as I have already said,
is being held at a particularly difficult time in
the evolution of international relations. At the
political level, the arms race and the many areas
of tension in the world threaten international
peace and security. In the field of economics,
the developed countries, the beneficiaries of an
anachronistic international economic cadre,
continue to resist the legitimate claims of two
thirds of mankind, while recession, inflation,
rising unemployment, the constant deterioration
in the terms of trade, imbalances in the balance
of payments and external debts are exacerbating
the economic difficulties of the third world.
In spite of these negative findings and the
gloomy prospects, the Republic of Zaire reaffirms
its unshakable faith in the ideals of the United
Nations and proclaims its devotion to the
principles and purposes of the Charter, for, as
President Mobutu Sese Seko said from this very
rostrum at the twenty-eighth session of the
Assembly, on 4 October 1973:
"... thanks to the UN and through it, we shall be
able to do more to promote co-operation among the
inhabitants of our planet in the economic,
cultural, scientific and technical fields, for
the building of a better, fairer and more just
world, in absolute respect for the authenticity
of everyone."