It gives me great pleasure, Mr. President, to
extend to you, on behalf of the delegation of the
Kingdom of Morocco and in my own capacity, our
congratulations on your election as President of
this session of the Assembly. There is no doubt
that your diplomatic career and your knowledge of
both inter-national and United Nations affairs
will assist you in bearing the considerable
responsibility that is now yours. The delegation
of Morocco assures you of its full co-operation
in making your presidency a success, particularly
because of the relations of friend-ship and
co-operation our two countries enjoy. It also
gives me pleasure to commend your predecessor,
Mr. Kittani, for his untiring efforts during an
eventful year in which he evinced admirable
foresight and patience, which was very much
appreciated.
111. I should like to avail myself of this
opportunity to extend my cordial congratulations
to Mr. Perez de Cuellar on his election as
Secretary-General. I am sure that his
considerable experience in international affairs
and the respect and confidence he enjoys among
the world community qualify him to work
creatively and positively in the defence of
international peace and ensure the triumph of the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations. I wish also to congratulate his
predecessor, Mr. Waldheim, on his action and
efforts at a time characterized by tension and
danger.
112. It is traditional in this Hall at the
beginning of each session of the General Assembly
for our common hopes and aspirations for the
strengthening of peace and understanding, the
triumph of justice and right and the emergence of
an era of prosperity and well-being for mankind
to be expressed. It is regrettable to note at the
beginning of this debate that hotbeds of tension
are still giving rise to serious threats to
international peace and security and that the
international situation is deteriorating because
of the new obstacles which have recently almost
shattered our hope of establishing genuine and
comprehensive detente.
113. This state of affairs will persist as long
as there are those who wilfully violate the
principles of the Charter and flout international
law, infringing the dignity of man and his b8sic
rights; as long as colonialism, racial
discrimination and the deterioration of the
international economic situation, which results
in increasing impoverishment of the world
population, continue. In addition to this, the
arms race and its attendant dangers threaten the
achievements of mankind.
114. Because it is a member of the Arab world,
the Islamic group and the African continent, and
because of its geographical situation at the
crossroads of three civilizations, Morocco
attributes great importance to what happens in
all these areas.
115. The question of the Middle East, and
especially the Palestinian question, occupies a
place of the highest priority among the concerns
of my country. For more than 30 years the
Palestinian people have suffered exile and
deprivation and have been the victim of war and
destruction. In spite of the voices raised every
year from this rostrum condemning I3raeli
practices and demanding that the Palestinian
people regain their inalienable rights, despite
the resolutions adopted by the Assembly and the
Security Council in support of the rights of that
militant people, Israel is persisting in its
expansionist and repressive acts with all the
means at its disposal, including the use of
internationally banned weapons, in order to
continue to occupy the Arab territories and
annihilate the Palestinian people, in an attempt
to eliminate them, suppress them and liquidate
their leaders in the form of the PLO.
116. Although the United Nations archives are
filed with reports on massacres and
assassinations carried out by Israel against the
Palestinian people for more than 30 years, the
tragedy and suffering resulting from the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon and t:-'e massacres of the
Palestinian and Lebanese peoples are beyond all
bounds and beyond imagination.
117. The abominable massacre planned by the
Israeli army of occupation in the camps of Sabra
and Shatila claimed more than 4,000 victims among
innocent Palestinians, including women, children
and old people. It reminds us of a similar
massacre carried out by Meacham Begin in the
Palestinian village of Deir Yassin in 1947, and
it transcends in atrocity and the manner in which
it was committed the deeds of the Nazis during
the Second World War.
113. This butchery shows beyond doubt that the
real aim of Israel is not security, as it claims,
but the total physical elimination of the
militant Palestinian people and expansion at the
expense of the Arab nation. Morocco pays its
tribute to the memory of the martyred victims of
Israeli terrorism and expresses its gratitude and
appreciation to those that have condemned and
denounced this atrocious massacre and taken the
side of right and justice. All the States of the
world have expressed their individual
condemnation of that massacre and the
international community has denounced it
collectively. The General Assembly, at its
seventh emergency special session, adopted
resolution ES-7/9 on 24 September 1982 condemning
the criminal massacre and reaffirming Security
Council resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982)
demanding that Israel with-draw all its military
forces to the internationally recognized
boundaries of Lebanon.
119. In the face of this human tragedy it is more
necessary than ever for the General Assembly to
take all the measures called for, including the
imposition of sanctions, to compel Israel to put
an end to its aggression against the Palestinian
people, to withdraw forthwith and unconditionally
from the territory of Lebanon and to comply with
the resolutions of the Security Council.
120. Morocco, a sister State of Lebanon, takes
this opportunity to reaffirm its full solidarity
with Lebanon in its time of trial and to assure
the Lebanese Government of its support for the
measures necessary to guarantee the unity,
independence and sovereignty of Lebanon.
121. The two parts of the Twelfth Arab Summit
Conference were held in Fez, Morocco, under the
leadership of His Majesty King Hassan 11. My
country thus had the honour of acting as host to
this historic conference which restored unity to
the Arab ranks and placed Arab solidarity on firm
foundations.
122. The Arab Summit Conference was convened in
extremely delicate circumstances for the causes
of Palestine and the Middle East, and the Arab
heads of State shouldered their historic
responsibility and agreed to the plan designed to
enable the Arabs to regain their rights. They did
so because of their conviction that the Arab
nation can achieve its aims and overcome the
consequences of the Israeli aggression.
123. The Arab nations, out of their concern to
use all ways and means at their disposal to
re-establish in the Middle East peace based on
justice and to contribute to the efforts exerted
by all the .peace:. loving forces in the world,
in the vanguard of which is the United Nations,
and on the basis of international law, the Arab
peace plan, with the following elements: first,
Israel's withdrawal from all the territories it
has occupied since 1%7, including Jerusalem;
secondly, the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination, to the exercise of its
inalienable rights under the leadership of the
PLO, its sole legitimate representative, and to
the establishment of an independent State on its
land; thirdly, the establishment by the Security
Council of guarantees for peace among the States
of the region.
124. A study of those principles should convince
the Assembly and the world public that the Arab
nation desires peace based on justice and a
solution to the Middle East problem that
guarantees to the Palestinian people its right to
self-determination and to establish its own
independent State and that makes it possible for
all the States of the region to live in peace,
with Security Council guarantees.
125. Morocco, whoís Sovereign. His Majesty King
Hassan 11, presided over the Twelfth Arab Summit
Conference, calls upon all peace-loving States,
andespecially the great Powers, permanent members
of the Security Council, to support right and
justice, to study the Arab peace plan carefully
and to adopt the principles contained in that
plan as the basis for the solution of the Middle
East and Palestine problems. We hope that there
will be a favourable reaction t9 this Arab
initiative and that it will usher in a new era
.that will restore peace and stability to the
Middle East region and bring to an end the state
of war which has afflicted the people of the
region for so long.
126. The favourable reaction and the broad
support with which the Arab peace plan has met on
the inter-national scene is encouraging. We hope
that all States especially the great Powers
permanent members of the Security Council, will
support the plan and that the high-level
committee set up by the summit conference will be
able to establish contacts with the permanent
members of the Security Council and to achieve
positive results.
127. We should like to note also that Mr.
Reaganís plan for peace in the Middle East gives
cause for optimism. Morocco regards this plan as
a measure that opens new prospects for a solution
to the Middle East problem, and that places on
record the commitment of the President of the
United States of America to the principle of the
restoration to Arab sovereignty of the Arab
territories occupied by Israel in 1%7. At the
same time, we note that this plan omits basic
points essential to the process for the
establishment of peace in the Middle East. We
hope that during the forthcoming contacts between
the Arab countries and the United States of
America these gaps will be filled so that a just
and lasting peace can be achieved in the Middle
East and that region may once again be the cradle
of constructive coexistence and a centre for the
dissemination of creative thought.
128. In north-west Africa there is still
artificial tension resulting from a policy which
runs counter to the noble principles established
by the international community, which is based on
desperate attempts to undermine international law
and which resorts to hegemony as a means of
achieving selfish interests. The so-called
problem of Western Sahara serves as a pretext and
an instrument to that end. Morocco has always
made it clear that its desire to regain its
Saharan territory is based on solid historical
rights and legal ties, as well as international
law. After the Moroccan liberation army had
engaged in a heroic struggle against the
colonizers in Saharan territory, Morocco called
for the restoration of the land usurped at the
beginning of the colonial era of this century.
Because of the colonial authorities'
procrastination in returning this land to the
mother country, Morocco had recourse to juridical
bodies. It submitted the question to the United
Nations and to the International Court of
Justice. That resulted finally in the conclusion
of the Madrid Agreement, confirmed by the General
Assembly in 1975.
129. Morocco has clearly set forth here on
several occasions the political and historical
circumstances in which Moroccan territory had
been divided into various regions and subjected
to various colonial systems. It has also clearly
indicated that the restoration of the amputated
parts of its country was also -by the very nature
of things-carried out in various stages.
130. Because of Morocco's faithfulness to
inter-national legality, and because of its
desire to give that legality a new form that
would bode well for the future, His Majesty King
Hassan n, at the eighteenth ordinary session of
the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of
the OAU, which was held at Nairobi in June 1981,
stated that Morocco was prepared 10 hold a
referendum in the region of Western Sahara,
thereby opening the door to a final, peaceful
solution to this conflict. Morocco put forward
that initiative because it was convinced of its
inalienable right to the Territory and of the
fact that its children in the region of the
Sahara had chosen to remain forever an integral
part of the mother country.
131. His Majesty King Hassan's initiative was in
part. in response to the wishes of Morocco's
friends and also was intended clearly to show the
world public and to assure jt that the
inhabitants of the Sahara region wished to belong
to the mother country and, through a referendum,
to confirm what they had expressed on many
occasions and in many different ways: their
Moroccan identity, to which they are very
attached.
132. The whole world welcomed this initiative,
finding in it the ideal means for ending the
long-standing tension in that part of north-west
Africa. Morocco made every effort to give this
initiative the chance to bring about peace, and
to have it acted upon. Morocco, represented by
its sovereign, thus made an important
contribution to a settlement of the problem of
Western Sahara at Nairobi, in August 1981. The
African leaders laid the foundations for such a
settlement by establishing the OAU's
Implementation Committee 9 which was to concern
itself with the cease-fire and the referendum.
Morocco-thus made an effective contribution to
the success of that African meeting, whose goal
was to move the peace process forward to its
desired end. The Implementation Committee
continued working effectively to bring about the
implementation of the resolutions of the OAU
Assembly. especially since the adoption by the
General Assembly of its decision 36/406, the text
of which had been sponsored by Kenya, then
Chairman of the OAU Assembly, calling on the
United Nations to extend technical and financial
assistance in this field to the OAU.
133. The Implementation Committee met again on 8
and 9 February 1982, to decide on a time-frame
for the cease-fire and referendum. In
co-operation with African leaders, Morocco worked
with sincerity to put the final touches on this
African effort, which would have ended one of the
disputes which have been the concern of the OAU
over the past years. Good will dictated that all
efforts made by the African leaders should be
given a chance to bear fruit, but there are those
who do not wish to find a solution to this
problem, and that fact led to the cancellation of
the initiative. When it became dear that there
was a serious turn of events which would lead to
the derailment of failure of hegemonies expansion
plans and confirm the inalienable rights of
Morocco through free consultation under United
Nations and OAU auspices, attempts were made to
abort that process and to undermine the
resolutions adopted at the OAU Assembly at
Nairobi. The well known plot thus took place at
Addis Ababa which immobilized the work of the OAU
and its activities halted when certain countries.
in secret collaboration with the OAU
administrative Secretary-General, tried to impose
a group of mercenaries as participants in the
thirty-eighth 'ordinary session of the Council of
Ministers of .the OAU. That wanton act was in
flagrant violation of the QAD Charter, which
stipulates in more than one place that membership
is confined to independent sovereign States. That
act was furthermore, a conspiracy to undermine
all the practical measures adopted by Africa to
solve the Saharan problem in a peaceful manner.
134. The leaders of the African nations
represented by the "wise men" the founders of the
OAU, opposed that conspiracy against legality,
and 19, delegations withdrew from the session of
the OAU Council of Ministers held at Addis Ababa
in February 1982, which is where the conspiracy
was acted out. That session was therefore illegal
because there was no quorum as required in the
OAU Charter.
135. To overcome this crisis, the African
continent was the scene of intense political
activity aimed at saving the OAU from collapse.
Some African leaders called for a special session
of the OAU Assembly to solve the problem; Morocco
was among the first to take such an initiative.
His Majesty King Hassan ,11 sent a letter to the
President of Kenya, Mr. Daniel Arap Moi, in
February this year, requesting that, ~ special
session be held to consider the existing' crisis
before it worsened. But the forces fighting
against legitimacy worked to preventthat meeting.
136. Once more, we see that enlightened
Africa, which has opted for legitimacy, has shown
itself to be above submitting to the policy of
fait accompli. It refused to attend the OAU
Assembly scheduled to be held at Tripoli unless
African legitimacy, in accordance with the OAU
charter, was restored to the OAU. The frustration
and failure of the session of the OAU Assembly at
Tripoli is a testimony to legitimacy and justice
and the failure of attempts to violate the
African Charter.
137. That failure caused the immobilization of
the work of the OAU at all levels-political,
economic, social, as well as in the field of
information; but we are convinced t.hat the
OAU-which is backed and supported by every
sincere African-will once. more play its
constructive role:, thanks to the efforts made by
the sincere sons of Africa, who value legitimacy
and higher African interests above all other
considerations and narrow selfish interests.
138. Morocco-which has played a pioneering role
in crystallizing the idea of African unity
through the African Charter, adopted in
Casablanca in '1961, and which is one of the
founders of the OAU-would very much like that
organization to continue. Morocco will thus do
its utmost to maintain and support the CAU so
that it may continue to play its vital and
effective role as an instrument of common African
action. Morocco is extremely concerned that
legitimacy be restored to the OAU and that the
organization's administrative bodies should
concern themselves with the implementation of
African resolution with integrity and neutrality,
free of any bias and without 'be'-coming involved
in current disputes among "certain member
countries.
139. The United Nations followed closely the
African meetings held last year to discuss the
question of Sahara. Its representatives gave to
the African leaders, useful help by describing
the experience of the United Nations in the
holding of referendums. They know the 'stages
that must be gone through In arriving at a
cease-fire and holding a referendum.
140. Morocco which has always proclaimed its
adherence to international legitimacy reaffirms
its commitment to the resolutions of the
eighteenth session of the OAU Assembly concerning
Sahara which were supported last year by the
General Assembly. It sees the way chosen by
Africa as the best means of ending the artificial
tensions in north-west Africa. Proceeding from
that .premise, Morocco appeals to all States to
work for the success of that African solution and
to frustrate an attempts to block and obstruct
it, so that the conflict can be ended and peace
and stability can be restored to this area.
141. Morocco, as a part of the African continent,
attaches special importance to the events that
take place there. It works in co-operation with
its African brothers to support the independence
of the countries of the continent and ensure the
progress and development of their peoples, so
that the whole continent may enjoy well-being and
prosperity and play its role in building a world
society founded upon justice and peace.
142. In the southern part of this continent,
the brother people of Namibia is still suffering
under the yoke of an unjust racist regime and
waging a valiant war of liberation to restore its
usurped liberty, independence and territorial
integrity. Morocco, which has always supported
the just struggle of the Namibian people, hopes
that the day when independence is restored to
that people will soon be here. On this occasion,
we appeal to the contact group to redouble its
efforts and negotiations so that a final
settlement of the Namibian problem may be reached
in accordance with Security Council resolution
435 (1978).
143. The people of southern Africa are still
suffering from the tragedy of the regime of
racial discrimination imposed by the Government
of Pretoria, despite the many resolutions
1:ondemning that regime and denouncing apartheid
as a "crime against humanity" .
144~ Morocco reaffirms its support for the people
of South Africa, which must regain its dignity
and free-dom. It calls on those countries which
have relations with Pretoria to break off their
economic and military collaboration with it in
order to induce it to end that regime, which is a
challenge to the most basic legal and ethical
principles.
145. Morocco, which is pledged to defend all
struggles for liberation, reaffirms its
determination to defend all struggles for
liberation in Africa, in the south, the Horn of
Africa, Eritrea or elsewhere in the continent.
146. For more than two years a destructive war
has been raging between two neighbouring Islamic
countries, Iraq and the Islamic Republic .of
Iran. Those two countries were the cradles of
ancient civilizations that helped to develop the
thinking, science and progress of humanity. If is
regrettable that the war between those two
countries should still be going on despite all
the untiring efforts to bring it to an end. We
hope that it will soon be possible to reach a
settlement that win effect a cease-fire,
safe-guard the inalienable rights of the two
States, and restore stability and security to the
area, within the framework of Security Council
resolutions 514 (1982) of 12 July 1982 and 522
(1982) of 4 October 1982.
147. The initiative taken by our sister nation of
Iraq recently, which took the form of withdrawing
its army to the borders it had held before the
hostilities, is, we believe, a positive step
towards the restoration of peace and the
consolidation of relations of
good-neighbourliness. Iraq's response to all
mediation efforts to end this conflict deserves
our encouragement and praise. We also pin great
hopes to the efforts of the Peace Committee of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference,
presided over by Mr. Ahmed SekouToure, President
of Guinea, efforts directed to restoring peace
and security to that important part of the world.
148. In Afghanistan the people is still suffering
from the injustices of the invasion of that land
three years ago. It is still fighting to preserve
its Islamic faith and its identity as a Moslem
and non-aligned nation. Morocco, which is linked
with the Moslem people of Afghanistan by ties of
religion, culture and civilization, calls for the
withdrawal of an foreign forces from Afghan
territory, enabling the people to choose the
political system it desires in full freedom.
149. In Democratic Kampuchea, we note that the
Vietnamese army has not responded to the call of
the international community to withdraw from that
country so that its people can freely choose its
own political system. We still believe that the
Declaration and resolution adopted by the
International Conference on Kampuchea6 constitute
the basis for the best solution of this problem.
150. As for relations between the two parts of
Korea, we hope that (ne Governments of the North
and the South will resume a positive and
constructive dialogue with a view to bringing
about gradually the peaceful reunification of
Korea.
151. Morocco has always maintained good relations
with the States of the Mediterranean Basin, and
is striving to create favourable conditions for
that region to be transformed into a zone of
peace and co-operation, in accordance with
General Assembly resolution.36/l02. On that
basis, and within the frame-work of the efforts
of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in
Europe, Morocco has supported and still supports
the efforts made to strengthen peace and security
and ensure co-operation in the region.
152. It is a recognized fact that
international detente is linked to disarmament
and that the arms race is a serious threat to the
existence and the survival of man. It is the two
blocs that motivate the arms race, but it is the
developing countries that are the principal
victims, because it prejudices their economic and
social progress, increases their debt burden and
lessens their security.
153. It is regrettable that the international
efforts to change the situation have so far
produced no positive results. This is especially
true of the second special session of the General
Assembly devoted to disarmament, which failed to
achieve any concrete progress in this respect.
154. Morocco, associating itself with those
who work for disarmament at the regional or the
international level, appeals to the super-Powers,
which bear a
special responsibility for the maintenance of
peace, to redouble their efforts to reach
agreement on a comprehensive programme of
disarmament, with a carefully prepared timetable,
so that disarmament does not become a mere theory
which cannot be put into practice.
155. The utmost attention must be paid to
tackling the chronic injustice of the world
economic system particularly since the developing
countries are the most affected by this.
International economic institutions in all fields
and areas of competence recognize the urgent need
for a radical change in the world economic
system, especially following the sixth and
seventh special sessions of the General Assembly,
which stressed the inevitability of such change.
Certain achievements benefiting the third world
such as the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties
of States, the generalized system of preferences
and the Integrated Commodities Programme and
certain such concepts as the common economic
self-sufficiency of the developing countries and
the new international economic order, must have
positive effects on North-South relations. In
-order to make the establishment of the new
economic order possible, the third world States
have called for the beginning of a series of
negotiations on all aspects of international
co-operation for development, in accordance with
the programmes of action approved by the General
Assembly or recommended by various international
bodies, in particular UNCTAD, with a view to the
attainment of the objectives of the Third United
Nations Development Decade.
156. Experience has shown that partial
economic solutions in the narrow national context
and negotia-tions limited to specified sectors
are only palliatives. The real solution is to be
found in global negotiations leading to
collective solutions to world economic problems.
157. It is regrettable that the developed
countries remain deaf to the appeals of the
countries of the third world and that they have
strengthened their protectionist tariff and
non-tariff measures and reduced the level of
their external aid, which half had a serious
effect on the terms of trade, the balance of
payments and the employment situation. The
deterioration in the terms of trade and the
increase in indebtedness have shattered any hope
of achieving economic and social development in
the developing countries, in particular the least
developed countries.
158. The latest annual report of the World Bank
showed the weakness of the third world economies
and drew attention to the dangers facing the poor
countries, particularly as regards agricultural
production and food deficits. The rich countries
must therefore abandon their selfishness and
their narrow national interests and recognize the
interdependence of the economic progress of the
North and the need to speed up the economic,
social and technical development of the South,
because their common interests impose on all the
parties the joint responsibility for establishing
a new international economic order and building a
better world for all mankind.
159. The entire international community should
rejoice at the adoption of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea by the majority
of States Members. That Convention, which will be
signed officially in Jamaica in the first two
weeks of December, is the culmination df
tremendous efforts. We hope that certain Member
States will prove to be more flexible regarding
their objections so that "his Convention may come
into force after its signature and ratification.
This would make possible the establishment of a
new era of fruitful co-operation.
160. The Organization is a haven of peace and
security in a world swept by fierce winds of
conflict, war and violence, and in which there is
much under-development, poverty and injustice. It
is a source' of hope for the alleviation and
elimination of the evils of fear and underdevelopment.
Since its inception in 1945 the Organization has
made possible profound changes in the political
map of the world. It has supported weak,
conquered nations and helped them to achieve
independence; it has devoted its efforts to
conciliation and the settlement of conflicts. It
has also opened up new perspectives in the field
of international economic, scientific and
cultural co-operation.
161. Despite all this, an enormous task lies
ahead and demands our full support so that the
noble mission assigned to the United Nations
under the Charter may be fulfilled-that of
contributing to the prosperity and the well-being
of mankind as a whole and of spreading peace and
security throughout the world.