At the outset, on behalf of the Government and
people of Sierra Leone, I would offer Mr. Hollai
warm felicitations on his unanimous election as
President of this thirty-seventh session of the
General Assembly and express my delegation's
confidence that under his able guidance the
session will be a successful one. We are aware of
his distinguished record as Deputy Minister for
Foreign Affairs of his country, and we have no
doubt that his experience adequately equips him
for the posi¬tion he has now been called upon to
assume.
135. I would also express my delegation's
gratitude to his predecessor, Mr. Kittani, for
his efforts and contributions at the last session
of the Assembly.
136. This is the first opportunity I have had
per¬sonally and publicly to congratulate Mr.
Perez de Cueliar on his election to the high and
exacting office of Secretary-General. Of course,
the Government of Sierra Leone communicated its
felicitations and good wishes through the usual
channels immediately after his election.
137. The United Nations was founded on the
ashes of global destruction which made man
resolve that force would never again be used save
in the collective defense of our common good.
Regrettably, over the years we have strayed from
the goals and ideals that inspired the efforts
culminating in the founding of the United
Nations, a fact which has contributed to the
increasing and heightening of global tension and
insecurity on an unprecedented scale, and we have
failed to establish the scheme for collective
security planned by the founding fathers of the
Organization.
138. Today there is a recrudescence of resort to
unilateral force by States. This is in total
disregard of the scheme and provisions of the
Charter and the Organization. As a consequence
the world today faces a massive betrayal of
faith, whether it be in the problems of divided
nations, the situation in Southeast Asia,
Namibia's accession to independence, or
recognition and affirmation of the inalienable
right to self-determination of the Palestinian
people. States or groups of States increasingly
resort to special arrange¬ments in total
disregard of the collective pledge we made 37
years ago "to save succeeding generations from
the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime
has brought untold sorrow to mankind".
139. This phenomenon manifests itself today in
an unprecedented global arms race wherein nations
large and small pursue the elusive goal of
national security in the strength of national
arms. This goal has so far proved illusory, and
after two special sessions of the General
Assembly devoted to the question of disarma¬ment,
it remains illusory.
140. It is this need for the reaffirmation of
faith in the basic principles and ideals that
gave birth to the Organization that has impelled
the Government of Sierra Leone to seek the
inclusion in the agenda of the thirty-seventh
session of the Assembly of an item entitled
"Implementation of the collective security
provisions of the Charter of the United Nations
for the maintenance of international peace and
security". This is both an exercise in practical
utility and a reaffirma¬tion of faith. On the one
hand, it will demonstrate to those who are minded
to resort to unilateral force that the rest of us
can and will stand up to them; on the other, it
is a reaffirmation of our faith that only in our
collective security and its maintenance and
pursuit lies our individual safety and salvation.
Perhaps at this stage it is timely to recall that
it was the failure of the international community
in another era to observe these imperatives that
resulted in the demise of the League of Nations.
We do not want to reap another harvest of failure
in the United Nations.
141. Indeed, we feel at one with the cri de
caeur of the Secretary-General when he bemoans,
in his report on the work of the Organization,
the fact that the procedures and methods
collectively agreed upon are blithely ignored and
set aside in pursuit of national parochial
interests when it comes to the maintenance of
international peace and security. We support histimely
call for measures to strengthen the integrity and
credibility of the Organization and to restore
its effectiveness.
142. It is for that reason that I want to
commend to the Assembly's attention and
consideration the modest proposal of the
Government of Sierra Leone.
143. This year has certainly been a
particularly chilling one for the forces of
international peace and co-operation. We have
witnessed, in succession, a retreat in the ranks
of two important international organizations that
together complement the endeavors of the United
Nations in strengthening the delicate fabric of
international peace and security. I refer to the
seeming paralysis affecting the OAU and the
non-aligned movement, which this year had caused
to abandon their important meetings because of
dif¬ferences among their members.
144. In the case of the non-aligned movement,
the regrettable war between Iran and Iraq—two
important members of the movement—forced it to
postpone the Seventh Conference of Heads of State
or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, which was
to have been held in Baghdad this year. Happily,
the resilience of the members of the non-aligned
movement and their dedication to the ideals and
principles of peace have enabled them to agree on
New Delhi as a new venue. For this, the
Government of Sierra Leone wishes in advance to
express its appreciation to the Government and
people of India for their readiness to serve as
host to that important meeting in the fine and
historical tradition of India as a defender of
the values of the non-aligned movement.
145. We can only hope that these developments
will have brought home to the two warring
countries of Iran and Iraq the inescapable and
compelling necessity to bring their hostilities
to a speedy end.
146. In the case of the OAU, it is evidently
the admission to membership in that organization
of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic that has
pre¬cipitated the crisis. It should be realized
that this is an issue on which there are strong
and deep-seated feelings among members of the
OAU. That is why the Government of Sierra Leone,
which only recently had the exacting but
rewarding task of serving as Chairman of the OAU
Assembly of Heads of State and Government,
believes that through patient and con¬structive
dialogue and respect for the rights and
posi¬tions of the parties to the Western Sahara
question, coupled with the determination of every
African country, we can and should make the OAU
functional again.
147. In that connection, Mr. Siaka Stevens,
President of the Republic of Sierra Leone,
recently addressed certain modest proposals to
the current Chairman of the OAU Assembly,
President Daniel Arap Moi of the Republic of
Kenya, in order to reactivate the orga¬nization
so as to enable it to continue its work,
complementary to that of the United Nations, of
advancing the frontiers of peace and co-operation.
148. A review of the politic:' landscape of
our world infuses the observer with nothing but
deep gloom and foreboding, accentuating the
extent to which we have strayed from the path we
charted for ourselves some 37 years ago.
Persistent violations of the basic principles of
international relations have led to foreign
aggression and occupation, domination and
interference in the internal affairs of States.
Indeed, never before in recorded history has the
incidence of violence and the readiness to resort
to violence been so high as it is in our time. We
are witnesses to ugly scenes of political
rivalry, needless violence, social injustice and
a steady, inexorable degradation of human values.
149. It was with shock and dismay that we
received the news of the massacre in the refugee
camps of Shatila and Sabm in Lebanon of innocent
and defenseless Palestinian men, women and
children whose only crime was to hunger for a
State of their own. These atrocities have rightly
offended and revolted the con¬science of
right-thinking men and women throughout the world.
150. The state of affairs in the Middle East
is a classic manifestation of that betrayal of
faith I referred to earlier and a further
demonstration of the extent to which we have
strayed from the goals we set ourselves
sometimes. In 1947, it may be recalled, the
Assembly adopted resolution 181 (II), positing
the partitioning of Palestine into both a Jewish
entity and a Palestinian entity. That measure,
though it smacked of usurpation to the Arab
population of Palestine at the time, was none the
less a visionary and humanitarian act by the rest
of the international community, under the shadow
of the gruesome spectacle of Auschwitz, Treblinka
and Dachau, to provide a homeland for an ancient,
gifted and much-maligned people. Thus was the
State of Israel created with the imprimatur of
the interna¬tional community. Today, what do we
see? Arrogance, self-righteous defiance, even a
denial of faith and the human stirrings of the
emotions that made Israel itself possible. The
rest of the world is not against the State and
people of Israel, but against the obdurate,
inflex¬ible, short-sighted and misguided policies
of the present Israeli leadership.
151. The present Israeli authorities, against
massive international public opinion, have
continued on their dangerous course of presenting
the world with various faits accomplis—with the
annexation of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and
the extension of Israeli settle¬ments on the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip. Those are measures which
the Government of Sierra Leone totally rejects; I
reiterate its condemnation.
152. Recent activities, by way of proposals to
find a solution to the Middle East problem, will
be enriched, be more acceptable and prove
enduring if they are particularly faithful to the
spirit of resolution 181 (II): namely, the need
to have in Palestine both an Israeli State and a
State for the Palestinians, both together, with
other States in the area, living in peace and
security. It is in that spirit that we welcome
the recent proposals by Arab leaders at the
Twelfth Arab Summit Conference in Fez.
153. There is no magic formula for a solution
to the Middle East problem; this, we submit, is
the key to the problem, and a solution is not so
impossible to achieve. AH that is required is
vision, courage and flexibility on the part of
Israel, for Israel cannot claim the right to live
and deny that right to the Palestinians.
154. We take this opportunity to proffer to
the Government and people of Lebanon our deep
sympathy on the loss of lives and destruction to
property it has been their lot to endure through
historical and geographical circumstances,
resulting directly from the lack of a
satisfactory settlement to the Palestinian
problem. And while we wish the new Government of
Lebanon well, in the hope that it will
consolidate the national unity of that country,
we want to emphasize the necessity to preserve
and observe the independence, sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Lebanon—and this applies
particularly to Israel— and to reiterate our
rejection and condemnation of Israel's recent
activities in Lebanon, especially in Beirut.
155. Still on the subject of the Middle East,
the situation in the Gulf continues to give cause
for con¬cern. The Iranian-Iraqi conflict has
intensified since the last session of the
Assembly. We have witnessed another massive
offensive recently by both parties to the
conflict, in the mistaken belief that one side
can impose its will by force of arms on the
other. We renew our call on both parties to
harken to the summons of peace by the
international community, in various forums, and
to arrive at a lasting soluhon to their problems.
156. A return to normalcy is yet to be
achieved in Afghanistan and Kampuchea. This is
because respect for and observance of the
principles and purposes of the Organization are
still to be achieved. We are con¬cerned over the
inhuman conditions prevailing in those countries,
resulting in the exodus of peaceful citizens to
neighbouring States to seek refuge, a situation
that has created in its wake, enormous social and
economic problems for those countries. We
reiterate cur belief that it is the
imprescriptible right of the people of Afghanistan
and Kampuchea to work out their own destinies
without let or hindrance by foreign inter¬vention
or domination.
157. My Government is concerned about the
problem of divided nations, for we believe that a
people can only realize its fullest potential in
unity and peace. It is in that spirit, therefore,
that the Government of Sierra Leone looks forward
to the resumption of nego¬tiations aimed at a
peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula.
For we believe that in unity the valiant and
historic people of the Korean peninsula will have
greater contributions to make to our world in the
search for solutions to our problems.
158. In the same vein, we hope that now that
the intercommunal talks on Cyprus have resumed,
and at an accelerated pace, there will soon
emerge a formula for peace acceptable to both
sides and in consonance with the territorial
integrity and independence of Cyprus. We urge all
those who can contribute to helping this process
to do whatever they can to ensure its progress.
159. Even as we talk about the problems of
divided nations, we are still confronted with
peoples yearning to be free. A particular
responsibility of the Organi¬zation in this
regard is the accession of the people and
Territory of Namibia to independence. When the
Security Council adopted resolution 435 (1978),
we thought that we were on the eve of Namibia's
inde¬pendence; but today, four years later, the
process seems to be caught in the welter of
negotiations that quite frankly do not have
anything to do with the problem. The linkage of
the presence of Cuban troops in Angola to the
issue of Namibia's independence is, in our view,
extraneous and quite unrelated to the issue of
self-determination for the Territory of Namibia
and the cessation of South Africa's illegal
occupa¬tion thereof. This is all the more evident
when it is recalled that almost from its
inception the United Nations has been concerned
about the fate of the Terri¬tory of Namibia, even
long before Angola's indepen¬dence and well
before the advent of Cuban troops therein.
160. Regrettably, the process of Namibia's
accession to independence is, at one turn or the
other, attended by delay, vacillation,
subterfuge, and sometimes even plain double talk.
It is the view of the Government of Sierra Leone
that Security Council resolution 435 (1978)
remains the sole basis for the accession of
Namibia to independence. Therefore, to bring in
the question of the presence of foreign troops in
neigh¬bouring territories is to us but a further
betrayal of the goals which the authors of
resolution 435 (1978) themselves postulated in
the highest organ of the Organization.
161. This is also, sadly, a further
manifestation of the departure from the goals we
set ourselves which often compounds the problems
of our world. Namibia must be free. We therefore
want to take this oppor¬tunity to urge all States
Members of the United Nations, especially the
authors of resolution 435 (1978), to help us and
themselves keep faith with our common pledge to
ensure that Namibia achieves inde¬pendence
without further delay. Enough is enough.
162. In South Africa itself the racist
Pretoria regime pursues with reckless abandon its
policy of disregard for the revulsion felt by the
rest of the international community at the
abomination that is apartheid. The black majority
of the inhabitants of that unhappy country
continue to be denied in the daily round of their
lives their very essence and dignity as human
beings, simply on the score of the pigmentation
of their skin. We have heard about recent moves
even by the very practitioners and proponents of
to temper its rigors and harshness. But the
absurdity of the exercise explains its lukewarm
reception, even by its supposed beneficiaries. I
refer here to the so- called constitutional
proposals for power-sharing by Indians and
so-called Coloureds in a presidential council is
a system which represents the negation of man's
humanity and cannot be modified but must be
wholly extirpated. In defiance of world public
opinion, the Pretoria regime continues to constitute
a threat to international peace and security.
Today we stand helpless while the independent
neigh¬bouring States fall victim to South
Africa's predatory activities, acts of
aggression, sabotage and destabilization.
163. Moreover, in furtherance of these
despicable policies, South Africa resorts to
brutal methods of political assassination, even
against victims who take refuge from it in
neighbouring countries.
164. Such activities cannot be allowed to go
on unchallenged and unchecked. We therefore call
for the comprehensive application of the
provisions of Chap¬ter VII of the Charter, to
remove the threat to interna¬tional peace and
security that South Africa represents. For,
without doubt, to allow South Africa to continue
with abandon its depredations represents a
further betrayal of that collective pledge we
made to "reaffirm faith in fundamental human
rights, in the dignity and worth of the human
person, in the equal rights of men and women".
165. Even as the world is faced with a
depressing and deteriorating political climate,
we can draw no comfort from the burning economic
problems which all coun¬tries, developed and
developing, are going through. It is clear that
the developing countries, by virtue of the
fragility of their economic structures, have had
to contend to a more serious degree with the
devastating and far-reaching effects of global
economic tremors. Evidence of this has come out
with forceful emphasis and candor in successive
reports on the current world economic situation
by development and finan¬cial institutions.
166. For most, if not all developing
countries, the prevailing economic circumstances
can be referred to as a nightmare from which they
cannot escape without immediate substantial
assistance. Stagnant, and in some cases
declining, economic growth, low productivity,
poor and diminishing returns for in¬creasing
export of their raw materials, high interest
rates, diminishing financial flows from bilateral
and multilateral sources, intolerable debt
burdens running at some $600 billion and the cost
of servicing this burden are fetters on an
economic wheel that is gradually grinding to a
halt in the third world, con¬demning thereby two
thirds of our world to a life of misery and
squalor.
167. Let it be recalled that one of the
purposes and principles of the United Nations is
that it should be a centre for the harmonization
of the actions of nations in the achievement of
international co-operation for the solution of
various problems, particularly of an economic
nature. This explains the relentless efforts
within the halls and organs of the Organization
to ensure the establishment of a new
international eco¬nomic order.
168. When, three years ago, by General
Assembly resolution 34/138, it was decided to
launch the global round of negotiations, high
hopes and expectations were aroused in the
majority of mankind that at last the real
problems of the world in such crucial areas as
money and finance, trade and development and
natural resources and energy were about to be
grappled with in a meaningful and constructive
manner and within a more comprehensive framework
of mutual interests, underscoring the aspirations
of both rich and poor nations.
169. Unfortunately, those hopes and
expectations have so far not been realized, even
though at the International Meeting on
Co-operation and Develop¬ment at Cancun last year
commitments were made at the highest political
level by a cross-section of the international
community. We wish to emphasize here and now our
earnest belief that it is time that the global
negotiations were got under way.
170. We appeal to and urge all countries not
to allow short-term and ephemeral national
interests to spoil the chances of these global
negotiations. My coun¬try, for its part, is ready
and willing to do everything in its power to
promote understanding and co-operation between
all nations, North and South, East and West, in
order to contribute towards the establishment of
a new and just international economic order from
which all countries, developed and developing, will
assuredly stand to benefit.
171. As the sixth session of UNCTAD
approaches, ft is our earnest hope that Member
States will work towards conducting meaningful
exchanges in that forum and the adoption of
effective decisions that will enhance our
collective well-being. We have no doubt that the
agenda which has been adopted will render such
discourse possible.
172. On behalf of the delegation of Sierra
Leone I take this opportunity to thank the
Government and people of the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia for generously agreeing to
host that session.
173. With regard to the forthcoming
ministerial ses¬sion of GATT, it is my
delegation's firm belief that that organization
can serve as an effective instrument of economic
advancements and as a catalyst for interna¬tional
trade, particularly in the developing countries.
We therefore hope that the forthcoming session
will give positive consideration to such topical
issues as protectionism and structural
adjustment, preferential trade treatment and
trade in commodities, with the aim of finding
more acceptable and just solutions to these
problems. My country will endeavor to play its
own part in this respect.
174. One of the most urgent problems requiring
solution, particularly in Africa, is related to
the produc¬tion of adequate, secure and sustained
food supplies for that continent's growing
population and the development of agriculture in
general. It is significant that, while the world
food situation is generally said to have taken a
turn for the better, the only exception in this
happy trend is Africa. No one can deny the will
and readiness of all African countries to find
solu¬tions to their food and agricultural
difficulties. However, with the greatest number
of poor and least developed countries, Africa
cannot succeed in doing this alone without
sufficient aid from the international community.
With an annual population growth estimated at 2.5
per cent, a decline in food production of 1.2 per
cent in the 1970s and an even worse projec¬tion
for the 1980s, Africa and the international
com¬munity will be required to mobilize
tremendous resources in order to arrive at
solutions commensurate with the seriousness of
the issue and the magnitude of the task.
175. One common denominator in all the
economic issues I have highlighted is the need to
translate our avowed commitment to the principles
of interna¬tional co-operation and development
into practical measures to make such co-operation
meaningful and productive. In this connection, my
Government has noted with considerable
disappointment the downward trend in the flow of
financial resources, both bilateral and
multilateral, particularly over the last few
years, to development agencies such as the World
Bank and UNDP.
176. This tendency weakens the effectiveness
of those bodies, on which many developing
countries depend for supplementary resources in
their struggle for survival and social and
economic progress. Further, it puts in doubt the
well-accepted norm of friendly multilateral
co-operation, the linchpin of which has, over the
years, been the provision of financial grants and
concessionary loans by the developed to the
developing countries, not out of charity but out
of enlightened self-interest, based on our
interde¬pendence.
t44
177. The role which agencies like UNDP, FAO,
the International Fund for Agricultural
Development and the World Bank, to name but a
few, are playing in the fight against poverty,
malnutrition, ignorance and the omnibus problems
of underdevelopment, cannot be over-emphasized.
It therefore behoves all nations, big and small,
in a position to do so to reawaken in themselves
that spirit of internationalism which for a long
time characterized the ideals of international
co¬operation and adopt measures that will
strengthen the fabric of United Nations agencies
for co-operation for development, and at the same
time give true meaning to the noble concept of
friendly relations among nations.
178. My delegation considers it appropriate to
high¬light once again the crucial role which we
believe multilateral financial institutions such
as the Interna¬tional Monetary Fund [IMF] and the
World Bank and their affiliated agencies can play
in the establish¬ment of social justice and
international peace and security, given the right
kind of understanding and appreciation of all the
issues at stake in their bid to help developing
countries.
179. However, it seems somewhat unreasonable
to suggest that the only way to cure the ills of
developing nations, which by nature and often
because of factors outside their control are
weak, is to administer to them medicinal doses
which have more debilitating and sometimes
destructive effects. It is therefore our candid
hope that these institutions will continue to
review their policies and practices towards
countries which stand in need of their aid, with
particular reference to the individual
circumstances and situa¬tions peculiar to these
countries.
180. A review of the world economic situation
would not be complete without reference to some
of the issues which are of immense importance for
the acceleration of growth, not only in the
developing countries but in the world as a whole.
The international community, including the
specialized agencies of the United Nations system
and non governmental orga¬nizations, should be
unrelenting in their search for practical
solutions in the fields of health, science and
technology for development, the environment,
industrialization, new and renewable sources of
energy, population control, and development and
economic co-operation among developing countries.
181. It is gratifying to note that all these
questions appear as items on the agenda of this
session. We hope that they will be attended by
free, fair and frank exchanges in the interest of
restructuring and revi¬talizing the global
economy to our collective benefit.
182. At the 10th meeting of the thirty-sixth
session I acknowledged that some time ago the
Assembly had, with wisdom, recognized the need to
give par¬ticular attention to the most
economically dis¬advantaged States in the
international community, which have come to be
known euphemistically as the least-developed
countries. The prospects of these States, even in
the midst of booming prosperity in other parts of
the world, became at best uncertain and their
very survival precarious. It is most depressing
and self-defeating to acknowledge that the number
of such States continues to increase, whatever
the criteria applied. I am forced to report that
in Sierra Leone our economic situation has
worsened, the purchasing power of our exports has
progressively diminished and there has been, in
real terms, a reversal against us in both the
terms and the balance of our trade with our
trading partners. All this made it necessary for
the Economic and Social Council to take a long
hard look at cur situation and, in its resolution
1982/41, to recommend that Sierra Leone be
classified as a least-developed country. I want
to take this opportunity here, if I may, to
commend the Council's recommendation for approval
at the appropriate time, and to express the hope
that, given the resilience of the Sierra Leonean
people, coupled with the concerted efforts of
their Government and with the co-operation of the
international community, this classification may
be only temporary.
183. After some eight years of negotiations,
we note with satisfaction that the Third United
Nations Con-ference on the Law of the Sea will it
is hoped, be brought safe home to harbor this
year with the meeting of plenipotentiaries to
sign the Convention on the Law of the Sea.^ This
document, which has been painstakingly
negotiated, represents a new order for the oceans
and reassuringly demonstrates that with
co-operation and goodwill the United Nations can
and, indeed, should be the centre for harmonizing
the actions of nations in the rationalization of
the rules and procedures that should govern the
management, exploitation and use not only of this
important aspect of our environment, but of other
facets of our lives as well.
184. The successful completion of this venture has not
only enhanced the reality of international
co-operation, but it should also—and rightly
so—advance the prospects for global co-operation
in other vital areas of our one world. It is in
this spirit that we would reiterate our appeal to
the Government of the United States to stay with
the rest of the international com¬munity and to
approve this important instrument.
185. In the face of the unhappy world
political and economic situation in which we find
ourselves today, all nations—large and small,
rich and poor—are indissolubly linked. It is now
therefore more pressing than ever before that we
answer the summons to international peace and
co-operation in its various aspects. In this
venture, all the nations of the world should
reaffirm their resolve to adhere to the spirit
and essence of the United Nations. When all is
said and done, the United Nations symbolizes
mankind's efforts at pursuing a better world
order. The path to the attainment of that goal
has often been rugged, tedious and sometimes
almost impassable. Never-theless, mankind has
been persistent in its endeavors to pursue
undaunted, within this edifice, its quest for
peace, security and economic well-being. For we
realize that it is only within the United Nations
that we all, together, can hope to achieve a
peaceful and affluent world. For its part, the
Government of Sierra Leone, here and now, pledges
itself anew to uphold the principles and
objectives of the Organization.