51. For several years past and until its last session the General Assembly has begun its work in an international atmosphere of distrust, alarm and threats. The periodical outbreak of regional conflicts and of crises in international relations were a severe test for our Organisation and very often gave rise to increased scepticism as to its value and authority. It must be recognized, however, that whenever the Assembly has met, it has examined calmly the problems submitted to it and it has several times averted specific and imminent threats to international peace and security.
52. Thus it condemned and stopped the aggression against Egypt in October 1956 and prevented the outbreak of a general conflict in the Middle East at the time of the revolution in Iraq and the events in Lebanon. It also found, or helped to find, solutions to difficult questions which were discussed within its walls or for which it bore some measure of responsibility. For example last year peace was restored to Cyprus, and we hope that it will be strengthened and consolidated in an atmosphere of freedom and justice.
53. Nevertheless, the agenda of the fourteenth session still includes very important questions and the wishes and hopes of the world are once again directed towards our Assembly. Among these questions there are some which relate to colonial domination and to the future of the Non-Self-Governing Territories; others are concerned with human dignity and the fundamental rights of man, for which this Organization is responsible, such as the existence of over a million refugees in Palestine, and the persistence of segregation and racial discrimination. Lastly, there are questions Which relate to international tension, the problems of disarmament and the cessation of nuclear tests.
54. It is in this connexion that there is a real difference between this session and previous sessions. Because this year our work has begun in a less tense atmosphere. The meeting between the President of the United States and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union is one of several efforts made, some of them by the United Nations, to attenuate differences, to reduce sterile antagonisms, to open the way for an intelligent understanding of international realities and, we hope, for useful co-operation among the nations of the world.
55. The people of Morocco, who remember the support which the United Nations gave them in realizing their aspirations and in winning back their independence, are particularly gratified at this strengthening of the role of the United Nations, and wish to reaffirm their attachment to the ideals and principles of the Organization. These ideals and principles, indeed, form part of our national scale of values as it has developed from the spiritual springs of our civilization and as it is determined by our moral code and the ethical standards which are at the root of our political institutions.
56. Apart from these results, which are undeniably very encouraging, there are others which increase our satisfaction and our optimism. We hailed with the greatest satisfaction the accession of the people of Guinea to independence and the admission of the Republic of Guinea to the United Nations. We did so not only because that country had liberated itself courageously from colonial domination, but also because its people, who are so attached to justice and progress, will, by their presence, bring an important contribution to the development of this Organization and to the safeguarding of the values which it upholds.
57. Other countries will obtain independence next year, some of them by decision of the United Nations: the Cameroons, Togoland, Somaliland and Nigeria. We hope that they will join us as soon as possible, for there is no doubt that they will bring to our Organization, which has fully supported and helped them, a strong attachment which will further extend its influence.
58. We are pleased to note that many speakers on this rostrum have called attention to these events, which are of great significance to the immediate evolution of Africa. The very recording of these events constitutes in itself an international recognition of the future prospects and of the role of the whole African continent. All these peoples who are emerging, who have won back or are in the process of winning back their independence have, at the same time as the desire for independence, a desire for peace and co-operation, which is the only way mankind can achieve a happy destiny.
59. Frequently in the course of our proceedings, stress is laid on the need for this Organization to be universal. It is true that almost every year one or more new countries become Members of the United Nations, but we have not yet reached a sufficient degree of universality. The prolonged absence of so many nations, large or small, is likely to limit the value and effectiveness of the Organization. The regrets, however sincere, which we repeat every year, do not absolve us from our share of responsibility for keeping outside the Organization countries which for several years have expressed a desire to become Members, and thus to subscribe to all of the Organization’s principles and obligations. Other countries, too, are not represented here because antagonisms over which this Organization has sometimes not been able to prevail, keeps them on the national level in a painful state of division, and on the international level, outside the community of nations and of world collaboration. Lastly, other countries, under colonial domination, are carrying on a heroic struggle, aided in their sacrifices by the justice of their cause, the support of free peoples and the confidence they have in the United Nations, which has inscribed in the Charter the right of all peoples to self-determination.
60. Our Organization, which bears a heavy responsibility in this matter, should concern itself more actively with removing the obstacles which still confront these peoples, whose courage and sacrifice in winning back their freedom are solid guarantees of their respect for the freedom of others and the safeguarding of peace.
61. My country is not content with expressing a strong desire for peace or making a simple profession of faith in it. The Government and people of Morocco consider that the maintenance of peace and its restoration where it has been disturbed are the primary duty of every independent country and the supreme obligation of every Member of the United Nations; for without peace there can be no real independence or real freedom, and hence neither progress nor justice.
62. Some people profess the view that only an immense accumulation of armaments is capable of preserving peace. History, particularly that of the great empires, gives us many examples tending to show that the availability of the means of making war has very often led to the use of those means. However that may be, the latest endeavour to create peace has involved the great Powers for almost fifteen years in a competition in which their efforts have been devoted essentially to armaments research. As a result, the very idea of scientific progress has been modified to such an extent that today it generally refers to research with a strategic or military aim. Worse still, instead of encouraging feelings of security and hope, this progress only arouses alarm and anxiety. Nuclear experiments, in particular, which are an important part of this frantic armaments race, have aroused the unanimous disapproval of all peoples. From the first year of its admission to the United Nations, my country, through its delegation, has made it known that it condemns these experiments, whatever country makes them and on whatever territory they are carried out.
63. As we are not members of any bloc, and are therefore free from propaganda motives, we have adopted this attitude and have supported it firmly, with the sole aim of denouncing, in all conscience, a real danger for mankind, the effects of which have in fact already been tragically demonstrated. We had hoped however that the awareness of this danger and the emotion which it has aroused in world opinion would lead the atomic Powers to abandon these experiments. Strenuous efforts to achieve a relaxation of international tension and some measure of disarmament had led recently to an effective suspension of nuclear tests by the three atomic Powers.
64. Unfortunately, France made known at the same time its intention to carry out nuclear tests in the Sahara, without concern either for the risk of compromising the relaxation of international tension which had been achieved with such difficulty or for the opinion of the peoples of Africa who are the most directly threatened. Diplomatic protests were made to the French Government by most of the countries of Africa, whilst the Monrovia Conference adopted a motion expressing the anxiety of all the independent peoples of the African continent.
65. During the first seven months of 1959, my Government sent three notes in succession to the French Government drawing its attention to the fact that the territories where it was proposed to set off explosions were in dispute and pointing out the dangers to which the nearest Moroccan communities in particular would be exposed. The last of these notes was purely and simply rejected. It was then that His Majesty's Government asked the Secretary-General to put this question on the agenda of the present session [see A/4183].
66. My delegation will give its views on all the aspects of this question in greater detail when the matter is taken up in the First Committee. But an argument has been put forward by the French Government in connexion with which my delegation would like to make a few observations here and now.
67. France has described the bomb as the French Community's bomb and shelters behind what it calls the consent of the countries which form the Community to explain why it is carrying out a test in a region which is under its sovereignty. Mr. Tsiranana is not the head of an African Country and Mr. Houphoüet-Boigny represents only the Ivory Coast. This isolated support serves only to emphasize the categorical condemnation pronounced by the other leaders of the French Community. As a matter of fact there is only one voice on the whole of the African continent which is not associated with this condemnation, even though the people of the Ivory Coast have publicly demonstrated against the French project. Other European and Asian States have associated themselves with the whole of Africa in asking France to give up this test in the interest of its relations with the peoples of Africa.
68. We hope that the United Nations will help to avoid the creation of a new and deeper chasm between France and countries which desire to have only the best relations with it. Morocco in particular hopes for such an understanding. On achieving independence, it put aside all those feelings which a painful past might have justified, and it has enthusiastically undertaken an essentially constructive task which requires peace as a condition for its success. Unfortunately, its desire to develop a worthy and prosperous way of life continues to come up against a number of difficulties.
69. Large areas of Morocco are still occupied by France and Spain, and this constitutes a flagrant violation of the integrity of Moroccan territory four years after the recognition of its independence. French and Spanish troops are still stationed on our territory, even though we have no alliance or military agreement with these Powers and though the proclamation of independence removed all the military obligations of the Protectorate. Moreover, France, in the later years of the Protectorate, and without the knowledge of Morocco, granted important bases to the United States, the illegal nature of which His Majesty and the Moroccan people immediately denounced in spite of the circumstances, and they have continued their protests ever since.
70. For four years the Government and the people of Morocco have called for the evacuation of all foreign troops. The conversations we have begun with the Government of the United States have now reached an encouraging stage and must finally lead to total evacuation. On the other hand, France and Spain continue to refuse to recognize the very principle of evacuation, thereby perpetuating in fact and in law a situation which amounts to occupation. At different stages of the negotiations, each of the two Governments have offered to put an end to the occupation only on condition it is replaced by some sort of mutual defence pact, or has made its attitude dependent upon the results of negotiations with the other Government. Very often our legitimate claim is opposed in the name of interests which are not ours and in regard to which Morocco has clearly defined its position by proclaiming a policy of non-dependence.
71. As for the problem of frontiers, France and Spain continue to exercise their sovereignty de facto over territories which belong to Morocco by virtue of a series of international treaties to which both France and Spain are parties. Throughout the whole period of the Protectorate, these territories were administered in the name of the Moroccan authority and by Moroccan representatives of the central administration. Mauritania was accorded a direct and separate administration only towards the end of the Protectorate. Quite a long time after independence, when a joint frontier commission was about to meet, France set up Mauritania as a separate territory and brought it into the French Community against the will of its people. My Government, confident in the clearly established justice of its cause and in the support of the people of Mauritania, strongly reaffirms its reservations and its protests against this pure and simple annexation of a part of its national territory.
72. Spain has followed the same procedure with regard to the Ifni enclave and the territories of Saguiet el Hamra in the southern Sahara. Only a few months ago a Spanish Government decree placed these territories under Spanish sovereignty, and another decree authorized the granting of permits for mining exploration to foreign companies.
73. In view of these illegal decisions, as well as of those taken in Mauritania, His Majesty’s Government has officially warned all countries, likely to be interested in the exploitation of the resources of these territories that it has never ceased to consider them as an integral part of Morocco.
74. The situation on the eastern frontier remains equally confused, for the war which has been raging in Algeria for the last five years is not only being used as a pretext for the indefinite postponement of the problem of delimitation but is also giving rise to many grave incidents and even to the occupation by the French army of Moroccan territory, as in the case of Hassi-Zerzour at the end of July 1959, which my Government brought to the attention of the United Nations.
75. In regaining their independence, Tunisia and Morocco hoped that the# could devote all their efforts to constructive work to promote economic development and social progress. They hoped to be able to do so in the harmony and brotherhood of Maghreb unity, and in close collaboration with France, whose important interests and cultural influences could assure it of solid and lasting friendship and of fruitful co-operation in the whole of North Africa. Lastly, they hoped that it would be possible, in an atmosphere of confidence, to effect a complete transformation of the old relationships by getting, rid of everything which in any way restricted or obstructed the blossoming of true independence.
76. The idea of any such development, however, could only be conceivable in the perspective of a Maghreb united in equal independence and prepared to collaborate with a France which was entitled to the same esteem and the same confidence in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The Tunisian and Moroccan peoples have perhaps been more fortunate, but the Algerian people, after one hundred and twenty years of occupation, have been forced into an ordeal which they have done everything to avoid.
77. At two particularly decisive moments of its history North Africa has revealed the ineluctable necessity for its fundamental unity. Firstly, when the war of conquest in the last century ended in the destruction of the Algerian State, Tunisia and Morocco were assured of calamity. Today, that same necessity calls Algeria to a common destiny at the side of its brothers of Tunisia and Morocco. It was the duty of France to encourage this harmony in order to help establish that Maghreb entity, of which it seems to have been aware only in the interests of colonial domination and exploitation.
78. For almost five years this war has been decimating the flower of Algeria and of France. In deference to this Assembly and out of respect for all the victims of this, the most atrocious of colonial wars, I shall not recount here all the horrors, the poverty and distress into which it is plunging a whole nation of noble and brave people. I shall instead try to recall all the efforts which have been made on all sides to halt a war in which there can be neither victor nor vanquished and to open the way to a solution which would restore peace.
79. Only a few months after our independence, when the war was nearly two years old, His Majesty the King of Morocco made a moving appeal in his speech at Oujda in August 1956. The National Liberation Front replied to this by sending its leaders to Rabat, where their discussions with His Majesty and the Moroccan Government were considered sufficiently encouraging to arrange for a conference at Tunis with President Bourguiba. We are all aware of the stupid act which put an end to this project and which impaired both the confidence of Tunisia and Morocco and the excellent predispositions of the Algerians for a reasonable peace.
80. We had hoped subsequently that the French genius might take the first opportunity to rectify this mistake and to make up for the seizure of the aeroplane by releasing Ben Bella and his companions. If this gesture had been made — and it was asked for on several occasions — it would unquestionably have had broad repercussions throughout North Africa and discussions could have been resumed. A last effort was undertaken jointly by His Majesty the King of Morocco and President Bourguiba, who officially offered their good offices,
81. The various French Governments all ignored these efforts and declined these offers. Yet, whatever the circumstances, the sole object of our efforts was to make it easy for both parties to establish conditions for a discussion which would lead to direct negotiations and to a solution which would be the work of Algeria and France.
82. I shall lay particular stress on the efforts of the United Nations, which having first established its competence to deal with this question, has continued ever since, in all its resolutions, to urge the National Liberation Front and the French Government to enter into negotiations.
83. At the present stage of development of this war and of its diplomatic aspects, we consider that our efforts have been partially successful. The two statements by President de Gaulle and by the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic constitute an important step towards a positive search for peace.
84. The Algerian people went into this struggle only in order to obtain the right to decide its own destiny. General de Gaulle has solemnly recognized the right of the Algerian people to self-determination and has expressed his recognition in the following memorable terms: "We shall do so as a great nation and by the only suitable method, by allowing the Algerians freely to choose their own future."
85. There is no longer any disagreement between the parties on the objective. General de Gaulle is admittedly surrounding the exercise of this right by a series of conditions which cannot all be retained and is giving it only the degree of finality which he wants or hopes for. A right is only complete if it is exercised by the holder with safeguards which exclude deceit, violence or fraud and if the alternative it offers is not limited in advance.
86. All the French Governments and General de Gaulle himself have always recognized the irregularity of the Algerian elections. In his well-known letter to General Salan on the eve of the last referendum, General de Gaulle thought it necessary to give the representative of his Government a solemn reminder of the absolute necessity of keeping the elections free of irregularities. The guarantees called for by the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic in its statement find further support in the most recent conduct of the authorities in Algiers and in the admissions of the French Government itself.
87. As for the possibility of an election which would impair the unity of the Algerian people or the integrity of their territory, it could not be seriously proposed for their approval, for they would never agree to accept it.
88. We were surprised that Mr. Couve de Murville, who explained General de Gaulle’s peace plan at great length to the General Assembly [ 814th meeting], did not see fit to mention the Algerian Government’s peace plan. After the hopes that the positive aspects of President de Gaulle's statement aroused, the French Government itself and French and international public opinion were waiting for the Algerian Government's reply. Did Mr. Couve de Murville's silence mean that his Government was indifferent to that statement or did it betray his Government's intention to limit itself to the offers it had already made for a settlement?
89. The Algerian Government, however, affirmed with great authority that peace could be restored at once. Behind it the National Army of Liberation and the Algerian people are ready to await the verdict of the elections. In view of this very clear attitude, it behoves France to prove the seriousness of its intentions and to agree to a discussion, stripped by now of all preliminaries, which would define, first and foremost the guarantees necessary for an honest consultation.
90. At no time during the war have we been so near to peace. I recalled a little while ago the efforts the United Nations has made to accelerate the attainment of peace. I drew attention to the actions of my Government to facilitate discussion. My King and my Government, who have never claimed to be intermediaries, will continue, in view of this new hope, to encourage the two parties to meet in order to put an end to a war in which we are nevertheless implicated and finally to establish a peace which is of moment to us.
91. On the threshold of this great hope of seeing peace restored in the Maghreb, the thoughts of the Moroccan people are turned towards the other extremity of the Arab fatherland, towards the torn country of Palestine, more than one million of whose children have been living for eleven years in the misery and sorrow of exile. My country, which in four years has welcomed more than 100,000 Algerians fleeing the war that is raging in their country, is particularly sensitive to the distress of our Palestinian brothers, torn from their homes by the greatest injustice of the century.
92. What makes this injustice even more distressing is that it is not just the act of a single country but that it is overtly tolerated and encouraged by a large number of States whose responsibility has been, and still is, very grave. The United Nations itself, after showing itself incapable of averting the cause of this tragedy, consolidated it with a number of decisions which have never been put into effect.
93. We cannot understand the paralysis of the United Nations in the fact of decisions which seem to have been taken at a certain moment, in a sudden desire for justice, but which are being increasingly distorted, possibly in the hope that they will finally become meaningless or that the settlement of the Palestinian Arabs within the border of other brother States may pave the way for their complete integration. The head of the Lebanese Government stated from this rostrum [811th meeting] that it would be in vain to count on any kind of weakening of the determination of the refugees to return to their homeland. In the name of what justice did the Polish or German Jew, however worthy of respect his sufferings in his own country might have been, establish himself on the soil and in the home of the Palestinian Arab, who becomes in his turn "the wandering Arab"?
94. The Secretary-General, whose spirit of justice we know well and whose efforts we applaud, submitted to our Organization a report directed towards the integration of the Palestinian refugees in the various Arab countries. Morocco remains faithful to the only principle of justice that is valid for the settlement of this question; namely, the return of the refugees to their homeland. That is why my Government and my delegation have been unable to support the suggestions submitted by the Secretary-General.
95. The representatives of Israel who expound the views of their Government to us here never show the slightest interest in this basic aspect of the true problem of the Middle East. Israel, taking care not to examine the circumstances of its own creation, is only anxious to denounce what it calls the hostility to it of the Arab States. It denounces the United Arab Republic's exercise of its right to control passage through the Suez Canal, and sometimes from an international rostrum, it interferes in the internal affairs of the Arab world. This manner of forgetting the event and remembering only its results does not wipe out the real problems or change their true nature. The attitude of the United Arab Republic with regard to the Suez Canal is only a lesser symptom of the principal fact, which is the state of belligerency existing between Israel and the Arab States against which it has waged war.
96. I began my statement by expressing my delegation's satisfaction with the concrete results achieved by the United Nations in the search for a positive solution to many of the problems brought to its attention. I should like to conclude by expressing our hope that the real problems, which sometimes arise in their most complex form, may find an enduring solution only if such a solution is in keeping with the true nature of things. In the Middle East, the real problem is not a problem of the Canal nor a problem of under-development; it is the problem of an unnatural division which has been the disgrace of the nations for the last ten years; and — I apologize for repeating the expression used by an eminent personality — that division recalls the illegitimate child placed in someone's arms and whom the United Nations is now asked to adopt.
97. In Algeria our hopes remain also very high, because the desire of both parties has been affirmed in solemn texts, on a very important occasion and this desire tends towards the achievement of peace. If this word has today become the watchword of both the French Government and the Government of the Algerian Republic, all that remains is for the two parties to prove the sincerity of their feelings and of their attitudes; then, through the United Nations or with the support of nations friendly to France and to Algeria, a just and viable solution may be found. The wish voiced by my delegation at the end of this general debate, is that this desire of the French and Algerian peoples will combine with the desire of all the Arab peoples, the desire that Algeria may be delivered from its sufferings and strife, that Algeria may at last recover that dignity of which its admission some day to the United Nations would be resounding proof.