131. Mr. President, having had the good fortune of working with you within the framework of bilateral relations between our two countries, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate you upon your election to the high office of the Presidency of the twenty-second session of the General Assembly, and at the same time, to pay a tribute to your great abilities as a statesman and a diplomat.
132. That you, Sir, the Foreign Minister of a socialist country with which Ethiopia has had good relations over the years, and with which it is now enlarging the scope of its economic and political relations, as testified to by the recent exchange of official visits by our two Heads of State, should be President, is a source of great satisfaction to my Government.
133. I wish also at this moment to pay a tribute to the great contribution which Ambassador Pazhwak made to the United Nations as President of the twenty-first session of the General Assembly, on whose shoulders fell the task of also guiding the Assembly at its fifth special and fifth emergency special sessions. Indeed, without his experienced guidance our work in one of the busiest years in the history of the United Nations would have been more difficult than it has been.
134. The general debates of the General Assembly, in which I am today privileged to participate, have in the years since the inception of the United Nations served the international community admirably. They have provided a widely attended forum for drawing up a balance-sheet of achievements against setbacks, hopes against disappointments. The more frank the Governments of Member States have been in the expression of their views at these annual sessions the more enhanced has their value undoubtedly been. At no time in the recent past, however, have we more reason than at this session of the Assembly to be most critical and searching in our assessment of the international situation, if only because we do not have very much this year to cheer about.
135. So little has in fact been registered in the past year in terms of positive achievements that this year's stock-taking might usefully and quite appropriately be devoted to some soul-searching and introspection. So dismal indeed have our achievements been that our highly esteemed Secretary-General, a person who is not easily given to excessive optimism nor to unrealistic pessimism, could only say to us in the introduction to his annual report that developments on the international scene in the past year have been discouraging.
136. If the twenty-second session of the General Assembly, in keeping with the sober tone and assessment of the Secretary-General, is to fulfil an important function to the international community, beset at this time by a crisis of confidence, it cannot but engage in a critical exercise of self-analysis and introspection, in an atmosphere not only free from recrimination and a "holier than thou" attitude, but marked by dispassionate and reasoned exchanges of views inspired by our immense responsibility to the peoples of the world we represent, whose ardent desire for peace we know all too well. We cannot slacken our efforts for peace without being derelict in this great responsibility to our own peoples.
137. Looking back today at the post-war years, in the light of history, despite the many tribulations and agonizing moments of danger we have lived through, we all agree that there has been a gradual — even though at times hesitant — process of amelioration of conditions favouring peace. It seems, however, that in the last couple of years we have been hard put to it to see or discern a qualitative improvement in those conditions. That pause, moreover, does not seem to forebode better times. On the contrary, if we go by present indications in the patterns of international behaviour, it will not be pessimistic for anyone to foresee an untoward movement away from the general détente which has been such a welcome development in international relations, and in the acceleration of which so much hope and faith have been placed by the nations of the world.
138. Thus, an examination of those causes which have held back that auspicious development should be the overriding concern of the United Nations at this session of the General Assembly. It is therefore in this spirit that I wish to add, to the accumulating reservoir of assessment flowing from the general debate, my Government's considered views concerning the general deterioration of the international situation.
139. The underlying causes of the deterioration are, of course, many and varied. But as the report of the Secretary-General and statements in the General Assembly indicate, there is general agreement as to its apparent and immediate causes.
140. As all the combatants introduce more men, war material and sophisticated weapons, the hostilities in Viet-Nam are growing in intensity and ferocity, with the result that with each passing day an acceptable solution to the problem is getting more unattainable, while at the same time the ugly passions of hatred and revenge are spreading unchecked and the toll on the lives of combatants and civilians alike, and the general destruction and havoc brought about by the war, are increasing at a frightful rate.
141. The sudden flare-up early in June of a full-scale war in the Middle East — which, considering its short duration, was singularly remarkable for its ferocity and the widespread catastrophe it brought to a whole region — has compounded a difficult situation which was already complicated by forces and passions released by two previous wars in less than twenty years involving the same countries. While the flame of war has been extinguished, thanks mainly to the timely intervention of the United Nations, the smoke released by it still hangs heavily and the embers are still burning.
142. The last citadels of colonialism in Africa — mainly those of Portugal and the racist, rebel régime of Rhodesia — have not only succeeded in defying United Nations decisions, but in many respects have also strengthened their defiance by consolidating an alliance, whose real nature has been recently manifested, with the apartheid regime of South Africa. That has been accomplished, it must be emphasized, as the world community, beset by a crisis of will power and unable to act appropriately, looks on helplessly.
143. Notwithstanding the significant advance registered by the United Nations in setting standards in the field of human rights, the alliance of colonialism and racism in Africa has in the past year stepped up its assault on basic human rights.
144. In the economic and social fields, despite the tremendous advance on all fronts in knowledge concerning the nature of the malaise of economic and social under-development and its cures, the magnitude and the complexity of the problems, and the enormous requirements needed to meet the situation, and despite the growing awareness of the implications to peace and stability of the anomaly of a world in which two thirds of the population live a life of dire poverty while one third leads a life of comparative ease, the will and determination to match the problem with adequate resources have not been forthcoming, especially from the richer parts of the world.
145. Those are but a few of our shortcomings which have become more manifest, especially in the past year. However, the list of unfulfilled hopes and the disappointments and setbacks encountered in the past few years can be a long one unless we place them in a balanced perspective. It is also human that we should be preoccupied with our shortcomings while we are unable to see immediately any encouraging signs.
146. Be that as it may, however, there is no doubting, the fact that the Viet-Nam war has been at the root of the recent deterioration in the international situation, and it remains today potentially fraught with far more dangerous consequences to the peace of the world than any other single situation or controversy. Aware as it is of the gravity of the possible consequences of the ever-increasing escalating tendencies generally characterizing the situation, my Government feels that the least that can be said under the circumstances is that there should be a moratorium on further escalation and that a process of de-escalation of hostilities should immediately be initiated, even before talks concerning the underlying issues commence. In that respect, my Government agrees with the assessment of the Secretary-General, as well as the assessment of the vast majority of Governments in the non-aligned world, that a stopping of the bombing of North Viet-Nam will usher in a process of de- escalation of hostilities and will also create the kind of climate within which we can reasonably expect that some useful talk could take place. If the bombing of the North is stopped, we can also reasonably expect that it will be in the Interest of all the combatants to de-escalate or to halt all further expansion of military operations connected with the prosecution of the war both in the North and the South. One can hopefully expect such a gesture from all the combatants, because it is only too obvious that unless the balance of military advantages is held constant for the duration of the necessary talks, the alternative will be to continue the present process of chain-reaction, whereby a move from one side calls for a similar or more intensified counter-move from the other.
147. It Is also the view of my Government that if any move for talks is to have a reasonable chance of success, all the combatants involved should be brought to the conference table, and the talks should take place without onerous and unacceptable conditions and demands being attached to them by any of the parties. Such demands, as we all know, are In most cases the very causes of the fighting. If there are to be conditions and terms for such talks, obviously those should be the provisions of, and the obligations Inherent in, the Geneva Agreements of 1954.
148. I now wish to turn my attention to the situation in the Middle East.
149. The anomalous situation that has persisted for the last twenty years in the Middle East-one in which real peace has never been established — and the emotionally-charged human and political problems created by two wars in the area in less than twenty years, have always been a source of great concern to my Government. It is therefore understandable that when a third war broke out last June between the nations of the Middle East, with which my own country is closely tied by deep spiritual, cultural and historical bonds, as well as by reason of geography, no country could have been more painfully saddened by that third visitation of tragedy than my own; for it cannot be denied that in our case, leaving other considerations aside, even that of purely narrow, national self-interest, the maintenance of peace In that neighbourhood of ours is indispensable to our well-being.
150. Near as we are to that region, we know how complex and deep-seated the causes of the conflict are. The issues involved are also compounded by a long and turbulent history — a history measured not in decades but in centuries. No one can indeed approach these problems without being sympathetic towards die peoples of the area, a theatre of historical forces, the full measure of which those peoples cannot grasp, as they themselves are the victims of those same forces.
151. Fundamentally, the problems are not so much political as they are human. They involve the rights of a people which has lived in that beleaguered part of the world, a veritable crossroads of civilization, for several centuries. They also involve the deepest sentiment of a people which, despite its dispersion to the four corners of the world, has throughout the years maintained strong spiritual, cultural and emotional ties with the area. The situation is thus characterized by a clash of two nationalisms which, in keeping with developments in much of the world today, are trying to assert themselves.
152. There is, of course, nothing wrong with such a phenomenon. The tragedy of it is that in this case, as indeed in some other situations marked by recurrent conflicts today, the human mind has been unable to think of any better way of trying to accommodate nationalism than by the establishment of an exclusive nation-State, without the full and due recognition of the right to existence of another nationalism.
153. Thus, the long-term objective of our collective effort should be to seek an equitable and just accommodation between the Arab and Jewish nationalisms in the Middle East — a true and lasting accommodation, not based on force, but on a mutual recognition of rights and obligations. This is a historic task which the United Nations has initially accepted and one which it should now help the peoples of the region to accomplish. Finally, it must be emphasized that it is also a task that can be fulfilled. In this respect it
must be pointed out that the world can show many instances where the harmonious accommodation of conflicting nationalisms has been achieved.
154. Of course, the situation in the Middle East is further compounded by the fact that memories of the clashes between Arab and Jewish nationalisms are fresh. Moreover, the consequences of the hostilities of 1949 and 1956 having remained unresolved, they have now caused a third war to break out.
155. If we wish to avoid a recurrence of hostilities in the region — and this is the overriding concern of my Government, as 1 am sure it is the concern of all Member States of the United Nations — the least we can do is to make some kind of start in tackling the problems that arose as a consequence of those armed hostilities, at the same time as we earnestly and constantly continue the search for an equitable and just accommodation between the Arab and Jewish nationalisms in the Middle East.
156. While the situation created by the recent war cannot be divorced entirely from the framework of a general political settlement, since the recent brief clash was only a violent manifestation of an explosive situation of long standing, certain aspects of it should be viewed independently in the context of priorities within a possible and acceptable programme of political solutions, even if such a programme can now be envisaged only tentatively and in its general outlines.
157. Thus, the first requirement of apolitical settlement in the Middle East is the withdrawal of Israel forces from all Arab territories which they occupied during the recent war, On the other hand, it is only fair to expect that this withdrawal should he effected In an atmosphere in which all parties to the conflict will undertake the obligation not to use force. Such an undertaking on the part of all the States involved in the recent hostilities could also be strengthened by a guarantee provided by the great Powers to ensure the territorial integrity and political independence of all States in the Middle East. Since these Powers, acting in concert in the United Nations, are primarily responsible for the maintenance of peace and security, such a guarantee could be forthcoming either through the Security Council or through some other arrangement agreed upon by the great Powers and the Middle East States concerned.
158. The United Nations should make it clear that it will not recognize territorial claims based on, or advantages gained by, the recent war. In this connexion it cannot be emphasized too strongly that the international status of Jerusalem must be respected, and that no recognition should be given to any unilateral act to change that status.
159. In the view of my Government, no accommodation could he realistic in the Middle East unless the right of Israel to a national existence were respected in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. A mutual renunciation of all claims of rights of belligerency, as indeed of all hostile and belligerent acts, is the first obligation devolving upon all States living in the Middle East. Only then will their relations conform with the normal characteristics underlying the relations of all the other Member States of the United Nations with one another.
160. Secondly, the wrong and the injustice Inflicted upon the Arab Palestinian refugees should be redressed; not only should their right to a just compensation for the property which they lost be recognized, but also they should have the right to return to their homeland if they so choose.
161. After everything is said about the Middle East, however, one thing must be made very clear; no lasting solution can be founded on force. One side may gain short-term advantages through force, but these advantages will prove to be illusory and evanescent the moment the other side gets ready for the next round. If we wish to lay the basis for a realistic solution to the problem of the Middle East, we shall have to break the vicious circle of the psychology of force whereby the temporary advantage of force will tempt one side to seek to impose a political solution, while at the same time the other side tries to redress the imbalance.
162. While the war in Viet-Nam and the situation in the Middle East have been to a great extent uppermost in our minds because of their dramatic escalation and the danger of big-Power confrontation which they present, the crisis of confidence which the international community is experiencing is, in no small measure, aggravated by the lack of any appreciable progress in the field of decolonization. True, some progress has been registered with respect to certain Territories whose significance in terms of the freedom of their peoples is obvious, but the same cannot be said with respect to the size of their populations and the areas which they represent. In a number of them, important although not always conclusive referendums have been held with a view to consulting the peoples concerned regarding their future.
163. We have generally acquiesced in such efforts, not without reluctance at times, whenever they seemed to us to be genuine and whenever there was no valid reason of an economic and strategic nature to cast doubts on the motive of the administering Power concerned, and when indeed the record of the administering Power with respect to the decolonization of other economically and strategically more important territories should allay all such doubts. In these instances my Government has felt that, given the short time available and the advanced stage of preparation of the election process, United Nations supervision of the conduct of referendums could have been merely symbolic. Thus, in our view, although United Nations supervision might have been desirable to safeguard the requirements of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), that should not become a valid reason to delay unduly, and in some cases quite unnecessarily, the self-determination process or to entertain misgivings as to the choice which the people themselves might make. But at any rate, we should not allow others to use such a pretext for their own purposes.
164. The situation in southern Africa, by far the largest remaining colonial enclave and the most significant in terms of population, presents a totally different picture. To those who in the past have had honest doubts, it should now be abundantly clear that we are no longer confronted in that part of the world with Portuguese colonialism, racism in South Africa, the usurpation of an international territory in South West Africa, and the rebellion of the white settlers in Rhodesia — each defiance, as it were, on its own — but with an unholy alliance of these forces, not only in the political arena but decidedly also in the military field, in a master design to frustrate all United Nations decisions. This alliance is buttressed by trade with the West, and by the sustenance provided to it by international finance. This bastion of colonialism in southern Africa also disposes a significant military power, much of it acquired either by open or secret purchase of arms from the major Powers in the West or provided by them through a military alliance.
165. In these circumstances, the past year has demonstrated one thing vividly; that is, the futility of separate and piecemeal action by the United Nations when dealing with the problems of southern Africa. It should be clear by now that piecemeal and separate action will tend to frustrate the effectiveness of all such actions.
166. In this respect the situation in Rhodesia is a case in point. Whatever teeth there might have been in the selective mandatory sanctions voted by the Security Council — and it must be said that we maintained at the time they were contemplated that there would be not much to them — have been knocked out by the complicity and duplicity of South Africa and the Portuguese authorities in Mozambique in evading them by acting as middlemen and carriers to and fro of the prohibited commodities. It is now becoming increasingly clear that even if these sanctions were to be comprehensive and inclusive of all the commodities imported and exported to and from the Territory, the same routes and channels of evasion would no doubt be used successfully.
167. Despite the inescapable fact that the assumption by the General Assembly of the United Nations of direct responsibility for the administration of South West Africa would imply — in case South Africa continued its proclaimed and well-known defiance — that resort would have to be had to the enforcement mechanism of the Charter: all that the Assembly could see its way to decide on at its fifth special session was the creation of a Council which does not, in fact, provide for an immediate establishment of United Nations authority in the Territory. Its essential and immediate task is to undertake contact with the South African Government for the transfer of administrative functions.
16B. Timid and limited as the mandate of the Council is, with no reference to enforcement action, whatever usefulness it might have had was, in fact, nipped in the bud by the refusal of the big Powers to participate in its work.
169 We are now awaiting the habitual negative reply from South Africa to a request by the Council to transfer to it all the functions of administration. When the unavoidable reply comes, the international community will be faced with yet another proof, if ever proof were needed, of South Africa's continued intransigence, and, we also hope, a reminder of its inescapable responsibility to enforce its decision concerning the destiny of a people for which it has always had responsibility.
170. The war in Angola and so-called Portuguese Guinea continues unabated. In Mozambique, a similar war, but more Intense and more ominous as a pointer to the future, has been raging for the last two years. Yet, despite the uprising of the people and the many decisions of the United Nations, no move has been made by Portugal to accommodate the wishes of the people. This was to be expected, because what has been so far done in terms of international action against Portugal has not been so painful as to make it see things differently. Moreover, Portugal is still getting, either through military alliance or through purchase, an adequate supply of arms to enable it to prosecute its colonial wars in Africa.
171. Apartheid, the State philosophy of the Republic of South Africa, is getting more elaborate and sophisticated with every passing year, with an imposing array of an ever-increasing intricate labyrinth of legislation and edicts. The system has now blotted out any semblance of political right the African and the other non-white peoples might have had. As was to be expected also, the elaboration of apartheid has necessitated an ever-increasing resort to repression.
172. The implementation of apartheid in South West Africa is also proceeding at an accelerated rate; it has now reached the advanced stage — as the Ovamboland declaration points out — of carving up the entire Territory into non-viable, anomalous tribal units on the lines of the South African Bantustan.
173. Thus, if the United Nations is to solve the problems posed by the twin alliance of colonialism and racism in Southern Africa, it must recognize the problem for what it is: a concerted conspiracy designed to frustrate United Nations action in each and all of the territories in southern Africa. It behoves the United Nations, therefore, in response to this concerted defiance and conspiracy to launch its own concerted and co-ordinated series of actions by resorting to the enforcement mechanism of the Charter. Once this basic decision is made, die actual implementation could, of course, be effected in stages both with regard to the timing and the types of measures to be chosen. A resort to the enforcement mechanism of the Charter does not have to be, nor need it be, a call to arms, as we are sometimes given to believe. There are many methods of enforcement available to the United Nations. What indeed is lacking is the political will.
174. I have so far dealt with situations which are marked with hostilities and which also contain the seed for their ever-increasing intensification. If was only natural, therefore, that I should have dealt at length with them. But while we grapple at the United Nations with actual breaches of peace, we tend to lose sight of what varied use could be imaginatively made of United Nations machinery and diplomacy to settle differences among Member States, and in the long run to promote conditions that would work for peace and stability. Some aspects of this work have been felicitously called peace-keeping or peace-making. I shall now deal with some of them.
175. The United Nations effort in the economic and social field is one aspect of this long-term strategic planning for peace. The framers of the Charter emphasized the close relationship between international stability and peace, on the one hand, and over-all economic and social well-being on the other. If we keep this vital nexus in mind, perhaps our collective efforts in the economic and social field might take on the urgency and the sense of direction the problem in this area calls for.
176. If we accept the validity of this relationship and its long-term implications for a world which, on the whole, is increasingly getting poorer while it is baffled by the ever-increasing revelation of its unlimited potentialities for the satisfaction of the demands of a better world, we might perhaps regard United Nations efforts in the economic and social field as being not only humanitarian, but as undertakings which require the exercise of our collective responsibility. Unless we approach the problem in such a spirit, the present tendency to place increasing reliance on voluntary funds will no doubt erode in the long run the concept of collective responsibility enshrined in the Charter.
177. It has now become clear that the means of the United Nations and its family of institutions are being exhausted, while increasing demands are being made on them, especially by the developing countries. If we go by present indications, the future seems almost bleak; it appears as if the United Nations family of agencies may soon reach their optimum level of expansion, thus limiting further expansion and the launching of new programmes.
178. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Capital Development Fund seem to be destined to suffer from a scarcity of funds unless the international community lives up to its responsibility.
179. As regards the United Nations institutions in the economic and social field, the effort to rationalize, co-ordinate and integrate their activities — an effort which has been going on for several years now, and which is still proceeding — seems to pay off in terms of better efficiency, economy and usefulness. Of course, this is a continuing task that will have to go on.
180. What is also auspicious particularly in this regard is that such a systematization of the institutional framework has been preceded in most cases by an appreciation of the interrelated nature of the problems of economic and social development and the need to approach them in an integrated and co-ordinated attack.
181. Trade, which is the mainstay of the developing countries, will receive another scrutiny from the international community at the forthcoming session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at New Delhi. After three years of intensive study and consultations, carried out mostly under the auspices of the Conference, it remains to be seen whether the forthcoming session will provide an opportunity for taking the kind of action that will contribute to correcting the trade imbalance that still exists as between the developed and the developing countries and will favour the expansion of international trade to the benefit of all.
182. I now turn to disarmament. Progress over the past year in disarmament — another effort connected with preparing and planning for peace — although significant in terms of achievement, is becoming increasingly fraught with new problems. The big Powers seem never to have come nearer to an agreement on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons than they were this summer at Geneva.
183. The Soviet Union and the United States have now submitted separately identical texts of a draft for a non-proliferation treaty. That the two great Powers have found sufficient common grounds and identity of interests to submit identical texts of a treaty is in itself progress. But that, on the other hand, they have failed to agree on an inspection mechanism despite intensive negotiations and that the whole question of inspection is left out does not seem to bode well for the future.
184. It is obvious that if a non-proliferation agreement is to be useful, it has to be based on an acceptable and mutual balance of responsibilities and obligations among those who will sign it, as well as on the balance of benefits and risks inherent in the system, The twin problem is thus to provide a suitable guarantee that atomic weapons will not be used against those who do not have them and that countries lacking nuclear power will not be deprived of the immense economic opportunity provided by atomic technology.
185. As regards the question of guarantee, I humbly submit that the proposal which my Government first offered in 1961 and to which it has since repeatedly called attention in the United Nations, that is, the convening of an international conference to sign a convention to ban the use of atomic and thermo-nuclear weapons in case of war, could be a useful corollary to any parallel undertaking and guarantee which the nuclear weapon Powers may give. The most useful step in this direction remains, however, the acceleration of progress in nuclear disarmament.
186. The sharing of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency could, in our opinion, given the best of efforts and co-operation, solve the problem of sharing atomic technology for peaceful purposes without raising the risk of proliferation. In this regard, there is no reason why regional institutions in this field could not be brought within the fold of the Agency without destroying the identity of interests of those regional institutions.
187. If the fate of a non-proliferation treaty is, in the long run, to depend on the speed with which nuclear disarmament is to be effected, it is equally true to say that the immediate prospect of its conclusion is contingent upon the extension of the prohibition of testing to include underground testing as well. As long as the super-nuclear Powers are allowed to go on testing underground, thus improving upon the sophistication of their nuclear and thermo-nuclear weaponry, it does not seem possible to persuade those who are on their heels as far as development in this field is concerned to accept an ever-increasing gap in their nuclear technology.
188. What is even more ominous is the fact that underground testing, connected as it is with the development of anti-missile missiles, might usher in another arms race which would be harder to control.
189. In the field of disarmament, the signing of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America is an important milestone. It provides, for the first time in history, for a nuclear-free zone in an inhabited part of the world.
190. Let me say in that connexion that in Africa, also, we have made significant progress within the framework of the Organization of African Unity towards finalizing such a treaty, and it will not be too long before we can crown with similar success our endeavours in this field.
191. The signing by eighty States of a treaty prohibiting the stationing of nuclear weapons or any other kind of weapons of mass destruction in outer space and limiting the use of the moon and other celestial bodies to use exclusively for peaceful purposes is a signal achievement of our time.
192. Discussions regarding United Nations peacekeeping operations have been stalled at a time when the world has been reminded rather dramatically of their potential usefulness. Those who might have had misgivings about certain aspects of United Nations peace-keeping in the past should now understand that not only will it be in our common interest to maintain United Nations peace-keeping operations as a useful innovation, but — to the extent possible and, of course, by the agreement of Member States and especially that of the great Powers - the ability and capacity of the United Nations to act in this area should, in fact, be enhanced.
193. On a number of occasions, and particularly in the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations we have made known our assessment of the controversy surrounding the initiation, conduct and the financing of peace-keeping operations. It is our view that the problem is neither financial, nor constitutional for that matter, as we are sometimes given to understand. Basically and essentially the controversy is political, and it relates to the position of influence of the great Powers in the Security Council.
194. For the great majority of small and medium sized States the political question of peace-keeping is one of making the Organization readily responsive to any exigency that might require United Nations action, without such badly-needed action being slowed down or hindered altogether by the requirement of great-Power unanimity.
195. What is required in future discussions concerning peace-keeping is to approach the problem in terms of what the problem Is; that is, in terms of a political solution. In this respect, we have, for our part, indicated that a possible solution might be found by circumventing altogether the apparent constitutional dispute through the evolution of a number of gentlemen's agreements concerning the procedures to be employed for the initiation and financing of peace-keeping both by the General Assembly and the Security Council, We shall at the appropriate time again call attention to such an approach to the problem.
196. If we want to enhance the peace-keeping capacity of the United Nations, there is no doubt that we shall have to do some innovating by bringing into play some of the important provisions for safeguarding peace envisaged in the Charter. The Military Stiff Committee, for instance, could be made to serve many purposes. It could, in our view, assume many functions related not only to enforcement action, but also to the planning and Initiation of peace-keeping operations, while at the same time some role and responsibility could be found for it In the actual conduct and direction of peace-keeping operations.
197. The traditional means of pacific settlement of disputes — negotiation, inquiry, arbitration, mediation and conciliation — could be elaborated and institutionalized by a formal protocol to make their operation to some extent automatic. Regional organizations could be encouraged to play a similar role in their respective areas, thus complementing the efforts of the United Nations.
198. In Africa, we have continually sought, since the creation of the Organization of African Unity, to solve intra-African disputes within the framework of that Organization. Our Heads of State and Government have met without fail in the last four years. True, we have not always succeeded in solving all our problems, but let it be said, nonetheless, that we have always tried, and I submit that our contribution to peace is our constant attempt to solve; our problems.
199. We have also provided in the Charter of the Organization of African Unity a vital link with the United Nations. At the practical level, we have also tried to associate our efforts with those of the United Nations. Thus, the presence of Secretary-Genera] U Thant at the last session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of OAU, held at Kinshasa last month, underscores vividly this vital link between the United Nations and OAU.
200. These and other means of dealing with disputes should be studied. Before we can do all that, however, we shall have to free our imagination from the vestiges of the past. We have to learn to be neither afraid of innovations nor wary of them.
201. If the United Nations is to become an effective instrument in maintaining peace, there can be no doubt also of the fact that we will have to realize the promise of universality that is inherent in the very principles of the Charter. It is obvious today that the United Nations cannot be effective in practical terms in dealing with the problems of war and peace in South-East Asia, for example, and disarmament, without the presence of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations.
202. I should now like to deal very briefly with an item recently inscribed on our agenda at the request of the USSR, that is, the question of defining aggression. It is common knowledge that in the days of the League of Nations and also since the inception of the United Nations, the international community has continually sought to define in terms of international law what constitutes aggression. We now welcome the opportunity provided us by the inscription of this item to discuss this question in the Assembly. We feel that It is quite opportune for the international community to discuss the new modes and methods of aggression that have become known to all of us, especially in the post-war years. Some of the newer means of aggression are, of course, related to new technological advances such as, for example, the wide use of the media of mass communication to subvert governments. What is important now in this respect is that we should try to identify conceptually what would constitute aggression in the context of the changing conditions of the times before we ask the technicians to translate these into international legal norms. This is a much needed service, as it is apparent that there is some serious confusion regarding what constitutes aggression. Only last week a spokesman of a neighbouring country, in an obvious attempt to present as innocuous the design of his Government for territorial annexation of a part of my own country, as well as that of another neighbouring State, had the temerity to explain that this could be done, apparently to him quite peacefully and legally, in the name of the principle of self-determination of peoples. As everybody knows, the principle of self-determination of peoples cannot, of course, be applied to a people which has already exercised that right for centuries. To clothe territorial designs with the time-honoured and highly respected principle of self-determination and to engage in hostile acts against neighbouring States in the name of a purposefully misconstrued principle is, in our understanding, to practise a form of aggression.
203. In the view of my delegation, the international community will be well served if the United Nations, even though it cannot define aggression in terms of precise and juridical norms, can identify, for the purpose of guidance, the types of action — with which we are all familiar — which do or do not constitute aggression or, at the very least, aggressive or hostile acts.
204. Having thus covered most of the problems that have been uppermost in our minds, I would not be consistent if I were to conclude my remarks without referring to the useful role the United Nations is playing in containing situations that could otherwise explode, and also in providing a suitable platform on which a continual confrontation of opposing and varied views can take place. Without the United Nations the world would indeed be a far worse place to live in. The fact that in the past year one or more of the principal organs has, at one time or another, been meeting throughout the year as Member States have found it necessary to bring their disputes to the United Nations, is, in itself, a testimony to the usefulness of the United Nations as an indispensable instrument of international diplomacy.
205. While the United Nations is in fact what we make of it, the opposite is also true to a great extent; we should be to some extent what the United Nations would want us to be. There is always room for give- and-take. What is important is that we should try harder and harder in our search for peace. We have to try harder, if only because we cannot afford to despair. On the contrary, we have an obligation to hope, even when there is little to hope for.