1. It is my great
pleasure to convey to the President, in the name of the
people and the Government of the People’s Republic of
Southern Yemen and of my delegation, our heartfelt
congratulations on her election to the esteemed office of
President of the twenty-fourth session of the General
Assembly. We, the Arab people, belong to two continents
simultaneously. As an Afro-Asian nation, we consider her
election to this office a tribute to the Afro-Asian people.
Her long experience in the affairs of this international
Organization will enable her to lead and guide the deliberations
of the General Assembly at its present session with
energy, devotion and justice.
2. I should also like to express our deepest sorrow at the
death of her predecessor, Mr. Emilio Arenales, the late
Foreign Minister of Guatemala. We share the sorrow of the
people of Guatemala in his untimely death.
3. Nearly two years have passed since the independence of
Southern Yemen, which is still suffering from the remains
of the colonial occupation that lasted for almost one
hundred and thirty years. Southern Yemen therefore knows
fully the bitterness of foreign domination, exploitation and
the humiliation of colonial occupation. We also believe in
the inevitability of the struggle for freedom and independence
of all peoples.
4. As a small and developing country, Southern Yemen is
fully aware of the menace to small and developing countries
in this era when imperialist and neo-colonialist forces have
intensified and expanded their greedy aspirations. We
therefore work to preserve the United Nations and respect
its Charter as a hope of avoiding a reversion to the rule of
the jungle.
5. Naturally we share with you, Madam President, the
anxiety you expressed in your opening statement [1753rd
meeting] about the role of the United Nations in world
events. The Arab people have faced a series of treacherous
aggressions since the United Nations was established. We
fully understand the perils that face humanity because of
the indifference and the obvious inability to act against
oppression, domination, aggression and expansion.
6. We hardly need refer to the first experiment in
international organizations, the League of Nations, which
came at the end of a world war, and which disintegrated
and vanished because of its failure to oppose tyranny,
facism, nazism and colonialism. The United Nations was
also born at the end of a world war, the Second World War,
and I wonder whether this Organization is repeating the
same deadly mistakes committed earlier by the League of
Nations. Wishes and hopes as well as sterile discussions were
of no avail to prevent the occurrence of the Second World
War—the war which the League of Nations was meant to prevent.
7. The creation of the League of Nations was accompanied
by a division of the territory of countries thereby creating
spheres of influence for the victorious Powers of the First
World War. The Arab land was among those that suffered
oppression and domination through such unjust divisions.
The Palestine tragedy, which can be traced to such a
division, came as a result of one of the most abominable
acts of colonialism. It is perhaps the most tragic incident in
human history; and the most grievous to be borne by an
aware conscience. It is a tragedy of a small nation that has
been overwhelmed by evil and masked allies supported by
great and expansionist Powers that deprived it of its most
fundamental human rights and of its natural right to exist.
8. The question of the people of Palestine did not fare
better in the United Nations than in its predecessor, the
League of Nations. The people of Palestine were exposed to
mass murder and violent expulsion from their homeland by
force of arms; and they were replaced by a scattered group
of nationalities from the four corners of the world that
have nothing in common except their desire for domination
and exploitation and their belief, which is unjustified, in
their superiority, based on racist and religious fanaticism.
The United Nations has not been able to enforce a just
solution of this abominable crime, because of its impotence
and because of the support and encouragement of the crime
committed by some of the great Powers.
9. It is a mockery that this obviously simple, racist and
foreign colonization, which has no parallel apart from the
minority racist régime in Southern Rhodesia, becomes
complicated in the view of some who refer to it as “a return
to the land of destiny”. This is an utter hypocrisy. Those
expelled from their property are called refugees. It is
necessary to ask where these refugees have come from.
Where were they living before they became refugees?
10. The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the
Sudan has stated [1761st meeting] eloquently and in
detail, the historical background and the development of
the Palestinian question. His explanation has undoubtedly
refuted the imaginary claims of international Zionism in
Palestine that are based on racist and religious fanaticism
whose goal is the domination and exploitation of the
economic resources of nations, through its influence on
major capitalistic and monopolistic corporations which
embody the political interests of world imperialism and
Zionism.
11. The Palestinian people have been forced to take arms
and to sacrifice their lives to regain their usurped homeland
from the Zionist colonialists. We cannot but salute their
just and honorable struggle as a national liberation movement
because one cannot deny the right of expelled people
to fight in order to return to their homeland. We support
the armed Palestinian struggle, and the call to return to a
normal life in the Holy Land and the coexistence of the
adherents of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and
Islam, as equal citizens in a free and democratic Palestine.
This is the only fair, civilized and humanitarian solution.
Any other solution would be uncivilized, barbaric and
racist; and it would not be lasting. History has taught us
that only just solutions are lasting solutions.
12. The importance we attach to the Palestine question is
a manifestation of our belief that all peoples have the right
to self-determination and the right to live freely and
peacefully in their homelands. Our belief in this will never
be shaken, even though world Zionism enjoys tremendous
influence and control over the imperialistic news media,
which persistently distort facts and prevent honest information
on Palestine because of Zionist intimidation and
bribery. The news media are attempting to conceal one of
the most horrible crimes committed against humanity
today — one that even surpasses the well-known Nazi crimes.
We shall continue firmly to support the armed struggle of
the Palestinians for the liberation of their homeland from
Zionist occupation. We also firmly believe that the Palestinian
people alone possess the right to self-determination.
13. The Middle East problem arose in June 1967 as a
result of Israeli aggression and occupation of the territories
of three Arab States which are Members of the United
Nations. We are also all familiar with the well-known
Security Council resolution of 22 November 1967
[242 (1967)], which was adopted unanimously. Israel is
still defying that resolution by continuing to keep its army
in the occupied Arab territories and by its repeated
provocative raids which are intended to escalate into a new
and devastating war.
14. By its continued occupation and provocation, Israel
defies the Charter of the United Nations and the world
community at large. Its de facto occupation is in defiance
of one of the agreed principles of international law, which
is the non-acquisition of territory by force. Israel has done
this with the open encouragement of imperialist circles.
15. The United States has not hesitated to supply destructive
arms and weapons to Israel. The most recent were the
Phantom jets. The United States obviously has never
seriously contemplated the following facts: it was Israel
that started the aggressive war in June 1967 against the
Arab States; it is Israel that still occupies the territories of
three States Members of the United Nations; it is Israel that
has not yet complied with Security Council resolution
242 (1967) of 22 November 1967; it is Israel that has
declared its intention of annexing the occupied Arab
territories, including Jerusalem, while ignoring world public
opinion; it is Israeli planes supplied by the United States
that daily bomb and raid peaceful cities and villages,
economic establishments and civil airports; it is Israeli
napalm bombs that daily burn refugee camps, and innocent
women and children who were expelled from their homes
by Israel. One wonders what the Arabs have done to make
the United States harbour this blind malice against them.
16. Statements are often heard about the establishment of
peace in the Middle East but rarely is a voice raised about
the establishment of justice in Palestine, as if peace can ever
be established on the basis of injustice.
17. We expected that President Nixon, in his speech in the
General Assembly last month [1755th meeting], would
announce that the position of the United States was that
Israel would withdraw its military forces from occupied
Arab territories in compliance with the Security Council
resolution of 22 November 1967 [242 (1967)], which the
Security Council adopted unanimously and for which his
Government also voted. However, he ignored the resolution
and suggested instead a limitation on arms shipments to the
area, after he had already ordered the shipment of Phantom
jets to Israel in a manner far from even-handed. So the
United States Government first acted to achieve Israeli
military superiority by shipping the Phantom jets and then
called for an arms limitation to maintain and ensure that
superiority over the Arabs.
18. The world conflict that we witness today, in which the
United States plays a major role, represents the attempt of
the imperialist Powers to dominate the destinies of small,
developing nations by limiting the independence of such
small countries, which they had achieved by their sacrifice
and blood. The small nations, however, which were made to
suffer under-development for a long period have awakened
to discover the plots being hatched against them. They have
gradually discovered the ways and means of helping to
guarantee and maintain their own progress and freedom.
Some of these ways and means are: the establishment of
national democratic institutions based on a wide range of
public support; the elimination of exploitative capitalist
interest, whose purpose is to keep small developing nations
subservient to imperialist domination, thereby obstructing
the development of a truly national economy; the pursuit
of scientific socialist planning as the basis for economic
development and the fair distribution of the nation’s
wealth; the rejection of foreign assistance of a conditional
nature, whose purpose is to enhance foreign influence and
the diversion of the destiny of small nations; the firm and
Open support of the progressive forces in the world; the
bolstering of national liberation movements in the world,
and the endorsement of armed resistance as the best means
of confronting the colonialist challenges.
19. The People’s Republic of Southern Yemen, which.
recently emerged from the ashes of colonialism and has
taken its place among the free and developing countries,
a bases its domestic and foreign policies on the same
principles adhered to by the developing and struggling
nations that we have mentioned above. When we achieved
our independence, the Arab nation was already suffering
from the consequences of the June 1967 war and the world
was preoccupied by this crisis which threatened world
peace and security. Britain took advantage of those
circumstances and relinquished its responsibilities to the
people. of Southern Yemen. Those responsibilities were
based upon its 129 years of occupation, during which it
exploited our resources for its own interests and without
any regard to local interests. Britain did not establish a
unified administration, nor an adequate road system linking
the entire country, nor a single factory; nor did it complete
one significant project. It based local development on an
economy of services linked to its economy and its military
base. It inflated the local budget, in the last years of its
reign, to the unrealistic level of more than £30 million,
whereas the State’s revenue does not exceed £8 million,
When Britain was preparing to withdraw, it made an effort
to empty our treasury by encouraging a large number of
foreign employees to leave the service and hence to pay
them severance and any balance due under their contracts.
Yet, in contrast, after two years, Britain has not yet paid
severance and retirement benefits to its local Yemeni
ex-employees, who gave it the prime of their youth.
20. It appears, therefore, that Britain made deliberate
plans in Southern Yemen on the eve of our independence.
It took advantage of the economic dislocation and the
Middle East crisis which affected one of our major sources
of income, the port of Aden, after the closure of the Suez
Canal following the June 1967 war, so as to cause a
financial and economic crisis and thus reduced the significance
of our independence, which our people had won after
a bitter and heroic struggle.
21. But in spite of this ugly picture and the numerous
odds and chronic difficulties experienced, our people, who
fought patiently in the struggle for independence, are still
able to continue their struggle to build the nation under the
leadership of the National Liberation Front.
22. In the field of administration, in place of numerous
scattered local emirates, created by the colonialists, we
established a unified progressive State with local administrative
bodies responsible to the centre of government for the
first time in more than a century, We extended services to
remote areas that were never served before. Within our
limited resources, and thanks to the initiative of the
National Liberation Front, we were able to open roads and
to develop education, which has been increased by over 30
per cent, in the first year of our independence, and made
equal opportunities possible for all our citizens, in urban as
well as rural areas which had been deprived for a long time.
At the same time we were able to increase the number of
medical units in the hinterland with the help of friendly
and sister countries. In the desert areas, where our people
live in desperate conditions, deprived of the most elementary
necessities, particularly water, we have begun drilling
artesian wells, hoping that this will assist them to settle
and improve their standard of living.
23. In the field of economic development we have
concentrated our efforts in two sectors, namely agriculture
and fisheries. Agriculture, in our opinion, is the basis for
the introduction of industrialization in the future.
24. At the same time, we have passed the necessary laws
to encourage local and foreign investments. Among these
was the Investment Law, which presents and described the
necessary guarantees and facilities for investors.
25. In the intensive efforts we have made in the fields of
human and economic development, in spite of the difficulties
we face, such as limited financial resources and a
shortage of experts — problems which have been neglected — we
are also continuously faced with reactionary and
imperialistic plots. The reactionary and imperialistic Powers
involved believe that a progressive socialist régime in
Southern Yemen is a threat to their interests, and they
would like to see us waste our limited resources on the
defence of our independence and territory, thereby preventing
our economic development.
26. On our eastern borders, under the tutelage of Britain,
there exists one of the worst and ugliest régimes in the
world, that of the puppet Sultan Saeed bin Taimur, the
so-called Sultan of Muscat and Oman. In this region the
people have been waging a war of liberation since 1965; the
war started in Dhofar, under the leadership of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of the Arabian Gulf. That
revolution is the object of a strict and severe world-wide
information black-out, to keep it from the eyes and ears of
world public opinion; but that revolution, like others, will
succeed in breaking through the “no-news barrier” by its
daily accomplishments in the liberation of territory. The
signs of its victory have begun to appear in the stories of
some. world journalists who have visited those liberated
territories. It is high time that this Organization showed
more interest in supporting this popular revolution in that
region against the feudalistic rule of Britain and the Sultan.
It is our concern too; and I would like to point out that
Britain’s continued presence in the Arabian Gulf, as shown
by its military bases there, is a threat to the Arab countries
in particular, and to progressive States in general. Let us not
be deceived by what the British Government says about its
intention to withdraw its forces from the Gulf, for while
they are there there is a danger that they will remain, as the
Conservative Party always threatens at every opportunity.
The British presence has been accompanied by a continual
change in the ethnic structure of the Gulf by the
encouragement of Iranian infiltration and the containment
of Arabs in the Gulf, which makes us apprehensive for the
future of the Arabian Gulf. No wonder, for it was the
British presence in Palestine, as we all well know, that led
to the Palestine problem. The British presence is represented
by their colonial domination and their military
bases, and by Iranian ambitions manifested in their baseless
claim to Bahrein, and by the opening of a front on the
Shatt-al-Arab, all of which are signs of impending trouble
about which we cannot remain silent. Because of their
greedy interest in petroleum in the area, the colonialists will
not easily agree to give the people their right of
self-determination. They will, therefore, find an excuse to remain
there in one form or another. If they are finally compelled
to withdraw, they will leave behind an explosive situation.
The world community will then awaken to find itself
confronted with another situation that endangers world
peace and security. The question of Oman and the crucial
States has for many years been on the agenda of the United
Nations and the time has now come to treat this vital
question with firmness and seriousness.
27. The question of peace in the world is one and
indivisible. Peace can only be built on justice. Justice can
never prevail so long as any form of colonialism, direct or
indirect, remains alive. Peace cannot be built while there are
destructive weapons threatening small nations, hindering
their development through the presence of imperialistic
bases spread like an octopus over the lands of small nations
everywhere.
28. It is a mockery to speak of peace in the absence of the
country that represents one quarter of the world’s population:
I refer to the People’s Republic of China. About a
quarter of a century has elapsed since the establishment of
this Organization but the seat of that great socialist Power
is still vacant. Those who are concerned with international
co-operation, peace and security for humanity will never
accept such a disgraceful and illogical situation. In the name
of peace and for the sake of peace, we would like to see the
rightful representative of the great Chinese people here
among us as soon as possible.
29. The People’s Republic of Southern Yemen strongly
supports the struggle of the Viet-Namese people for the
liberation of its homeland from American colonialism. We
also condemn the continuous American aggression against
the people of Viet-Nam and urge the United Nations to use
its influence to have the aggressive American forces
withdraw without any conditions. This, we believe, is the
only way to achieve peace in that part of the world. My
Government has recognized the provisional Government of
South Viet-Nam as the only legitimate government for the
people of South Viet-Nam. My Government believes that
this will allow the people of South Viet-Nam to decide its
own future.
30. We regret to see the name and flag of the United
Nations being used as a deceptive cover by the American
aggressors against the people of Korea. The United States,
in the name of the United Nations, is using the territory of
South Korea as a colonial and military base for destructive
intelligence operations against the people of Korea. The
People’s Republic of Southern Yemen calls for the withdrawal
of all foreign forces from Korea and the restoration
of all rights to the people of Korea to decide their own
destiny.
31. We call also for the elimination of the barbaric racist
régime which prevails openly in its ugliest barbaric forms
against the peoples of Africa in Southern Rhodesia, South
Africa, and in the so-called Portuguese colonies and in
Namibia. We stand firmly, without any reservation, with
the African majority in those territories and we call for
their liberation from white colonialism and from rule by
the white minority régimes.
32. We also declare our continued support for the struggling
peoples of Latin America in their fight against the
influence of United States imperialism.
33. We salute the friendly people of the German Democratic
Republic, with which we enjoy full diplomatic
relations, in appreciation of the honourable, courageous
and just stand they have taken with regard to the struggle
of oppressed peoples for liberation, among them the
struggling people of Palestine. We hope that the German
Democratic Republic will take its rightful place in the
United Nations.
34. At this juncture we would like to salute the revolution
of 25 May of the Arab people in the sisterly State of the
Sudan, and the revolution of 1 September and the emergence
of the Libyan Arab Republic, as two progressive
revolutions reaffirming the inevitability of progress in the
Arab world.
35. Lastly, we should like to express our hope that the
twenty-fifth anniversary of this Organization will not pass
without seeing a reduction of the wide gap between the
developed and the developing countries; and we hope to
have a celebration when the world is liberated from
imperialism and military bases. We hope that nuclear
disarmament will be accomplished, and that nuclear and
atomic energy will be used for peaceful purposes and for
the benefit of all mankind. We hope that the People’s
Republic of China will join in the celebration after it has
taken its rightful seat in this Organization. We urge that a
special session be called to review the structure and future
of this Organization, including the relocation of its
Headquarters. We hope to celebrate when mankind has been
liberated from all forms of domination and exploitation,
and we hope that man will himself pave the way to peace
and security.
36. Such a celebration would be a real celebration for the
United Nations itself.