179. Madam President, the unanimity
surrounding your choice as President and the
moving tributes paid to you on your august election point
to the respect and confidence which you inspire in the
members of this Assembly. The Central African delegation,
too, is gratified at your election, which is a tribute not only
to your great experience and your outstanding qualities,
not only to your beautiful and dynamic country Liberia,
but also to the whole African continent. Your election
symbolizes the active part which the African woman is
increasingly called upon to play in the great task of African
renovation and in international institutions.
180. Speaking for the first time before this Assembly, I
could not fail to associate my delegation and myself
whole-heartedly with the sincere congratulations addressed
to you on your elevation to the Presidency.
181. My delegation also wishes to pay a tribute to the late
Mr. Emilio Arenales, the President of the twenty-third
session of the General Assembly, whose untimely and
sudden death deprived our Assembly of a diplomat whose
tact and outstanding competence we so greatly admired.
182. Lastly, I turn now with real pleasure to the
Secretary-General, U Thant, to tender to him on behalf of the
Government of the Central African Republic our admiration
for his courage and integrity as a public servant,
and also the valuable moral support of which he stands in
such need in his daily efforts to safeguard international
peace and security.
183. Peace among peoples and nations; respect for human
dignity; respect for the right of self-determination of
peoples; increased co-operation and solidarity in all activity
throughout the world; equality among all men whoever
they may be, among all peoples and all nations, so that
mankind can progressively wipe out that shame of the
twentieth century — under-development with its retinue of
misery, disease, ignorance and famine; such are the
fundamental aims that the founders of the United Nations set for
themselves. The Central African Republic under the
direction of its President, General Jean Bedel Bokassa, reaffirms
its attachment to those principles, which it means to
respect in both the spirit and the letter.
184. Nevertheless, an objective study of the world situation
shows that peace among nations, equality among men
and international solidarity are slow to become living realities.
185. Today human vanity has in fact made illusory any
common endeavour to do away with war. A perennial
insecurity hovers over mankind. We are witnessing at this
very moment a frenzied race in nuclear weapons, whose
proliferation can only aggravate the anxiety of mankind.
Fabulous sums that could be devoted to promoting the
happiness of part of mankind are being used to arm man
against man and precipitate the end of the human race.
186. In my delegation’s view, all nations should unite and
compel not only the systematic destruction of atomic
weapons but also general and complete disarmament under
effective international control. That is why my delegation
welcomes the declarations recently made in this Assembly
by the representatives of the great Powers, and ardently
hopes that those declarations will not turn out to be
fallacious promises designed to deceive the vigilance of
peace-loving peoples.
187. Now that my delegation has expressed its faith in
disarmament as the key to any solution of the problem of
peace and universal progress, it must state as briefly as
possible its views on other equally vital problems of the
present day.
188. It seems to us outrageous that Portugal and South
Africa should still arrogantly uphold, the one the degrading
concept of colonialism, and the other the hideous policy of
apartheid.
189. Apartheid torments Africa, jeopardizes peace and
endangers international relations. To allow South Africa to
remain in our Organization is a challenge to the conscience
of mankind, treason to the United Nations, and therefore a
confession of our Organization’s complicity.
190. The problem of Rhodesia urgently calls for a
solution. The whole world has its eyes turned on the United
Kingdom, which we know to possess all the necessary
means to break the resistance of that illegal Government.
191. It would not be superfluous in this connexion to
recall the great African mission accomplished by France
under the guidance of General de Gaulle, whose courageous
policy of decolonization aroused the admiration of the
world community. We are thus convinced that the liberalism
of the United Kingdom, which has earned it friendships
in Africa, will complete its liberating mission.
192. To sum up, we wish to reaffirm, in accordance with
the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, and especially General Assembly
resolution 1514 (XV), that the time has come to make
every effort to help the peoples of Mozambique, Angola,
Namibia and Zimbabwe to achieve full sovereignty and take
their rightful place in the great world family.
193. We are deeply preoccupied over the future of an
Africa which we wish to see independent, sovereign, united
and prosperous; but we are no less anxious to see a rapid
and peaceful solution of the burning conflicts of the Middle
East and Viet-Nam. The strength of the United Nations lies
in the trust that Member States are deemed to repose in its
various organs, not in attempts to deprive any of these of
its constitutional powers for the benefit of another, still less
for the exclusive benefit of a caucus of three or four.
194. Our sense of African solidarity causes us to turn our
eyes towards Nigeria. We are moved by the atrocities
inflicted on civilian populations by that war. It would
therefore be a welcome development if the constructive
efforts of the Organization of African Unity, supplemented
by those of the international community, towards a lasting
peace led to a negotiated solution and to peace in a united
and prosperous Nigeria with due regard for the welfare of all.
195. To return to the declaration of the President of the
Central African Republic on foreign policy: my country
wishes to be a neutral, scrupulously refraining from
interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and
free to choose its friendships, firmly convinced that these in
no way commit us and still less make us anyone’s followers.
His Excellency General Jean Bedel Bokassa, President of
the Central African Republic, recently described that policy
as follows:
“A struggle against all forms of segregation, imperialism,
colonialism and neo-colonialism, co-operation with
all States and establishment of diplomatic relations with
all countries regardless of ideology or of political and
economic regime.”
196. One of the dominant features of our period is the
just aspiration of the peoples of the under-developed
countries to an economic and social level offering prospects
of progress and welfare.
197. For the international community the Decade which
is drawing to a close should have been a chance to organize
a programme of action starting a process of rational
development that would lead to a significant rise in the
gross national product of the less advanced countries. It has
in fact turned out to be nothing more than a particularly
blatant demonstration of the selfishness of the so-called
developed countries and of the ineffectiveness of
international bodies.
198. But, although the first United Nations Development
Decade has been a failure inasmuch as its concrete
achievements have been few and far between, we trust that
the large number of studies and surveys carried out during
the last 10 years — many of which were necessary — have been
rich in lessons for us all, and that the second Decade, on
which so many legitimate hopes are based, will bring out a
Spirit of genuine co-operation, sincerity and justice in the
wealthy countries. We feel that agreement must be reached
on a set of urgent measures, and that the proposals for the
global strategy for the second Decade must be supported by
the richer nations. Indeed, without such unanimous agreement
the proposals will remain a dead letter.
199. Concerning finance we note that developing countries
are obtaining financial resources from abroad on
increasingly unfavourable terms. This considerably reduces
their currency reserves, which they need in order to import
enough capital goods. It is therefore essential to break up
this structure of indebtedness which hampers economic
growth and bars the way to any improvement in living standards.
200. The developing countries naturally recognize the
need for foreign capital, but it is absolutely imperative that
this assistance shall be untainted with politics. Financial
organizations, international and national, should adopt a
flexible attitude to bilateral aid so as to enable the poorer
countries to increase their economic capacity. But the poor
countries are not expecting miracles from outside. We
realize that foreign aid cannot be effective unless supported
by intense national effort.
201. The Central African Republic, led by its energetic
Chief of State in Operation Bokassa, has for the last four
years been engaged in a sustained national effort of social
and economic development.
202. In executing its social policy, my country has made
major advances in its social infrastructure through an
expansion of educational and health facilities, the training
and education of women, and maternal and child welfare.
But these national efforts will only be moderately
successful unless the specialized agencies of the United
Nations, which are already helping us and to which we pay
a sincere tribute, redouble their activities.
203. In our economy output of the main agricultural
products has doubled and even tripled, thus surpassing all
hopes and making a readjustment of the Plan’s forecasts
necessary after two years of execution. Unfortunately all
these encouraging results, achieved by much effort and
sacrifice, are being purely and simply’ betrayed by the
selfishness of the economic Powers and the disgracefully
low and fluctuating prices of the main commodities on world markets.
204. In this disconcerting situation my delegation feels
that our first need is a radical review of the economic
relations between the developed and the developing countries,
the latter being at present regarded merely as suppliers
of raw materials. In this connexion we welcome and
support the proposal made by the Minister for Foreign
Affairs of Belgium [1765th meeting, para. 145] that
greater emphasis should be given to the processing and
marketing of raw materials in the places where they are produced.
205. The Central African Republic, like many other
developing countries, has hitherto given priority in its
development effort to the primary sector, in order to
ensure a livelihood to its people and to acquire a large
proportion of its income in foreign currency. We feel that it
is now time to include in that effort the secondary sector,
the only real source of added value.
206. Peace and equality, more active fraternity and
international solidarity — these are the ardent hopes which
the Central African delegation wishes to express on the eve
of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations and
on the threshold of the coming year, so that the United
Nations may contribute to the creation of a world where
the thirst for happiness and peace can be quenched everywhere.