UN General Assembly
1968

61. I must.also make special mention of the understanding shown by Spain in its happy achievement of the decolonization of Equatorial Guinea, and express the hope that its example may inspire its neighbour, Portugal, to change its backward and short-sighted policy over decolonization and cease to be a fossil in the community of civilized nations. 62. The delegation of Mali chose to wait until today to take part in the general debate before this Assembly because it wanted to find out from the many statements made over the past weeks by the representatives of countries we consider to be principally responsible for the worsening of the world situation whether there was any ray of light that might suggest the beginning of a settlement of the crucial, even explosive, situations that confront the world and have only got worse in the year that has just passed.