UN General Assembly
1978

78. A growing challenge has been building up over the question of declaring the Indian Ocean a zone of peace. At the same time, very little progress has been made by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean set up by resolution 2992 (XXVII) of 15 December 1972 owing to the reluctance of a number of major Powers to participate in the projected conference on the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace. The escalation and expansion of great-Power military and naval presence in the Indian Ocean is a flagrant disregard of the fears and sentiments expressed by all the littoral States that have solemnly declared they would like the Indian Ocean to be designated for all time as a zone of peace free of great-Power rivalry. Recalling that Kenya was a sponsor of the Declaration on the Indian Ocean,10 my delegation wishes once again to call on all States to respect this solemn Declaration and to ask those that have bases in