UN General Assembly
1960

166. Everyone has been gladly proclaiming from this rostrum that 1960 is the year of Africa. That is true in so far as it is admitted that 1960 can and must be the year in which the United Nations, convinced of the justice and legitimacy of Africa’s aspirations to dignity and freedom, decides to espouse Africa’s cause once and for all, and to intervene in order to root out altogether the causes of the evils which are shaking and troubling it. The Africa of 1960 is the Africa of victimized and despised Algeria, which is malting heavy sacrifices to recover its dignity and freedom to choose its own destiny and is heroically facing injustice, terror and inhuman repression by colonialist aggressors. The Africa of 1960 is that of the African people of South Africa in revolt against segregation and racial discrimination and undergoing savage repression for the simple reason that it is claiming its natural right to live on its African land in dignity and equality. The Africa of 1960 is the Congo tom apart, mutilated and thrown into chaos, and undergoing physical suffering to protect its newly acquired national independence, its unity and territorial integrity which are threatened by manoeuvres and intrigues. The Africa of 1960 is that of numerous African peoples still dependent and often oppressed, who claim the enjoyment of their natural right to self-determination and to liberation from the yoke of foreign occupation and rule.