UN General Assembly
1969

whether to co-operate with the noble efforts of the Council or to obstruct this Council’s decisions for the sake of merely supporting an illegal racist minority régime in Rhodesia and, therefore, be prepared for the consequences. “If, however, for reasons of trade and colour, or racialism, as well as global military strategy, certain members of the Council are not prepared for a confrontation with South Africa, the alternative is the use of force in Rhodesia itself. We have been realistic enough to know that the loss of life would have been, and would still be, minimized if the administering Power had used that force, rather than the Security Council-or any other organ of the United Nations. Unfortunately, however, hitherto the United Kingdom—and we must stress that Rhodesia is its responsibility-while at first talking about its intention to quell the rebellion, to restore constitutionality and ultimately prepare the people for majority rule in Zimbabwe, has ruled out the only weapon it could have used to achieve those objectives. Instead, the United Kingdom resorted to manoeuvres which ultimately aimed