UN General Assembly
1969

1. Madam President, it is with a feeling of deep satisfaction that I express my congratulations to you on your election to the presidency of the twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly. You have represented your country at the United Nations for some years with competence and distinction. Now, Madam President, it is the whole of Africa and not only your country that has desired the honour and privilege of your election to this distinguished office. As an African, I am delighted to congratulate you most sincerely on this rare and well-deserved privilege. 2. However, Madam President, although the African Members of this Assembly may rejoice in your election, they have, looking outside this Assembly, little cause for satisfaction. They have to reflect most soberly and seriously that in this age of neo-colonialism Africans continue to suffer the frustration of their efforts to achieve ultimate liberation. 3. We in the Sudan, like the peoples of many other countries in Africa and Asia, regained our independence when colonialism was beginning to recede as a result of the