UN General Assembly
1983

117. The arms race, exemplified in the intensive military build-up of the United States as well as the formation of the Rapid Deployment Forces, whose manoeuvres extend into a number of non-aligned countries, is aimed at shaking the stability of those countries, threatens their security and increases die danger of tension throughout the world. The military manoeuvres carried out by United States forces in the Middle East in 1982 and 1983 represent a form of oppression and threat brought to bear by the United States in an attempt to terrorize the peoples of the region and to blackmail them, as well as to expand United States influence, dominate the region entirely and exhaust the resources of the area. Such provocative exercises are hostile actions against the peoples and the countries of the Middle East and a direct threat to their sovereignty. They are in contradiction to the Charter of the United Nations and to the principles of international law and non-alignment. The sophisticated American weapons, including the AW ACS spy planes which are employed in such exercises near the shores and the territory of Democratic Yemen, and the escalation of aggressive activities of the United States thrust the region back into the age of colonialism and control of all the resources and wealth of its population. They are also an extension of the dangers and threats existing in the Indian Ocean as a result of the expansion of military bases and the American military presence, especially in Diego Garcia.