UN General Assembly
1974

145. It could not be otherwise when we have our distinguished Secretary-General as an immediate colleague. We must, indeed, recognize objectively the devotion and effectiveness of Mr. Kurt Waldheim, who has breathed new life into the Organization and who, among other noteworthy achievements, has found it possible to restore to the United Nations, particularly by means of the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East and his contacts with the new Lisbon Government, its essential role as the guardian of international peace. My delegation would like to congratulate him publicly and would ask him to convey to all his colleagues our encouragement and sympathy. 146. Declaring at the very outset that a new wind is blowing through Africa, I had in mind above all the various aspects of the disturbing problem of decolonization. Indeed, after centuries of an absurd policy, we find the Portuguese people and its army rising valiantly to drive out the Fascists and to restore democracy.