Last year in this Assembly I expressed unease over the dark clouds gathering on the international horizon and detected early warning signals of a new round of escalation in lethal weapon systems. Malta's forebodings of yesterday have transformed themselves into the grim realities of today.
43.	Old problems have become more complicated and new ones have emerged. The political world is behaving irrationally. Adventurism, interference, and even intervention arrogantly stride the world stage. Military options are being applied to problems which are essentially political in nature. Here, at least, we all seem to agree that the very foundations of peace are in acute danger, that we must inject new momentum into our efforts to halt our reverses and so change direction to forward movement.
44.	We have in fact been declaring the same objectives, perhaps in different words and with different emphases, for the last 35 years. Our methods and our approaches have not changed much. We give rise to great expectations in debate, but negative factors overwhelm our modest collective gains.
45.	We still have the protagonists of each military alliance continuing to engage in the apparently all-absorbing activity of the pot calling the kettle black. For instance, the only significant additions to their repetitive statements on disarmament have mostly been dictated by the new weapons systems that they themselves have commissioned in the period intervening between one session of the Assembly and the next. That seems to be the end-product of their commitment to what has now become almost a meaningless ritual— a verbal commitment to "general and complete disarmament under effective international control". In reality, as the study on nuclear weapons by the Secretary-General concludes, the major Powers are toying with a perpetual menace to human society. In a recent survey carried out in Britain, almost 50 per cent of "the people interviewed predicted an outbreak of nuclear war within the time span of the current generation.
46.	For how long, then, can reasonable hope prevail over barren performance? Have the major Powers not yet realized that every action taken by either of them has worldwide ramifications and calls for an inevitable response from the other? With detente always considered so fragile, why are there elephantine lurches by one side or the other, which are bound to destroy, perhaps at a single stroke, all the patient attempts at progress made in the past? Is it possible that there can be such a lack of perception and communication in the world of today?
47.	We do not lack the tools. The Charter of the United Nations is our prescription and our objective, and the Organization is our means to attain our ends. What we lack, desperately, is the will to use its institutions and to use them efficiently. Next to political will, our scarcest commodity is time, which is fast running out.
48.	A lasting legacy of the imperturbable performance of Ambassador Salim of the United Republic of Tanzania, the previous President of the General Assembly, is the clarity and perception with which he reviewed the performance of this Assembly over the past 12 months, objectively highlighting the major problems confronting us.
49.	Similarly, our hard pressed Secretary-General has once again helped us to focus attention on the major problems we face in his concise, analytical and dedicated report on the work of the Organization, which convincingly reminds us—because we need to be reminded—that our
Organization is here to serve the international community, to the extent that all Members utilize its services in their duties as representatives of the peoples of the United Nations.
50.	And the President of the current session has now taken up the challenge of leadership in the strenuous months ahead. My country and I personally welcome your election, Mr. President. It is a well-merited acknowledgement of your personal qualities and of the important role that your country has assumed in the present stage of international relations. I am confident that your experience and dedication will serve us well.
51.	It is symbolic of your country's effective stimulus to economic development that, in the short span of less than a decade, the pragmatic efforts of the small team of experts on industrial promotion that the Federal Republic of Germany sent to Malta have been so successful that, I am glad to state, your country is the only industrially developed nation with which Malta maintains a favourable balance of trade, in a mutually advantageous partnership of German technology and Maltese skilled labour.
52.	This model of modern friendly relations between two countries, forged through the vicissitudes of past history, inspires Malta's foreign policy; it is a success story that is a good foundation for Malta's hopes for the future regarding all other countries. We therefore augur that this session also will produce similarly positive and enduring results.
53.	As others have pointed out, we have two outstanding elements on the credit side of our performance rating. The first, the long drawn-out saga of Zimbabwe, finally ended in a significant achievement which we have already welcomed, overdue as it undoubtedly was. Even that achievement, however, reminds us of the continuing frustration over Namibia and the even more insidious anomaly of apartheid, practised as national Government policy by South Africa. That system continues to outrage the conscience of mankind at a period in history when human dignity, social equality and racial harmony should be the. hallmark of modern times.
54.	The second achievement, the progress in the hitherto slow-moving Conference on the Law of the Sea, welcome as it is, does not blind my delegation to the severe dent in our original expectations as to what should derive from the concept of the common heritage of mankind.
55.	During the negotiations, it has become clear that extensive, rich and more readily accessible areas of the ocean floor are now likely to fall under national jurisdiction, mostly benefiting a few well-endowed nations, at the expense of the international community as a whole. The originally envisaged international area has shrunk considerably as a result.
56.	The recovery and utilization of the resources in the international area, moreover, require a most sophisticated technology and highly capital-intensive efforts, of which only a handful of countries are capable. We now have grave doubts as to the financial benefits that will actually accrue to the international community as a whole, and particularly to developing countries, from the eventual utilization of those resources. Therefore, apart from our readiness to host the proposed international sea-bed authority, it is to these sober expectations that the high hopes raised by Malta in 1968 have been reduced in 1980. And the litigation likely to arise in future from some of the vague provisions in the proposed convention will create a paradise for international lawyers but a nightmare for national leaders.
57.	Already ominous signs are emerging. Apart from the national legislation on sea-bed mining by one country, there is the refusal of some States to agree to an enforceable system of law, or even to existing disputes being subjected to the procedures that would apply to future disputes of the same kind. Those disputes are not theoretical; they are now being encountered in practice and applied against the weak to the advantage of the strong.
58.	With advancing technology, dwindling energy and mineral resources, and escalating prices, offshore exploration is bound to assume increasing and frequently competing importance. Powerful technologically advanced nations fronting the oceans are currently extracting resources from dozens of rigs operating hundreds of miles offshore. Malta has been forcefully prevented from operating one single rig at a modest offshore distance of 50 miles.
59.	The recognized right to exploration and exploitation of natural resources has now become an acute and actual need for ail countries, but particularly for developing countries which depend on energy imports and are faced with constantly escalating costs. That was stressed by the President of OAU in his statement to this Assembly of 24 September. It was referred to by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in his statement of the previous day [6th meeting], and it has been highlighted by the representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the newest Member of the United Nations.
60.	We again compliment that nation, not only on its admission to the United Nations, which we were honoured to sponsor, but also on its perceptive statement, as an island developing country, on the importance of offshore resources and the relevance of the median line as the boundary between opposite States for the territorial sea and the economic zone, within internationally recognized limits.
61.	Those rights have been enunciated in numerous resolutions proposed by developing countries. They are recognized by current international law and practice. Yet the attitudes and interpretation of States in various regions in relation to those rights and legal principles vary considerably; already in some areas there has been armed confrontation—over the past month alone—in Africa, in Latin America and in the Mediterranean. Malta was at the receiving end of the confrontation in the Mediterranean and has suffered bitterly as a result of action taken against it by a country which professes to be Malta's best friend.
62.	I shall not repeat all the details of the incident, since the matter is before the Security Council. I only mention that we have spent eight years of expensive and wearisome negotiations with Libya, to no avail. For four years Libya has delayed ratification of a painstakingly negotiated agreement to refer the matter for adjudication by legal process.
63.	Faced with those delaying tactics, Malta finally decided, on the advice of several friendly countries consulted in advance, to authorize exploration activities well on its own side of the median line separating Libya and Malta. Without explanation, without reason, Libya sent armed naval forces and insisted on a cessation of the peaceful and legitimate activities so vital for Malta's economic viability, on the unfounded pretext that the area of operations was a "disputed area".
64.	Libya—or any other country for that matter—cannot apply two weights and two measures; once it has exploited resources on its own side of the median line, it simply cannot deny the exercise of the same rights to Malta, by using force to impede our legitimate activities on our own side. We, for our part, have not presumed to impede lawful Libyan activities, but the Libyans have impeded ours and say that they intend to continue to do so. In the circumstances which Libya has provoked, our only honourable course, as a peace-loving country, and after all efforts at good offices had been frustrated, was to seek the protection of the Security Council, instead of answering threat by counter-threat.
65.	Like the Secretary-General, we feel that, as experience has abundantly shown, the Security Council should not be used as a last resort when any given situation has gone out of hand. We believe firmly in the Security Council as the promoter and the guarantor of international peace and security. We therefore do not believe that it should vacillate in the face of actions which are clearly in violation of international law and of the Charter of the United Nations. There cannot be two codes of international conduct—one for the strong and the other for the weak. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs of France so correctly stated in his address to this Assembly, "When law is violated, silence acts as an accomplice"
66.	We know—there is already evident proof—that the incident provoked by Libya is not an isolated one. It is bound to occur again in the future, as it has in the past. Therefore the Security Council must pronounce an appropriate code of conduct; it must not condone breaches of the peace; it must ensure that they do not recur.
67.	The proposed law of the sea convention is innovative, but it does not inhibit established international law and practice. In fact, it foresees the necessity of practical interim arrangements until boundary agreements are reached. Article 83, paragraph 3, provides that, pending agreement,
"... the States concerned, in a spirit of understanding and co-operation, shall make every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature and, during this transitional period, not to jeopardize or hamper the reaching of the final agreement."
68.	Malta, in its search for agreement, although constantly faced with dismaying delaying tactics and totally unfounded claims by Libya, has made a practical suggestion. Up to this very moment the only Libyan reply has been a deafening silence.
69.	A heavily armed, richly endowed country thus, consciously or unconsciously, stifles the legitimate rights of a small, unarmed country, totally lacking any natural resources, from peacefully exercising those rights, thereby impeding its indigenous potential for economic development. That, like any other self-respecting country, Malta will never accept. And that action, whatever its source, the international community—primarily through the Security Council—cannot condone.
70. That is the only issue—a vital one for Malta, though perhaps minor for Libya—which is exacerbating relations between the two countries. That provocative and illegal attitude flies against the interest of Mediterranean cooperation and of reducing tension in the Mediterranean, to which Libya allegedly is dedicated.
71. In the past, it has given me great pleasure to praise Libya's understanding. Today, I have no option but to call it into question and to ask Libya to change its present attitude. I do it with the utmost candour, which is the true expression of friendship, so that existing doubts and anxieties will be removed. It is the least we can expect from a nation that has stood by us in difficult circumstances in the past.
72.	Therefore, I very much regret that in his statement of 6 October the representative of Libya, while reviewing Mediterranean problems, did not even see fit to mention the acute controversy between his country and mine, as if that question, of such vital interest to Malta, is of no concern to his country.
73.	The Security Council suspended its examination of Malta's complaint so as to give Libya time to study the matter, and to this date Libya has not provided any reply, beyond stating in letters that: first, the question is a complex and technical matter which cannot be settled overnight; secondly, the law of the sea has not yet resolved the question of delimitation; thirdly, Libya is ready to go to the International Court of Justice; fourthly, Libya did not use force against Malta; and fifthly, since "the area" is disputed, Malta cannot carry out any activities therein until the border demarcation line is determined.
74.	To those points I would reply briefly as follows.
75.	First, eight years of patient but fruitless effort is not exactly "trying to settle the question overnight". In any case, if the Libyan People's Congress can ratify a complicated constitutional and political question of a merger with the Syrian Arab Republic in a few weeks, I feel justified in asking why it needs four years to ratify a comparatively simple agreement already negotiated between the two Governments.
76.	Secondly, it is, of course, true that the Conference on the Law of the Sea has not yet completed its work, including the question of delimitation. But the world did not stop while the Conference proceeded with its discussions. Neither Libya, nor any other country, has ceased its own exploration activities. The proposed convention, in any case, does not inhibit current international law and practice, and Malta's activities were fully in compliance with those requirements. Besides, as I have already indicated, the proposed convention does foresee the necessity of interim arrangements until final agreement is reached.
77.	Thirdly, Libya says it is ready to go to the International Court of Justice. Respectfully, I point out that this has been confirmed to us, repeatedly and at the highest level, over the past four years. But no action has been taken as yet, and the negotiated agreement remains unratified by Libya.
78.	Fourthly, Libya says it did not use force against Malta, and does not intend to do so. To this fundamental point I have to reply at somewhat greater length.
79.	It is, of course, true that no foreign forces landed in Malta, although we judged it prudent to take precautionary measures. But, as the representative of Libya would appreciate, through the actual experience gained by his country from the 30 or so off shore oil wells it is currently exploiting, expensive drilling operations are not voluntarily suspended before the operation is considered complete. The fact is that Malta's solitary oil drilling operation, well inside Malta's side of the median line, had to suspend operations under the threat of armed Libyan naval units pointing menacing guns against defenceless citizens and expensive equipment.
80.	The telex sent on 20 August 1980 by the Libyan Minister for Oil, to the captain of the oil rig, stated explicitly:
"We hereby warn you that your company should immediately refrain from performing any drilling operations, withdraw the rig and leave the area; otherwise, the Jamahiriya is obliged to prevent your company from doing so by all means including force, on the ground that what is being done by your company is a hostile action against a sovereign State."
81.	I also happen to have available photographs of the Libyan warship—showing its identification number—taken by officials of the Maltese Government from the rig that was being threatened by the Libyan warship. Those photographs were witnessed by citizens of other countries and give the exact geographical co-ordinates and the date and time when the photograph of the incident was taken.
82.	There is therefore no question but that force was used and that its use is still being threatened. The rig did not leave of its own accord, and any other rig in future will need either armed protection or an assurance from Libya that it will not be threatened. We prefer the latter alternative.
83.	The fifth and final point is the claim by Libya that "the area" is disputed. But in order for a dispute to be genuine and not just a convenient pretext, it has to have some foundation. In Libya's case there is none; neither historical rights, nor geological criteria, nor contemporary international law and practice support Libya's unfounded claim. Libya itself seems to have so little faith in its own arguments that, as I have indicated, it has failed to honour its commitment to go to the International Court. Malta has been ready to do so from the very beginning.
84.	Our latest contribution to an equitable accord was the honest though rather unusual step of declaring in advance that the benefits of any activities carried out by Malta would accrue to Libya if the International Court of Justice found in favour of Libya. But Libya remains singularly deaf to all approaches except those that put Malta in an economic strait jacket.
85.	However, that is in the past and, despite the costly set-back inflicted on Malta, it is to the future that we must look. The issue has now been narrowed to two essential points. May I therefore, through you, Mr. President, ask the representative of Libya two specific questions.
86.	First, is he publicly and solemnly willing to commit his country, in an appropriate manner, to go to the International Court this year?
87.	Secondly, is he publicly and solemnly willing to state before this Assembly or in any other appropriate manner that his country will not in future use force against peaceful exploration activities carried out by Malta, under current international law and practice, on its side of the median line, subject to the understanding given by my Prime Minister and without prejudice to the claims of either side until the demarcation issue is settled by agreement or by legal process in accordance with the relevant provisions of the proposed law of the sea convention?
88.	If the representative of Libya is willing to give a categorical answer to those two specific questions the whole world will be able to determine whether Libya's protestations of friendship towards Malta's independence and prosperity have any practical content, and the Security Council would then be guided accordingly.
89.	In that perspective I am pleased to express my country's appreciation for the understanding shown by the Italian Government, as outlined in the statement delivered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy on 23 September . It is the end result of a long series of negotiations which were finally concluded successfully—another example of the favourable evolution of history. We are endeavouring to negotiate more or less similar approaches with other Mediterranean countries and our efforts have also succeeded with friendly non-aligned Yugoslavia. We are dedicated to bringing peace eventually to the Mediterranean and to promoting ever increasing co-operation between Europe and the continents bordering upon it.
90.	It is against the background of those objectives that, once again, we are forced to note with increasing dismay the paucity of political progress concerning the plight of the friendly Mediterranean sister island of Cyprus, caught as it is in a vice-like grip by outside influences which tend to ignore the real needs of the indigenous people of the island, who suffer the scars of artificial division brought about principally as a result of the heavy-handed events of 1974.
91.	Subsequently, belatedly, the persistent efforts of the Secretary-General managed to break through the procedural morass that had paralysed the intercommunal talks, but it remains to be seen whether the progress that the Cyprus Government seeks and the international community has repeatedly urged will in fact be forthcoming. Malta encourages the restraint now being shown and hopes that a dynamic momentum for progress can be generated.
92.	No one would dare to underestimate the complexity of the Middle East—the most recent regrettable conflict is a sharp reminder of it—but that is no reason to overlook the core of the problem, which persists. The legitimate aspirations of the people of Palestine remain thwarted although they are now recognized and upheld by a quasi-universal consensus. The Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] remains artificially excluded from the negotiating process even though the future of its people, the Palestinian people, is at stake.
93.	Malta was foremost in taking a prominent role in alerting the conscience of previously marginally involved countries and in advocating a comprehensive solution to that problem by forcefully raising its voice, not in the cosy company of the like-minded, but in the halls of the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth and the Socialist International. We therefore welcome the fact-finding mission of the European Economic Community and trust that the combined efforts under way through the United Nations will result in remedying the deficiencies of past and recent approaches, whose main features have been dismal failure and simmering resentment periodically exploding in wide- scale conflict. In the same context, we trust that friendly Lebanon will be spared further suffering and that the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem will henceforth be respected.
94.	Despite these and other dark clouds that hover over the Mediterranean and that are fed by the divergent approaches of the major Powers, Malta has resolutely held to its policy of freedom from military attachments. We intend to entrench that policy in our national Constitution and to register it with this Organization under the terms of Article 102 of the Charter.
95.	We shall declare the Republic of Malta a neutral State, and shall actively pursue peace, security and social progress among all nations by adhering to a policy of non-alignment and by refusing to participate in any military alliance. Our constant objective will then be to seek resolutely to increase the sectors of co-operation among Mediterranean countries. We have maintained regular contact with all those countries and have sensibly sought to bring them together in preparation for the Madrid meeting of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, of which the Mediterranean is among the most sensitive components.
96.	We are strenuously striving to make the dialogue that has been initiated something more permanent, more representative and more action-oriented and to give all Mediterranean countries a better role in the process, since Mediterranean issues can be discussed productively only on the basis of adequate participation by all concerned.
97.	We believe there can be little prospect of easing tension in that sensitive region until some adequate mechanism is devised for planning and executing agreed programmes between the largest possible number of interested countries. Otherwise, the present tension and division will deteriorate even further and the concept of the Mediterranean as a zone of peace and co-operation will become more difficult to achieve.
98.	Though Asia is far away from Malta geographically, we are very sensitive to its problems. We have watched with interest and encouragement the gradual but steady progress of the countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, but have noted with concern the events in Kampuchea and Afghanistan. We believe firmly in, and strongly reiterate our support for, the self-determination of peoples, free from outside interference.
99.	We regret that the aspirations of the people of Korea to peaceful reunification remain static, while foreign troops remain stationed in the south—a permanent symbol of the country's division and an obstacle to the genuine and open dialogue required for the prospects of reunification. The time has come to generate the necessary momentum by gradually overcoming the economic, administrative and political divisions artificially inherited from the hostilities of the past.
100.	The more recent evolution in the region provides an impetus for the reunification of the country and new initiatives could be taken so as to reach an agreement satisfying the wishes of all the Korean people. The death sentence passed on the South Korean opposition leader was a further set-back to the prospects for a popular dialogue. We urge that that retrograde decision should not be implemented.
101.	We are closely following the discussions designed to promote the concept of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace. We fully support the realization of that objective and we believe it would receive a major impetus if the suggestion by Madagascar of a summit conference of the interested countries and parties were agreed to and the conference were held at an early date so as to complement and to consolidate the outcome of the scheduled meeting at Colombo.
102.	In the obligatory glance backwards at international economic co-operation over the last months, it is only natural to determine whether a common theme has pervaded all the developments. That theme perhaps emerges best from the results of the recently concluded eleventh special session.
103.	Where no binding commitment for fundamental structural reform was expected, as in the case of the new international development strategy, some sort of agreement was reached. But no such agreement could be reached in the case of the procedures for the global round of negotiations, precisely because what the developing world is demanding through those procedures is that full commitment to negotiation which has so far eluded all important aspects of the North-South dialogue. We are therefore still facing the original dilemma over the lack of political commitment. The special session did, however, have the merit of clearly identifying as never before the exact source of that lack of political commitment. Indeed only a very small number of countries persist in believing that the present inequitable and unjust international economic system can evolve in a piecemeal and haphazard fashion. The vast majority of nations are now committed to a bolder and more thorough approach. It is to be hoped that the hesitant few will agree to join the common endeavour and permit the global negotiations to commence early in the new year.
104.	That brings me back to Ambassador von Wechmar's opening statement and to some considerations which I expressed in this same hall last year. He very rightly inquired whether everything had been done to reach a consensus and pointed out the enormity of our task and the limitations of our time. Last year I also asked that some consideration be given to devising techniques to render the process of attaining a consensus more rapid and that the consensus itself should not be set at so low a degree of common accord that it became almost devoid of content. I also felt that a process for ensuring an adequate follow- through on decisions reached by consensus should be devised to review progress at reasonably spaced out intervals. I believe we should encourage flexible and variable approaches this year under the pragmatic leadership of the President, which could usefully set a pattern for the future. If we could, with the help and experience of the Secretariat, improve our working methods which are quite haphazard at the moment, we should all benefit, as would our Organization, which desperately needs a new lease of life.
105.	The fact is that, unless universal and regional institutions prove able to meet the challenges with which they are faced, the course of world politics may well assume a sinister direction towards head-on collision. The signs are already there; we should act now to avert possible calamity.
106.	As we pass through this dark period in international relations, we may perhaps derive some comfort from the old truism that the darkest hour comes before dawn. At this session we have at least thrown the collective spotlight of our analysis in an attempt to penetrate the darkness. Now it is up to all of us to act, each one in accordance with his capacity and responsibility towards the international community. If we fail, we shall all be losers.
107.	As far as Malta is concerned, I believe that what I have stated above is sufficient practical and unequivocal evidence of our deep, abiding faith in this Organization and of our credentials to serve its highest organs.
108.	Malta may be one of the smallest and least armed States Members of the United Nations but we do have the moral fibre unflinchingly to defend the principles of law and justice from being threatened from any source, no matter how strong, no matter how near or far that source may be.


Mr. President, the excellent relations which unite our two countries, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Senegal, are the reason for our pleasure in seeing you assume the lofty post of President of the thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly. I should like to congratulate you on behalf of my country and Government.
103.	I should also like to take this opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Salim of the United Republic of Tanzania. The competence, intelligence and wisdom he demonstrated throughout the many sessions which were held during the year under his presidency did particular honour to the African continent.
104.	I should like also to discharge another duty, that of expressing gratitude to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim. Senegal, through me, would like to thank him in particular for the efforts that he made to free our compatriot, Warrant Officer Papa Coly Sarr, who was unjustly detained by the Israeli Government when that Senegalese soldier was taking part, courageously and with self-sacrifice, in the peace-keeping operation in the Middle East. The attitude of Mr. Waldheim and his colleagues throughout this affair, which we mentioned here last year, was further proof that law and justice, coupled with patient persistence in matters of principle, always finally triumph over incomprehension and intolerance.
105.	My delegation also welcomes the membership of a new State in the Organization, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. My Government would like to assure that State of its entire willingness to co-operate with it.
106.	This is another opportunity for Senegal to welcome the presence of Zimbabwe, a multiracial State, in our midst. The birth of that State is a victory for the people of Zimbabwe, but also for the United Nations as well. Accordingly this historic event should provide an example in the resolution of the difficult problems of southern Africa which continue to be of concern to us.
107.	A year ago, from this very rostrum, I voiced the great hopes of the international community in a perturbed and uncertain world. The past year has been rich in events. Poverty has continually beset the great majority of the populations of the world, those of the countries of the third world. Even the rich countries were not spared the disruptive phenomena: political instability, unemployment, inflation, recession and sometimes even stagnation.
108.	Pockets of tension have been created here and there, seriously threatening international peace and security.
109.	These, in sum, are the fears that we feel in the face of the succession and exacerbation of all kinds of imbalances to which the community of men has been more and more subjected.
110.	That is why we would draw the attention of the international community to the important responsibility incumbent upon us to establish the conditions necessary for the full attainment of economic, social and cultural rights of man and peoples, as an essential means of ensuring to each individual the effective enjoyment of civil and political rights and fundamental freedoms, so that an era of peace, happiness and solidarity can be ushered into the world.
111.	Considerable efforts are made along these lines each year, notwithstanding all kinds of obstacles and constraints, notwithstanding ideological confrontations and struggles for influence, because in the final analysis the salvation of humanity, as we understand it, is in the hands of the nations we represent in the Assembly.
112.	My country, Senegal, has always attached particular importance to the establishment among these nations of a climate of peace and a network of abiding solidarity, without which no viable solution can be found to the complex and grave problems which are confronting the world today.
113.	Our foremost concern in this respect is the situation still prevailing in southern Africa, and in particular in Namibia and South Africa. The South African Government, supported materially, financially and militarily by certain industrialized States, continues to disregard with impunity the recommendations of the Organization.
114.	Thus, three and a half years after the adoption of the settlement plan which was to conduct Namibia to independence, the South African Government, through manoeuvres, the motives and aims of which are obvious, is trying to promote the establishment of institutions and bodies designed to lead to an "internal" settlement, as if the edifying example of Zimbabwe had not provided a lesson for those who want to turn their backs on history.
115.	It is not enough for it to proclaim its willingness to implement the settlement plan of the United Nations, and to demand at the same time the impartiality of neighbouring States, suggesting the creation of a demilitarized zone between them, because at the same time the South African Government is continuing its raids against those States, in particular against the fraternal people of Angola, under the pretext of the right of hot pursuit from Namibia, which has been illegally occupied.
116.	Senegal considers that the settlement plan constitutes the only valid and viable approach to finding a final solution to the question of Namibia. In this respect, the independence of Zimbabwe is once again of very particular importance. President Leopold Sedar Senghor said of this:
"This independence proved to the international community that the African peoples were rebelling against bondage. It showed that the law of the minority cannot be imposed indefinitely on a people determined to recover its freedom. Finally, it showed that peoples retain deep in their ancestral memory a capacity for resistance which foils the calculations of the most able politicians."
117.	That is why there is no doubt that the present manoeuvres by South Africa will never break down the determination of SWAPO, under the guidance of our brother Sam Nujoma, to conduct its people to independence.
118.	It is fitting to pay a tribute once more to the Secretary-General for the efforts that he tirelessly exerts with a view to the implementation of the United Nations settlement plan.
119.	South Africa, in its letter dated 29 August 1980, questioned the impartiality of the Secretary-General, attributing to him the responsibility for the delay in the implementation of the plan. Obviously these accusations are diversionary tactics of the type South Africa has accustomed us to. Has it not once again shown its inclination to hold up the implementation of the settlement plan of the United Nations, by deciding to organize elections in Namibia next month to choose authorities at the second administrative level who will be responsible for the administration of tribal affairs?
120.	It will be remembered that on 8 December 1978 South Africa organized elections on the same conditions, which produced an assembly which was contested and then, in July 1980, the constitution of a Council of Ministers, which was also challenged.
121.	The acts committed by South Africa in Namibia look strangely like those incessantly perpetrated by the Israeli Government in the occupied Arab territories and in Jerusalem. The countries in the contact group, for their part, which have made an effort and taken initiatives which no one can deny, should actively support the Secretary-General in this decisive phase of the evolution of the Namibian question. Accordingly, the Assembly should reaffirm its resolve to put an end to the shady doings of the South African Government in Namibia.
122.	The Security Council, in drawing up the settlement plan, omitted or ignored the United Nations Council for Namibia, which the General Assembly recognized as having full responsibility for administering Namibia. That gap should be filled. The implementation of Security Council resolution 435 (1978) remains the basis of an acceptable solution of this problem.
123.	The policy of apartheid and racial discrimination of the South African Government is for my country another cause of disquiet. It has given rise to the general condemnation of the international community. In addition, the segregation to which the black population of South Africa has fallen victim because it is based on racial and cultural prejudice is a deep-seated insult to the conscience of mankind.
124.	When we underscore the right of the people of South Africa to exercise their right to self-determination, we are not invoking any racial or ethnic considerations. The law of the majority should prevail within a multiracial society, mobilized, as in Zimbabwe, to ensure its happiness in solidarity and unity.
125.	Senegal, which has never stinted its support to the liberation movements, ANC and PAC, considers that there will never be peace in this world as long as the racist minority continues to deny the majority its fundamental right to a life of dignity and freedom. Together we shall pursue our common effort along these lines.
126.	In regard to Western Sahara, at the seventeenth ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU, held at Freetown last July, my country advocated the establishment of a dynamic African compromise among all parties to the conflict in order to put an end to it, in the obvious interest of all peoples of that particular region and the African continent in general.
127.	The Ad Hoc Committee of the OAU, after the meeting held in September 1980 in Freetown, submitted a new proposal in the obvious interest of our entire continent. That is why my country considers that the OAU should continue to study the case without hindrance of any kind and protected from any initiative that might compromise the present position, which gives cause for some optimism.
128.	Regarding the Comorian island of Mayotte, our country will continue to encourage the parties concerned to engage in continuous dialogue in accordance with resolution 34/69 especially as the parties concerned, the French Republic and the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, have never rejected the procedure of a trusting and fruitful dialogue.
129.	If we mention the question of Chad briefly, it is to emphasize the fact that it is time for us to act together in the spirit of the resolution and recommendations of the OAU to assist the fraternal people of Chad—without any desire to interfere in its internal affairs—to find a way out of the tragic situation from which it has been suffering for six months without any immediate hope of an end to that heart-rending conflict.
130.	The Lagos agreement, signed by the 11 parties to the conflict in August 1979, seemed to open the way to peace and national reconstruction for the people of Chad. If the present situation continues, it will be opportune to implement the recommendation of the OAU, to call, in specified conditions, on United Nations forces, composed solely of African blue berets, to ensure the return of peace to that country and the implementation of the provisions of the Lagos agreement. The need for that action, which was envisaged at the seventeenth ordinary session of the Assembly of the OAU, seems more urgent than ever today.
131.	In concluding my remarks on Africa, I should like on behalf of my country to make an appeal to the international community. In our continent we have recently seen a transposition of the struggles for influence and hegemony which formerly rent Asia asunder to ideological or economic bases.
132.	The international community should concern itself increasingly with respect of the right of peoples to self- determination, to decide freely on their development and the ways that are most likely to lead them to that development, bearing in mind their own history, culture and fundamental characteristics. Thus any attempt to destabilize Africa, through zones or countries, on the basis of different political or ideological options, whether those attempts stem from African countries or non-African countries, should be vehemently condemned, and the States responsible should be denounced.
133.	It is at this price and this price alone that our continent will be able, given its diversity and the complementarity of its potential and riches, to secure its own development, in security, so that we can contribute to international peace and security.
134.	The problem of the Middle East is one of the most serious problems confronting our present-day world. My Government therefore remains convinced that only a just and comprehensive solution of that problem can bring about lasting peace in the region, and the final solution of that question resides essentially in the exercise, by the fraternal people of Palestine, of all its inalienable rights, including its right to establish an independent sovereign State in its own homeland.
135.	Senegal, as the Assembly knows, has always sup-ported General Assembly resolution 181 (II), which foresaw the establishment of two States in Palestine, a Jewish one and an Arab one. The Jewish one has been created and we think it is only fair that the international community should assist in the creation of the Arab State in Palestine. In this respect, the intransigence of Israel makes it responsible for the persistence of tension in that part of the world. Israel not only refuses to evacuate the Arab territories occupied by force in 1967, notwithstanding the many resolutions adopted by the Security Council, the OAU, the General Assembly, the Islamic Conference and the non-aligned movement, but also is increasing the number of its illegal settlements with the same disregard for international law.
136.	As we said at this rostrum during the seventh emergency special session on Palestine, convened on the initiative of Senegal and certain other members of the Assembly, the Palestinian people is a major people, and if any settlement of the question of Palestine is to be viable it must of necessity be reached with the full participation of that people through its legitimate, sole and authentic representative, the PLO, under the guidance of its Chairman, Mr. Yasser Arafat.
137.	Today, the implementation of that right is demanded by more than 100 countries. It would be unrealistic and dangerous to reduce the right of the Palestinian people to create a sovereign State in Palestine to a mere right to administrative autonomy, without any real content, without any true significance. That solution has been irrevocably rejected by the principal parties concerned, in particular the Palestinians themselves.
138.	My delegation considers, therefore, that it is urgent that negotiations be undertaken to settle the Palestinian matter in conformity with the principles contained in the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. But, and we cannot repeat this too often, the PLO must of necessity be associated in all phases of those negotiations and at all levels.
139.	At the seventh emergency special session, on the question of Palestine, almost all the members of the international community expressed their conviction that the participation of the Palestinian people' was fundamental and essential in all efforts to establish a just settlement of the Middle East conflict.
140.	The problem of the Middle East, as we know, is a complex and delicate one. But Israel must understand that it cannot indefinitely deny on the pretext of preserving the security of the Zionist State the fact of Palestine, the Palestinians' right to self-determination, their right to existence and an independent State in Palestine or, finally, their right of return to their homeland.
141.	The establishment of Jewish settlements in the Arab territories must stop, as must the successive violations of the fourth Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
142.	The City of Jerusalem, the cradle and common patrimony of revealed religions, must preserve its historical and religious nature; this was confirmed once more by the Security Council in its resolution 478 (1980) adopted on 20 August 1980 declaring null and void the unilateral annexation by Israel of the Holy City.
143.	Fortunately, the countries which had their embassies in Jerusalem decided to withdraw them following the adoption of that resolution by the Security Council. It is time for all States in the international community, particularly the big Powers, to adopt a clear stance on this question, assuming their full responsibility to secure immediate and unconditional withdrawal from all occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem.
144.	It has now been established that the decision of the Israeli Government to annex Jerusalem and to make it the capital of a Hebrew State was a serious violation of international law and an additional reason for the worsening of the conflict in the Middle East. There are 2 billion Moslems and Christians throughout the world who are affected by this decision and who will never accept any illegal, unilateral modification of the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem. In this connection, my country, a member of the Islamic Conference, takes this opportunity to reaffirm its support for the resolutions adopted by the United Nations and for the actions envisaged by the Al Qods Committee, over which His Majesty Hassan II, King of Morocco, presides.
145.	It is along the same lines that we view United Nations peace-keeping operations. Faithful to its commitment to contribute to the maintenance of peace throughout the world, Senegal has always supported the establishment by the United Nations of peace-keeping forces as a practical means for defusing regional conflicts. Accordingly, we have been participating in peace-keeping operations, thus assuming our share of the role incumbent on the international community in this field.
146.	But Senegal cannot accept acts by the Israeli Government which indisputably undermine the credibility of our Organization. We remain particularly concerned by the harassment of UNIFIL by the de facto forces aided by Israel. Those forces have hampered the deployment of UNIFIL and continue to interfere with its activities. The situation thus created has been considerably worsened by the infiltration, in UNIFIL sectors, of armed elements which have been provoking incidents frequently resulting in the loss of human life.
147.	It is appropriate to reaffirm our solidarity with the fraternal people of Lebanon, which, at the price of repeated sacrifices, has conveyed to the world the image of a courageous people determined to face its destiny, weapons in hand. That is why Senegal is devoted to Lebanon's integrity and sovereignty and deplores the attacks and acts of aggression to which it is constantly subjected by troops of Israel and its allies.
148.	In order to facilitate the mission of United Nations troops, Senegal is proposing the establishment of a system of guarantees and immunities for troops placed at the disposal of the United Nations for peace-keeping operations so that they can effectively discharge their mission of peace.
149.	Serious as all those pockets of tension are, we cannot overlook the fact that elsewhere in the world there are situations that may threaten international peace and security.
150.	Regarding Cyprus, it is regrettable to note that, despite good will on both sides, the intercommunal talks, so ardently encouraged, have not led to an agreement that would preserve the interests of the Cypriot communities, Greek and Turkish. Senegal hopes, consequently, that the negotiations which have been advocated between the two communities will yield a just and peaceful solution preserving the unity and sovereignty of Cyprus and its choice of non-alignment.
151.	In Asia, the situation in Kampuchea threatens the peace and stability of the region. We must say, there is no such thing as good or bad foreign intervention. The Kampuchean people must exercise its right to complete independence, without foreign occupation or intervention.
152.	The war now being organized and maintained in Kampuchea must stop so that an end can be put to the various attacks upon the liberties of the Kampuchean people and the sufferings imposed on it. The legal Government of Kampuchea, represented here by Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Ieng Sary, must continue to enjoy the support of the international community, in accordance with the principles established by the Charter.
153.	The situation in Afghanistan is of concern to the Organization in general, and to the Islamic world in particular. It was the subject of the sixth emergency special session of the General Assembly, in January 1980; it was also taken up at the Islamic Conference at its last two sessions held at Islamabad.
154.	At the thirty-fifth session the General Assembly must discuss the matter again, because the question has once more been included in the agenda at the request of 32 countries, including Senegal itself. Indeed, we believe that not only can no just and lasting solution be found to the Afghan crisis as long as foreign troops remain in that country but also that the prolongation of such occupation is a direct and grave threat to peace and security in the whole region, including, in particular, the neighbouring countries.
155.	It is imperative that our deliberations on this question at the present session yield decisions that will promote a return to peace and tranquillity in an independent and non-aligned Afghanistan. Such a settlement, moreover, could yield a just and lasting peace throughout the region.
156.	Our policy is based essentially on non-alignment— non-alignment which, notwithstanding differing political and social systems, is, without a doubt, a fruitful element in international relations. Therefore, we continue to strive to uphold the purposes of the movement, based on the democratization of international relations and the independence of its members vis-a-vis all military blocs and the transcending of those blocs for the security of all States and for peace, without any "natural" alliances with any bloc or Power. Those are the principles that our country defended and upheld at the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries.
157.	While the turn of events has proved our arguments correct and shown the validity of our positions here, the only conclusion we can draw is that duty to the truth and loyalty to principle are the stamp of peoples like my own, which consider non-alignment, in the final analysis, the salvation of young nations and the guarantee of their independence. For security cannot be imposed by force; it can only result from respect for every country's choices and from the commitment of every nation, large or small, to respect the sovereignty of others.
158.	It is acknowledged today, by large and small countries alike, that pockets of crisis lead to violence in the world and that the stockpiling of weapons can at any time give rise to a local explosion that could assume cataclysmic dimensions. That is why my country remains deeply concerned by the question of disarmament and the arms race. The concern which every people has over the problem of its security and its very survival is so great that maintaining peace among peoples must remain for us an abiding priority.
159.	Was not the United Nations created precisely to preserve succeeding generations from the scourge of war? Because the existence in the world of nuclear stockpiles entails the threat of nuclear conflagration, the most urgent task humanity must face today is that of dismantling the hierarchical international order that supports the present military system, replacing it by a security system based upon peaceful coexistence, but also on practical acceptance of the sovereign equality of all nations.
160.	The present proliferation of nuclear know-how may have allayed some concern through a balance of terror, but impulsive or irrational behaviour, in the presence of sudden serious tension, could at any time trigger a nuclear war.
161.	Senegal had occasion to hail the initiative which led to the tenth special session of the General Assembly, devoted to disarmament. We must note, however, that the resultant Programme of Action for nuclear disarmament, which proceeded from the concern to stem the nuclear arms race and to undertake reductions leading to the elimination of existing stockpiles, is, unfortunately, far from having made any progress in its implementation, despite the consensus it had enjoyed here.
162.	Moreover, the draft comprehensive treaty banning nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing has yet to be completed. We deplore that fact, even though, since the tenth special session, in 1978, the United States and the Soviet Union have signed the SALT II agreement.
163.	It will be recalled that Senegal, at all international conferences on disarmament, had clearly advocated the reduction of arms expenditures and the allocation of 5 per cent of their current volume to development assistance.
164.	At the same time, Senegal, which remains in favour of the creation of nuclear-weapon-free zones, particularly in Africa, favours a review and re-orientation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons machinery in order to enable States parties to the Treaty to benefit from the peaceful industrial uses of nuclear energy.
165.	Basic as solution of political problems is, the solution of economic problems remains no less essential for the attainment of peace.
166.	The Government of Senegal, faithful to its staunch position on the defence and promotion of human rights, has always emphasized, and will continue to stress the idea that economic, social and cultural rights are inseparable from civil and political rights. Both seek the same goals and proceed from the same basis and have recourse to similar protection methods. But civil and political rights demand, furthermore, combined efforts of all members of the international community.
167.	In that respect, Senegal emphasized in the Commission on Human Rights the concept of the "right to development" —namely, the acknowledged right of all peoples and individuals to satisfy their needs in accordance with their aspirations, to the fullest extent consistent with the equitable enjoyment of the goods and services produced by the community.
168.	Indisputably, development is a particularly binding imperative. In this connection the division of the world between rich and poor countries is one of the most serious concerns of our time. However, safeguarding peace does not depend merely on development; it also depends on respect for human rights by all Governments.
169.	Unlike most other rights having to do with the human person, the right to development is first and foremost a collective right. As the President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Leopold Sedar Senghor, is wont to stress, "Man is the beginning and end of development". Senegal has understood that well. Indeed, it has since the earliest years of its independence striven to implement a policy of development adapted to its national realities by stressing respect for human rights.
170.	While it is certain that human rights are one of the main elements of development and that their violation cannot be justified by the demands of development, it is also obvious that there cannot be a new economic order without a new world cultural order.
171.	The cultural dimension of development cannot in these conditions be dissociated from its economic dimension. The third world countries would do well to appreciate more clearly the interaction between cultural and economic objectives to the extent that the cultural prejudices to which they are subject are a destructive obstacle to the elimination of unfair trading practices in international economic relations. Consequently, the new cultural order should be based on recognition of our differences and the acceptance of our
172.	Senegal, which has been a member of the Commission on Human Rights for several years, attaches overriding importance to the sacred rights of the human person, as enshrined in its Constitution and its laws. We continue to believe that only the creation of a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights would help the United Nations to gain a better understanding of the problem, which from year to year becomes more serious.
173.	Accordingly, Senegal took the initiative in proposing a charter for the creation of an African commission on human rights and the rights of peoples.
174.	The OAU has already endorsed that idea and has held several meetings on the subject. Such a regional commission could be envisaged for other continents as well, thus enabling the future United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to rely on those regional structures on the same basis as the Economic and Social Council relies on the regional commissions.
175.	To revert to economic development, the eleventh special session of the General Assembly certainly did not achieve the results hoped for, but it had the advantage of raising the problem of development in all its multiple aspects. We hope that the consensus reached at that session  will provide a basis for the future global negotiations which are to take place at the beginning of next year, which will also mark the launching of the Third United Nations Development Decade.
176.	To that end, the political will shown throughout that session should be increased by all States in a spirit of interdependence and solidarity which will ensure the early advent of genuine international co-operation in the best interests of all mankind. Mankind is entitled to live in peace. To that end, the nations represented here must once more take a close look at the principles of the Charter, by which we are bound, and scrupulously apply them.
177.	If ever-more-numerous regional conflicts are monopolizing the attention of the United Nations and the Security Council, it is because those principles, coupled with the rules of good-neighbourliness, are, unfortunately, not always respected. Here my delegation wishes to stress the importance of the role of the regional organizations in the search for the peaceful settlement of disputes which pit one State against another.
178.	Indeed, regional organizations, where they exist, should act as buffers in order to help in resolving disputes between States of the same region, as the OAU has done on several occasions, thus allowing the United Nations to devote more effort to the serious problems of economic and social development and disarmament.
179.	For its part Senegal is applying those principles, in particular with regard to all its neighbours, with which it enjoys the best possible relations. It is true that our political philosophy is based first and foremost on humanism, which means that continuing dialogue is the essential element in resolving disputes.
180.	We continue to believe in the United Nations and its mission as the custodian of peace and the guarantor of international security, and we take this opportunity of assuring the United Nations of our abiding and unswerving support in its quest for a more just and united world based on trust, tolerance and understanding among all peoples.


Mr. President, the General Assembly is meeting for its thirty-fifth session as storm clouds which threaten the future of mankind gather over the international horizon. It gives me great confidence and hope that the task of presiding over the affairs of the General Assembly at this momentous time has been entrusted to someone of your integrity, experience and wisdom. Accept, therefore, my warmest congratulations. Your election is also an acknowledgement of the high respect and admiration which the international community has for your great country, the Federal Republic of Germany, with which my country enjoys most cordial and friendly relations. I am sure that under your wise guidance the Assembly will achieve great success at this session.
3.	The past year has been remarkable for the many intractable international crises which the Organization has had to deal with. It is a matter of particular pride to Africa that our predecessor was Ambassador Salim Ahmed Salim from the sister State of the United Republic of Tanzania. Not only did he preside over the thirty-fourth session with a sure and confident hand, Ambassador Salim also had the rare distinction of presiding over three special sessions of the General Assembly. We pay him the highest praise and offer him our felicitations.
4.	I should also like to address a special word of praise and admiration to our distinguished Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim. His untiring exertions and imaginative initiatives have become the measure of the successes of the Organization. His reassuring presence was immensely felt at the second extraordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity [OA U\, the first economic summit meeting, which was held last April at Lagos. His frequent visits to Africa have enabled him not only to share moments of history with us but also to endear himself to Africa in a very personal and special way.
5.	It is with great pride and satisfaction that, on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria, I extend the heartiest welcome to the new sister State of Zimbabwe in our ranks. Few events can match the joy, drama and impact of the independence of Zimbabwe. I salute my brother, Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, and all his compatriots for their courage, heroism and magnanimity. Their victory demonstrates clearly that the will of a determined people can never be permanently suppressed. It proves beyond doubt that a determined people fighting for a just cause and dedicated to the recovery of its right will ultimately triumph, no matter how formidable the odds against it. Our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe have proved to the world the truth of the old adage that "the limits of tyrants are prescribed by the will of the victims of tyranny".
6.	Nigeria, Africa, and indeed the entire international community, can take justifiable pride in the independence of Zimbabwe. It has coincided with the end of the second decade of the struggle against colonialism and against exploitation. Since 1960, when the General Assembly adopted resolution 1514 (XV) containing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, it has never relented in its efforts to support the legitimate struggle of the peoples in colonial bondage to regain their freedom and their liberty. That Zimbabwe, whose right to independence was so long denied and contested, is today a nation sovereign and independent is due in no small measure to the impetus generated by that Declaration.
7.	I also most warmly congratulate the new State of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on its attainment of independence and membership of the United Nations. It is our desire to forge closer relations with it as a fellow member of the Commonwealth, and to co-operate with it in building a better, safer and more just world.
8.	Universality of membership was part of the dream of the founding fathers of the United Nations for this world body. That dream is now virtually a reality. But that fact should not lure us into complacency. Rather, it should spur us into redoubling our efforts until the right to self- determination of all peoples everywhere in the world is no longer an issue.
9.	It is with a deep sense of history that I stand before the Assembly today. Twenty years ago the late Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, addressed this body on the occasion of the admission of Nigeria to membership of this world Organization.  Twenty years in the life of a nation may not represent more than a short step in the long march of history, yet for my country, which, like most third world countries, has not been spared the turmoil, turbulence and tribulations of nation building, 20 years have left indelible impressions on our national psyche. During those 20 years, two other heads of State of Nigeria also came to affirm my country's robust commitment to the high purposes and ideals of the United Nations. Today, as the first democratically elected President of my country after more than a decade of military rule, I have come solemnly to reaffirm Nigeria's enduring faith in the aims and principles of the United Nations. I therefore bring to the Assembly, in a very special and authoritative way, the greetings and good wishes of the Government and people of Nigeria.
10.	As inter-State relations grow more complex, as under-standing and mutual respect among nations and peoples become more difficult to sustain, as prospects for world peace appear more fragile, people everywhere are increasingly looking to the United Nations for answers. People everywhere want to strengthen the capacity and capability of the Organization to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. They crave to return the United Nations to its central role of being an effective instrument for harmonizing different views, reconciling competing interests and initiating such collective action as would give sustenance to man and his aspirations for peace and plenty in justice and liberty.
11.	Half a millennium of colonial rule by European Powers did not succeed in destroying our self-image as Africans. Nor did it quench our thirst to be free, to be respected and to develop our resources for the good of our people. In the past 20 years over 40 African countries have regained their freedom and independence. During that period some of them have fought civil wars not out of irreconcilable differences of ideology or ethnicity; they have fought in order to defend the gains of their independence, to frustrate foreign intervention in their affairs and to maximize their sovereign attributes. Some African States, quite tragically, have fought one another across borders. They have fought not to colonize anyone but in order to defend their perceived patrimony, to safeguard their territorial integrity. Others have fought in order to be independent. Through all the tensions and conflicts of the past 20 years, no independent African country has lost its independence. More are yearning to be free, and they soon will be free and independent. Namibia and South Africa are already waiting in the wings. They decidedly will soon be free. The message is clear: never again will Africa be colonized; never again will Africans tolerate living under racist domination and exploitation.
12.	Only last week the current Chairman of the Assembly of the OAU, my dear brother Mr. Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone, addressed the Assembly on the economic and political concerns of Africa 18th meeting]. I wish to take this opportunity to pay him a tribute for his untiring efforts on behalf of our continent. His statement adequately reflected the new emphasis which Africa is placing on its economic development after decades when our overriding preoccupation was to secure the independence of our territories and peoples.
13.	Last April I had the honour of welcoming my brother African heads of State and Government to the first extraordinary meeting of the OAU devoted exclusively to consideration of the economic problems of our continent. Determined to attain the goals of economic salvation, we adopted the Lagos Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Monrovia Strategy for the Economic Development of Africa.  We were realistic to acknowledge in that historic document that, just as the liberation struggle was fought and won by us, so also would be our struggle for economic emancipation. But in our interdependent world, all nations are like a team of mountain climbers. We need one another. We must help one another. We therefore welcome constructive co-operation and partnership from the rest of the international community as we embark on the challenging task of addressing the problems of the post-colonial era in our continent.
14.	Africa bears the scars of a long history of spoliation and deprivation, of the ravages of the slave trade and foreign aggression, of both political and economic injustices. The current crisis in the world economy is wreaking havoc in Africa. For some areas of the third world the ongoing international negotiations about trade, capital (lows and so on may mean growth through effective participation in key international markets and institutions. For most of Africa those negotiations are about survival itself. The very existence of some of our nations is being critically threatened by adverse economic forces and natural disasters.
15.	It will take years before we in Africa can exercise our right to full equality and effective participation in the current international economic system. In spite of the enormous natural wealth and resources of Africa, our continent remains the least developed and our people the most deprived. These degrading disabilities make a mockery of our political independence. We are therefore resolved to make progress. We must therefore refuse to subsidize the economies of the rich by continuing to sell our raw materials and labour to them cheaply in return for their exorbitantly priced manufactured goods.
16.	I believe that the time has come for the international community to address itself to the serious issue of reparation and restitution for Africa. It is pertinent to observe that there is hardly any country outside the continent which has not in one way or another benefited from the exploitation of the human and natural resources of Africa. In the wake of the Assembly's important deliberations concerning the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade and the global negotiations, I call upon the Assembly to launch a decade of reparation and restitution for Africa as a master plan for the economic recovery of Africa. I make this call with a serious sense of responsibility. Restructuring the world economic system to conform with the dictates of the new international economic order will help, but that will be in the long-term. Massive, special, immediate and effective measures are required to deal with the exceptional situation in Africa. I have seen too much of Africa's misery and degradation not to be moved to action and to demand the proclamation of a special decade for the economic regeneration of Africa.
17.	The problems of no other continent define the international agenda better than those of Africa. I intend therefore to dwell further on African concerns, for the destiny of Nigeria is inextricably linked with the fortunes of all the countries of Africa and all the peoples of African descent abroad. As a result we have continued and shall continue to strive vigorously for the restoration of the rights and dignity of the black man everywhere, who for too long has suffered humiliation and discrimination.
18.	The situation in Namibia continues to be a source of considerable embarrassment and concern to the Organization. It continues to undermine the will and credibility of the United Nations. Above all it continues to raise serious questions about the sense of honour and good faith of some permanent members of the Security Council, grave questions about their perception of their duty and responsibilities under the Charter; for the power of the veto was not intended to be used solely for the protection of selfish interests. Rather, the veto was meant to be employed to promote and advance the high purposes of the Charter, to sustain and encourage the practice of international law and morality.
19.	Nigeria will no longer tolerate the provocations by South Africa or the dilatory tactics of its allies in the Western bloc with regard to self-determination and majority rule for Namibia. We deeply deplore the collusion between South Africa and its Western allies as a result of which the people of that Territory are denied their inalienable rights. Fourteen years have passed since the International Court of Justice handed down the judgement of 18 July 19661 that South Africa had neither the legal nor the moral right to maintain its perverse administration in Namibia. Furthermore, it is now over two years since the Security Council, in its resolution 435 (1978), endorsed the proposals by the five Western Powers for Namibia's transition to independence. I therefore find it intolerable that the independence of Namibia should continue to be devilled by the intransigence of South Africa.
20.	It seems to me that the recent exchange of correspondence between the Secretary-General and the South African Government calls for immediate action. It offers another opportunity, if any were really necessary, for the United Nations to test the true intentions of the South African Government. The United Nations Transition Assistance Group should therefore be deployed without undue delay to carry out its mandate to supervise a free and fair election in Namibia, so that by the next session of the General Assembly Namibia will have taken its rightful place in the world community of nations.
21.	Throughout all the 33 years that the apartheid policies of the Government of South Africa have been considered and condemned by the Assembly, it has become clear that the only peaceful avenue left for their elimination is the imposition of sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter. In calling again for sanctions, particularly an oil embargo to complement the existing arms embargo against South Africa, I want to emphasize that our Charter specifically prescribes sanctions to give effect to the decisions of the Security Council. I sincerely hope that the International Conference on Sanctions against South Africa, which the United Nations, in co-operation with the OAU, plans to hold next year at Paris, will succeed in addressing that important matter as an effective alternative to the use of force by the United Nations to bring about the birth of a new society in South Africa.
22.	But sanctions alone will not destroy apartheid and racism in South Africa. They can, however, be used to support the armed struggle. That struggle is now gathering momentum. If South Africa persists in its defiance of the international will for fundamental change in its policies, none of us has the right to deny the struggle of the South African nationalists full support—certainly not Nigeria. We shall continue to assist, encourage and support that struggle with all the might and all the resources at our disposal. The people of South Africa will never flinch from that struggle until ultimate victory is won. The termination of apartheid and racism in South Africa is the challenge of our decade and the attainment of that goal will constitute man's last major victory over the evil forces of colonialism.
23.	Global interdependence has too often lately been defined in narrow economic terms. Given its full dimensions of peace and security, it truly permeates and dominates every aspect of international life today. In no area is that concept more ominously felt than the Middle East, a region which lies so close to Africa and has such supreme symbolism for my country.
24.	The Middle East situation is of the gravest concern to Nigeria. At the international level, we have spared no effort in the councils of the OAU, the United Nations or the non-aligned countries to seek a viable solution in conformity with the highest imperatives of peace and justice. We do not believe that peace and justice are incompatible.
25.	If all the States in the region are to enjoy the right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force, the inalienable rights of the Palestinians cannot and must not be overlooked. To an African, the rights of self-determination, statehood and independence are sacred. To a continent which can easily fall prey to military might, the occupation of territory by force is totally unacceptable. To a people who believe in the United Nations, scornful disrespect for the decisions of the Security Council cannot be justified.
26.	In my view, Israel's persistent refusal to recognize the fact that it cannot continue to enjoy legitimacy and rights based on the Organization's original Partition Plan for Palestine [resolution 181 (II)] and at the same time deny to the Palestinians the corresponding legitimacy and rights of nationhood based on the same Plan is the greatest obstacle to any lasting peace in the Middle East. The Palestinian Arabs must and should be enabled to have their own independent sovereign State. Nigeria firmly supports the legitimate right of the Palestinians to their homeland. Israel cannot expect normalization of relations with Nigeria, indeed with Africa, while it continues, in defiance of world public opinion, to occupy the Arab territories which it captured in 1967. Furthermore, its unilateral expropriation of Arab lands and implantation of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories makes any meaningful discussion of normalization of relations at this time even more difficult. Its recent action purporting to alter the present international status of Jerusalem came as an affront to the conscience of my people, to whom Jerusalem has a special meaning and significance. We therefore cannot and will never accept these measures.
27.	In the face of the numerous challenges confronting mankind, it would be superfluous to say how much my Government deeply regrets the current tragic conflict between the non-aligned States of Iran and Iraq. I fervently add my voice to the many appeals for restraint and peace between those two neighbouring countries.
28.	Recent events give us no cause for joy. The tensions and crises which developed last year remain virtually unresolved. The armaments race has assumed a new and dangerous momentum, at a time when the second Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has failed. The North- South dialogue on the economic problems of the world is stalemated, as a consequence of a most regrettable inability to agree even on procedures to begin negotiations. The present stalemate in the climate of negotiations between the developing and the developed countries holds terrifying prospects for all. Perhaps, more than is realized, the world is poised delicately on the brink—that critical margin— between survival and disaster.
29.	The dangers may be grave, but we cannot afford to despair. Our needs and times call for statesmanship imbued with courage and vision: vision to determine where to begin and courage to do what has to be done. The present uncertain international situation challenges all those entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding the destiny of mankind to pause and think. Times have changed. Conditions have changed. The concepts and structures which precipitated some of the current international crises cannot remain unchanged. Any organic institution without the means to adjust to change is without the means for its survival.
30.	We have the men and the means to meet the challenge of the 1980s and beyond. The sum of over $500 billion, which the developed countries have spent on military research and development since 1960, far exceeds what two thirds of mankind require to banish poverty and degradation. There must be disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, to save mankind from untoward anxiety and the holocaust. There must be disarmament to release resources for development. The justification for the retention of nuclear weapons has always, to my mind, been a negative one. Weapons susceptible of causing accidental warfare and capable of destroying all mankind can never act as deterrents to war.
31.	The member States of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC], in spite of the unwarranted calumnies often heaped on them, have amply demonstrated what developing countries can do to help themselves and other less fortunate developing countries. They have shown how raw material-producing, developing countries can organize themselves to defend their economic rights. They have shown how to arrest the historical trend whereby the rich countries get increasingly richer at the expense of the poor countries. It is therefore a matter of regret that quite deliberate efforts are sometimes made to mislead the public about the role of energy in the prevailing economic crisis. OPEC prices have risen only in direct proportion to the inflation and price rises generated by the prohibitive costs of imported goods and services as well as the fluctuating rate of exchange of the dollar.
32.	The rich, industrialized countries must show a disposition to accept the fact that the present international economic system, based on imperial patterns of thought and relationships, which deny equal opportunity to all mankind, can no longer endure. They must accept the fact that there can be no meaningful and lasting progress on the issues that are of direct and proximate interest to them unless they are prepared to entertain overdue reforms on issues such as money and finance, resource flow, industrialization, trade and protectionism which are so germane to the realization of the aspirations of the developing countries.
33.	The rich industrialized countries must shoulder their responsibility to the poor nations of the world, from which they have gained so much in wealth and resources. They must address themselves to the burning issue of how to assist them in an imaginative and compassionate spirit, particularly the least developed countries, which are today overburdened with poverty and unfulfilled aspirations.
34.	Mr. President, I began with messages of congratulations to you and congratulations on your outstanding achievements on the international scene. I should like to conclude on a note of hope. As I look back, I am encouraged by what can be achieved if Member States, faithful to the ideals and principles of the Charter, agree to work for solutions to the myriad problems of our time.
35.	We have come some way but have a long way to go. We have made some progress but the end of the journey is still far. But reach it we must. Since the beginning of human history the world has been full of conflicts, disputes and wars. This is the tragedy of human existence. The big question is can man ever live with his neighbour in perfect harmony? Can areas of conflict be reduced? In short: can wars be avoided? Some may answer yes; others may say no. Whatever our answer may be, one thing cannot be disputed: that we stand to gain in a world of peace and to lose in a world of war. We must therefore commit ourselves to ensuring peace in the world.
36.	Our greatest hope for realizing peace is the United Nations. Each day the problems of the world multiply in number and in complexity. If the United Nations is to keep abreast of them, and if it is to reflect the vast increase in the number and strength of its membership, then it has to undergo some form of organizational change.
37.	I do not refer only to its method of work and operation being changed to ensure greater efficiency. Some institutional or structural reform should be considered to democratize its decision-making process. In particular we call attention to the proposal for the expansion of the membership of the Security Council, which Nigeria strongly supports.
38.	Each and every one of us must be ready to take his turn and to play his part in the worthwhile endeavour of ensuring the survival of justice and peace. As I have observed, peace cannot be achieved by mere resolutions or declarations. It can only be achieved through commitment. Delaying tactics will not help. We are not asking any nation to abandon its national interests. We are asking all nations to be reasonable in the pursuit of those interests.
39.	The world is perched on the threshold of a new and significant decade, a decade of renewal as well as change, a decade of challenge as well as hope, a decade of opportunity as well as danger. What precisely it will be depends on what we make it. With the required good will, we can make it a decade of positive achievement for mankind.