The election of the Foreign
Minister of Uruguay as President of this General
Assembly is very gratifying to our delegation and we are
sure that his enormous talents and experience will guide
us effectively through this critical session.
We also wish to acknowledge the contribution of his
predecessor for the admirable guidance he provided the
Assembly over the past year.
The inspired work of the Secretary-General,
Mr. Kofi Annan, has brought new life and meaning to the
United Nations, and we are grateful to him for his
dedication to the task of modernizing the Organization.
The commitment to ongoing reform and renewal in this
Organization and the new vision and energy injected by
the Secretary-General have resulted in a revitalized
institution that offers new hope.
In like fashion, the Belizean people demonstrated
their political maturity when they turned out in record
numbers a month ago to elect a Government committed
to setting a new and higher standard of governance to
take them through to the next millennium. We regard the
overwhelming mandate given to our new Administration
as a directive to transform our institutions and political
culture into more democratic, open and just instruments
for the welfare of all our people.
The work of reform and renewal is never-ending.
With regard to the reform of the Security Council, while
16

we agree that this is urgently needed, we wish to urge all
Members to make every effort to ensure that the Working
Group produces a final package for the consideration of this
Assembly.
It is to the credit of the United Nations that many
more people in today’s world benefit from a culture of
democracy and the rule of law. The United Nations has set
the pace in providing the support necessary to build and
consolidate the institutions of democracy. Central to this
achievement has been the fact that the economic, cultural
and social aspects which underpin democracy have not been
ignored.
Perhaps the most powerful instrument for promoting
democracy has been the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, whose fiftieth anniversary we celebrate this year.
This basic document has been fortified over the years by
other commitments relating to second-, third- and fourth-
generation rights and to the rights of children, women and
indigenous people. Taken together, these commitments
constitute a challenge which we are all called upon to live
up to.
Belize is committed to pursue policies that lead to an
economic and social climate which nurtures the
development of our children and offers real opportunities to
our young people to be creative and productive and to
develop self-respect, self-reliance and a sense of belonging
to a community.
Our Government recognizes the value of education in
promoting gender awareness and improving the economic
situation of women, upon whom poverty casts a
disproportionate burden. Our policies for greater
employment, education in non-traditional areas and
microcredit facilities will all be driven by gender awareness
to foster greater access and opportunity for Belizean
women.
The International Decade of the World’s Indigenous
People has served to raise public consciousness of the
plight of peoples who for centuries have been
disadvantaged, exploited and marginalized. Our Government
takes seriously its duty to tangibly improve the quality of
daily life for indigenous people and will engage in
respectful negotiations with them in regard to their concerns
about land, natural resources and other matters.
The United Nations decolonization programme has
been hailed as one of the most successful of the
Organization’s undertakings over the past decades.
However, enjoyment of the fundamental right to self-
determination is still denied to the people of Western
Sahara and East Timor. Belize will continue to support
the work of the Special Committee on Decolonization to
ensure that these people are afforded opportunities for the
full expression of their will.
This year presents us with a telling irony: even as
we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of
Human Rights, we are painfully reminded that it is also
the fiftieth anniversary of the dispossession of the
Palestinian people. We continue to press for the full
recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to self-
determination and to establish an independent State,
respecting the independence and security of all the States
in that region.
We are likewise concerned about the fact that a
sister Caribbean nation continues to suffer from a policy
designed to isolate it, even as it continues to be the target
of terrorist attacks. The most fundamental human rights
of the Cuban people are thus being violated, and we urge
all concerned to work together with us in Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) and in the Association of
Caribbean States to bring an end to this situation.
Belize supports the efforts of the Republic of China
on Taiwan to participate fully in the work of this
Organization and its organs, as well as in international
financial and developmental institutions. The time has
come for us to respect the sovereign will of that
population, in conformity with the universalist principles
of our Charter.
We all know that it is meaningless to talk about
human rights without addressing the fact that millions of
people are falling into poverty even as incredible
advances in science and technology make possible the
eradication of poverty. This tells us that something is
terribly wrong about the way the world economy is
managed. If some resisted this conclusion before, the
instability of the present world financial markets is surely
proof enough that unbridled globalization can have
serious negative effects on developing and developed
countries alike.
We must move resolutely to create a new and fair
management regime for the world economy. We support
the proposed United Nations conference on financing for
development, which should include consideration of social
factors and should seek to bring about comprehensive
reform of the international financial system.
17

I speak for a country which has seen its prospective
base of prosperity whittled away over the past few years by
misguided economic policies, predatory politics and
financial mismanagement. Our Administration has inherited
a country where some 40 per cent of the people live in
poverty, where almost half of its children do not complete
primary school and where preventable diseases and infant
mortality are on the rise. We have committed ourselves to
an intensive integrated programme aimed at the elimination
of poverty, based on growth economics that will restore
investor confidence, stimulate economic activity and
employment and bring about more revenue for
development.
But the stark reality is that no matter how hard we try,
we cannot do it alone. We are, therefore, especially
encouraged by the words of the British Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, spoken to this Assembly a week ago, at the 7th
meeting:
“If we want to eradicate poverty, we also need to
ensure that the least developed countries benefit from
this global economy ... [by] letting them sell their
goods without imposing tariffs on them ... actively
helping them benefit from globalization ... [and]
rejecting any false allure of protectionism ... We also
have to ease the debt burden on the poorest countries.”
In this connection, we emphatically endorse the call of
the Durban Summit of Non-Aligned Countries for new
concessional financial flows to debtor developing countries,
in addition to debt cancellation and other debt relief
measures.
We are also witnessing progressive decreases in the
amount of aid flowing to the developing countries. And too
often we are victims of a trend in international agencies of
spending millions on endless studies and consultancies,
when what we need are concrete actions to solve the
problems we long ago identified.
We certainly welcome the work being done by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the
protection of our environment. Our population depends on
its forests and clean seas to survive. The pristine condition
of our natural resources affords us a competitive advantage
as a prime destination for eco-tourism, and their rational
management and use is the only guarantee for our
sustainable development.
Yet we have witnessed the wanton destruction of
forests by transnational corporations and the depletion of
marine life by galloping consumption that is heedless of
the fragility of our ecosystems and of the social
consequences. The 1998 Human Development Report
concludes that gross inequalities in consumption have
prevented over 1 billion people from meeting their basic
consumption requirements, a conclusion which led the
report’s coordinator, Richard Jolly, to call for patterns of
consumption that are socially responsible, are not
destructive of the well-being of others, are sustainable and
do not degrade the natural resource base and environment
for present and future generations.
As if the uneven effects of the globalization of the
world economy were not enough to try us, we are faced
with the even more destructive phenomenon of the
globalization of crime and mindless violence, especially
as manifested through the increased use of and trafficking
in drugs and money-laundering. My country is in the
unfortunate position of being along the way of the transit
trade to the country of greatest demand, and we daily
suffer the consequences in the ruined lives of our youth
and the increased incidence of crime. We are doing
everything possible to fight this scourge of mankind and
will cooperate fully with all regional and international
efforts aimed at the effective curbing of the drug trade
and its insidiously corrupting effects on our institutions
and way of life.
A world free of the curse of drugs, liberated from
the affliction of poverty, blessed with freedom and
democracy where people’s human right to a full and
dignified life can be pursued in peace: this, surely, is
what we are all striving for. Belize pledges to play its
part in that glorious struggle, even as we ask the United
Nations to continue to support the independence and
territorial integrity of our nation, whose people, like
human beings everywhere, seek only to assert their
absolute and inalienable right to human dignity.
In this search, we all need a vital and effective
United Nations — this unique expression of our common
humanity.


104.	 I begin my statement on a sad note, by mentioning the tragic incident that claimed 16 Korean lives, including those of four Cabinet Ministers, on 9 October in Rangoon. On behalf of the Government and people of Kenya, I convey our profound feeling of sadness and our condolences to all the families of the victims and to the Government of the Republic of Korea. We strongly condemn such acts of terrorism and political assassination. We sincerely believe that such acts will not solve anything and therefore deserve strong global condemnation.
105.	Now let me join other delegates who have spoken before me in warmly congratulating you, Sir, on your election to your high and onerous office. Your election is proof of the confidence placed in you personally and in your country by the General Assembly. I wish you all the best in guiding the work of the thirty-eighth session to a successful conclusion. On behalf of my delegation, I assure you of our fullest support in your endeavours to discharge the heavy responsibilities of the presidency.
106.	Further, I wish to pay tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Imre Hollai, who with singular distinction led the General Assembly successfully through the thirty-seventh session. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his efforts and the wisdom he displayed at all times.
107.	This is also a fitting occasion for me to pay tribute to the Secretary-General and the entire staff of the United Nations for the work they continue to do for the international community through the United Nations system.
108.	It is with great pleasure that I extend our sincere welcome to Saint Christopher and Nevis as the 158th Member of the United Nations. The admission of this country is a further step towards the final universality of the Organization.
109.	I wish to reaffirm the sentiments of my Government as expressed during the thirty-seventh session. The guiding spirit of my Government, under the leadership of President Daniel Arap Moi, is based on peace, democracy and justice to all under the rule of law, in a system which recognizes the supremacy of Parliament. Another fundamental objective of the Government is improving the economic and social welfare of our people in unity, freedom and love for one another. All our actions on the domestic front, as well as in the international arena, are geared to promote, project and vigorously defend these objectives. Our people are resolved to ensure that our present population and future generations enjoy the fruits of peace, unity and stability, while respecting the dignity of individual freedom.
110.	As we gather here today, we cannot help looking back and taking stock of the Organization's achievements and failures. We are certain that when the balance sheet is drawn up, the results will be unmistakably on the side of success.
111.	The central role and objective of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security. Whenever threats to this objective and obstructions to its realization have arisen, the General Assembly has always exerted maximum pressure in favour of peace, tranquillity and mutual understanding. It is Kenya's sincere hope that the ballots cast in the Assembly will continue to reflect the general will of the international community to maintain peace and security for all nations, as well as its resolve to improve the welfare of all mankind.

While expressing these expectations, we call upon those who are directly entrusted by the Charter with the task of maintaining international peace and security to pay more attention to the resolutions adopted year after year by the Assembly.
112.	Let me make a brief survey of the African scene in the context of the aims and objectives of the United Nations. The OAU went through a turbulent phase last year. Touchy and acute issues faced us in our continent. Under the chairmanship of the President of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi, and with other heads of State and Government who attended the OAU Assembly, the organization was able to solve some of these thorny problems, and our organization was able to function in the interests of Africa and the world in general.
113.	The problem of Chad remains unresolved. At the nineteenth session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, held at Addis Ababa in June 1983, the President of Kenya, who was then Chairman of the Assembly, observed:
 Subsequent to the withdrawal of the peace-keeping force from Chad, there were indications that internal peace, reconciliation and national reconstruction were possible within the newly created political environment. This optimism has not fully materialized. Chad continues to experience internal conflicts with active support from external sources. As we have stated on many occasions regarding internal conflicts elsewhere in the world, we repeat the same by totally objecting to foreign interference in the internal affairs of States. In this particular case we reject and condemn interference in the internal affairs of Chad. We express the sincere hope that the people of Chad, left alone, will certainly sort out their problems in a more amicable and lasting way.
114.	In the case of Western Sahara, at the same session my President reminded the African heads of State and Government that a referendum to ascertain the wishes of the people of the Territory would pave the way for a more amicable settlement of the problem of the Territory. In this, Kenya supports the efforts of the OAU Implementation Committee on Western Sahara.
115.	The Horn of Africa continues to be a region of tension and conflict. The existence of hostility in this area has adversely affected peaceful relations and the application of meaningful economic co-operation in the region. We are convinced that this conflict could easily be removed if all States in the area recognized and applied the fundamental OAU principle in regard to the sovereignty of independent States, respect for boundaries existing at the time of independence and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States.
116.	In South Africa, the tragedy of apartheid continues. The racist South African regime seeks to perpetuate its illegal rule, in defiance of decisions of this body. After decades of condemnation and protests by all peace- loving people the world over, including some whites in South Africa itself, the evil and inhuman system of apartheid continues to flourish, embracing as it does the total denial of political rights to the majority. Opposition to apartheid is met with brutal force against defenseless people, including children. It is a system which violates all the universal principles of human dignity on which the United Nations itself is based, yet all our efforts to have stronger action taken against South Africa continue to meet crippling resistance. We have adopted countless resolutions in the Assembly condemning the system. We have held many international gatherings which have exposed and equally condemned the evil system practiced by a racist minority bent on destroying the very tenets of civilized conduct, the most recent gathering being the Second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, held at Geneva in August 1983. We must bring this inhuman system to an end.
117.	The racist regime has stubbornly stepped up its policy of destabilization of the neighbouring States. Mozambique, Angola and the landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho have been victims of South African military aggression. We have castigated and deplored this aggression, and we appeal to the Western countries, friends of South Africa, to use their influence to stop South Africa committing further military aggression against these countries and the other front-line States.
118.	In 1977 the Security Council, in a modest step forward, imposed an arms embargo against South Africa and decided that the sale of arms to South Africa represented a threat to international peace and security. We know, however, that this resolution, 418 (1977), has been violated by certain States. The time has come when the international community must face up to the gravity of the situation in South Africa. There is no longer any time left for ambiguity and prevarication over	We must urge the friends of South Africa to declare without any qualification that the sale of arms and related materials to South Africa poses a threat to international peace and security under the provisions of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.
119.	Information has come to us through the public media and from various sources to the effect that the racist regime is making moves to remove petty apartheid in public places, extend limited suffrage to coloured people and Indians in South Africa and create Bantustans. Let us not be confused by such information, whether or not it is true. We should not be deceived by such designs. Kenya has all along been calling for the total eradication of apartheid. We remain confident that the struggle to put an end to the	system will succeed. We must continue to give every assistance possible to the freedom fighters in South Africa and Namibia in their legitimate struggle under the leadership of their liberation movements until final victory is won and apartheid vanishes forever.
120.	In the 38 years of United Nations history, there are voluminous records of the illegal and brutal occupation of Namibia by South Africa. Not content with the illegal occupation, South Africa has converted Namibia into a military base, a spring-board from which it has carried out frequent unprovoked attacks against neighbouring States.
121.	Since 1966, South Africa has defiantly resisted every move aimed at a peaceful termination of its illegal occupation of Namibia. Indeed, Africa and the entire world community are bound to ask what it is that South Africa wants. It is now more than five years since the United Nations plan for the independence of Namibia was endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 435 (1978). At the time that resolution was adopted, we hoped that South Africa had regained its senses and was ready to co-operate in implementing a peaceful transition to independence for Namibia. Our hopes have been rudely frustrated by South Africa's intransigence. Instead of moving towards the implementation of the United Nations plan for the independence of Namibia, the regime has now resorted to an intensified war against neighbouring States, particularly Angola, Mozambique and Lesotho.
122.	A State or group of States has brought up an issue simply to complicate negotiations for the independence of Namibia. We must not confuse the issue of Namibia's independence with the territorial integrity of Angola. We state here once more that we strongly reject the linking
of the independence of Namibia with the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola. We know that such linkage was first suggested and has been encouraged by one permanent member of the Security Council. Given this encouragement, South Africa has remained not only stubborn but more aggressive towards Angola. Angola is an independent State and must be accorded the right to look for help, given the aggression coming from South Africa. We will not accept any propaganda conceived in a superpower context to justify South Africa's presence in Namibia.
123.	The Security Council met in May this year and, in resolution 532 (1983), mandated the secretary-General to carry out consultations with the parties concerned. The results of those consultations reveal that South Africa is still adamantly demanding the removal of Cuban troops from Angola, as though a connection between the two issues ever existed. The international community still demands that South Africa change its stand in this issue. Furthermore, we learn that South Africa has announced its intention to establish a state council in Namibia to draw up a constitution for Namibia. The move is an attempt to impose a settlement on Namibia that is favourable to South Africa. It was condemned by the Non- Aligned Movement in March this year and deserves further condemnation by this body. The action by South Africa is not only inconsistent with Security Council resolution 439 (1978) but also represents an attempt by the Pretoria regime to obstruct the implementation of the internationally recognized United Nations plan for the independence of Namibia.
124.	The international community must face squarely its responsibility for Namibia. We remain extremely concerned that the United Nations efforts have been frustrated by the use of the veto in the Security Council. We have the rather anomalous situation where those whose efforts for the independence of Namibia are spurned by South Africa are, at the same time, the ones who protect South Africa with vetoes against the stronger action demanded by South Africa's intransigence. Something must be done to remove that anomaly. We from Africa have come a long way in our struggle to liberate our continent from regimes based on racial discrimination and colonialism. At the Seventh Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, held at New Delhi from 7 to 12 March 1983, the President of my country, Daniel Arap Moi, who was then still Chairman of the OAU Assembly, stated:
 All of us in Africa wish for nothing less on behalf of Namibia than total and unobstructed independence, so that the people of that country can work out their own political system and development strategies. We will not stop in our drive at the border of Namibia. This should serve as a clear message to South Africa and its friends.
125.	I shall now draw the Assembly's attention to one of the most dangerous areas on the international scene. I refer to the problem of the Middle East and to recent events in that area. The situation has remained tense, with violent conflicts, over the last three decades. During that time the international community has witnessed the miserable plight of the Palestinian people, dispossessed, uprooted from their land and dispersed. The threat to international peace and security coming from that area is perpetrated by Israeli policies of expansionism and aggrandizement.
126.	My delegation has, on many occasions in the deliberations of this Organization, made known its views on the question of the rights of the Palestinian people. We have stated on many occasions that there can be no lasting peace in the area until the legitimate interests of the Palestinians are fully accommodated. We have stated time and again that peace in the region can prevail only if certain conditions are fulfilled.
127.	First, Israel must withdraw from all Arab land occupied since 1967. We strongly oppose the acquisition of land through the use of force. It is regrettable that Israel continues to defy the Organization's resolutions with regard to Arab territories it occupies.
128.	Secondly, Israel must recognize the rights of the Palestinians as a people, including their rights to self- determination and to an independent State of their own. Israel must be made to understand that it cannot justify its existence by brutally denying the existence of a Palestinian State. When the Organization, back in 1947, partitioned Palestine and created a new State, Israel, it was never the intention of this body to write off the State of Palestine.
129.	Thirdly, in all negotiations aimed at solving the problems of the Middle East, the Palestinian people must participate on an equal footing with other parties.
130.	Fourthly, we must recognize Israel's right to exist as an independent State within internationally recognized borders.
131.	We believe that acceptance of those four conditions would ensure the right atmosphere for establishing peace and security in the region.
132.	It is our view that as long as the Palestinians are denied their right to self-determination the problem of the Middle East will remain unsolved. Already Israel has extended this conflict to the independent State of Lebanon, with all the shocking brutalities of last year, which left us immobilized. We call for immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanese territory in the interest of peace and stability in the region.
133.	It is regrettable that the war between Iran and Iraq continues, despite the efforts of the non-aligned countries and the international community to bring about a peaceful solution between the two brotherly States. We once again urge both countries to heed the appeals made by the international community to end this costly conflict.
134.	I should like to make a short reference to the situation obtaining in both Afghanistan and Kampuchea. Both countries, in the view of my Government, are victims of foreign interference and intervention. My country's position on this question has been voiced in international forums on various occasions, when Kenya has called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Kampuchea. Kenya deplores any foreign interference and intervention in matters that are exclusively internal to any given State. We call for full respect for the principles of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all States. A violation of these principles on any pretext is contrary to the aims and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations. In this respect, therefore, we call for the total withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Kampuchea without further delay.
135.	The issue of Cyprus continues to feature prominently in the Organization's debates. Kenya has called and will always continue to call for respect for and recognition of the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Cyprus. We call for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Cyprus. We urge the people of Cyprus themselves to revive the inter-communal talks in order to solve their problems without external obstacles.
136.	We are also extremely concerned about the continuing tensions in Central America and the Caribbean. This region is faced with serious political, social and economic crises, greatly aggravated by external intervention.

It is our view that the increasing threats and acts of aggression from outside forces have worsened the situation. My Government would like to commend the peace initiatives presented by the Governments of Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and France and the positive responses which have come from some of the States in the region.
137.	I wish to make some observations on another matter that continues to be of concern to the Organization as well as to my country. Kenya has supported and will continue to support the proposal that the Indian Ocean be designated a zone of peace. To us in Kenya, the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace  is not a political slogan but is essential for safeguarding our own territorial integrity. We support the call for an international conference on the Indian Ocean to consider all the aspects of this problem. We urge all the maritime States to co-operate fully with the littoral and hinterland States of the Ocean in the preparations for such a conference.
138.	It is with absurd cynicism that human beings seem to have opted for total annihilation as their imperative mission and ultimate destiny. We have been witnessing mounting tension and distrust all over the world. Endless negotiations have failed to promote real progress in halting the arms race or lowering the tensions among nations. The goal of general and complete disarmament continues to dude mankind, and inevitably this leaves the States living in the lengthening shadow of burgeoning nuclear stockpiles.
139.	The socio-economic problems currently contaminating the world cannot be viewed in isolation from the arms build-ups and the ever-increasing military budgets. It does not make sense or logic to be spending over $650 billion annually on the manufacture of armaments when no adequate resources are being made available for the economic development and social welfare of the majority of the world's people. It is a sad paradox of the twentieth century that the third world economies, buffeted by recession and faced with all sorts of setbacks to their economic development, are spending an average of over 12 per cent of their gross national product on the procurement of weapons of war. The accumulated experience of human history shows quite clearly that if we do not end this mad rush to manufacture more and more terrible weapons of destruction, we shall be heading for self-destruction and the annihilation of human civilization.
140.	The need to build and strengthen trust and confidence among nations is urgent and imperative, and Kenya stands ready and willing to play its part as a first step on the road to strengthening international understanding. The time has come for the adoption by the Assembly of a convention that will guarantee the security of non- nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.
141.	The continuing deterioration of the international situation and the intensification of the arms race have brought the world to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. In such a political climate no progress can be made in disarmament negotiations. We therefore call on all States, in particular the nuclear-weapon States and other militarily significant States, to demonstrate the political will and firm commitment necessary for the implementation of the recommendations made and decisions taken in the field of disarmament.
142.	One of the historic events of this decade is the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea/ The occasion not only marked the emergence of a new legal regime governing the exploitation of the sea, the sea-bed and the ocean floor and the subsoil thereof, but also demonstrated clearly the importance of equitable compromise in the interest of all mankind. The
Convention was the result of hard negotiations over a period of many years, and it is Kenya's hope that even those countries which were not able to support the Convention at the time of its adoption will find it both useful and necessary to do so in the future, to ensure uniformity in its implementation and use.
143.	As a result of the adoption of the Convention, the Preparatory Commission for the International Sea-Bed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has commenced its work. It is expected that it will bring about a smooth transition for the coming into force of the Convention. We are encouraged by this trend.
144.	The Preparatory Commission has been considering various matters relating to sea-bed mining and the question of bringing into operation the International Sea-Bed Authority, the Enterprise and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. This is a difficult task, but we are encouraged by the manner in which the Commission is tackling its work. We therefore appeal to the whole of the United Nations membership to support the Commission, for only thus can the international community be assured of a smooth, effective and uniform implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
145.	For the last nine years we have been working on ways and means of strengthening the Organization's effectiveness. In fulfilling this task under the Charter, the United Nations has faced the very basic problem of the use of the power of veto. At times this power has been abused by those to whom it has been entrusted, for selfish national interests rather than for the maintenance of international peace and security. We are disappointed with the lack of concrete progress in the work of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization. It is important for all of us to realize that unless we make the United Nations a viable organization, to enable it to maintain international peace and security as envisaged in the Charter, there will be no peace for anyone. I therefore wish to make a special appeal to the permanent members of the Security Council to allow progress to be made in the work of this Special Committee.
146.	Another area of great interest and concern to the Government and people of Kenya is the current international economic situation. We are gravely concerned at the critical situation in which the international economy finds itself today. The world economy as a whole is engulfed in a prolonged and deepening crisis which threatens the economic future of all countries, but it is the developing countries which have been hit the hardest by its effects, resulting in the severe curtailment of their economic growth and seriously impairing their prospects for years to come.
147.	The economic situation in the developing countries is pathetic. It is in those countries that we find acute balance-of-payments problems, foreign exchange shortages, falling per capita incomes, rapidly rising unemployment, high rates of inflation and other economic problems. In Africa particularly, the Governments continue to battle with economic problems of such magnitude that they are unable to meet targets contained in their own development plans. As a result, the African peoples continue to be plagued by hunger, disease and ignorance many years after achieving independence.
148.	One wonders whether there is sufficient concern among the developed countries of the North over the declining per capita incomes of the developing countries which are already over-burdened by extreme poverty,
malnutrition and massive underemployment. One wonders also whether there is sufficient understanding of the implications of investment cutbacks and disrupted development programmes in the developing countries. The intense problems that the people in the developing countries face every day of their lives in a situation with no hope for the future should not be tolerated. We cannot expect international peace and security to prevail if the present world economic disorder persists. We should not underestimate the dangers that could arise from the majority of the people in the developing countries of the South who continue to be victims of the present international economic arrangement and whose hopes for a better tomorrow are dwindling at an alarming rate.
149.	The outlook for international economic relations is grim. While the attempt to launch global negotiations in the United Nations continues to face an impasse, many developed countries are not honouring their past commitments. In some cases, some developed countries have shown signs of disowning commitments contained in the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade and other resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and in other bodies of the United Nations. In view of all this, the developing countries, including my own, feel disillusioned, as they continue to face stagnating or falling export earnings, high debt-service burdens, investment cutbacks, rising unemployment and continuous decline in per capita incomes.
150.	This session is being held at a time when the economic problems confronting the developing countries are more acute than ever. In the view of my delegation, trade is a very important component of international economic co-operation. Its decline has deprived developing countries of the badly needed foreign exchange without which they are unable to import capital goods and other things required for economic development. The terms of trade of the developing countries have been declining for years, but they have deteriorated sharply since 1980, when the prices of primary commodities collapsed. Since 1980 the tide of protectionism in the developed market-economy countries has been more evident than ever before because of inward-looking policies of these countries. It was painfully apparent last November that the ministerial- level meeting of the Contracting Parties of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade lacked the liberal consensus which characterized previous trade rounds.
151.	As the Assembly is aware, developing countries members of the Group of 77 met at Buenos Aires to prepare the Buenos Aires Platform/ in preparation for the sixth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which was held at Belgrade from 6 June to 2 July 1983. The Group of 77 had undertaken intensive work to arrive at its positions, which include specific proposals for action by the international community to improve international trading relations. Needless to say, the developing countries were disappointed at Belgrade because, whereas they went there with open minds for negotiations, they were treated to negative attitudes of the States in Group 3. The theme of recovery and development which was the central theme of the sixth session was therefore diluted by developed countries, which refused to co-operate in the vital areas of trade, money and finance. My delegation joins those delegations which feel that the session failed just at a time when immediate measures were needed to improve the terms of trade of the developing countries.
152.	The developing countries are in great need of financial resources, without which they cannot continue their development efforts. For my own country, the year 1982/83 was particularly difficult because the Government had to curtail expenditures. Yet, this was happening only two years after the adoption by the international community in 1980 of the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade, in which it was recognized that external financial resources, particularly official development assistance, constitute an indispensable element of support for the developing countries' own efforts. I will be speaking for the developing countries if I say that none of the major developed countries will have reached the target of the 0.7 per cent of their gross national product required by the Strategy by 1985. We have only 14 months to go before January 1985.
153.	Let me take this opportunity to repeat that the present international monetary and financial arrangements are not adequate for the equitable development of the world economy and accelerated development of developing countries as anticipated in the International Development Strategy. Although the Bretton Woods institutions were created for that purpose, they seem to act more in the interest of the developed countries than the developing countries. These views were expressed in the statement recently made by my President at  one of the international meetings where he stated:
 We should also recall that rules governing the major international lending institutions—the IMF and the World Bank—were designed in the absence of developing countries, and we still have very little say in the respective decision-making processes. This is a frustration to the whole situation, since there is much hard-won experience, embodying opinions and ideas, which the developing States could now contribute. My own view is that there is now an abundant case for restructuring of the international monetary system, and there is most certainly a need for resuming allocations of special drawing rights as a feature of some expanded and liberalized measures of balance of payments support for developing countries.
154.	As an immediate measure in this regard, the seventh summit meeting of the non-aligned countries, meeting at New Delhi last March, proposed an international conference on money and finance for development at which some of the most pressing monetary and financial issues in the developing countries would be tackled. These proposals, which have now been widely accepted, should be endorsed at this session.
155.	My Government attaches the greatest importance to the industrialization of developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It will be recalled that last year the Assembly adopted resolution 37/212, which, infer requested the Secretary-General to allocate adequate staff and financial resources so as to ensure the effective co-ordination and implementation of the activities of UNIDO and ECA related to the Industrial Development Decade for Africa. Since this session of the Assembly will be considering the report of the Industrial Development Board , it is my sincere hope that there have been responses in order to implement the programme of the Decade. In this connection, also, I urge the Fourth General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization to give significance to the Decade by including it in its agenda.
156.	Turning now to the question of science and technology, I would like to stress that my Government attaches great significance to development of science and technology developing countries. We believe that science and technology are crucial vehicles for the implementation of the International Development Strategy and for
the early attainment of the new international economic order. It is regrettable, therefore, that four years after the conclusion of the Vienna Programme of Action on Science and Technology for Development,  no substantial agreement has been reached to implement the Programme, especially as it relates to financial resources. My Government urgently calls for an early resolution of the unresolved issues in the Vienna Programme of Action through intensified negotiations within the appropriate United Nations bodies, including the Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development.
157.	Energy is an essential element of the development process and it continues to cause very serious problems, particularly to developing nations like my own which are adversely affected by the energy crisis. The need to shift nations from dependence on petroleum to greater reliance on alternative sources of energy led to the adoption in 1981 of the Nairobi Programme of Action for the Development and Utilization of New and Renewable Sources of Energy.? My delegation at this juncture is concerned at the slow pace in the implementation of the Nairobi Programme, particularly on the question of mobilization of financial resources for harnessing new and renewable sources of energy. During this session of the Assembly, the Kenya delegation stands ready to participate actively in the discussions of this item in order to find ways and means of implementing the Programme without further delay.
158.	We are aware of the reports submitted to the Assembly on the eleventh session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme and the sixth session of the Commission on Human Settlements. The important recommendations of those two organs need implementation and, for that to be done, adequate financial resources are indeed necessary. My delegation therefore calls on the developed donor countries and others in a position to do so to make substantial contributions towards the implementation of the planned programmes in the fields of environment and human settlements.
159.	Turning now to the question of economic and technical co-operation among developing countries, Kenya has repeatedly called on developing countries to intensify their co-operation at subregional, regional and interregional levels in all fields. As for the developed countries, my delegation urges them to view activities in connection with economic and technical co-operation among developing countries not as being discriminatory against them, but as complementing North-South co-operation. The developed countries should therefore accord all necessary support to those activities.
160.	It was in the spirit of South-South co-operation that developing countries adopted the Caracas Programme of Action in 1981, the implementation of which has been enhanced by the many intergovernmental economic and technical meetings in the last two years. Also, in certain regions new initiatives of South-South co-operation have emerged. For instance, in December 1981 some 18 countries of eastern and southern Africa concluded a treaty establishing a preferential trade area which is already operational, the treaty having been signed and ratified by the majority of the member States. The technical services utilized during the negotiations of that treaty were rendered by ECA. My Government and other Governments of the subregion would appreciate any assistance to the young preferential trade area in order to make it a reality.
161.	The critical economic problems facing Africa require concerted international attention. Africa is the least developed of all the continents and suffers from underdevelopment, food shortages, balance-of-payments problems, foreign exchange shortages and acute lack of external financial resources for development. In addition to these problems, Africa has a majority of the least developed countries. Out of all the problems facing Africa, my delegation would like to single out the acute food shortages that recent reports have shown. Food and agricultural production have declined drastically in Africa in the recent years owing, inter alia to adverse climatic conditions, rising population, inadequate investment in the agricultural sector, lack of storage facilities and shortage of foreign exchange to import agricultural items such as fertilizers. Yet food and agriculture are the most important elements in human life because they involve the very survival of mankind in that food is a basic need. It is necessary, therefore, for the international community to take urgent collective measures to assist African countries in the implementation of the Lagos Plan of Action for the economic development of Africa in order to alleviate critical food shortages and to attain self-sufficiency in food in Africa. It is particularly important for the international community to assist African Governments to adopt and implement food policies at the national level. We therefore look forward to increased assistance from both bilateral donors and multilateral sources.
162.	We end by appealing to all gathered here during the thirty-eighth session of the General Assembly to make concrete, practical and action-oriented recommendations and decisions which are geared towards making this world a better place for mankind as a whole today and in the days to come.


2.	 Mr. President, on behalf of Democratic Kampuchea, I have the honour to extend to you my warmest congratulations on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly and the conduct of the business of this important session.
3.	Your brilliant election is a well-deserved tribute by the international community to you personally, to your country, the Republic of Panama, and its valiant people, and to the whole of Latin America, whose historic contribution to the elaboration and formulation of the noble principles of the Charter and to their defence has constantly had a positive effect on the destiny of the Organization.
4.	Allow me to greet the Secretary-General and to convey to him, on behalf of my country and its national coalition Government, our sincere admiration and profound gratitude for his courageous, resolute and clear sighted action in the service of justice and peace in an uneasy world.
5.	Finally, I warmly welcome, on behalf of Democratic Kampuchea, the entry of the sovereign State of Saint Christopher and Nevis into the Organization, and pay a tribute to the States Members of the United Nations which, faithful to the noble ideals of the Charter of the United Nations, and going against the wind and the tide, support an independent, neutral and non-aligned Kampuchea and maintain the rights and legitimacy of our Government within this Assembly. I feel it my duty to state here that the United Nations is the last hope of attacked, oppressed and colonized peoples such as mine, who are the victims of hegemonistic and expansionist Powers.
6.	It is to the credit of the United Nations that the General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority, continues to see that Democratic Kampuchea receives justice. Some Governments friendly to the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam now wish to oust Democratic Kampuchea and replace it by a regime which, as everybody well knows, has been installed in our capital by the Vietnamese army. As all people of good faith have noted, this regime represents only its foreign masters. It consists of mere puppets whose strings are pulled by Hanoi. Is it conceivable that these puppets could become Members of the United Nations?
7.	By contrast, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, its Administration and its armed forces have gathered around them, in resistance to the occupiers, all Khmer patriots, men and women, from all sectors and of all ideological or political tendencies.
8.	Our Government is not in exile. Its Ministers are working and carrying on the struggle on the national soil of Kampuchea, which at the present time comprises several liberated zones, not only near Thailand's border, but also in the south-west, the north-east and other parts of the country. Our liberated zones are controlled by the armed forces of our tripartite Coalition, whose fighters increase in number year by year. At present they consist of about 60,000 armed men capable of operating far from their bases. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, old people and children live in these zones. At least 300,000 people live near the Thai-Kampuchean border.
9.	Those in foreign circles hostile to my Government have asserted that it "controls no territory". I would point out to them that in April and May 1983, at the height of the Vietnamese offensive against our main bases, I received on the national territory of Kampuchea six ambassadors from friendly countries, who presented their credentials to me in the presence of radio and television teams and correspondents from the international press.
10.	Foreign personalities who doubt the vitality of our national resistance may, if they wish, accompany me in January 1984 to free Kampuchea to meet our people, our soldiers, our Buddhist monks and our Muslim and Christian compatriots. They will also have the opportunity to witness the arrival in the liberated area of Kampuchea of at least four ambassadors coming from friendly countries to present their credentials to the President of Democratic Kampuchea.
11.	It is therefore obvious that the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, an important military Power, has not succeeded in taking control of the whole of Kampuchea, despite massive aid from the Soviet Union.
12.	I would add that during the last dry season the massive, murderous offensives launched by the Vietnamese army against our bases and our liberated zones met with a military setback. To take revenge for that setback, the enemy attacked our civilian population and massacred a large number of elderly people, women—including pregnant women—and children who could not be evacuated in time from the villages close to the front.
13.	The Vietnamese armed forces are, and will remain, incapable of wiping out Kampuchean patriots on Kampuchean soil. If the United Nations were to expel from its midst the Government of a country which is the victim of aggression and which defends with courage its inalienable right to freedom and self-determination that would be tantamount to repudiating its Charter and everything that justifies its existence.
14.	I well understand that the United Nations attaches the greatest importance to the problems of underdevelopment, to the painful plight of refugees throughout the world, to North-South co-operation and to other similar vital problems.
15.	In my humble opinion, however, we must not permit a situation in which we cannot see the wood for the trees. The problem of refugees, for instance, cannot be resolved while its root causes, which are primarily political, remain.
16.	The Secretary-General, in his report on the work of the Organization said: "The problem of refugees can be resolved only with a settlement of the root political causes". The question of the Kampuchean refugees cannot be resolved without the settlement of its root problem—the political problem of Kampuchea. If hundreds of thousands of Khmers have sought refuge outside their country, it is clearly because they did not, and do not, support domination by the Vietnamese.
17.	Since 1979 the General Assembly has adopted each year, at each of its sessions, just resolutions on Kampuchea. The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and its allies have rejected those resolutions, despite the fact that they are Members of the Organization and should be the first to respect them conscientiously.
18.	At present, the Kingdom of Thailand has to bear the heavy burden of sheltering hundreds of thousands of Kampuchean refugees who obstinately refuse to return to their villages where they would live under Vietnamese domination.
19.	Even now, every day dozens of my compatriots fleeing from the Vietnamese occupiers come at great risk to take refuge in the Thai-Kampuchean border areas, thus creating increasingly serious social and economic problems. Those problems are tackled, with boundless devotion and great difficulty, by a number of compassionate countries, in particular Thailand, and various international organizations such as UNHCR, the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, UNDRO, and other humanitarian organizations.
20.	The countries which have taken in the Kampuchean refugees have done their duty nobly, but most of them have let us know that from now on it will be difficult for them to accept any more refugees.
21.	The United States of America and France alone have already given shelter to more than 100,000 of our compatriots. Tens of thousands of others have taken refuge in Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan and Senegal and other countries of Africa. Overall, about one million Kampuchean refugees have been scattered to the four comers of the world or live in the liberated zones of Kampuchea among the local population, which shows that my compatriots absolutely refuse to live under the yoke of Vietnamese colonialism.
22.	The propaganda of Hanoi claims that my people reject Sihanouk and his Coalition Government. If that is so, why do Viet Nam, its allies and its friends persist so steadfastly and vehemently in refusing to allow the Kampuchean people to choose freely its own form of government through general elections held under international supervision as advocated by the United Nations? That categorical refusal is irrefutable evidence of the fact that the people and the nation of Kampuchea demand the departure of the Vietnamese and the removal of their puppets and lackeys in Phnom Penh.
23.	It is my hope and that of all Kampuchean patriots that at the present session of the General Assembly the
delegations of all countries committed to justice, independence and peace will support my country by voting overwhelmingly in favour of its rebirth as a sovereign, neutral and independent State, free from all foreign occupation.
24.	The present situation in Kampuchea is worsening as a result of the fact that in addition to the 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers and the thousands of "technicians" and "advisers" from Hanoi who control a part of our country, there are about 600,000 Vietnamese settlers who have been sent to our country to exploit our lands and rice fields, our villages, forests, lakes, rivers, coasts and other natural resources.
25.	That figure of 600,000 Vietnamese settlers dispatched to Kampuchea has been confirmed by our Thai neighbour. At a meeting with the international press at Bangkok, on i6 September 1983, Mr. Jetn Sucharitkul, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, said that Viet Nam "has sent nearly 600,000 Vietnamese immigrants to settle in Kampuchea."
26.	The sending of Vietnamese settlers by the Hanoi Government physically to vietnamize my country has been carried out at a dramatically accelerated rate.
27.	The nation review of Bangkok, on Friday, 11 March 1983, wrote the following:
"According to intelligence reports, the migration rate was on the rise last year without any sign that the massive flow would slow down in the near future. With the resettlement of the Vietnamese immigrants in re-  source-rich areas—some of which, if not all, are their exclusive zone—along the Viet Nam-Kampuchea border, around Tonle Sap and in the capital of Phnom Penh, growing conflicts between them and the local people have been reported, prompting the Heng Samrin regime to issue at least two sets of directives late last year to minimize the conflicts. Still, the announcements, particularly the one released on 10 October, made it clear that the regime would continue to be committed to the policy on the Vietnamese immigrants and 'widening the scope of exchange of views between the two peoples and promoting their connections, which will lead to co-operation and unity of the two countries'.
"Vietnamese troops who defected to the Moulinaka resistance movement on 1 April last year were also quoted as saying that Hanoi was pursuing every available means to get the Vietnamese people resettled in Kampuchea—as many of them as possible."
28.	In addition to that physical vietnamization of Kampuchea, there is an odious cultural vietnamization of the life of our colonized people.
29.	Mr. Colin Campbell, who was in Phnom Penh seven months ago, wrote an article on that subject that was published in New York Times on 3 April 1983. He said, among other things, the following:
"More than four years after its invasion of Cambodia, Viet Nam has extended its influence deep into the daily lives of the Cambodian people.
"In the marketplace and the rice field, on the stage, in the classroom, in Government offices and elsewhere, Viet Nam's influence over the Cambodians is far- reaching . . .
"Politically, the Vietnamese-installed Government of President Heng Samrin ... is still deeply dependent
for its basic policies and ideology on Vietnamese advisers and Vietnamese patterns.
"[Cambodian] students, when greeted in French by the reporters, appeared not to know the language.
"And since the new Cambodian school system does not offer French, the country's acquaintance with medical and other technical world literatures would seem to be at an awkward stage.
"The Minister of Education, Pen Navuth, said later in an interview that learning Vietnamese was part of the 'mutual co-operation' between the two nations.
" The study of Vietnamese takes place not only in the medical faculty but in all ministries', he said.
"To date, the books have all been printed in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.
"They teach literature and history by . . . praising the long ties between the 'progressive forces' of Viet Nam and Cambodia, the unity of lndo-China and its deep friendship with the Soviet Union, and by explaining the 'two revolutionary tasks' of Viet Nam and now of Cambodia: the defence and construction of communism.
"The portraits on the library wall are of Marx, Lenin, Heng Samrin and Ho Chi Minh.
"Gratitude towards Viet Nam [is] repeated on the Government radio and amplified morning and night, wherever there are loudspeakers across Cambodia.
"At the Royal Palace . . . young dancers in Cambodia's national ballet can be seen varying traditional sequences with new ones of a political sort. Three young women flow onto the stage in the traditional clothes of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.
"The flag of international communism serves as the unifying symbol in a performance at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. At a park, a plane in a children's ride bears the Vietnamese flag and the date of the friendship pact between Cambodia and Viet Nam. In the capital, a sober educated Cambodian pulled a Western reporter aside and told him, simply and desperately, that the Vietnamese were 'very bad'.
"Derogatory Khmer terms for the Vietnamese are heard regularly in private conversations. And a few Cambodian officials are said not to have enjoyed the company of their Vietnamese advisers. The Chief of Staff in 1979 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chea Tra, was said by two defectors to have grown so angry at his Vietnamese adviser that he shot him dead."
30. Among the prominent foreign personalities who particularly sympathize with the unspeakable sufferings of the Kampuchean people, I should like to quote Mr. Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius, who said the following from this rostrum last week:
"In South-East Asia we are witnesses to ruthless cultural destruction in which the proud Khmers continue to suffer the occupation of their country. A rich and ancient civilization, nurtured patiently over several centuries, is being mercilessly destroyed and the genius of the Khmer people is being regimented out of existence. We are appalled by the lack of concern shown by the world for what has become an endangered people and a civilization facing extinction. The fact that this sore has festered for eight years does not in any way attenuate the urgency of finding a solution to it. We call for the immediate termination of the foreign occupation of Cambodia, the restoration of its non- aligned status and the re-establishment of the Cambodian people's right to self-determination in a truly independent country." Before touching the last part of my statement, which will be devoted to our foreign policy, I shall quote to you from one of the numerous foreign reports on the vitality and development of our national resistance to the Vietnamese occupation.
31.	The following are excerpts from the article entitled "The New Indochina War" by Mr. Al Santoli, published by Random House in 1983:
"In the four and a half years since the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in December 1978 , . . they and the puppet government they installed have not won what the Americans used to call the hearts and the minds of the people. Resistance throughout the countryside has been growing considerably . . ."Despite the presence of 200,000 Soviet-armed and Soviet-advised Vietnamese troops and with little aid from the outside world, each year resistance activities increase, even near the capital and the Vietnamese border. In an eerie echo of earlier wars, the Vietnamese control the day but fear the night. In Phnom Penh and in provincial capitals, early evening curfews are enforced. The current Phnom Penh Government, which call itself the People's Republic of Kampuchea . . . depends almost entirely on Vietnamese troops for its survival.
"Except for the terror attacks on civilian camps, this war has not gone well for the Vietnamese. They have suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and officials in Hanoi admit that troop morale has faded. Phanat Nikhom camp in Thailand holds hundreds of Vietnamese military deserters. Nguyen Xuan Han, a defector who fought against the Americans in Viet Nam and marched victoriously into Saigon in 1975, told Ronald Yates of the Chicago Tribune last May: 'The war will never end in Cambodia. Instead, the blood of Viet Nam turns the rice paddies red and Cambodia has become Viet Nam's grave.' Another Vietnamese, Mr. Pham, said: 'The Cambodian nationalist soldiers are tough. They believe they are fighting to keep their culture from ending. And they are right. What Hanoi is doing is not according to the socialism I was taught. Instead, it is just killing off our young people.'
"The army of Heng Samrin's puppet government has tried conscripting men from 14 to 45 years of age and women from 18 to 45. But many defect because they do not want to fight their own people. Those caught trying to flee to resistance-controlled areas have been severely punished by the Vietnamese. Some have been executed . . ."
32.	We sincerely hope that a political solution can be found for the problem of Kampuchea, one in keeping with the just resolutions adopted by the General Assembly on Kampuchea.
33.	We call upon the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Soviet U in to respect those resolutions and to participate in the International Conference on Kampuchea in order to solve this problem for which those two Powers bear the major part of the responsibility in Kampuchea.
34.	Viet Nam has never stopped saying that it will withdraw all its troops from Kampuchea when the so- called Chinese threat has disappeared. All honest observers can testify that there is no "Chinese threat" either in my country or near it. The only threat in our region, South-East Asia, comes from the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Soviet Union.
35.	The best guarantee that the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea can give to those two Powers is the following. First, our Kampuchea, once completely liberated, will be strictly neutral and non-aligned. Our country will be as neutral in Asia as Switzerland and Austria are in Europe. Secondly, the general elections in Kampuchea will be held under United Nations supervision.
36.	In this respect, we approve and will implement point 4 of the Joint Statement by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, circulated recently as a United Nations document	which reads as follows:
" . following the total withdrawal of foreign troops from Kampuchea, the Kampuchean people must be able to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through internationally-supervised elections in which all Kampucheans shall participate and all political groups in Kampuchea should be encouraged to work towards the goal of national reconciliation."
37.	Thirdly, there will also be reconciliation and friendship with Viet Nam and its allies if they once and for all stop interfering in Kampuchea's internal affairs and respect the independence, sovereignty, neutrality and territorial integrity of our country.
38.	The struggle for national liberation that is being carried on by those people is inseparable from the struggle of other people that are the victims of injustice.
39.	However difficult our own situation may be, it is our duty to show our complete solidarity with our valiant brothers.
40.	Our most sincere good wishes go to our brothers and sisters of Laos, whose legitimate aspiration is to recover their national independence and freedom.
41.	We reiterate our firm support for the Afghan people who have been struggling heroically against Soviet invasion and occupation for at out four years. We call for the total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, to enable the Afghan people to exercise freely their right to self-determination, and the Afghan people to regain its sovereignty and status as a genuinely non-aligned country.
42.	We express once again our unwavering support for the Korean people who, with confidence, courage and tenacity, have been striving for years to establish the conditions necessary for the reunification of their homeland. We reaffirm our strong support for the just, realistic and wise proposals put forward by Marshal Kim 11 Sung, President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, for the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea.
43.	Our solidarity with the Palestinian people and the other Arab peoples struggling to recover all their territories occupied since 1967 has never wavered.
44.	We remain convinced that peace and security in the Middle East cannot be re-established without a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the Palestinian problem, worked out with the full participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLC], the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and nation. Such a solution can be found only by implementing the relevant United Nations resolutions and the Declaration of the International Conference on the Question of Palestine held recently at Geneva.'
45.	Further delay in solving the Palestinian problem can only increase tension in the region. This has been proved by the worsening of the situation in Lebanon. It is urgently necessary that all foreign forces whose deployment in the country is not authorized by the Government of Lebanon withdraw and that the independence, sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon be respected by all States.
46.	We earnestly hope that the Lebanese people will be able to resolve their problems without foreign interference and in national harmony.
47.	We also hope no less earnestly that genuine reconciliation will soon make it possible to put an end to the bloody war between the two neighbouring, brother countries of Iraq and Iran.
48.	We reaffirm our strong solidarity with the Namibian people, under the leadership of the South West Africa People's Organization and other African peoples in their just struggle against the racist regime of Pretoria, and we hope that Namibia will soon achieve independence, with territorial integrity.
49.	In this respect, allow me to congratulate the Secretary-General on his commendable efforts and initiatives aimed at ensuring the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions on Namibia.
50.	The international community is also worried about the situation in the Horn of Africa. In this regard, we support the just stand adopted by the Organization of African Unity and the States concerned, aimed at the restoration of peace in that region. We reaffirm our strong solidarity with the people of Somalia, who are waging a valiant and legitimate struggle to safeguard the independence and ensure the territorial integrity of their country.
51.	We reaffirm our fraternal support for the people and Government of Chad in the just struggle they are waging to safeguard the territorial integrity and defend the independence, sovereignty and national unity of their land. We hope that the people of Chad soon gain peace by means of national reconciliation, and live in security within the frontiers internationally recognized since the decolonization of their country.
52.	Finally, the situation in Central America and the Caribbean remains of concern to the international community owing to the increasing tension that prevails there. We support the sincere efforts and initiatives of the Contadora Group aimed at finding a peaceful solution.
53.	In conclusion, I wish the delegations participating in the present session of the General Assembly full success in their noble and important tasks.