42.	 It gives me great pleasure to extend to the President of the Assembly the warm felicitations of my delegation on his election to the high office of the presidency of this session. His election is a recognition of his qualities of leadership, of which the Assembly has already had proof.
43.	I should like also to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria, who presided with distinction over the twenty-ninth session of the Assembly and its recently concluded seventh special session. His address at the closing session of the twenty-ninth General Assembly struck an eloquent note of conciliation which, we are confident, will continue to inspire the deliberations of the United Nations in its various forums.
44.	As a visible symbol of the United Nations and with the access he has to Governments of Member
States, the Secretary-General is in a special position to exert his influence in promoting the attainment of the objectives of the Charter. I should like to pay my delegation's tribute to Mr. Kurt Waldheim for the initiatives he has taken and the understanding and discretion he has exhibited in discharging this responsibility, thereby enhancing the stature of his office and enlarging the beneficent role of the United Nations in world affairs.
45.	As our Organization celebrates the thirtieth year of its existence, we are happy to note that the goal of universality of membership draws near. My country joins other Members of the United Nations in extending a warm welcome to Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Cape Verde. The presence of those States here today as sovereign equals is a culmination of a long and heroic struggle by their peoples. Their triumph marks the fall of one of the few remaining citadels of colonial rule in Africa, which embodied an abominable system based on racial oppression and ruthless exploitation.
46.	We look forward to the admission to the United Nations of Papua New Guinea and warmly congratulate its people on their achievement of independence. We have noted with appreciation the role that the Government of Australia has played in this regard.
47.	Angola, which is expected to join the United Nations next month, is troubled by a tragic, fratricidal strife, even as it approaches the goal of freedom for which all its people have fought unitedly, valiantly and for so long. We are confident that the people of Angola can resolve their differences and we believe that they should be allowed to do so without outside interference.
48.	The dismantling of the Portuguese colonial empire has significantly changed the complexion of the political scene in the long-tormented region of southern Africa. It has materially and morally reinforced the just struggle of the valiant peoples of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa against racism in its most odious form. The changed political map of Africa has obliged the minority regimes in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa to reassess their racist and colonial policies. We commend the efforts made by the African leaders to explore possibilities of a peaceful settlement, while Africa presses its advantage and intensifies its struggle for total emancipation. The people and the Government of Pakistan will continue to lend their full support to this struggle.
49.	My delegation is gratified to welcome back to this Assembly the representatives of Cambodia, with which my country has warm and friendly relations. We are confident that in the near future representatives of the courageous people of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the Republic of South Viet Nam will also be able to take their rightful places in the family of nations. We hope that the bitterness of the long and terrible war which ravaged IndoChina will now be forgotten and put behind us.
50.	My Government supports the basic and fundamental right of the Korean people to self-determination and reunification by peaceful means. The goal of reunification of their country is accepted by the parties concerned as well as by the international community. There are differences, however, over the manner in which that goal can be achieved. We support the view that the Korean question should be resolved by the people of Korea themselves, free from all external pressure or interference. We consider that the time has come for the dissolution of the United Nations Command in Korea. We believe that the international community should encourage a dialog between the parties concerned and should refrain from any action which might hinder the process of reconciliation and reunification of the Korean people.
51.	I now turn to the situation in the Middle East. It has been repeatedly emphasized in this forum that no lasting peace can be established in the Middle East so long as the Arab-Israeli conflict is not justly resolved. The essential ingredients of such a settlement have also been repeatedly stated: they are set out in Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and have been reiterated in many important forums. They include withdrawal of Israel from all the Arab Territories occupied by it in 1967, including the holy city of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the national rights of the people of Palestine. No settlement which does not conform to those conditions will last. Not until such a settlement is reached will there be durable peace in this region.
52.	It is against that background that we view the recent agreement involving a limited withdrawal by Israel in the Sinai. We welcome it as a step but only a step towards the final settlement of the Arab- Israeli conflict. Even so, it has not been easy of achievement. We trust that the momentum it has generated will be maintained and that all concerned will continue to strive to resolve the basic issues that underlie the conflict in the Middle East.
53.	No people can countenance the desecration of places of worship. The firing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969 and the recent partitioning of the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Al-Khalil constitute an outrage against the religious susceptibilities of Moslems throughout the world. They are also a gratuitous affront to fundamental values shared by all religions and all peoples. Israel must undo such wrongs, repair the damage that has been done and desist in future from all such steps, as they can only aggravate an already explosive situation.
54.	We are deeply conscious also of the need for an early solution of the conflict in Cyprus. Pakistan has always supported a settlement that would fully ensure for the two communities on the island the exercise of their fundamental rights and would enable them to live peacefully side by side with each other. We hope that the efforts made by the Secretary- General and the willingness to negotiate shown by the parties will pave the way for a final settlement and restore peace and tranquility in that area.
55.	Turning to the subcontinent, it is gratifying to note that progress towards normalization of relations between India and Pakistan is being sustained. Under the Simla Agreement of 2 July 1972, both countries are committed to promoting a friendly and harmonious relationship between them and to working for the establishment of durable peace in the subcontinent. Pakistan is resolved to continue to work for that objective.
56.	My Government is also engaged in working for the establishment of normal, friendly relations with Bangladesh. We reciprocate the desire recently expressed by the President of Bangladesh to establish cordial relations with Pakistan. We believe that the establishment of such a relationship will not only redound to the mutual benefit of the peoples of both countries, but will also contribute to strengthening peace and stability in South Asia.
57.	To that end we are resolved to continue to strive to normalize our relations with all our neighbors. Needless to say, we can succeed in doing so only on the understanding that each country will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other and will not interfere in the other's internal affairs. With Afghanistan, in particular, we have abiding ties historical, cultural, geographical and economic  and we have every hope that, given goodwill on both sides, friendly relations can be established between our two countries, to the great advantage of our peoples.
58.	I now come to an issue of universal concern  nuclear proliferation. Ever since India exploded a nuclear device last year, world attention has increasingly focused on the dangers of nuclear proliferation. We consider it entirely right that this should be so. Pakistan would strongly support the adoption of such safeguards as might be necessary to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We trust, however, that the safeguards would not be discriminatory in nature and would not unduly hinder the developing countries in proceeding with their programs for exploiting nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
59.	Listening to debates on this subject, one gains the impression that there is a tendency to assume that all will be well with the world if only non-nuclear States are prevented from producing nuclear weapons. We consider that to be a dangerous illusion. The threat of nuclear extinction that faces the world will be scarcely any the less for the fact that only five Powers may produce and stockpile nuclear weapons. It is to that terrible threat that those weapons pose to life on this planet no matter who produces them that sooner or later the United Nations will have to address itself.
60.	In this context, my delegation has noted with interest the proposals made by the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Those proposals merit study in .appropriate forums. However, neither of them touches upon the alarming problem of the existing and steadily increasing stockpiles of nuclear weapons. There are already enough of those weapons to devastate vast areas of this globe within a matter of minutes. The only way to ward off such a calamity would be for the nuclear Powers to agree not only to refrain from producing more nuclear weapons but also to destroy existing stockpiles. There is no other way that will assure mankind that it will not be engulfed one day in a nuclear holocaust.
61.	The dismal failure of almost all previous disarmament efforts does not warrant any hope that such an agreement will be reached in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, certain other steps need to be urgently taken. One such step is indicated in a resolution adopted by 40 members of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held at Jedda last July. That resolution urges the nuclear-weapon States to undertake not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances against those non-nuclear-weapon States which are not protected by treaty guarantees from the nuclear Powers against a nuclear threat or attack.
62.	It will be noted that this resolution specifically excludes States, such as those in Europe, which are covered by treaty guarantees by the super-Powers. This, it was hoped, would make the resolution generally acceptable. The proposed undertaking would not only give non-nuclear-weapon States a most needed sense of security against a possible nuclear attack; it would also act as a strong disincentive to nuclear proliferation, since the urge to become a nuclear-weapon State arises basically from the fear that one's adversary possesses, or may come to possess, nuclear weapons.
63.	Another step that might help remove that fear from the minds of non-nuclear-weapon States is the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones. The As-sembly has before it various proposals pertaining to the creation and strengthening of such zones in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and the South Pacific. In view of the establishment of nuclear-free zones in Latin America, the Antarctic, the sea-bed and the ocean floor, and outer space, these proposals represent a universal urge on the part of non-nuclear- weapon States to exclude nuclear weapons from their regions, thus enhancing their security and strengthening international peace. The establishment of such zones will also help accelerate the utilization of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
64.	For our part, following the adoption last year by this Assembly of the two resolutions for a nuclear- weapon-free zone in South Asia [resolutions 3265 A and B (XXIX)], we have held consultations to explore ways and means of achieving the objectives of these resolutions. All States in the region have affirmed their commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons. However, differences of a fundamental nature remain to be resolved before an agreement can be reached. We look forward to holding further consultations in this regard with the countries concerned during the current session.
65.	In the economic field, Pakistan has held that a dialog aimed at evolving generally acceptable solutions is the most effective means of promoting co-operation between the developed and developing countries. We believe that it is in the interest of the international community that the third-world demands for justice and equity be met. It was in this spirit that my Government appraoched the sixth special session of the Assembly last year.
66.	In preparation for the seventh special session, the developing countries, motivated by the same spirit, advisedly selected a limited number of important issues as the basis for negotiations in that session. We are happy that a broad agreement was achieved on those issues, thereby preparing the ground for further progress in this Assembly and in the forthcoming conference in Paris and at the fourth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
67.	The constructive spirit, reflecting a perception of a common interest, with which all countries approached those complex issues was the most significant feature of the seventh special session.
68.	The same spirit will, we hope, animate discussions in this Assembly, the Paris Conference on International Economic Co-operation and other forums. We must also keep in view the need to ensure that the commitments and obligations already undertaken are implemented in full. Further, in keeping with the dynamic nature of the process of economic development, we must encourage the continuous and progressive evolution of the global dialog as an essential feature of that process.
69.	No comment on the international economic situation can be adequate without a reference to the very serious and continuously deteriorating situation in the low-income countries. The developed countries have already demonstrated their ability to absorb the effects of the crisis resulting from the events of the past two years. But the crisis in the developing countries has persisted and the situation has, in fact, gravely deteriorated. The oil-exporting countries have pledged substantial resources for assistance to these countries, resources far in excess of the targets envisaged in the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)]. However, the unprecedented escalation of prices of the essential imports of developing countries, coupled with deterioration in their terms of trade, has seriously jeopardized the maintenance of even minimum levels of consumption and development. In such a critical situation, it is imperative that all countries play their part in enabling those countries to restore, and indeed step up, their economic growth.
70.	It is now generally recognized that, while development assistance, balance-of-payments support and debt relief can help tide the developing countries over their immediate difficulties, they cannot alone provide an enduring solution to the basic problem of under-development. The cure lies in the creation of self-reliant economies in the developing countries so that those countries themselves can create the capacity to meet their development needs. There is thus an urgent need for fundamental reforms to provide those countries with equal opportunities to share the economic growth and prosperity of the international community.
71.	Thirty years is not a long period in the history of man or his institutions. Yet in this time span the world has changed beyond recognition and so has this Organ-ization, in terms of both the size of its membership and the nature and range of its concerns. Differences in political influence, military power and economic capacity among the nations of the world are such that formal independence does not always make a country master of its destiny. The concept of interdependence, arising from a recognition of mankind's common interests, has gained wise acceptance in recent years. To translate that concept into reality is the most important task facing the international community. In this regard, a particular responsibility devolves upon the small and medium-sized States. For, as the President of the twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly observed, the center of decision in the United Nations has shifted and, I would add, not by virtue of numbers alone in the direction of the smaller, the weaker, the least wealthy countries. The impatience of those countries for change should not be misconstrued as unreason or hostility towards others. On the contrary, it can lend impetus to progress and co-operation among all.
72.	The politics of the cold war and its polemics are gradually fading from the scene. The Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe signed at Helsinki will mark, we hope, not - only the formal end of the cold war but the beginning of a chapter of peace and co-operation not confined to one particular region. In the new world which is emerging, the old distinctions and groupings of countries are beginning to lose relevance. The establishment of a new world order, political as well as economic, calls for the creation of a new alignment of all those who are committed to removing fear, injustice and exploitation from the world, to building a viable system to maintain peace and prevent conflicts an alignment of those committed to the imperatives of peace and progress for all. There can be no doubt about Pakistan's place in such an alignment.


05.	  It is a pleasant custom that, in speaking for the first time at the annual sessions of the General Assembly, one congratulates the newly-elected President. How much greater the pleasure when the President who has just been elected is the Prime Minister of a small country like my own, a fellow-member of the Council of Ministers of the European Community, and a friend. We who have known the President for many years now in the Community, know the unique qualities which he brings to the presidency; we commend him warmly to this wider Assembly; and we are confident that at the end of this session the General Assembly will congratulate itself on the good sense it has shown in selecting him to preside over its work.
206.	I should also like to express thanks and appreciation to the Foreign Minister of Algeria, his predecessor, who had the difficult and onerous task of presiding not only over the twenty-ninth session but also over the seventh special session, which under his guidance achieved a remarkable consensus. May ] welcome our three new Members the Republic of Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe and the People's Republic of Mozambique	whose presence here is evidence of the commitment of the new Portugal to rapid decolonization.
207.	Each year at the start of the regular session we have an opportunity to indicate in general terms the principles which guide our approach to the issues on the agenda and the attitudes we propose to adopt. This year, however, seems to require something more. For this is the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and for Ireland it is also the twentieth anniversary of our admission to membership in the United Nations.
208.	Since it was founded in 1945 the United Nations has grown and changed expanding from the group of countries which had been victorious in the Second World War to become now virtually universal in its membership. In the first decade its membership was less than one third of what it has since become. It was seen at that time as an instrument which its Member States could use in maintaining peace in the world. But now it has also become an almost universal forum.
209.	We have not, I think, quite adjusted to this fact in the way we talk about the United Nations. The truth is that, if this Organization is often unable to deal with intractable world problems or if it is ineffective in doing so, it is not so much because defects in its Charter make it unsuitable as an instrument, but precisely because as a mirror of our world of nation- States it reflects all too faithfully the whole range of their disagreements and antagonisms.
210.	In general, however, the United Nations has served us well, both as an instrument and as an international forum over a period of 30 years. In that period, thanks in large part to the United Nations, there has been no world war; many serious local conflicts have been settled, or at least contained, and we have seen the major task of decolonization carried through for the most part peacefully. Throughout that period too, the United Nations and its agencies have continued their patient work in the economic, social and technical fields which, though apparently unspectacular, is of immense importance.
211.	We have, of course, to recognize the fact that there are issues of the deepest concern to world public opinion with which this Organization has been unable to cope and others to which it cannot even address itself.
212.	The major limitation on the power of the Organ-ization to act effectively in certain matters is the fact that the Charter is firmly based on the legal principle ot the sovereignty of Member States.
213.	The procedures and structures explicitly provided for in the Charter were designed primarily to govern relations, and to deal with conflicts, at the inter-State level. But today the world is also deeply concerned about other issues which cannot be dealt with while keeping rigidly to the level of inter-State relations.
214.	These issues are of two kinds: first, there are human rights issues in the broadest sense of the term —I mean issues of individual freedom, of non-discrimination, of tolerance for minority rights, and of respect for the right of peoples to self-determination. These are matters which are all too often claimed to lie exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of one State or another; in a sense then they fall below the level of the nation-State.
215.	But world public opinion has by now developed to an extent where its concern and its sense of solidarity on such issues no longer ceases automatically at national frontiers. The world is, for example, deeply concerned at the problem of apartheid in southern Africa, and at its potentially dangerous consequences, Rightly, it cannot accept that this is a purely internal matter for the Government concerned. It is also understandably impatient at the idea that it is logical or consistent to be deeply concerned at this particular form of tyranny and discrimination without feeling similar concern at other examples of disregard or contempt for human rights within the boundaries of other nation-States.
216.	Secondly, there are the kind of issues which transcend the capacity of the nation-State. These issues are simply too large and too extensive to be coped with at the level of the individual sovereign State acting either on its own or in direct dealings with its near neighbors. In this category I would include such major current questions as disarmament in all its aspects, the world economic order, protection of the environment, the law of the sea and world food and population problems. These are issues where the fate of each depends to a greater or lesser extent on the actions of every other, and where the common survival requires acceptance of interdependence and common action, to a degree that would be impossible if each nation-State were to act in isolation.
217.	In face of such issues some below the level of the nation-State, and some beyond it there are naturally difficulties for a world Organization which is based, as it must be at present, on the legal concepts of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.
218.	It would, I am afraid, be premature at this point to expect a radical change in the structures which were established by the Charter on the basis of the sovereign nation-State and the principle of nonintervention. We are at a point in history where we realize that some older concepts may have to be modified, but we are not yet able to devise new principles that will be appropriate to an interdependent world, while still securing to our peoples those rights that we have hitherto sought to safeguard through the principle of national sovereignty.
219.	How should we act during this transition between the old world order of absolute national sovereignty and the emergence of a new world order appropriate to interdependence? We must, while respecting the rights of others, be willing in our own actions and policies to allow ourselves increasingly to be guided in our work by the spirit as well as the letter of the Charter. This means that goodwill and good sense will be necessary on all sides during this interim period to make the present inadequate structures work effectively and remain relevant in a changing world.
220.	Our Organization has had its successes in this respect. Thus, on the first kind of issue 1 mentioned, that of human rights and self-determination, there has been the process of decolonization, now almost completed, for the most part by peaceful means, and as a result of moral pressures.
221.	We have not, however, succeeded in making much progress in respect of individual human rights within nation-States. We have not yet reached a stage where there could be agreement between all States Members of the United Nations to grant to their peoples the right which some of us in Western Europe have given to our peoples to appeal to an international instance against any abuse of power by our own Governments. It should be a source of shame to all of us in this Organization that a body such as Amnesty International, widely respected, should have to report that in the territories of 100 Members of this Organization breaches of human rights occur and that one Member State, Chile, is currently refusing admission to a United Nations human rights study group, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Situation of Human Rights in Chile.
222.	The United Nations has had some successes too with regard to those issues which transcend the capacity of the individual nation-States, although to date it has no more than felt its way towards dealing with such problems as disarmament, the law of the sea, the protection of the environment, and, most recently, and with some real success, the world economic order,
223.	While we await the slow development of a new world order in which abuses of national sovereignty, domestic or external, will be restrained by the existence of a superior world-wide jurisdiction, there is naturally an increasing tendency for States with common histories and common interests to form regional organizations of greater or lesser coherence. Is this tendency good or bad? I think it is neither good nor bad in itself everything depends upon whether such groups of States in their actions at the international level are simply larger projections of the limited self-interests of individual sovereign States which these can no longer realize in isolation, or whether these larger groupings too are animated by the principles to which I have referred by a genuine concern for human rights and freedom within their own boundaries, and a genuine recognition of an even higher level of interdependence between all States that goes beyond the level of the regional group in question. In the worst case these regional groups could become conflicting power blocs; in the best case they could prove to be the building blocks of a new international order which, frankly, could be difficult to found upon 150 or more separate units, each pursuing individualistic policies.
224.	Since 1 January 1973 my country has been a member of one such regional grouping which has a particular coherence the European Community. This involves a commitment at this stage to consult, and where possible to align, its policies with its partners, and in the long run a commitment to an ever closer inter-relationship within a European union,
225.	Ireland does not see its commitment to the European Community as competing with our membership in the United Nations. We feel, rather, that in both cases our participation is animated by the same principles, those of which I have spoken. With our partners we share a common attitude on individual freedoms and human rights and we seek to give effect to this attitude within our own countries; all of us, of course, accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, established by the wider grouping of the Council of Europe. Externally, in our relations with the rest of the world we. like our partners, are fully aware of the need far interdependence. As a group we played an important part in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. We have also sought to establish new kinds of relationships with other groups of countries outside Europe, through, for example, the Lome Convention, which as President of the Council of Ministers I signed on behalf of the Community seven months ago, and through the Euro-Arab dialog. Beyond that, we recognize the need to see interdependence established on a global scale and, with our partners, in a statement issued by the nine Heads of Government in July, we gave strong support to the United Nations as the world body where this could be given effect.
226.	It is perhaps worth adding (hat in my own country a serious consideration in relation to our participation in the European Economic Community has been its possible impact upon our contribution to the work of the United Nations, within which, in the 17 years before we joined the European Community, we endeavored to be constructive members. During the referendum campaign which preceded our entry to the Community, those of us who advocated membership were frequently asked searching questions on this point, thus demonstrating the extent to which attachment to the basic principles of the United Nations and to its role in the world exists at the popular level in my country. The answer we gave to those who posed us those questions was that participation in the European Economic Community is entirely compatible, not merely with membership in the United Nations that is self-evident but also with the pursuit of the kind of policies lo which we had committed ourselves during our years as United Nations Members before joining the Community. Moreover, membership in the Community will enable and has enabled us—to join with others in promoting within the Community a full and wholehearted acceptance of the need to rebuild the world economic order on more equitable lines, wiping out the ill-effects of the past colonial order, from which my country itself suffered in the past.
227.	So far 1 have tried to outline the bawd ideas which guide us in our approach to the agenda of this session in the twentieth year of our membership in the United Nations. The agenda before us at this session is a long one. It contains 125 items some of them disputes at the inter-State level, others issues of human rights or larger economic or political issues
of the kind to which I have referred. During the next three months the 141 Member States will be called on to take a position by speaking and voting on each of these issues.
228.	Perhaps we do not always realize just what a novel development this is. Since the foundation of the League of Nations, and more particularly over the 30 years since the United Nations was established, we have had to grow accustomed to the idea that each of us Member States, large or small, remote or deeply involved, is called on each year in the General Assembly to take a stand and to commit itself in detail on almost every world issue, and to do so in terms of a Charter which serves as a code of principles of international conduct.
229.	This is in many ways a development of great importance. Indeed, it may not be too much to say that the principal success of the United Nations over 30 years has been, not so much how it dealt with any particular problem, but the more basic fact that its mere existence and the existence of its Charter have promoted, and secured increasing acceptance for, the idea that there is a code of right and wrong and not merely of expediency in international affairs. It is true, of course, that not all of us adhere as well as we might to the principles we proclaim in the Charter. But what is remarkable is that, even when we do not, we are at pains to try to justify our behavior in its terms.
230.	But this new situation can also present problems. Our procedure here has always been such that the positions of Member States must be given expression through the votes they cast on detailed draft resolutions, often presented by those most deeply involved in a particular conflict or question. At times a decision on a complex resolution must be taken quickly in a national capital, and sometimes the choice is limited to "Yes", "No" or "Abstain", because there may be no opportunity to vote separately on particular parts of the text.
231.	In this situation, at times one of limited choice, made in haste, on complex issues, it is not always easy for a Member State such as my own which firmly supports the United Nations and has a strong commit-ment to certain international principles, to be sure that the views it holds so firmly will be given adequate expression in every vote it is called upon to cast. What we can do is to try to act on each of these resolutions on the basis of our best interpretation of the applicability of the principles of the Charter to the issues raised.
232.	I should like to turn now to say something more specific on a number of the main issues on the agenda. Two major questions before us clearly transcend the boundaries of the nation-State: the need to reform the world economic order and the threat of nuclear proliferation.
233.	So far as the first of these is concerned I can be brief, as this session immediately follows the seventh special session which ended in a consensus resolution on development and international economic co-operation [resolution 3362 (S-V/I)]. The work at that special session, despite pessimistic forecasts by some commentators, was constructive and positive.
234.	Because of the work done at the Paris preparatory conference in April, and because of the progress made since that conference in discussions among the developed countries, the developing countries accepted that the industrialized world was serious about tackling the problems which had been identified so bluntly at the sixth special session.
235.	On 13 October the resumed preparatory meeting will again convene in Paris. The resolution passed by the seventh special session will provide much of the underlying agenda of the four main commissions that are likely to emerge from the international conference to be prepared in Paris next month for this resolution covered most of the issues, other than energy, that come within the terms of reference of that proposed conference.
236.	Promises have been made, promises have been accepted and promises must now be implemented. If the developed world, in its relations with developing countries is to keep the faith expressed in the resolution of the seventh special session, then it must be prepared to negotiate towards real concessions and, where necessary, to modify the less-than-iron law of the market. We are convinced that the European Community is prepared, in a continuing and evolving way, to do just that.
237.	One consequence of these developments now taking place in relation to the world economic order may well be that the existing structure of the United Nations and its specialized agencies may need to be reconsidered, so that it may play a more effective role in the new economic order now evolving. My delegation looks forward to results of the study now under way that will more effectively deploy the Organization's resources, both in the Secretariat and the specialized agencies, for the benefit of the third world, and we shall participate fully in this work.
238.	A second major issue with consequences that transcend national boundaries is that of nuclear proliferation. The world today is immensely vulnerable to the threat of nuclear war. On the one side there is the vast armory of nuclear weapons built up by the super-Powers. At another level, we are told that almost 500 nuclear-power reactors already operational or currently planned in 26 countries will by 1980 be producing annually as a by-product more than 40,000 pounds of plutonium which, extracted from spent fuel rods, could provide enough weapons-grade fissionable material for more than 2,000 Hiroshima-size bombs each year. Nuclear facilities have been provided to countries which have not even signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII), annex], and nuclear resources furnished with a view to helping at least one developing country to add to its energy resources have been turned, in defiance of safeguards, to explosive purposes. The list of countries with nuclear capability which either have set off nuclear explosions or are within measurable distance of being able to do so is lengthening each year. The time has come to tackle this problem if we are serious about avoiding nuclear war. In 1958 my country took the initiative in proposing in this Assembly a draft resolution on the issue of non-proliferation. The adoption of this resolution in 1961 was seen as a step on the way to the non-proliferation Treaty signed in 1968. That Treaty was a milestone, but urgent further action is now required if its fundamental purpose is not to be jeopardized.
239. We need a comprehensive test-ban treaty. Such a treaty should be explicit and effective in its terms. The aim, in my view, should be to put an end to test explosions whether over or under the ground. But the problem of peaceful nuclear explosions requires further study. The question is whether in fact such explosions confer any benefits not obtainable by other means, whether they carry serious dangers to mankind and whether they can be distinguished from nuclear-weapon-test explosions. Pending action in the light of the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes [AI10/68 and Coir.I and Add.l], the establishment of which we welcome, there should be an agreed moratorium on all non-military nuclear explosive tests by all Powers.
. 240. I should like to see a comprehensive test-ban treaty provide, first, that all those countries which are in a position to export nuclear materials and technology should form a suppliers' club and agree to transfer fissionable know-how only to non-nuclear- weapon States which are prepared to meet accepted approved IAEA safeguards on all peaceful nuclear programs and are willing to return all spent fuel to the supplier country for reprocessing; secondly, the IAEA itself should in this connexion adopt much tighter standards of protection and control in the production, transfer and use of nuclear materials and technology; and, thirdly, to the extent that if, after the moratorium and the study of the question of peaceful explosions, such explosions were permitted on an agreed basis, there must be provision for adequate inspection.
241.	We welcome the work of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament on the question of a comprehensive test ban, as well as the fact that the Soviet Union has taken an initiative in proposing a comprehensive test-ban treaty. This latter proposal should be carefully studied during this session with a view to seeing whether it could provide a basis for a treaty that would incorporate the elements to which I have just referred.
242.	The super-Powers in particular have their responsibilities. They must face them. Only they, working together, can halt and reverse the vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons; this is closely connected with halting the horizontal spread. If they continue their dangerous nuclear arms race, they are in a weak moral position to ask the near-nuclear countries to refrain from developing nuclear weapons.
243.	There is a danger a grave danger, I fear that this issue will not be taken seriously. The reaction or, rather, the lack of reaction throughout the world, including the developing world, to recent events in connexion with nuclear materials in certain developing countries, is not a good augury for the future. No considerations of prestige and no desire to strengthen a country's military position against that of another Member of this Organization should be permitted to stand in the way of a tight control over the appalling nuclear capabilities which represent an increasingly widespread threat to peace.
244.	At a level below that of inter-State relations is the question of human rights. In the past our concept of these rights has perhaps been too narrow. We have not taken sufficient account, for example, of the right to life the most fundamental of all. This right to life involves the right to food, the right not to be faced with starvation and famine. Famine on the scale on which it exists in some parts of the world today is one of the most terrible scourges affecting, not merely those in this generation who are in dire starvation, but also their descendants for generations to come, as my country knows from its own history.
245.	There are, however, other human rights which are violated in a widespread way in the modern world perhaps even increasingly violated. Among these is the right to be free from torture. In the continent from which I come it was widely believed in the early part of this century that our civilization had brought us to a point where torture had ceased to be thinkable as a policy measure by European States. The history of the past 40 years has seen this illusion shattered not once but many times, not by one country but by many. The world today has become tolerant of torture in a way that was certainly not true two generations back. We must reverse the drift towards tolerance of this most evil weapon of public policy. It must be outlawed; no excuse must be made for it; and no excuse must be made for any State which indulges in it, whatever part of the world it may be in.
246.	I warmly endorse the proposal of the United States Secretary of State [2355th meeting] that the United Nations appoint a group of experts to undertake an authoritative study of the nature and extent of torture. I am convinced that world opinion can be mobilized to outlaw its use by any State that indulges in it for any reason. The adoption of a draft declaration on torture by the Fifth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders [AS 10260, para. /5] is a most promising step, and I trust that it will receive the favorable attention of the General Assembly.
247.	There are many less dramatic but none the less deplorable breaches of human rights to which this Assembly should give its attention and to which the Governments represented here should commit themselves to seek a remedy. Because the nation-States represented in this Assembly do not necessarily coincide with cultural entities, there exist in many countries minority problems which are often quite severe in their effects on those involved. We need some kind of code to protect the rights of minorities, to set out what these rights should be and to establish a standard against which a State can measure itself and be measured by its peers.
248.	Women are certainly not a minority, but in virtually every country in the world women, for historical or cultural reasons, have less rights than men. Much is being done to remedy these grievances and the United Nations has endeavored to accelerate progress in this field by nominating 1975 as International Women's Year. The effect of this is already evident in many Member countries of this Organization where the publicity given to this issue in the present year is inducing Governments to take belated action to set right the many injustices imposed on women by custom and by law. A balance-sheet of this progress needs to be drawn up and presented to the Members of this Organization lest, when the year is over, the pressure towards reform be relaxed or the efforts to set right these injustices be reduced.
249.	In conclusion, I wish to turn for a few moments to a problem that acutely concerns my Government the tragic situation in Northern Ireland. There, two sections of a small community live in an escalating cycle of mutual fear and violence that is destroying the hope of a normal life for them and for their children. Within the last six years there have been 1,300 killings and over 15,000 injuries to people, caused by almost 5,000 explosions and nearly 25,000 shooting incidents.
250.	My Government has sought to promote a peaceful solution and to reduce tension by every means at its disposal. We have expressly proclaimed . our rejection of violence in any form. We have accepted the right of a majority within Northern Ireland to determine freely the character of the relationship of Northern Ireland with our State, and we stated our willingness to have an agreement to this effect registered with the United Nations. We have arrested and imprisoned members of organizations engaged in violence in Northern Ireland, many of them people from that area who crossed into our territory. We have taken the necessary legal steps to enable us to bring to justice anyone in our territory against whom evidence is produced that he has committed a murder in Northern Ireland; and we have initiated legislation, shortly to be passed by our Parliament, to extend this unique revision to all other crimes of violence.
251.	We have, moreover, sought to work in friendship with the leaders of both sections of the community in Northern Ireland, and have co-operated with the United Kingdom Government in a joint policy which would bring internal self-government there on a power-sharing basis as between the two sections of the community, and would bring close links between north and south.
252.	All these efforts have yet to yield fruit, for the small groups of violent men on either side in Northern Ireland have immense power to destroy political solutions and to inhibit co-operation between moderate leaders of the two sections of the community. Endless patience is needed in seeking a solution that will resolve fears and appease hatreds. But in spite of this violence from unrepresentative groups, we believe that elected political leaders of the two sections of the community can yet reach an agreement that will provide a solution to the problem of the self-government of this area on a basis fair to both sections. Moreover, we believe that agreement on this issue, if reached, would provide a basis for a joint approach to the restoration of order and the elimination of the nightmare of violence political violence, sectarian violence and criminal violence which has plagued this area for the past six years.
253.	Our Government pledges itself to work towards this end. We are willing to meet at any time with the United Kingdom Government, or the elected leaders of the two sections of the community in Northern Ireland, to discuss how we can contribute to a settlement of this crisis in Northern Ireland. In any such discussions we shall not be found wanting in generosity or in willingness to make sacrifices in the common cause of peace. We all of us share in the responsibility for what has happened in Northern Ireland, which is the unhappy consequence of the unhappy history of our island. So intimately linked are the two parts of the island, which share so many common institutions churches, sporting organizations, the trade union movement, the banking system and so closely interwoven are the security problems of the two areas along their 362-mile land frontier, that any solution must, if it is to work, be one in which we play a full and generous part.
254.	We can never be indifferent to what happens in Northern Ireland, where fellow Irishmen, members of the same churches and trade unions, supporters of the same sporting teams, inheritors of the same largely unhappy history, Protestants and Catholics alike, are being killed and maimed, and their property destroyed by a mindless terrorism.
255.	We ask the sympathy of the world's peoples for the tragedy of Northern Ireland. We ask for their understanding of the way in which in Northern Ireland, as in some other parts of the world such as Cyprus, the unbearable burden of an unhappy history, too heavy to be easily shrugged off even by men of goodwill, condemns decent people to a life of fear and violence. We ask for their patience while the elected representatives of the people of Northern Ireland, under terrible pressures from extremists, including often threats of violence, try to find a basis upon which to build a new system of government in the province, in conjunction with the United Kingdom Government and my own Government.
256.	The rock upon which we are trying to build, and are encouraging the people of Northern Ireland to build, is that of a total rejection of violence as a force in politics. Upon this principle, which lies at the foundation of the Charter of the United Nations, a solution can, given patience and time, be found to bring the people of Northern Ireland out of the nightmare in which they live and into a peaceful and democratic society within which the right to life, to freedom, and to a fair share of the community's resources is guaranteed.


1.	 Mr. President, may I express to you my sincere congratulations on your unanimous election as President of this session of the General Assembly. Your qualities of statesmanship and your dedication to the cause of peace and international understanding are already known to the developing countries. Your approach to the problems of Africa and Europe will provide wise guidance to the deliberations of this Assembly. I wish to assure you of the fullest co-operation of the delegation of Mauritius in the discharge of your responsibility.
2.	I should also like to express to your predecessor, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, our deepest appreciation for his valuable contribution to the twenty-ninth session and the recently concluded seventh special session of the General Assembly.
3.	May I also pay my tribute to the Secretary-General, whose dedication in the service of this Organization continues to deserve our respect and admiration.
4.	It is with genuine satisfaction that my Government notes that this august body is steadily approaching universality of membership and, as an African, I am particularly pleased to welcome the three newly independent States of the Republic of Cape Verde, the People's Republic of Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe to membership in the United Nations.
5.	We note with great satisfaction that this session of the General Assembly meets at a time when there is no armed conflict among States, not only because we reject the resort to force in solving international disputes, but also because peace has come as a reaffirmation and a success of the will of peoples to be masters of their own fate and to live as independent and sovereign nations.
6.	We take this opportunity, on behalf of the people and Government of Mauritius, to pay our warm tribute to the heroism and high spirit of sacrifice of the peoples of Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos. We take pride in their victory, which is also the victory of all of us who have constantly supported their just struggle. We call upon the international community and in particular upon the United States, which has special responsibilities in this respect, to co-operate in the reconstruction of these countries ravaged by war.
7.	The signature of the interim agreement between Israel and Egypt is a positive step towards a lasting settlement in the Middle East. We hope that this will provide the basis for an equitable and durable peace.
8.	The events in Cyprus are a matter of great concern to us. We continue to support that nation's independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and non- alignment. We express the hope that the continuation of the talks between representatives of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will lead to an honourable settlement of all the issues involved.
9.	As an African country, Mauritius is particularly concerned with the situation in southern Africa. While < demanding that the oppressive South African minority regime implement the resolutions of the United Nations on Namibia and strictly respect the latter's unity and territorial integrity, we pledge our continued support for the legitimate struggle of the Namibian people for freedom and interdependence.
10.	We condemn all attempts by the white minority regime of Rhodesia to prevent an equitable solution of the Rhodesian problem in conformity with the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe to achieve their country's liberation. We shall continue in our efforts to assure a negotiated peaceful evolution to bring about an early change in Southern Rhodesia.
11.	All former Portuguese Territories in Africa, with the distressing exception of Angola, have achieved independence in an orderly and peaceful process. It is our hope, therefore that, before this Assembly adjourns, the violence and bloodshed in Angola will be halted, and that peace and order will have been restored and independence achieved in unity.
12.	In regard to the problems of North and South Korea which continue to preoccupy the United Nations, my delegation is of the view that the United Nations should spare no effort to bring about a reunification of the two States in a manner which takes into account the dignity and prestige of the peoples of both parties Pending that reunification, the proposals put forward by various Member States should deserve our serious consideration.
13.	Mauritius welcomes the results of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe as an encouraging contribution to the peace and security of the world, My delegation considers that the real value of this Conference will consist in an effective, strict and full implementation of all the norms and principles of interstate relations enshrined in the Final Act.
14.	We welcome the efforts of the great Powers to secure better prospects for peace. The policy of detente has created conditions which will minimize "the danger of nuclear confrontation. But in order to make detente a lasting and irreversible process it should be extended to all geographical areas, should favor an effective democratization of international relations and should, of necessity, include disarmament measures. It is with regret that we note, not only the lack of progress on disarmament, but actually the lack of perspective and the failure of this Organization to create a negotiating machinery able to promote disarmament. If one admits that the Geneva Conference of the Committee on Disarmament is not a United Nations body, then the paradox of a world Organization established for peace and security without a negotiating mechanism in the field of disarmament in evident. While agreeing with the Secretary- General that the structure and procedure of the United Nations, as well as the relation and distribution of functions among different central and regional bodies in the field of disarmament, should be studied and more clearly defined, we call upon him to submit for our consideration concrete proposals and recommendations. The revitalization of the United Nations in this field seems to be a matter of priority.
15.	Certain States concerned with security in their respective areas have been advocating the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones in their respective areas. It is the duty of the nuclear Powers to give those States solemn assurances that they will refrain from the use of nuclear weapons in those areas. As a member of the Organization of African Unity [OAU], Mauritius is committed, together with the other African States, to the complete ban of any type of nuclear weapons from the African continent and especially from the Indian Ocean.
16.	Indeed, Mauritius firmly supports the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace [resolution 2832 (XXVI)]. We welcome the consultations under way for summoning, as a first step, a conference of littoral and hinterland States of the Indian Ocean with a view to implementing that Declaration through concerted efforts directed towards the elimination of great Power and foreign and imperialist military rivalry and bases from the Indian Ocean, as well as from the littoral and hinterland States. We invite the great Powers and* the major maritime users of the Indian Ocean to refrain from all actions incompatible with the objectives of the Declaration. We also invite them to avoid further escalation of their military presence in the area.
17. One cannot envisage a lasting peace as long as under-development exists and as long as the world is divided between rich and poor. The eradication of under-development and the more rapid economic and social progress of the countries that are lagging behind are a primordial requirement for the development of the whole of mankind. In this connexion, the Lome Convention, of which, Mr. President, you are one of the main architects and which was signed between the European Economic Community and 46 developing nations of the African, Caribbean and Pacific areas points to a more concrete and realistic approach to the social and economic problems of the developing countries.
18.	The final document of the seventh special session of this Assembly [resolution 3362 (S-VII)] also provides useful guidelines for a solution of the problems confronting us. The third-world countries have already
** demonstrated their willingness to seek agreement through negotiations and it is our conviction that, as time passes, the difference in our viewpoints will gradually diminish as we begin to implement the points of agreement. This evolution in the relationship between developed and developing countries should provide a solid basis for the co-operative undertakings put forth at the seventh special session.
19.	The United Nations is the center where the nations of the world can meet and harmonize their efforts to attain their objectives and where each and every nation must find a place in this large family. The universality of this Organization must at no time be challenged or eroded.
20.	The United Nations is entering the fourth decade of its existence, and during that period it has played a significant part in the promotion of peace, co-operation and understanding among nations. It is our duty to strengthen it by preserving its universal character so as to take full advantage of its vast possibilities.
21.	I should like to conclude by reaffirming the complete faith and belief of the Government and people of Mauritius in the lofty principles on which this Organization was founded. It is the only instrument which can ensure the future of mankind, provided our faith in it remains unshaken.


38.	 Mr. President, permit me, at the outset, to express to you the satisfaction of my delegation at seeing you preside over this session of the General Assembly. We are particularly confident that your wide experience and wisdom will immeasurably contribute towards making the thirtieth session of the General Assembly as constructive and rewarding as it is an historical landmark in the life of this Organization.
39.	To your immediate predecessor, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria, I need only articulate our profound appreciation for the efficient and skillful manner in which he guided the deliberations of the twenty-ninth and the seventh special sessions.
40.	I am also glad to have this opportunity to pay a special tribute to our Secretary-General for his dedication and tireless efforts for the continuous realization of the aims and purposes of the United Nations.
41.	On behalf of the Government of Ethiopia and its delegation, it is also my great pleasure to extend a warm welcome to the States that have been admitted to United Nations membership this year: namely, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe. By their valiant struggle, the peoples of these nations have once again demonstrated that the tide of freedom and liberty will certainly not ebb until it has engulfed the last remnants of alien rule and oppression in different guises. As we congratulate their representatives for their achievements in widening the areas of freedom and liberty, we look forward to welcoming to this ever-growing family of nations Angola and Papua New Guinea in the course of the present session.
42.	Meeting, as we are, at the end of the third decade of the United Nations, it seems to us a worth-while exercise to take stock of the achievements and shortcomings of our Organization. We consider such an exercise useful, for it will help us at once to renew our faith in the continuing viability of the Organization and, learning from past mistakes, to address ourselves to charting a better path towards making it an instrument that is more effective and responsive to the needs of mankind in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
43.	Change, change on all fronts, has been the most distinguishing feature of our time. Particularly the last 30 years, the period coinciding with the life of the United Nations, has seen an acceleration of the pace of change. In this process the United Nations has played and will continue to play a role.
44.	In assessing the Organization's performance in the last 30 years, the central question one should ask today is whether it could have played a more effective role than it has in bringing about some of these changes. Looking to the future, the same question could be asked. What effective role can the United Nations play as an agent of change in the last quarter of this century?
45.	The United Nations was created after a period that had seen the consolidation of nation-States in Europe and after two tragic and devastating wars produced by the clash of their interests. After the dismal failure of the League of Nations, the founders of the United Nations thought that, by investing the Security Council with the right to use force on behalf of the international community, they could curb the power of nation-States, thereby hoping to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. By establishing objectives and principles towards which the international community should move, and by providing a framework for international co-operation in the economic and social fields, they also believed they
could promote conditions that would provide for a more secure and peaceful world.
46. The creation of the United Nations was thus predicated on two concepts: first, the belief that
developed into hostilities in the post-war years. That a global conflagration has been avoided is in no small measure due to the role the United Nations has played '".Providing a forum for tempering disputes or other-through a system of collective security not only would wise Providing avenues of diplomacy which the big aggression be discouraged but, in the event of actual Powers used in order to contain such situations. Even breaches of the peace, the international community ^here local conflicts have suddenly erupted in the
could restore peace by punishing the aggressor; secondly, the conviction that man can shape his destiny by making conscious efforts to eliminate the causes of war and by actively promoting conditions which could nurture peace.
47.	How far the United Nations has lived up to these high hopes may be a matter of controversy. What should be remembered, however, is that the United Nations represents one of the first efforts of mankind in organizing the international community by providing for the collective use of force to maintain international peace and security. This concept of collective security has an antecedent in the development of government in our individual societies. Is it not true that Governments in our individual countries are endowed with the capacity to use force on behalf of our respective peoples against those who may disturb peace or infringe the rights of their fellow citizens?
48.	The development of government in our individual countries has, however, taken the better part of human existence on this planet, and its evolution has been a continuing process. For, even today, none of us can say that we have found the exact formula that would provide the answers to all our pressing needs. If that is true for individual societies then, considering the nascent stage of the evolution of a central international authority, we should appreciate the road we will have to travel before we can hope to establish a system that can begin to respond in any significant measure to our collective security requirements, let alone to provide each and every solution that may be called for.
49.	Judged against this background, there is no question that, as a collective security arrangement, the United Nations has not lived up to what its founders hoped for. The system, built on big-Power unanimity, has been rendered inoperative precisely because there was no agreement among the big Powers on the major problems of peace and security that confronted the world in the post-war years. The vision of continued co-operation among the big Powers the co-operation born of the exigencies of war was not only short-lived, but was supplanted by constant tensions and undercurrents of hostility, at times reaching the explosion-point.
50.	Because of this general ineffectiveness of the collective security arrangements, the United Nations has not been able to eliminate hostilities in the postwar years. Indeed, localized conflicts which have claimed several hundreds of thousands of lives and caused havoc and untold destruction have occurred all too frequently, and have made thoughtful people wonder whether the United Nations, as an experiment in regulating human conflicts, has not been a conspicuous failure.
.However, despite the frequent outbreaks of hostilities, in some of which one or two of the big Powers might have been in some guise involved, direct confrontations between the big Powers have not
Middle East, the Congo, Cyprus and elsewhere, at times straining the ingenuity and the resources of the United Nations, the Organization has provided a mechanism for insulating such situations from big-Power intervention or evolving acceptable compromises for their containment and eventual solution.
52.	In its role as an active agent of change, and in' harmonizing international co-operation in particular, the United Nations has, on balance, fared better. Especially in the field of social and economic cooperation, the United Nations has been an indispensable instrument for innovation and collective action.
53.	The greatest contribution the United Nations has made in the post-war years, a contribution to which no price tag of any amount can be attached, is the role that it has provided as a forum for the harmonization of the often divergent and sometimes conflicting views and national policies of its Members. Because of such interaction of views, concepts which only recently were anathema to some overnight became conventional wisdom. As a result, we have today a large measure of agreement upon which we can hope to build new structures of co-operation which could meet some of our needs.
54.	Much as we have achieved in building a system of useful international co-operation, it should be clear that we could have done much better if there had been a deeper perception of our interdependence and an awareness of the need for closer and far-reaching co-operation.
55.	As we begin the fourth decade of the United Nations, it should be clear that never before has there been a greater need for co-operative endeavors on all fronts. And as we recognize this need, we should also remain ever more aware of the interdependent nature of the problems affecting all of us, and thereby requiring from all of us parallel and convergent actions.
56.	The United Nations experience of international co-operation has also taught us a profound lesson. That lesson is that, as we have come to recognize the value of international co-operation, we have at the same time developed a greater understanding of the forces that are shaping our future. Because of this knowledge, more than at any other time in the history of our civilization we have developed the capacity to influence and mould our future.
57.	In the remaining quarter of the century, the greatest challenge that awaits the United Nations system of international co-operation is the task of shaping our future in a manner that would best meet the collective needs of mankind. In this undertaking, nothing could be more pressing than the challenge of creating an international economic and social order which would at once further human welfare everywhere and also provide an environment conducive to the promotion of peace,
58.	The task of building a propitious environment for peace would also require that, not only the spiraling arms race be ended, but that the world as a whole should begin the actual reduction of armaments.
59.	In what follows I should like to make some observations on the three priority tasks which require prompt and concerted international action in the remaining years of the century. These are: disarmament, decolonization and the creation of a new international economic order.
60.	As we all know, one of the early items to be included in the agenda was the question of disarmament. Only now it is no longer a single item: it has been multiplied manyfold to cover the many aspects of the problem which have steadily grown in complexity.
61.	The longer the problem of disarmament has remained unresolved, the more intricate it has rendered the task of reaching agreed solutions. Meanwhile, not only are the armaments industries of the major military Powers devouring vital resources which could be diverted to more constructive purposes, but the very survival of mankind remains in serious danger.
62.	Moreover, the longer we fail to tackle the disarmament problem seriously, the more difficult becomes the problem of the reduction of arms. At the rate qualitative improvements in armaments are taking place, it is conceivable that we may, sooner rather than later, reach a point where verification of agreements on disarmament measures will have become well-nigh impossible. When we speak thus of the arms race, we have to take into account the constant qualitative changes. So far the agreements on collateral measures of disarmament that have been reached are of the nature of arms control, in some instances limiting the number of some strategic weapons. None of these agreements, however, can really be said to have arrested the feverish race to acquire better and more effective weapons against anything that a potential adversary may have. The search is, in effect, for the ultimate weapon which would provide a foolproof guarantee for one's security. Although that is an illusion, there is no question that this search is the motivating force propelling the arms race today.
63.	The Ethiopian delegation joins all progressive forces in demanding that the qualitative arms race be arrested before we reach a point where, even if the will to disarm might one day be forthcoming, the technical difficulty of verification might pose an insurmountable problem.
64.	The international community, especially the super-Powers, should move from arms control to actual reduction of armaments in significant measures. At this thirtieth anniversary session of the General Assembly, we must therefore make the strongest appeal to the Powers concerned to show significant progress towards halting and reversing the vicious race in which they have engaged. In the wake of political detente and general co-operation, we think it is opportune to take bold steps towards genuine disarmament. And this dire need is best summed up in the words of the Secretary-General, when he said:
' lI believe that it is vitally necessary, in the interest of the welfare of humanity, and indeed of its survival, that in this thirtieth anniversary year the General Assembly itself should consider a basic review of
the role of the United Nations in disarmament."
My delegation fully endorses that remark.
65.	Another important area in which this Organization has outstanding business pertains to colonialism and racism, particularly in southern Africa.
66.	Viewing the situation in southern Africa, we note with great satisfaction that, with the accession to independence of three former Portuguese colonies, the struggle for liberation is now being waged on the frontiers of the last bastion of oppression. None the less, we find the situation in Angola rather saddening, It is the sincere hope of my delegation that the three liberation movements will set aside their differences and establish a government of national unity which will enable Angola to accede to independence on 11 November 1975.
67.	As regards Zimbabwe, it has now become apparent that the illegal regime of Ian Smith continues to frustrate all efforts aimed at securing a peaceful solution to the problem it has created. One need only observe in this context that, by their persistent refusal to make even the slightest concessions, Mr. Smith and his collaborators have made the negotiations at Victoria Falls not worth the effort. By their intransigence and obduracy they have, in effect, slammed the door on a peaceful solution. It is now up to the international community to take all necessary measures if racial confrontation is to be avoided.
68.	The regime in South Africa also persists in its defiance of all United Nations decisions and continues to pursue its obnoxious racial policies. As a consequence, the United Nations embarked upon a course of sanctions, but so far with no apparent effect upon that bastion of racism. What is becoming increasingly perplexing today is the fact that South Africa has not only rendered all our efforts ineffective, but is successfully implementing its policy of turning the bantustans into buffer zones of cheap labour and an outer perimeter for defense.
69.	Nor are the sinister activities of the South African regime limited to its own territorial confines. Under the guise of detente and the offer of dialog, South Africa is endeavouring to extend and establish the system of bantustans in the international Territory of Namibia. My Government strongly condemns these sinister designs.
70.	We call upon the international community to intensify its economic, political and military isolation of the racist regime of South Africa until human dignity and justice are restored to the long-suffering peoples in that region.
71.	When considering the problem of decolonization, the question of the independence of the French Territory of the Affars and Issas, or, as it is often called, Djibouti, occupies the particular attention of my Government. As this is essentially a colonial problem, the Ethiopian Government believes that its solution can be found only by the free expression of the wishes of the people of the Territory without pressure or interference from any quarter.
72.	It is obvious that global peace and security remain the main preoccupation of the United Nations. Our Organization is a visible and living symbol of
humanity's dedication to the noble pursuit of the twin objectives of peace and security. It is also obvious that enduring peace in an interdependent world must be constructed on the solid foundation of a just economic and social environment conducive to the development and prosperity of human society as a whole. The commitment of the international community to the creation of such an environment is enshrined in Chapter IX of the Charter of the United Nations.
73.	To this end, serious efforts continue to be made by the United Nations and the specialized agencies. Many lofty pronouncements have often been made in this Chamber in support of this objective. However the economic and social conditions of the majority of people in the developing countries is more desperate today than at any other time in recent history.
74.	The process of economic development is arduous and requires total commitment. Not only are the difficulties enormous, but they are also multidimensional. I shall now mention only a few.
75.	Natural calamities such as drought and flood play havoc with the lives of peoples everywhere with increasing frequency and intensity. In the least developed countries, such as Ethiopia, the grave consequences in terms of human suffering, loss of life and economic setbacks are too well-known to require any detailed recital here.
76.	In addition to natural calamities, we are also exposed to an unprecedented combination of unfavorable economic circumstances originating beyond our national boundaries.
77.	Falling prices for our exportable raw materials and rapidly increasing prices for the manufactured goods we import reflect the deteriorating situation of our terms of trade and meager balance of payments. The prohibitive cost of agricultural inputs in the last three years has contributed in large measure to the stagnation of our agricultural sector. For lack of alternatives, we are forced to import expensive technology which, in most instances, does not fully meet our needs. While aid from the developed countries is going down quantitatively as a percentage of their gross national product, debt servicing is claiming an increasing share of our foreign currency earnings.
78.	The failure of the Second United Nations Development Decade and the International Development Strategy {resolution 2626 (XXV)] to achieve their objectives is fairly obvious and needs no further elaboration. We believe that developed countries and developing countries with surplus funds could do more to ease the difficulties of the poorer developing countries. The criteria determining such assistance will, we hope, increasingly be non-political and need-oriented in outlook.
79.	At the international level, the division of labor on the basis of comparative advantage is now a universally recognized principle. That the mix of exportable products must change over time as each country's stage of development changes is also true historically. But the existing system of international economic
oping countries tend to continue to produce and export raw materials while manufacturing activity is monopolized by the developed countries. This state of affairs which ascribes a particular mode of production to a given group of States and which does not allow for international mobility, is nothing less than a caste system practiced on a global scale.
80.	The old international economic order which flourished after the last war and is still in existence cannot be expected to do something it was not intended to do. Its main purpose was to service the needs of the industrialized countries. Looking at the prosperity of those nations today, one cannot but admit that the old economic order has performed its task well. But it remains understandably unresponsive to the requirements of socio-economic development of the third world.
81.	It was this recognition which led the developing countries to take the initiative in convening the sixth special session of the General Assembly last year. At that session the General Assembly adopted a Declaration and a Program of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order to revise fundamentally the economic relationship between the developed and the developing countries.
82.	My delegation notes with satisfaction the results of the seventh special session held last month and the spirit of co-operation and compromise which characterized the negotiations at that session. We are hopeful that the process of accommodation and the momentum gained during the last special session will continue. If carried out in good faith, we have no doubt that the decisions of the seventh special session [resolution 3362 (S-VII)] would have a favorable impact on the development efforts of the developing countries and lay a solid foundation of international goodwill.
83.	The requirements of the new international economic order could only be handled efficiently by a restructured United Nations system. For this reason, the need for the convening of a conference of plenipotentiaries, as was decided by the seventh special session, is both obvious and urgent. My delegation will actively participate in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Restructuring of the Economic and Social Sectors of the United Nations System.
84.	The encouraging developments in world affairs this year are, in our view, of equal importance towards building a just world order: the continuation of the process of detente in major Power relations; in SouthEast Asia, the termination of the most protracted war in recent history; the preservation of the truce in Cyprus, pending a lasting solution; the signing of an interim agreement on Sinai between the parties directly concerned, and the successful conclusion of the seventh special session of the General Assembly  these are but some of the salient features of the present healthy trend. My delegation welcomes all these developments.
85. We are encouraged by the process of detente which characterizes relations among the major Powers. The contribution of that process to the reduction of the tension in the world cannot be underestimated. It is imperative, therefore, that it be continued and further pursued in scope and depth.
86.	As I have said, it is also encouraging to note the termination in South-East Asia of the most protracted war in recent history. As I extend our sincere congratulations to the valiant people of Viet Nam, I must state that, as a matter of principle, my Government subscribes to the universality of our Organization on the basis of the provisions of the Charter. Irrespective of geographic location, the question of membership in the United Nations, in our view, should not be qualified by any other extraneous considerations.
87.	Any effort exerted with regard to Cyprus during this session or through the good offices of the Secretary-General should concentrate essentially on the preservation of the national unity and territorial integrity of that island. It must at the same time ensure a harmonious and co-operative life for all sectors of the communities.
88.	In the Middle East, the momentum generated by the recently signed interim agreement between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel must be sustained with a view to ensuring the legitimate rights and lasting interests of all the peoples in the region. I only wish to express here my Government's appreciation to all concerned for their statesmanship in achieving the "recent agreement, which we hope will be a signal beginning towards a final settlement of the Middle East problem.
89.	The rapid rate at which contemporary man's level of consciousness is rising vis-a-vis his total environment gives us the hope that we are on the threshold of a new era of a truly interdependent human family. At the same time, the worsening socioeconomic conditions, the deteriorating quality of life and the feeling of helplessness which are the dominant mood in the developing countries give us cause for serious concern. That there can be no harmony between rising consciousness and increasing deprivation is, in our view, a well-established fact.
90.	On the horizon of history we can visualize the age of Aquarius and the Four Horsemen of the Apoc-' alypse standing side by side. The decision or indecision of each nation assembled here will determine what our choices will be. The heritage of man and the fate of future generations depend on the choices we make now. Let us choose wisely and unselfishly.


The Government and
people of Botswana salute your elevation to the Presidency
of the forty-ninth session of the Assembly. Your election by
acclamation is a fitting tribute not only to your personal
distinction but also to the African continent, on whose soil
you were bred and nurtured. It goes without saying,
therefore, that the confidence we repose in you as you
guide our deliberations is beyond measure.
The Secretary-General’s legendary tenacity of purpose
at the helm of our Organization has continued to serve us
very well indeed. He remains undaunted by the
complexities of the problems he faces as the world’s chief
diplomat and peacemaker in an era marred by the
continuing absence of peace. We salute him and his staff of
dedicated international civil servants.
Let me also pay a deserved tribute to our dear brother,
last year’s President, Ambassador Samuel Insanally, whose
tenure of office was most effective, productive and creative.
We wish him a happy, hard-earned retirement from the
service of our General Assembly.
The new world order remains a misnomer. Misery and
wretchedness are the order of the day in many parts of the
world. The post-cold war era was to be the era of
democratization, peace and development, so we hoped. Yes,
democratization has taken root in many parts of the world,
including our own continent, Africa. That is to be
celebrated, and should be celebrated. Unfortunately, the
energies and resources that the international community
could be deploying to help buttress and nurture emerging
democracies have to be expended on the search for
solutions to a multiplicity of intractable civil wars.
Tragically, some of these civil wars show no sign of
amenability to solutions. They have become perennial; so
is the United Nations mission to mitigate them. This places
the United Nations in a terrible dilemma, both moral and
material. Unfortunately, there is very little choice for our
Organization. It would be absolutely unconscionable to
abandon a Bosnia or a Somalia to its own wretched
devices.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the United
Nations peacekeeping commitments are threatening to
overwhelm the Organization’s capacities. Financial
resources to sustain these commitments may soon dry up,
if indeed they are available, in tandem with the drying up
of support for peace-keeping generally, particularly
among the big contributors.
The past year has been a year of mixed blessings for
Africa. The continent won a major victory with the
liberation of South Africa from the shackles of apartheid
and racism. Three-and-a-half centuries of white minority
domination have ended, and the construction of a new
non-racial society has begun in earnest in South Africa.
We heartily congratulate all the people of South Africa,
in their racial and cultural diversity, on the wisdom and
courage they have shown in coming to terms with their
common destiny. We welcome the new South Africa into
our midst with open arms.
Southern Africa, the erstwhile cockpit of conflict,
has suddenly found salvation and begun the process of
reconstruction and regional cooperation and integration.
Since peace and stability are universal prerequisites for
orderly economic and social development, both of which
we have begun to savour in southern Africa, there is
every reason why we should be excited about the future
of our region.
With the holding of multiparty elections in the sister
Republic of Mozambique, the process of democratization
in the region will have come closer than ever before to
culmination. Increasingly, the region is being guided in
the ordering of its political affairs by a set of common
democratic values. Through the Southern African
Development Community’s economic fraternity,
mechanisms are being developed to promote regional
approaches to the protection of human rights and the
safeguarding of the democratic milieu that the region has
laboured so hard and shed so much blood to bring about.
As an example, I would mention the case of
Lesotho, about which members will have heard.
Recently, when democracy was placed in danger there,
the region, through the good offices of three Presidents of
southern African countries - Zimbabwe, South Africa and
Botswana - sprang into action to engage the Basotho
leaders in a dialogue, which happily culminated in the
cherished Lesotho democracy being saved without a shot
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being fired. It was regional conflict-resolution and
diplomacy at their very best.
Yet we remain troubled and pained by the fact that not
all is well in other parts of the African continent by any
stretch of the imagination. Our south western sister
Republic of Angola has never had a moment of tranquillity,
peace or stability ever since it attained its independence 19
years ago. Blood has continued to flow in that tortured
country in ever-increasing profusion, even as we are told
the Lusaka talks are on the verge of a successful
conclusion. This is the precious blood of innocent Angolans
shed needlessly because the multiparty democracy
demanded by UNITA and its supporters was won three
years ago, only to be subjected to another round of brutal
civil war. We remain hopeful, however, that the marathon
talks in Lusaka, capital of the Republic of Zambia, will
produce an agreement for the parties to implement without
reservation.
The Somali tragedy remains intractable. The presence
in the fractured country of 18,000 United Nations peace-
keeping troops, including Botswanans, has not made much
of a difference in the restoration of peace and tranquillity
to the Somali people.
Now we are faced with a threat to abandon the
country to its fate. The international community has every
reason to be frustrated and exasperated by what looks like
a total absence of any intention on the part of the warring
Somali factions to reconcile and give their nation a chance
to drag itself out of the quagmire of civil war. We
understand this frustration and exasperation, and yet we
would find it absolutely unconscionable for the United
Nations simply to uproot itself from Somalia when it is
abundantly clear that such a course of action would have
catastrophic consequences. The decision to withdraw the
United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) must
be carefully weighed against the obvious consequences of
the vacuum it will create.
There is also Liberia, whose agony clearly knows no
limit. The madness that is being displayed by the warring
factions there is surely beyond comprehension. Is the
newly intensified fighting which has caused another exodus
of refugees to neighbouring countries and wasted more
innocent lives the way to thank the monitoring Group of the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOMOG)
and the international community for the cost in lives and
material they have suffered and incurred in an attempt to
save Liberia from self-destruction? The first world is
already showing signs of extreme weariness about the cost
of peace-keeping. Soon even ECOMOG may run out of
the means and the will to persist in its seemingly
impossible mission to save Liberia from itself. And as
long as Liberia is in the state in which it is there is the
certainty that peace in the region at large will be and
remain imperilled.
Although the carnage has ended in Rwanda, the
tragedy that has befallen its people has not. The
Rwandese nation cannot reconcile so long as chunks of it
are languishing and dying in refugee camps in foreign
lands. Rwanda cannot endure any more cycles of civil
war and genocidal massacres. The tens or hundreds of
thousands of refugees encamped at present in the
neighbouring countries must be helped to return to their
homeland lest out of the frustrations of exile in their
squalid refugee camps they ignite another cycle of
genocide.
On the perennial question of Western Sahara,
Botswana shares the view that it is taking far too long to
hold a referendum in the Territory to allow the Sahraoui
people to decide their future. The Territory cannot and
must not be allowed to mark time forever in a limbo of
uncertainty as if the fulfillment of the aspirations of its
people can be delayed until their final submission.
Beyond the African continent, the agony of Bosnia
and Herzegovina has continued to outrage the conscience
of mankind. The senseless bloodletting in that tormented
region of Europe remains stubbornly impervious to
solution. Peace plan after peace plan has failed to
impress one side or the other, and the result is that the
patience of the international community, which has to
deploy enormous resources to maintain a massive
peace-keeping presence in the area, is being tested beyond
endurance. The question we ask is: How can the
perpetrators of that cruel conflict ever make sense out of
it? We appeal to them to stop the carnage. Meanwhile,
we urge the International Tribunal set up to bring to
justice the authors and perpetrators of that barbarous war
to spare no effort in doing so.
We hope that in the Caribbean, the people of Haiti
will take advantage of the massive assistance they are
receiving from the international community to normalize
the situation in their country. They have a golden
opportunity to do so and to resume the journey they
started three years ago towards a democratic future.
There may be no second - or third - chance.
31

Botswana believes that the time has come for Cuba
and the United States to negotiate an amicable end to their
protracted estrangement. Intractable problems all over the
world, are being resolved through negotiations, and we do
not believe that the cold war between Cuba and the United
States is beyond resolution by negotiation. Botswana
values the friendship of both countries and cherishes the
hope that soon there will be peace and reconciliation
between the two neighbours.
The Middle East has broken out of the straitjacket of
no war- no peace. We hail the agreement clinched last year
between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) and the rapprochement between Israel and Jordan
symbolized by the signing of the Washington Declaration
to bring to an end the state of war between the two
countries, and we urge that no stone be left unturned in the
quest for a comprehensive solution to the problems of that
very important area of the world.
Unfortunately, the sound of the drums of war in the
Gulf area are piercing our ears once again. We hope that
this time the parties involved in the war dance are merely
trying to exorcise the demons of the politics of
brinkmanship, without any intention whatsoever of bringing
world peace to the brink and beyond.
The arbitrary division of the island of Cyprus remains
unrepaired. We urge the parties to reintensify their search
for a mutually acceptable dispensation that will make
possible the reunification of the island and its people.
The same applies to the two Koreas. The people of
the North and South are Koreans in every sense and soon
they must realize that, like the people of South Africa, who
have just triumphed over racial division, they too can
triumph if they try harder, over ideological division.
We live in the age of dialogue and negotiation, the age
of reconciliation and forgiveness. No one will be excused
for refusing to negotiate an end to a disagreement.
Over the past two decades my country has experienced
an unprecedented period of economic growth. Between
1970 and 1992 Botswana achieved an annual real growth
rate of 12 per cent per year in gross domestic product.
After being viewed as one of the world’s poorest countries,
with a per capita income estimated at $70, Botswana
suddenly became Africa’s success story, a success born out
of a stable, democratic political system and a free-market
economy. Our democratic system is now so entrenched
that it has become our nation’s second nature. The happy
result is that Botswana is free from any ethnic or tribal
conflict.
Regrettably, we have not been spared the wrath of
the world recession and have thus experienced dramatic
declines in growth rates. Our economic growth, heavily
influenced by the development of minerals, particularly
diamonds, has experienced adverse effects arising from
the fall in the price of diamonds. Our country has
entered the most challenging period since independence.
Africa as a whole is engaged, in one form or
another, in economic and political reforms that need the
support and cooperation of the donor community and the
multilateral financial institutions. Poverty is an
underlying factor of underdevelopment that many African
countries have to contend with today. Regrettably,
implementation of the structural adjustment programme,
welcome as it is in the restructuring of African
economies, has in many instances worsened the social
conditions of the poor in the short term. This is why
Botswana looks forward to the forthcoming World
Summit on Social Development, where we will have the
opportunity to address these anomalies in a very serious
manner.
Botswana is encouraged by the ongoing process of
reform and revitalization of the United Nations in the
economic, social and related fields. The adoption of
General Assembly resolution 48/162 has brought about
unprecedented changes in the working of the United
Nations system, at the level both of the Economic and
Social Council and of the Second Committee of the
General Assembly; we welcome all of this. It is our hope
that these changes will bring about efficiency and
effectiveness in addressing the needs and concerns of
developing countries at the policy-making and operational
levels.
With regard to reform of the Security Council, I can
do no better than quote the African Common Position
Paper on United Nations Reforms:
"The expansion and equitable representation in the
Security Council has become imperative because of
the need to democratize and make the Council more
32

efficient and transparent. In this era, the democracy
that is being preached at national level should pervade
the international system. It is thus necessary to review
both the composition and the decision-making process
of the Council, in line with the above principles, and
taking into account the relationship between the
Council and the General Assembly. In implementing
these ideals, it is necessary to bear in mind the need
for equitable geographical representation, which
emphasizes increased permanent membership for
developing countries, particularly in Africa."
We are due to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of this Organization. The United Nations has
amply vindicated its existence. It survived the distractions
and ravages of the cold war with its sense of purpose
relatively intact. Botswana’s fidelity to the purposes and
principles of the Organization’s Charter remains unstinting.
It is therefore our cherished hope that the next century will
usher in an environment in which the Organization will
thrive in the pursuit of these purposes and principles.