The election of Ambassador Amerasinghe to the presidency of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly is symbolic in many ways. In addition to being a fitting recognition of his personal qualities as a diplomat who has attained the stature of a statesman, coming as it does after the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries held recently in his beautiful country, his election is a tribute to Sri Lanka's contribution to the cause of the United Nations and heralds the new role non-aligned countries are determined to play in international affairs.
80.	To the outgoing President of the Assembly who, despite his responsibility as head of his country's Government, devoted much of his time and effort to the work of the United Nations, I extend the gratitude of my delegation.
81.	The job of the Secretary-General is not only, as it is often described, an impossible one, but very often may be a thankless task as well. The nature of the office limits what a Secretary-General can say to set the record straight Or even to defend himself when unfairly attacked. Courageously and resolutely, Mr. Kurt Waldheim has used the mandate and the authority of his office in defence of the principles of the United Nations Charter. The present Secretary- General will always be remembered for his forthright and forceful stand on the issues of colonialism and racism in southern Africa when it counted most,
82.	We welcome Seychelles to membership in the United Nations and are looking forward to working very closely with its delegation.
83.	The death of Chairman Mao has deprived revolutionary peoples everywhere of a great teacher and leader. My Government has expressed to the Government and people of China at the highest level the sense of loss and grief the Ethiopian people feels. On behalf of my delegation, I reiterate those sentiments.
84.	The increase of the membership of the United Nations from 51 States to 145 reflects the transformation the world Organization has undergone in the last 30 years. Although this change is readily recognized by all, its full implications are not fully appreciated. Most of the problems in international life today can be traced to the failure of the international community to recognize and accommodate the changes that have taken place since the Second World War. The prospect of peace and orderly international life will also depend on the capacity of the international community as embodied by the United Nations to respond in timely fashion to much-needed change in the future.
85.	When the United Nations was founded 30 years ago, virtually all of Africa and Asia was under colonial domination. Socialism, although firmly established by then in one country, was very much a force of the future. The co-operation among the big Powers which the prosecution of the war against fascism required was counted upon to provide the basis for a new collective security founded upon big-Power unanimity in the Security Council.
86.	No sooner had the war against fascism ended than the peoples of Asia and Africa rose up against the colonial order. The old contradictions between socialism and capitalism, muted temporarily during the war period, reappeared and, with them, the hope for international security predicated on big-Power unanimity receded.
87.	For the greater part of the post-war period, the United Nations became the arena for a trial of strength rather than a forum for a constructive accommodation of the inevitable changes that followed. Rendered ineffective by the failure to recognize for the United Nations a central role in international affairs, most of the revolutionary changes that took place in the world not only bypassed the Organization but, propelled by historical forces, proceeded despite the United Nations.
88.	For almost two decades the United Nations remained a spectator when the great anti-colonial struggle unfolded. In Indonesia, South-East Asia and North Africa, the United Nations could not avert bloodshed before the peoples of those regions won their independence. In other areas, the United Nations played little more than a marginal role in their decolonization.
89.	Although a nuclear holocaust and big-Power confrontation may have been averted in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, hostilities have occurred all too often to cast doubt on the efficacy of the United Nations as a guardian of the peace. Hardly any significant agreement has been achieved involving a reduction of existing stocks of armaments. All the lamentations about disarmament have only resulted in limited agreements on arms control and have not placed any significant constraint on the frightful accumulation of conventional and thermonuclear weapons, or on their increasing sophistication.
90.	For a long time, discussions in the United Nations on international co-operation for economic development have focused on the symptoms rather than on the underlying causes. Almost no attention has been given, until very recently, to the need to restructure the international economic order and to redistribute equitably the world's economic surpluses.
91.	All in all, the record of the United Nations performance shows, in the main, a great many lost opportunities. The immediate future will therefore depend on what the international community can do to utilize for constructive ends the remaining opportunities before time runs out on it. Over the long haul, however, the balance hangs on the capacity of the world community to perceive the requirements for change and on its flexibility for accommodation.
92.	As we enter the fourth decade of the United Nations, we should recognize that even while we are calling for a new world order based on new patterns of relationships, the fact remains that the Powers that be have not accepted for what they are the changes that have taken {dace. There is need, therefore, to show where there is a refusal to accept change, for a world that has dosed its eyes to an accommodation of the changes that have occurred despite the United Nations cannot now be expected to bring about the far-reaching restructuring of international relationships that a more secure and prosperous world requires.
93.	Where does this impasse lie?
94.	First and foremost, there seems to be less than full appreciation of the fact that, with the independence of several Asian and African colonial Territories and their admission to the United Nations, the alignment and the equation of forces in international relations have changed. The majority of the present membership of the United Nations is made up today of countries which had attained independence in the last 15 years. Likewise, the number of Member States with a socialist system has increased. Some of the older Members have themselves undergone internal metamorphosis and are today either under revolutionary or nationalistic leaderships which reflect and articulate the will of their people.
95.	The outcome of all these transformations has been to push to the foreground the problems which the third-world countries face, particularly in their relations with the established order-colonialism; the strengthening of independence and sovereignty, especially over the use and disposition of natural resources; the struggle for a new order based on mutual respect for sovereignty and restraint from interference; and a call for new terms of trade and economic relationships. On all these problems, the newly independent countries are articulating demands which confront deeply entrenched vested interests and old ways of doing things.
96.	In the United Nations, the resistance to accept these new forces is reflected in the contemptuous disregard by the Powers that be of resolutions of the General Assembly adopted with the overwhelming support of the membership as the diktat of an irresponsible and mechanical majority.

97.	In the same manner m those emerging forces have been excluded from the management of the economic and financial affairs of an increasingly interdependent world in which the decision of a few rich and powerful countries has immediate, and often times deleterious, consequences on the well-being of the great majority, the notion has been advanced that voting in the General Assembly of the United Nations should be based on some weighted system reflecting the economic and military power of each Member State. Only then, it is suggested, the tyranny of the majority can- be broken. Only then, it is said, can there be an orderly management of world affairs. Nothing is said, of course, of the mechanical majorities of yesteryears which trumpeted as the genuine expressions of the will of the peoples of the world, nor of the fact that what is being prescribed now is the legitimization of the tyranny of the minority.
98.	Not content with the monopoly of power which they enjoy, the surrogates of the established order are being more than myopic in suggesting that, in order to cope with the demands of the new forces, their own power in the General Assembly should be further enhanced. The present international security system, which has placed arbitrary power in the hands of a few countries, has prevented the resources of the international community from being employed in favor of the liberation of colonial peoples, to combat racism and to liquidate the consequences of aggression. Instead, it has been used mainly to preserve the status quo.
99.	Denying financial contributions to programs of the United Nations supported by the great majority of Members is yet another leverage they exert to frustrate the will of the majority.
100.	A concrete manifestation of the resistance to change is the actions of certain permanent members in increasingly resorting in the Security Council to the use of the veto to block forceful action when peace is breached or threatened. As a result of the exercise of the veto, the United Nations is held in complete immobility in the face of threats to peace and aggression in southern Africa and the Middle East. Nations of the world have so lost confidence in the security provided by the United Nations that they are now relying more and more on the acquisition of weapons of war.
101.	Even more contemptuous is the use of the veto to deprive the peoples of Angola and Viet Nam of their right to membership in the United Nations. Despite the wrath of one permanent member the rest of the world has not only welcomed but rejoiced in their independence as a development that would strengthen the struggle against colonialism and imperialism everywhere. The peoples of Angola and Viet Nam have an inalienable right to their rightful places in the United Nations. They have strengthened that right by the indomitable struggle they have waged and by the price they have paid dearly in blood, sweat and toil.
102.	We have now reached an impasse where the United Nations has become a platform for a sterile confrontation rather than a.medium for innovative accommodation. The minority, however powerful it may be, should take due account of the will of the majority. There cannot be an orderly accommodation of change, nor can we realize our hopes for a more secure and prosperous world, if the powerful few regard the voice of the peoples of the world as expressed in General Assembly resolutions as irresponsible cries that can be ignored with impunity.
103.	The choice is clear: that the international community either move with the United Nations now in the search for practical and just solutions to the problems of liberation, peace and development, while there is still time and a residue of goodwill, or be bypassed by the swift currents of events as an irrelevant symbol of stillborn hope.
104.	The United Nations does not seem to have very much time-by all prognoses some three years at the most-to seize whatever is left of the abundant opportunities that have been frittered away to solve the problems of southern Africa and the Middle East and to initiate a process towards disarmament and the establishment of a new international order. If we go at the present pace, there will not be very much time. If, on the other hand, we move with deliberate speed and with a keen perception of the alternatives, not only shall we be able to arrest the dissipation of these last remaining opportunities but we may even succeed in turning them back towards fertile ground where they will germinate, send deep roots and multiply.
105.	That is why today we should have a very clear understanding of the inevitable march of forces and events and should adopt a realistic agenda and a time-frame. And it is against this background that my delegation would like to plead for a sense of urgency in all those sensitive matters where the prospect of total liberation and peace hang in the balance.
106.	First, there is southern Africa. Did it require the slaughter by the brutal police of the apartheid regime of over 500 helpless schoolchildren, the maiming of several hundred and the imprisonment of thousands of black people for the world to begin to realize that an explosive situation was developing? Did the Sharpeville massacre of 1959 not foretell what was to come?
107. The records of	are full of the death cries of the people of South Africa. The records also amply show the warnings of African countries and others that the whole situation was evolving towards a dramatic confrontation which could only end in a terrible racial war, the consequences of which would not be confined within the borders of South Africa.
108,	What has the United Nations done despite the. warnings? With ritual regularity; the General Assembly and its Committees have been issuing edicts expressing their disapproval-now elevated to abhorrence-of the system of apartheid as being incompatible with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
109.	In the meantime, however, things have been left to go on as they always have. Despite repeated calls for the adoption of sanctions, South Africa's trade with the great industrial Powers of the West has been assisted to flourish. South Africa has been allowed to purchase highly sophisticated weapons of war, which has made its forces, at least on paper, the most powerful in Africa. It has obtained the collaboration of Israel in the development of certain weapon systems. France sells to it nuclear reactors which, whatever the safeguards, whatever the promise sought or received, will enhance South Africa's capability to develop its own nuclear weapons.
110.	Emboldened, and encouraged in some instances, by its major economic partners, South Africa is pursuing, in the name of self-determination, the creation of bantustans which would give artificially created black ghettos the appearance of independence, with flags and national anthems and the other symbols of independence, while every precaution will be taken to make these bantustans an integral part of the South African economy by developing them as dependent and defenseless reservoirs of cheap labor.
111.	Despite the termination of whatever legal pretense it might have had for administering Namibia on behalf of the international community, South Africa has continued to deny the people their right to self-determination and independence and has frustrated all attempts by the United Nations to assume interim responsibility in order to complete arrangements for the transfer to the people of the powers of government. For over 30 years, since the very first session of the General Assembly, when its request to incorporate Namibia into its territory was rejected, South Africa has engaged in one maneuver after another, in one dilatory tactic after another, often shifting grounds. First, South Africa claimed sovereignty over Namibia by virtue of the right of military conquest. When this position became untenable, South Africa claimed a special right to administer Namibia under the Mandate of the League of Nations, despite the demise of that organization. The International Court of Justice rejected this contention and insisted that South Africa should be fully accountable to the United Nations for its administration of Namibia.
112.	When South Africa refused to recognize its obligation to be accountable to the international community, the United Nations terminated its Mandate, called for the immediate independence of Namibia within its present frontiers and assumed direct responsibility to arrange for the exercise of self-determination.
113.	Now that South Africa is confronted with the immediate spectre of a liberation struggle waged by SWAPO-which would undoubtedly have the effect of galvanizing the revolutionary struggle in its own territory  as a last ditch maneuver to buy time and to stem the inevitable march of independence, it is making preparations to arrange for ;a bogus exercise of self-determination. Hie latest response that South Africa has given to the demand of the Security Council to comply, by 31 August of this year, with all General Assembly and Security Council resolutions to terminate its illegal occupation of Namibia, accept United Nations responsibility and hand over the powers of government to the authentic representatives of the people, in the form of a declaration of a so-called constitutional conference, is but an exercise in evasion.
114.	As in the past, South Africa is now counting on the disposition of the United Nations to give it one more chance to show its good faith by giving the appearance that this latest maneuver represents an honest attempt to meet the requirements of United Nations resolutions. The fact of the matter is, however, that by excluding from the so-called constitutional conference SWAPO, which, through revolutionary struggle, has gained the right to speak and act on behalf of the people of Namibia, South Africa has revealed its true intentions. By leaving in ambiguity the question of Namibia's accession to independence with its present territorial integrity intact, South Africa is giving adequate notice that it wishes to continue to implement its policy of "bantustanization". Even more indicative of South Africa's true design is the fact that at the same time it is talking about constitutional conference it is extending to Namibia the application of its apartheid laws, it is increasingly militarizing the Territory and is developing it as a base of operation against the independence and sovereignty of Zambia and Angola.
115.	Zimbabwe stands today as a monument to the complete failure of the will and gross negligence by the United Nations of all responsibility. A small group of white racist settlers, numbering some 2S0,000, has been allowed to successfully usurp the responsibility of the United Kingdom to advance the people to independence, to deny to the indigenous inhabitants of Zimbabwe their right to independence, and to defy and frustrate all attempts by the United Nations, including the imposition of mandatory sanctions, to end the rebellion.
116.	Once again, the hand and design of South Africa are visible. South Africa considers Zimbabwe the outer perimeter of its defense and has sent its troops there to bolster the Rhodesian rebel authorities in their brutal attempt to crush the liberation struggle. Even more significant is the fact that, by providing its territory as a corridor of evasion, South Africa, with the co-operation and complicity of others, has successfully frustrated United Nations sanctions.
117.	The picture in southern Africa is now clear. The racist and colonialist forces are strongly anchored in the apartheid regime of South Africa. From that racist bastion they are endeavoring to buy insurance that would protect them against the advance of independence. They want to achieve this by showing aggressive prowess, as evidenced by their brazen attacks on Angola, Zambia and Mozambique, and combining that posture with the appearance of a disposition to negotiate. They also seem to be looking towards their traditional partners for help to bail them out by salvaging the core of the colonialist interest through a commitment to defend the apartheid system.
118.	The questions that inevitably arise are, What are the envisaged negotiations about? What price are the Africans asked to pay?
119.	It should be clear that there cannot be any negotiations in any constitutional conference of any format except for transferring the powers of government to the authentic representatives of the people. That much should be clear and more. No arrangement designed to protect entrenched colonial interests, ostensibly chimed under the label of minority rights, can be acceptable. The independence of the peoples of Zimbabwe and Namibia will have to be unconditional and unencumbered.
120.	In the case of Zimbabwe, where an interim transitional arrangement might be necessary, that will have to be as brief as possible with a very clear definition of what the transition is supposed to achieve. Most important, however, is that even the transitional arrangement will have to be based on majority ride. South Africa has no right to administer Namibia, and it cannot now be asked to be the prime mover for a peaceful solution. Any constitutional conference, any negotiating process for independence will have to be under the aegis of the United Nations, with SWAPO acting as the principal, authentic representative of the people.
121.	In any negotiating effort for the independence of Namibia and Zimbabwe, including the one initiated by the Secretary of State of the United States, Dr. Henry Kissinger, the impression should be avoided that South Africa is allowed to use the independence of those two countries as bargaining chips to obtain Africa's acquiescence in its apartheid system. Even less, South Africa should not be made to feel that it is indeed buying insurance. Let there be no mistake: the struggle against apartheid will continue. With the independence of Zimbabwe and Namibia the struggle will, instead of abating, intensify. The international community should not be deluded into believing that the independence of those two countries will usher in a period of tranquility, brotherhood and peace. The international community should therefore brace itself for the prospect of an intensified struggle, and everything should be done now, while there is time, to avoid a tragic racial conflagration.
122.	The key to avoiding a racial blood-bath is South Africa. As long as 4 million whites continue to deprive 16 million Africans and other non-whites of equality, justice and a role in the government of their country and attempt to herd them into racial ghettos, there cannot be tranquility, there cannot be peace in southern Africa. That is the inevitable outcome and the world has to be prepared for it.
123.	That is why today no plan can hope to advance the prospect of a peaceful solution to the fast-developing racial confrontation unless it also includes the readiness of the international community to impose sanctions against South Africa. There should be tangible proof that the major trading partners of South Africa will move towards sanctions with the rest of the international community. Short, of that, they will have to realize that the continuation of their present policies will countenance and strengthen the grip of the apartheid system.
124.	South Africa will have to be made aware that, until it removes the apartheid system, it will face economic and political sanctions vigorously enforced by the United Nations.
125.	In Namibia and with regard to the struggle against apartheid, the moment of truth has come: either we move with determination in the direction of mandatory sanctions or, through inaction, increase the chances for a racial blood bath. As I have suggested, we do not have much time. We should be wiser before we are overtaken by developments.
126.	I wish briefly to refer to other colonial problems. The Comoros has been dismembered on the way to independence. Its independence cannot be considered complete, nor France's mission to decolonize those islands fulfilled, unless Mayotte is united in independence with the Comoros.
127.	Ethiopia sincerely hopes that the dispute that has arisen between friendly African countries regarding the exercise of self-determination by^ the people of Western Sahara will be resolved by all the parties concerned. Certain standards will have to be met in the exercise of self-determination when a people under colonial domination advances to independence. With the overriding interest and right of the Saharan people to self-determination taking precedence over other considerations, and in the interest of peace in that region of Africa, every effort should be made to see that the exercise of self-determination will meet the requirements of recognized standards.
128.	French colonialism in Djibouti is a spent force without much will to linger on. TTie only way it can stay on in one guise or another is by taking advantage of circumstances that outside forces may create for, it. African countries should, therefore, continue their vigilance and should make sure that the call they have especially made to the two neighboring countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia, at the last summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity [OAU],  held recently in Mauritius, should be completely adhered to and implemented. That call consists of a request that Ethiopia and Somalia should renounce any and all territorial claims to Djibouti and that they give an undertaking to respect the independence and territorial integrity of Djibouti after its accession to independence.
129.	Ethiopia, on its part, has made an unequivocal declaration at the highest possible level and reaffirmed several times that it does not have any territorial claim to the whole or any part of Djibouti!
130.	As a further demonstration of its good faith and as a contribution to. the acceleration of the independence of the Territory, and in the interest of peace and stability in the region, Ethiopia submitted at the last African summit meeting a declaration to be jointly subscribed to by. Ethiopia and Somalia that would commit the two countries to renounce any territorial claim they may have and to respect the independence and the territorial integrity of an independent Djibouti!
131.	The only response from the other neighbor of Djibouti to the call of OAU was to say, without ever renouncing its territorial claim, that it is prepared to accept the exercise of self-determination and the liberation of the Territory. Such a declaration from that neighboring State is in keeping with its often repeated policy because it considers Djibouti as being already part of its national territory which is now "under foreign occupation".
132.	Somalia has rejected the declaration we proposed to be signed under the authority of OAU on the flimsy ground that a solemn pledge by the two neighboring States to respect the territorial integrity of an independent Djibouti would impose a limitation on the sovereignty of the new State, and would also create a right for the two States which they might use to intervene in Djibouti's internal affairs. Nothing could be further from the objective our declaration seeks to achieve than this interpretation. Indeed, instead of creating a right, our declaration, on the contrary, preempts any and all claims to rights in Djibouti, such as a territorial right, which might be used as a pretext for intervention. The analogy with the Cyprus case, often used by Somalia, in addition to being inaccurate, is deliberately advanced to mislead and to confuse the issue.
133.	OAU has asked France to make immediate arrangements to transfer the powers of government to the people. OAU has also called for a conference cf all political parties and groups as well as of liberation movements to be held in Accra, Ghana, under its auspices, with a view to creating a transitional government of national unity to complete the final preparation which would pave the way for the independence of the Territory. There is now in the Territory only a coalition government of two political groups. The base of the transitional government has to be expanded in accordance with the demands of OAU.
134.	We hope that this thirty-first session of the General Assembly will discuss the independence of Djibouti and will strengthen the actions recommended by OAU by giving them its support.
135.	The Middle East is one of those problem areas where, the longer we wait, the more intractable a peaceful solution becomes. After so many missed opportunities, time now seems to have imposed a limit on a peaceful solution. Although we may disagree on the time-frame, there is no doubt that, it is not one that can allow us indulgently to proceed at the present pace.
136.	The requirements for a peaceful solution are known and have often been repeated here and in other international forums. Israel must withdraw from all Arab territories that it has occupied since June 1967. Israel must recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a national homeland. The Palestinian Liberation Organization must take part in all negotiations for peaceful settlements.
137.	Once those requirements are accepted, talks and negotiations In one format or another can proceed with a view to implementing the principles of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).
138.	Unless some visible progress is made soon towards peace, the opportunities that have led to agreements on the disengagement of forces, will be lost irretrievably.
139.	I said earlier that a world that refuses to accommodate changes that have taken place will be hard put to bring about those far-reaching transformations in the relations of States, especially between the rich and the poor, the exploited and the exploiter, the weak and the powerful. Thus, the urgency to solve some of the outstanding problems, in addition to ensuring international peace and security, is directly linked with the effort to create a more secure and prosperous world.
140.	There are three major areas of international concern which call for a profound change of attitude, accommodation of interests and a determination to avoid conflicts by anticipating the potential sources of such conflicts and removing them, while there is time. These are disarmament,
the law of the sea and the ^creation of a new economic order.
141.	The nations of the world are now spending over $300 billion for armaments. Almost 70 per cent of this huge sum is accounted for by the investment of a few countries. Arms sales have also grown enormously, increasing from about $6 billion five years ago to about $39 billion in 1975.
142.	As a result of the spread of nuclear technology, the number of countries which may be considered as having nuclear weapons capability has now increased to 35.
143.	Some notable achievements in the arms control field were made in the 1960s. These modest achievements for a moment had even led to some optimism that the momentum of the arms race might be arrested in the 1970s. But this optimism has now been replaced by a foreboding pessimism as a result of lack of progress in the last few years.
144.	In the second half of the Disarmament Decade, the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD) has almost nothing to report by way of progress in disarmament negotiations. And this has happened despite the fact that the General Assembly has repeatedly requested CCD to give highest priority to a host of disarmament measures, including, for example, the conclusion of a comprehensive test-ban agreement and the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons as well as new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons.
145.	My delegation feels that there is need to inject a sense of urgency in disarmament talks and to generate some momentum. A special session of the General Assembly devoted to the consideration .of all the outstanding problems of disarmament, as recommended by the recent
non-aligned summit meeting,  might achieve this purpose.
146.	The oceans and the seas cover more than two-thirds of our planet. Even when we find it difficult to establish the rule of law to govern the relations of States on the inhabited part of the globe, we have to think of how to regulate State interests and inter-State relations over and beneath the Wide expanses of Water, which modern technology has brought 'within reach of utilization for man's benefit.

147.	The attempt to create a regime of law on the utilization of the resources of the sea and the sea-bed is one of the most challenging tasks ever undertaken by the United Nations. It is challenging because it is one of the rare moments in history when the nations of the world have seen well in advance that their collective interests would be better served if they placed limits on their rights and behavior and if they planned and worked together for the utilization of the resources of the sea and the sea-bed for the benefit of all.
148.	This endeavor to create an acceptable regime for the sea is in a race against the disposition of each State, especially where the possibility and the technology exist, to stake out unilateral claims which, unless arrested, would narrow the margin for co-operation.
149.	There is thus need to put the lid of moratorium on unilateral claims and to accelerate progress towards agreement.
150.	The prevailing patterns of relationships, especially between third-world countries and the developed and industrialized countries of the West, are characterized by basic inequalities. Some aspects of these relationships are in some measure a carry-over of colonial ties, while others are affected by attitudes which accept those relations as normal and, on the whole, as mutually beneficial.
151.	Relations between the "haves" and the "have-nots" have long suffered from outlooks that tended to rationalize the preservation of vested interests and historically accumulated advantages. In the name of free trade, the developing countries were asked to abandon policies which would help them assert control over their natural resources as well as assure them a more equitable revenue from their exports, while at the same time the industrialized countries denied to the exports of the developing countries unencumbered access to their markets. It was claimed that international trade would expand with proportionate benefits accruing to all the nations of the world if they were to maximize the production of those commodities for which they may have unique advantages. However, this argument conveniently ignored the fact that, for historical reasons, the balance of advantages, particularly in the field of industrialization, was lopsidedly in favor of the developed countries.
152.	Similarly, discussion of development problems in and outside the United Nations was constrained by limited vision. Most of the talks focused on resource transfers from the developed to the developing countries. Until very recently, little or nothing was heard about the need to do away with built-in inequalities in international economic relationships, with economic advantages preserved through monopolistic practices, exclusive access to technology and, in some instances, to the resources and markets of developing countries.
153.	In order to show how these built-in inequities distort the distribution of world economic surpluses, let us take the case of international trade, the mainstay of the present order.
154.	Excluding oil exports, about 12 major primary commodities account for about 80 per cent of the total export earnings of the developing countries. The final consumers pay over $200 billion for these commodities and their products, while the primary producers-the developing countries obtain only about $30 billion, the middlemen taking the difference. Another example is that out of $102 billion of international reserves created during the period 1970-1974, the developing countries received $3.7 billion or less than 4 per cent.
We cannot today realistically speak about economic development and, even less hope to find just and equitable solutions to the ills of under-development, unless the problem is seen in the context of the need to build new structures of economic relationships. As long as there is no change in these basic structures, all our development efforts will not only remain palliatives but they could also become self-defeating.
156.	What is required at this juncture of history is a new economic and social order which recognizes the changes that have taken place in the post-war years as well as the need for further change. The liberation from colonialism of a large number of peoples has cut the Gordian knot of dependency relationships, but these yet remain to be replaced by relationships based on sovereign equality, mutual benefit and a shared sense of mutual responsibility for development and the management of the world's economic and financial affairs. In short, this new economic order should be predicated on the recognition of the increasing interdependence of the international community. His interdependence has created a chain of cause-and- effect relationships in what nations do or fail to do. While no one country is immune from the consequences of the actions of others, the poor and the disadvantaged inevitably suffer most. The solutions of the major economic problems today require the concerted and the converging action of all.
157.	The development of the third-world countries is a central problem. International trade has to be restructured to bring to developing countries their due share of the benefit. Not only should they be enabled to have unencumbered access to the markets of the industrialized countries but also their export earnings should be protected from seasonal fluctuations and these should be held at reasonable levels of parity with the prices of industrial products.
158.	The historical disadvantages are such that better terms of trade alone would not be enough Aid has to become a vital component of a new international development strategy. In order to play such a role, aid has to be conceived not as charity but as an investment which would redound to the benefit of all. Aid has to be more concessionary and, especially with regard to the least developed and disadvantaged, it should be made available mostly as grants. Donor countries should also alleviate the heavy burden of debt-servicing borne by the developing countries. Any agreement to that end should be considered as additional aid rather than a cancellation of contractual obligations. Some organic link should also be established between development financing and the creation of new international liquidity .
159.	I should like to conclude my statement by offering some observations on the achievements of the recent non-aligned Conference held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. First of all, the impact of the results of that Conference should not be lost on the United Nations. The views expressed by them represent the hopes and the aspirations of over 2 billion people who are represented in the .United Nations by 82 sovereign States.
160.	At Colombo the non-aligned countries defined a new role for their policies. That role is to help bring about new structures of peace and prosperity through dialog and accommodation. They also gave notice that the non- alignment policy they wish to pursue is not one of acceptance of the present status quo but one that seeks change in favor of the liberation of peoples, the assertion of sovereignty over natural resources, the liquidation of the consequences of aggression and the pursuit of just and equitable policies for the solution of specific regional and international problems.
161.	Central to their aspirations is the creation of a new economic order within which they would play an appropriate role to ensure the interest of their people on the basis of equality, mutual benefits and recognition of common responsibility for the well-being of an increasingly interdependent world.
162.	In particular, Ethiopia subscribes to the views of the non-aligned movement on a number of specific problems, such as the question of Cyprus, the problem of the Korean peninsula and others regarding Latin America.
163.	My country shares the course charted by the non- signed movement. The new Ethiopia believes in a dynamic non-alignment which is committed to change. Ethiopia believes that at a time when third-world countries are calling for radical changes in the international order, each one of us has the responsibility of carrying out internally those changes that would make our demands at the international level credible.


We are fortunate at this time to have Mr. Amerasinghe as President, for his long experience can so significantly assist in guiding our deliberations during this momentous session of the General Assembly. It is fitting, too, that his country, Srilanka, which has been charged with the task of co-ordinating the affairs of the non-aligned movement, should provide an essential link to facilitate, here at the United Nations, the implementation of the mature decisions that were taken at Colombo. I entertain every hope that this Assembly will not prove to be below the level of events and that the results of our deliberations will reflect those tenets of justice for which we all strive.
305.	It also gives me particular pleasure to welcome into our midst the new State, the Republic of Seychelles. We look forward to working with it in the years ahead in this Organization in advancing the objectives of peace, security and development.
306.	This session of the United Nations General Assembly, I feel, will go down in history as one of significance and importance to the question of freedom in southern Africa. As this question so well illustrates, all the difficulties which confront us in the contemporary international system can. be traced to one strategic dilemma which faced the victorious Powers at the conclusion of the Second World War. It was very clear after Potsdam that the gravest threat to peace was the defend perceptions of those who saw the world in terms of an ideological confrontation between so-called free and unfree societies. This legacy informed all the important changes in the world since 1945: the Chinese revolution, the Algerian revolution, the Cuban revolution, the Viet Nam revolution. Wherever a people strove to end the process of exploitation and to devise strategies of development that would increase their control over their natural resources and to realize fully their human dignity wherever these existed, the issues were approached from the standpoint of the elimination or, alternatively, the expansion of socialism. Looking back on this period we may well wonder at the prodigious expenditure of life- energy over mere matters of terminology and nomenclature.
307.	The Rhodesian rebel leader, Ian Smith, said in a broadcast on 24 September this year:
"Dr. Kissinger assured me that we shared a common aim and a common purpose, namely to keep Rhodesia in the free world and to keep it from Communist penetration".
It is significant that Smith did not say that the United States and Rhodesia shared the common aim that the black majority should be free and that the will of the black majority should prevail. That, after all-black majority rule should be the common aim. If this session of the United Nations General Assembly achieves anything-and I feel sure that it will achieve much its most outstanding contribution to progress on this planet could be the universal acceptance that the fight for freedom and for material equality is waged at a level beyond the strategic imperatives of competing ideologies.
308.	Individual freedom has this characteristic: its claims are universal. I say emphatically that neither the present position in Rhodesia nor the position envisaged by the Anglo-American proposals is consistent with any definition of freedom, with any definition of democracy, or with any definition of justice. Guyana wishes to make its position dear. We completely endorse the action taken by the five front-line States of Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania in reaffirming the sole conditions under which majority rule can be installed in Rhodesia through negotiation. Either Smith accepts these now or the war will be intensified until inevitable victory. It was perhaps asking too much that the Secretary of State of the United States of America should succeed where other Fearless Tigers had failed ignominiously. In the sense that we are told that the so-called Anglo-American proposals stem from a desire to prevent a racial war in southern Africa in that sense, I do not impugn the motives of the architects of those proposals. What I question is their judgment.
309.	The character, the attitude, the stubbornness and the short-sightedness of the rebel in Rhodesia have been well documented. Here is a man who has defied international opinion for more than a decade, has been buttressed by international monopoly capital and has vainly sought to suppress in Zimbabwe those very instincts that in 1776 led to the birth of the United States of America. George Washington was not told on the eve of victory that he could have freedom in two years; Patrick Henry was not told that the alternative to immediate liberty was a temporary quasi-slavery. Yet here, 200 years later, a solution is offered to a problem of freedom that envisages transitional government with built-in minority power structures, with cessation of armed struggle, with the lifting of sanctions and-"the most unkindest cut of all"-economic aid as a sweetener and an incentive.
310.	It is unreasonable to expect that Ian Smith will negotiate power away from himself except when faced with the final acceptable casualty. It is equally unreasonable to expect that armed fighters of the majority will Jay down their arms before the acquisition of majority rule. Those are the lessons to December 1974 and those are the lessons of September 1976.
311.	But Rhodesia, important though it is, is not at the heart of the problem of southern Africa. To discuss the freedom of the majority in Rhodesia it is necessary to speak to Vorster; to install freedom in Namibia it is necessary to confront Vorster; and it is Vorster who temporarily rides roughshod over the majority in South Africa itself. The core of the entire problem of southern Africa is apartheid - the economic, political, social and ethical justification for what passes for government in southern Africa.
312.	It is hoped that no assurances were given to South Africa, expressly or implicitly, in support of the apartheid system, in order to facilitate the so-called negotiations with Ian Smith. Guyana remains resolutely opposed to apartheid, implacably opposed to the "bantustan" system, and firmly determined to ostracize those who have sporting and cultural links with South Africa so long as this modern-day version of slavery persists. So long as there is minority rule, whether in South Africa or in any other part of southern Africa, the people of Guyana will ally themselves with all opponents of that system and will support the liberation struggles of the oppressed majority.
313.	It has been announced that the first of the "bantustans" will be given a kind of portmanteau independence on 26 October of this year. Needless to say, Guyana will not recognize any such puppet creation. We are aware that there are some who will seek to justify some kind of recognition on tactical grounds perhaps, or on military strategic grounds. At Colombo, 85 countries of the non- aligned movement denounced that maneuver for what it is a transparent fraud. We feel confident that the rest of the international community will do likewise.
314.	The continuing conflagrations in the Middle East have increased the value of the communication routes around the Cape of Good Hope. This fact, together with the mineral wealth of South Africa, has blinkered the vision of those who pay lip-service in their opposition to apartheid. How much longer can they indulge in such sophistry in the face of the intensive struggle in southern Africa and the brutal continuing slaughter perpetrated by a Fascist Government in the segregated areas in South Africa? Is it not ironic that the freedom of the majority in Zimbabwe should be considered in dialog with him who brings to the negotiating table hands stained with the blood from massacres in Sialola, massacres in Soweto and massacres in Capetown?
315.	In Namibia, where the illegal occupation still continues and where the South Africans are smarting from the trouncing they received in Angola, a so-called constitutional conference has been held. My delegation denounces that conference as having no meaningful relationship to the future of Namibia. We support the South West Africa People's Organization as the legitimate representative of Namibia. We support the United Nations Council for Namibia and the continuing efforts of the United Nations to obtain majority rule and independence within a single unitary State. Guyana supports the armed struggle in Namibia as the only viable option left to the oppressed majority. The Caprivi Strip, bristling with modern armaments, remains a threat to international peace; it must be dismantled. So long as it exists, so long will it remain an instrument for the repression of the aspirations of the Namibian people, and so long will it remain a base of operations against the front-line independent African States.
316.	In the Middle East the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people remains the sine qua non of a just and lasting peace. Huddled in refugee camps, subjected to the crumbs of international compassion, the Palestinians still await the restoration and exercise of their inalienable national rights. My delegation expresses its profound concern over the situation prevailing in Lebanon and will continue to support all efforts aimed at terminating the fighting among brothers, at restoring peace and at safe-guarding the unity, territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon.
317.	We reiterate that peace in the Middle East must rest on the implementation of three principles: first, the right of the Palestinian people to a homeland; secondly, the right of all States in the area, including Israel, to exist within boundaries that are universally recognized; and, thirdly, the withdrawal of Israel from all Arab territories occupied since June 1967.
318.	Recently, the non-aligned movement held its Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government at Colombo, Sri Lanka, in the Indian Ocean. Aware of the threat to the security of the States in the area posed by the concentration of naval and aerial strength in the Indian Ocean and on the communications route between those two great expanses of water in the world-the Atlantic and the Pacific-the non-aligned movement repeated its call that the Indian Ocean should be a zone of peace [see A/31/197, annex IV, resolution 11]. My delegation reaffirms its conviction that the implementation of that declaration on the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace would contribute substantially to the relaxation of international tensions.
319.	Speaking from this podium last year I ventured the opinion that in Cyprus the question of peace was related to the achievement of a consensus between the two communities, obtained without duress and achieved with-out coercion. Today, nearly a year later, little if any progress has been made in the inter-communal talks; colonization of the northern part of Cyprus has proceeded apace; and foreign armed forces, despite the unanimous call of the General Assembly, remain entrenched on the island. Force majeure predominates. The resolution that the Assembly adopted unanimously two years ago [resolution 3212 (XXIX)] continues to provide the only valid framework for a solution to this problem. Let us ensure that during the course of this Assembly appropriate action will be taken to implement the decisions that we have already discussed, formed and sought to have implemented.
320.	The tragedy of Cyprus is the tragedy of the interference by other States in the affairs of a small State. Techniques of destabilization are being mobilized against Governments which seek to free their economies from the stranglehold of imperialist control—Governments which seek to create systems of development which would abolish hunger, disease and poverty, which would restructure their societies so as to provide their peoples with the quality of life for which they yearn. The immediate objectives of such campaigns of destabilization are clear and unmistakable: they range from the comparatively unobtrusive change of key personnel to bloody events which sometimes culminate in such tragedies as the assassination of political leaders.
321.	The techniques used are also equally clear and equally unmistakable. The promotion of internal unrest with a view to the break-down of law and order; the fomenting of intraregional conflicts through client States; the financing and organization of hostile propaganda campaigns; the attacks on embassies and consulates; the manipulation of international markets; the restrictions on export capabilities; the frustration of bilateral and multi-lateral aid; the subversion of economic objectives by the machinations of transnational corporations all this arsenal of destabilizing techniques is aimed in the first instance at ensuring the continuation of a relationship of dependency between developed and developing countries, and in the second instance at yoking the legitimate aspirations of the peoples in developing countries to the strategic conceptions of larger nations.
322.	Most of the countries in the developing world were former colonies of Western Europe and the radicalization of their liberation struggle has therefore been in anti-West terns. This does not necessarily mean that those terms are pro-East. Similarly, most of those countries have adopted socialism as an internal strategy of development. This likewise does not indicate that they are anti-West or pro-East. At Colombo the golden thread running through all the resolutions and discussions was the determination of 85 countries not to sacrifice their sovereignty and independence on the altar of ideological nicety. We of the non-aligned movement have in effect chosen not to be for one side or the other. We have chosen to be ourselves. At Colombo, non-aligned countries denounced all forms of interference and emphasized the need for unremitting vigilance in this regard. Here in New York at this thirty-first session of the General Assembly I call on the Assembly to denounce these activities and I urge the international community to consider in earnest measures to safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of small States and to discourage all attempts to interfere with their right to pursue the paths they have freely chosen for themselves. This, after all, is one of the fundamental principles enshrined in the Charter, to which we all subscribe.
323.	But the security of developing States is inextricably linked with their economic survival and their economic advancement. My delegation feels that there can be no meaningful economic advance without the implementation of the new international economic order as adopted at the sixth special session. The non-aligned movement and the Group of 77 have tirelessly sought to bring home to those in the developed world, who are ever resistant to change, that the economic progress of the developing countries is in the security interests of the developed countries. The billions on this planet who live in the developing countries and whose existence is subjected to the constraints of the few who manipulate to their advantage the present day economic system those billions have pinned their hopes on the modest programs put forward in Nairobi and elsewhere. Their determination is adamant, inexorable and relentless. The International Monetary Fund and the Bretton Woods monetary system must give way to alter-native structures such as international development banks which are not geared to-the revival and reconstruction of Europe or to preferential arrangements for the developed marketing economies, but rather to the just distribution of the gains of an equitable global system.
324.	The crippling problem of debt and the servicing of debt have assumed a special urgency. Developing countries cannot afford to depart from their basic and fundamental demand made in Manila and Colombo earlier this year calling for measures of cancellation, rescheduling and the declaration of moratoria. We must eschew all attempts to deal with this problem by the divisive tactics of a case-by-case approach. We cannot afford to mortgage the future of unborn generations to the obligations of burden some capital repayments and crushing debt servicing, The time has come for a debt moratorium.
325.	On the important question of commodities, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the integrated program. We therefore deplore the equivocation on the part of some developed countries in respect of the negotiations to be held on the establishment of a common fund for buffer stocks, which, after all, remains the cornerstone of a viable integrated program. While we naturally hope for a change of attitude on the part of these countries during the forthcoming UNCTAD negotiations to permit the establishment of a fund supported by all countries, we are firmly committed nevertheless to proceeding with the establishment of a fund as advocated by the non-aligned countries should the forthcoming negotiations fail to yield satisfactory results.
326.	The Paris Conference on International Economic Co-operation, although hailed by some as the ideal forum for producing definitive solutions to the crucial inter-national economic issues has, after months of debate, produced only halting and insignificant progress. There are some who are prepared to sound the bugles of advance in the face of what is obviously a halt. My delegation therefore fully endorses the concern expressed by the non-aligned conference in Colombo over the slow progress made at the Conference. I wish to reiterate my well-known skepticism about the attempt to find solutions to the critical international economic issues outside the framework of the United Nations system, such as the one being attempted now in Paris. Instead, my Government considers that the United Nations is the legitimate forum for the settlement of such issues.
327.	There is a clear need for restructuring and technically improving the United Nations system. Basically the United Nations Is a political organization and changes must reflect political realities. If the Security Council is to become more effective, if its authority is not be diminished by the misuse of the veto in the service of narrow national interests, then restructuring is necessary. The early admission of the People's Republic of Angola and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam would mark and advance the universality of the membership of the United Nations and would enable it to deal more effectively with the global issues that confront it.
328.	Non-aligned countries have always insisted on the importance of the United Nations as an effective instrument or promoting international peace and security and for harmonizing the interests and objectives of its Member States. The work of its various organs constitutes a co-ordinated attempt to share the future for the better condition of mankind on this revolving planet of ours.
329.	In the onward march of man there have been many obstacles, many hurdles. There have been many Vorsters; Smiths have abounded. We must not assign the attributes of victory to an ignominious surrender to false perceptions of defense.
330.	Peoples against whom the doors of meaningful negotiation have been closed have no other recourse but to resort to arms. The bell is tolling in southern Africa. The last call to prevent the blood-bath has died away, buffeted by the winds of insincerity. Soon -perhaps very soon- majority rule will prevail throughout southern Africa. Those who have sought to temporize with and accommodate the forces of oppression and reaction must heed these basic truths. Those who have died in this struggle have hallowed the ground beyond any powers of oratory and rhetoric. Guyana reaffirms here at this thirty-first session of the General Assembly its untiring support for those who strive for justice in southern Africa, for those who strive for the removal of racism as an ethos of government, for those who strive for the reaffirmation of the authority and respect of the United Nations, and for those who would perceive the unfolding logic of events. History is not side-tracked by spectaculars. The internal dynamics of the progress of mankind are dictating the results in southern Africa. We are proud to identify with those dynamics.


Mr. President, it is with real pleasure that I add the voice of the Rwandan delegation to the chorus of praise addressed to you since the beginning of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly, of which you have been elected President. Your great qualities as a man experienced in political affairs and your outstanding familiarity with international relations will, we are convinced, ensure further progress and real success in our work. Your unanimous election is not only a tribute to you personally but also a tribute to your people with whom we have relations of friendship and to whom we are grateful for the warm welcome we received at the Fifth Conference of non-aligned countries.
136.	We should also like to express our sincere thanks to your predecessor the Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Mr. Thorn for the way in which he carried out his delicate mission in the course of the thirtieth session. The delegation of Rwanda last year was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak about the deep friendship and fruitful co-operation which exists between Luxembourg and Rwanda.
137.	We also wish to pay an earnest tribute to Mr. Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary-General of our Organization, for his personal devotion to the efforts of the international community to bring about a world society where peace, justice, equity and human solidarity will prevail, and to express anew our Government's confidence in him. We should also like to pay this tribute to all his associates for their dynamism and the devotion which they have shown in the discharge of their tasks and heavy responsibilities.
138.	I should also like, on behalf of the delegation of the Republic of Rwanda, to pay a pious tribute to the memory of one of the great figures of mankind who has left an indelible mark on contemporary history. President Mao Tsetung not only injected international relations with new dynamism in the direction of progress, peace and security throughout the world, but he was undeniably the master helmsman, the creator of a new China, whose accomplishments we cannot fail to admire. The delegation of Rwanda, because of the great friendship and fruitful co-operation which exists between our country and the great Chinese people, wishes once again to express our sincere condolences to that friendly country on the passing of one of the greatest men of all time. It is our fervent hope that his work will be perpetuated for the greater good of China and of all mankind.
139.	Before speaking of the problems of the day, we wish particularly to greet here the presence of the Republic of Seychelles. Rwanda has already expressed to it its joy at the outcome of the glorious struggle it has waged for the independence and dignity of its people. Now, on behalf of my delegation, I should also like whole-heartedly to bid it a warm welcome to the ranks of this great family of nations. I feel certain that its fresh contributions will do much to ensure the success of our deliberations at this session.
140.	The presence of the People's Republic of Angola and Viet Nam within our great family would have been a source of great satisfaction and joy to us. The frustration caused by the absence of those two fraternal countries because of the obstruction of their admission to the United Nations is shared by the great majority of the international community. My delegation earnestly hopes that the entirely legitimate and timely application of those countries will be accepted and that the door of the great family of nations will stand wide open to them very soon.
141.	Although we have witnessed with much satisfaction the triumphs of the process of decolonization and although in recent years many countries have attained independence after many years of heroic struggle, it is nevertheless true that, in spite of those positive results, our continent is still a source of explosive tension and very recently it has been the theater of violations of human rights and the rights of nations on the part of the racist regime in Pretoria and the rabid and incorrigible Zionism of Tel Aviv.
142.	We are convinced that peace in the world will be endangered as long as the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty of States are flouted in the settlement of local conflicts.
143.	Peace in the world will be endangered as long as colonial machinations and expansionist plans, in disregard of the obligations we assumed as Members of the United Nations, work against the rights of peoples and nations and hence compromise peace and security in various parts of the world.
144.	Peace in the world will be endangered as long as a number of peoples are the victims of interference marked by pressure and violence totally inconsistent with respect for the fundamental human rights which are the focus of the concern of the international community, and until we have unmasked all the forms of domination which are disguised behind a deceitful exterior.
145.	Such vigilance requires from us courage linked to a fierce determination which will enable us to put aside personal and egocentric inclinations in our struggle against systems of destabilization, subversion or corruption, what-ever their source.
146.	Rwanda remains convinced that the solution of various crises must be found in respect for the sovereignty of each State and the self-determination of peoples within a framework that will guarantee them full and free expression of their will, without foreign occupation, interference or pressures, such a situation to be achieved through all possible peaceful means, such as dialogue and consensus.
147.	On the subject of decolonization, southern Africa has experienced the most criminal and humiliating forms of white oppression of the black people. The evil geniuses of apartheid wish to establish an intolerable legal fiction, because a minority of white racists, flying in the face of common sense and the inevitable development of events, obstinately try to maintain under their ignominious yoke 20 million African blacks through the insidious, cunning and diabolic scheme of the Machiavellian policy of "bantustanization" -a clumsy trap aimed at making it impossible to achieve majority rule and hence to enable the majority to decide their own destiny.
148.	As His Excellency Habyarimana Juvenal, the President of the Republic of Rwanda and the founder of our national revolutionary movement for development stated:
"We must denounce the obstinacy and intractability of the authorities of Pretoria, who in spite of the moving appeals of the black peoples under their domination, in spite of the recommendations of organizations reflecting the combined wisdom of mankind, continue to retain African lands and to consider themselves the best guarantees of the future of the black peoples they oppress."
149.	We are convinced that peace-loving countries will never take seriously the myth oft-repeated in the South African press that the racist Vorster will introduce of his own accord changes likely to put an end to the system of apartheid and the policy of "bantustanization" which he obstinately pursues, the sole purpose of which is to perpetuate his criminal regime which has been rejected by all the Members of this Organization.
150.	We are well aware that the political situation in South Africa is deteriorating daily. Tens of thousands of Africans are being expelled from urban zones and fertile agricultural areas and relocated on hard-pan lands, when they are not decimated by arbitrary arrests, sentenced to long prison terms or degrading hard labor.
151.	This situation is particularly tragic because, in spite of the embargo decreed by the United Nations on arms sent to South Africa, that country continues to receive weapons from Western countries, as well as basic materials and technical assistance to produce those weapons locally. The situation is particularly tragic because, despite the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which has been in effect since 1970 and has been signed by all the major Powers, South Africa continues to equip itself with large quantities not only of conventional weapons but also nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
152.	Our Organization must most vigorously condemn these threats to international peace and security posed by the arms race in South Africa. There can be no peace in that part of the continent or in the world as long as the retrograde doctrines of the racist.regime of Pretoria are allowed to subsist.
153.	Our Organization must condemn with great indignation the bloody events which have taken place last June in South Africa, where new, unspeakable crimes of genocide have been committed and constitute an act of defiance of humanity.
154.	Our Organization must fully appreciate the possible disastrous consequences of these massacres, which flow, and will continue to flow, from the sinister plans of the advocates of apartheid and racial discrimination in southern Africa.
155.	Together with this series of ignominies we must also mention the aggression against the People's Republic of Angola, the attack on the innocent village of Sialola in Zambia by the bloodthirsty, racist South African army.
156.	My delegation believes that in the present circumstances it is high time that we go beyond the stage of ineffective and futile condemnations and that we take concrete and vigorous action, including the imposition of sanctions, as envisaged by Chapter VII of the Charter. We must support with all the force at our disposal the Security Council's unanimous condemnation of the regime of Pretoria for its illegal presence in Namibia, and we must make a solemn appeal to all Member States .to put into practice all resolutions relating to the sanctions against South Africa for its persistent refusal to leave Namibia and for the brutal repression of the Namibian people by the Vorster regime. We add our strong opposition to efforts to negotiate with irresponsible tribal chiefs, the sole objective of which is to destroy the unity of the Territory and to perpetuate the South African presence in Namibia.
157.	I shall not mention the case of Zimbabwe, where it is painful indeed to note that the survival of the illegal regime of Ian Smith is due to the complicity of certain Member States who, far from vigorously implementing economic sanctions against the rebellious Rhodesian regime, have, through practically overt trade relations, given them moral and material support.
158.	We would be remiss if we failed to pay an earnest tribute to the People's Republic of Mozambique for its exemplary decision to close its border with the Salisbury regime in application of the sanctions decreed by the
United Nations. That has been of inestimable assistance to the cause of peace in the world and progress in Africa.
159.	Washington's initiative and London's backing of the efforts of the Secretary of State of the United States have in recent days given us some hope for a peaceful solution to the problems of southern Africa, especially of Namibia and Zimbabwe. Rwanda nevertheless believes that the treacherous Ian Smith and the racist Vorster must seize this final opportunity to avoid a protracted and inexorable bloody armed struggle in that part of Africa.
160.	In Namibia in particular, the African continent with justified impatience is anxiously awaiting the convening, under the auspices of the United Nations, of a constitutional conference in which the authentic representatives of the Namibian people, namely SWAPO, will participate, and we are anxiously awaiting the freeing of all political prisoners and the independence of Namibia as soon as possible.
161.	Finally, the delegation of Rwanda believes that all non-aligned countries, and in particular African countries, must follow with keen interest developments in southern Africa, and we must not, for want of ah appropriate strategy, miss an opportunity to bring about, albeit belatedly, a peaceful settlement to the problems of decolonization; nor must we, because of excess confidence, miss this opportunity which has been created by many sacrifices and efforts during the course of our long liberation struggle in our continent.
162.	At the northern border of our continent, a consideration of the international situation hardly justifies optimism.
163.	As far as Western Sahara is concerned, my country is devoted to the sacred principles of self-determination and the inviolability of the borders which colonialism has bequeathed each State. We condemn as vigorously as we can any violation of these principles, which we think would be an exceedingly dangerous precedent for peace and stability in several parts of the world.
164.	Hie fratricidal war which has engulfed Lebanon in a bloodbath for the past 17 months, and nearer to us, the Arab territories occupied by Israel and the humiliating treatment of tho Palestinian or Arab populations in areas under Zionist domination are not the kinds of actions which can bring about peace in that part of the world.
165.	A tight network of international interests exists in that part of the world; the murderous war is sustained by foreign aid and for direct interests that have not yet been made clear. Bloodshed continues in a completely confused and ominously clouded situation.
166.	We have always believed that international peace and security cannot prevail in a situation in which sources of tension spread from one area to another, from one country to another. In Lebanon, human solidarity must replace egotistical attitudes. The desire for domination, for hegemony, for confrontation must be replaced by co-operation on a basis of equality.
167.	The major Powers and all the countries in any way involved in these atrocities have heavy responsibilities. We still hope that they will respond with humanity to the cries of pain of thousands of men who are dying without knowing why. Arms must be laid down so that the parties concerned may be able to conduct negotiations leading to a lasting peace in that part of the world.
168.	Rwanda is a peaceful country. Respect for the ideals of our Charter, especially the principle of the peaceful settlement of disputes, has been a golden rule from which our national revolutionary movement for development, the supreme organ of our institutions, will never depart.
169.	Our founding President and President of the Republic of Rwanda, His Excellency Major-General Habyarimana Juvenal, reaffirmed this position in his manifesto of 5 July 1975, as follows:
"The national revolutionary movement for development favors negotiations for the settlement of international conflicts. Our movement wants the Rwandese Republic to side with those who sincerely seek to strengthen world peace and international co-operation, and especially with the countries that are least privileged and those that are fighting for the liberation of their peoples or in defense of their independence."
170.	While the problems of Africa and the Middle East are a source of particular concern to us, we cannot fail to mention certain other problems which, although they may occur a long way away, are nevertheless of concern to the Republic of Rwanda.
171.	The problem of Korea, in particular, is one such problem, and an extremely important one, because it concerns the right of peoples to self-determination; it is moreover a serious problem because it is linked to international peace and security.
172.	Thirty years ago the Korean nation was divided by the force of arms and by a shameful line of demarcation. That line became a definitive frontier not as a result of the desire or the decision of the Korean people but because of the presence of foreign occupying forces camouflaged under the colors of the United Nations.
173.	That division of a single people to which the United Nations Command gave a semblance of legality has been denounced by the international conscience. Last year the General Assembly adopted two resolutions [resolutions 3390 A and B (XXX)] calling for the dissolution of the United Nations Command so that the Korean people might be in a position to bring about their independent and peaceful unification, without foreign interference.
174.	The United Nations must persevere in that course in order to put an end to the consequences of former conflicts which have lasted all too long, creating a de facto situation of which the Korean people are victims because they have been divided between two conflicting political and social regimes.
175.	The question of Cyprus is another one of those questions whose complexity and gravity are due to the handiwork of outside forces bent cm dividing the island and proliferating sources of tension, with the unavowed purpose of diverting the third world from its major objective: the economic, social and cultural development of their peoples.
176.	In dealing with the Cyprus crisis, the maneuvers of the proponents of a policy of the fait accompli should be disregarded, and honest and constructive negotiations should be encouraged between the Greek and Turkish communities in accordance with the relevant resolutions of our Organization.
177.	The territorial integrity and unity of Cyprus require the withdrawal of all foreign forces, the unconditional cessation of competing foreign ideologies and the restoration of refugees to their homes.
178.	Rwanda's position on this question is quite clear. One of the constant principles of the foreign policy of our national revolutionary movement for development is support for peaceful coexistence and co-operation on the basis of respect for the sovereignty of each nation.
179.	The international community owes it to itself to act along the same lines and it is only through this realistic and eminently humanitarian policy that peaceful coexistence will be achieved between the two Cypriot communities.
180.	The Republic of Rwanda has always been opposed to the division of peoples and nations. This applies to Namibia, South Africa, Cyprus, Korea, Viet Nam and, particularly, Germany. My delegation has never endorsed the erection of walls of shame within the territory of a single nation. That is why the head of the Rwandese delegation stated from this rostrum on 1 October 1973, at the twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly:
"Among [the divided States] we see the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, two States which, we hope, will one day again become one nation, the great and noble German nation. "
181.	My country will constantly uphold that clear position, dictated by our excellent relations with the entire German nation. We have indeed had such relations since the dawn of modern history. It is my Government's view that we should see to it that future generations do not inherit disastrous situations resulting from our errors, from the confrontation of interests or from the desire for hegemony.
182.	My delegation would have liked to pass over in silence the problem of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the arms race because we believe that the egocentrism and desire for hegemony on the part of the major Powers have turned those sectors into their own private preserves. My Government believes that there can be no detente in the world until an end is put to the arms race, to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and to the creation of nuclear power stations in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the third world in general.
183.	As regards reforms in the United Nations, we should continue to realize that all nations, regardless or their size or power, share certain rights and duties in the conduct of the affairs of our world. All wish to discharge their task fully within the community of nations. That is why the decision-making power of the General Assembly, whose functions are now more limited than those of the Security Council, must be strengthened.
184.	The new structure of our Organization must be in keeping with the principles of international democracy and the new configuration of the world, in which many changes have occurred since the United Nations was created in San Francisco 30 years ago.
185.	The conditions which prevailed at the time, justifying certain points in the Charter, no longer exist today and the Charter must follow the developments of history. The monopoly of the veto by the permanent members of the Security Council, a privilege that some of them have abused, very often promotes situations that are contrary to equity, to the principles of the Charter and to world peace.
186.	The unjustified refusal to admit certain independent States to membership in our Organization and the reprehensible use of the veto to further territorial expansion on the part of certain Member States clearly show that that monopoly has harmful consequences. That is why my delegation believes that, first, in view of the changes in the world political situation since the adoption of the Charter, we must reduce the number of questions to which the veto can be applied and, secondly, that Africa and other regional groups which are recognized within our Organization but which do not have the veto must be given group vetoes.
187.	In this way, when the Security Council adopts decisions on matters of substance, the veto of a representative duly accredited to the Council by a specific continent or a region would have the same effect as that of a permanent member.
188.	In the area of social and economic relations for some time now, and particularly since the sixth special session of the General Assembly in April 1974, the Group of 77 has spared no effort to reform the present economic system and to set up certain structures in keeping with new economic realities. We are all well aware of the fact that it is no longer possible for a country or for a group of countries or for any alliance of transnational corporations to enjoy the benefits of the work and heritage of independent peoples.
189.	Three quarters of mankind are therefore determined to participate in the organization of world power, in a spirit of dialogue, mutual concession and solidarity.
190.	The Charter of the Economic Rights and Duties of States represents a great stride forward simply because opinions have converged and a consensus has emerged on certain very important questions such as the sovereignty of States and a State's control over its natural resources and the question of international co-operation for development. Although there are differences of opinion regarding how certain matters should be approached, that Charter remains a source of standards and of invaluable mechanisms in dealing with world economic changes.
191.	Hie results of the seventh special session, the desire to come together, to consult and to bring about harmony which marked that session, had revealed a definite willingness on the part of the developed countries to take action without delay to put an end to the imbalance of power and to restore fair relations among nations.
192.	The fourth session of UNCTAD, in keeping with the spirit and resolutions of the sixth and seventh special sessions and of the twenty-ninth and thirtieth regular sessions of the General Assembly, was to consider certain substantive proposals relating to the decisions which UNCTAD was to adopt to promote negotiations and the building of a world economy based on equity and inter-national solidarity.
193.	The Nairobi Conference and all the preparatory meetings which had preceded it focused on the problems of commodities, indebtedness, the transfer of technology, multilateral trade negotiations, trade relations among countries with different regimes, manufactures, action to help the least advanced countries and institutional questions.
194.	We are all familiar with what happened to certain specific recommendations after four weeks of difficult negotiations on certain subjects.
195.	The frustration of the third world arising from the postponement of consideration of certain matters important to it, the restrictive declarations by certain developed countries on positive resolutions-such as the creation of a common fund to finance international stocks-had prompted certain quarters even in the West to say that the fourth session of UNCTAD yielded "meager results paved with good intentions".
196.	That eloquent comment on the part of certain nationals of the developed countries requires no comment. Nevertheless, the meager results of the session should not undermine the morale of the international community but should rather encourage us to redouble our efforts to bring about the speedy establishment of more equitable and universal social justice. Vigilance is required if there is to be a carefully thought out and concerted strategy as worked out at Kingston and Rambouillet and in Puerto Rico.
197.	Finally, I should like to say to this Assembly that our country has been following with close attention developments in the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Everyone is well aware of the fact that all countries attach great importance to rules governing the sea-bed and ocean floor, whether they be industrialized countries or developing countries, coastal States or land¬locked States. We believe that it is of utmost importance to stress here that the seas and the oceans and the living resources and minerals thereof all constitute the common heritage of mankind.
198.	If the United Nations, our universe where we gather for dialog and agreement, provides us with an ideal framework for international cooperation thanks to its many bodies, our Organization must, if it wishes to survive, assess in time the pressures and course of movements and events throughout the present-day world, faced as it is with imperfections, frustrations, anguish, conflicts and struggles for hegemony, in order fully to grasp their meaning and needs, direction and intensity.