Mr. President, my first words will naturally be to express to you the sincere congratulations of the delegation of Mauritania. In more ways than one, no choice could have been wiser than ours in making you our President. Your qualities as a statesman and a distinguished diplomat and your experience of international problems are for us a sure guarantee of success. Your election to the presidency of this important session is not only a tribute to your persona! qualifications; it is also proof of our esteem and respect for and confidence in Algeria, the Revolutionary Council and the people of Algeria. It is also a great honor conferred upon Africa, of which you, Mr. Minister and dear friend, are a worthy representative.
129.	May I say, Mr. President, how very much my country appreciates any honor conferred upon Algeria. Not only do we think alike politically; history, geography and Arab culture have throughout the centuries woven between our two countries and our two peoples ties of friendship and solidarity, ties which have become richer and more fruitful in the course of time and which now distinguish our day- to-day relations. You may therefore rest assured of our co-operation in the exercise of your lofty responsibilities. Certainly they are difficult responsibilities, because you have been entrusted with the direction of the work of this twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly, whose aim is to trace the pattern of international events, make clear their meaning and draw up guidelines for short-term and long-term action by the Organization,
130.	On looking at the international situation today one cannot fail to see prophetic signs, even auguries, of profound changes on both the political and the economic level. On the economic level, the crisis of the international monetary system, the constant deterioration in the terms of trade and related difficulties are problems that have been accumulating for many years. These problems finally brought the international community, and in particular the developing countries, face to face with the threat of a break-down of unprecedented scope.
131.	The inequalities, the characteristic injustices of this system, which already weighed heavily on the countries with weak economies, finally were going to jeopardize dangerously the prosperity of the rich and industrialized nations. In fact, no nation and one becomes increasingly aware of this today can, in an era when large groupings prevail, prosper and live in isolation, while its destiny is more than ever tied to that of the other members of the international community. It is with interdependence, co-operation and mutual assistance that we can jointly build a better world from which we shall banish poverty, ignorance and social and economic injustices. We know that this is still a pious hope, but we believe that an awareness of the need for solidarity and concerted action is already a factor of considerable importance. It so happens, indeed, that all the delegations that spoke during the course of the sixth special session, and the documents adopted as the result of that debate, placed particular emphasis on this urgent need for solidarity. Need I recall that the developing countries, far from seeing the problems in terms of confrontation, wish to have recognized for each State its own rights, which naturally imply obligations. The new international economic order proposed and adored by a general consensus constitutes, in the opinion of my country, an important step in that direction, and must be Sincerely supported by all nations, and in particular by the industrialized and developed countries. It is owly thereby that the international community can overcome the contradictions of the existing system and establish co-operation based on real equality and the interests of all.
132.	Politically, the forces of oppression and domination see their end approaching with each passing day. In the Middle East, Zionism, despite the diversity and variety of the support it enjoys, can no longer resist the unshakable will of the Arab peoples to defend their freedom, their sovereignty and their territorial integrity. The October war, which was a defeat for the Israeli forces of aggression, showed an astounded world the determination of the Arab countries to ensure their complete mastery of their own destiny. International opinion, which seemed to have far more faith in force than in right and reason, today has come to see the situation in the Middle East in true light. Sovereign and independent countries, Members of the United Nations, have in the course of the year seen their territory become smaller like a shrinking skin, their sovereignty diminished, and even their existence threatened. Israel, strong in its impunity, pursues its policy of force and destruction in this region, sparing neither innocent civilians nor peaceful villages. In this connexion, we must recall the perfidy, the indescribable act of the destruction of the city of Quneitra by the Israeli soldiery. It is difficult not to be deeply indignant at such an act of sadism which is nothing other than a repetition of the methods of Hitler. Thus those who yesterday were the victims of Hitlerism have today become its most fervent practitioners, but whatever may be the perfidy and arrogance of Israel, it 'can never break the will and determination of the Arab countries.
133.	Even the Palestinian people, expelled from their homeland, reduced to a wandering existence since 1947, deprived of its most elementary rights, is today more than ever determined to carry on its heroic struggle to recover its national territory. It is, furthermore, now admitted and we rejoice at this that the solution of the problem of the Middle East as a whole must necessarily include a settlement of the Palestinian question. In this regard the inclusion of this question on the agenda of the present session should enable the United Nations to give this general feeling specific form.
134.	It goes without saying that the PLO must speak before the General Assembly and effectively participate in this debate, which concerns it primarily and which will decide its destiny. I here reaffirm our permanent and effective solidarity with our brothers of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.
135.	In Asia everybody knows of the sacrifices and sufferings imposed on the Cambodian people by foreign forces which continue, financially and militarily, to support the regime at present in power at Phnom Penh. In spite of the massive aid given to the unpopular Lon Nol regime, the balance of forces on the battlefield is in itself sufficiently eloquent to make our Organization finally heed the clearly expressed will of the Cambodian people. Thus it is the duty of our Assembly to restore the legitimate rights in the United Nations to the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia under the direction of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the sole genuine representative of the Cambodian people.
136.	The South VietNamese people, in its National Liberation Front and in its Provisional Revolutionary Government, gives striking proof of its will to sacrifice and its determination to face the difficulties on its road to independence and freedom. This people will not rest as long as foreign forces are not with-drawn from South Viet Nam and as long as the Saigon authorities do not scrupulously comply with the Paris agreements.
137.	In Korea the withdrawal of foreign troops stationed in South Korea, and the abolition of the use of the United Nations flag, should enable the Korean people as a whole to exercise its right to self-determination and freely to decide its future. The United Nations, which had the chief responsibility in the artificial division of the territory and people of Korea, today more than ever has the duty to facilitate the peaceful and independent reunification of that country.
138.	As regards the problem of Cyprus, our delegation in the Security Council has on numerous occasions had an opportunity to express the view of the Government and people of Mauritania. Our position with regard to this painful problem is based on our support for three fundamental principles, namely, the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Cyprus.
139.	Lately, under the pressure of liberation movements and of forces favorable to peace, there has been an irreversible acceleration in the process of decolonization in Africa. The sacrifices of every kind and the sufferings that the African liberation movements imposed on themselves, their heroic struggle for the freedom and dignity of their people have obviously been the decisive element in that change. Nor can I fail to mention the critical contribution still being made by the United Nations and by all peoples that love peace and justice, which have at no time spared their support for and solidarity with OAU and the African freedom fighters. Nor could I fail, in speaking of decolonization, to pay a heartfelt tribute to the Government and people of Portugal for their sense of realism and for having understood the need for decolonization, a need which has often been recalled before this Assembly.
140.	As a result of the combination of those elements, we are able today to welcome the admission to the United Nations of the Republic of Guinea- Bissau, which, after almost two decades of struggle and sacrifice, has finally regained its dignity and its freedom. That is a decision which my country, from this rostrum, has constantly and whole-heartedly called a just decision, a decision in conformity with the right of peoples to self-determination and to choose their destiny freely. Hence, I should like to extend my country's congratulations to the delegation of Guinea-Bissau, whose presence in this hall constitutes for us Africans the living symbol of the lightness of our cause and encourages us to pursue our action. We hope that we shall soon be able to address ourselves in similar terms to the true representatives of the peoples of Mozambique, Angola and still other Territories and I would stress those words: "still other Territories". For it is a fact a fact that each day becomes more obvious that the will of the peoples is invincible.
141.	It is equally true that the liberation of the colonies under Portuguese domination places the general problem of decolonization at the forefront of present events. The anachronistic colonial situations still prevailing in southern Africa and other parts of the continent can no longer resist that will of the peoples and that irreversible pressure of events. Portugal's example must teach the racist minorities of South Africa and Zimbabwe to stop clinging to obsolete and criminal values, must make them try, while there is still time, to take their places with honour in the great human family.
142.	I come now to another colonial African Terri-tory—Sahara, under Spanish administration. Every-one is aware of the position of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania on that problem; it is a constant and, we think, logical and consistent position. Indeed, our position regarding that part of the national territory draws its strength as much from history and geography as from the nature of the population.
143.	Historically Mauritania or what was then called "Bilad Shinguit" has always been, throughout the last 14 centuries, that Saharan entity which extends from the southern frontiers of Morocco to the Senegal River and from the Atlantic to Telemsi Morocco or the extreme west has often been called "Jazirat Al-Maghrib", the Isle of the West. That very fortuitous expression means that the Moroccan domain is encompassed by the Mediterranean to the north, the Atlantic to the west and the Sahara to the south. The Sahara and I must stress this-- has been and remains a much more difficult barrier to cross than the maritime frontiers. That is the result as much of the nature of the terrain as of the centuries- old determination of the inhabitants of that region to resist any threat to their freedom and to allow passage only to beneficial influences that they have voluntarily accepted.
144.	No one and certainly not the Mauritanians can deny that brotherly and mutually beneficial relations have been established between those two entities throughout the centuries. But history attests to the fact that deep frictions also have arisen between them. However, there is one unchanging element in the long history of this Saharan region: from the beginning of history and up to the first part of this century, the region was never administered from outside. It was always governed by emirs who were genuine inhabitants of the region. On the other hand, that region was able to govern the Saharan and Moroccan entities and to unite them under one authority. That happened in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The unification that took place then was the work of the Almoravides, who had come from the central and western parts of Mauritania. For the first and last time, Mauritania and Morocco were one empire, the empire of the Mauritanian Almoravides.
145.	At the beginning of this century, a similar attempt was made by El He'iba Ould Sheikh Malatnine, or the "Blue Sultan", the descendant of an old and noble family from Nema, a city in the south-eastern part of Mauritania. It was only the intervention of French troops that defeated that attempt to recreate the glorious age of the Almoravides.
146.	Between those two dates the eleventh century and the beginning of the twentieth century all the attempts made in the north-south direction failed. Some expeditions undertaken in the last century got as far as Sous, in the region of the present city of Agadir. A more successful undertaking brought Sultan Moulaye El Hassan in 1886 as far as Wad Noum, in the G'leimim (Goulimin) region.
147.	In that very same year, 1886, Spain succeeded in establishing itself in the Sahara, having concluded treaties with some Mauritanian chiefs, particularly the Emir of Mauritanian Adrar, Ahmed Ould M'Hamed Ould Ai'da; all other parties were excluded. That proves that at the time of the Spanish penetration there clearly was a traditional power in the Sahara, as there was everywhere else in Africa. Of course, the simple existence of that power does not automatically lead to the existence of rights. But the links between that power and independent Mauritania do not need to be demonstrated in any way. Indeed, that treaty was signed by a Mauritanian Emir who came from the city of Atar in the north-central part of present-day Mauritania.
1481 A few years after the signing of that treaty between Emir Ahmed Ould M'Hamed Quid Ai'da and Spain, France began its penetration into southern and eastern Mauritania, through agreements reached with the Mauritanian Emirs and excluding all other parties. Furthermore, the existence of that distinct Mauritanian entity, with its own identity, has been recognized on many occasions in old international treaties and recent official documents. As proof I need cite only the peace treaty concluded between Morocco and Spain on 28 May 1767, during the reigns of Sultan Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah and Charles III and more specifically article 18 of that treaty, reading as follows:
"His Imperial Majesty will not discuss the establishment that His Catholic Majesty wishes to create south of the Noum River, because he cannot be held responsible for the accidents and misfortunes that could occur, in view cf the fact that his sovereignty does not extend that far and that the fierce roving tribes living in that country have caused harm to the people of the Canary Islands and reduced them to slavery."
149.	And yet Wad Noum is well north of the Tarfaya region, ceded to Morocco by Spain in 1958. Thus, Sultan Mohamed did not hesitate to grant, through that treaty, fishing rights to the Spanish starting at Santa Cruz that is, Ifni towards the north, in the Moroccan territorial waters where he believed he had sovereignty.
150.	There are other official and irrefutable pieces of evidence that that Territory is Mauritanian; they are dated 1960 and come from our Moroccan brothers.
151.	As can be seen, both the historical background that I have just referred to without any bitterness or rancor and official acts of the fraternal Moroccan Government prove that the southern frontier of Morocco is a genuine delimitation between two worlds, or, as the historian Robert Montagne wrote, "the demarcation between two different social and political systems".
152.	Hence, historically Mauritania, with its "fierce roving tribes" as they were so politely called was to remain that mysterious, unknown and feared country until the "Franco-Spanish" penetration.
153.	Geographically, the present frontier of the so- called Spanish Sahara has been defined by the Franco- Spanish Conventions of 22 June 1900, 30 October 1904 and 27 November 1912. Although the Sahara has common boundaries with Morocco and Algeria, extending over some 400 and 40 kilometers, respectively, its entire area of 280,000 square kilometers lies within Mauritania and along a 1,600 kilometer- long administrative boundary.
154.	Indeed, like Mauritania, so-called Spanish Sahara extends from longitude 17° W to latitude 27° N. This means that it is pointless to emphasize the artificiality of the Saharan frontier which arbitrarily divides regions whose ethnic, linguistic and geographic unity is beyond challenge. I must recall, as was emphasized in 1963 by the Mauritanian Minister for Foreign Affairs before the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, that the so-called Spanish Sahara is inhabited solely by Mauritanian tribes differing in no way from other tribes living in the north-western part of independent Mauritania.6 Indeed, they have everything in common; their language—Hassania (the Mauritanian dialect of Arabic), culture, race and customs. Even in their daily activities and their nomadic nature, those tribes give proof of the artificiality of the frontier which divides them. The examples of CMad Dleym, Rguebatt, Oulad Tidrarine, Ehel Baricalla, Laroussyne and so on attest to the inter-penetration of those tribes and to the homogeneity of that whole north-western region of Mauritania.
155.	Thus it is clear that history, geography and human habitation have made that region, formerly called "Spanish Mauritania", an integral part of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. My country's position on this problem derives, quite naturally, from these fundamental facts.
156.	Thus it was that in 1957 and more precisely on S July 1957, i when we were able to free ourselves partially from colonial subjugation, three years before our independence the Mauritanian Head of State, then Vice President of the Council of Government, declared at Atar:
"Mauritania is no longer that vast desert which was once so difficult to cross and which formed a sort of barrier between the Mediterranean world and black Africa, difficult for men and ideas to traverse. I am addressing myself more particularly to our brothers of the Spanish Sahara. I cannot help but recall the innumerable ties that unite us: we have the same names; we speak the same language; we have the same noble traditions; we venerate the same religious chiefs; we graze our herds on the same pastures, which we water from the same wells. I therefore invite our brothers of Spanish Sahara to reflect this great economic and spiritual Mauritania which from now on is always in our thoughts."
157.	That policy has subsequently been constantly expounded at every African and international gathering, and, in particular, by the most authoritative spokesmen of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania: its Chief of State, its Ministers for Foreign Affairs and its United Nations representatives. Therefore, I need hardly reiterate in detail those various policy statements, as they appear in the relevant documents of the Organization; nor do I wish to take up more of the Assembly's time.
158.	For the sake of historical truth, however, I must recall that on 13 December 1962, here at the United Nations, my country subscribed to the principle of the self-determination of the people of the Sahara; for we were sure that our brothers in the Sahara, if they had to choose between Mauritania or another country, would choose to march with us. But beyond that certainty, there is all our loyal and sincere support for the right of peoples to self-determination, in accordance with the Charter and with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), which contains the Declaration of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
159.	The United Nations itself, on the basis of a decision taken on 9 September 1966 by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU, acknowledged the inalienable right of the people of the Sahara to self-determination [resolution 2229 (XXI)j. That right has subsequently been reaffirmed in all resolutions and decisions taken by the non-aligned countries, the OAU and the United Nations. As proof I need only cite the resolutions adopted on 9 September 1973 by the Fourth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries; on 14 December 1973 by the General Assembly [resolution 3162 (XX VIII)]; and on 11 June 1974 by the Summit Conference of the OAU. Need I recall that all those resolutions were drafted, submitted and supported by my country and by those directly concerned with the problem, notably Morocco?
160.	Along with that action, my country has sought internationally, by every means, to preserve and consolidate friendship among the fraternal peoples and Governments of the subregion. Thus, in 1969, when the subregion witnessed a happy turn of events the normalization of relations between Morocco and Mauritania my Government, without departing from its fundamental position, unhesitatingly placed the problem of the so-called Spanish Sahara within the framework of concerted action. We proposed to the Governments of our brother States that they unite their efforts so as to achieve as soon as possible the settlement advocated by the United Nations. Above all, our concern and desire was to maintain peace and stability in the subregion, but also to have the African and Arab groups regain the necessary cohesion to be able to face the scope and gravity of the decolonization problems in Africa and the Middle East.
161.	My country, which more than ever is prompted by the same desire, cannot fail to respond favorably to the appeal addressed to it yesterday on behalf of the Moroccan Government by my colleague and brother Mr. Ahmed Laraki, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco [2249th meeting]. We can do so with all the more alacrity and serenity since the Government of Morocco has expressly recognized our rights over that Saharan region. We do so, too, because we are certain that, beyond transitory misunderstandings fostered by colonialism, the Mauritanian and Moroccan .peoples are keenly aware of their responsibility to combat colonialism, which continues to dominate the Territories of Ri'o de Oro and Sakiet El Hamra. Mauritania, which understands the legitimate motives of the Government of Morocco, declares that the only problem at present is the liberation of those Territories liberation, which will strengthen understanding and cooperation between our two peoples.
162.	We have sufficient historical, legal, linguistic and human proof that those Territories were not lands without masters or administration. That is why the Mauritanian Government accepts recourse to the International Court of Justice, whose opinion cannot fail to enlighten the General Assembly on the well- founded nature of our position and enable it to ensure proper implementation of the resolutions adopted. This attitude, which shows the constant interest and solidarity of our peoples, is further warranted by the need to maintain harmony within the ranks of the
Arab and African countries in the face of our serious and multiple concerns. It is based also on my country's devotion to the principle of the peaceful settlement of disputes, particularly when those disputes are likely to lead to a confrontation between two countries and peoples which geography and common civilization have destined to enjoy relations of understanding and co-operation.
163.	Spain, as the colonial Power, must in any event soon end its presence in the Sahara. History, the United Nations and international morality demand it, and Spain itself has agreed to meet that requirement.
164.	Thus the International Court of Justice, in establishing the existence or non-existence of a Power in the Sahara, will have to determine the Sahara's links with Mauritania and Morocco.
165.	Whatever might be the opinion of the Inter-national Court of Justice, however, the right of self- determination of the people of the Sahara cannot be subject to any impediment. That population has the right freely to choose its destiny and no international organization or institution can deny it that right. My country solemnly undertakes here before you to abide by the freely expressed will of that population.
166.	This, of course, leads me on to speak of the referendum in which the population of the Sahara is to decide its future. That referendum cannot be organized and carried out on a completely free, democratic and impartial basis unless the administering Power scrupulously respects the procedures which have so often been advocated by the United Nations. Above all, a special mission to the so-called Spanish Sahara must be sent by the United Nations, and it alone should recommend to the United Nations the practical measures for the organization and holding of the referendum. For our part, we understand that these measures would refer not only to the preparation and supervision of the referendum by the Organization, but also to the practical and specific arrangements that would enable the genuine Saharans, within and outside the territory, to participate in that consultation.
167.	We have, of course, taken note with satisfaction of the reiterated commitment of the administering Power to apply all the provisions of resolution 3162 (XXVIII). And yet we must deplore the slowness of the administering Power and at times the vagueness of its intentions about the future of its Territories. This is all the more resented because any colonial situation is anachronistic in our era, and because recent statements made by Saharan figures of consequence would, if confirmed, give us no grounds for optimism.
168.	However, we feel certain that Spain, which has already shown a positive attitude with respect to decolonization, will avoid anything that might affect its past and present relations with Mauritania and the other States of the subregion.
169.	In concluding this statement, I should like to say again how happy I am, Mr. President, to be ad-dressing the Assembly under your presidency. I also wish to express our admiration and appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Benites, for the outstanding manner in which he guided the work of the twenty- eighth session and of the sixth special session of the General Assembly. I hope that the Republic of Bangladesh and the Republic of Grenada will accept our friendship and our warmest congratulations. I wish to assure the Secretary-General that we follow with deep sympathy his tireless efforts to make of the United Nations a true instrument of peace, understanding and harmony among peoples. We express again our confidence in him and assure him of our support in his efforts. We sincerely hope that each Member State will work for the respect of the principles embodied in the Charter and for the implementation of the decisions taken by the Organization.


The twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly opened last year in an atmosphere of political detente. It was preparing to consider the economic and social objectives of the Charter in order to ensure for the world a dynamic balance when war broke out in the Middle East, We then witnessed the collapse of all hopes; we saw world-wide runaway inflation, upheaval in the international payments system and the resurgence of latent conflicts. Human society was shaken to its foundations and the twenty-eighth session, which had opened under promising auguries, ended in disappointment and disarray.
2.	Those events suffice to show that the delegation of the Republic of Haiti justly appreciates the magnitude of the mission entrusted to Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika in guiding the work of this twenty-ninth session. We wish to assure him of our co-operation and offer our warmest congratulations on the high mark of confidence shown him, which is furthermore a tribute to the tradition of struggle, courage and clear understanding of the valiant people of Algeria.
3.	The events which overshadowed the term of office of the President of the twenty-eighth session, Mr. Leopoldo Benites, enabled him to confirm his reputation as a skilled diplomat, who guided the work of that session with competence and devotion. The delegation of Haiti offers him its most sincere compliments and renews the expression of our esteem and appreciation.
4.	Despite the trepidation of the international community, the United Nations has nevertheless lost none of its vitality. The year 1974 will have been most fruitful in specialized conferences. After the sixth special session of the General Assembly on raw materials and development, Caracas and Bucharest came one after the other to draw the world's attention to the need for an international legal regime for the sea and for population problems. Soon delegations from all over the world will be going to Rome to consider the fundamental question of feeding people. That activity is the work of the Secretary-General, to whom the delegation of Haiti pays tribute.
5.	All those activities undertaken within the frame-work of the Organization reflect an ever clearer awareness of the common destiny of peoples and the need for concerted solutions to the pressing problems of mankind. They have contributed to reducing the compartmentalization of ideologies. They have mitigated political antagonisms and shown the dangers of the gap between the industrialized and the developing countries and they have clearly indicated the elements of an exceptionally grave economic situation.
6.	The warning was given by the United Nations itself when, on the occasion of the last special session, on raw materials and development, the Secretariat showed, in irrefutable documents, that the world economic prosperity registered in the course of the 1950s and 1960s, which was based on "a strong and stable demand", is declining to the point of placing mankind on the threshold of a crisis as acute as that of 1929. We discovered that the economic system of the period following the Second World War had not given sufficient importance to international social justice that could bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth among peoples.
7.	In fact, sustained economic growth and the constant rise in the volume of international trade which characterized the last two decades benefited only industrialized countries, whose trade flow in 1970 was estimated at more than $300 billion, whereas that of all the developed countries was barely $50 billion, while their total indebtedness was close to $80 billion.
8.	To that overall inequality in the distribution of wealth, in which the seeds of division, disquiet and anxiety had already been sown, was added the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East in October 1973, which aggravated the discrepancy in the third world between the situation of the oil-producing countries and that of those lacking oil resources.
9.	The moratorium on oil exports to the industrialized countries of the West followed by their reduction, as well as the rise in prices, certainly affected their economic expansion, accelerated their inflationary processes and disrupted their way of life; but the countries hardest hit by those measures are those of the third world, which are finding it extremely difficult to pay for their oil-based energy needs and, because of generalized inflation, even more difficult to purchase the capital goods they need.
10.	All these facts indicate the interrelationship between political and economic questions and the interdependence of peoples. They impose the need for global co-operation in order to minimize the horrors of this generalized economic crisis and to satisfy the aspirations of all men for well-being, social justice and peace.
11.	Besides these grave problems, which are essentially economic, conflicts and upheavals of every kind continue to endanger international security. The Government of Haiti, aware of the threat to mankind of these so-called localized tensions, renews its dedication to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, where it is always possible to find solutions to the questions on our agenda. We reaffirm our confidence in the wisdom and reason of representatives attending this twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly and invite all parties concerned to negotiate with a view to removing the causes of their resentments and to settling their disputes.
12.	Many no less serious political problems were satisfactorily solved, enabling this Assembly to welcome the delegations of Bangladesh, Grenada, and Guinea- Bissau, to whom we extend our warmest welcome. The delegation of Haiti especially welcomes the representatives of Grenada, and we transmit to them the wishes of the people and Government of Haiti for the prosperity and well-being of that new State now in a position to enhance the prospects for harmony in the Caribbean region.
13.	My delegation is happy to express once again the sense of brotherhood and solidarity of the people and Government of Haiti for the people and Government of Guinea-Bissau, whose independence, acquired at the cost of great sacrifices, brings to mind -170 years later- the struggle waged by Africans to create the State of Haiti. The delegation of Haiti, in welcoming Guinea-Bissau, is naturally thinking of the destiny of the populations of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Rhodesia. We welcome with satisfaction the happy outcome of the situation in Mozambique, which will become independent in June 1975, and we hope that the same will occur with Angola.
14.	As regards the populations of Namibia and Rhodesia, still the victims of neocolonialism and of racial discrimination, we convey to them the sympathies of the people and Government of Haiti, who are convinced that their courage and steadfastness will oust from their territory the last vestiges of an outmoded era.
15.	It is a truism to say that international problems reflect the internal situation of States. Thus, the President for life of the Republic of Haiti, Mr. Jean- Claude Duvalier, being aware of his national and international responsibilities, has adopted a series of measures to guarantee both social peace and the harmonious development of the nation. In order to ensure control over the development of our natural resources, certain contracts are being revised; monopolies granted to private companies working in key sectors of the national economy are now being reconsidered whereas tax exemptions are granted to encourage agricultural production and the establishment of industrial units.
16.	These reforms, which proved to be essential to economic recovery, will be followed by the establishment of new administrative structures now under consideration. These will bolster the efforts made in the economic and fiscal fields/Tin this vast undertaking, the Government of Haiti is happy to have received moral support and financial and technical assistance from many friendly Governments which have recognized the humanitarian nature of the political and economic changes brought about to promote the social well-being of the people of Haiti.
17.	It remains for us to hope that international financing organizations will manage to simplify their procedures for granting assistance so as to give practical effect to the resolutions adopted for the benefit of the economically least endowed countries in the world. For now more than ever before, as the Secretary-General has stated, the international community faces difficulties that are so complex that "no nations, however rich or powerful, can remain immune, and which no nation can hope to confront and resolve successfully on its own." [See A/9601/Add. 1, sect. /.]
18.	The appeal of the Secretary-General for agreement and co-operation deserves to be heard and borne in mind so that mankind may be able to face present problems successfully and ensure its future. This is the hope of the delegation of Haiti on the occasion of this twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly.
The twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly opened last year in an atmosphere of political detente. It was preparing to consider the economic and social objectives of the Charter in order to ensure for the world a dynamic balance when war broke out in the Middle East, We then witnessed the collapse of all hopes; we saw world-wide runaway inflation, upheaval in the international payments system and the resurgence of latent conflicts. Human society was shaken to its foundations and the twenty-eighth session, which had opened under promising auguries, ended in disappointment and disarray.
2.	Those events suffice to show that the delegation of the Republic of Haiti justly appreciates the magnitude of the mission entrusted to Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika in guiding the work of this twenty-ninth session. We wish to assure him of our co-operation and offer our warmest congratulations on the high mark of confidence shown him, which is furthermore a tribute to the tradition of struggle, courage and clear understanding of the valiant people of Algeria.
3.	The events which overshadowed the term of office of the President of the twenty-eighth session, Mr. Leopoldo Benites, enabled him to confirm his reputation as a skilled diplomat, who guided the work of that session with competence and devotion. The delegation of Haiti offers him its most sincere compliments and renews the expression of our esteem and appreciation.
4.	Despite the trepidation of the international community, the United Nations has nevertheless lost none of its vitality. The year 1974 will have been most fruitful in specialized conferences. After the sixth special session of the General Assembly on raw materials and development, Caracas and Bucharest came one after the other to draw the world's attention to the need for an international legal regime for the sea and for population problems. Soon delegations from all over the world will be going to Rome to consider the fundamental question of feeding people. That activity is the work of the Secretary-General, to whom the delegation of Haiti pays tribute.
5.	All those activities undertaken within the framework of the Organization reflect an ever clearer awareness of the common destiny of peoples and the need for concerted solutions to the pressing problems of mankind. They have contributed to reducing the compartmentalization of ideologies. They have mitigated political antagonisms and shown the dangers of the gap between the industrialized and the developing countries and they have clearly indicated the elements of an exceptionally grave economic situation.
6.	The warning was given by the United Nations itself when, on the occasion of the last special session, on raw materials and development, the Secretariat showed, in irrefutable documents, that the world economic prosperity registered in the course of the 1950s and 1960s, which was based on "a strong and stable demand", is declining to the point of placing mankind on the threshold of a crisis as acute as that of 1929. We discovered that the economic system of the period following the Second World War had not given sufficient importance to international social justice that could bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth among peoples.
7.	In fact, sustained economic growth and the constant rise in the volume of international trade which characterized the last two decades benefited only industrialized countries, whose trade flow in 1970 was estimated at more than $300 billion, whereas that of all the developed countries was barely $50 billion, while their total indebtedness was close to $80 billion.
8.	To that overall inequality in the distribution of wealth, in which the seeds of division, disquiet and anxiety had already been sown, was added the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East in October 1973, which aggravated the discrepancy in the third world between the situation of the oil-producing countries and that of those lacking oil resources.
9.	The moratorium on oil exports to the industrialized countries of the West followed by their reduction, as well as the rise in prices, certainly affected their economic expansion, accelerated their inflationary processes and disrupted their way of life; but the countries hardest hit by those measures are those of the third world, which are finding it extremely difficult to pay for their oil-based energy needs and, because of generalized inflation, even more difficult to purchase the capital goods they need.
10.	All these facts indicate the interrelationship between political and economic questions and the interdependence of peoples. They impose the need for global co-operation in order to minimize the horrors of this generalized economic crisis and to satisfy the aspirations of all men for well-being, social justice and peace.
11.	Besides these grave problems, which are essentially economic, conflicts and upheavals of every kind continue to endanger international security. The Government of Haiti, aware of the threat to mankind of these so-called localized tensions, renews its dedication to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, where it is always possible to find solutions to the questions on our agenda. We reaffirm our confidence in the wisdom and reason of representatives attending this twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly and invite all parties concerned to negotiate with a view to removing the causes of their resentments and to settling their disputes.
12.	Many no less serious political problems were satisfactorily solved, enabling this Assembly to welcome the delegations of Bangladesh, Grenada, and Guinea- Bissau, to whom we extend our warmest welcome. The delegation of Haiti especially welcomes the representatives of Grenada, and we transmit to them the wishes of the people and Government of Haiti for the prosperity and well-being of that new State now in a position to enhance the prospects for harmony in the Caribbean region.
13.	My delegation is happy to express once again the sense of brotherhood and solidarity of the people and Government of Haiti for the people and Government of Guinea-Bissau, whose independence, acquired at the cost of great sacrifices, brings to mind -170 years later- the struggle waged by Africans to create the State of Haiti. The delegation of Haiti, in welcoming Guinea-Bissau, is naturally thinking of the destiny of the populations of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Rhodesia. We welcome with satisfaction the happy outcome of the situation in Mozambique, which will become independent in June 1975, and we hope that the same will occur with Angola.
14.	As regards the populations of Namibia and Rhodesia, still the victims of neocolonialism and of racial discrimination, we convey to them the sympathies of the people and Government of Haiti, who are convinced that their courage and steadfastness will oust from their territory the last vestiges of an outmoded era.
15.	It is a truism to say that international problems reflect the internal situation of States. Thus, the President for life of the Republic of Haiti, Mr. Jean- Claude Duvalier, being aware of his national and international responsibilities, has adopted a series of measures to guarantee both social peace and the harmonious development of the nation. In order to ensure control over the development of our natural resources, certain contracts are being revised; monopolies granted to private companies working in key sectors of the national economy are now being reconsidered whereas tax exemptions are granted to encourage agricultural production and the establishment of industrial units.
16.	These reforms, which proved to be essential to economic recovery, will be followed by the establishment of new administrative structures now under consideration. These will bolster the efforts made in the economic and fiscal fields/Tin this vast undertaking, the Government of Haiti is happy to have received moral support and financial and technical assistance from many friendly Governments which have recognized the humanitarian nature of the political and economic changes brought about to promote the social well-being of the people of Haiti.
17.	It remains for us to hope that international financing organizations will manage to simplify their procedures for granting assistance so as to give practical effect to the resolutions adopted for the benefit of the economically least endowed countries in the world. For now more than ever before, as the Secretary-General has stated, the international community faces difficulties that are so complex that "no nations, however rich or powerful, can remain immune, and which no nation can hope to confront and resolve successfully on its own." [See A/9601/Add. 1, sect. /.]
18.	The appeal of the Secretary-General for agreement and co-operation deserves to be heard and borne in mind so that mankind may be able to face present problems successfully and ensure its future. This is the hope of the delegation of Haiti on the occasion of this twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly.


Mr. President, on behalf of my delegation, I wish warmly to congratulate you on your election to the office of President of the twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly. Your election is a fitting tribute not only to you personally but also to the Government and the people of your great country, Algeria. My delegation is confident that, with your diplomatic skill and the long experience which you have had in the work of the Organization, you will guide this session through to a fruitful conclusion. I pledge my delegation's co-operation and support to you.
78.	May I also take this opportunity to express my delegation's gratitude to your predecessor, Mr. Benites of Ecuador, who presided so skilfully over the twenty- eighth session of the General Assembly.
79.	I wish also to pay tribute to the Secretary-General for his untiring efforts and contribution to world peace and devoted service to humanity.
80.	For my country and my delegation, it is always a welcome pleasure to see new Members admitted to the United Nations. Thus, I salute the delegations of Bangladesh and Grenada and, through them, extend our hearty congratulations to their respective Governments and peoples.
81.	But, on this particular occasion, I wish to beg representatives' indulgence for speaking emotionally on the admission of Guinea-Bissau. Guinea-Bissau's admission to the United Nations is to the African continent an act that marks the beginning of a new era in southern Africa an era which, we hope, shall at long last bring independence and freedom, peace and stability to that region. In our view, nothing will ever be the same again in that part of Africa, following the April coup in Portugal. We are happy to see our brothers from Guinea-Bissau among us, we welcome their presence and we congratulate the Government and people of Guinea-Bissau on their victory. We are aware of the enormous task ahead of them as they set themselves to the business of reconstruction and development of their country. We therefore urge the international community to give them material support.
82.	It is our hope that the cease-fire of 7 September 1974 between the Frente de Libertagao de Mozambique [FRELIMO] and Portugal will indeed lead to the total independence of Mozambique on 25 June 1975. We welcome that cease-fire and look forward to the admission of Mozambique to membership in the United Nations.
83.	In September 1969, on the occasion of Botswana's third anniversary of independence, the President of my country, Sir Seretse Khama, addressed the General Assembly at its twenty-fourth session [1764th meeting] from this rostrum. It is now five years since that address, and Botswana has, only a few days ago, celebrated its eighth anniversary of independence, before going to the polls in less than a fortnight from today to elect a new Parliament. It is therefore fitting for me to begin by recalling the belief expressed by the President of my country in the United Nations.
84.	I reaffirm the faith of my country in the principles and purposes of the Charter of the Organization. We in Botswana view the United Nations as an effective Organization through which enduring peace and progress of mankind can be assured. We believe that this world body is eminently suited to deal not only with major problems of peace and security for all nations but also with the pressing problems of human rights, self-determination, poverty and economic development. It is our view that what may be regarded as the failure of the Organization is, in fact, a reflection of the world it seeks to serve. To that extent, we share the wish of those who seek to improve it and to make it more effective.
85.	The value of the United Nations to small nations, like my own, whose interests may on occasion be threatened, should not be diminished. On the contrary, the Organization should increasingly play a very important role in safeguarding peace and security for us all, in calling the attention of the international community to the pressing economic problems, and in bringing pressure to bear on the colonial and white minority regimes which practice racism and apartheid.
86.	To my country, the specialized agencies of the Organization continue to be a significant source of economic development and technical assistance, and we feel honored to have benefited from such assistance.
87.	The events of the past 12 months are of significance to the Organization. When the Security Council adopted resolution 242 (1967) on 22 November 1967, it was hoped that its provisions would be a framework for peace in the Middle East. The Organization of African Unity [OA U] attached great importance to the provisions of that resolution. But peace has continued to prove elusive. The prolonged tension in the Middle East, which led to the October war in 1973, was for my country a truly sad development.
88.	Botswana has never supported any view which denies the existence of the State of Israel. Equally, we reject as inadmissible Israel's acquisition of Arab lands through the use of force. Regrettably, both the 1967 and 1973 wars have resulted in such acquisitions by Israel. We urge Israel to vacate those lands, if only in deference to international law, which protects all States alike. In our view, such withdrawal would constitute a serious step towards peace and security in the region. My delegation believes that any settlement of the Middle East issue must also take into account the interests of Palestinians if it is to guarantee any measure of permanent peace in the area.
89.	Another dangerous conflict has recently occurred in Cyprus. Apart from membership in the United Nations and in OAU, Botswana is a member of the non- aligned group of nations, and so is Cyprus. The independence of Cyprus should be safeguarded out of respect for the principle of self-determination. We hope and trust that peace and calm will return to that em-battled island. We equally hope that, with such calm, that nation's independence will be guaranteed through a negotiated settlement. Consequently, my country does not favor any annexation of that State, or of any part of it, by any Power.
90.	We commend the efforts of the United Nations in seeking to restore peace to that country, and hope that the parties concerned will respect its role in this connexion. My country continues in a modest way to contribute to the maintenance of UNFICYP.
91.	The consequences of the recent hostilities, which have rendered homeless almost one third of that country's population, are of concern to us. We trust that other nations, particularly the non-aligned, as well as the parties directly concerned, will continue jointly to co-operate with and support the efforts of the United Nations.
92.	My country continues to observe with keen interest events in other parts of the world. We know that in South-East Asia fighting is still raging, and that areas of friction and conflict still exist. Closer to us, in southern Africa, wars of liberation are continuing. The relations of world Powers are of immediate interest to us. The possibilities for world-wide conflict and confrontation have yet to be totally eliminated. If, indeed, the spirit of rapprochement and accommodation, which has been talked about so much over the past few years, is a new development which augurs well for the future of mankind, it is to be hoped that its forces will be used to eliminate the lingering areas of conflict. We hope that this spirit of detente, which we welcome, does not contain elements which could lead to greater rivalries and greater confrontations.
93.	The developing nations cannot be expected to welcome a new development which seeks to serve only the desires of a club of nations, leaving aside other pressing problems of the world which continue to confront the United Nations. It is the hope of my delegation that the developing nations as well as the major Powers will join together, in the interests of peace and security, equality and self-determination, to work for the creation of a new spirit that can benefit all of mankind.
94.	Being only eight years old, my country is relatively new to the international scene. However, the aspirations of mankind today are obvious to all of us. None of us can remain aloof any longer. The new spirit of co-operation which I have referred to should address itself to these aspirations by providing solutions to the most pressing problem facing us: the realization of economic and social progress. My Government has committed itself fully to pursuing this task as vigorously as ever. Therefore, in the international context, it is the view of my delegation that economic and social progress is also one of the main concerns of the United Nations.
95.	Although this concern has been clearly reflected also by the many conferences held in the past years, it seems to us that those held with the last 12 months demonstrate beyond any shadow of doubt the concern of all Members of the Organization in this regard. And here we can recall the attempts of the sixth special session of the General Assembly on raw materials and development, held in April this year; the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea held at Caracas recently; and the World Population Conference, held at Bucharest several weeks ago. In all those Conferences the concern of the world community was the same: economic and social progress or, more specifically, the ever-widening gap between the standard of living of the developing nations and the industrialized Powers; the world food situation, which is becoming more and more critical; the problem of population management and the equitable sharing of resources; and the havoc wrought on the economies of nations by the energy crisis.
96.	Indeed, the eradication of poverty, illiteracy, hunger, disease and other sources of human suffering and misery should remain the concern of us all, individually as well as collectively. Our desire for economic and social progress should be translated into meaningful schemes and programs of assistance from which the needy and most deserving can benefit.
97.	I speak openly on the problems of economic and social progress, fully aware that my nation is small, and with the full knowledge that compared with other nations our effort or contribution is bound to be small. For indeed, my country has no assistance programs or financing schemes to offer to the international community, in this regard, we are recipients of aid. However, we developing nations are eager to make any contribution, however small. Thus my country has every reason to be proud of its effort and contribution, given the state of its economic development.
98.	My delegation wishes to commend the spirit with which the sixth special session of the General Assembly was convened. Yet we must bemoan the fact that no sooner had that session ended than the enthusiasm for it vanished. The economic situation in the third world has worsened over the last 12 months. Economic growth is at a standstill. In some cases, the reversal of economic progress has been the result, especially following the recent energy crisis.
99.	If the apparent lack of enthusiasm is the unfortunate result of pointing accusing fingers at any one group of countries as being responsible for some of these problems, might I add that it is neither the wish nor the intention of my delegation to find a scapegoat. And in this regard, may I compliment those countries, developing or developed, which have come to the rescue of the less fortunate countries.
100.	Clearly, the magnitude of recent as well as perennial economic problems has emphasized the need for multilateral action. We hope that the international community, especially those countries with the means to do so, will respond to this situation. The tendency to emphasize, either unilateral or bilateral action might prove self-defeating. We must come to the rescue of those among us who need help most.
101.	The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which convened in Caracas, Venezuela, this past summer, dealt with issues of importance to our community of nations. It is no surprise to my country that the international community should attach such great importance to the development and codification of the law of the sea. This is indeed a welcome development.
102.	The Caracas session and indeed its predecessors was significant in more than one way. First, it had representation from all sectors of the international community. In this connexion, it broke with past traditions. Secondly, for the first time the Conference has a comprehensive agenda. We were happy to note that most, if not all, interests were reflected in it.
103.	My country is land-locked. And while we appreciate the rationale for devising a law which will create order and promote a rational management and exploitation of the resources of the sea, my country, as a land-locked State, has specific interests to protect and promote. Hence our effective participation at the Caracas session and our intention to continue to do so at future sessions. It is vital to my country that the right of free access of land-locked States to and from the sea should be recognized and enshrined in any future treaty on the law of the sea. Equally important is a guarantee in any such treaty of an unfettered transit of goods and persons of land-locked States.
104.	We naturally attach great importance to the question of the common heritage of mankind. Therefore, it is important to us that the international seabed be a viable area, and not just a barren left-over. We also attach significance to the type of international sea-bed authority which will be created to govern the area. In our view, the authority should not only control and manage the area and its resources but should also have title to it. Consequently, the authority must be vested with full powers to function effectively as a trustee of mankind as a whole. Above all, we envisage an authority which would engage directly in exploitation of the resources of the sea-bed.
105.	I would like to affirm that my country supports the creation of economic zones by coastal States. However, it is the view of my country that regional land-locked States should participate on an equal basis with regional coastal States in the exploitation of the marine resources of such zones. Equally, the question of scientific research and the dissemination of the results of such research, in both the economic zone and the international sea-bed area, is important to my country.
106.	My delegation would also urge that the interests of developing countries which produce land-based minerals similar to those found in the sea-bed areas be borne in mind. We look forward to promoting these interests at the next session of the Conference on the Law of the Sea.
107.	Decolonization and self-determination are some of the major preoccupations of the Organization, as are racism and apartheid. For many important reasons our white minority-ruled neighbors continue to be our major preoccupation. For my country, the continued existence of colonial and white minority regimes in southern Africa is an everyday reality. One has only to recall the tracts of land on which we have settled several thousand refugees, or the explosions which have already spilled innocent African blood on our own soil, to understand the situation. Hardly a day goes by without our being affected in one way or the other.
108.	The emergence of a new Government in Portugal several months ago brought to an end almost half a century of dictatorship in that country. The crumbling of that dictatorship should in real terms signal the crumbling of colonialism in Africa. My delegation is confident that all States Members of the United Nations will feel able to support this view. As for the third-world countries, there can be no doubt about their commitment to this cause.
109.	The new Portuguese Government has already made known its preparedness to grant independence to Mozambique and to Angola. My delegation welcomes the cease-fire declaration of 7 September 1974 in Lusaka between Portugal and FRELIMO. The arrangements for the transfer of power from Portugal to the heroic people of Mozambique are, indeed, a fitting tribute to the valiant struggle for self-determination and independence waged by FRELIMO.
110.	We hold in contempt the futile attempts by reactionary white settlers in Mozambique to seize control of that African country in total disregard of the constitutional rights of the people and in violation of the constitutional method for the transfer of power to the legitimate representatives of Mozambique. The responsibility of Portugal and of the international community to ensure the success of the transitional Government in Mozambique, so that the preparations are completed for full independence in June 1975, is now very obvious.
111.	The reactionary element of the white settler community in Mozambique is inspired by the existence of minority-ruled States- in the neighboring areas. It is in the interest of Portugal and of the entire international community to liquidate the resistance of such communities wherever such resistance occurs. The total liberation and independence of Mozambique is a further contribution to peace and stability in the region and to peace and security in the continent. We commend the new Portuguese Government for recognizing the right of the people of Mozambique to independence. We salute the heroic people of Mozambique for this victory and in the same vein welcome the Government in Mozambique.
112.	In any situation of colonialism where issues are unclear, where directions remain equivocal, and where negotiations remain meaningless, the liberation forces can have no alternative but to intensify the struggle. The right to independence is not negotiable, and, consequently, we reject the notion of referendum s. We consider that the freedom movements concerned express the wishes and sentiments of the people of these Territories, and that, in collaboration with these peoples, those' movements are capable of engaging in meaningful consultations to work out an acceptable method for the transfer of power. Therefore, we would like, while commending Portugal, to urge that efforts be intensified to speed up the total liberation of the State of Angola.
113.	The African countries still feel committed to, and are prepared to honor, the Manifesto onJSouthern Africa, signed at Lusaka on 16 April 1969. However, this noble commitment continues to be conditional upon colonial and white minority regimes in southern Africa first accepting fully the principle of self-determination. We urge all of them to adjust to the new situation.
114.	We all witnessed a very sad development on 30 July 1974, when 80 per cent of the white voters in Southern Rhodesia all in all numbering only around 83,000 in an African country with a population of close to 5 million voted Smith's regime back to power. My delegation finds that intolerable.
115.	Instead of negotiating in good faith with the African nationalists, the Smith regime has chosen to harass them while consolidating itself. It can thus be seen why the African people in Southern Rhodesia would vow to dislodge this regime by all means avail-able. We urge the international community to intensify its efforts towards a just solution to the Rhodesian problem.
116.	There is no doubt that the United Kingdom has an outstanding responsibility in Rhodesia, and we agree with those who have said that there can be no satisfactory settlement without the agreement of the African people in Southern Rhodesia. We hope that the United Kingdom will intensify its search for a solution of this problem. My country continues to make sacrifices, economically as well as otherwise, in an effort to assist and join with those who seek a lasting solution to this problem. In our view, the search for a solution should take into account the importance of the participation of the recognized leaders of the African people in Rhodesia. A concerted effort should be made to eliminate foreign elements in Rhodesia which could make the white minority regime even more intransigent. The international community should call on those among us who are in a better position to do so to bring the necessary pressure to bear on the Smith regime.
117.	As with Southern Rhodesia, the situation in Namibia shows no sign of meaningful change. While, because of our geographical position in southern Africa and our long border with South Africa, the functional relationship between my country and South Africa has not changed in any way, we continue to disapprove very strongly of South Africa's racial policies. And in this connexion, we regret that such policies are being extended to Namibia, a Trust Territory of the United Nations. Namibians are our neighbors and brothers. We have always recognized the legitimacy of their struggle for freedom and independence. My country continues to support General Assembly resolution 2145 (XXI) of 27 October 1966, the effect of which was to transfer the administration of Namibia to the United Nations. My Government abides by the most recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice with respect to that Territory.1 Consequently, my country deplores the present situation, as well as the continued suppression of liberties by South Africa in that Territory.
118.	My delegation believes that there can be no future for white minority regimes in Africa. However, the choice of whether democracy and equality will come peacefully or through a violent struggle clearly rests with those regimes. The ultimate objective of liberation itself will never be compromised. Adjustment now could avoid a situation which threatens peace and stability in the region. Since its independence, my country has, with little effect, made its own efforts to influence those concerned to refrain from intensifying racial policies and to work for the bringing about of change, in recognition of the rights of black people in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa.
119.	We have called increasingly upon the inter-national community to pay attention to white-ruled southern Africa and the suffering of the black populations there as a result of their being denied freedom, self-determination and equality. We continue to deplore the rigorous oppression and suppression of liberties in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. We renew our appeal to the international community to strengthen its efforts to influence events in the region. In this connexion, it is our hope that all nations of the world, particularly the western countries, will demonstrate in word and in deed their total abhorrence and rejection of the institutionalized system of racism and apartheid. As for ourselves, there can be no other way.
120.	We have been invited to engage in a constructive debate during the current session. Indeed, proposals have already been placed before us for our consideration. My delegation will respond positively to this when we come to consider the resolutions and decisions which we shall make and adopt at a later stage. Allow me, therefore, to conclude by conveying to the Organization, and through it to the delegations of Member States represented here, as well as to our brothers in the freedom movement, the greetings of the people of Botswana. Our foreign missions and embassies are very few in number. But we have friends in all continents. It remains our ardent desire to have more friends. Our membership of the Organization is in itself a source of strength. We take comfort in the knowledge that our problems are also the problems of our friends.


Mr. President, all of us assembled here have worked, negotiated or chatted with you at one time or another. We know that you are the outcome of prowess in war and peace in a country which is almost a latter-day Sparta. Algeria made history and made men. Guided and inspired by the genius of your people, you have cultivated over the years a talent for getting over the many hurdles you had to leap while operating at home in Algeria, in the OAU, in the League of Arab States, in the group of non-aligned States, and, indeed, in the councils of the Organization. What more could we ask of one who will preside over a session fraught with hope and risk, a session gathering together world leaders, bewildered by an era most certainly in the grip of a value-shift.
179.	This is not just another session. Several memorable dates, many political episodes, and numerous battles have been called epoch-making or turning- points in history. A case in point is 1848, which was marked by the discovery of internal combustion, and 1815, which was marked by Waterloo, The mid-1970s will be looked upon as one such period. The decade between now and 1985 is bound to be a watershed in the long march of man, a decade of shifts and changes: shifts in the centers of economic power; changes in the chemistry of international politics -the crumbling of old colonial empires and the retraction of imperial outposts. For this reason it will be the decade in which the gravest decisions man has ever been required to make will be made. Man must make these decisions as a unit and not as individual centers for, after all, one center's decision ultimately affects all. And it is here that many of those decisions will be initiated or formulated. The Assembly is the only instrument, and with all its inadequacies the United Nations is our anchor.
180.	The gravest of all these decisions is this: will the rich and the poor work out the new economic order we decided upon last spring? Some of us are frustrated indeed, alarmed because very little has been done to further those proposals. There is a redeeming feature, however. The many sicknesses plaguing the world have been noted and pointed out by a world press awakened to responsibility. There was a conscious effort by intelligent, educated young men who have dared hunger and disease, in camps and tents, in drought-stricken regions of Africa, exposing the cynicism of some and showing the world what it is like to live in despair. Thanks to them we have had an abundance of books, broadcasts, brochures, seminars, symposia and conferences. The world is better informed and no longer blind to the need for proceeding with the decisions of the sixth special session of the General Assembly. But it remains for this Assembly to take stock of these ideas. Leaders of eminence are now in the thick of the battle to save a world adrift, and adrift it is. Let us help them.
181.	The facts and figures are there. I realize that our heads are buzzing with figures and that they need not be disturbed further. A few figures, however, must be urgently considered to indicate the magnitude of the problem we face.
182.	The ILO tells us that in 1970 2,542 million persons lived in the developing world, while 1,090 million lived in the industrialized world. In less than 30 years from now, twice as much food, water, power and jobs will be needed if present standards are to be kept. By then the labor force in the world will have increased by 30 per cent. There will be 457 million newcomers between now and 1985. The share of the rich countries from this influx will be a mere 10 per cent; that of the poor is staggering: 289 million new hands in Asia, 55 million in Africa, and 42 million in Latin America. This is the magnitude of the crisis that is shaking the world, and whose greatest impact is falling on the hard core of the developing countries.
183.	The deliberations of the sixth special session of the General Assembly last April have identified the new opportunities as well as the new dangers that surround the world economy. And though the outcome was not entirely satisfactory, it is none the less conducive to optimism. If nothing else, we have examined and brought to a fruitful end ways and means of employing international machinery for bringing about a rapid transformation of the world economic system so that economic domination would yield to economic co-operation and confrontation in matters of trade, finance and technology would yield to negotiation and conciliation.
184.	A much greater sense of interdependence has emerged. A healthy sign of balanced progress is already taking shape. Yet a range of adverse factors still persists. Negative symptoms tend to overshadow our efforts to create an atmosphere of goodwill and confidence, and many they are. To mention only a few: there are inadequacies in the flow of finance that hamper the emergence of a mutually advantageous international division of labor; rigidities in trade patterns that generate instability in currency markets; inadequacy in the rate of growth in the export earnings of the developing nations that impair their capacity to service accumulated debts.
185.	Obviously, international adjustment will be impeded and rendered more costly so long as the policies pursued by some of us are mutually inconsistent. For a properly functioning adjustment process, we require a minimum of conflict among national and international objectives. We require a high degree of awareness of the notion of economic solidarity. More than that, we require in this decade of change and shifts a will to accept the idea of change itself -change of roles and change of rights and duties. That is a necessary prerequisite for mutual confidence.
186.	Statements we have been hearing of late reveal a lack of will to accept change and a tendency to fly in the face of reality. The oil crisis hit everybody bang in the face. It exploded old myths. But instead of facing the new reality with objectivity and reason we decided to obliterate the picture. We have practically been told that it was all milk and honey till the oil crisis dominated the scene. Nothing is further from the truth.
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187.	The operation of inflationary trends in the Western economy started long before the increase in oil prices. For years the rich industrial countries, particularly the erstwhile colonial Powers, have been balancing their budgets at home while exporting inflation to others, building welfare societies at home while perpetuating pauperism elsewhere, engaging in willful waste at home while prolonging woeful want in the poor countries of the world. And to the pleas of those who suffered most, there was lip service some-times and cold economic justification often- if only to make the soul of John Meynard Keynes rest in peace.
188.	The world economic system is dislocated today because the rules of the game have changed. The new facts are to be understood. Some of us cannot go on living with colonial and neo-colonial hangovers. When Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the devaluation bill, the first in the United States, his Director of the Budget cried, "This is the end of Western civilization". That was in 1935. Since that date many things have happened. The mighty economic horse on which some of us had been riding is no longer that mighty. Nor do its riders want to agree to dismount with grace. The fireworks we have been seeing in the past few weeks in Detroit and Washington, and indeed in the Assembly, are but evidence of that attitude in the face of those statements one cannot be asking, are we honestly ready to accept the new economic realities of the day, or do we wish instead, as I said, to fly in the face of those realities through willful distortion? Do we really mean to engage in a sincere dialogu or do we still think that we can change the world through Olympian declarations and veiled threats? Do we seriously wish to undertake an objective appraisal of the situation, or do we seek an alibi in the guise of such an appraisal?
189.	The facts of the situation are not what those statements and declarations purported them to be. The record of the last two decades is a record of frustrated hopes and broken promises: the inconclusive first, second and third sessions of UNCTAD; the unaccomplished target of 1 per cent of the gross national product in aid to development; the un-replenished funds of the International Development Association; the empty coffers of UNDP; and the empty silos of the World Food Program. The millions of dear souls that we lost in the Niger, in Ethiopia and in Bihar could have been saved if the "haves" had been more responsive- and, indeed, more responsible.
190.	We understand that those established rich countries have their problems. We understand the impediments in the way of a change of heart and attitude. One of the most stubborn impediments and we have said this time and time again -is the multi-national corporation, the major culprit in the world economic crisis. That is not wild talk, nor is it un-substantiated accusation. By the end of 1971, $268,000 million of short-term liquid assets were held by private institutions on the international financial scene. These institutions were mainly American banks and multinational corporations. That sum represented more than twice the total of all the international reserves held by all the central banks and international monetary institutions in the world at that date. Those huge sums are called legitimate profits. To us in the third world they are unearned increments. One cannot help but feel sorry for the many Governments of the rich, tossed hither and thither by those who sustain them or mislead them: multinational corporations and groups of producers and consumers. Just think of the way in which Governments have been exposed by an intelligent world press over the past few years. More disquieting still is the way ideals and codes of behavior that we conceived here have been mocked or dismissed out of hand as unrealistic fantasies of radicals. The new voices and forces will eventually prevail, as they must, as they have always done in the darker times of the past. But here again we have to move fast, for the world cannot wait any longer for the soldiers of justice and sanity to conquer the iron gates of greed and for the advocates of a return to codes of morality in public and international affairs to find their way.
191.	The crisis cannot be solved by mutual recrimination nor by the apportionment of blame. We know that. The solution requires reconciling ourselves to the new realities; it requires the establishment of a modicum of mutual confidence between the rich and the poor; it requires our joining hands in a concordant effort to create a better world. And to that end, again we should move fast. The Assembly should move fast. The rich industrialized countries should move fast. The oil-producing countries should move fast. We all have a stake in acting with alacrity. The Secretary- General rose to the occasion and created the machinery to convert the ideas expressed then into action, both for aid and for trade. How much help that machinery received from those who hold the keys of the kingdom conceived by us all I would hot like to say.
192.	As I speak here, 25 million poor are facing death in Africa alone. For them it is either now or never. And, equally foreboding, is it not likely that the poor of the world will rise in revolt and ruin whatever resources they happen to possess in their lands? Are these resources not geared to benefit others under their very noses? And in the same vein, why preclude another sinister possibility? Did not some catastrophe- bound minds interpret the sixth special session as a ganging up by the poor against the rich? Did not some "superior minds", in Washington primarily, plan counter-offensives? I assure you that there are rumblings among the not-so-very-poor. Some leading economists are asking questions that should jolt the established rich into action. One repeatedly hears of the inability of the industrialized rich to curb inflation or manage the vagaries of currency. The suggestion is to establish the Arab dinar as a new economic basis. The idea is not to dislocate money matters further but to earn money that can be managed. Other moneys are managed by others. If that is not ganging up, what is it? And who is to blame for the fissure in the world community?
193.	As I said earlier, there are few signs of awareness of some aspects of the problem. The World Food Conference to be held in Rome is certainly a sign in that direction. Many men and women are beginning to awaken to the perils ahead. The Sudan pledges here and now its support for the Conference. A large team of our experts on meat, grain, fish and related resources has for some time now been preparing itself assiduously for that Conference. We feel that our contribution must reflect both our potential and our will- for our sake, and the world's sake. In co-operation with some of our many friends, we have taken a few steps, but we realize that the road is long and that the more co-operation we get the more quickly we can help.
194.	What we know of population growth and food shortage leaves us little time to maintain even the miserable standards of today. As I said from this rostrum last spring at the sixth special session [2219th meeting], the world food crisis is an artificial one. Perhaps the Sudan is one of the most striking examples to prove this. Its enormous untapped potential can substantially contribute to the alleviation of the world shortage if the necessary requirements are met. The Sudan is endowed with an abundance of water and 50 million hectares of land suitable for agricultural and livestock production. By contrast the population is only 18 million. The conditions for much faster agricultural development are inherent in this endowment of ample agricultural land free from the pressures of population. A necessary condition for harnessing this potential is the availability of adequate and concessionary financial and technological aid and particularly the intensification of investment in the agricultural sector.
195.	We are discussing development and conditions for creating a better world economic order. But development and progress are not isolated concepts. We need peace and tranquility to develop and to progress. Let us now ponder a little the conditions required to make effective the ever-increasing voice of sense and sensibility -the voice calling for peace, I mean. Every time we think one hot area of the world has cooled off, or is on the point of doing so, another area explodes. This has been the story of peace ever since that war to end wars ended in Versailles, sowing in its Peace Conference the seeds of wars to come.
196.	An instance of this phenomenon is the predicament of Cyprus and the Middle East. Were the events that occurred in Cyprus really necessary, while the latter is trudging along a weary route to peace? I am not thinking of the few hundreds that descended on the island like thieves in the night. They could not have been anything but instruments of a design bigger than the biggest of them. I am not thinking of the other party, which went in on behalf of its kith and kin. It did that in a desperate effort to settle old scores. I am thinking of neither. I am thinking of the apparent waywardness of events. The great Powers sat watching the outcome, and the United Nations, hamstrung by obsolete limitations of the Charter, could neither foresee the oncoming gale, nor do much about it when it was on. This is what I call the waywardness of events. Nobody seems to be in control.
197.	For what it is worth, the Sudan would like to be explicit on the subject of Cyprus. First, the Cyprus question should be isolated from other entanglements. Land and sea frontiers, disputed areas and other problems have to wait, I hope not long, for a fair solution of the current crisis. A fair solution in out view would put the island on its feet; there could be minor rectifications, of course, but there must be a return to the sensitive balance so well guarded by Archbishop Makarios and his Turkish colleagues in the administration that ought to be restored even in its personnel, if that is acceptable to the Cypriots. One hopes it will be. The Cypriots will be giving a lesson to the world: force cannot be allowed as a means of making and breaking Governments.
198.	It is a lesson relevant in the area. Israel, built and maintained by fire and sword, has thrown the area into a cauldron that often blazes and simmers all the time, working itself up to an explosion. I am afraid such a situation is prevalent in the area at the moment. The talk of war is everywhere, the smell of war is everywhere, and again the world is merely watching. Our indefatigable Secretary-General has been in and out of the area several times after the initial talks in Geneva but his clarion calls to hurry up to Geneva are drowned by the din and clash of arms pouring into the area and the bellicose pronouncements polluting the climate of peace that was worked out by protracted agony.
199.	When I spoke here at the twenty-eighth session [2142nd meeting], I saw a glimmer of hope in the younger men at the helm in Israel, who were mostly born in Palestine, and who have their hearts in the right place regarding the Arabs. But alas! These young men must be under some constraint. The talk is the same. It has not yet dawned on them that there is no getting away from a Palestinian State, that the world including the United States of America is getting weary of a seemingly endless wrangle. The freedom fighters, in and outside Israel, have won the right to speak on behalf of all Palestinians. This right was not granted them; they earned their way to it by sweat, and shall do the same as regards Geneva.
200.	The angry blasting of southern Lebanon and the carrying on with creating facts in Jerusalem and Sharm-el-Sheikh cannot undo what the sequence of events since 1967, culminating in the October war, has done. Like the older persons that gathered in Israel from the four corners of the earth, the younger ones count on the supposed rift between the Arabs. One day it is Sadat versus Arafat, another day it is Arafat and Habash, a third day it is Hussein and the fedayeen. It is true that points of view are not identical; how could they be in a situation that has been building up over generations? What is true and incontestable is that the goal is one: to retrieve their home. There is no quarrel over matters of principle; there is dialog about matters of detail. If the Israeli illusion were right, Palestinian leaders would not have been here among us. Palestinians are no longer an appendage to a crisis. They are the nub of that crisis. And so said the world. They are here to tell their tale of woe and valor. They are nobody's wards now.
201.	The role of the super-Powers is greater than that of any of us. And here is where detente comes in. If detente means peace for all, and not peace among the mighty, there is need for quick action in the Middle East. The traffic between Moscow and the Arab capitals is heavy; so is the traffic between those capitals and Washington. Nobody except the participants knows what goes on. The little that percolates to the press, however, leads one to feel that a cold war of sorts is now on. One often is led to think that detente seems to do with short-term trading of grain for vodka. How else shall we explain the fivefold increase in United States aid to Israel after the October war, at a time when all Israel's losses in that war had been replaced. The jittery atmosphere pervading the area is justified. The big Powers that take it upon themselves to handle the problem by themselves have to prove that they are doing it. Perhaps they are, but how do we know? What we know for certain is not reassuring. Israel's defense expenditure accounts for twice as much as its gross national product a year ago. Firebrand generals, who retired or were retired after the war, are back in the service. The fiscal aid in the coming year will rise from $50 million to $250 million. The Jewish lobby is fuming and thundering -indeed, it is challenging) a Secretary of State the like of whom the United States has rarely had, a man who fits the times. The head of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee could not have been more arrogant when he threatened: . . I am not going to sound the fire bell yet, but when I do you will hear it". One wonders whether Americans have not grown weary of this kind of talk and behavior. It is not prudent to say that the American citizen is taken too much for granted by such organizations and institutions, but it is too obvious a fact not to face up to.
202.	This session must help. What is to be done is not that complicated. First, let us impress on Israel that it must refrain from acts likely to lead to another war. We have had four major ones and several minor ones. None of them brought the much cherished security to Israel. Geneva, if we ever get there, might do it. Secondly, let us urge the permanent members of the Security Council not to abdicate their right to know and help to the extent they see fit. They have a responsibility, and they have a stake.
203.	Another area of the world should teach Israel a lesson. Salazar and' Caetano lived ancient fantasies similar to those of Israel, but five centuries after their beginning, these fantasies- turned to ashes. At the OAU, the Sudan had occasion to say many kind words about the new men in Portugal battling against impossible odds. We warned of settlers in Portuguese territories going the way of Ian Smith and his friends. J wish to maintain the sentiments we expressed in Mogadishu. We have all the more reason to do so because of our admiration for those who had the courage to subdue the insurgents instantly by force of arms. The new men have earned our respect, and Africa hopes nothing will interfere with their plans and endeavors. We are not ashamed to say that the hand held out by Portugal must be taken with sincerity. The Sudan sees more than the proffering of a hand in what has already been achieved. Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau have regained their independence, and the infighting in Angola cannot go on much longer. The way things are shaping up, a powerful State composed of Mozambique, Zambia and Angola might emerge in the years to come and deliver areas around them from an alien rule rejected by the majority of mankind.
204.	What is happening in southern Africa today is bestial; it is provocative; it is an ever-present incitement to Africa. As a philosophy, it is a challenge to the very basis of African independence. The world did not fail to express its detestation. But in the face of global reprobation there was only crass defiance by South Africa and Rhodesia. South Africa had its reasons; Rhodesia had its reasons.
205.	The United Nations sought to induce change through measures provided for in the Charter: sanctions. But the effectiveness of those measures was diluted, and the act itself was reduced to a mere political gesture. Sanctions are conceived to be forged into a viable instrument of collective action short of force. But that action was frustrated; it is frustrated. And who is to blame? The very monitors of international order, the very champions of human rights. Recent events in southern Africa are leading Africans to ask a number of questions which bear upon the formulation of western countries' policies towards southern Africa: the extension of their defense network to protect what they have come to perceive as their global system of interests and the belief that they have political, economic and strategic interests in the southern African subcontinent which should be defended at any cost. These now appears to be a clear commitment by NATO planners to work for the military defense of the southern African region. That crucial step carries NATO towards a de facto military alliance with the white settler regimes in southern Africa.
206.	We do not question any country's right to perceive its own interests in its own light. What we ask those countries, however, is if it is in their interest to isolate themselves on the side of anachronistic regimes. Are they not really wearing blinkers as they look at realities in southern Africa? Are they not missing the whole lesson of 25 April in Portugal? The lessons of the last two decades go to prove that no single country or bloc of countries has mastery over historical changes. Those who thought otherwise have been proven wrong in Algeria; they have been proven wrong in Viet Nam; they have been proven wrong in Mozambique. And they will be proven wrong in southern Africa, and no less so in the northern part of the continent, where the question of so-called Spanish Sahara still awaits resolution in a manner consistent with the interests of the peoples of the region as well as with the provisions of the United Nations Chatter and the successive resolutions on decolonization.
207.	The Powers with special privileges in the Security Council must realize that there is a responsibility correlated to that privilege. The cynicism of Paris, the callousness of Washington and the vacillations of London are deplored by the whole of Africa, and they are deplored because of their short-sightedness.
208.	In an over-all assessment of global security we must guard against making partial references to realities with which the international community must come to grips in order to ensure better prospects of a strengthened world order. Attention given to one set of facts which reflect incipient conflict must not mean relative neglect of another set of facts with a similar conflict potential. In a world made more precarious by the existence of nuclear weapons, it is wise to stress the need for international peace, the need for global peace. That need is certainly more apparent to those who have much to keep than it is to those who have little to lose. Destitute Africans in the shanty towns of Johannesburg or Bulawayo feel themselves somewhat closer to death because of the deprivation and the cruelty of the white settlers' regimes, rather than because of nuclear conflagration. What we have in southern Africa today is despair so deep among Africans, and resentment so passionate against racial oppression, that normal fears are ceasing to exercise their expected restraint on governments and people alike. Mr. Kissinger has told us that if the underlying causes of conflict are permitted to fester unattended until the parties believe that their only recourse is war, then we cannot guarantee that it will not explode beyond control [2238th meeting, para. 46].
209.	The colonial and racial war will continue in that part of the world, however many new intimidating weapons and alliances the settlers' regimes acquire. The question confronting us, therefore, is whether we will permit the spread of violence until the whites and blacks, the dominant and the dominated, are engulfed in mutual annihilation.
210.	Those are the challenges of the coming decade, the decade of shifts and changes. To face those challenges we need a contrivance of human wisdom rather than insane reactions arising from comfortless frustration. We need to accept with grace the reality of change. Facts do not cease to exist because we decide to ignore them. We need to recognize that the wealth of the world is big enough for everybody. The world will not endure half rich and half poor. We need to persuade our neo-Romans that vaulting greed will end by overlapping itself to fall on the other side.
211.	We need to prove Nietzsche wrong. To him, "The world is beautiful but has a disease called man".