102.	The Lesotho delegation wishes to add its voice to the congratulations of previous speakers on the unanimous election of Ambassador Lievano Aguirre of Colombia to preside over the deliberations of this session. This unanimity is an expression of the confidence this Assembly has, not only in him as a person, but also in the Government which he represents. We feel particularly honoured, because Colombia is a country which has established a commendable record in the United Nations struggle to -right the wrongs which plague humanity.
103.	I should also like to congratulate the other members of the General Committee and express the hope that, in the fulfilment of the various responsibilities entrusted to them, they will collectively contribute to the success of our deliberations. Their vast experience and desire for the betterment of the human condition will indeed be of valuable assistance to the President of the session.
104.	We are indebted to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, whose profound wisdom has guided the work of the United Nations, and to the Secretariat, which has, in more ways than time permits me to enumerate, advanced the work of this world body.
105.	Since the founding of the United Nations, more than half the membership present today has been elevated to the glory of independence. It is in the light of this awareness that the Lesotho delegation welcomes Solomon Islands as a new Member of the United Nations. This is further proof of the success of the decolonization process, the subject of an item [item 24] of which this Assembly remains seized.
106.	This session of the General Assembly is taking place against the background of an increasing international awareness of basic human rights. In my view this is appropriate, particularly as this year marks 30 years of the endurance of the profound vision that led to the authorship by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The concern for the rights of man at this particular stage of international relations is a development that has further aided the efforts of this Organization to awaken international outrage against the intolerable perversion of social justice, represented by the harsh poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy that afflict a large segment of humanity, and the equally intolerable nonchalance that has been for so long the hallmark of the attitude of a large part of the world community towards rights of the people of Palestine and the victims of white racist minority rule in southern Africa.
107.	This Assembly must spearhead concrete action that will ensure that the vast resources of this world are not utilized to create weapons for the destruction of man but for the betterment of his condition. We must protest in clear terms against the irrational tendency of those States that have become the merchants of death and not the guardians of humanity's survival.
108.	We are deeply concerned about the enormous over-all capacity of the existing nuclear arsenals and the qualitative improvements they are progressively undergoing. We are equally alarmed by the ever increasing stockpiles of conventional weapons and their widening distribution, which has added fuel to localized skirmishes and wars. The big Powers must be told in no uncertain terms that their spiralling arms race is no less than a race for the extinction of humanity and that their exploitation of local conflicts to advance their traffic in lethal weapons lacks the vaguest vestige of any sense of morality and is more than a tacit conspiracy to ensure that those already on the verge of death because of poverty are indeed assured of a speedy end through fratricidal battles and mutual destruction.
109.	The continent of Africa is beset by numerous problems-social, political, economic and racial. While we appreciate, and are thankful for, the assistance we have received from various quarters, we agree with the views recently expressed before this Assembly by Mr. Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri, the President of the Democratic Republic of Sudan and the Chairman of the OAU, that:
"... the solution of African problems is the responsibility of the Africans themselves. African determination and wisdom have seen the continent through many a difficult time before."[ 10th meeting, para. 33.],
110.	We therefore appeal to all our friends, wherever they are, to help us to help ourselves-that is, to assist us along lines that will reduce our dependence on international aid and handouts. Given the means, we are prepared to shoulder the responsibility for our own development. We do not wish to be used as pawns in the ideological struggle between East and West and, by the same token, we do not want to be economically exploited under the guise of assistance.
111.	My Government's development plans are aimed at the elimination of ignorance, poverty and disease, particularly in the rural areas. We have therefore noted with perturbation the annual report of the World Bank regarding agricultural production and food supplies.  Quoting the FAO, the report indicates that the 1977 per capita food production index was 10 per cent below the level of the period 1961-1965. The report further shows that the food deficit in developing countries, including Africa, is likely to rise to 145 million tons by 1980. This is sad news for the peoples of Africa, who saw political independence as the key to social justice and economic progress. It is our duty and responsibility to see that present trends in the agricultural field are reversed, if we want peace and political stability in our respective countries. According to FAO:
"Africa has the potential to attain and sustain rates of food production increases which will lead to higher but not necessarily full sufficiency over the next 10 to 15 years."
112.	In the light of the foregoing remarks, we hope something positive will come out of the Tenth FAO Regional Conference for Africa, held last month in Arusha, in the United Republic of Tanzania. As far as food production is concerned, it behoves us all to strive for individual and collective self-sufficiency. Unless we achieve our food production targets soon, our economies will continue to falter as a result of rising food imports which, according to FAO, nearly trebled in value during the period 1963-1973. In this regard, we pledge our full support for the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development to be held in Rome in July 1979.
113.	Like other economically backward regions, Africa stands to benefit greatly from the promising outcome of the United Nations Conference on Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last month. Provided it is faithfully implemented by all participating countries, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, which was adopted by consensus, could give impetus to the third world's demands for a new international economic order. As in the political field, the pooling of technical knowledge and experience by non- industrialized countries could have a tremendous impact on international economic relations.
114. It is, however, time that we recognized the affront to the human conscience posed by the increasing disparities in the conditions of life in the developed and in the developing countries. The grim reality of this gap poses frightening risks for the human community as a whole and it is the surest invitation to acts of desperation, instability and the break-down of orderly international relations among the family of nations. The dialogue between North and South represents an appreciation of the risks involved, but not their removal. Dialogue, however welcome, raises expectations among the poor but has thus far provided no escape from the harsh conditions of want in which most of humanity is trapped, conditions that are universally recognized as defying any rational definition of human decency.
US. Those in the developed countries must therefore recognize that it is in their basic self-interest to ensure the speedy attainment of the objectives of the new international economic order, adopted by this Organization. That order is predicated as a minimal basic premise for ensuring social and economic justice, for the whole of humanity and peaceful and stable relations between the developed and the developing words.
116.	Peace continues to be an elusive goal in the Middle East. Events in that region have always presented a sharp reminder to the world that real peace is not necessarily symbolized by the absence of active hostilities. We therefore recognize the urgency of defusing the time-bomb in that area. In this context, the Government and people of Lesotho have observed with concern the critical situation in the Middle East, a situation marked more frequently than not by increasing divisions,  antagonisms and hostilities, as evidenced by the civil strife in Lebanon and, as always, by the precarious path between peace and war followed by Israel and its Arab neighbours.
117.	And it is because of these difficulties that we in Lesotho are prepared to lend our tentative support to the recent agreements reached at Camp David by the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Begin, and the President of Egypt, Mr. El-Sadat, as a step towards peace and security in that all-too-troubled region of the world.
118.	We do so, however, in the knowledge that these agreements are merely frameworks, and frameworks by their very nature are fragile and unstable unless they represent genuine political will for peace. It is on the foundations of that political will that we must now build solid foundations. Many issues still have to be resolved: the precise nature and timing of the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories; the agreements for the eventual autonomy and self-determination of the Gaza and West Bank by the people of Palestine; and the ultimate fate of Jerusalem and the Palestinians, whose suffering must also be assuaged. Courageous and determined leadership will therefore be needed to foster a spirit that will ensure that the compromises reached at Camp David are not dissolved.
119.	In this context, the Government and people of Lesotho appeal to the people of Israel to treat the Camp David accords not as maximum and unwilling concessions but rather as a step forward to the ultimate implementation of the recommendations embodied in United Nations Council resolution 242(1967), a resolution which the Government of Lesotho has always fully endorsed.
120.	We believe that the Camp David agreements have provided for steps towards dismantling the edifice of hatred, bitterness and distrust in which the people of the Middle East have been locked for so many decades, and that they represent rays lighting the way towards relations based on friendship, to the benefit of all the peoples of the Middle East. I can do no less, therefore, than appeal to all parties to show the admirable spirit, understanding and statesmanship that led to the first initiative of President El-Sadat in visiting Jerusalem, and to continue the spirit of Camp David.
121.	On southern Africa, my Government welcomes the initiative of the United States and the United Kingdom on Rhodesia and of the five Western Powers on Namibia. It is a fact of political life in southern Africa that the Western initiatives are the direct outcome of the success of the liberation struggle. For too long the West, which has been the bulwark of support for the white minority regimes, has turned a blind eye to the inhuman treatment suffered by the majority of the peoples of Rhodesia, Namibia and South Africa. The threat to international peace posed by white racist rule has for too long been dismissed as the hyperbole of African diplomatic rhetoric. We warned while there was time; we urged, cajoled and pleaded for the West to use its clearly recognized influence over the white minority regimes to bring about change; but the Western response was always tardy and at best cosmetic.
122.	In particular the United Kingdom-United States proposals on Rhodesia  seem destined to be buried beneath a bitter welter of blood and chaos as the Smith regime adopts one subterfuge after another to cling to power and follows one atrocity by a yet bloodier one in an attempt to halt the liberation process.
123.	At the conference table the Smith regime has epitomised the worst kind of chicanery. It should thus come as no surprise to anyone that the United Kingdom- United States proposals are in abeyance as a. result of the attitude of the Smith clique. Indeed Smith's co-called internal settlement is nothing but another futile subterfuge to side-step the United Kingdom-United States proposals.
The Smith regime knows better than anyone else that it is witnessing the shreds of the settlement being blown away before its very eyes by the windy gusts of the liberation struggle. And yet it persists in clinging to illusory power.
124.	Inside their country the Rhodesians continue their acts of mass murder and indiscriminate killing. Their catalogue of wanton acts of brutality increases with each day. Where they promised freedom of thought and association in terms of the illegal internal settlement, they now resort to mass arrests of leaders of liberation movements. They seek, not accommodation, but the creation of a basis for the destruction of the economic foundations of the country. They offer not a semblance of peace but a recipe for chaos.
125.	The racist Smith regime, in yet another act of treachery, is attempting to widen the conflict with the liberation movements by mounting criminal acts of aggression against independent neighbouring States. Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana have become targets of the desperation of the Smith regime, and their innocent nationals the objects of the terror of mass bombings and brutal murder. The strategy of the illegal Smith criminal clique is to embroil the whole of southern Africa in war and inflame the area into the blistering inferno of a racial holocaust.
126.	It is to the credit of the three neighbouring State's that they have so far resisted the temptation of responding to provocations of the Smith regime and have opted for policies of safeguarding the welfare of their nationals rather than entering into battle with that regime. Their response has been exemplary and they deserve far more support from the international community than the verbal assurances which they have received.
127.	The initiative of the five Western Powers on Namibia has closed a sad chapter of 11 years of inactivity to give concrete meaning to this Assembly's resolution 2145 (XXI),. which terminated South Africa's Mandate ever Namibia. South Africa deserves little credit for the fact that freedom is now on the horizon for the people of Namibia. For 11 years it vigorously tried to dismember the Territory of Namibia on the basis of its odious apartheid policies. For 11 long years the people of Namibia were subjected to South Africa's illegal occupation, and it is only the threat of direct action against South Africa by the international community and intensification of the liberation struggle by SWAPO that has persuaded cool heads in Pretoria to accept South Africa's withdrawal from that Territory.
128.	South Africa cannot now demand sympathy for its continuing quibbling over the terms of the hand-over of Namibia. Its de jure responsibility for that Territory has long since ceased to exist and its duty is now to end its de facto illegal domination of the Territory. After its denial of the rights of the people of Namibia and its destructive military ventures in that Territory, its claim to an individual responsibility for peace in Namibia is flimsy and irrelevant. The responsibility firmly belongs to the international community, and in this context my Government welcomes the Secretary-General's report to the Security Council. That report is fair and balanced. It provides for adequate time for an electoral process to be set in motion in an atmosphere free of intimidation by the occupation force of 11 years.
129.	We support SWAPO's insistence on the withdrawal of South African troops from Namibia. SWAPO started its liberation struggle in Namibia precisely because the South African Government insisted on its illegal occupation of Namibia and used its troops and their police counterparts to deny any free political activity to SWAPO and others In Namibia. Thus South Africa's insistence that the strength of the United Nations troops should be minimized while South Africa's troops are retained to provide an umbrella for political activity is farcical. Equally, South Africa's insistence that the electoral process should be advanced is no more than a naked ploy to give political advantage to its creations of the Turnhalle Conference, who, after all, have been allowed free political activity denied to SWAPO.
130.	South Africa must not be allowed to add further acts of illegality by imposing on the people of Namibia its own geo-political interests and denying them a peaceful solution to the problem of Namibia. Equally, it must not be permitted to create its own Turnhalle-type internal settlement in Namibia, as that would be a prescription for continued instability in the Territory.
131.	SWAPO has displayed its goodwill by declaring its readiness for a cease-fire in Namibia in response to initiatives towards a peaceful solution of the Namibia problem. Lesotho rejects in categorical terms the South African stand in reply to both the report of the United Nations Secretary-General and SWAPO's offer. South Africa has a clear duty to respond by turning away from the bad faith it is showing by its repeated objections to details of lesser impact in the package proposed by the Secretary-General. Pretoria must recognize that it has been the linchpin for the systematic denial of basic rights in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa and that withdrawing its support for the Smith clique and relinquishing its illegal hold on Namibia will at the very least bring forward the promise of liberty for the vast majority of the peoples of these Territories and of creating a more suitable climate for the solution of internal problems, the complexity of which cannot be denied and the potential of which in terms of creating a-racial war of frightening proportions must be clear to all. What the people of South Africa demand now is liberation, liberty and majority rule and not cosmetic solutions to the problems of white minority rule.
132.	The withdrawal of South Africa from Namibia is an act of reason and an acceptance of the realities of the liberation struggle in southern Africa. That is the lesson that the white minority in South Africa must accept. That minority should not commit the suicidal blunder of interpreting these events as a tactical withdrawal behind the fortress of apartheid. For it to do so would be to bury its head in the sand. It would be tantamount to an aberration from the human urge to live in peace and in circumstances that provide for the serene development of the; full human person.
133.	The Lesotho Government welcomed Security Council resolution 435 (1978), which reiterates that the Council's objective is the withdrawal of South Africa's illegal occupation and administration of Namibia and the transfer of power to the people of Namibia, My Government calls on the Government of South Africa to cooperate in the implementation of the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the initiatives of the five Western Powers. Failure to do so by the Pretoria Government will, at this late hour, prove its continued intransigence and exacerbate the growing anger and impatience of the international community. For us, I need say only that our position has always been clear. Our vulnerability is obvious to everyone. Our preparedness to support the United Nations Charter and our readiness to meet our obligations in terms of United Nations Security Council resolutions, however, must be matched by the readiness of the international community to meet its commitments in terms of Article 50 of the United Nations Charter. My Prime Minister said at a recent meeting of the Consultative Assembly of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Economic Community:
"We have consistently warned South Africa that her actions and policies would sooner or later invite the international community to invoke economic sanctions against them and that she should abandon those policies before the imposition of such sanctions become inevitable. Over the years, Motlotlehi's Government has sought to bring home to the authorities of South Africa that her military preparedness was no guarantee for peace and economic stability in the region. Our warnings have been ignored by the Government of South Africa. At the same time, our support for the liberation and liberty of the majority of the people of southern Africa has not weakened."
I should like to say, in the words of my Prime Minister: "The international community has an obligation to countries such as mine in the event that embargoes are imposed on South Africa". He also said:
"I should like to remind the international community that it is its duty to safeguard the basic interests of countries such as Lesotho which will inevitably be affected, should action against South Africa become unavoidable as a result of her continuing denial of basic human rights."
134. It must be recognized that in the post-world-war era apartheid constitutes the single most monumental lapse of the human conscience. This Assembly has quite rightly labelled it a crime against humanity. My Prime Minister, in his opening statement at the Symposium on the Exploitation of the Blacks in South Africa and Namibia, and on Prison Conditions in South African Jails held in Maseru last July, said:
"The people of South Africa have been described as an imprisoned society. A black South African is nevermore than "a step from the prison door. One in every four adults is imprisoned every year. Africans in South Africa are faced with a whole battery of laws that govern every facet of their lives. A stroke of the pen can rob them of their citizenship and dispossess them; the whim of a police official can confine them to jail without trial. Such is the array of apartheid legislation that faces Africans that they live in a twilight terror of arrest. Prison life has become part of the black man's experience. There are over 236 prisons in South Africa compared to 70 in the United Kingdom. In 1971 some 40,000 people were imprisoned in the United Kingdom compared to 470,000 in South Africa. South Africa's daily average prison population was 90,000 in 1971. By 1974 it had risen to over 100,000. This is the grim reality of unjust laws applied with unremitting brutality and vengeance."
135.	The harshness of the apartheid laws and the brutality of their application are most clearly demonstrated in the statements of South African police officials. Colonel J.V. Visser, Chief of the Soweto Criminal Investigation Department, told the South African Sunday Post on 17 September 1978 that he was sorry that he had not shot Tsietsi Mashinini when he had the chance. The temerity of that admission is as astonishing as it is typical of the attitude of the South African police towards Africans. The rule of law is no longer in the custody of the courts. The white policeman is the law-enforcement agent, the court, the judge and the executioner. In 1975, 92 prisoners awaiting trial died in prison cells; in 1977, the record was 120. Those statistics do not take into account the numerous detainees who died in prison without trial or any charges being preferred against them. Nationals of my country have been victims of this criminal police attitude. Any claim by South Africa. to respect for the law is nothing less than an aberration from truth and a travesty of morality. Colonel Visser was asked by South African authorities neither to explain his remarks nor to justify his apparent disregard of the basic rights of Mr. Mashinini. I owe it to my own sense of justice, and this Assembly owes it to the high ideals of the United Nations Charter, to address a special appeal to South Africa to get rid of its Colonel Visser and the murderers of Steven Biko and other detainees.
136.	Apartheid remains a blot not only on South Africa but also on the conscience of mankind. Each act of apartheid, every incident of brutality, diminishes us all. It is therefore fitting that we should all strive to afford the people of southern Africa better opportunities for self- fulfilment, self-respect, and the dignity and exercise of basic rights due to all men on earth.
137.	In my view, that is the basic challenge to which this Organization must respond. It is the agenda for its action not for verbal palliatives. The report of the Maseru Symposium is before the General Assembly,  as is the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted at the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination [A/33/262, chap. Ill], held in Geneva under the presidency of a Lesotho Cabinet Minister.
138.	Our willingness to act as host to international conferences on South African issues is motivated by the very deep concern that we feel at the continuation of apartheid, coupled with the very direct manner in which it affects Lesotho. We have sought to provide an opportunity to representatives from various regions of the world to make a close scrutiny of the evils of apartheid. In 1976 we were host to a meeting of American political and economic leaders and African Ministers and provided them with an opportunity for gaining a deep insight into apartheid from the vantage point of Maseru, Last year we were host to parliamentarians from the European Communities and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and we focused on southern Africa. The Symposium to which we were host this year is part of our continuing effort in the direction of a close examination of what apartheid means for us and for our fellow Africans in South Africa. We are caught in the agony of the imprisoned society. We also share its aspirations to liberty. Our people suffer under apartheid laws in South Africa. Around the territorial land of Lesotho Pretoria has thrown the noose of a circle of bantustans. On our historic land those bogus States are being constructed to deny us any opportunity for the return of the land. On our present territory further encroachments are being made and, in blatant disregard of our territorial sovereignty, efforts are being made by Pretoria to cede our lands to its bantustans.
139.	My Government supported General Assembly resolution 31/6 A which enjoined all Governments not to grant any recognition to South Africa's bantustans. Our support of that resolution was based on our firm belief that bantustans represented a terrible fraud that was being perpetrated on the majority of the people of South Africa by Pretoria. They represent nothing less than the loss of their birthright for that people. The blacks of South Africa are being herded on to 13 per cent of the land surface of South Africa  against their will. They are being stripped of their South African citizenship on the grounds that they belong to the so-called homelands and not to South Africa. They have become aliens in their country of birth. That is the callous face of apartheid. Those black leaders who have collaborated with the Pretoria regime in this treacherous and criminal act will not escape the judgement of the oppressed majority of the people of South Africa.
140.	The Pretoria Government is not only continuing its policies of depriving the black people of South Africa of their citizenship but also implementing its inhuman policies of displacing Africans from their places of residence. Last year it was the cruel displacement of thousands of Africans from their homes in Modderdam, sent to Cape Town, in bitter winter conditions, and the white South African press denounced the Pretoria Government for the bestiality of its actions. This year we have had a repetition of a massive dispossession of Africans- who have been driven out of their homes in Crossroads, At the stroke of a pen over 2,000 Africans were removed from their homes in Crossroads. Their protest met with massive police action resulting in the loss of the life of at least one home-owner. That is the brutality of apartheid, the inhuman situation that this Organization and all countries which love peace and freedom have a clear duty to deal with.
141.	As this Assembly knows, the response of South Africa to our firm rejection of its apartheid and bantustan policies was to close the south-eastern borders of Lesotho. My country deeply appreciated the reply of the United
Nations system to that irresponsible action. Security Council resolutions 402(1976) and 407(1977) were sources of great solace to the Basotho people. We were gratified by the deep appreciation that the missions sent to Lesotho by the Secretary-General displayed in their reports. To all the countries and organizations which contributed to the recommendations of the report in document S/12315  I wish, on behalf of the Lesotho Government, to pay a special tribute. Naturally, we still hope that the amount outstanding, which has still not been pledged, will be made available to enable us to resist the unfair pressures that are continuously being applied against Lesotho by Pretoria. For our part and as a matter of principle, we pledge to continue our policy of resistance to being a party to the bantustan fraud.
142.	Today we are host to over 700 black children from South Africa; that is part of our tradition and custom. We have always provided succour to those fleeing from injustice and persecution. Accommodating those children in Lesotho has inevitably led to special demands on our resources. We appreciate the help that we continue to receive from friendly Governments in this task of ensuring that those children can continue their education and live in circumstances in which their youth and dignity are respected.
143.	The international community has a right to know that, even though the refugee community is safe in Lesotho, Pretoria has embarked on a policy of harassment against the people of Lesotho and the refugee community. It has stepped up its espionage activities in Lesotho to such a level that my Government is now left with no option but to respond with firm action.
144.	I shall not dwell on the various harsh aspects of apartheid. My delegation has instructions to discuss them in depth in the relevant committees.
145.	However, I should like to end with a vision of a southern Africa that this Organization must help to create and a vision of man that as we approach the end of the twentieth century we should strive to realize on this planet. In southern Africa, a region rich in natural and human resources,-we should strive to banish, for ever the myth of racial antagonism and achieve the promise of racial harmony; the promise that will give expression to the truth that no man, no race, no nation, no Government has a right to tamper with what God has bequeathed to us—our common humanity—for man and his condition. Let us make ignorance, disease, hunger and-poverty features of a bygone age and create, conditions for man to develop his abilities to the fullest.


65.	It gives me great pleasure to express to you, Sir, my heartfelt congratulations on your election as President of the thirty-third session of the General Assembly. Your excellent educational qualifications, the high posts you hive held in your Government and the enormous experience you have gained throughout your work in the field of foreign policy will undoubtedly provide this session with wise leadership that will effectively contribute towards the attainment of its objectives.
66. It also gives me great pleasure to express on behalf of the delegation of Use United Arab Emirates our gratitude and appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Lazar Mojsov, who
presided over the previous regular session and the
subsequent special sessions with the efficiency and distinction that earned him admiration and respect.
67.	My delegation is happy also concerning the admission of Solomon Islands to membership in the United Nations, and, as we extend to it our congratulations on its accession to independence and its admission to membership in the United Nations, we look forward to the day when the universality of our Organization will be realized through the liberation of all territories under colonial rule or foreign occupation and their admission to membership in the United Nations.
68.	The United Arab Emirates wishes also to express again its appreciation of and respect for the efforts exerted by the Secretary-General of our Organization, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, to increase the efficiency of our Organization and strengthen its role in solving the problems of our contemporary world, which, failing comprehensive solutions, threaten the peace and security of mankind. We have noted with satisfaction the success of some of the strenuous efforts of the Secretary-General in numerous arenas. Among the most important of those efforts are his confrontation with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the preliminary action taken by the Security Council towards Namibia's independence and the restoration of real authority to its indigenous population. While the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/33/1] clearly reflects the magnitude of the challenges and problems facing the international community, it also draws up in a practical and positive way broad guidelines on how to confront those challenges and mitigate their effects in order to attain a final radical solution of them.
69.	In his report the Secretary-General refers to an important and urgent question, namely, the need to replace the struggle for spheres of influence with a more civilized and more representative system of world order in which the nations of the world governed their relations and tackled their common problems with the agreement and participation of all, the weak as well as the strong [ibid., sect. II]. We fully agree with the remarks of the Secretary-General on this matter because we are aware of the effects of the destruction and calamities brought upon many of the third world countries by the struggle among the big Powers for areas of influence.
70.	The review of the world situation at both the political and the economic levels since the previous session of the General Assembly is not encouraging at all. At the political level, we' note with regret the emergence of some dangerous trends towards reviving some aspects of the cold war. The deterioration of the situation in some areas is due to the lack of real progress in solving a number of dangerous international problems by eradicating their root-causes and to lack of respect for the principles of the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
71.	The development of events in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia still causes us the gravest concern. We are fully aware of the danger inherent in the continuation of white-minority rule in those African countries. We have strongly condemned the policy of apartheid practised by the racist South African Government. That policy represents a violation of human ideals and rights and a challenge to the United Nations Charter.
72.	We welcomed the resolution adopted in July by the Security Council that embodied practical measures for the independence of Namibia its resolution 431 (1978). At the same time we called for vigilance and caution and the continuation of international efforts to force the South African regime to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions.
73.	Recent events have proved that our fears were justified. As expected, the racist regime in South Africa has announced its decision to hold early elections in Namibia in order to exclude the leading liberation movement— SWAPO-from the region and to establish a regime compatible with its policies and subservient to its interests in Namibia. Thus we notice that the Government of South Africa continues to hinder all efforts made both within the United Nations and outside it to achieve a peaceful solution of this problem.
74.	We therefore believe that the Security Council is called upon to adopt firm measures, in accordance with the Charter, against the challenges of the racist regime and its disrespect for the Charter and the relevant Council resolutions, including the one adopted last Friday, resolution 435 (1978). We are all also required to lend all possible assistance to African liberation movements struggling to regain dignity for their peoples and their sovereignty over their homelands.
75.	The region of the Middle East, of which we are a part, is still very far from enjoying real peace despite the efforts made both inside and outside the United Nations. My delegation wishes to reaffirm our strong belief in the universally recognized fact that the question of Palestine is the basis and essence of the Middle East question. It is impossible to solve the Arab-Israeli dispute without achieving a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian question. Consequently we believe that any solution of this problem must be based on two fundamental conditions: first, the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories, including Jerusalem; secondly, recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, especially their right to return and their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State in their homeland. We also believe that the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, should participate in any endeavour to solve this problem. Such participation is in conformity with the right of self-determination as well as with the principle of the inadmissibility of annexing lands by force. Adherence to these principles is the prerequisite for the achievement of a just and durable peace in our region.
76.	We believe that the United Nations is now required to review seriously the developments relating to this question. By so doing, it can adopt new and effective measures to ensure the implementation of its numerous resolutions aimed at the establishment of a just peace in the region. Therefore we support the decision adopted in Belgrade by the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries to convene a special session of the General Assembly devoted to the question of Palestine [see A/33/206, p. 133].
77.	The continuance of the explosive situation in the Middle East threatens not only that region's security and peace but also the security and peace of all mankind. In this
respect, nothing is more indicative than the increase of tension after the brutal Israeli invasion of our sister country Lebanon. We appreciate the efforts made by the Secretary-General and his aides to accelerate the implementation of Security Council resolution 425 (1978), which calls for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory and the deployment of UNIFIL to ensure the achievement of that withdrawal and the restoration of the legitimate Lebanese authority over its national land. But we believe that that Security Council resolution has not yet been fully implemented, for Israel is still creating obstacles and posing problems concerning the deployment of UNIFIL in the border area of south Lebanon through elements that have no connexion whatsoever with the legitimate Lebanese Government.
78.	We believe that because of that dangerous situation the Security Council should adopt all the necessary measures to affirm and strengthen UNIFIL's mandate in securing Israeli withdrawal and turning over all positions to the legitimate Lebanese authority.
79.	We have read with deep regret what appears in the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization concerning the question of Cyprus. The report clearly states that last year was extremely disappointing in regard to finding a solution to the problem of Cyprus. Faced with that situation, we cannot but endorse the decision adopted by the Foreign Ministers of the non-aligned countries at their last meeting in Belgrade, which stressed the need for meaningful and constructive negotiations between the representatives of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to be conducted freely and without outside interference so that they can reach a mutually acceptable agreement which would protect the interests of both sides and guarantee the island's territorial integrity [ibid., annex I, para. 74]
80.	The tenth special session of the General Assembly, devoted to disarmament, has shown the increasing interest of peoples and Governments of the world in this vital question, which is inherently related to the basic objective for which the United Nations was established, namely, the preservation of international peace and security. For it is not possible any more to continue living in an atmosphere of escalating fear of the possibility of a nuclear war; nor is it possible to ignore the huge resources being wasted on armaments at a time when mankind urgently needs those resources for economic and social development. Although the tenth special session was characterized by the difficulty and complexity of negotiations, we may say that it produced results that could be considered as first steps on the long road leading to general and complete disarmament. The Final Document [resolution S-10/2], arrived at by consensus at that session, sets forth an integrated strategy for disarmament which can serve as a guide for all the efforts made on this subject in the future. The document also provides for the creation of international machinery to deal with all aspects of disarmament. We sincerely hope that the next special session on this subject will be able to achieve more progress in this field, thus paving the way for the convening of a world disarmament conference in which all the States of the world would participate.
81.	Aft r it became independent the United Arab Emirates supported the General Assembly resolution on
declaring the Indian Ocean a zone of peace [resolution 2832 (XXVI)]. We have also supported all the measures and steps designed to give effect to that declaration.
82.	With regard to the international economic situation, there is no diagnosis more comprehensive than that presented by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in his opening address to the second regular session in 1978 of the Economic and Social Council.7 In his statement he indicated that the world situation was not encouraging. Although some positive factors occurred last year, the disconcerting results were much more numerous. The concern about the future is characteristic of the current situation.
83.	The failure of the Conference on International Economic Co-operation and, subsequently, the failure of the Committee Established under General Assembly Resolution 32/174, known as the Committee of the Whole, to find solutions to political and economic problems are reasons for pessimism. The attitude of certain developed countries indicated the lack of a genuine political will to negotiate. We feel, therefore, that the General Assembly at its current session should emphasize the need to push those negotiations forward in order to achieve the desired results.
84.	At the current session our Assembly must ensure adequate support for the successful conclusion of the special session it is proposed to convene in 1980 because that session will offer an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive policy analysis based on the results of the international conferences held in previous years, as well as the results of those conferences it is proposed to convene in the future.
85.	We believe that co-operation and solidarity among developing countries are among the most important elements leading to the establishment of the new international economic order. The United Arab Emirates has participated actively in development projects of the developing countries, both directly, through its bilateral relations, and through relevant international efforts, especially the Development Fund of the oil-exporting countries and other international and regional funds and institutions. My country also participated actively in the United Nations Conference on Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries, held last month in Buenos Aires. My country's delegation endorsed all the important recommendations adopted at that Conference. We nurture the hope that the industrial countries will act positively and with goodwill for the implementation of those recommendations.
86.	The United Arab Emirates reiterates its resolve to fulfil its obligations towards the international community. It also shares the just positions of the countries of the third world which believe in joint efforts and international co-operation aimed at the establishment of a new international order based on the principles of equality, justice and peace.


1.	 Mr. President, speaking for the first time before this Assembly, I have pleasure in associating myself with the , tribute that preceding speakers have paid to you and to your country, Colombia, on the occasion of your election to the presidency of the thirty-third session of the General Assembly of our Organization. Repeated references to your wide experience as historian, economist and politician are, I am convinced, so many guarantees of success for our work.
I wish to promise in advance the full co-operation of my delegation.
2.	It is also with pleasure that I express appreciation of the very high qualities of your predecessor, Mr. Lazar Mojsov of Yugoslavia, who conducted the work of this Assembly with competence and devotion during his term of office.
3.	May I also be permitted to recall the great dedication of our Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, whose acute awareness of the problems besetting countries like mine led him in August 1977 to visit Chad to see for himself what was going on in the country, because the situation we have been confronting for some time has a direct bearing on the question of international peace and security. Mr. Kurt Waldheim believes in fact, and rightly, that, as he said in his report on the work of the Organization:
"The United Nations was intended, among other things, , to be the guarantor of justice and peace for all nations, and most especially for defenceless or small countries which would otherwise have no recourse in a world dominated exclusively by power politics" [See A(33/1, sect. II].
4.	The interest he therefore, attaches to the development of events in my country has won him the appreciation and regard of the people of Chad.
5.	May I also take this opportunity to congratulate Solomon Islands, which has acceded to independence, thus becoming a full Member of our Organization.
6.	We have always declared our faith in the United Nations and affirmed our desire to make a real, albeit modest, contribution to its work. On this score our position remains unchanged. That is why, like other delegations, we wish to express our profound concern at the most topical questions of the moment: southern Africa, the Middle East, disarmament, the new international economic order, to quote but a few.
7.	But first, we crave indulgence and hope not to tax unduly the patience of the Assembly if we mention once again our own special concerns.
8.	As we have already stressed on repeated occasions both here and in other bodies, we have never Concealed the fact that we have an internal problem in Chad and that that problem, alas, is at the roof of the unfortunate events that have shaken our country for 15 years, seriously disrupting our economy and aggravating our country's poverty. Nor have we made a secret of our conviction that a return to peace and a harmonious life in Chad and the safeguarding of lives, property and resources depend first and foremost on the ability of the people of Chad to agree to settle the problem themselves in accordance with the wishes of the people.
9.	Well aware as we are of the situation which we are best placed to judge, we have since the coup d'etat of 13 April 1975 made considerable progress towards a rapprochement of all citizens of Chad and, first and foremost, towards national unity.
10.	Since the Head of the State of Chad, General Felix Malloum Ngakoutou Bey-Ndi, made known the exact dimensions of the phenomena which were troubling the people of Chad, at the fourteenth ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity [OAU], meeting in Libreville, Gabon in July 1977, and since the delegation-of Chad echoed those feelings in the General Assembly of the United Nations at its thirty-second regular session,1 many things have happened in Chad. The most outstanding event is that country's entry into a new transitional but decisive phase in its political evolution.
11.	In fact, one of the principle objectives which the Supreme Military Council and the Provisional Government which followed the coup d'etat of 13 April 1975 set for themselves was a return to a normal life through national reconciliation. Unremitting effective and positive efforts have been made to that end. Thus a number of emissaries have been dispatched, both to the Governments of friendly countries and to our fellow nationals in exile. Within the country itself the forces of order and all our leaders, wherever they may be, have been advised to preach national reconciliation and to be the messengers of peace. The Head of State himself, for his first cont. -is with his compatriots, was to choose the most troubled areas in the country in order to prepare the population for peace. He spoke to them in a friendly, frank and direct way, inviting them to reconsider their position and to participate in the search for a definitive solution to the crisis in Chad.
12.	Convinced of the firm intention of the Supreme Military Council and the Provisional Government to respect the rights and aspirations of all the people of Chad without exception, the Governments we consulted encouraged us and granted us their assistance. It was thus that, thanks to the positive and frank support of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan, as exemplified by its President, General Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri, the policy of national reconciliation led to the signing in Khartoum, on 16 September 1977, of the historic agreement between the Supreme Military Council and the Northern Armed Forces Command Council. That agreement triggered the process of a return .to peace in my country with the enacting on 29 August last of the Fundamental Charter of the Republic and the designation of General Felix Malloum Ngakoutou Bey-Ndi as President of the Republic and the appointment of Mr. Hissein Habre to the post of Prime Minister. The documents relating thereto are at the disposal of representatives and bear the following symbols: United Nations document NV/78/74 of 15 September 1978; and document S/12888 of 9 October 1978, of the Security Council.
13.	Therefore, there had been installed in Chad the Government of National Union which took office on 31 August 1978. It includes only two senior officers who have been discharged of all military functions or duties. That Government meets the deep aspirations of the people of Chad and has set as its main task, within the country, to fight by every means to defend our territorial integrity; to fight mercilessly against any secessionist trend in order to preserve the independence and unity of the nation of Chad; to have a constituent assembly elected which would establish new institutions; to institute a new democratic political life which guarantees the secular nature of the State, individual freedoms, fundamental human rights and the effective participation of all social strata in the administration of public affairs and in external affairs, to guarantee the unreserved adherence of Chad to the Charter of the United Nations and to the Charter of the OAU; to practice a foreign policy of friendship and co-operation with all peoples that love peace, liberty, justice and
14.	It might be desirable to recall that Chad belongs to Africa. It is an African State which must maintain its place  in Africa and especially be understood by the African States. In this context the Government of National Union will spare no effort in the struggle for the total liberation of the continent, the strengthening of inter-African cooperation and African unity. It will pursue in particular its action for the development and the consolidation of relations of friendship and co-operation between Chad and its immediate neighbours, providing of course that the latter respect its independence, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.
15.	Chad also belongs to the third world and to the non-aligned group, and intends to maintain this position consistently and to play its role in the struggle for a higher world civilization. This means that the Government of National Union will practice a policy of non-alignment. This means that its policy will in no way be confused with that of any bloc, be it from the West or the East, and that its positions will not be dictated except by considerations of peaceful coexistence, the independence of States, just and equitable international co-operation, friendship and solidarity among peoples. That policy of non-alignment in no way precludes our taking clear-cut and firm positions on particular international situations, or the maintenance and strengthening of mutually privileged relations such as Chad maintains with certain friendly countries, relations that are justified by history, geographical considerations and mutual interests.
16.	This has been a general account of the important changes that have taken place in my country and which represent, obviously, a decisive step towards the achievement of peace in Chad.
17.	However, if difficulties still arise, they are entirely the fault of a neighbouring country, which seeks to retain the northern parts of the country, which it occupies and where it maintains, through its enormous military might, a fratricidal war in order to have its expansionist interests triumph. It goes without saying that only the interference, the intrigues and the greed of that neighbouring country delay the achievement of total national reconciliation. In truth, what our neighbour in question is conspiring to do within our country goes far beyond what it cynically calls the "Chad rebellion" or "the impossibility for the Government of Chad of living with its people". Moreover, the best refutation of these allegations comes from those whom it calls the "Chad revolutionaries" and for whom it sometimes claims to speak. Those "Chad revolutionaries", last month, in a letter addressed to the ambassador of Chad in Tripoli, stated the following:
"To His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Chad to the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in Tripoli.
"We, the members of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the FROLINAT (Front for the National Liberation of Chad, Popular Forces of Liberation, Armed Forces), at present in Tripoli, wish to bring to your attention new tendentious Libyan manoeuvres which were decided on after the formation of the Government of National Union in the country and whose objective is to occupy by force the northern part of the national territory.
"Thus over 6,000 Libyan soldiers and their allies equipped with heavy arms and the most sophisticated weapons have been sent to points in Zouar, Ounianga and Bao to organize large-scale surprise attacks in the regions of BET (Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti), Batha, Kanem and Ouaddai during the Ramadan festivities. We therefore ask that you denounce in radio broadcasts this new flagrant military invasion by Libya and take the necessary measures to stop it.
"Moreover, we inform you that we are under strict surveillance by the Libyan authorities and do not enjoy our full freedom. All roads leading to the interior of the country are blocked by the forces of aggression. We thought it our duty to bring this information to the notice of our Embassy, because regardless of our divergence of views in the conduct of the affairs of the country we feel that this is a matter that concerns the people of Chad only. For this reason we are more -determined than ever to defend the territorial integrity of our fatherland and will not yield to any enemy a single inch of our territory. We believe the people of Chad are capable of settling their own problems among themselves and without foreign interference. Finally, it is our patriotic sentiments that have prompted us to provide you with this information in order to enable you to take in time the necessary measures to defend and preserve our homeland."
18.	That denunciation of military aggression and Libyan expansionism clearly shows that the "Chad revolution is now seething" in Libya and not in Chad. In any case, the will to guarantee national unity and the indivisibility and secular nature of our country is something felt today by all true Chad nationals wherever they may be. They realize more and more, the dangers of. the Libyan manoeuvres. They feel that they are more and more involved in the national cause and will eventually triumph over the forces of evil.
19.	The democratization of the country now under way, as shown by the installation of the Government of National Union, and national demands impose on us the sacred duty to defend our independence, sovereignty and territorial Integrity, as recognized by all States, the United Nations and the OAU, while hoping that the support and understanding of peace-loving countries will prevail over the pressures of all kinds that are exerted against some of our brothers.
20.	We do not want an aimed confrontation with our adversaries although we have had imposed on us a war that conceals its true name. We simply wish to see our rights respected, to see respected with regard to. us the same principles that others claim for themselves. In this context we shall be forced to fight vigorously against those who attack us and to respond with .blows for every blow that we receive, in keeping with our aspiration to peace and our desire to live in peace and quiet, without which any idea of economic and social development would be illusory.
21. The Republic of Chad has clearly shown since 1973, the date of the: occupation-by Libya of Aouzou, an integral part of our national territory, its readiness to settle the border dispute with that country through peaceful means,
as laid down in the Charter of the United Nations Charter and the Charter of the OAU. Unfortunately, my country's wise attitude is interpreted by the other side as a sign of weakness. Thus, Libya continues, by means of ruses, blandishments and even bad faith, to deny that there is a border problem and always manages to ensure that any negotiations likely to normalize our relations with it fail. And yet it is well known that it has militarily invaded the extreme north of Chad, just as it is clear that it pursues an expansionist policy seeking to annex, in the long or short run, the whole Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti and Kanem region of Chad-approximately half the territory of Chad. That attitude of Libya, which we have denounced on many occasions, runs counter to the principles which govern relations between States. We wish to say clearly to our Libyan neighbours: put an end to your annexationist policy and to your aggression against Chad; put an end to your brutal interference in the internal affairs of Chad. Then and only then will we be friends, and that will be in the interest of the peoples of Chad and Libya and will also be in the interest of concord and entente in Africa.
22.	We say too that it is the duty of all African States to understand, support and defend Chad's just cause, because the aggression of which Chad is at present the victim is not only contrary to the ideals of Africa, but also threatens other African States which are located very close to Chad.
23.	The OAU, which has been seized of this question since the fourteenth session of its Assembly at Libreville in July 1977, continues to search for a settlement. We sincerely hope that a rapid solution will be found by the Ad Hoc Committee, made up of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan, the Republic of the Niger, the United Republic of Cameroon and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which was set up for the purpose at the fifteenth ordinary session of the: OAU Assembly at Khartoum in July [see A/33/235 and Corr. l, annex II, AKG/Res.94 (XV)].
24.	Finally, we address a pressing appeal to the international community to do everything in its power to protect small countries such as mine against the desire for domination and hegemony of rich countries like Libya. Our Organization must assume its obligations and ensure for small countries like mine the peace and security they need to deal with .the vital problems, which beset them, namely, the fight against under-development and. the poverty accentuated by the suffering caused by the recent drought. Chad has enormous potential, but that potential requires vast means for its exploitation, and above all it needs peace, public security and the protection of the life and property of our people.
25.	We wish in particular to remind those of the great nuclear Powers whose interests are more or less at the root of the kind of assistance and the; massive supply of the most murderous weapons with which they provide Libya, that by virtue of the principles they defend here, sometimes with heat, they should not abandon the countries which have no resources and leave them at the mercy of those which have too much, and whose warlike attitude is quite clear, as is the case with Libya. We have learned through the press the horrifying news that Libya in its expansionist and war-like attitude, intends to build a nuclear plant, it is easy to imagine the apprehensions of my Government in the light
of such a prospect-particularly since that plant could use uranium from the Aousou region in the territory of Chad. We request the Powers which thus promote Libya's dangerous aspirations not to allow Chad and its people to be sacrificed to or enslaved by neighbouring countries.
26.	To those internal and regional problems must be added another great concern: the constant threat to the survival of the whole of mankind. I wish to speak of disarmament.
27.	The unbridled arms race of certain major Powers has led to the existence of incalculable means of destruction on our planet.
28.	It was most appropriate that the General Assembly devoted its tenth special session to that disquieting problem. My country considers that that session was an important milestone in the disarmament process. It believes that the time has come to orient research on the use of nuclear energy towards peaceful ends and, above all, to invite the great Powers to refrain from imposing those weapons on certain States, as some recent agreements indicate is happening.
29.	One of the criticisms we hear levelled most often at the United Nations concerns its inability to adopt timely, significant and effective measures to solve world problems. Threats to international peace and security which could have been prevented under the Charter have frequently degenerated into bloody conflicts difficult to contain. Yet, whenever crises arise, seriously endangering the stability of the world, it is generally the United Nations we turn to in the hope of finding solutions. What deserves criticism, in our view, is the fact that common decisions resulting from the concerns of the whole community yield in the long run to the limited, interests of some, instead of representing a definitive settlement of a particular problem. That is the reason for the persistent contradiction between the desire for peace, security and co-operation and the constant danger of a general conflagration.
30.	When we consider the reasons that led the nations to create this Organization we find that the United Nations remains a very valuable instrument for satisfying the legitimate aspirations of mankind. Therefore its successes or its failures depend first and foremost on the way we employ that instrument. To use it rationally we must make every effort to ensure that its system and principles, to which we have unanimously subscribed, prevail over rivalries stemming from selfish concerns. There are many cases which can be settled only within the framework of the United Nations if we sincerely want to avoid a war fir more devastating than the Second World War. The time has come to team the obvious lessons from the tribulations besetting the nations, of the world and to take steps to safeguard it before it is too late.
31.. Southern Africa in particular is experiencing an explosive situation which is becoming rapidly more and more serious. The task of the United Nations should be not simply to prevent war from breaking out by resorting to palliatives but rather systematically to eliminate its causes, so that the oppressed peoples may live in peace, in other words, the international community must make every effort to assist them in their just struggle against the white racist minority regimes.
32.	In Zimbabwe nothing has changed, in spite of the Anglo-American plan, which first and foremost had the objective of bringing to the negotiating table the main parties involved. Rather Ian Smith and his clique have been allowed to gain time and to use every ruse to render inoperative all the positions that do not satisfy them or their accomplices abroad. The delegation of Chad notes with regret the journey made by Ian Smith to the United States, which no doubt will enable him to obtain assistance from his friends in order to implement his "internal settlement" plan and thus stay in power. The lesson to be drawn from this attitude on the part of Ian Smith is that the manoeuvres of the Powers involved in the settlement of the crisis in Zimbabwe have made it impossible for them to face their responsibilities. For its part, Chad has not changed its position, which remains constant, and it expresses its total support for the Patriotic Front, which alone is carrying on a struggle that fully meets the desires of the Zimbabwean people.
33.	In Namibia the peace agreement arrived at with such great difficulty with the assistance of five Western Powers has been torpedoed by the Pretoria regime. The plan adopted by the Security Council and resolutions 431 (1978) and 432 (1978) will thus remain dead letters, as usual. It is equally true that Namibia is regarded by the whole international community as on international Territory. Therefore it is our duty to resort now to every possible means to implement the decisions of the United Nations—in this instance the Programme of Action adopted at the ninth special session [see resolution S-9/2].
34.	In South Africa it has become mote and more obvious that not only have our decisions with a view to restoring the rights of the peoples not been implemented but the catastrophic situation in which the blacks have been placed is being aggravated. There is no doubt that, with a Vorster as President and a Botha as Prime Minister, the arrests, torture, assassination, hangings in prisons and machine-gunning of blacks in the streets, as in Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976, will instance. The question is how long the world will put up with the apartheid regime, whose true intentions are only too clear. Those who, while frequently invoking human rights, at the same time refuse to apply the resolutions and sanctions against that regime will in the long run bear all the consequences of their perfidious attitude; because it is their attitude alone that ensures, the survival of the apartheid regime.
35.	In other parts of the world situations as disquieting as those I have mentioned are still unresolved while the populations puffer. On these questions, too, Chad has adopted a position which is totally unambiguous, whether in the OAU, the Conferences of non-aligned countries or the United Nations. Therefore' it would be idle for me to repeat our position here, since it remains unchanged.
36.	During the post-war period discussions concerning international economic and social activities were held in terms of the problems and needs of the developed countries. Nevertheless, it is already two decades since the United Nations began to devote a great deal of its time to the problems of the developing world. That international solidarity-or, I should say, that solidarity among Western countries-which, incidentally, was characterized by the implementation of the Marshall Plan, does not exist for the international community when it comes to assisting the peoples of the under-developed countries, whose problems are greater, more urgent and more dramatic than were those of Western Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War.
37.	However, considerable progress has been made as regards ways of making the world aware of the situation of those poor countries. The proclamation of the First United Nations Development Decade and the first session of UNCTAD were part of that programme, which has been followed by three more sessions of UNCTAD, the proclamation of the Second Development Decade, the sixth and seventh special sessions of the General Assembly and a number of regular sessions of the Assembly and many other organs of the United Nations family.
38.	For two decades, as I have said, all the problems of development have been referred to in the texts adopted by the bodies to which I have referred, but today those problems still exist with the same acuteness. We shall mention but a few.
39.	In the field of commodities the deterioration in the terms of trade, which President Senghor has rightly called "the new black slavery", still exists. Resolution 93 (VI) of UNCTAD5 concerning the Integrated Programme that was conceived to solve the problem, still comes up against delaying tactics on the part of rich countries, particularly in respect of the creation of the common fund, which is its main element.
40.	We venture to hope that the United Nations Negotiating Conference on a Common Fund under the Integrated Programme for Commodities, which will resume its work on this question in November, will at long last find a happy solution to the problem. Similarly, we place our hopes in the fifth session of UNCTAD, which is to meet in Manila next year and which should bring in-new elements.
41.	While the developing countries themselves bear the major responsibility for development, external financial assistance is none the less indispensable. Regrettably, the 5 per cent rate of growth which the developing countries were to have achieved by the end or" the First Development Decade, thanks to the transfer of external resources, has never been achieved. Under General Assembly resolution 2626 (XXV), a target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product was set for transfer of public assistance for development by the developed countries to the developing countries, but it is already obvious that that target, too, will
not be met, although we are now on the eve of the third development decade. At present only three countries have achieved or exceeded that rate. We hope, however, that the States members of the European Economic Community will keep the promise they made to increase the volume and the quality of their assistance within the framework of a general strategy for development under which the poor countries in particular should receive an increased proportion of official assistance.
42.	The debt crisis among the developing countries is a. problem of great concern. The international community must take urgent measures to reduce the debt of the developing countries, in particular the least developed among them, whose development is already greatly jeopardized. On that point the ninth special session of the Trade and Development Board did not achieve the. expected results. Nevertheless, we hail the welcome initiative of certain rich countries to cancel or reduce the debts of some developing countries. For our part, we wish publicly to thank the Federal Republic of Germany for its decision to transform the loans it had made to Chad into gifts.
43.	Chad's position on international monetary problems is the following. All countries should participate effectively and on an equal footing in the decisions and management of international monetary institutions. That means that decisions and consultations on monetary matters, which inevitably have an impact on the economic and social development of the .third world, should no longer be left solely to a small group of countries, even if they are the richest.
44.	It is now recognized that technological backwardness widens the already yawning gap between the developed and the developing countries. Taking advantage of their progress in this field, the rich countries use the transfer of technology as an actual bargaining point, and' this is contrary to the relevant provisions of the Declaration oh the Establishment of a New International Economic Order [resolution 3201 (S-VI)], the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States [resolution 3281 (XXIX)], and the Lima Declaration and Plan of Action on Industrial Development. In this connection, we place great hopes in the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, in the preparation of which my country is taking an active part.
45.	Co-operation between developing countries has been the main concern of those countries since their accession to independence. Chad, for its part, is resolutely committed to this course, because we believe that strengthening such co-operation will lead the developing countries towards the collective autonomy that is: one of the very basics of the new international economic order.
46. Technical co-operation between developing countries falls within that context. In this connexion, the recent United Nations. Conference on Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries was a step forward. That is why we support what it has now been agreed to call the Buenos Aires Plan of Action.
47.	We hope that these problems that we have just mentioned, and many others affecting economic relations among developed and developing countries, will henceforth be discussed within the United Nations. That is why the Committee established under General Assembly Resolution 32/174, known as the Committee of the Whole, was set up. We cannot understand why certain States refuse to admit that that Committee has this right to work jointly to activate the negotiations towards the establishment of the new international economic order.
48.	My delegation is disappointed that a procedural impasse was reached in the Committee's work and that it was unable to agree on the interpretation of its mandate. The present impasse should not be used as a pretext by some delegations to take the North-South dialogue outside the United Nations. We must devote ourselves to reaching a clear definition of a new mandate so that the Committee may carry out the task of verifying the implementation of the agreements relating to the establishment of the new international economic order and the task of facilitating economic negotiations.
49.	The international Organization has made considerable progress. Nevertheless, there are still many difficult problems confronting us and, therefore, urgent efforts are required to ensure that the appeals of the suffering peoples, of the peace-loving countries, no longer come up against a wall of silence. Let us, then, use the institutions we have and the tools available to us to achieve the goal we have been pursuing since the birth of the United Nations: justice, peace, security, co-operation and a better life for everyone, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor.


215.	Mr President, it gives me particular satisfaction to salute you as the representative of a country and a continent with which Italy shares both a common civilization and centuries-old ties of friendship. The very name of your country is a symbol of this historic friendship I wish to assure you that my delegation will give you its fullest co-operation in the fulfilment of the delicate task which has been passed on to you by your most able and worthy predecessor, Mr. Lazar Mojsov. And we are fully confident that under your experienced guidance the General Assembly will be able to achieve significant progress on the many important items on its agenda.
216.	The Italian Government welcomes the admission of Solomon Islands to this Organization as its one hundred and fiftieth Member, and looks forward to close and fruitful co-operation with this new country. The number 150, and indeed the emergency arrangements made by the Secretariat to provide seats for all Member States in this hall, are evidence of the constant progress we are making towards the goal of universality of the United Nations. My Government considers this progress especially significant, since it is the reflection of the successes marked every year along the road towards the full implementation of the right of peoples to self-determination.
217.	I should like to pay a special tribute of gratitude and esteem to the Secretary-General, who again in the course of the last year provided an outstanding example of total dedication to the principles and goals of the United Nations. The best evidence of this lies in his masterful introduction to his annual report to the General Assembly. I am in full agreement with this historical analysis and his judgement and remarks on political, economic and social issues as well as on the as yet unfulfilled potential of the United Nations. In particular, I should like to express my strong support for his appeal to foster sentiments of human solidarity so as to overcome national self-interest in the achievement of global objectives
218. The international framework in which our peoples have to live continues to be characterized by political, economic and military tensions.
210 One feature casts a sinister light upon the whole panorama of contemporary events: the continuation of the arms race, which so far appears to be uncontrollable. The expenditure of $400 billion every year on the purchase of armaments is a shocking reminder of the frightening lack of resources available to fight poverty and disease. And it is not only the great Powers which are engaged in this senseless contest to produce instruments of death and destruction- this massive diversion of resources which could otherwise be used to promote development, in which it is not only the great Powers which play a part.
220.	Italy is convinced that mankind will not advance very far unless it becomes more generally and increasingly aware of the futility of any collective struggle for progress which is not accompanied by an effort to reduce drastically the sacrifice of resources consumed on the altar of a dubious security The results achieved last June at the tenth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament give us ground for some hope, but much remains to be done if effective progress along the path of reducing military forces is to be achieved.
221.	The special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament and the consensus reached on the Final Document [resolution S-10/2J have proved that the international community is aware of the major imperatives of our time. Today more than ever, security—an inseparable component of peace-can be attained only through a process of appropriately balanced and verified disarmament.
222.	While encouraging this process, we are none the less convinced that the maintenance of the balance of power remains decisive for the preservation of peace and for the conduct of a constructive dialogue, especially in Europe. For these reasons, the Atlantic Alliance constitutes an essential frame of reference for my country. This frame of reference allows us to make an active contribution not only to the efforts to achieve disarmament, but also to the Vienna negotiations for the balanced reduction of forces in Europe.
223.	The negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union for the limitation of strategic weapons are of fundamental importance for reducing the boundaries of the realm of terror. We would like to address an urgent appeal to those two Powers in the hope that the expectations of our peoples will find prompt fulfilment in their decisions.
224.	But this prospect, although essential, will prove illusory unless it is accompanied by a responsible joint
effort to reduce the areas of conflict and tension. If this does not materialize, the risk, which may be diminished in terms of a strategic confrontation, is likely to increase as a result of dangerous and destabilizing military interventions.
225.	We feel bound, therefore, to appeal to the major Powers in particular to adopt this comprehensive approach, without which all hopes of peace, civil progress and economic development can only remain ephemeral.
226.	Mankind cannot rely indefinitely on a balance of terror between blocs of ideologically opposed States if it is to be able to seize the great opportunities presented to it. Although it is true that, following the signing of the Final Act of Helsinki, we were unfortunately faced last spring with some disappointing results at the Belgrade meeting, a new opportunity awaits us, as Europeans, at the third review session in Madrid in 1980. We have strong hopes that progress will be achieved in the Middle East negotiations as a result of the Camp David meetings. Following other important meetings in the past, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU was convened at Khartoum and the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries at Belgrade this year. Let us all strive to ensure that international events of such great importance do not remain mere episodes without positive results of equal importance and without bringing about those gradual improvements in the international situation which we all consider indispensable.
227.	We are all aware of the existence of grave situations in Which regional instability, and sometimes open conflict, ate the result of the internal difficulties of newly independent countries coupled with massive foreign intervention. Perhaps certain tense situations would not have reached the breaking-point without the prospect, unfortunately well grounded, of such intervention.
228.	Italy respects the identity of the newly independent countries. We, the members of the international community, must adhere to this principle if we wish to provide a credible basis for international equilibrium and the progress of our peoples. This is the line followed by Italy in the design and conduct of its foreign policy of detente and collaboration.
229.	The interdependence of nations should encourage us to avoid as far as possible polemics based on preconceived positions and to seek realistically and gradually the conditions for greater comprehension and trust. It would be disastrous if either one of the great Powers thought it could achieve world-wide hegemony based on the strength of its own military force.
230.	The possibilities, the size and the political influence of the Soviet Union on the world scene should enable it to take part more boldly and with greater trust in every constructive dialogue aimed at seeking appropriate solutions for outstanding international problems, a task in which the Soviet Union must obviously play a major role.
231.	In the meantime, the dynamic foreign policy now being pursued by the People's Republic of China has given
rise to expectations, preoccupations and even open polemics. In my view, this is a development which reflects the specific needs of that great people and it is in the interest of all to encourage this trend.
232.	Indeed, the substantial commitment of resources which China has made in order to raise the standard of living of its citizens is in itself a contribution of enormous importance to the strengthening of peace and the development of international co-operation. The more the Chinese strengthen their relations of mutual knowledge with other peoples, the less marked will become that sense of pessimism as to the inevitability of war which has so often characterized Chinese views of the future.

233.	The method of research and dialogue, to which we again draw the attention of this Assembly, is the only way to achieve valid formulas and solutions for the major problems which beset mankind. Through long and often painful experience we have learned that, without a general commitment to the achievement of harmonious coexistence among peoples, cultures and civilizations, there can be no constructive dialogue, and that, if a course of increasing divergence is followed even the limited progress achieved so far in co-operation and detente may be halted or rendered useless.
234.	In this respect we must consider as a most serious obstacle the pretext of raison d'Etat to impede the free, fruitful circulation of men, goods and ideas.
235.	As regards Italy, which has made a substantial contribution to the process of European unification, the global commitment of its forces to the building of the European Community reflects a specific necessity and a clear conviction. It is a commitment to a goal of integration which we consider also as an effective contribution to the positive development of international relations and to the maintenance of peace in Europe and in the world.
236.	The basic objective of Italy's policy is, therefore, the European Community which is currently being strengthened by the prospect of new accessions and even broader relations, while the election of its Parliament by universal suffrage is now imminent.
237.	Unemployment, inflation, the large margins of unused productive capacity, the indebtedness of the developing countries and monetary instability have added disturbing elements to the general picture and have further impeded the normal development of economic and commercial relations among the different areas.
238.	It is now clear that we are not facing a cyclic crisis. It is towards a renewal and reform of structures that our work must be directed.
239.	When at the United Nations Italy welcomed the principle of establishing a new international economic order, it expressed the intention to participate in a process designed to promote a profound evolution in international economic relations, and in particular to launch an effort of co-operation among all countries with a view to a better
and more rational international distribution of labour and production. The negotiations taking place in the North-South dialogue must be brought as soon as possible to a positive outcome.
240.	Such success may be one of the prerequisite . for the rehabilitation of the world economy and for the initiation of a co-ordinated and general commitment to surmount the crisis.
241.	We are also profoundly convinced that the strengthening of economic co-operation will make a decisive contribution to the reduction of conflicts and tensions.
242.	I do not believe, unfortunately, that since the last session of the United Nations General Assembly the factors of instability have been reduced or have shown a tendency to disappear.
243.	No progress has been made towards a settlement of the painful state of confrontation that still exists in Cyprus.
244.	The tensions in Lebanon remain tragic and are likely to become even more so. The deployment of the United Nations forces as part of a laudable peace-keeping operation, set up by a timely decision of the Security Council, gives ground for hope that increasingly uncontrollable situations can be avoided. This operation, like all the other operations in the Middle East and in other areas, has the unconditional support of Italy, which has similarly supported all the United Nations peace-keeping operations carried out in the past. We hope that this essential machinery provided for in the Charter will command the increasing support of all Members of our Organization.
245.	An intensive effort to reconcile the basic interests involved in the question of the Middle East was set in motion at Camp David as a result of the personal efforts of President Carter and of the response that he elicited from President El-Sadat and the Israeli Prime Minister. This may be an important step along the road that must lead to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. In order to achieve that objective with certainty, we have always advocated the joint involvement and the contribution of all the interested parties. Italy feels in duty bound to address to each of them a pressing appeal to follow the negotiating approach. It is true that, even if this approach is adopted, risks and uncertainties will continue to exist; but it is also true that for a question as complex and dramatic as that of the Middle East there is no alternative to the gradual method of compromise and negotiation.
246.	In Africa also—and we are looking in particular at the events taking place in the Horn of Africa—it certainly cannot be said that the causes of concern have diminished. We are convinced that the countries and peoples of that continent must solve their problems within the African framework constituted by the OAU. Although we are unwilling to pass judgement on intentions, we must point out that in the long run foreign interference is dangerous and fraught with growing and unforeseeable implications. Indeed, it is obvious that solutions based only on the intervention of military forces generate situations in which crises are bound to explode again.
247.	In reiterating, as I did last year, Italy's concern at the serious crises which I have mentioned, I wish to refer—in regard to those problems as well as to the others with which the international community is dealing and which are included in the agenda of the thirty-third session of the General Assembly—to the statement made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany in his capacity as current President of the Council of Ministers of the countries of the European Community [8th meeting, paras. 135-200]. On each problem he put forward analyses, evaluations, positions and proposals which exactly reflect those of Italy and of the other countries of the Community.
248.	In connexion with the grave problems I have dealt with, which have their roots in the complex reality of today's world, we have heard, in recent days, words of admonition, encouragement and hope from the new Supreme Pontiff, Pope John Paul I.
249.	The Pope has defined as an expression of his desire to be of service to humanity the participation of the Holy See in the search for better solutions to the major international problems, where detente, disarmament, peace, justice, humanitarian assistance and development are at stake. For this service the Pope has invited the co-operation of all in order to put an end, within nations, to the blind and destructive violence that merely destroys and sows ruin and grief and, in international life, to bring about mutual understanding among men and the pooling of efforts aimed at progress, at overcoming the hunger of the body and the ignorance of the spirit, and at promoting the advancement of peoples less endowed with material wealth.
250.	The solutions we seek at the United Nations are the ones called for in that appeal. We want a better world-a world in which all peoples can choose freely their own destiny and can maintain with each other peaceful and friendly relations; a world in which a new international economic order is established in a context of equilibrium; a world in which each country is allowed to develop in a spirit of justice; also, a world in which human rights and freedoms are recognized as a sacred patrimony and in which the dignity and value of the human person are reaffirmed and defended.
251.	A few days ago Italy deposited the instruments of ratification not only of the two International Covenants on Human Rights but also of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [resolution 22 A, annex] concerning communications or petitions from individuals and has declared its acceptance of the optional clause provided for in article 41 of the Covenant concerning communications from States. Previously, Italy had already declared its acceptance of the optional clause provided for in article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [resolution 2106A (XX), annex]. We are convinced that, just as at the national level the legislative recognition of a right way remain a dead letter unless a citizen is given the possibility of appeal, so the international protection of human rights will similarly remain a dead letter unless the individual is allowed the opportunity of upholding such rights before international bodies and unless any State wishing to do so can challenge any other State and bring it before an international forum.
252.	A few months ago Italy lived through a tragic act of terrorism when Aldo Moro was killed after his kidnapping in the course of which all the members of his bodyguard were savagely slain. From this rostrum where Aldo Moro, in his capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy, on numerous occasions made significant contributions to the work of the General Assembly, allow me to recall his image, that of a great Italian statesman and of a man passionately committed, with all his strength, to the attainment of the ends of the United Nations Charter: a just peace throughout the world and the moral, civil and social progress of peoples.
253.	I wish to reiterate solemnly to the Secretary-General, Mr. Waldheim, our warmest thanks for having worked so hard and with such generous personal dedication to save the life of this great leader of Italian democracy. I wish also to convey our grateful thanks to Mr. Mojsov, President of the thirty-second session of the General Assembly, to Mr. Young who was the President of the Security Council during the month of April last, and to Mr. Mills, the President of the Economic and Social Council, for their moving appeal for the life of Aldo Moro.
254.	This frightening episode and similar episodes which have stricken so many other peoples bring home a need which concerns us all and which is also prompted by the respect we owe to the innocent victims: the need for international co-operation in the struggle against terrorism. The General Assembly is already dealing with various aspects of this question and has entrusted study of them to appropriate committees. This is a need which is becoming increasingly urgent and profound. The Heads of State and Government of the seven countries who met last July at the Bonn Economic Summit Conference to discuss problems of economic co-operation gave expression to this need by addressing a pressing appeal to all countries to intensify and strengthen measures to combat such acts of terrorism.
255.	The United Nations—and its supreme body, the General Assembly—is above all an instrument in the service of peace and justice between nations. The causes of instability in the international system can be controlled and adequately channelled within the United Nations. Existing conflicts must not be aggravated in this body but must encounter a suitable context for mediation and settlement.
256.	To that end, may I confirm that Italy's action within the General Assembly and its committees is constantly inspired by a "strategy of collaboration", aimed not at emphasizing conflicting viewpoints but rather at always seeking, on every problem, a growing area of co-operation.
257.	We wish to ensure that our work and the co-operative efforts of our countries will not remain isolated but will have the increasingly aware support throughout the world of a broad movement of opinion, a movement of peace and freedom.