Mr. President, may I first associate myself with
the congratulations extended to you on your
election as President of the General Assembly.
92.	I am very pleased to have the honour once
again of addressing the General Assembly after an
interval of seven years. In an international
perspective, seven years is not a long time. Yet
in that interval, profound changes have imposed
themselves on the world community—changes that
have distanced us from the relatively optimistic
days of the mid-1970s.
93.	Simply stated, the world at present is
facing acute economic and political crises. World
economic conditions have deteriorated sharply,
with devastating consequences on the aspirations
of all nations, rich and poor alike. Political
upheaval has driven the interna¬tional community
towards recurrent instability. And these forces
are closely linked. Political crises generate
economic consequences and economic dislocations
breed political instability.
94.	How can we chart a course for our
institutions that will bring us through this
period of grave economic dislocation and
dangerous political tension and serve the
interests of all members of the General Assembly?
93. When our present institutions, such as the
United Nations, IMF, the World Bank and GATT,
first took shape, there was hope of maintaining a
network of relationships which would match the
complexity of post-war interdependence and help
us to stabilize it. Today, the need to manage
interdependence is even more pressing. But in the
present crisis there is a disturbing tendency to
discount and discredit multi¬lateral
institutions. Because the maze of international
problems has become more resistant to
conventional solutions, attacks are being made on
the institutions through which solutions are
being approached. The United Nations, in
particular, has been the object of much criticism.

96.	We cannot fail to realize that
interdependence is a reality that we must accept,
for better or for worse, and that no nation can
hope to resolve its problems on its own.
Multilateralism, whatever its specific form, is
our primary hope for counteracting on a world
scale political and economic aggression which can
only too easily result from a long period of
uncertainty and fear.
97.	However, let us have no illusions: the
credibility and the effectiveness of the
multilateral institutions depend on the political
will of nations and of their leaders, and on the
will to find a collective response to serious
national and international problems.

98.	Most countries, developed and developing,
are now grappling with high rates of inflation.
Slow or stagnant growth and international
payments imbal¬ances compound already serious
debt problems. Record high unemployment in many
countries threatens the social and political
fabric of our societies and feeds protectionist
sentiment. At the international level, the
economic crisis is having a devastating effect on
growth prospects and on development assistance.
Debt-servicing problems have reached proportions
that impose considerable strain on the
international financial system.
99.	The consequence has been an increasing
ten¬dency towards economic parochialism.
Pressures for short-term relief put at risk the
multilateral system and narrow the longer-term
prospects for all of us. These pressures must be
resisted.
100.	The collective response to the current
economic situation was extensively discussed at
the annual meeting of IMF and the World Bank held
recently in Toronto. I was encouraged by the
determination of participants at that meeting to
treat economic problems as matters of common
concern requiring common action.
101.	I should like to underline two important
themes. First, the magnitude of the financial
difficulties many of our countries face makes it
imperative that IMF should have adequate
resources to ensure that it can continue to play
its vital role in promoting adjustment in member
countries. That is why Canada supports a
substantial increase in quotas during the Eighth
General Review.
102.	Secondly, the current economic situation has meant that
development assistance has become even more
essential for a number of developing countries
and it is important that bilateral and
multilateral flows continue. We welcomed the
agreement reached at Toronto to ensure an
adequate level of funding through the life of the
Sixth Replenishment of the International
Development Association (IDAVI).
103.	The tendency to turn inward economically
is also exerting strain on the multilateral
trading system. Protectionist sentiment arising
from economic disloca¬tion is difficult for all
Governments to deal with, my own included. But it
is absolutely essential that we manage these
pressures collectively to avoid under¬mining
GATT. That organization has been enormously
beneficial in promoting world economic growth in
developed and developing countries. Any serious
weakening of GATT through beggar-thy-neighbour
policies would have the ultimate effect of making
beggars of us all. GATT can and should be
strengthened.
104.	Canada will chair the 1982 annual session
of the GATT Contracting Parties, which will be
held at the ministerial level in November. We
regard this session as a significant test of our
collective determination to manage an
interdependent system.
105.	Intense preoccupation with domestic
economic concerns also confounds our attempts to
persevere with development assistance programmes.
What should be our response to the inescapability
of shrinking resources? How do we face the
difficulties in generating increased development
assistance flows?
106.	We should all—national donors and
multilateral agencies alike—rationalize
deployment of available resources for maximum
possible effect. The best results can be obtained
from this process of com¬pulsory selectivity only
if donors focus on areas of special national
expertise and resources. Canada has chosen to
concentrate its efforts in three particular areas
which draw upon considerable national experience.
These are the food and agricultural area, energy,
specifically petroleum exploration, and human
resources.

107.	Another response to shrinking resources
should be to make full and timely use of every
opportunity for enhanced co operation. In this
connection, I am disappointed with the lack of
progress made on global negotiations since the
Versailles Economic Summit in June. Canada
believes that the text of a compromise resolution
worked out at Versailles represented a
significant step in the effort to find a formula
for launching global negotiations. I regret that
it has not been possible to find a basis for real
negotiations.
108.	Economic problems are all the more vexing
and potentially dangerous because they are bound
up with serious political instability. Political
instability pro¬duces consequences extending far
beyond the imme¬diate region in which conflict
has erupted. In a shrinking world local
vulnerabilities and tragedies become the common
concern of us all.
109.	We have witnessed the long agony of
Lebanon and, but 10 days ago, the horror of the
massacre of Palestinians. These terrible events
show us in stark fashion the price that must be
paid when one strives to resolve political
problems by military means, when disputes among
nations and peoples and political factions
replace negotiations, when one misuses or
disregards the instruments that the international
com¬munity has established to settle disputes and
prevent human suffering.
110.	I should like to stress that Canada
staunchly supports the sovereignty, independence
and territorial integrity of Lebanon, and that it
endorses the Security Council resolutions which
call for Israel's withdrawal from west Beirut and
the whole of Lebanon. No foreign force should
remain in that country without the full consent
of the Lebanese Government; otherwise that
ravaged country will never know stability again.
111.	Equally important, efforts must be
intensified now to grapple with the problems at
the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. More than
ever the tragic events of the last few months
illustrate the need for a just and permanent
solution which assures the legitimate rights of
the Palestinian people, including their right to
a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza, and the
right of Israel to exist in security and peace.
Important proposals for such a solution have
recently been made. The United States proposals
of 1 Sep¬tember in particular offer opportunities
for progress which should vigorously be pursued.
112.	Other arenas of conflict continue to
contribute to the generally high level of
international tension. Events in Poland remain an
object of our particular attention, not only
because of concern for the basic rights and
freedoms of the Polish people but also because of
serious implications for stability in the heart
of Europe.
113.	In Afghanistan and Cambodia we witness
agonizing, protracted and deplorable military
occupa¬tions which are in sharp contradiction
with the aims and ideals of the Organization and
the Charter. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan
and the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia
continue to violate the sovereignty of their
victims and to ignore resolutions adopted by the
General Assembly. Once again this year draft
resolutions are before the Assembly on
Afghanistan and Cambodia. I urge all Member
States to support these draft resolutions.
114.	The Korean peninsula has long been an
area of tension and concern. We are encouraged
however by the proposals made in January this
year by the President of the Republic of Korea
seeking dialogue and reconciliation, without
conditions, and we hope for the greater
integration of the peninsula into the
inter¬national community.
115.	The extent to which local or regional
conflicts draw their energy from mutually
antagonistic ideo¬logical systems is also cause
for considerable concern. In recent years the
breakdown of detente and an increasing anxiety
over the unpredictability of events have fuelled
public fears of nuclear war. Our peoples fear
that everything is at risk: the economic and
technological systems which sustain us, the
political and social systems which underpin them
and the very biosphere which permits the
existence of life itself.
116.	The world had high hopes for the second
special session of the General Assembly on
disarmament. When the session ended and no final
agreement on a comprehensive programme of
disarmament had been reached, there was much
disappointment and frustra¬tion. However, a
disservice is done to the special session and to
the United Nations as an institution if it is
simply dismissed as a failure. Of course the
results were disappointing, but then the
expectations of many were probably
unrealistically high given the prevailing
international climate. Moreover, in this climate
it is essential that the campaign for nuclear
disarmament be waged at the negotiating table. My
country strongly supports the present
negotiations in Geneva to limit and reduce the
level of nuclear arms.
117.	Canada has chosen to contribute to the
arms control and disarmament process by
concentrating on the vital issue of verification.
We are doing this through participating in the
international seismic data exchange and by
substantially increasing research in
verification. I would appeal to other Member
States to consider how their particular
circumstances and resources might be drawn upon
to contribute to the arms control process. It is
basically the same question as with development:
given the need for selectivity, what can you
contribute?
118.	I have evoked today a set of perplexing
and interrelated economic and political problems.
What is the United Nations capacity to respond to
these? The question is an urgent one, because the
United Nations and the specialized agencies
address virtually the entire range of human
concerns.
119.	Within the United Nations, crisis
management capacity has been called seriously
into question by divisions within the Security
Council, by erosion of the constitutional
division of authority between the Security
Council and the General Assembly and by a cycle
of ineffectual resolutions. We have seen an
increasing tendency to introduce extraneous
polemical issues in the specialized agencies,
with adiminution of their effectiveness and
credibility. Official spokes¬men of key States
Members of the United Nations have expressed
scepticism regarding the Organization. To counter
attacks on the United Nations from within and
without we must more closely bind our policies
and our behaviour to the principles expressed in
the Charter. We must also vigorously reaffirm the
singular contribution that the United Nations has
made to the development of international law. As
the Secretary-General explained at length and
with eloquence in a statement delivered last
month in Montreal, the United Nations plays a
unique and absolutely essential role in the
promotion of the rule of law. It is only the
United Nations, with its virtually global scope,
which has the capacity to play that role.
120.	This year the Third United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea succeeded in
producing a profound achievement: a comprehensive
constitution for the oceans of the world. The
Conference could not have produced such a
comprehensive convention without the active
support and participation of all nations during
the long years of negotiation. We deeply regret
that the Conference was not able to adopt the
text of the Convention by consensus. No State can
remain aloof from the regime, and we must not be
swayed by any attempt to undermine it.
121.	The United Nations has succeeded in
making human rights violations a legitimate
subject of interna¬tional scrutiny and it is
significant that the Secretary- General has
identified human rights promotion as a priority
area. Canada will support the Secretary- General
in these efforts. Effective procedures must be
worked out to deal with flagrant violations of
human rights.
122.	A role of critical importance for the
United Nations is the peaceful resolution of
disputes. How¬ever maligned the Organization may
be concerning its efforts to resolve disputes, it
can achieve notable successes. In Namibia, the
United Nations has worked cut a balanced
settlement plan which should bring Namibia to
independence peacefully, and has obtained for
that plan general acceptance. The substantial
progress that has been made must be attributed in
part to the dedication and constructive approach
of the front-line States and the South West
Africa People's Organization [SW/1PO]. We hope
that remaining problems will be quickly resolved.
123.	The appointment of a new
Secretary-General has come at a time when the
United Nations is facing unprecedented problems
and when the need for insti¬tutional reform has
become obvious. In his first report on the work
of the Organization, the Secretary- General has
addressed this need in direct and specific terms.
He has put forward several innovative
sugges¬tions, in particular directed at a more
effective Security Council. He has himself
undertaken to play a more direct role in bringing
urgent matters before the Council. These specific
proposals and the Secre¬tary-General's commitment
to administrative stream¬lining are very welcome
and should be encouraged. Pragmatic reforms must
be made or the United Nations will lose its
validity as a forum for interna¬tional
negotiations, not only for the promotion of peace
and security but also for the shaping of our,
economic future.
124.	The aims of the institutions we have
invented are under considerable and potentially
crippling strain. We must rededicate these
institutions and the driving force of our
determination must be a sense of shared
vulnerability.
125.	The present crisis demands intelligence
and will. Intelligence must lead us to a more
profound
Understanding of political and economic forces;
our will must reside in commitment to those
national con¬cessions dictated by our mutual
dependency. We cannot, must not, allow mutual
antagonisms or self- absorption to divert our
attention from the full range of difficulties
which we face, and which we must face together.


It gives me great pleasure, Mr. President, to
extend to you, on behalf of the delegation of the
Kingdom of Morocco and in my own capacity, our
congratulations on your election as President of
this session of the Assembly. There is no doubt
that your diplomatic career and your knowledge of
both inter-national and United Nations affairs
will assist you in bearing the considerable
responsibility that is now yours. The delegation
of Morocco assures you of its full co-operation
in making your presidency a success, particularly
because of the relations of friend-ship and
co-operation our two countries enjoy. It also
gives me pleasure to commend your predecessor,
Mr. Kittani, for his untiring efforts during an
eventful year in which he evinced admirable
foresight and patience, which was very much
appreciated.

111. I should like to avail myself of this
opportunity to extend my cordial congratulations
to Mr. Perez de Cuellar on his election as
Secretary-General. I am sure that his
considerable experience in international affairs
and the respect and confidence he enjoys among
the world community qualify him to work
creatively and positively in the defence of
international peace and ensure the triumph of the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations. I wish also to congratulate his
predecessor, Mr. Waldheim, on his action and
efforts at a time characterized by tension and
danger.

112. It is traditional in this Hall at the
beginning of each session of the General Assembly
for our common hopes and aspirations for the
strengthening of peace and understanding, the
triumph of justice and right and the emergence of
an era of prosperity and well-being for mankind
to be expressed. It is regrettable to note at the
beginning of this debate that hotbeds of tension
are still giving rise to serious threats to
international peace and security and that the
international situation is deteriorating because
of the new obstacles which have recently almost
shattered our hope of establishing genuine and
comprehensive detente.

113. This state of affairs will persist as long
as there are those who wilfully violate the
principles of the Charter and flout international
law, infringing the dignity of man and his b8sic
rights; as long as colonialism, racial
discrimination and the deterioration of the
international economic situation, which results
in increasing impoverishment of the world
population, continue. In addition to this, the
arms race and its attendant dangers threaten the
achievements of mankind.

114.	Because it is a member of the Arab world,
the Islamic group and the African continent, and
because of its geographical situation at the
crossroads of three civilizations, Morocco
attributes great importance to what happens in
all these areas.

115.	The question of the Middle East, and
especially the Palestinian question, occupies a
place of the highest priority among the concerns
of my country. For more than 30 years the
Palestinian people have suffered exile and
deprivation and have been the victim of war and
destruction. In spite of the voices raised every
year from this rostrum condemning I3raeli
practices and demanding that the Palestinian
people regain their inalienable rights, despite
the resolutions adopted by the Assembly and the
Security Council in support of the rights of that
militant people, Israel is persisting in its
expansionist and repressive acts with all the
means at its disposal, including the use of
internationally banned weapons, in order to
continue to occupy the Arab territories and
annihilate the Palestinian people, in an attempt
to eliminate them, suppress them and liquidate
their leaders in the form of the PLO.

116. Although the United Nations archives are
filed with reports on massacres and
assassinations carried out by Israel against the
Palestinian people for more than 30 years, the
tragedy and suffering resulting from the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon and t:-'e massacres of the
Palestinian and Lebanese peoples are beyond all
bounds and beyond imagination.

117. The abominable massacre planned by the
Israeli army of occupation in the camps of Sabra
and Shatila claimed more than 4,000 victims among
innocent Palestinians, including women, children
and old people. It reminds us of a similar
massacre carried out by Meacham Begin in the
Palestinian village of Deir Yassin in 1947, and
it transcends in atrocity and the manner in which
it was committed the deeds of the Nazis during
the Second World War.

113. This butchery shows beyond doubt that the
real aim of Israel is not security, as it claims,
but the total physical elimination of the
militant Palestinian people and expansion at the
expense of the Arab nation. Morocco pays its
tribute to the memory of the martyred victims of
Israeli terrorism and expresses its gratitude and
appreciation to those that have condemned and
denounced this atrocious massacre and taken the
side of right and justice. All the States of the
world have expressed their individual
condemnation of that massacre and the
international community has denounced it
collectively. The General Assembly, at its
seventh emergency special session, adopted
resolution ES-7/9 on 24 September 1982 condemning
the criminal massacre and reaffirming Security
Council resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982)
demanding that Israel with-draw all its military
forces to the internationally recognized
boundaries of Lebanon.

119. In the face of this human tragedy it is more
necessary than ever for the General Assembly to
take all the measures called for, including the
imposition of sanctions, to compel Israel to put
an end to its aggression against the Palestinian
people, to withdraw forthwith and unconditionally
from the territory of Lebanon and to comply with
the resolutions of the Security Council.

120. Morocco, a sister State of Lebanon, takes
this opportunity to reaffirm its full solidarity
with Lebanon in its time of trial and to assure
the Lebanese Government of its support for the
measures necessary to guarantee the unity,
independence and sovereignty of Lebanon.

121. The two parts of the Twelfth Arab Summit
Conference were held in Fez, Morocco, under the
leadership of His Majesty King Hassan 11. My
country thus had the honour of acting as host to
this historic conference which restored unity to
the Arab ranks and placed Arab solidarity on firm
foundations.

122. The Arab Summit Conference was convened in
extremely delicate circumstances for the causes
of Palestine and the Middle East, and the Arab
heads of State shouldered their historic
responsibility and agreed to the plan designed to
enable the Arabs to regain their rights. They did
so because of their conviction that the Arab
nation can achieve its aims and overcome the
consequences of the Israeli aggression.

123. The Arab nations, out of their concern to
use all ways and means at their disposal to
re-establish in the Middle East peace based on
justice and to contribute to the efforts exerted
by all the .peace:. loving forces in the world,
in the vanguard of which is the United Nations,
and on the basis of international law, the Arab
peace plan, with the following elements: first,
Israel's withdrawal from all the territories it
has occupied since 1%7, including Jerusalem;
secondly, the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination, to the exercise of its
inalienable rights under the leadership of the
PLO, its sole legitimate representative, and to
the establishment of an independent State on its
land; thirdly, the establishment by the Security
Council of guarantees for peace among the States
of the region.

124. A study of those principles should convince
the Assembly and the world public that the Arab
nation desires peace based on justice and a
solution to the Middle East problem that
guarantees to the Palestinian people its right to
self-determination and to establish its own
independent State and that makes it possible for
all the States of the region to live in peace,
with Security Council guarantees.

125. Morocco, whoís Sovereign. His Majesty King
Hassan 11, presided over the Twelfth Arab Summit
Conference, calls upon all peace-loving States,
andespecially the great Powers, permanent members
of the Security Council, to support right and
justice, to study the Arab peace plan carefully
and to adopt the principles contained in that
plan as the basis for the solution of the Middle
East and Palestine problems. We hope that there
will be a favourable reaction t9 this Arab
initiative and that it will usher in a new era
.that will restore peace and stability to the
Middle East region and bring to an end the state
of war which has afflicted the people of the
region for so long.

126. The favourable reaction and the broad
support with which the Arab peace plan has met on
the inter-national scene is encouraging. We hope
that all States especially the great Powers
permanent members of the Security Council, will
support the plan and that the high-level
committee set up by the summit conference will be
able to establish contacts with the permanent
members of the Security Council and to achieve
positive results.

127.	We should like to note also that Mr.
Reaganís plan for peace in the Middle East gives
cause for optimism. Morocco regards this plan as
a measure that opens new prospects for a solution
to the Middle East problem, and that places on
record the commitment of the President of the
United States of America to the principle of the
restoration to Arab sovereignty of the Arab
territories occupied by Israel in 1%7. At the
same time, we note that this plan omits basic
points essential to the process for the
establishment of peace in the Middle East. We
hope that during the forthcoming contacts between
the Arab countries and the United States of
America these gaps will be filled so that a just
and lasting peace can be achieved in the Middle
East and that region may once again be the cradle
of constructive coexistence and a centre for the
dissemination of creative thought.

128.	In north-west Africa there is still
artificial tension resulting from a policy which
runs counter to the noble principles established
by the international community, which is based on
desperate attempts to undermine international law
and which resorts to hegemony as a means of
achieving selfish interests. The so-called
problem of Western Sahara serves as a pretext and
an instrument to that end. Morocco has always
made it clear that its desire to regain its
Saharan territory is based on solid historical
rights and legal ties, as well as international
law. After the Moroccan liberation army had
engaged in a heroic struggle against the
colonizers in Saharan territory, Morocco called
for the restoration of the land usurped at the
beginning of the colonial era of this century.
Because of the colonial authorities'
procrastination in returning this land to the
mother country, Morocco had recourse to juridical
bodies. It submitted the question to the United
Nations and to the International Court of
Justice. That resulted finally in the conclusion
of the Madrid Agreement, confirmed by the General
Assembly in 1975.

129.	Morocco has clearly set forth here on
several occasions the political and historical
circumstances in which Moroccan territory had
been divided into various regions and subjected
to various colonial systems. It has also clearly
indicated that the restoration of the amputated
parts of its country was also -by the very nature
of things-carried out in various stages.

130.	Because of Morocco's faithfulness to
inter-national legality, and because of its
desire to give that legality a new form that
would bode well for the future, His Majesty King
Hassan n, at the eighteenth ordinary session of
the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of
the OAU, which was held at Nairobi in June 1981,
stated that Morocco was prepared 10 hold a
referendum in the region of Western Sahara,
thereby opening the door to a final, peaceful
solution to this conflict. Morocco put forward
that initiative because it was convinced of its
inalienable right to the Territory and of the
fact that its children in the region of the
Sahara had chosen to remain forever an integral
part of the mother country.

131. His Majesty King Hassan's initiative was in
part. in response to the wishes of Morocco's
friends and also was intended clearly to show the
world public and to assure jt that the
inhabitants of the Sahara region wished to belong
to the mother country and, through a referendum,
to confirm what they had expressed on many
occasions and in many different ways: their
Moroccan identity, to which they are very
attached.

132. The whole world welcomed this initiative,
finding in it the ideal means for ending the
long-standing tension in that part of north-west
Africa. Morocco made every effort to give this
initiative the chance to bring about peace, and
to have it acted upon. Morocco, represented by
its sovereign, thus made an important
contribution to a settlement of the problem of
Western Sahara at Nairobi, in August 1981. The
African leaders laid the foundations for such a
settlement by establishing the OAU's
Implementation Committee 9 which was to concern
itself with the cease-fire and the referendum.
Morocco-thus made an effective contribution to
the success of that African meeting, whose goal
was to move the peace process forward to its
desired end. The Implementation Committee
continued working effectively to bring about the
implementation of the resolutions of the OAU
Assembly. especially since the adoption by the
General Assembly of its decision 36/406, the text
of which had been sponsored by Kenya, then
Chairman of the OAU Assembly, calling on the
United Nations to extend technical and financial
assistance in this field to the OAU.

133. The Implementation Committee met again on 8
and 9 February 1982, to decide on a time-frame
for the cease-fire and referendum. In
co-operation with African leaders, Morocco worked
with sincerity to put the final touches on this
African effort, which would have ended one of the
disputes which have been the concern of the OAU
over the past years. Good will dictated that all
efforts made by the African leaders should be
given a chance to bear fruit, but there are those
who do not wish to find a solution to this
problem, and that fact led to the cancellation of
the initiative. When it became dear that there
was a serious turn of events which would lead to
the derailment of failure of hegemonies expansion
plans and confirm the inalienable rights of
Morocco through free consultation under United
Nations and OAU auspices, attempts were made to
abort that process and to undermine the
resolutions adopted at the OAU Assembly at
Nairobi. The well known plot thus took place at
Addis Ababa which immobilized the work of the OAU
and its activities halted when certain countries.
in secret collaboration with the OAU
administrative Secretary-General, tried to impose
a group of mercenaries as participants in the
thirty-eighth 'ordinary session of the Council of
Ministers of .the OAU. That wanton act was in
flagrant violation of the QAD Charter, which
stipulates in more than one place that membership
is confined to independent sovereign States. That
act was furthermore, a conspiracy to undermine
all the practical measures adopted by Africa to
solve the Saharan problem in a peaceful manner.

134. The leaders of the African nations
represented by the "wise men" the founders of the
OAU, opposed that conspiracy against legality,
and 19, delegations withdrew from the session of
the OAU Council of Ministers held at Addis Ababa
in February 1982, which is where the conspiracy
was acted out. That session was therefore illegal
because there was no quorum as required in the
OAU Charter.

135.	To overcome this crisis, the African
continent was the scene of intense political
activity aimed at saving the OAU from collapse.
Some African leaders called for a special session
of the OAU Assembly to solve the problem; Morocco
was among the first to take such an initiative.
His Majesty King Hassan ,11 sent a letter to the
President of Kenya, Mr. Daniel Arap Moi, in
February this year, requesting that, ~ special
session be held to consider the existing' crisis
before it worsened. But the forces fighting
against legitimacy worked to preventthat meeting.

136.	Once more, we see that enlightened
Africa, which has opted for legitimacy, has shown
itself to be above submitting to the policy of
fait accompli. It refused to attend the OAU
Assembly scheduled to be held at Tripoli unless
African legitimacy, in accordance with the OAU
charter, was restored to the OAU. The frustration
and failure of the session of the OAU Assembly at
Tripoli is a testimony to legitimacy and justice
and the failure of attempts to violate the
African Charter.

137.	That failure caused the immobilization of
the work of the OAU at all levels-political,
economic, social, as well as in the field of
information; but we are convinced t.hat the
OAU-which is backed and supported by every
sincere African-will once. more play its
constructive role:, thanks to the efforts made by
the sincere sons of Africa, who value legitimacy
and higher African interests above all other
considerations and narrow selfish interests.

138. Morocco-which has played a pioneering role
in crystallizing the idea of African unity
through the African Charter, adopted in
Casablanca in '1961, and which is one of the
founders of the OAU-would very much like that
organization to continue. Morocco will thus do
its utmost to maintain and support the CAU so
that it may continue to play its vital and
effective role as an instrument of common African
action. Morocco is extremely concerned that
legitimacy be restored to the OAU and that the
organization's administrative bodies should
concern themselves with the implementation of
African resolution with integrity and neutrality,
free of any bias and without 'be'-coming involved
in current disputes among "certain member
countries.

139. The United Nations followed closely the
African meetings held last year to discuss the
question of Sahara. Its representatives gave to
the African leaders, useful help by describing
the experience of the United Nations in the
holding of referendums. They know the 'stages
that must be gone through In arriving at a
cease-fire and holding a referendum.

140. Morocco which has always proclaimed its
adherence to international legitimacy reaffirms
its commitment to the resolutions of the
eighteenth session of the OAU Assembly concerning
Sahara which were supported last year by the
General Assembly. It sees the way chosen by
Africa as the best means of ending the artificial
tensions in north-west Africa. Proceeding from
that .premise, Morocco appeals to all States to
work for the success of that African solution and
to frustrate an attempts to block and obstruct
it, so that the conflict can be ended and peace
and stability can be restored to this area.

141. Morocco, as a part of the African continent,
attaches special importance to the events that
take place there. It works in co-operation with
its African brothers to support the independence
of the countries of the continent and ensure the
progress and development of their peoples, so
that the whole continent may enjoy well-being and
prosperity and play its role in building a world
society founded upon justice and peace.

142.	In the southern part of this continent,
the brother people of Namibia is still suffering
under the yoke of an unjust racist regime and
waging a valiant war of liberation to restore its
usurped liberty, independence and territorial
integrity. Morocco, which has always supported
the just struggle of the Namibian people, hopes
that the day when independence is restored to
that people will soon be here. On this occasion,
we appeal to the contact group to redouble its
efforts and negotiations so that a final
settlement of the Namibian problem may be reached
in accordance with Security Council resolution
435 (1978).

143.	The people of southern Africa are still
suffering from the tragedy of the regime of
racial discrimination imposed by the Government
of Pretoria, despite the many resolutions
1:ondemning that regime and denouncing apartheid
as a "crime against humanity" .

144~ Morocco reaffirms its support for the people
of South Africa, which must regain its dignity
and free-dom. It calls on those countries which
have relations with Pretoria to break off their
economic and military collaboration with it in
order to induce it to end that regime, which is a
challenge to the most basic legal and ethical
principles.

145. Morocco, which is pledged to defend all
struggles for liberation, reaffirms its
determination to defend all struggles for
liberation in Africa, in the south, the Horn of
Africa, Eritrea or elsewhere in the continent.
146. For more than two years a destructive war
has been raging between two neighbouring Islamic
countries, Iraq and the Islamic Republic .of
Iran. Those two countries were the cradles of
ancient civilizations that helped to develop the
thinking, science and progress of humanity. If is
regrettable that the war between those two
countries should still be going on despite all
the untiring efforts to bring it to an end. We
hope that it will soon be possible to reach a
settlement that win effect a cease-fire,
safe-guard the inalienable rights of the two
States, and restore stability and security to the
area, within the framework of Security Council
resolutions 514 (1982) of 12 July 1982 and 522
(1982) of 4 October 1982.

147. The initiative taken by our sister nation of
Iraq recently, which took the form of withdrawing
its army to the borders it had held before the
hostilities, is, we believe, a positive step
towards the restoration of peace and the
consolidation of relations of
good-neighbourliness. Iraq's response to all
mediation efforts to end this conflict deserves
our encouragement and praise. We also pin great
hopes to the efforts of the Peace Committee of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference,
presided over by Mr. Ahmed SekouToure, President
of Guinea, efforts directed to restoring peace
and security to that important part of the world.

148. In Afghanistan the people is still suffering
from the injustices of the invasion of that land
three years ago. It is still fighting to preserve
its Islamic faith and its identity as a Moslem
and non-aligned nation. Morocco, which is linked
with the Moslem people of Afghanistan by ties of
religion, culture and civilization, calls for the
withdrawal of an foreign forces from Afghan
territory, enabling the people to choose the
political system it desires in full freedom.

149. In Democratic Kampuchea, we note that the
Vietnamese army has not responded to the call of
the international community to withdraw from that
country so that its people can freely choose its
own political system. We still believe that the
Declaration and resolution adopted by the
International Conference on Kampuchea6 constitute
the basis for the best solution of this problem.

150. As for relations between the two parts of
Korea, we hope that (ne Governments of the North
and the South will resume a positive and
constructive dialogue with a view to bringing
about gradually the peaceful reunification of
Korea.

151. Morocco has always maintained good relations
with the States of the Mediterranean Basin, and
is striving to create favourable conditions for
that region to be transformed into a zone of
peace and co-operation, in accordance with
General Assembly resolution.36/l02. On that
basis, and within the frame-work of the efforts
of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in
Europe, Morocco has supported and still supports
the efforts made to strengthen peace and security
and ensure co-operation in the region.

152.	It is a recognized fact that
international detente is linked to disarmament
and that the arms race is a serious threat to the
existence and the survival of man. It is the two
blocs that motivate the arms race, but it is the
developing countries that are the principal
victims, because it prejudices their economic and
social progress, increases their debt burden and
lessens their security.

153.	It is regrettable that the international
efforts to change the situation have so far
produced no positive results. This is especially
true of the second special session of the General
Assembly devoted to disarmament, which failed to
achieve any concrete progress in this respect.

154.	Morocco, associating itself with those
who work for disarmament at the regional or the
international level, appeals to the super-Powers,
which bear a
special responsibility for the maintenance of
peace, to redouble their efforts to reach
agreement on a comprehensive programme of
disarmament, with a carefully prepared timetable,
so that disarmament does not become a mere theory
which cannot be put into practice.

155. The utmost attention must be paid to
tackling the chronic injustice of the world
economic system particularly since the developing
countries are the most affected by this.
International economic institutions in all fields
and areas of competence recognize the urgent need
for a radical change in the world economic
system, especially following the sixth and
seventh special sessions of the General Assembly,
which stressed the inevitability of such change.
Certain achievements benefiting the third world
such as the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties
of States, the generalized system of preferences
and the Integrated Commodities Programme and
certain such concepts as the common economic
self-sufficiency of the developing countries and
the new international economic order, must have
positive effects on North-South relations. In
-order to make the establishment of the new
economic order possible, the third world States
have called for the beginning of a series of
negotiations on all aspects of international
co-operation for development, in accordance with
the programmes of action approved by the General
Assembly or recommended by various international
bodies, in particular UNCTAD, with a view to the
attainment of the objectives of the Third United
Nations Development Decade.

156.	Experience has shown that partial
economic solutions in the narrow national context
and negotia-tions limited to specified sectors
are only palliatives. The real solution is to be
found in global negotiations leading to
collective solutions to world economic problems.

157.	It is regrettable that the developed
countries remain deaf to the appeals of the
countries of the third world and that they have
strengthened their protectionist tariff and
non-tariff measures and reduced the level of
their external aid, which half had a serious
effect on the terms of trade, the balance of
payments and the employment situation. The
deterioration in the terms of trade and the
increase in indebtedness have shattered any hope
of achieving economic and social development in
the developing countries, in particular the least
developed countries.

158. The latest annual report of the World Bank
showed the weakness of the third world economies
and drew attention to the dangers facing the poor
countries, particularly as regards agricultural
production and food deficits. The rich countries
must therefore abandon their selfishness and
their narrow national interests and recognize the
interdependence of the economic progress of the
North and the need to speed up the economic,
social and technical development of the South,
because their common interests impose on all the
parties the joint responsibility for establishing
a new international economic order and building a
better world for all mankind.

159. The entire international community should
rejoice at the adoption of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea by the majority
of States Members. That Convention, which will be
signed officially in Jamaica in the first two
weeks of December, is the culmination df
tremendous efforts. We hope that certain Member
States will prove to be more flexible regarding
their objections so that "his Convention may come
into force after its signature and ratification.
This would make possible the establishment of a
new era of fruitful co-operation.

160.	The Organization is a haven of peace and
security in a world swept by fierce winds of
conflict, war and violence, and in which there is
much under-development, poverty and injustice. It
is a source' of hope for the alleviation and
elimination of the evils of fear and underdevelopment.
Since its inception in 1945 the Organization has
made possible profound changes in the political
map of the world. It has supported weak,
conquered nations and helped them to achieve
independence; it has devoted its efforts to
conciliation and the settlement of conflicts. It
has also opened up new perspectives in the field
of international economic, scientific and
cultural co-operation.

161.	Despite all this, an enormous task lies
ahead and demands our full support so that the
noble mission assigned to the United Nations
under the Charter may be fulfilled-that of
contributing to the prosperity and the well-being
of mankind as a whole and of spreading peace and
security throughout the world.


It is a great pleasure to extend congratulations,
on behalf of the delegation of the Islamic
Republic of Mauritania, to the President on his
unanimous election to guide this thirty-seventh
session of the General Assembly. This honour is
undoubtedly due to his personal qualities as a
statesman and diplomat, and is also a tribute to
his country, Hungary. In discharging these high
functions he may be assured of the availability
of our delegation and its constant desire to
co-operate with him. I should also like to thank
his predecessor, Mr. Kittani, for the exemplary
way, displaying constant tact and objectivity, in
which he conducted the thirty-sixth session of
the General Assembly and the subsequent special
sessions.
To the Secretary-General the Mauritanian
delegation and I personally would like to extend
the sincere expression of our esteem. The report
on the work of the Organization which he has
submitted bears witness to his great qualities of
courage, frankness and far-sightedness.
The picture of our universe today is a terrifying
one. It is not worthy of mankind which has come
of age and should therefore be united and be
responsible. What is our verdict? Admittedly,
there has been agreement on the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, but with the
abstention of the majority of the developed
countries, in defiance of our ideology; it has
proved impossible to make even a timid first step
towards the global negotiations; there has been a
general reduction in aid and development; the
special session on disarmament ended in a notable
failure which may have sinister consequences; the
conflicts in Palestine and the Middle East, in
southern Africa and Western Sahara; have
developed in a most dangerous way; localized
conflicts have continued in the Gulf, in
Afghanistan and in Kampuchea, and other centres
of tension have emerged.
In several respects the international situation
before us is even more gloomy and alarming than
what we faced just a year ago. We are all too
familiar with the disastrous effects of the
crisis which for some years has been
characteristic of international economic
relations for the developing countries. They
include imported inflation, a sharp rise in
interest rates, with a disastrous effect on the
debt burden, an unprecedented fall in commodity
prices, and increasingly restricted access to
capital markets.
The conclusions in the World Economy clearly show
that the recession in the industrialized
countries, far from receding has broadened and
extended to all groups of countries. That study
also concluded that the decline in general
economic growth was more widespread in 1981 than
at any other time since the Second World War.
Thus world trade has remained in a state of
stagnation for the second consecutive year. In
the field of aid for development we have seen a
considerable decrease in the share of this aid
allocated through multilateral channels.
The practical measures which were drawn up at the
United Nations Conference on Science and
Technology for Development, held at Vienna in
1979, and the United Nations Conference on New
and Renewable Sources of Energy, held at Nairobi
in 1981, have remained a dead letter through the
lack of funds. In a word, the development process
in the world has come to a halt, as the Committee
for Development. Planning pointed out in its most
recent report.
Everything indicates that the implementation of
the aims of the International Development
Strategy for the Third United Nations Development
Decade it is in a state of disarray. Such a
finding makes even clearer the urgent need to
seek just and equitable global solutions for the
serious problems which threaten all parts of the
international community.
The proposal by the Sixth Conference of Heads of
State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries for
the launching of global negotiations on
co-operation and development, which has been
before us Car three years now, is, in our
opinion, both methodologically speaking, and
because of its context, the only effective way to
bring about such solutions. While welcoming the
positive attitude of most of the developed
countries towards the most recent proposals made
by the Group of 77, we cannot disguise our
disappointment at seeing that these proposals
have encountered stubborn resistance from those
who, for good or bad reasons, still refuse to
recognize the wisdom, the moderation, the
practical and pragmatic nature of the formula
proposed.
The interdependence of national economies, and
the repercussions of policies of a particular
country or region on the world economy, no longer
need to be demonstrated. Fully aware of this
reality, and in view of the fact that the
North-South dialogue seems to be more and more
bogged down in the meanderings of procedure, the
developing countries have conceived and
implemented an outline for multifarious
cooperation among themselves. In this connection,
we are very pleased that the application of the
great Caracas Plan of Action seems to be along
the right lines. Economic co-operation among the
developing countries, however, should in no case
be regarded as an alternative to North-South
co-operation. Nor should it serve as a pretext
for the developed countries to shirk their
responsibilities.
10.	After a decade of hard work, negotiations
on the law of the sea have finally been completed
and have resulted in the conclusion of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,' which
was adopted here this year. Major hopes are now
placed in this Convention which, because of the
patience which has been shown and the mutual
concessions which have been made during its
drafting, is an encouraging example of what
global negotiations can be, if the self-same
determination to succeed and the necessary
political will were to motivate the great Powers
concerned.
11.	The Islamic Republic of Mauritania
attaches particular interest to the action of the
United Nations and the specialized agencies in
the fields of food and agriculture. This interest
arises from the predominance in our economy of
activities linked with the rural sector, which
employs approximately 80 per cent of our
population, and which therefore is given absolute
priority, and is absorbing an ever-growing share
of the financial resources of the country.
Faithful to the spirit of the Lagos Plan which
made food self-sufficiency for any viable
development, my country has drawn up, and is
trying to implement, with the help of friendly
countries and international institutions, a
national policy based essentially on an increase
in production.
The relative improvement which has been observed
this year in the world food situation, because of
the abundant harvests in certain developed
countries, should not blind us to another reality
which is even more grievous, and that is that in
a number of developing countries food production
has increased much more slowly than the demand
for these products. Similarly, we favour the
proposal which was put forward at the last
session of the World Food Council that a food
reserve stock should be set up belonging to the
developing countries, with the aim of stabilizing
the grain market. Finally, in this connection I
should like to recall that the Permanent
Inter-State Committee on Drought Control in the
Sahel, of which my country is a member, has just
drawn up a programme, in co-operation with FAO,
designed to set up a cereal reserve for the
Sahelian region.
In my diagnosis I have referred to the causes of
the deterioration in the international economic
situation and the considerable decline in aid for
development which is chanelled through
multilateral institutions. No institution has
suffered more from the general lack of support
for the multilateral system of financing than the
International Development Association and UNDP.
The attitude of the donor countries is
particularly regrettable, since it is precisely
the action of these two bodies which is most in
harmony with and best adapted to the development
efforts of the third world.
The reconstitution of the International
Development Association resources at previously
agreed levels is therefore an immediate and
imperativeneed. The financial situation of UNDP
is all the more disquieting, since this is the
most important multilateral programme of the
United Nations system. The stagnation of UNDP
resources in 1980 and their decline in 1981 will,
according to all projections, have a disastrous
impact on the economies of developing countries,
where the programme plays a vital financing and
technical assistance role. However, we have no
doubt that, aware of the extreme seriousness of
the consequences of such a situation not only for
the developing countries but also for the
international community as a whole, those who are
financially able to do so will spare no effort or
measure to bring UNDP out of this crisis. In this
connection the forthcoming pledging conference
for operational activities will undoubtedly
provide a test of political will.
15.	I do not wish to conclude my country's
statement on economic problems without referring
briefly to the disturbing aspect of the
phenomenon of desertification in our national
territory and our efforts to try to limit its
catastrophic effects. In my country, after many
years of drought, encroachment of the desert is
taking on increasingly alarming proportions.
Thus, the fertile areas of our national territory
have been reduced considerably because of the
disastrous results of a persisting drought.
Consequently, grain production has decreased from
100,000 to 26,000 tons. Of the 108 million
hectares which comprise our territory 15 million
had been classified as non-desert territory, of
which 93 per cent have now been desertification
in the course of the last 20 years. In order to
face up to such a situation, the Mauritanian
authorities have adopted severe regulations for
protecting the fauna and flora and, in 1981 set
up a National Committee to combat desertification
and declared a National Arbor Day.
16.	Of course, in the Islamic Republic of
Mauritania, we are relying first and foremost on
the sense of sacrifice of our people and its
willingness to pursue faithfully the goals we
have set for ourselves. Nevertheless, the
financial and technical means required for
achieving this national programme satisfactorily
are well beyond our own possibilities.
17.	In this connection we have benefited from
the valued assistance of friendly countries and
certain international organizations. I avail
myself of this opportunity to express our
gratitude to these friends —too numerous to be
mentioned by name here—who have demonstrated to
us their constant readiness to provide valuable
assistance. Our appreciation also goes to the
United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office, which has
in our country played a primary role in our
national mobilization for the struggle against
the phenomenon of desertification and other
natural disasters.
18.	At a time when all hopes for optimism
have been dashed by international economic
relations that are characterized by the growing
gap between the rich and poor countries and by
the obvious lack of political will to establish
the new international economic order in the near
future, the special session of the General
Assembly devoted to disarmament, held from 7 June
to 9 July this year, further heightened our
disappointment and frustration in this field
which is so vital for the security, if not the
survival, of our species. The fact that the
session proved unsuccessful should not, however,
deflect us from the objectives pursued by our
peoples for genuine and progressive disarmament
both in the nuclear field and in conventional
weapons. This vital objective would not only
ensure preservation of mankind's many gains but
also make available for the economic and social
progress of all peoples the enormous financial
resources at present devoted to the machinery of
death and destruction which is linked to the
industrial infrastructure and the environment.
19.	Still in this area, the Islamic Republic
of Mauritania would like to see the creation of
denuclearized zones in Africa and the Middle
East. We should particularly like to draw
attention to the policies of nuclear armament of
Israel and South Africa and the growing
co-operation between these two racist entities.
20.	Our country supports the demands of the
coastal countries of the Mediterranean and the
Indian Ocean for these two regions to be
transformed into zones of peace.
21.	In 1981 we stated in this Hall that as
far as the Zionist entity was concerned the whole
world was wrong and Israel alone was right.
Despite our long experience of the practices,
falsifications and bad faith of the Zionist
usurper, we did not think that we would be so
accurate. Israel's suicidal folly, its arrogance,
its contempt for international legality and the
impunity it continues to enjoy have strengthened
its regime in the little heed it pays to
international public opinion, particularly the
United Nations, which is the conscience and
repository of the values of mankind and its
aspirations for peace and justice.
22.	We shall not review the tragic events
which were visited upon our Lebanese and
Palestinian brothers in Lebanon. Nor shall we go
into the details of the long suffering of
innocent populations, witnessed by all mankind
that remained powerless but whose indignation was
aroused, and which ended with the indescribable
massacres of our brothers in Shatila and Sabra.
23.	We should simply like to recall the facts
which confirm the striking resemblance between
the methods of the Nazi murderers and those of an
entity which claims to be the successor of the
victims of the holocausts and pogroms. Indeed, in
the Middle East, the Zionist entity is emulating
the Fascist regimes of days gone by and applying,
in all their horror, the universally condemned
practices of nazism in the form of so-called
preventive wars of aggression; the crossing of
international boundaries under the pretext of
defence; the methodical destruction and the siege
of the capital of a sovereign country and the
indiscriminate blockade imposed on civilian
populations through collective punishment; the
blind massacre of civilian populations by the
thousands and the bringing about of general
insecurity in the name of security for its own
citizens; and the genocide of an entire people
both on its usurped land in all its havens of
refuge.
24.	This is an occasion to pay a tribute to
the courage of the fighters of the Palestine
Liberation Organization and to bow our heads in
memory of all the martyrs of the Palestinian
resistance.
25.	Israel's disproportionate deployment of
brute force, its rejection of all moral codes and
its arrogant display of racial contempt and
religious fanaticism have demonstrated to the
entire membership of the Organization the real
purposes of the entity whose ideology can easily
be mistaken for exacerbated chauvinism, the
oppression of others and the denial of their
rights. Israel's stubborn refusal to bring about
peace in the Middle East unless it be on its own
conditions by legalizing its hegemony in the
region, which is the consistent policy of
Zionism, is today the subject of universal
condemnation. The pursuit of the plan undertaken
half a century ago for the physical elimination
of the Palestinian people and the usurpation of
its land shows that the goal of Zionist
implantation is to blot out all traces of its
crime by a "final solution" of sorry memory.
26.	It goes without saying that neither the
Arab nation, the victim of this ongoing
aggression, nor the international community as a
whole can accept this diktat on the part of the
Zionist entity and the repeated challenges to any
global consensus and the relevant resolutions
that have time and again been adopted by the
Security Council and the General Assembly.
27.	As has always been the case, genuine and
lasting peace in the Middle East and real
security for all must necessarily be based upon
the unconditional and complete withdrawal of
Israeli occupying forces from all occupied Arab
territories, including the Holy City of Al Quds
and the recovery by the Palestinian people, under
the leadership of its sole legitimate
representative, the PLO, of its inalienable
rights, particularly its sacred right to set up
its own sovereign State on the land of its
ancestors.
28.	Any other approach would be to reward
arrogance, aggression and blackmail in that
region and would engender a new cycle of violence
that would endanger the stability of the entire
Middle East and peace throughout the world.
Despite the desire for peace which has undeniably
been shown on a number of occasions by the Arab
nation, the Zionist enemy persists in its
constant refusal to envisage any policies which
do not endorse its own tremendous territorial
appetite and its determination to annex
permanently the Syrian Golan Heights and the
Palestinian territories, as well as its senseless
dream of exercising tutelage over the destinies
of the peoples of the Arab east.
29.	As we said last year, the Organization
must take the enforcement measures contained in
the Charter and make Israel abide by the rules of
international law and our repeated decisions. It
is for the United States of America, which gives
Israel massive military and financial aid and
sustained political assistance, to assume the
very special responsibilities conferred upon it
as a permanent member of the Security Council,
and fulfil as soon as possible the weighty duty
which derives from its dual role as a friend and
ally of the Zionist entity, by exerting the
necessary pressure on Israel to ensure that it
abides by the rules of ethics and international
legality.
30.	We should like to reiterate to our
brother people of Lebanon the expression of our
solidarity with it in achieving its objectives—to
liberate its homeland, preserve its territorial
integrity and bring about the unity of its people
in the context of the global strategy of the
whole Arab nation. We appeal to friendly and
fraternal States and to the international
community as a whole to redouble their efforts to
ensure that Lebanon receives all necessary
support in reconstructing its country and
ensuring the immediate and unconditional
withdrawal of Israeli troops from its soil.
31.	In southern Africa, another area of major
concern for our country, we deplore the delay in
Namibia's liberation and the increased
aggressiveness of the South African regime, both
inside the country, and also outside where it is
directed against the front-line States. The
Namibian problem remains unchanged. In the
opinion of our delegation, the only realistic
basis for re-establishing international legality
and ending the usurpation of  at Territory is
Security Council resolution 435 (1978).
32.	We take note of the fact that the contact
group of Western States has reaffirmed its
commitment concerning the expeditious
implementation of that resolution so that the
Namibian people can exercise its right to
self-determination. While welcoming the
praiseworthy efforts made by the five Western
countries in order to bring about a friendly
settlement of the Namibian crisis, we cannot
share either their optimism or all their
concerns. Indeed, it is not at all obvious to the
free peoples of Africa that there is any real
desire in Pretoria to resolve the existing
conflict peacefully, legally and democratically.
Furthermore, while we respect the rights of all
the ethnic communities in Namibia, we refuse to
recognize that the minority which is of European
origin has special exclusive rights, and, in
particular, an exaggerated right of veto.
33.	So far as the principle of security is
concerned, we are amazed that the only concerns
which seem to prevail in certain Western circles
relate to South Africa's security, like the
security of Israel. In our opinion, this is
putting the cart before the horse. In the eyes of
the Islamic Republic of Mauritania the security
that is being denied and violated is that of the
African people. Our country would like once again
to reaffirm that the only conceivable security
for all is in the speedy establishment of the
State of Namibia by the implementation of
Security Council resolution 435 (1978) in full
association with the South West Africa People's
Organization, the sole, legitimate representative
of the people of the Territory. Within the
frontiers of South Africa, and despite the
so-called improvement in racial segregation—as if
there could be such a thing—the apartheid regime
remains fundamentally as it always has
been—contemptuous, inhumane, exploitative and
repulsive.
34.	This is, an occasion to pay a
well-deserved tribute to our brothers in the
African National Congress who, by their passive
and active opposition to this barbaric regime,
have reinforced the faith of the oppressed
millions in the possibility of a multiracial and
egalitarian South African society.
35.	following the same path as Zionism,
applies its criminal laws against African
patriots and outside the country acts as the
policeman by its almost permanent occupation of a
part of the sister Republic of Angola and its
periodic incursions against Angola, Mozambique,
Zimbabwe, Zambia and the other countries in
southern Africa. This is an opportunity to
express our solidarity with those brother
countries, victims of the indescribable acts of
aggression perpetrated by the racist regime of
South Africa. We also reaffirm our total
commitment to stand side by side with these
front-line countries.
36.	Quite apart from these anachronistic
attempts at colonization, in the Arab east and in
southern Africa in the twilight of classical
colonialism, new embers of tension have begun to
smoulder in recent years in various parts of the
world. Of all those armed conflicts, which for
the people and Government of Mauritania are
subjects of deep concern, that in Western Sahara
is the one which most closely affects my country.
Indeed, for practically seven years now Western
Sahara has been fighting a difficult war to
ensure national survival and to be able to give
expression to its inalienable right to
self-determination and independence.
37.	We make an urgent appeal that this
ruinous and useless war should be brought to an
end, a war which has pitted against each other
two fraternal peoples, which is taking place very
close to our frontiers, and which entails the
certain danger of engulfing the whole region and
leading to an international conflict. The Islamic
Republic of Mauritania, which sees the admission
of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic to the
Organization of African Unity as a positive
factor, will give its sincere support to any
practical solutions accepted by the two parties
concerned, the Moroccans and the Sahraouis, which
could put an end to their fratricidal
confrontation.
38.	Nevertheless, as we have repeatedly
stated, our country remains convinced that the
only possible means of achieving genuine peace,
then the necessary reconciliation, and finally a
natural co-operation, requires the opening of a
constructive dialogue directed to beginning the
direct negotiations which are an indispensable
prerequisite to the conclusion of a peace
agreement. As we see it, that agreement should
lead eventually to the self-determination and
complete independence of the Sahraoui people,
thus removing any obstacles and constraints of an
administrative or military nature. That would
remove the final obstacle to the building of a
fraternal, egalitarian and closely united Arab
Maghreb.
39.	This cursory survey of the burning
problems in our continent reminds us that Africa,
which in the past suffered the terrible
exploitation of its human and material resources,
and which is now the target of imperialist
appetites and intervention, needs, more than ever
before, the cohesion of all the countries which
make it up.
40.	The OAU, which was created in 1963 and is
based on the common aspiration of our peoples to
achieve fully political and economic liberation
of all its members and of all colonial
territories, will, in spite of everything, be
able to preserve its essential unity and its firm
faith in its charter and its fundamental
principles.
41.	The Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a
country ideally suited to meetings and exchanges
among all the members of the African family, is
firmly convinced that our continental
organization will once again surmount its
temporary difficulties by closing ranks, while at
the same time avoiding the sacrifice of thesacred
principles of pan-Africanism, namely, the equal
right that all enjoy to self-determination and
their inalienable right to national independence.
42.	In the Gulf area, two countries that are
both members, as are we of the Islamic Ummah and
the non-aligned movement, have been confronting
each other for more than two years in a
devastating war, at enormous cost both in human
lives and in the destruction of a valuable
economic infrastructure. The Islamic Republic of
Mauritania would like to reiterate its heartfelt
appeal for the cessation of hostilities between
our brothers in Iraq and the Islamic Republic of
Iran and for negotiations to be opened between
them to reach a permanent solution to their
differences.
43.	Another equally unfortunate conflict is
continuing in Afghanistan as a result of the
invasion of that country in violation of its
sovereignty. Once again, we appeal for the
complete and unconditional withdrawal of all
foreign troops from the national territory of
Afghanistan and for respect for the sovereignty
of that country, for the integrity of its
national territory and for the sovereign right of
its people to seek their own progress in
accordance with their historic heritage and their
socio-cultural values.
44.	The same is true with regard to the
Member nation, which has also been the victim of
fashion and prolonged military occupation. In
this connection, we would like to welcome the
constitution of a national front under the
leadership of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, and we
appeal for the withdrawal of foreign troops from
the national territory of Democratic Kampuchea.
45.	We reaffirm our adherence to the
Declaration of the International Conference on
Kampuchea of July 19816 and to all the
resolutions of the Organization calling for
respect for the sovereignty of Kampuchea and for
an end to foreign interference in its internal
affairs and respect for its people's sovereign
right to organize their own national life in a
democratic manner without any outside
interference.
46.	In general terms, we condemn the claims
of Powers, whether large, medium-sized or small,
to arrogate to themselves the right to modify by
force the regime of a neighbouring country if
they judge it to be hostile.
47.	A secure world of nations joined together
in independence and solidarity and determined to
shoulder the noble responsibility incumbent on
mankind cannot, obviously, live by the
anachronisms of the past and by social and
political injustice. There can be no other way to
satisfy the rights of peoples to national
differentiation and the realization of their
aspirations to freedom and progress, than by
banishing all hegemonistic trends. There can be
no other way to achieve the rights of every man
to a life in dignity than through the triumph of
fundamental freedoms. There can be no other way
to redress on a global scale of all the damaging
economic relations that result from subjection or
from structural imbalances than by setting up an
equitable world economy.
48.	A world for tomorrow, one that man can
live in—all men, equally—must be built on justice
and equality or it cannot be built at all. Let us
liberate those peoples still under domination,
the victims of those who would deny them their
identity and their right to a homeland and a
name. Let us destroy the barriers that prevent
men from achieving their dream of a life worthy
of being lived in freedom and from satisfying
their basic social and cultural needs. Let us put
an end to the unjust heritage of an outrageous
colonialism and to the further deprivations
caused by an ill-adapted world economy suitable
neither to equity nor to the aspirations and
interests of all men, in North and South alike.
49.	Let us, in other words, work devotedly to
ensure the emergence of a new international order
worthy of this end of the twentieth century that
should witness the triumph of a united
civilization brought together not around the
values of a single continent or spiritual family,
but imbued with a common heritage rich in its
very diversity,
50.	We will thereby have undoubtedly laid the
groundwork for a new equilibrium that will be
more realistic, more peaceful, more stable and
more human. Indeed, we will have opened the way
towards the realization of one of the noblest
wishes of the drafters of the Charter of the
United Nations, who stages three years after one
of the most fearsome catastrophes of our time,
their determination "to saw succeeding
generations from the scourge of war".


On behalf of the Government of Haiti and in my own name, Sir, I wish
to congratulate you most warmly on your election to the presidency of
the thirty- seventh session of the General Assembly. I am sure that
you will demonstrate those outstanding qualities that won you this
distinction. I wish also to pay a well-deserved tribute to Mr.
Kittani, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, for the discreet
and able manner in which he presided over the work of the
thirty-sixth session. I should particularly like to join preceding
speakers in congratulating Mr. Perez de Cuellar, Secretary-General,
whose election to head the Organization is unquestionably a source of
deep satisfaction for all third-world countries. May I take this
occasion to emphasize the high quality of his report on the work of
the Organization, a report which lucidly depicts the shortcomings of
the United Nations, as well as the overriding need to strengthen its
decision-making machinery.
This session has opened in a tense atmosphere dominated by a note of
anguish in the statements, which have persistently reflected the
international community's concerns about the general deterioration in
the political and economic situation throughout the world.
While the industrialized countries may perceive current economic
problems more in terms of cyclical or less extreme fluctuations, the
third world as a whole-particularly the least-favoured countries-
still believe that the structural imbalance between North and South
has become even greater and is now dangerously close to the point of
collapse. Most third world country delegations, from whatever
continent they may come, have spoken with one voice from this rostrum
of the tragic expansion of areas of poverty in their respective
regions. They have described the growing distress of impoverished
populations desperately trying to eke out a meagre existence which
becomes more precarious with every passing day. Hence we small
nations have no illusions when we wonder about our future.

For almost a decade now, negotiations on the establishment of a new
economic order-one that would be more just, more harmonious, but also
more efficient-have come up against a lack of true political will on
the part of the rich countries to make the adjustments essential to
any genuine effort at solidarity. Clearly, there is no real prospect
for altering the current international order. The institutional,
financial and technical measures required for sustained expansion of
the world economy and for a swifter growth in the developing
countries are still being awaited. Meanwhile, the terms of trade are
deteriorating at a catastrophic pace, and third-world debt has now
risen to $600 billion.
At the same time, there is no growth in official development
assistance, which has never reached that famous target of 0.7 per
cent of the gross national product of the rich countries, or less
than 5 per cent of annual arms expenditures. Indeed the Brandt
Commission' noted ironically that the machinery of death was that
which involved the greatest and most dynamic transfer of technology.
Even the new law of the sea, which is based mainly on the concept of
balanced participation in the exploitation of common wealth, is
challenged because of the regrettable selfishness of certain
industrialized nations.
It is also most distressing to note that no systematic campaign has
been undertaken to explain to the people of the rich countries that
effective solidarity with the poor countries is less a moral
imperative than an irreplaceable factor for economic growth at the
world level; for there is no better way of stimulating the production
and distribution of goods and services than a determination to
satisfy the basic needs of billions of individuals who have not yet
enjoyed the material benefits of even the most elementary progress.
There is no nobler task than that of contributing to the betterment
of human beings who have been left on the sidelines of progress by
hunger, ignorance and disease.
It is time for the collective conscience of the industrialized countries
to stop looking upon international co-operation as a burden on the
rich, as alms given to those countries that are supposedly incapable
of looking after their own future. It is time for the people in the
rich countries to understand that the new international economic
order will not jeopardize the prosperity of the countries of the
North but will rather give a new impetus to the world economy and
provide for more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth.
A/37/PV.27
The Republic of Haiti remains convinced that the market economy,
which at the national level has in some countries been able to adapt
to the requirements of more human socio-economic development, will al
so at the international level find the necessary resources to
establish a new kind of relationship that is more just and more
beneficial. To that end more appropriate and generous action is
required on the part of the public authorities of the industrialized
countries. World phenomena have to be analyzed more objectively and
to be less influenced by national experiences that are hard to
imitate in different circumstances. To sum up, we need courage,
imagination and a better sense of international solidarity. Some rich
countries do not lack those qualities, and we should like to pay a
tribute to them here.
The problems of the developing countries, to which we have referred
briefly, assume the dimensions of a real tragedy in the case of the
least developed. In the last decade their per capita gross national
product in real terms rose by only $11. Closer to us, the combined
effects of world recession and inflation and the recent spiraling of
interest rates, along with a collapse in the price of commodities,
have tragically emphasized their economic vulnerability and paralyzed
their ability, which was already rather pathetic, to import those
goods that are essential to their development.
Admittedly, the fifth session of UNCTAD, in Manila in 1979 and the
United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, in Paris
in 1981 did decide to launch a new programmer and set forth a number
of objectives that were ambitious and realistic, including the figure
of 0.15 per cent of the gross national product of donor countries for
official development aid to the least developed countries.
Unfortunately the commitments formally entered into on those
occasions have not yet been fulfilled. Thus it seems difficult for us
today to speak about a real desire to stabilize export earnings, to
increase external assistance qualitatively and quantitatively.
How, under these circumstances, can we hope, as we had hoped, to
eliminate the category of least developed countries and ensure that
by the end of the 1980s they will have joined the ranks of the
developing countries? How can we not doubt the ability of the
international system to provide elements for the solving of the
problems of the third world, even if it was impossible to take
adequate action for this small group of least advanced countries?
The Republic of Haiti, which more than any other country has
throughout its history as a sovereign nation experienced the cost of
isolation and exploitation resulting from the selfish game played by
the big Powers, solemnly repeats its appeal for a truly constructive
North-South dialogue. President Jean-Claude Duvalier has said that:
"The Republic of Haiti continues to believe in the future of global
negotiations for the establishment of a new international economic
order which would enable the poor populations of the third world to
attain a threshold of development compatible with the dignity of the
human race and the right of every individual to a decent standard of
living."
Yet above all the third world countries must understand that if they
want to progress towards prosperity they must first of all rely on
themselves and fully shoulder their collective autonomy. They must
systematically explore the tremendous potential of co-operation among
developing countries in the financial, technical, trade, industrial
and cultural fields. The Republic of Haiti reiterates its absolute belief
in active and intelligent harmonization among the nations of the
South based on mutual respect and understanding to generate concrete
actions that would be of mutual benefit in an intraregional and
interregional context.
Beyond the ideological positions that are inevitably stated in the
general debate, every statement here reflects the collective
aspiration to an international political order that would bring peace
and progress. However, the state of the world today clearly shows if
not the failure at least the profound inability of mankind to face
successfully the many sociopolitical upheavals that are
characteristic of our age. There are so many problems that have not
been solved, and they create new divisions and increase the tension
which here and there has led to permanent situations of crisis, overt
or latent. Despite the belief constantly expressed by Member States
in the values of the Charter, the machinery for peace and
international security seems to be blocked, as can be seen from the
world situation today.
In the Middle East the situation remains explosive. Recent events in
Lebanon and their hideous cruelty continue to horrify the conscience
of the world and confirm, if there were any need for that, that
action by the Organization is necessary to establish overall peace in
the region. Contrasting with this background of absurd violence, some
bilateral and multilateral initiatives have been taken. They are
worthwhile and encouraging, and we trust that they can bring about a
resumption of dialogue, which is so necessary for peace and essential
in dealing with the fundamental issue of the future of the
Palestinian people.
The Government of Haiti remains firmly convinced that Security
Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) provide the basis for
an overall settlement of the Middle East problem. The Haitian
Government believes that the search for peace necessarily involves
all of Israel's neighbors recognizing and respecting its right to
exist within secure and recognized borders. Likewise we believe that
there can be no question of challenging the right of the Palestinian
people to real self-determination within a physical, legal and
administrative framework that is in keeping with its legitimate
aspirations.
Latin America is also going through a turbulent period, and there is
an atmosphere of uncertainty because of the consequences of the
conflict relating to the Malvinas Islands and the difficult situation
in Central America. The recent war in the South Atlantic and the
bloodshed it involved highlighted the remnants of a way of life that
has clearly passed. Indeed it placed a severe strain on the peace of
the region and undermined the solidarity of the continent.
The Republic of Haiti, faithful to its past and respectful of its
traditions, has never hesitated to oppose all forms of colonial
domination, and naturally expressed its solidarity with the just
claims of the Republic of Argentina. The Government of Haiti, aware
of how fragile are victories imposed by force, believes that the
United Nations can play a decisive role in the search for a
negotiated and peaceful solution which would make it possible to
establish the definitive bases for a mutually acceptable agreement.
That is why we joined in the initiative of Argentina and Mexico in
calling for the inclusion in the agenda of this session of the
General Assembly of an item on the Malvinas Islands.
Central America remains the theatre for many conflict situations
resulting from ideological tensions, which have once again created
hotbeds of crisis that could endanger regional peace and security.
The Republic of Haiti, which has always refused to view regional
problems simply in the context of the power balance between East and
West, cannot but express its deep concern over the manifest symptoms
of the alarming deterioration in relations between some fraternal
countries in Central America. We call upon all States in the region
to reject the sterile option of a dangerous arms race. We would go
along with any proposal to strengthen regional stability and security
on the basis of the great principles of international morality and
law. In that way an atmosphere of peace could be established that
would be favorable to economic development, which is indeed the real
problem of the region.
As regards Asia, the Government of Haiti is carefully following the
courageous initiatives of the Republic of Korea for the reunification
of the Korean nation. We regret the halt in negotiations between the
two Governments and urge them to go beyond their differences of view
in order to arrive at satisfactory results. That, of course, can be
done only by the Koreans themselves. However, the United Nations
could, with the agreement of the parties, take action to provide a
propitious framework for the resumption of talks.
The Haitian Government welcomes the initiative to regroup the
Cambodian liberation forces within the Coalition Government of
Democratic Kampuchea. We lend our full support to the various United
Nations initiatives for a settlement of the conflict, which must
necessarily include the total and final withdrawal of Vietnamese
forces from the territory of Kampuchea.
Similarly, the Government of Haiti strongly condemns the continued
occupation of Afghanistan by foreign troops and urges the
establishment of conditions which would effectively enable the Afghan
people to choose their kind of political society freely, without any
outside interference.
The negotiations on Namibian independence, despite optimistic
statements of members of the contact group, have made no progress and
are simply marking time. Some people insist on making the Namibian
question one aspect of East-West confrontation, but that is
completely unjustified. Meanwhile, the South African regime,
encouraged by the differences of view that have developed within the
contact group, is increasing its diversionary tactics in an attempt
to delay the inevitable outcome.
The Haitian Government believes that any swift solution of the
Namibian problem necessarily involves the full implementation of
Security Council resolution 435 (1978), which reflects the
international consensus on the need for immediate independence for
Namibia under the leadership of the patriotic liberation forces of
the South West Africa People's Organization. It is upsetting to see
that South Africa, despite the measures taken against it by the
United Nations, still continues openly to defy the international
community by pursuing its apartheid policy.
Thirty years have passed since the General Assembly began its
consideration of the item on racial conflict in South Africa. Just
before the end of the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial
Discrimination it seems to us indispensable that the United Nations
should proceed at this session to a serious evaluation of the efforts
made to date and, if necessary, define a new strategy for the
complete elimination of the system of apartheid.
Such action would seem to us particularly timely because this year,
proclaimed by the General Assembly as the International Year of
Mobilization for Sanctions against South Africa, is also the
seventieth anniversary of the African National Congress, for which
the Haitian Government would once again express full support in its
difficult struggle against the usurpation of political and economic
power by a racist minority.
The Haitian Government once again condemns the South African regime's
continuing strengthening of its arsenal of repressive laws. It also
condemns the South African policy of bantustanization and those who
go along with it, because it is a systematic undertaking to
dehumanize the black people of South Africa. The Haitian people and
Government, expressing their solidarity with the black majorities in
South Africa and the people of Namibia in their legitimate
aspirations and struggles, once again urgently appeals to the
international community to ensure that the sanctions adopted to make
the South African regime less intransigent are fully implemented.
I have given a short account of the feelings, wishes and positions of
the Haitian Government on some of the major issues in the
international arena. I would emphasize above all our unwavering
conviction that the current system of international relations must be
replaced by a new order of justice, collective economic security and
true co-operation, with respect for the self-determination and
dignity of each people. Clearly, it would be an illusion to believe
that our wishes could be fulfilled in a single morning. That would
mean simply disregarding human nature and forgetting that history
does not follow a straight path and time is needed to bring it back
to its true course. However, all progress made, every step taken, is
a victory for peace and justice over a world of hatred and violence.
We must therefore work courageously, patiently and with dedication to
respond to the aspirations of the anguished peoples who are listening
to us.
The Republic of Haiti, which has always been inspired by the code of
honor and solidarity, will lend you, Mr. President, and all the
bodies of the United Nations, full and whole-hearted co-operation in
order to give life, however partial, to the hopes placed in our work.