Sir, it is with great satisfaction that we see the post of President
of the thirty seventh session of the General Assembly occupied by the
representative of a friendly people with great historical traditions
of struggle for freedom, peace and progress. The Hungarian people
succeeded in preserving their dignity and personality for all time by
heroically resisting Hitler's fascism and building a socialist
fatherland free from foreign domination. Strong ties of friendship
and solidarity forged during our armed struggle for national
liberation from colonialism bind our two countries. After the
proclamation of our independence, these ties took on a new dimension
and scope, extending to multidisciplinary cooperation, the basis of
which is the defense and pursuit of the fundamental interests of our
peoples and Governments and building and defending socialism. In
expressing our firm guarantee of close cooperation in the fulfilment
of the weighty responsibilities that have been entrusted to you, my
delegation joins previous speakers in warmly welcoming you and
congratulating you on your unanimous election. We wish also to
express our appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Kittani, for the
skilful and intelligent manner in which he conducted the work of the
last regular session of the General Assembly. This was no easy task
considering the grave crisis existing at the time in international
relations, in which dialogue and mutual trust among nations gave way
to cold war language, threats, aggression and intimidation. We extend
our greetings to the Secretary General, whose action in defense of
the Charter of the United Nations and in the endeavor to find
peaceful solutions to world problems at the most critical times is
deserving of the respect and confidence that the international
community extended to him when it elected him one year ago. The
disdain in which the United Nations is held as a privileged forum for
discussion and for the search for peaceful solutions to international
conflicts is expressed in the constant violation of the purposes and
principles set forth in the Charter. The overwhelming majority of the
speakers at this session have denounced the aggravation of the
already critical situation prevailing in all parts of the world.
There is an atmosphere of insecurity and latent warfare, which seems
likely to lead to a holocaust. As if the already existing hotbeds of
tension were not enough, we are witnessing the outbreak of new
hotbeds and the emboldening of localized conflicts. This situation
forces peoples to divert their human and material resources from the
solution of problems inherent in underdevelopment, such as hunger,
homelessness, illiteracy and disease, in order to concentrate on the
defense of their sovereignty and on the fight to achieve and preserve
their freedom. To the obstinate refusal to acknowledge the right of
peoples to self determination, the peoples respond with the
resolution to die rather than live in slavery. Harmonious relations
and cooperation among nations require the creation of a climate of
peace and security in the world and absolute respect for the
fundamental right of peoples to self determination and independence.
It was the ideals of peace, justice and liberty that inspired the
people of Mozambique. When we took up arms against colonialism in
Mozambique we fought to eliminate the causes of war in our county; we
were moved by the noble aspiration to establish, with all the peoples
of the world good and just relations founded on sovereign equality
and mutual respect. This is a just aspiration for which all the
peoples of the world, in which inequities and imbalances are
increasingly felt, are prepared to fight. With the achievement of our
national independence we established the conditions for the
expression and development of our culture and our personality, which
had been trampled upon and inhibited during the centuries of
exploitation and domination. But the scope of our ideals was not
circumscribed by the liberation of our territory alone. We were
forced, shortly after independence, to wage another war, imposed upon
us by Smith's racist regime.
A/37/PV.26
In expressing solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in their just
struggle, Mozambique was contributing to the elimination of one of
the causes of war and instability in our area. The independence of
Zimbabwe made it possible for a climate of relative peace to be
restored, which enabled broad perspectives to be opened up for our
economic development and stimulated cooperation among the countries
of southern Africa. Since then it has become possible for us to
concentrate our attention on the search for solutions to the numerous
problems facing our people. Our objective is to promote the material
and social wellbeing of all the people in Mozambique, who were denied
this throughout the entire period of the domination of their country.
The relative peace that we achieved was of short duration. In
defining and using an illegal minority racist, regime as their
principal ally in the area, the imperialist forces consciously,
wilfully and impudently gave Pretoria the moral strength which, more
than any technical or technological means, allows it to provoke war
and occupy parts of the territory of Angola, a sovereign State,
spreading death and destruction to all the front line States. This is
a deliberate action which is typical of heir redoubled
aggressiveness, the basis of which is the refusal of the imperialists
to recognize the right of peoples to independence, freedom and
peaceful and harmonious development: the face of the qualitative
advances achieved by our people in the reconstruction of our country
the imperialist forces have intensified their activities against the
People's Republic of Mozambique. They are trying by all possible
means to prevent the establishment of a civilization without
discrimination, which the building in Mozambique of a socialist
society, free from man's exploitation by man, represents in our part
of the world. No longer able to rely on a political and
administrative structure in Mozambique, something they were able to
do until recently, imperialist forces are today resorting to other
more insidious and brutal means of attacking us. Using as a spearhead
the racist minority regime in South Africa, imperialism is waging a
true undeclared war against us, committing direct armed acts of
aggression against our country through the use of regular South
African troops and special detachments of armed bandits. The Pretoria
regime recruits and trains, finances and equips, arms and outfits,
transports and supplies, evacuates and commands armed bands in
Mozambique in order to commit crimes against our people, spread
unrest and terror and destabilize our country. The target of these
bandits is the helpless civilian population, intimidating them and
committing all kinds of atrocities. They savagely torture, mutilate
and assassinate children, women and the elderly. They rob peasants
and loot their property. These armed bandits also perpetrate
kidnappings and assassinations against foreign nationals who
contribute with their labor to the progress of the People's Republic
of Mozambique. These armed bandits are recruited by South Africa from
among those former members of the political police force of the
colonial regime who did not have the courage to join in the process
of national reconstruction and thus to wipe from their hands the
blood resulting from  their crimes. They are recruited from among
those elements of the colonial army such as commandos and special
units which, like the former, rushed cheaply to themselves to new
bosses instead of waiting for the clemency of the people. They are
recruited from among traitors to the fatherland, marginal elements
and foreign mercenaries. The common denominator of these bandits is
their anti social character, parasitism. Characteristics of the
decadence of the so called free world. They do not pursue any
political objectives. Their motivation is crime for its own sake, and
drug the nature of their acts and their criminal motivation
characterize them as bandits. The armed banditry taking place in our
region today is a new phenomenon, a new form of mercenarism. In
organizing and utilizing armed bandits, imperialism and the apartheid
regime a aiming at implanting among the world public the false idea
that opposition and a climate of insecurity exist in Mozambique.
Concurrently with the acts of armed aggression, the enemy is
infiltrating spies into our country and promoting economic sabotage.
In promoting a vigorous campaign of slander and misinformation on the
international scene, the enemy endeavors to project to the world the
impression that there exists in Mozambique a permanent state of
terror and panic. It promotes an economic blockade, thus hampering
sound and fruitful cooperation with other peoples of the world. It
endeavors to hamper the consolidation of our independence enforcement
during this phase of our development process and tries to discredit
socialism, a system freely elected by the people of Mozambique. In
this struggle, in which the enemy is using the most subtle methods of
aggression, our people has demonstrated the highest degree of
critical consciousness and has become that cannot be penetrated by
the designs of imperialist agents. We wish to express our gratitude
in all those members of the international community that have in
various ways extended support to us and that contributed progress of
our country and the strengthening of fair and equitable cooperative
relations. We reiterate our appeal to the international community to
maximize its assistance to the People's Republic of Mozambique so as
to enable us to reinforce our defensive capability and successfully
to carry out the struggle gains underdevelopment. The existence of
colonialism, racism and apartheid is the fundamental cause of the
tension through which we are living in southern Africa and our
permanent confrontation with the South African regime, which
obstinately refuses to accept the course of history. South Africa
continues to intensify its criminal actions against the South African
people, whose struggle for national liberation is growing in scope
and depth and spreading to practically all sectors of the economic
and social life of the Pretoria regime. To the wave of
assassinations, detentions, the torture of those who oppose and the
repression of trade unions, in which many whites are now also
militantly involved, the people of South Africa respond with positive
actions of resistance, causing the erosion of the very establishment
of the Pretoria regime. The people is fighting heroically against
oppression, discrimination, repression and humiliation. Large
sections of the white population are rising against the restriction
of liberty, repulsed by the brutal nature of apartheid, whose
criminal action is beginning to be felt in their own homes. Thus
contradictions deepen in the very heart of Botha's racist minority
regime in the face of its manifest inability to contain by force the
liberation. struggle of the South African people under the leadership
of the African National Congress. Confronted by a wave of popular
uprisings, and unable to fi: 3 a solution to its internal strife,
Pretoria chooses to generalize the conflict in the area. South Africa
attacks and occupies part of the territory of the People's Republic
of Angola, at the same time supporting and promoting puppet groups
such as the Union Nacional para la Independence Total de Angola. It
continuously and systematically commits acts of armed aggression
against Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, violating the
territorial integrity of those sovereign countries and showing no
respect whatever for the ethical conduct governing relations among
States signatories of the Charter of the United Nations. The
objectives pursued to bring about permanent destabilization are in
the last analysis intended to divert ns from the struggle for
economic independence under the Southern Africa Development
Coordination Conference. That Conference is the weapon of the nine
countries of the region for independent development and the gradual
elimination of dependence on South Africa and imperialism in general.
South Africa is taking action again.  It aimed at its disintegration
in the face of the progress achieved in the various sectors of
cooperation, particularly in the area of transportation and
communication. We continue to be preoccupied with the question of
Namibia. Arrogant and irresponsible, South Africa continues to use
dilatory maneuvers to delay the self determination and independence
of the people of Namibia, which, like every other people, has the
right to freedom and independence. In Namibia, it is the people that
is fighting for independence. That is the reality which is being
obliterated. That is the reality which is being conjured away. That
is why any attempt at connecting the independence of Namibia, either
directly or indirectly, with the withdrawal of internationalist Cuban
forces from Angola is not only intolerable interference in the
internal affairs of the People's Republic of Angola but also a crime
against the people of Namibia, because by this subterfuge an effort
is being made to prolong war and massacres. The internationalist
Cuban forces are in Angola because the racist regime in South Africa
violated the sovereignty of that territory. Therefore we must demand,
in the first place, the unconditional withdrawal of the invading
South African troops from Angolan territory and an absolute guarantee
that such aggression will not be repeated. In fact, all the
independent countries of the area which are being threatened and
invaded by the forces of the apartheid regime are demanding
guarantees of security. The foreign forces which are attacking,
assaulting and occupying independent States in southern Africa in
violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of those
States are not Cuban. The only invading forces which, as the entire
world knows, attack and occupy the territories of the independent
States of southern Africa are the forces of South Africa. It is
absurd to set the security of South Africa as a pre condition for the
independence of Namibia. Namibia is not the first country bordering
on South Africa to fight to achieve its independence will not come
from outside South Africa. It is the children of the people of South
Africa who will overthrow that hideous regime from within. If it were
a matter of involving foreign forces in the struggle for the
liberation of South Africa, they could have used the territory of
Zimbabwe for more than two years now and the territory of Mozambique
for more than seven years; and the territory of other independent
countries bordering on South Africa could have been used even
earlier. The sovereignty of the people of Angola cannot be used as
currency in exchange for the liberation of Namibia. The liberation of
Namibia is an integral part of the universal emancipation movement of
peoples. The People's Republic of Mozambique reaffirms once again its
unconditional support for the struggle of the people of Namibia under
the leader ship of the South West Africa People's Organization its
only legitimate representative. As far as we are concerned, Security
Council resolution 435 remains the political and juridical framework
for the fair solution of this problem. No pretext designed to impede
the implementation of that resolution can stand up to a correct
analysis of the reality. The remaining problems could easily be
solved if there were the essential political will on the part of
South Africa and its allies. We are of the opinion that even during
this session of the General Assembly it should be possible to define
an electoral system for the election of a constituent assembly. It
should be possible during the current session to establish the forces
of UNTAG and a date and the conditions for a cease fire in Namibia.
This is the International Year for the Mobilization of Sanctions
against South Africa; nevertheless, the indices of economic growth of
the	regime show an ever increasing connivance by Western
countries in maintaining and reinforcing that abominable and hideous
regime. While it is said that to apply sanctions against South Africa
is a useless exercise, sanctions are being applied against other
countries. Where, then, is equity, justice and integrity? Today we
are observing the international Day of Solidarity with South African
Political Prisoners. On this day, dedicated to the struggle, we
salute the determination and the courage of the peoples of South
Africa. We demand that the freedom fighters be released from South
African prisons. The action of imperialist forces is not confined to
southern Africa: its scope spreads throughout the African continent.
At the present time those forces are endeavoring to implement their
strategy aimed at the manipulation, paralysis or even disintegration
of the Organization of African Unity, an important anti colonialist
and anti imperialist instrument. We are certain that the African
countries will know enough to turn down the blackmail, intimidation
and bribery and reject the divisive tactics, and to work towards the
consolidation of the OAU. We repeat our support for the admission of
the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic to the OAU and reject the idea
that that may be a cause for division within our continental
organization, since it is based. The forces that will overthrow the
apartheid regime on the principles embodied in the OAU charter and in
the Charter of the United Nations. We reaffirm our active solidarity
with the just struggle of the people of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic
Republic. It is a struggle that could find its resolution through
negotiation, which unfortunately is hampered by the intransigence of
the Morocco regime. This intransigence is the reason for the
protracted state of war, which threatens to spread and even involve
other countries, because of the involvement of alien forces on the
Moroccan side. That danger must be averted by countries which cherish
freedom and the independence of peoples. The image of the massacres
in Beirut is a blown  up picture of a Dantesque world transferred to
the latter part of the twentieth century. Beirut invaded, Beirut
bombed, Beirut besieged, deprived of water, food and medicines, will
remain forever engraved in the history of the resistance struggle of
peoples. It was a gratuitous demonstration of Zionist murderous fury,
the purpose of which was the total elimination of the Palestine
Liberation Organization. Despite the powerful weaponry unleashed by
the Zionist regime, the PLO and the progressive Lebanese forces
resisted the slaughter and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We
hail their heroism. The People's Republic of Mozambique supports the
struggle of the Palestinian people, with the certainty that it will
end with the creation of a Palestinian State, autonomous and
sovereign, and the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab
territories, which is the only acceptable solution to the conflict in
the Middle East. The illegal occupation of East Timor continues. The
expansionist Indonesian regime insists on the criminal occupation of
that Territory, denying the Maubere people its inalienable right to
self determination and independence. How many times must the events
in Beirut be repeated in Dili before we can say enough and finally
acknowledge the right of the Maubere people to exist and build its
independent and sovereign State? Independence is not a privilege of
those who are richer or more powerful. It is not an attribute of
Moslems or Catholics. Independence is an inherent right of all
peoples, regardless of geo strategic, religious or other
considerations. Every people has its history, its culture, its
personality. By preserving them, the people can face any obstacle and
accept any sacrifice from the best of its children. It is because
they are making such sacrifices and because their struggle is a just
one that the Maubere people deserve our support. The curtain of
silence drawn around the massacres and the famine to which the
Maubere people are being subjected can no longer muffle the cries of
the hundreds of thousands of people of Timor who are resisting the
brutal Indonesian occupation. Both Republican and Democratic United
States, Senators have recently called attention to the gravity of the
situation. The situation in East Timor was compared by them to that
of Biafra at the time of the secessionist war and that of Kampuchea
during the Pol Pot era. They clearly admitted that the Maubere people
had not exercised their right to self determination. We cannot watch
these atrocities in silence. In East Timor there are people who,
under the leadership of Frente Revclucionaria de Timor Leste
Independents their legitimate representative, reject the annexation,
resist Indonesian occupation and fight for the affirmation of their
national rights. They have our admiration and our solidarity. We are
certain that in Dili the banner of liberty of the Maubere people will
be raised. In Korea, the presence of United States troops in the
southern part of the territory contributes to the creation of
tension, hampering the reunification process of the Korean nation a
dismembered country, split in two by an imaginary line drawn in
conformity with geo political concepts, to the detriment of national
reality. We support the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in its
efforts to ensure the peaceful reunification of its nation. Its
proposals for direct negotiations between North and South Korea with
a view to the creation of a confederated republic constitute a
positive contribution to the unification process. In Latin America,
Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada are the targets of constant threats of
aggression. The imperialist aggressiveness ranges from economic
blockade to imminent invasion and occupation. The peace and stability
of the area must necessarily be contingent on the cessation of the
use or threat of force or of any type of coercion against Cuba,
Nicaragua and Grenada, free countries which have the right to choose
in full sovereignty their own way of achieving socio economic
development. In Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala popular uprisings
are developing and apologists of Western civilization are endeavoring
to intensify their military and financial support of the
dictatorships in the area. No bayonets can silence the people's cries
for freedom. Fairness and moral considerations dictate that we
support the peoples of those countries in their struggle to gain
their freedom and tum their countries into lands free from terror and
repression, where no one need any longer live with the fear of never
again being reunited with his loved ones. The People's Republic of
Mozambique reaffirms the principles of solidarity with all peoples
who fight for their political and economic emancipation and for
peace. We meet again in an international debate in an atmosphere
tense and heavy with threats. The crisis expands and worsens and is
being felt most acutely in developing countries. The dramatic effects
of this crisis on our countries are well known: the imported
inflation, the growing deficit in the balance of payments, the
deterioration in the terms of trade, the food shortages, and so on.
Developing countries are faced with all the symptoms of
underdevelopment, where hunger is the overpowering scourge of the
people. Specific short term and long term measures must be taken with
a view to the eradication of the hunger and malnutrition that ravage
Africa. Our continent is becoming ever more dependent on imports of
food because of the lowered production and the natural catastrophes
that have periodically devastated our region. The adoption of
coercive economic measures aimed at the attainment of specific
political objectives is so common today that it is as though an
attempt were being made to replace the norms in the juridical
instruments governing the Organization by that practice. It is thus
that the countries that freely chose paths to development which led
them to real independence have fallen victim to blackmail and
pressures. Taking into account the present international economic
situation, we are concerned by the insistence of some developed
market economy countries on taking unilateral and arbitrary decisions
and refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations. The initiation of
global negotiations on international cooperation for development is
of primary importance. The People's Republic of Mozambique calls for
the exertion of all possible efforts during the current session of
the General Assembly to ensure the initiation of global negotiations.
We wish to assure the Assembly that our country will sign the
recently adopted United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,'
which establishes a new juridical order for the utilization of the
ocean space as an instrument of justice, peace, development and
international cooperation among States. true cooperation among States
based on a common examination of international economic problems and
on common action is absolutely necessary. Only then will it be
possible for us to respond to the yearnings of all peoples for
equitable and rational development in all parts of the world. It is
important to ensure the appropriate conditions without delay,
establish normal economic relations among all States, regardless of
their socio economic systems and to reinforce international
cooperation as a means of stabilizing peace. The exploitation of the
weak can no longer be regarded as the right of the rich, nor can
poverty, hunger, ignorance and disease continue to be the lot of the
peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The struggle for peace is
the greatest preoccupation of our time and most of mankind is
involved in it. The struggle for peace means the reduction,
destruction and Final elimination of the causes of the conflicts that
rage around the world: imperialism, colonialism, neo colonialism,
racism, apartheid Zionism. It means, in addition, that we must apply
all our efforts to achieving general and complete disarmament. That
is why the failure of the second special session of the General
Assembly devoted to disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, is
of great concern to the People's Republic of Mozambique. The wanton
armaments race and the use of the ocean space and the stratosphere
for purposes of warfare are serious obstacles to development and to
cooperation among States. Development for the peoples and the
promotion of worthwhile social and material wellbeing cannot be
achieved unless all available human and material resources are used
for peaceful purposes. In the realm of the struggle for peace, the
People's Republic of Mozambique considers that nuclear disarmament
has the highest possible priority, since the devastating effects of
this type of weapon represent a serious threat to our very survival.
It is essential for the sake of all mankind to prevent a nuclear
conflict, and this must be a matter of fundamental concern in the
policy of every Government. A threat to peace continues in the Indian
Ocean region, where we see the consolidation, expansion and
nuclearization of imperialist naval and military bases. Some Western
countries persist in their firm opposition to the convening of the
world Conference to adopt measures to give effect to the Declaration
of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace free from nuclear weapons. We
hope that those countries will change their position in order to make
possible the implementation of General Assembly resolution 36/90,
which provides for the Conference to be held during the first half of
1983. The struggle for the implementation of peace and cooperation is
one of our greatest priorities. Peace is necessary in the struggle
against underdevelopment. Cooperation among the people of the world
emerges as a necessity in the history of humanity and as an
instrument in the struggle against underdevelopment, in particular
through the creation of a just international order. The People's
Republic of Mozambique reiterates its commitment to contribute,
together with the other members of the international community, to
the search for a just and equitable solution to the problems that
beset all of humanity. Despite the systematic and deliberate
violation of international legal instruments by certain Member
States, we reaffirm our adherence to the principles and purposes of
the Charter. The People's Republic of Mozambique expresses its full
confidence in the Organization and in its everlasting dedication to
the struggle for the achievement and preservation of international
peace and security. The struggle continues.


      1. On behalf of the State of Qatar, it gives me great pleasure,
Sir, to express to you warm felicitations on your election as
President of the current session of the General Assembly. I also wish
to pay a tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Kittani, who presided over
the past session and conducted its proceedings with exemplary
competence and objectivity. I should like to avail myself of this
opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations to the Secretary
General. I wish him, on behalf of my country, full success in all his
efforts and activities aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the
Organization in the service of the international community. I also
wish to thank his predecessor, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, for the
praiseworthy and sincere efforts that he made throughout his term of
office as Secretary General.

2. The deteriorating political conditions which have recently
dominated the entire world are a grave indicator of the incompetence
of the Organization in contributing to international peace. It is not
true that the Organization, despite all its great and meritorious
endeavors, has not been able to resolve the problems before it and
has not brought about the peace for which our world longs?

3. I do not believe that we are the only ones that pose this
question. In his report on the work of the Organization the Secretary
General, with commendable candor and objectivity, warns of the
emergence of indications of such a sad state of affairs. Undoubtedly,
the Secretary General reveals the heart of the matter and puts his
finger on the root malaise when he states that, as a result of the
breach of the provisions and principles of the Charter by certain
States, the Security Council clearly all too often finds itself
unable to take decisive action to resolve international conflicts.
This feeling of incompetence is intensified by the fact that Security
Council resolutions, which include resolutions adopted unanimously,
are increasingly defied and ignored by those who feel themselves
strong enough to do so. That strength may be their own or may be
derived from the absolute support given them by a super Power.

4. This phenomenon did not emanate from a vacuum. It is surely the
corollary of certain policies that have recently emerged on the
international scene to resolve conflicts and problems on the basis of
unilateral initiatives outside the effective framework of the United
Nations, which is the only international organ qualified to solve
such conflicts by peaceful means. As such practices and unilateral
initiatives have increased, it is natural that the effectiveness of
the role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international
peace and security not to mention the very credibility of the
Organization, has diminished.

5. The question of Palestine is a genuine embodiment of the
aforementioned fact. Hundreds of resolutions have been adopted on
this question, but Israel, with its customary tyranny and
intransigence, has persistently rejected all those resolutions. It
has gone so far as to violate them daily, cutting the whole world to
the quick by trampling on its most noble human sentiments, propped up
by States that shower it with financial and military aid. This aid is
coupled with the individualistic political stand that opposes all the
peace loving voices concerned with the general good of man and which
seek to impose sanctions on the aggressor in such a way as to
preserve the human rights and dignity of the victim.

6. Israel is an anomalous phenomenon in the international community.
It came into being through oppression and aggression. It murdered and
rendered homeless thousands of Arab Palestinians for its selfish
ends. This is its persistent policy and immutable creed: murder,
murder and more murder. The most recent manifestation of its
barbarism and racism was its genocidal onslaught on the camps of
Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon, which claimed thousands of victims
women and children who had lived in peace in those camps, suffering
from alienation and dispossession. They have been driven there by
Israelitself since 1947.

7. As if the displacement it caused them were not enough and as if
their agonizing plight, living in inhuman conditions in shanty towns,
did not satiate it, Israel did not renounce the principle which
brought it into being that genocidal principle to which it had
previously had recourse in the Palestinian villages of Deir Yassin
and Kafr Qasim, as well as in other massacres of the Palestinian
people. Israel is well aware that wherever the Palestinian people
exists, its right to its homeland and the right to return will remain
unshaken.

A/37/PY.22
8. The fact that Israel ravaged west Beirut and forced its way into
civilian quarters after the forces of the Palestine Liberation
Organization had withdrawn, under a guarantee from the United States
Government that Israel would not intervene or harm the civilian
population there, is irrefutable and is proof of the wanton Israeli
practices that flout all covenants, values and instruments. In this
connation, we affirm to the entire world that fraternal Lebanon, its
territorial integrity and the security of its people should not be
the subject of interpretation and discussions. This issue requires
all of us, as an international community, to take the necessary
effective measures to compel Israel to comply with Security Council
resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982) concerning immediate and
unconditional withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

9. My delegation holds the international community represented in the
Organization responsible for allowing Israel to remain a Member of
the Organization. My delegation calls for the suspension of its
membership and the adoption of stringent measures against it to
compel it to comply with the relevant resolutions of the
Organization, the principal demands of which are total and
unconditional withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories and that
the Palestinian people be enabled to return to its homeland and
establish its independent national entity.

10. The core of what is termed the Middle East question is the
Palestinian question. Unless the international community finds a just
solution for it the situation there will remain unstable and there
will be a state of constant turmoil and the threat of a conflagration
at any moment. A collective Arab resolution was put forward on the
basis of the comprehensive principles approved at the Twelfth Arab
Summit Conference, held at Fez in 1982. The Arabs considered this an
acceptable basis upon which to resolve the Palestinian question
peacefully and permanently, proceeding from the basic principles
contained in United Nations resolutions. These principles provide a
good opportunity to reach a peaceful solution to the question.

11. However, there are other issues that produce permanent hotbeds of
tension, including the security of the Arab Gulf and the war between
Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The State of Qatar firmly
believes that ensuring the security of the Gulf area is the task of
the States of the area. This will be possible only when the big
Powers refrain from interfering in their affairs.

12. The Iraqi Iranian war constitutes a disturbing situation for and
causes apprehension to all the States of the area and the whole
world, because of its brutality, the time it has lasted and the act
that it is raging in a strategic and important location for all
States of the world. My country supports and sees a good omen in the
Iraqi initiative under which Iraqi troops were withdrawn to the
international borders, and Iraq indicated continued willingness to
negotiate on a cessation of hostilities. We sincerely hope that the
Government of Iran will respond to this good initiative to avert
Moslem bloodshed and to allow these two brother peoples to apply
themselves to the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in order
to repair the havoc wreaked in that fierce war.

13. The establishment of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States
of the Gulf, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and
that of the League of Arab States, reflected the will of six Gulf States.
They envisaged it as a prime necessity to achieve political, economic
and security complementarity and coordination. It is a testimony to
the desire of those six States to achieve peace and prosperity for
their region. We pledge that the member States of this Council will
exert all possible efforts through it to maintain the security and
peace of that strategic region of the world.

14. My country views with concern the present situation in
Afghanistan because it is an Islamic country with which we are linked
by bonds of brotherhood and religion and because it is one of the
hotbeds of tension in our area.

15. We earnestly hope that the Soviet Union will heed the calls of
the international community and withdraw all its forces from Afghan
territory so that the Afghan refugees may return to their homeland
and the Afghan people may choose their own political system and forge
their destiny in freedom.

16. We have pinned high hopes on the holding of an international
conference to consider the issue of the Indian Ocean as a zone of
peace, since this is one of our repeated demands. We hope that this
will take place as soon as possible so as to contribute to world
peace and stability.
17. The situation on the African continent is also one of our
concerns. We sincerely hope that appropriate solutions will be
reached concerning the areas of tension there. We affirm our support
for and solidarity with the people of Namibia in its just struggle
under the leadership of the South West Africa People's Organization
and the national majority in South Africa in the struggle being waged
against the policies of	and racial discrimination pursued by the
white minority Government. We call on all peace loving States to
exercise all forms of pressure on the Government of South Africa to
compel it to respond to international good offices aimed at achieving
a comprehensive and just settlement of the situation there and
nullifying South Africa's designs and stratagems to prevent agreement
on a peaceful settlement.

18. The whole world was bitterly disappointed when the second special
session devoted to disarmament resulted in failure. That was clear
evidence of the desire of certain parties to continue to develop
means of destruction and place the entire world under constant fear
and anxiety as a result. This effort should have been directed
towards the achievement of tranquility and a peaceful life for all.
The astronomical sums involved should be spent on developing and
improving man's life everywhere on this planet.

19. It has become clear to the international community that the
establishment of a new international economic order is indispensable
if we are to prevent the crises and problems that may occur in the
future if international economic relations remain unchanged.

20. The economy of each State in our world today is, in varying
degrees, in constant interaction with the economies of other States.
We are fully convinced that the sooner we determine the effects of
this the greater will be our chance of averting exacerbation of the
negative implications. We can then draw up national policies taking
into account their implications for the international economy.

21. Our target is stability for the international economy which is
the cornerstone of the achievement of international economic
progress. We maintain that the efforts being made to this end at
present by various international organizations and agencies should be
supported.

22. If economic stability is jeopardized that creates a threat to
international peace and security. Developing countries cannot
overcome poverty and food problems, as well as their other economic
problems, without concrete aid from the international community. This
should be directed essentially to effecting structural changes in the
economies of these countries to enable them to advance the wheel of
development in such a way as to realize their ambition to achieve a
proper degree of economic growth.

23. The State of Qatar wishes to stress in this international forum
its conviction that the task of grappling with and resolving the
economic problems of the developing countries rests, in the first
place, with the Governments and individuals of those countries.
However, as we are all well aware, because of their nature the
solution of these problems requires, in addition to the efforts of
the developing countries, the consistent and collective efforts of
the international community with regard to debts, the flow of
financial and technical aid and the laying of the foundations of
modem technology.

24. We look forward to a sincere and constructive international
dialogue in which all nations of the world participate to consider
solutions for current international economic problems: world
recession, currency fluctuations, deterioration of the terms of
trade, increased indebtedness in the developing countries and chronic
disequilibrium in the balance of payments of the least developed
countries.

25. As a Member of the United Nations, the State of Qatar pledges
that it will cooperate fully with the rest of the Member States,
sparing no effort to preserve the principles of the Organization,
which are aimed at achieving dignity, security and stability for all
mankind.


I begin by paying a tribute to the new
Secretary-General, who has brought great
distinction to the office during his brief
tenure. Dag Hammarskjold once told the General
Assembly that whichever word one chooses
independence, impartiality, objectivity—they all
describe essential aspects of what, without
exception, must be in the attitude of the
Secretary-General . Javier Perez de CueBar, a man
of the third world, and, I am proud to note, of
the New World as well, has already demonstrated
his strict adherence to this most exacting
standard. In so doing, he has earned the esteem
of my Government and the gratitude of all who
believe in the purposes of the Charter.
197.	I also congratulate Mr. Hollai of Hungary
upon his election as President of the
thirty-seventh session of the General Assembly.
198.	As I stand here today I cannot help but
reflect on my relation to this city and to this
Hall. I was born about four miles from here. I
was reared and educated not far away, just across
the Hudson River, and I took a tour through this
building just after it opened in 1952, marveling
at the reality of a temple erected in the hope,
at least, of abolishing war. ,
199.	When I took that tour back in the early
1950s, there was great public interest in what
was called the Meditation Room. I understand the
room is still here. But in the years since then
this institution has become more famous for talk
than for meditation. This Hall has heard great
ideas eloquently expressed. It has also heard
double-talk, platitudes and ringing protestations
of innocence—all too often aimed at camouflaging
outrageous and inhuman acts.
200.	But we must not ridicule words. I believe
that the greatest advance in human history was
not the wheel, the use of electricity, or the
internal combustion engine. Indispensable to
progress as these have been, our most remarkable
achievement was the slow, clumsy but triumphant
creation of language. It was words that released
our ancestors from the prison of the solitary.
Words gave us the means to transmit to our
children and the future the crowning jewel of
human existence: knowledge. The Code of
Ham¬murabi, the Bible, the Analects of Confucius,
the teachings of the Buddha, the Koran, the
insights of Shakespeare, the creed of Mahatma
Gandhi or Martin Luther King—all these were
arrangements of words.
201.	Is it not profoundly revealing that the
first victims of tyrants are words? No people
better know the meaning of freedom than those who
have been arrested or beaten or imprisoned or
exiled because of what they said. A single man
speaking out—a Lech Walesa, for example—is more
dangerous than an armored division.
202.	All of us here, whether we arrived after
a short one-hour flight, as I did, or came from
the other side of the globe, as many others of
those present did, enter this auditorium for one
main purpose—to talk about what our Governments
see as the problems ahead and how they should be
solved. On one point at least we can all
agree—the problems are many and difficult. I
shall not try, in the minutes allotted me, to
deal with each, or even most, of these issues in
detail. Instead, I want to give the Assembly some
sense of the principles and general approach that
the United States will take toward our common
problems.
203.	Americans are, by history and by
inclination, a practical and pragmatic people,
yet a people with a vision. It is the
vision—usually simple and sometimes naive—that
has so often led us to dare and to achieve.
President Reagan's approach to foreign policy is
grounded squarely on standards drawn from the
pragmatic American experience. As de Tocqueville
pointed out,  To achieve its objective, America
relies on personal interest, and gives full reign
to the strength and reason of the individual.
That is as true now as when it was said 150 years
ago. Our principal instru¬ment, now as then, is
freedom. Our adversaries are the oppressors, the
totalitarian, the tacticians of fear and pressure.
204.	On this foundation, President Reagan's
ideas and the structure of his foreign policy are
so straight-forward that those of us enmeshed in
day-to-day details may easily lose sight of them.
The President never does, he consistently brings
us back to funda¬mentals. Today I will talk about
those fundamentals. They consist of four ideas
that guide our actions: we will start from
realism; we will act from strength, both in power
and in purpose; we will stress the indispensable
need to generate consent, build agree¬ments and
negotiate on key issues, and we will conduct
ourselves in the belief that progress is
possible, even though the road to achievement is
long and hard.
205.	If we are to change the world, we must
first understand it. We must face reality, with
all its anguish and all its opportunities. Our
era needs those who, as
Pericles said, have the clearest vision of what
is before them, glory and danger alike, and
notwithstanding that, go out to meet it.
206.	Reality is not an illusion or a sleight
of hand, though many would have us believe
otherwise. The enormous, grinding machinery of
Soviet propaganda daily seeks to distort reality,
to bend truth for its own purposes. Our world is
occupied by far too many Governments which seek
to conceal truth from their own people. They wish
to imprison reality by con¬trolling what can be
read or spoken or heard. They would have us
believe that black is white and up is down.
207.	Much of present-day reality is
unpleasant. To describe conditions as we see them
as I do today and as President Reagan has over
the course of his presidency, is not to seek
confrontation—far from it. Our purpose is to
avoid misunderstanding and to create the
necessary pre-conditions for change.
208.	So, when we see aggression, we will call
it aggression. When we see subversion, we will
call it subversion. When we see repression, we
will call it repression.
209.	The events in Poland, for example, cannot
be ignored or explained away. The Polish people
want to be their own master. Years of systematic
tyranny could not repress this desire; and nor
will martial law. But in Poland today truth must
hide in comers.
210.	Nor can we simply turn our heads and look
the other way as Soviet divisions brutalize an
entire population in Afghanistan. The resistance
of the Afghan people is a valiant saga of our
times. We demean that valour if we do not
recognize its source.
211.	And Soviet surrogates intervene in many
coun¬tries, creating a new era of colonialism at
the moment in history when peoples around the
globe had lifted that burden from their backs.
212.	Nor will we shy away from speaking of
other problems affecting the free and the
developing worlds. Much of the developing world
is threatened by a crisis of confidence in
financial institutions and the stultifying
effects of State-controlled economies. The
naturally vibrant economies of many Western
nations and trade between the world's major
trading partners are threatened by recession and
rising protectionism. The great alliances that
shore up world stability and growth—our
hemispheric partnership, NATO—and the Western and
Japanese industrial democracies are challenged by
new as well as chronic strains.
213.	Finally, the shadow of war still darkens
the future of us all. There is no ultimate safety
in a nuclear balance of terror constantly
contested. There is no peace of mind at a time
when increasing numbers of nations appear willing
to launch their armies into battle for causes
which seem local but have ramifica¬tions for
regional and even global harmony.
214.	The list of troubles is long, the danger
of despair great. But there is another side to
the present reality; it is a reality of hope. We
are living in a fantastic time of opportunity.
215.	Historians in the future will surely
marvel at the achievements of human beings in the
last half of this century. We have expanded the
frontiers of thought—in science, in biology, in
engineering, in painting and music and
mathematics, in technology and architecture—far
beyond the point anyone could have dared predict,
much less hope for. We know much today about the
oceans and forests and the geological strata that
lock in the story of our past. We have more
knowledge about a baby, or the brain, than was
accumulated in 10 millennia before our time. We
are learning to produce food for all of us; we
are no longer helpless before the threat of
disease; we explore our universe as a matter of
course. We are confronting the nature of Nature
herself. The oppor¬tunities are grand. This, too,
is a clear reality.
216.	Thus realism shows us a world deeply
troubled, yet with reason for hope. There is one
necessary condition: the only way we can enhance
and amplify the human potential is by preserving,
defending and extending those most precious of
conditions—freedom and peace.
217.	America's yearning for peace does not
lead us to be hesitant in developing our strength
or in using it when necessary. Indeed, clarity
about the magnitude of the problems we face leads
inevitably to a realistic appreciation of the
importance of American strength. The strength of
the free world imposes restraint, invites
accommodation and reassures those who would share
in the creative work that is the wonderful
consequence of liberty.
218.	Strength means military forces to ensure
that no other nation can threaten us, our
interests or our friends. But when I speak of
strength I do not mean military power alone. To
Americans, strength derives as well from a solid
economic base and social vitality at home and
with our partners. And, most funda¬mentally, the
true wellspring of strength lies in America's
moral commitment.
219.	The bulwark of America's strength is
military power for peace. The American people
have never accepted weakness, or hesitancy or
abdication. We will not put our destiny into the
hands of the ruthless. Americans today are
emphatically united on the neces¬sity of a strong
defense. This year's defense budget will ensure
that the United States will help its friends and
allies defend themselves—to make sure that peace
is seen clearly by all to be the only feasible
course in world affairs.
220.	Along with military readiness and
capability must come the willingness to employ it
in the cause of peace, justice and security.
Today in Beirut the United States
Marines—together with our allies, Italy and
France—are helping the Lebanese Government und
armed forces ensure the safety of the peoples of
that tormented capital. I regret to report that I
have just learned that one American Marine died
and several were injured today in a mine
explosion at the Beirut airport. Our marines
represent an extension of American power not for
war but to secure the peace. They are there to
speed the moment when all foreign forces depart
from Lebanon. There must be an early agreement on
a timetable for the full application of Lebanon's
independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity. Lebanon deserves the world's help—to
secure peace and to rebuild a thriving society.
221.	America will continue to use its strength
with prudence, firmness and balance. We intend to
command the respect of adversaries and to deserve
the confidence of allies and partners.
222.	The engine of America's strength is a sound economy.
223.	In a time of recession, industrialized
and less developed nations alike are bedeviled by
excessive inflation, restricted markets, unused
capacity, stagnating trade, growing pressure for
protectionism and the most potent enemy of
expansion—pervasive uncertainty.
224.	The United States with its vast human and
scientific resources can survive an era of
economic strife and decay. But our moral
commitment and our self-interest require us to
use our technological and productive abilities to
build lasting prosperity at home and to
contribute to a sound economic situation abroad.
225.	President Reagan has instituted a bold
pro¬gram to get the American economy moving. Our
rate of inflation is down markedly, and we will
keep it down. That will add stability to the
value of the dollar and give greater confidence
to international financial markets.
226.	The recent drop in United States interest
rates will stimulate new investments within and
beyond our shores. Conservation through market pricing
of energy has reduced United States demand for
world energy supplies. We are putting the
recession behind us. A growing and open American
economy will provide new markets for goods and
services produced elsewhere, and new
opportunities for foreign invest¬ments. Just as
we have a stake in world-wide recovery, others
will prosper as our recovery develops.
227.	For wider prosperity to take hold, we
must co¬operatively attend to these international
issues. The lure of protectionist trade policies
must be resisted everywhere—here in the United
States and all over the world—whether in the form
of overt import restrictions and export subsidies
or by more subtle domestic pro¬grammes. These can
only distort world trade and impair growth
everywhere. Let us determine to make the November
ministerial meeting of GATT a time to stem these
protectionist pressures and to reinvigorate
positive efforts for a more open trading system.
228.	The implications of the external debt of
many nations must be understood. Immediate debt
problems are manageable if we use good sense and
avoid destabilizing actions. But the magnitude of
external debt will almost inevitably reduce
resources available for future lending for
development purposes. Economic adjustment is
imperative. IMF can provide critical help and
guidance in any country's efforts to smooth the
adjustment process. The new borrowing
arrange¬ment proposed by the United States can be
crucial to this effort.	'
229.	And the necessity of reducing government
interference in the market must be recognized. Of
course every nation has the right to organize
society as its inhabitants wish, but economic
facts cannot be ignored. Those facts clearly
demonstrate that the world's command economies
have failed abysmally to meet the needs of their
peoples. The newly pros¬perous industrialized
nations are those with the most free and open
markets.
230.	The bedrock of our strength is our moral
and spiritual character. The sources of true
strength lie deeper than economic or military
power. They lie in the dedication of a free
people which knows its responsibility. America's
institutions are those of freedom accessible to
every person and of govern¬ment as the
accountable servant of the people. Equal
opportunity, due process of law, open trial by
jury, freedom of belief, speech and assembly, our
Bill of Rights, our guarantees of liberty and
limited govern¬ment were hammered out in
centuries of ordeal. Because we care about these
human values for ourselves so must we then be
concerned, and legiti¬mately so, with abuses of
freedom, justice and humanitarian principles
beyond our borders. This is why we will speak and
act for prisoners of con¬science, against
terrorism and against the brutal silencing of the
Soviet Helsinki Watch Committee. This is why we
are anxious to participate in periodic reviews of
the human rights performance of ourselves as well
as of others. We welcome scrutiny of our own
system. We are not perfect and we know it, but we
have nothing to hide.
231.	Our belief in liberty guides our policies
here in' the United Nations as elsewhere.
Therefore in this forum the United States will
continue to insist upon fairness, balance and
truth. We take the debate on human rights
seriously. We insist upon honesty in the use of
language; we will point out inconsistencies,
double standards and lies. We will not compromise
our commitment to truth.
232.	The world has work to do for the
realists, the pragmatists and the free. With a
clear understanding of the troubled circumstances
of the hour and with a strengthened ability to
act, we need as well the vision to see beyond the
immediate present.
233.	All of us here represent nations which
must understand and accept the imperative of fair
engage¬ment on the issues before us and, beyond
that, of common effort towards shared goals.
Whether we are seeking to bring peace to regional
conflict or a reso¬lution of commercial
differences, the time of imposed solutions has
passed. Conquest, pressure, acqui¬escence under
duress was common in decades not long past—but
not today. Not everybody who wants his concern
addressed will find us automatically receptive.
But when negotiations are in order America is
prepared to go to work on the global agenda and
to do so in a way that all may emerge better off
and more secure than before.
234.	We manage our problems more intelligently
and with greater mutual understanding when we can
bring ourselves to recognize these problems as
expressions of mankind's basic dilemma. We are
seldom confronted with simple issues of right and
wrong, between good and evil. Only those who do
not bear the direct burden of responsibility for
decision and action can indulge themselves in the
denial of that reality. The task of statesmanship
is to mediate between two—or several— causes,
each of which often has a legitimate claim.
235.	It is on this foundation that the United
States stands ready to try to solve the problems
of our time —to overcome chaos, deprivation and
the heightened dangers of an era in which ideas
and cultures too often tend to clash and
technologies threaten to out¬pace our
institutions of control.
236.	We are engaged in negotiations and
efforts to find answers to issues affecting every
part of the globe and every aspect of our lives
upon it. Let me take up just two of these with
you.
237.	The agony of the Middle East now exceeds
the ability of news bulletins or speeches to
express: it is a searing wound on our
consciousness. The region is in constant ferment.
Unrest flares into violence, terror, insurrection
and civil strife. War follows war. It is clear to
everyone in this Hall that international peace,
security and co-operative progress cannot be
truly achieved until this terrible regional
conflict is settled.
238.	AM of us have witnessed in the past
several months a graphic reminder of the need for
practical peace negotiations in the Middle East.
Of the nations in the world which need and
deserve peace, Israel surely holds a pre-eminent
place. Of the peoples of the world who need and
deserve a place with which they can truly
identify, the Palestinian claim is undeniable.
239.	But Israel can have permanent peace only
in a context in which the Palestinian people also
realize their legitimate rights. Similarly, the
Palestinian people will be able to achieve their
legitimate rights only in a context which gives
to Israel what it so clearly has a right to
demand: to exist, and to exist in peace and
security.
240.	This most complex of international
conflicts cannot be resolved by force: neither
the might of armies nor the violence of
terrorists can succeed in imposing the will of
the strong upon the weak. Nor can it be settled
simply by the rhetoric of even the most carefully
worded document. It can be resolved only through
the give and take of direct negotiations, leading
to the establishment of practical arrangements on
the ground. In other words, it can be resolved
only through hard work. For those who believe
that there is no contradiction between permanent
peace for Israel and the legitimate rights of the
Palestinian people—and fbr those who believe that
both are essential for peace and that neither can
be achieved without the other—the task can truly
be a labour of love.
241.	On 1 September President Reagan
challenged the parties to the Arab-Israeli
conflict to make a fresh start on the road to
peace in the Middle East. The Camp David
agreements, resting squarely on Security Council
resolution 242 (1967), with its formula of peace
for territory, remain available to those who
would accept the challenge to make this journey
with us. The road will not be easy, but in his
statement President Reagan made a number of
proposals which, for those who are willing to
join the effort, make the journey safer and
easier.
242.	I call on all concerned to accept
President Reagan's challenge and hasten the
realization of true peace in the Middle East,
243.	In addition to the imperative need to
resolve regional problems, there is an equally
significant global imperative: to halt, and
reverse, the global arms build¬up. As an
American, I am aware that arms control and
disarmament are a special responsibility of the
world's most powerful nations, the United States
and the Soviet Union. And as an American, I can
report that we are fulfilling our responsibility
to seek to limit and reduce conventional and
nuclear arms to the lowest possible levels.
244.	With this goal in mind, President Reagan
has initiated a comprehensive program for
negotiated arms reductions. In Central Europe,
the most heavily armed region on this planet, the
Western allies are seeking substantial reductions
in troops of NATO and the Warsaw Pact to equal
levels. To achieve this goal, we have recently
introduced a new proposal designed to revitalize
the Vienna Talks on Mutual Reduction of Forces,
Armaments and Associated Measures in Central
Europe.
245.	In the area of strategic arms, the United
States has also taken the initiative by calling
for a one-third reduction in the number of
nuclear warheads that American and Soviet
ballistic missiles can deliver. And in the talks
in Geneva on intermediate-range nuclear forces,
the United States has gone even further, by
asking the Soviet Union to agree to a bold
proposal for eliminating an entire category of
weapons from the arsenals of the two sides.
246.	But important as these negotiations are,
the problems of arms controls cannot be left to
the two super-Powers. The threat of nuclear
proliferation extends to every region in the
world and demands the attention and energy of
every Government. This is not solely, or even
primarily, a concern of the super¬ powers. The
non-nuclear countries will not be safer if
nuclear intimidation is added to already deadly
regional conflicts. The developing nations will
not be more prosperous if scarce resources and
scientific talent are diverted to nuclear weapons
and delivery systems.
247.	Unfortunately, as the task becomes more
im¬portant it also becomes more difficult.
Greater quantities of dangerous materials are
produced and new suppliers emerge who lack a
clear commitment to non-proliferation. But the
technology that helped to create the problems can
supply answers as well. Vigorous action to
strengthen the barriers to aggres¬sion and to
resolve disputes peacefully can remove the
insecurities that are the root of the problem.
The United States, for its part, will work to
tighten export controls; to promote broader
acceptance of safeguards; to urge meaningful
actions when agreements are violated; and to
strengthen IAEA. As our action last week in
Vienna should make clear, we will not accept
attempts to politicize—and therefore emasculate—
such vital institutions.
248.	Perhaps the most common phrase spoken by
the American people in our more than two
centuries of national life has been you can't
stop progress . Our people have always been
imbued with the conviction that the future of a
free people would be good. America continues to
offer that vision to the world. With that vision,
and with the freedom to act creatively, there is
nothing that people of good will need fear.
249.	I am not here to assert, however, that
the way is easy, or quick, or that the future is
bound to be bright. There is a poem by Carl
Sandburg in which a traveler asks the Sphinx to
speak and reveal the distilled wisdom of all the
ages. The Sphinx does speak. Its words are:
Don't expect too much . That is good counsel for
ail of us here. It does not mean that great
accomplishments are beyond our reach. We can help
shape more constructive international rela¬tions
and give our children a better chance at life. It
does mean, however, that risk, pain, expense, and
above all endurance are needed to bring these
achieve¬ments into our grasp.
250.	We must recognize the complex and vexing
character of this world. We should not indulge
our¬selves in fantasies of perfection of
unfulfillable plans, or solutions gained by
pressure. It is the responsibility of leaders not
to feed the growing appetite for easy promises
and grand assurances. The plain truth is this: we
face the prospect of all too few decisive or
dramatic breakthroughs; we face the necessity of
dedicatingour energies and creativity to a
protracted struggle towards eventual success.
251.	That is the approach of my country,
because we see not only the necessity but the
possibility, of making important progress on a
broad front. For example: despite deep-seated
differences between us and the Soviet Union, both
sides are now at work in a serious, businesslike
effort at arms control; Presi¬dent Reagan has
issued an important call for an inter¬national
conference on military expenditure. The
achievement of a common system for accounting and
reporting is the prerequisite for subsequent
agreement to limits or curtail defense budgets.
The Caribbean Basin Initiative establishes the
crucial bond between economic development and
economic freedom. It can be a model for fair and
productive co-operation between economies vastly
different in size and character; and the
diplomatic way is open to build stability and
progress in southern Africa through inde¬pendence
for Namibia under internationally accept-able
terms.
252.	Realism and a readiness to work long and
hard for fair and freely agreed solutions—that is
our recipe for optimism. That is the message and
the offer which my Government brings to the
Assembly today.
253.	I began my remarks here today with an
informal personal word. May I end in the same
spirit? We must be determined and confident. We
must be prepared for trouble, but always
optimistic. In that way the vast bounties
produced by the human mind and imagination can be
shared by all the races and nations we represent
here in this Hall.
254.	A predecessor of mine as Secretary of
State, whose portrait hangs in my office,
conveyed the essence of America's approach to the
world's dangers and dilemmas. He said we would
act with  a stout heart and a clear conscience
and never despair . That is what John Quincy
Adams said nearly a century and a half ago. I
give the Assembly my personal pledge today that
we will continue in that spirit, with that
determination, and with that confidence in the
future.