Mr. President, permit me at the outset to address to you my most sincere congratulations on your assumption of the presidency of this session of the General Assembly. Your election not only is a tribute to the militant sister-country of Algeria but also attests to the general appreciation of your personal talents and your constant efforts to support the movements of national liberation by backing them with effective means and by moving to a successful confrontation with imperialism and Zionism. We are confident that under your presidency this session will be one of the most important and most effective. You have our most sincere wishes for success.
109.	We also wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Benites, President of the last session, for his efforts which yielded such good results. To him and his friendly country, our best wishes.
110.	May we also congratulate the States of Bangladesh, Guinea-Bissau and Grenada on their admission to our Organization. Their role in the bringing about of justice and peace will be, we are sure, a very prominent one.
111.	We must ever bear in mind that the objectives for which the United Nations was created still fall short of complete realization. There is no doubt, however, that international relations have gone a long way towards international detente, thanks to the dialog established in all fields between the two greatest Powers.
112.	Moreover, a number of peoples have taken a great step forward in their continuing struggle to achieve liberation and independence, albeit at the cost of tremendous human and material sacrifices. In the vanguard stands Guinea-Bissau, which has gained its independence through its heroic struggle;, and the people of Mozambique are about to attain independence, thanks to the blood shed by its sons. We salute the courageous policy of the Government of Portugal, which has come to understand the real interests of the Portuguese people and has Abandoned its colonial policy, thus turning a new page in its co-operation with the international community after a long period of boycott by this community. We are confident that the peoples of Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa will obtain their independence and will do away with the remnants of racist and colonialist regimes which have been exploiting their homelands and their resources.
113.	The dialog which is taking place in Europe, the disappearance of the hotbed of the German conflict, and the process of peace in the Indian subcontinent are all positive signs of the evolution of international religions towards a better world.
114.	Despite all these welcome trends, however, international peace is still threatened by many hotbeds of tension and danger, in defiance of the Charter of the United Nations and the will of peoples for liberation, independence and unity. The critical situation in Viet Nam persists; the unpatriotic regime in South Viet Nam constantly violates the Paris agreements; and barriers are set in the path of the Korean people, preventing it from achieving its national unity. Moreover, one aggression after another is committed against the militant Cambodian people, which has mustered all its strength, under the leadership of the Royal Government of National Union, headed by Prince Sihanouk, to confront the agents of imperialism who are engaged in a desperate last-ditch fight.
115.	Furthermore, it is impossible to speak of international detente and of respect for the Charter and for the right of peoples to self-determination in isolation from the events in the Middle East, a region which so many factors combine to make one of the most important in the world. The strategic position of the Middle East as a bridge between three continents, the Arab history with its civilization and culture that have been established in that area, its tremendous wealth in raw materials, its surplus of exports and the impact of all these factors on the international economic and monetary order are all realities which make it necessary to stop and reflect on the Middle East question and to approach it with the utmost care.
116.	The October war of liberation demonstrated this, underscoring the sensitivity of the region in relation to international peace and security and the international economy. The danger of possible military confrontation between the two great Powers was then clear and present, and the crises to which the world economy was exposed as a result of the war that was imposed on the Arabs were acute. The Arabs, in order to defend their legitimate rights, were compelled to fight for their national existence and for the liberation of their own territories.
117.	The tragedy that besets the region began after the First World War, when British colonialism undertook to facilitate Jewish emigration in accordance with a colonialist Zionist plan. The tragedy crystallized in the establishment of the racist entity of Israel, which has received backing and support from imperialist and colonialist States and from international Zionism, with a view to consolidating a racist entity in the very heart of the Arab homeland, constituting a factor of continual blood-letting. This entity was created to prevent the Arabs from freeing themselves from economic and political colonialism and to obstruct their national unity. It is not difficult to grasp the nature of this entity, for it was founded on the basis of exploiting religion for racist and expansionist purposes in an era when peoples reject such reactionary forms of national structure.
118.	This racist entity was admitted to the United Nations in 1949 by virtue of General Assembly resolution 273 (III) of 11 May 1949, which made the membership of Israel conditional on the implementation of the United Nations resolutions relative to territories and to the return of the refugees especially General Assembly resolution 194 (III), paragraph 11 in particular, a paragraph which provides for the return of the Arab refugees to their homes. The Foreign Minister of Israel undertook then, on behalf of the Zionist authorities, to respect the relevant United Nations resolutions and to abide by those conditions.
119.	A simple comparison between the area under Israeli control in 1948 and the area under its control today and a quick review of the history of Israel, which shows that it has refused to adhere to any international resolution whatsoever, reveal the nature of Israel and the kind of "peace" it seeks.
120.	The establishment of this entity was accompanied by the dispersion of the Palestinian people ever since 1948. The Arabs of Palestine have since been living under the worst of economic and social conditions. Israel has persistently rejected the United Nations resolutions requiring that the Palestinians be permitted to return to their homeland and to exercise their right of self-determination; Israel has intensified oppression and injustice and has repeatedly perpetrated raids on refugee camps. Israel, in its hostility to the Arabs, went so far as to wage war against Egypt in 1956; this was followed by continued territorial expansion up to the time of the June 1967 war, when Israel proceeded to occupy territories belonging to three Arab States Members of the United Nations, to disperse additional hundreds of thousands, to change the features of Arab towns, to set up scores of colonial to incarcerate thousands of citizens, and to practice Nazi methods of tyranny and oppression. Despite all this, the Arabs have always adhered to the emblem of peace based upon justice. But a just peace is impossible to achieve unless it is based on the principles of the Charter, which require complete withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories and full recognition of the national rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to return to their homeland, therein to exercise the right of self-determination.
121.	The Arabs have spared no effort and have lost no opportunity to induce the members of the international Organization to take effective measures to bring pressure on Israel to honor the Charter and the resolutions of the United Nations and to adhere strictly to their implementation. All such efforts have met with Israeli rejection on the ground that Israel needed "secure borders".
122.	The Israelis mock people's intelligence when they use such childish pretexts. This comes from their superiority complex and the intense selfishness which mark all their thoughts and behavior. They tell us that geographic borders are secure borders, in complete disregard of the fact that this is an age of scientific advancement; particularly in armaments, and that technology has eliminated the immunity of terrain. In any case, the international community is entitled to ask why secure borders are demanded for a few Israeli villages white they are denied to millions of the Arab indigenous population. Does not the idea of unilaterally secure borders carry with it implications of racial discrimination? The Israelis have occupied the Golan Heights, announcing that they will not withdraw, using the "secure border" pretext again in proclaiming their intentions with respect to the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Sharm El-Sheikh. Yet did this occupation prevent Syria and Egypt from defending their, rights in the October war? The Israelis well remember what the Arabs achieved during that war, and what they might have achieved but for the airlifts and shipments by sea which submerged Israel with armaments, equipment and personnel to an unprecedented extent.
123.	On 22 October 1973 the Security Council adopted resolution 338 (1973) which my country accepted on 24 October 1973 by a telegram which I sent iO the Secretary-General, declaring that we understood the decision to mean complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and full safeguard of the national fights of the Palestinian people. In the period which, followed the cease-fire, however, we quickly came to realize that Israel was determined to persist in its aggression. Israel expressed this determination by provocative declarations that it would not withdraw from the occupied Arab territories, especially not from the Golan Heights. On the contrary, Israel considered the Golan Heights as part of Israel and by so doing tried to restore the situation to what it was before the October war, and to abort all the valuable political results which the Arabs had achieved in the elan with which they set themselves to defend their rights and to liberate their territories. Israel has resumed its delusion of invincibility; apparently the war held no lesson for it. The Arabs, who rejected the set-back of 1967, refuse to relinquish their achievements of the October war. They are more than ever determined to protect and defend and safeguard their national rights not only because these are their rights, but because to safeguard and defend such rights is to defend the Charter and the freedom and dignity of man.
124.	We deployed our utmost efforts following the cease-fire to secure implementation of Security Council resolution 338 (1973). The Israeli response was more procrastination and more provocative statements, Our people is struggling for freedom. It has not tired of the struggle. It will not give way to despair. This was evident in our acceptance of the Golan war -as of any other war. That was brought to a halt by the agreement on separation of forces signed in Geneva on 31 May 1974. The text expressly stipulates that the agreement is but a step towards implementing resolution 338 (1973) and does not constitute the just and durable peace desired. Although four months have elapsed since the signing of this agreement, Israel still continues to maneuver, procrastinate and issue refusals.
125.	Israel is escalating the tension with military preparations behind which lie new aggressive intentions, with no regard to the far-reaching harm this may do to international security and peace depending on the encouragement received from some Powers which continue to send economic aid and armaments to Israel. Israel fully disregards the harmful effects to international security and peace at a time when the situation in the Middle East has ceased to be one of mere regional dimensions and when its impact and dangers extend to all points of the globe.
126.	We summon the attention of the international community once more to the fact that acquiescence in aggression and complacency in the face of its continuation in one part of the world encourage aggression in other parts. Therefore we appeal to you to stand by our people, who are striving for peace, to support us so that we can continue towards this goal, and take measures which will impress upon Israel that it cannot with impunity persist in its hostile policy against peoples, that violation of its commitments on the basis of which it was admitted to the United Nations makes Israel unfit for membership in the international community.
127.	Indeed, it has become a focal point of disturbance and terror in this sensitive region of the world. Visit yourselves, my friends, the town of Quneitra to see what Israeli hatred did just before the evacuation, following the separation agreement. See for yourselves the evidence that Israel could not contain its racism and instinct to destroy, but indulged them by razing the features of the town, demolishing every house, every shop, mosque, church, school, hospital, water reservoir and electric generator, every precious antiquity, even desecrating the sanctity of cemeteries with tractors and explosives. After such criminal operations the Israelis found the easiest course was to claim that the destruction of Quneitra occurred during the war, thus adding lies and hypocrisy to their war crimes.
128.	The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic calls upon the international Organization not to neglect the situation in the Middle East, for it is explosive, and hopes that it will go to the root of the problem. The Syrian Government insists that restoration to the Palestinian people of their national rights and other rights recognized by the Charter and United Nations resolutions is indispensable for the establishment of a just and durable peace in the Middle East, that the exercise by this people of its right to self-determination requires the implementation of paragraph 11 of General Assembly resolution 194 (III) adopted on 11 December 1948, which the Assembly has yearly reaffirmed, requiring the return of the Palestinians to their homes, and that Israel be compelled to annul all the measures it has taken to deprive the Palestinian people of its national and human rights. It calls upon the Security Council to take the necessary steps to safeguard those rights.
129.	Persistence in depriving the Palestinian people of its rights is contrary to the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; it is contrary to the policy of the United Nations, which is to liquidate colonialism and combat racism. The identity and individual character of the Palestinian people have been manifested through its struggle under the leadership of PLO, which most States have recognized, as they have recognized the legitimacy of the struggle of the Palestinian people. Therefore we appeal to you to extend political, material and moral support to this struggling people, to achieve peace and justice in the Middle East.
130.	Among the responsibilities of the United Nations, which inherited the question of Palestine from the League of Nations and has dealt with the Middle East crisis, is to declare without ambiguity that no just peace can be established save by the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Arab Territories occupied since June 1967 and by the revocation of all changes introduced by Israel in the demographic, economic and cultural structure of the occupied Territories. If Israel does not comply, the Organization should proceed forthwith to take all measures provided for in the Charter to deprive it of its membership and force complete withdrawal from all the occupied Territories and the restoration, to the Palestinian people of its national rights. Failure of the Organization to shoulder its responsibilities will jeopardize the progress achieved in international relations and allow them to revert to a state of explosive tension, for whatever occurs in the Middle East will have repercussions throughout the whole world.
131.	On these premises, the Arab States and others have decided to request the inclusion of the question of Palestine as an item on the agenda of the present session [AI9742 and Add J-4]. All States have supported this request and merit our sincerest thanks. The question of Palestine has been On the world's conscience for more than half a century. It behooves the Assembly now to examine all its aspects, so that Members can form a clear picture of what Israel is an example of settler colonialism similar in its nature and in the way it has been achieved to that of South Africa and Rhodesia. When we insist on the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Territories, and associate with this the ensuring of the rights of the Arab Palestinian people, we base ourselves on a historical reality which neither the series of Israeli aggressions nor the policy of fait accompli can eliminate from existence. By refusing to comply with United Nations resolutions, by engaging in maneuvers in order to evade the obligation of implementing Security Council resolution 338 (1973), Israel places the region in a condition hardly conducive to assuring international peace and security. Any co-operation with or assistance to Israel, militarily, economically or politically, will encourage it to persist in shunning its international obligations. All States, and particularly those which have been and are backing Israel, are called upon to fulfill their responsibility in the protection of the United Nations Charter and in the implementation of United Nations resolutions.
132.	Any attempt to restore, in one form or another, the situation that prevailed prior to the October war will have a nefarious impact on peace. Hence the need for strong measures to be undertaken by the United Nations and by all peace-loving peoples, measures such as those urged in the resolutions adopted by the Fourth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, convened in Algiers, calling for a political, military, economic and cultural boycott of Israel and for the discontinuance of all sea and air communications facilities extended to Israel by any country. We are entitled to expect and the events of October have only served to emphasize this such an international effort for the fulfillment of the Arab nation's legitimate demand of complete withdrawal and the demands for the national rights of the Arab Palestinian people. Unfortunately, we do not believe that hope will be fulfilled, unless we reach this result as soon as possible, particularly since Israel is resorting to all sorts of maneuvers for the purpose of aborting all such efforts and evading its obligations under the United Nations resolutions and the Charter.
133.	The policy of our country is that of a door open to the world in a spirit of friendship, positiveness and co-operation with all countries save those that base their philosophy and existence on racism. As a result of that policy, our country, together with other Arab countries, is witnessing a great and fruitful evolution in political, economic and spiritual relations with most other countries of the world. Some illustrations of this can be found in the top-level meetings that have taken place and are taking place in our country and in other Arab countries; in our active participation in the most important international conferences; in the series of visits undertaken recently by President Hafez El-Assad to a number of friendly States. In all of these there is an impulse for greater international understanding and co-operation, and a strong reaffirmation of a common faith in the principles of the Charter and in the moral values and norms of justice of the international community. The results of the conferences of the non-aligned countries and of the Islamic countries in Lahore and the summit meeting of the Arab States demonstrate and confirm this fact. Thus the way is being ^prepared for attainment by the people of Palestine of their national rights, under the leadership of PLO.
134.	Our people look forward to the day when the Mediterranean will be a lake over which peace reigns supreme, following on the disappearance of the hotbeds of tension in the Middle East resulting from the Zionist aggression against the Arab nation. We are saddened by the events in Cyprus, that island, so close to our shores, to which we are linked by cordial relations based on proximity, co-operation, the principles of the Charter and the policy of non-alignment. When we consider that those events are not isolated from the situation as a whole in the Miduik Bast and Europe, we feel that we should do everything possible that can put an end to the ordeal of the Cypriot people and settle their problem on the basis of the territorial integrity and independence of their country, remove all causes of tension in the island, and ensure that Cyprus remains a member of the group of non-aligned countries. We appeal to all Member States to co-operate towards the realization of these goals.
135.	Our Organization faces a new era. As was stated by the Secretary-General, it must respond to challenges and changes without sacrificing its principles. AU peoples look to the Organization in the hope that it will be able to spare the world the horrors of war and to build an international community based on sound and proper political, economic and social foundations; that it may do so by eliminating injustice, upholding right, spreading international justice and securing to all peoples their full rights. It is imperative for this Organization to find solutions to the great problems facing the international economy, and it is mandatory that it work towards narrowing the gap between the developing and developed countries. The disparities resulting from that gap which made it necessary to hold the historic sixth special session of the General Assembly last spring require sincere, serious and prompt work on the part of the technologically advanced States on the basis of full and rapid implementation of General Assembly resolution 3202 (S-VI), with restoration to all States of full sovereignty over their natural resources, easier access for them to technology, and technical assistance in promoting the construction of their economies on a sure, strong and self-confident basis, and the liquidation of aggression, foreign occupation and every form of foreign economic exploitation.
136.	There is no doubt that indulgence in military aggression, the appropriation by great Powers of huge budgetary sums for military expenditures, the amounts of aid given or proffered to racist and expansionist regimes, and the control of third-world resources all figure prominently in the state of inflation that is overwhelming the world.
137.	It is the right of the peoples of the third world that have suffered from colonialism and exploitation by imperialist companies to 'restore their full control over their natural resources and to utilize those resources for safeguarding their independence, sovereignty and national territory. If such utilization results in certain negative effects on other States, it is the duty of those States to cease giving their support to aggression, whether it be political, economic or military support, and to offer aid and assistance to the peoples suffering from aggression. The liquidation of aggression and its causes is one of the most important factors in eradicating the hotbeds of tension in the world, and it represents a process that will certainly have positive effects on the world economy and will serve the interests of different peoples.
138.	Only by working tirelessly, with courage and profound faith in the principles of the Charter and their applicability, can we fulfill the hopes of humanity. We are optimistic, Mr. President, that this session over which you preside will be the starting-point for a new era, one highlighting the strength and efficiency of this Organization.
139.	The Syrian Arab Republic, reasserting its belief in the Charter and in international law, feels strongly committed to the liberation of its occupied territories by every means available to it, and to securing the rights of the Palestinian people. In working towards these ends, we are giving expression to the aspirations and the interests of the international community in its longing for a just and lasting peace, and we are sincerely collaborating with all States and all forces working towards this. These are indeed the propitious conditions necessary for a climate of international relationships that can prosper under the auspices of the United Nations and become one of justice, love and equality in a world of peace, progress and prosperity.


Mr. President, permit me to congratulate you on your unanimous election to the presidency of the General Assembly. You have the distinction of being the youngest person ever to occupy that august position. Your youth is, however, a deceptive quality, for you have enormous experience both in the world of diplomacy and in the field of battle. You were a valiant soldier in Algeria's armed struggle for independence. You have been the Foreign Minister of Algeria for more than 10 years. You have also played an important role in the leadership of the group of non-aligned States.
50.	I should also like to pay a deserved tribute to Mr. Benites, who has earned our respect for the efficient and impartial way in which he presided over the twenty-eighth session and the sixth special session of the General Assembly.
51.	My delegation would also like to extend its welcome and good wishes to the three new Member States: Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau.
52.	I should also like to pay a special tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Waldheim, for the manner in which he has discharged his onerous duties during the past twelve months. I should like to single out two examples of his positive contributions to the cause of international peace and security. In the case of the Middle East, we all owe him a debt of gratitude for the efficiency and speed with which he organized the United Nations Emergency Force. The Force has played a crucial role in enforcing the cease-fire agreement and the subsequent disengagement agreements. In the case of Cyprus, Mr. Waldheim has also played an important role in bringing about a cease-fire between the belligerents and in the field of humanitarian relief to the more than 200,000 persons who have been displaced by the fighting. The decision of the Secretary-General to order UNFICYP to take over the airport at Nicosia, in order to prevent it from becoming a point of contention between the two opposing force was a good example of his initiative and for courage.
53.	It would appear, to judge by a number of speeches made at this session of the General Assembly and the reactions to them, that we may be moving away from a long era of political and military confrontations, which for three decades provided the major issues of international relations, to one of economic confrontation. True, what we have heard so far are only the distant rumbles of an approaching storm, but whether it will gather force and break over us or mercifully pass away will depend on the measure of rationality we bring to bear on our mounting economic problems.
54.	We should, however, first recognize that the potentialities for economic confrontation undoubtedly exist. Even our overriding preoccupations with problems of decolonization and cold-war commitments during the past three decades did not prevent economic conflicts obtruding from time to time, though for the most part these were treated as tedious distractions from the more pressing political and military issues.
55.	Up to early this year the great industrial Powers, which, until recently, between them accounted for some 70 per cent of the world's income, were supremely confident that they had their economic problems licked into good shape. They sincerely believed that they had established an international economic order capable of indefinite expansion and of providing them with unlimited affluence. A whole new branch of learning called "growth economics" provided the ideology to sustain this optimistic vision of the future.
56.	The newly independent countries of the third world, too, had their own grand fallacy. It had for long been their contention that the injustices and poverty which afflicted them were wholly attributable to imperialism and that, therefore, once foreign rule was ended, they would automatically enter an era of plenty and fair shares for all.
57.	There were, however, those who questioned whether either of those optimisms was justified and whether rich and poor nations were wise in assigning a low priority to economic problems. They questioned the prevailing conviction that some 138 sovereign States could best promote world prosperity simply by developing strong, independent national economies. They questioned the belief that purely national solutions could overcome domestic economic difficulties.
58.	Even as late as last year confidence in the essential soundness of the international economic order was as firm as ever. Such doubts and fears as may have momentarily crept in were dispelled by the unexpected boom of the years 1971 to 1973. It confirmed the prevailing belief that the international economic system had an infinite capacity for self- correction.
59.	Today, however, there is a growing feeling that the ups and downs of the world economy are not temporary lapses but symptoms of the gradual breakdown of the economic order put together some three decades ago at Bretton Woods. It is now becoming increasingly clear that unless the Bretton Woods system is replaced by another which more fully accords with the economic realities of today, the next three decades could well be given over to bitter and destructive economic confrontations. Nothing short of a fundamental re-evaluation of the world's economic problems will redeem mankind from distress and upheavals far more universal and more violent than anything we have seen hitherto.
60.	All this is not mere rhetoric. The first casualties of the breakdown of the old economic order have already appeared. Many of us do not find it incongruous at all that in this age of affluence and high technology we should be able to start our breakfast every day with a cursory glance at news of thousands of people dying of starvation. Many knowledgeable experts state that the age of famines has returned but this time on a world-wide scale. Only a few days ago the Secretary- General drew our attention to the fact that today some 32 countries are running out of food and facing economic collapse. Another estimate by Dr. Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Prize-winning American scientist, states that something like 50 million people will die of starvation this year a larger number than the populations of many countries represented in this Assembly. The actual figure is, of course, open to dispute but what is not in dispute is that millions will die and there is apparently very little the nations of the world, victims of outmoded economic doctrines, can do to save but a fraction of the doomed millions. And there is very little that this Assembly can do to offer these 50 millions any ray of hope, by our speeches or by our actions.
61.	This is because, it is claimed, the vast food surpluses of the 1950s and 1960s may not return for a long time those days are over, so the experts tell us. A major contributing factor one of the major factors is that today's population is increasing faster than we can provide food by some 70 million people a year. Even if there were to be a more equitable distribution of the world's food resources, starvation or near-starvation will still be the lot of millions of people. The claim that modern science and technology can cope with an indefinite population increase is, in my view, cruel, wishful thinking. Generous though nature has been, it has not provided us with infinite resources. There are definable limits to the amount of food that this planet can provide. We have already reached a point where the economic cost of extracting additional food is increasing, partly because of higher production costs. I am told that in the United States, where farming is perhaps the most efficient and most technologically advanced, it has been found that it is more expensive to raise yields from 90 to 100 bushels per acre than from 50 to 60 bushels per acre. Any additional increase in grain yield must cost more.
62.	The population problem is more crucial to developing countries than to developed countries and the formers ability to cope rationally with population growth will determine whether they make it into the twenty-first century as free, viable and prosperous States or remain festering, disintegrating areas of despair and violent unrest. It is no accident that famine today stalks and claims its victims only in developing countries. Because those countries have done very little to successfully regulate population growth and that means regulating population to resources nature therefore seeks to restore the balance and to be the corrective force, as it has done in ages past, by resorting to famine, pestilence and war. These have traditionally been nature's cures for overpopulation.
63.	In the likely event of the world sliding into an indefinite period of economic confrontation, the in-ability of third-world countries to control population growth will make them particularly vulnerable. Countries with large surpluses of grain for export are limited to a few rich and developed countries like the United States, Australia and Canada. Hitherto, and for many years, these countries have mitigated acute food problems in developing countries through food aid under various programs. But it would be optimistic to hope that they will continue to shoulder the whole burden of feeding the ever-increasing hungry peoples of the world.
64.	It is my submission that, in an era of unbridled economic confrontation, food could become a weapon, especially if other commodities, too, are converted into weapons in an economic war. It may well be that threats to use food and other commodities as weapons in an economic war may at the moment be nothing more than rhetoric born out of exasperation. But if rhetoric is indulged in often enough and economic frustrations mount, then the temptation to translate it into reality might prove irresistible. And we should remind ourselves that the most devastating of all commodity weapons would be food and the most vulnerable would be countries with large populations and poor food resources.
65.	I hope that the recent use of oil as a weapon against industrial countries will not be cited as a precedent for the conversion of other commodities whether raw materials or industrial products into weapons in an economic war. The reasons which led oil-producing countries to use oil as a weapon were not altogether invalid or immoral. In a way, the wealthy industrial countries forced the decision. For three decades commodity producers, including* oil producers, pleaded with industrial nations to pay more equitable prices for their raw materials. The raw- material producers pointed out, quite justifiably, that year after year for the last 30 years they had been trading on less favorable terms against increasingly expensive manufactured products. The consequence was that poor countries were, to some extent, subsidizing affluence in the wealthy countries. The wealthy nations for their part listened to these appeals with great sympathy and dutifully expressed amazement and concern over what was called the widening gap between rich and poor nations and that was about as far as they were prepared to go. Three decades of pleading did not move the rich nations simply because the poor nations so the rich nations were convinced had no leverage more persuasive than verbal and moral exhortations.
66.	Anyone rereading the proceedings of the various meetings of UNCTAD would come away with the strong impression that industrial nations had accepted the kind of Calvinistic doctrine that God has already selected for all time the nations that were to be rich and those doomed to be poor and that any action by man to reverse this judgment would be blasphemy.
67.	Whatever our other reservations on the use of oil as a weapon, there is no denying the fact that its users managed to get the industrial countries to grant what gentlemanly arguments failed to elicit. It would be understandable if other raw-material-producing countries, whose pleas for equitable prices still go unheeded, should ponder hopefully over the possibilities of forging similar weapons to enhance their bargaining position.
68.	However, in my view, the use of commodities as weapons in an economic war would be a disastrous course for the countries concerned and for the world economy. What I should like to do is to draw the attention of the wealthy, industrial countries to the growing economic frustration of developing countries over the failure of the former to deal equitably with those that produce raw materials. Equally, the producers of raw materials must be conscious of the fact that prices must bear some rational relationship to what the international economic system is capable of supporting.
69.	True, many of the economic difficulties en-countered by developing countries can be attributed to sins of omission and commission on their part. But what is equally undeniable is that the policies of industrial nations, short of their pious platitudes, are basically designed to make rich countries richer and poor countries poorer. As far as I know, no industrial nation has come forward with any systematic policy or plan deliberately to bridge the widening economic gap between it and the poor nations, however much it may deplore that gap in theory. This may be because the industrial countries feel that, except for the oil- producing countries, primary producers have no leverage against them.
70.	In my view, such complacency is both shortsighted and unwise and shows an abysmal and dangerous ignorance of the international economic system. It is my contention that, even if poor countries do not have the necessary leverage, such leverage is being applied against all of us by the new kind of international economic system which has today come to maturity. This new system which envelops us all can function smoothly only if the wealth of the world is more rationally distributed. All national economies, even the most powerful and the most dynamic, can survive and flourish only by coming to terms with the international economic system that today is the foundation on which national economies rest. Basic to this system is the acceptance of the interdependence of nations, not as a pious aspiration or piece of rhetoric but as a cold reality. The smooth functioning of this global system today depends on some 138 national units working in a co-ordinated fashion for the common good. If the international economy can be compared to a chain made up of 138 sovereign nations, then, I submit, the economy cannot be stronger than its weakest link.
71.	It was the fact of the economic interdependence of nations which made it possible for the handful of relatively underdeveloped oil-producing countries to throw th? world economy, and in particular the powerful industrial countries, into disarray. This economic interdependence has grown without our noticing it or even planning it over the past 30 years. Despite intense economic nationalism, nation States have been drawn willy-nilly into a complex network of economic relations world-wide in scope. All but the most primitive of national economies develop and grow more and more through international trade, international exchange. The present crisis into which we are drifting stems largely from the reluctance of national economies to come to terms with the imperatives of the international economic system.
72.	That, I believe, is why the present economic crisis into which we are moving is qualitatively different from the great depression of 1929. We cannot hope to get out of this crisis by short-term national solutions founded on a spirit of beggar-my-neighbor. That is why so far the application of remedies tried out in 1929 and in the 1930s is not only proving to be ineffective but appears to be exacerbating matters.
73.	What distinguishes this crisis from the earlier one is that it is far more international in scope, involving not, as in the past, a handful of imperial units and a few industrial Powers but some 138 sovereign nations. Since all nations are struggling with inflationary problems, it is clear that we are dealing in fact with a world economic problem. The more we seek to cope with a world problem and a world system in national terms, the worse becomes the crisis, the sharper the conflict between nations, the more inevitable an economic crash.
74.	However, given the reality of interdependent economies, the clearer should become the futility of economic confrontations. The use of commodity weapons to hurt foes would be an irrational response simply because it would, in the long run, hurt everyone foe, friend and eventually the user himself. Like the atom bomb, such a weapon, in an economically interdependent world, would not distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, between the rich and the poor, between the weak and the strong. But if, for want of imagination and courage, we should blunder into economic confrontation, then the first victims must be the weak developing countries. This is already the case. They do not have the resources to stand up to the strains of what must be a long and bitter economic confrontation. Eventually, all nations will be drawn into the struggle. The devastation will be great and only a few battered countries will emerge the nominal victors.
75.	That is why it is imperative that we cease trying to put the blame for the approaching economic crisis on this or that country or on the specific action of any one of them. That is the surest road to economic confrontation which, once begun, cannot be halted or reversed.
76.	The fault lies with all those who refuse to face the fact that, unless national economies are made more responsive to the imperatives of an international economy, we must continue to flounder hopelessly. If the crisis should persist and worsen, then there is a strong probability that desperation and fear of an inevitable economic collapse could, as in ages past, drive nations to seek the most dangerous and hopeless of all remedies: military confrontation.


Coming from a region of destruction and death, I speak from this rostrum in pain, with the single purpose of appealing, on behalf of a people who today owing to a natural disaster is living the most tragic moments of its history, to the humanitarian feelings of the States of the world represented here.
2.	Last week, a tropical storm of devastating force was unleashed on the Atlantic coast of Honduras, sowing destruction and death. The consequent climatic changes led to torrential rains, uninterrupted for several days, which caused violent and extensive floods, spreading damage over the entire national territory and leaving in their wake mourning, desolation and loss.
3.	The very dimension of the tragedy makes it impossible for us to give exact information on human and material losses. Suffice it to say that so far it is estimated that 10,000 persons have died and that of the 600,000 persons inhabiting the areas most affected by the storms, and who are deprived of their means of livelihood, more than 100,000 are homeless.
4.	To see these figures in the right perspective, it is necessary to bear in mind that the total population of my country is less than 3 million.
5.	The backbone of the economy of my country is broken; 85 per cent of the harvests of the main exports and consumption products have been destroyed and water covers and will continue to cover for some time what used to be the fertile fields that constituted the greatest wealth of my country, making it virtually impossible to restore them for a long time and in some cases causing irreparable damage.
6.	Honduras is essentially an agricultural and cattle raising country, and a very high percentage of the national production in these areas was concentrated in the affected region.
7.	As though this was not sufficient mortally to wound a poor and small country, our industrial centers are located in the area of the greatest destruction and in many cases they will have to close down, while in other cases they will have at least to reduce the rate of their operations for a long time, thus aggravating the already high rate of unemployment.
8.	The damages to the infrastructure -roads, bridges, railroads, power-lines, drinking water systems, port facilities and so on- are simply catastrophic. The effort required for reconstruction is still incalculable.
9.	Preliminary technical estimates set the losses at approximately $1,000 million. And this in a country whose gross national product is far below that amount.
10.	In the face of the Honduran tragedy, the international community has demonstrated its solidarity and responded with alacrity. From the four corners of the world we have received contributions which have helped in meeting our enormous need for food, clothes, medicines and supplies. To all the nations and organizations which, in one way or another, have come to our assistance, I should like, on behalf of Honduras, to extend our profound and lasting gratitude.
11.	The people and Government of Honduras are stoically doing all that is humanly possible, devoting all their efforts and resources and working 24 hours a day to meet the most urgent needs brought about by our tragedy. And we are unshakably resolute in facing the responsibility of reconstructing our wounded homeland with total devotion. Unfortunately, we understand that our own efforts, intensive as they may be, will not suffice and that we urgently need massive assistance on the part of all States of goodwill.
12.	This is the reason for my presence on this forum. I am grateful for the special opportunity granted to me to address the Assembly. I come as the representative of a poor and proud people who need help. We have confidence in the international "organizations and in the feelings of human solidarity of all nations and we hope that assistance will be speedy and generous. I am profoundly encouraged in that hope by the fact that the group of Latin American States has authorized me to tell you that it feels the tragedy afflicting Honduras as its own and as one of continental scope.
13.	God's will, which puts us to the test, at the same time gives us strength to bear this test and the confidence that in the world there are sensitive people ready to extend a friendly hand to us. I appeal today to their consciences since in supreme moments of anguish and pain a wounded people can only offer its unshakable will to survive and its endless gratitude to those who accompany and assist it.


Mr. President, allow me first to join the previous speakers in congratulating you on your unanimous election to the high office of President of the General Assembly. I have the pleasure also to bring to you and, through you, to the Assembly the greetings of my President His Excellency Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who is a distinguished fighter for freedom and justice in the continent of Africa, and also of the Government and the people of Kenya. He, like the leaders and the people of your country, found after many years of reasoning and logical debate that the freedom of a people could not be recovered from colonialists peacefully. Your country and mine have a lot in common, and we therefore share the pleasure of your election to the high office of President of the General Assembly. In conferring this high office on you and on Algeria, the General Assembly has manifested its confidence in your wisdom and distinguished qualities of leadership and experience. This year's agenda is heavy and the whole session is bound to produce developments with far- reaching consequences for the future. This is why we feel that a heavy burden is placed on your shoulders, and, therefore, my delegation will fully co-operate with you and give you all support possible in order not to make that burden heavier than it already is.
2.	May I also take this opportunity to congratulate your predecessor, Mr. Leopoldo Benites, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations, for the able, dedicated and forthright manner in which he guided the affairs of the twenty-eighth session and the sixth special session of the General Assembly. The success of the two sessions in no small measure depended on Mr. Benites.
3.	It is also fitting that I should pay tribute to the Secretary-General and the staff of the United Nations for the good work they have done in the past year.
The organization of the sixth special session and the efforts made to deal with the crises in the Middle East and Cyprus, in addition to the normal schedule, must have added extra demands on the Secretary- General and his staff. They all deserve our thanks and commendation.
4.	It is my pleasure to salute and welcome in our midst, on behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of Kenya, the three new Members, namely, the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Grenada and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. My country has many affinities with these new nations. It has been Kenya's special pleasure heartily to subscribe to the Security Council's recommendations for their admission to United Nations membership. This is a major step towards the goal of the universality of the United Nations.
5.	Guinea-Bissau deserves particular mention for its heroic struggle for independence and freedom, which ultimately had the result of liberating the peoples of metropolitan Portugal and setting the stage for what is happening now. We urge the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as well as individual Member States, to give Guinea-Bissau all the assistance possible in its effort of national reconstruction.
6.	This year the General Assembly is meeting in changed circumstances with regard to the decolonization question. We have noted with satisfaction the attitude of the new Portuguese Government towards the evil of colonialism. What has taken place in Africa in the last few months leads us to believe that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of colonialism in that long abused continent. The new Government of Portugal deserves congratulations for what it has achieved so far and encouragement and support to complete, in the next few months, the task it has embarked upon. A delay may damage the good work and give the forces of exploitation and oppression a chance to show their ugly head again.
7.	The irony of the situation facing Africa today is that, on the one hand, independence is on the horizon in respect of the Portuguese-occupied Territories, but, on the other hand, racist minority regimes still ruthlessly, blindly and fearfully entrench themselves in the belief that the misguided systems they champion have a future in Africa. That is the case with the British colony of Southern Rhodesia. !n that colony the rebel regime continues with impunity and glaring defiance to uproot, herd and displace the African population and forcibly to take their remaining lands, pass discriminatory legislation and faithfully and blindly copy South African crimes of apartheid.
8.	These extreme measures of folly are blindly undertaken contrary to enlightened public opinion within and outside that Territory and in utter disregard of the norms of a civilized international community. The rebellious clique which champions the so-called independence in Southern Rhodesia should not delude itself. Those who have sustained that rebellion are to blame for the unpleasant consequences that their misdeeds will unleash in that part of Africa. The combination of support from the South African regime guilty of the crime of apartheid and other well-known nations is worthy of condemnation by all peace-loving nations of the world.
9.	My delegation is pained that key nations with which Kenya enjoys valuable international co-operation in trade, commerce and political and economic relations are so deeply involved in the affairs of such widely unacceptable regimes. We call on them to support the United Nations in its endeavors to rehabilitate Southern Rhodesia and South Africa.
10.	I wish to reiterate that my delegation is firmly of the following views. First, the United Kingdom remains the administering Power of that colony of Southern Rhodesia and must, by word and deed, exercise that power to stop the South African regime from slowly annexing that colony. Secondly, the principle of "no independence before majority rule" should be adhered to before a change in the status of the colony is effected. Thirdly, the African leaders and all political detainees must be released immediately and consulted before the eventual formation of a Government representing the majority of the peoples of Zimbabwe. Fourthly, all Member States of the United Nations should apply mandatory sanctions, as called for by the Security Council. At present, many Member States either openly support the breach of sanctions, as is the case with some known States, including those which initially called for them as an alternative to the use of force to quell the rebellion, or plead all manner of excuses as to why the sanctions cannot be enforced.
11.	A dangerous situation persists in the southern part of the African continent, one that has been under the consideration of the United Nations since its inception. We have the oppressive, imperialist and expansionist regime of South Africa, armed to the hilt by its known collaborators, expending untold resources on arms from some well-known Member nations of the Organization. That regime is still scornfully occupying the United Nations Trust Territory of Namibia, in defiance of law and reason. It is extending its tentacles to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, for purposes both of security and of economic and political expansion. The recent rail link between Southern Rhodesia and South Africa has the obvious effect of integrating the two regimes economically and evading the United Nations sanctions imposed on the colony of Southern Rhodesia. Internally, the regime is tightening its ruthless grip on the indigenous peoples, who are stripped of all human dignity and human rights and used as profit-production machines to fill the coffers of the interests currently brazenly defying the United Nations sanctions against the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.
12.	In such circumstances of oppression, defiance and expansion and veiled discouragement of decolonization in southern Africa, the African States and the international community are in duty bound to review the implications of the arms buildup there. We have urged all nations that value human life to halt their sale of arms to South Africa, and to cooperate with the United Nations in taking corrective action by terminating commercial, diplomatic and consular relations with that country.
13.	The voice of reason has gone unheeded. Many well-known nations from all corners of the earth not only continue to expand their financial and other relations with South Africa but also sell armaments to that country, which has continued to defy the United Nations with regard to Namibia and Southern Rhodesia. In our view, the time has come for the rest of Africa to pose the question? who indeed is a friend of Africa? Has the time not come for the African countries to shape their destiny in the light of the general interests they all share with the other Members of the international community? Is it not time that they chose either us or those regimes? These are legitimate questions to raise in the General Assembly for all to ponder.
14.	Some Powers distinguish between arms for external defense and arms for internal defense. This is a meaningless distinction, in terms of the peace and security of the African continent. Such devious ways of avoiding their duties to the international community are not, however, confined to the sale of arms. In the field of trade, parent companies in many well- known countries have been giving franchises to local companies. Can anybody doubt that the profits derived from such transactions reach those countries that are at the forefront in denying that they have dealings With Southern Africa?
15.	As I have already stated, the time is ripe for us in Africa to know, through deeds and not through empty words, who are the friends of Africa. Indeed, my delegation will spare no effort directed towards the removal of the delinquent racist regime of South Africa from the community of civilized nations. I must quickly add, however, that the primary aim of any international action should be to correct and rehabilitate South Africa, since we adhere to the principle of the universality of the United Nations.
16.	Every nation, large or small, has the right to expect to live in peace and security. To every nation, therefore, the maintenance and strengthening of international peace and security are of paramount importance. The small nations may not have a button to push to destroy the entire human race; but, if they are not at peace with one another, the threat to international peace and security is just as real, since, in the event of conflict, each nation has friends and enemies. The maintenance of international peace is therefore of cardinal importance to all, and is not the exclusive preserve of one or two mighty nations.
17.	Despite the avowed intentions of all Member States to preserve peace and security, in the last few months the world community has been shocked: we witnessed in the middle of July an overt attempt to destroy by force of arms a Member of this Organization. I refer to the attempt by some Members of this Organization to destroy by force of arms the Republic of Cyprus, a non-aligned country whose makeup and history show many parallels with Kenya's, and with which Kenya has maintained close relations for many years.
18.	In dealing with the problem of Cyprus, my delegation takes as a starting-point the fact that Cyprus exists as an independent, sovereign and full Member of the United Nations. We are happy to note that the Security Council has unanimously affirmed this [resolution 353 (1974)]. We believe that Cyprus will be assisted if all Member States respect its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
19.	The problem of Cyprus is made to appear complex. However, at the root of it all is the fact that the people of Cyprus have not been given a chance to develop a sense of nationhood. They have been encouraged by external forces to accentuate their differences rather than to harmonize their common interests. We believe, therefore, that the first and cardinal step towards the solving of the Cyprus problem is non-interference by outsiders. I note in this regard that the Security Council has called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the island [ibid.]. This is a basic requirement. We are confident that, encouraged by the international community, the Cypriot people will be capable of discussing their problems and solving them.
20.	My delegation is aware of the territorial claims to parts of Cyprus made by outsiders. We are also aware of the treaties or guarantees imposed on Cyprus by the agreements of Zurich and Geneva of 1960 and would like to reiterate that we consider those Treaties to be inequitable and one of the underlying causes of the present crisis in Cyprus. We were doubtful of the sustained ability of those Treaties to form the basis of negotiations for the return of peace and constitutional government in Cyprus. Kenya was among the first countries to call for a more direct participation of the United Nations in assisting the Republic of Cyprus to solve its problems. We believe the communities should be encouraged to have more direct talks under the auspices of the United Nations, and that nothing that would aggravate the already delicate situation should be done in order to avoid the possibility of renewed hostilities that would lead to further loss of life. We are confident that with the support of the United Nations the problem of Cyprus will be solved.
21.	One other area that continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security is the Middle East. This year, we meet hopefully in happier circumstances than was the case a year ago. A shooting war erupted then in that unhappy region. The Assembly and the Security Council were put under severe pressure. Fortunately, the joint efforts of all Member States, and especially those directly concerned, prevented the situation from becoming a major world disaster. A framework of negotiations to normalize the situation and to bring about a just and lasting peace was born.
22.	Over the past 10 months, the international community has witnessed slow but positive signs of the will of the nations in that region to achieve peace. The disengagement agreements and the talks in Geneva are a welcome development. Kenya hopes that the experience gained over these months will not have been in vain. Rather, it will give the momentum required to intensify the search for ways and means of settling the outstanding problems on the basis of law, justice and mutual respect. Kenya believes that for a lasting peace the implementation of the following principles is essential: first, the recognition by all the States in the region of the right of each State to exist in conditions of peace and security; secondly, the recognition that the acquisition of territory by force of arms is inadmissible, and thirdly, the recognition that the rights of the displaced people of the area should under no circumstances be abused, overlooked, sacrificed or minimized, and it is for this reason that we consider that all the people and parties concerned in the problem of the area should be consulted and should participate in any discussions designed to produce a permanent solution.
23.	Recent developments in the arms buildup cause some concern. They pose the question as to their intention. Is this buildup to strengthen international peace and security or is it intended to threaten peace and security? A comparison of the resources employed by many nations in the military buildup and in the social services paints a hopelessly lopsided picture. Over half the national resources are consumed in military arsenals. Yet, populations go without food, without education, without employment, without proper and adequate housing, to mention but a few social amenities. If the goals and principles enshrined in the Charter are to be achieved, then nations must take collective and individual acts to limit this dangerous buildup.
24.	Kenya is committed to the ideals of peace and friendly relations with all nations. Kenya realizes that in order to meet the many challenging social, economic and political developments, a climate of tranquility in international relations is basic. It is for this reason that my delegation will encourage and support all moves towards achieving the ideals of disarmament.
25.	Our commitment to peace and security leads us to refer to the situation in the Indian Ocean. This ocean is neighbored by an overwhelming number of small States whose basic goal remains peace and security. The increased appearance of the naval fleets of certain nations not famed for their love of peace causes general disquiet in the area. The competition between them in an area that is desirous of peace poses a serious threat to the survival of the nations of the area. Recent events in other parts of the world cannot but convince us that the presence of these fleets in our area constitutes a veiled threat to the independence of the small nations in that area.
26.	We cannot fail to realize that, in the event of tension between these Powers in the area, many of the African States on the eastern seaboard would be paralyzed. We have a crucial stake in the peaceful state of the ocean. Kenya urges all without exception to support the creation of a zone of peace in the Indian Ocean.
27.	Although on balance the situation regarding peace and security has been unsatisfactory, there have been some encouraging developments in the Organization during the current year. One of the most welcome of these developments is the conclusion of the work of the Special Committee on the Question of Defining Aggression [see AI9619 and Corr.l]. All the members of the Special Committee, and particularly its Chairman and Rapporteur, deserve our congratulations for managing to conclude the work of defining "aggression", which has eluded the international community for the last 50 years. Although far from perfect, we believe that the definition that has been achieved will go a long way towards deterring potential aggressors and would assist the Security Council in its difficult task of determining the "existence of any threat to peace, breach of peace or act of aggression" as required by Article 39 of the Charter of the United Nations.
28.	While the definition by itself will not end aggression, we believe that States will now have a yard-stick applicable to all Members of the Organization, big or small. While my delegation is not entirely happy with the provisions of the definition, we are well aware that it has been the result of a compromise. We shall, nevertheless, be able to support it as it stands in the hope that the General Assembly will be able to adopt it.
29.	As we are assembled here, the international economic situation is the one most serious problem exercising the minds of the majority of the world community. The international economic problems created by the 1971-1972 balance-of-payments upheavals, the problem of galloping inflation and the problems precipitated by oil questions remain unsolved. As for us in Africa, the impact of these international problems has been even further compounded by the very real problems of drought, food shortages and desertification, thus presenting us with an eve l more ominous picture for the future.
30.	Although it is true that economic problems and especially inflationary forces are rampant all over the world, it is important that the world community not lose sight of the fact that the ones who have been hit hardest by the recent international economic ailments are the peoples of the developing countries.
31.	At the bottom of our problems has, of course, been the continued and acutely unfavorable trend in our terms of trade. The prices of our essential imports of manufactured goods have been increasing year after year in the wake of the inflationary processes domestically generated in the industrialized countries. On the other hand, the price our exports and of primary sources of development finance have been either stagnant or declining. We have raised this particular issue at numerous international meetings over and over again during the last decade and will continue to do so in the hope that the world community will one day address itself to the problem. The problem is the unrealistic prices of raw materials in relation to the price of manufactured products.
32.	The economic interdependence of the present world has been more than underscored by the events of the last 12 months. The trade or monetary policies followed by individual or groups of Governments to deal with their economic, social or political problems can now no longer be ignored by the rest of the world community. The convening of the sixth special session of the General Assembly last April was a belated but very welcome manifestation of the international recognition of this very basic fact of our times.
33.	As for us, the developing countries, the convening of the session and the subsequent adoption of the two milestone resolutions the Declaration on the
Establishment of a New International Economic Order [resolution 3201 (S-VI)], in which the world community solemnly proclaimed its united determination to work urgently towards that goal, and the Pro-gramme of Action [resolution 3202 (S-VI)]- were seen as the advent of a new era of genuine economic co-operation with the rest of the world for the good of all. We very much welcomed the Program of Action especially in the fields of trade liberalization, inter-national monetary reforms, food and fertilizer production, transfer of technology, industrialization and flow of development finance.
34.	Unfortunately, and it is. a matter of deep concern and disappointment to us, we have over the last few months been progressively confronted with vigorous efforts aimed at either frustrating or altogether preventing the implementation of that very pivotal Program of Action. We are well aware of the fact that certain nations did express reservations after General Assembly resolutions 3201 (S-VI) and 3202 (S-VI) had been adopted. We accept their sovereign right to enter those reservations. But we do not accept those reservations as being of such importance as to nullify the decisions taken by the world community last April.
35.	We appeal to those nations to re-examine once again their declared positions. The realities of our economic interdependence in the trade and monetary fields have already entrenched us in an era where we can no longer post-pone the development and implementation of new concepts, new options and an entirely new range of ground rules with which to tackle our current and progressively 'increasing economic predicaments. We are all collectively responsible for our common destiny, and it is therefore imperative that we make a more positive effort to perceive our interdependence and common destiny in a more en-lightened perspective. A civilization that guarantees enough food and drink and shelter to only a third of its people cannot survive.
36.	During this session, food, or rather the lack of it, has been uppermost in the program of many Member States. Kenya will make its modest contribution towards the solving of this problem during the World Food Conference in November. Africa, which suffered from severe droughts last year, droughts that brought untold misery to many in the continent, cannot forget the lessons learned from that tragedy. We are thankful for the massive aid that poured in from all over the world, co-ordinated by th.e United Nations. As the lessons of that tragedy showed, Africa needs more than the ad hoc massive drops of food in the affected area. Africa, like most of the other developing areas, has sufficient rich productive soil. What it lacks is technology and resources to revolutionize its subsistence agriculture. Kenya, therefore, hopes that the developed countries will, during the Conference in November, in billing to consider the possible transfer of correct technology and make enough resources available to the developing countries so that they can achieve the aims of the Conference enough food for each person in the world in the shortest possible time.
37.	The oil crisis concerns the entire international community. But, as I have stated earlier with regard to the general world economic situation, it is the small countries, like my own, that have been hit the hardest. The price increases have disrupted the development plans of many countries and, if not checked, could well result in total collapse of the economies of those countries. The solution to the oil crisis, therefore, is not of interest to the major consumers and producers alone, but to all of us. It is for this reason that we favor the solution of the problem within the context of the United. Nations. We believe that the collective responsibility in solving this crisis correctly falls under Article 56 of the Charter.
38.	The first step towards the global approach to the solution of the oil crisis is not to indulge so much in apportioning blame. We cannot gain anything by distributing blame when the crisis continues to grow worse. What we need is for the oil-producing countries and the corporations that deal in oil to get together with the oil consumers under the auspice? of the Organization to formulate ways and means of solving the crisis urgently. The most dangerous way of handling this oil crisis is to do nothing now thus leaving all the parties to seek their salvation by hurting others. In the end we shall all be losers.
39.	In order that the Organization could adequately assist Member States in solving the energy crisis, it is essential that new approaches and machinery be established within the system. We call, therefore, as an initial step, for the strengthening of the section which deals with energy in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This would put the Organization in line, indeed make the Organization take the lead, in what is already happening at the national level.
40.	The second session of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was held at Caracas. I should like to take this opportunity to express the gratitude of my delegation to the Government and the people of Venezuela for the excellent arrangements they made to host the Conference which, as many have remarked, was the largest international Conference ever held. The fact that no final results were achieved should not in any way detract from the importance of the Conference and particularly of that session. A lot of progress, on which the successful conclusion of the immense task depends, has already been made at Caracas. The general debate on all the issues has been finalized. Concrete proposals on all the items are now before the Conference. What remains now is serious and business-like negotiations by all States with a view to harmonizing different positions and ai living at a generally acceptable convention.
41.	I should like, however, to point out that we from the developing countries cannot afford the leisure of continuing these negotiations indefinitely. The Confer-ence heavily taxed our financial and manpower re-sources. We are determined t'.iat the next session of the Conference, scheduled for March to May 1975, should be the final one. Though a great deal of work remains to be done, we are convinced that with good will and a serious negotiating spirit, the Conference can bring its work to a successful conclusion.
42.	We would be prepared to support a final ceremonial session. We shall not be willing, however, to support an endless series of sessions while some of the States represented engage in what appears to be a filibuster designed to block all efforts at changing the existing status quo on the exploration and exploitation of the wealth of the sea, which favors a few developed countries at the expense of everyone else. Changes inevitably are going to come. It is up to all the States represented to engage in a serious dialog in order to ensure that the changes will be equitable and fair to all; otherwise the changes may have to come from the unilateral action of States, which can lead only to further confusion in this field and will continue to be a dangerous source of international conflicts. The Kenya delegation will not be found wanting in making determined efforts to arrive at a generally acceptable convention during the forthcoming session of the Conference and we hope that all other States will co-operate in a similar spirit.
43.	The whole world has been shocked and grieved at the terrible disaster that has afflicted Honduras, and, only yesterday, Peru, countries which have very close ties with my own country. On behalf of the Government and the people of Kenya, I convey our deep sympathies to the Government and the peoples of Honduras and Peru. These disasters underline once again the necessity for a more vigorous approach by the international community to the problem of emergency assistance in cases of disaster. Developing countries have been continuously at the mercy of natural disasters because they lack adequate machinery for pre-disaster warning or the means to combat disasters when they occur. We urge the speed-up of programs to train personnel from developing countries for pre-disaster warning, and the strengthening of the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordination, so that loss of life and property can be minimized.
44.	The events of the last few years, more so the events of the last 12 months, have shown how inter-dependent the international community has become. No longer can States sit back and say of an event happening in another part of the world, "It does not concern us." Technology has brought us so close to one another, yet paradoxically, old attitudes and prejudices have not disappeared. The pursuit of narrow national interests at the expense of wider international interests has at times brought the world to the brink of war. Rigid adherence to instructions has stifled constructive discussion in international forums.
45.	Despite all these shortcomings, Kenya has faith in the United Nations. We hope that Member States will take appropriate actions to see that the structure and the orientation of the Organization encourage more harmony and co-operation for the benefit of all man-kind. Kenya, for its part, will continue to make its modest contribution in this direction.