1.	Mr. President, the delegation of Guatemala is pleased to congratulate you on your election as President of this session of the General Assembly and we are certain that your outstanding qualities and diplomatic skills, your experience and thorough knowledge of international problems, as well as your devotion to the ideals of the United Nations, will be decisive factors for the orderly proceedings of our debates and for maintaining the delicate balance of conciliation in the resolutions that will be adopted at this thirty-second session.
2.	The delegation of Guatemala is also pleased to express its appreciation to Mr. Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe for the excellent work that he did in guiding the thirty-first session of the General Assembly.
3.	My delegation extends to the delegations of the two new Members of our Organization, the  socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Republic of Djibouti, its cordial welcome to this world body and offers them its co-operation in all undertakings that will contribute to the achievement of the purposes that we share in this universal forum.
4.	It is 2 great satisfaction for the delegation of Guatemala to express appreciation for the work done by the Secretary-General of the Organization, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, whom I had the honour to receive in my country a few months ago, and to-congratulate him on his tireless efforts on behalf of the maintenance of world peace and the strengthening of the mission which has been entrusted to the United Nations. Therefore, on behalf of the delegation which I head, I reaffirm our complete support for his endeavours and initiatives.
5.	I shall now refer to some of the items which my delegation considers to be far-reaching and which will be considered at this session.
6.	It has become evident in this Assembly that in our debates we attach priority interest to the item of international protection of human rights, which since the signing of the Charter at San Francisco has constituted one of the fundamental purposes of the United Nations.
7.	That concern is natural and understandable at a time when, in spite of incredible advances in science and technology, mankind is being harassed by a growing and ruthless wave of violence and by changing forms of civil and international struggle in which the human being is practically defenceless.
8.	The fact that we are here as representatives of the human race is reason enough for this forum to express the unanimous aspiration that the life, integrity and dignity of man should not suffer the abuses of governments or the blind and cruel attacks of terrorism. As representatives of governments, our unanimous aspiration must be translated into action designed to strengthen and develop the legal instruments and institutions required in order to prevent and repress violations of human rights and to guarantee the effective exercise of those rights.
9.	The security of the individual must be safeguarded against the excesses of State power. We must ensure the essential conditions of well-being for a dignified and useful life. We must also protect man against the brutal acts of terrorism, which are a threat to the personal integrity and freedom of innocent persons-whether citizens or government officials and diplomatic representatives-who are the victims of indirect action intended to achieve a political objective. Violence and lack of respect for human rights are the result of an interaction of abnormal social forces of which the consequences as well as the deep roots must be combated.
10.	The action of the international community must be strongly directed toward preventing and eradicating violence from wherever u comes and whatever its ostensible motivation. Just as individuals must be protected from the excesses of governments, they also must be guaranteed security against the crimes of terrorism. these are two different manifestations of the same disease which afflicts mankind, namely, violence.
11.	The Government of Guatemala actively participated in the action undertaken by the United Nations which led to the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was signed in Paris in 1948, as well  as in the International Covenants which supplement it.
12.	Those cardinal principles were incorporated in the Constitution of Guatemala, in its broad protection of individual guarantees and social rights, and are part of our internal legal system.
13.	My Government also signed the American Convention on Human Rights, known as the Pact of San Jose, which we helped to frame and which establishes effective agencies for the protection of the observance of those rights at the regional level. That Convention has been submitted for the approval and prompt ratification of our domestic institutions.
14.	The Government of Guatemala has at all times considered that the most effective way of ensuring the protection of human rights is through international conventions, both world-wide and regional. Unilateral actions or pressures, however worthy their motives, can always be considered as forms of intervention which are prohibited in relations among States.
15.	For more than 25 years, the Government of Guatemala has been in favour of establishing an office of
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with responsibility for ensuring that the necessary procedures are followed in order to secure and guarantee respect for those rights.
16.	It is the conviction of my Government that the Commissioner, because of his technical competence, would be the proper person to (ill the existing gap which some private associations, whose conclusions are frequently formulated through generalizations or unproven accusations, are seeking to fill more through enthusiasm than equanimity.
17.	In conclusion, I wish to state that the delegation of Guatemala will sponsor a proposal to establish the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
18.	With respect to international co-operation, which is one of the most relevant activities of the United Nations, the delegation of Guatemala wishes to express its concern, because the goals and targets set for the United Nations Second Development Decade have in practice not been fully implemented, that is to say, it has not been possible to consolidate a generous policy of co-operation as the only way to achieve universal stability.
19.	International, co-operation becomes more essential every day and coexistence in a community of peoples seeking to strengthen peace in the mere absence of conflict is very difficult, because the desired security can be jeopardized as long as two thirds of the peoples of the world still live in conditions of dire insufficiency. The elimination of the scourges which cause such insufficiency must be achieved on a world-wide scale and as a genuine crusade demanding intensive and accelerated common action.
20.	The United Nations can have no programme more noble or more promising than the promotion of development, since we live in a world which is forever in movement, with intercommunication made possible by the impressive advance of technology and science, and it is therefore impossible to remain indifferent to the backwardness of innumerable nations, which also leads to situations which are a danger to all. Development beyond and above frontiers and ideologies is a goal that must be achieved as early as possible in order to bring about a more balanced and harmonious world, in which conditions of well-being are within everyone's reach.
21.	The delegation of Guatemala considers it fitting to refer to the failure of the United Nations Negotiating Conference on a Common Fund under the Integrated Programme for Commodities, held this year, because we, as a developing country, had set great hopes on those efforts. The Conference was one of those landmarks in international relations which sometimes do not arouse the attention they deserve, even though this was the first conference convened by the United Nations specifically to negotiate a new instrument which could become a vital part of the new international economic order.
22.	The common fund is no great novelty in terms of structural change since it is intended only to assist in the establishment and better operation of international agreements on commodities. What is novel is the plan to add to these arrangements international financing to support and promote agreements on trade.
23.	It is regrettable that the Conference was unable to take any specific decision on this very important item, not even on questions of principle. Yet we must not waver in our hope that negotiations on the common fund will continue, because for the developing countries this fund is still a key element in the urgently needed reform of the world economy.
24.	My delegation looks forward with optimism to the holding of the United Nations Conference on Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries to be held in the spring of next year, since it will constitute a useful forum for the developing countries to share their knowledge and experience.
25.	Now the industrial nations must realize the urgent need for them to increase substantially their contributions to development and to achieve structural changes in the international system. This is the true meaning of the interdependence of nations and one of the cardinal points of world peace.
26.	In the context of international co-operation for development, the delegation of Guatemala considers it appropriate to express its support for the establishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which represents an important effort of the international community to increase food production throughout the world. The Fund is a scheme in which both industrial countries and the developing countries would participate with specific and far-reaching objectives that would lead to a general improvement in rural activity throughout the world.
27.	My delegation considers that, in order to attain development targets, basic conditions must be created that would promote development at all levels, including conditions designed to establish a balance in international trade. To this end the developed countries must apply, improve and expand the system of generalized non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory tariff preferences for the developing countries.
28.	It is the unavoidable duty of every State to co-operate to achieve stability in the export prices of the developing countries in relation to import prices, so as to ensure just and equitable terms of trade so that prices will be remunerative for the producer and acceptable to the consumer, with a view to a balanced expansion of the world economy.
29.	We must make it clear that international co-operation for development is a shared objective and the common duty of all States, which must all c. operate with the efforts of the developing countries to accelerate their economic and social well-being, with strict respect for the legal equality of States and without conditions that undermine their sovereignty.
30.	The Guatemalan delegation recognizes that the Members of the United Nations are co-operating effectively by intensifying the economic and social development of developing countries in many ways. One of its most important instruments is UNDP, and my Government considers its resources should be increased, particularly by the industrial countries, so that UNDP can execute indispensable projects in the poorer nations.
31.	As regards the United Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea, the Government of Guatemala regrets that the negotiations held so far have been so slow, making it impossible to overcome the obstacles that prevent the signing of an international instrument reflecting the established aims.
32.	The delegations of Guatemala expresses its most sincere hope that at the forthcoming sessions of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea Governments will do their utmost to arrive at an international treaty that will finally achieve the global regulation of a subject so vital to the future of mankind.
33.	The Government of Guatemala has been striving to establish the mechanisms necessary to accelerate the process of integral development for our people in an atmosphere of peace and with total respect for human rights, within the context of freedom and the complete exercise of democracy.
34.	My Government is aware that raising the standard of living of the people of Guatemala depends mainly on our own efforts, but we also recognize that international co-operation is most important within a world development strategy.
35.	Since the earthquake which afflicted my country on 4 February 1976 my Government has made a major effort to accelerate the process of national reconstruction without setting aside the execution of projects developed within an organic development plan, acting in conformity with the motto proclaimed by the President of Guatemala, General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud, as the goal of his administration:  To rebuild without ceasing to produce .
36.	The international community has been assisting my Government in its arduous task of reconstruction in the devastated areas, and we take the opportunity to reiterate our gratitude in this world forum for that generous co-operation.
37.	We reiterate our support for United Nations principles, particularly those which are vital for the harmonious existence of nations, such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-intervention, compliance in good faith with international obligations, the promotion of international social justice and international co-operation for development.
38.	Throughout its history my country has kept alive its faith in the pacific settlement of disputes among nations. We have proved this in our bilateral relations, and we have defended this principle at the international level.
39.	Guatemala, which has actively participated in the United Nations since its foundation, will continue to play its part to the full so that the world Organization may attain the objectives and purposes it has set itself since its inception, and will continue to maintain respect for the principles which led to its establishment.
40.	Nevertheless, my Government is concerned because among some of the Members of this world Organization, which is made up of peace-loving States, there still exist, 32 years after its foundation, acute situations of conflict which maintain virulent hotbeds of tension in various regions of the planet and threaten the stability of peace in a world that is increasingly interdependent as regards both good and bad fortune
41.	We must nevertheless recognize the success of the United Nations in avoiding the possible conflagrations which have loomed ominously over international peaceful coexistence. We should not be discouraged because that success has not included some cases which, regrettably, are still critical, and we must keep our faith that, with goodwill and a shared spirit of sacrifice, just and satisfactory solutions will be arrived at.
42.	The delegation of Guatemala expresses its pleasure and reiterates its solidarity with the people of Panama because of the agreements recently signed with the United States of America on the inter-oceanic Canal which meet the desire of that sister nation to obtain more favourable status over 1 the important means of communication which is part of its ' national territory We congratulate both contracting parties for the understanding and conciliatory manner in which, by means of dialogue, they have succeeded in resolving a question that was debated at length and was of world interest, and is particularly of continental interest.
43.	The example of the Panama Canal reaffirms our conviction that, with good faith and a spirit of mutual sacrifice among the parties to a dispute, conciliatory formulas can be found which will guarantee relations of peace and, accordingly, relations of friendship and co-operation among peoples. We express the hope that the agreements signed will be approved by the respective constitutional mechanisms of both nations.
44.	By means of fruitful negotiations we have practically eliminated the acute problem of the Panama Canal. But on the American continent there still subsist the colonial enclaves of Belize in Guatemala and of the Islas Malvinas in the Argentine Republic which, like the case of Gibraltar in Spain, are painful vestiges of British usurpations in territories extracted from sovereign States at times of boundless imperial expansion.
45.	When Guatemala entered the United Nations more than three decades ago, our Government had pending a solution at the international level of its claim over the Guatemalan territory of Belize. In the world Organization we placed our hope for a just and equitable arrangement.
46.	For more than a century in vain we have made this claim to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland over that territory occupied by that great Power, and my Government expressed its clear and definite reservation on this on entering the Organization.
47.	On many opportunities throughout those 32 years which have elapsed, the Government of my country stated before this forum the historical background and the basis of the just claims of the people of Guatemala over a territory which legitimately belongs to it and of which we were deprived by force.
48.	Belize is not an isolated case. It is one of the vestiges of British occupation of Central American lands during the last century when the prospect of building an inter-oceanic Canal over that territory led the Imperial Power to annex major parts of the territories of the States of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, which were later returned to their rightful owners through the pressure of international circumstances.
49.	At that same time, in 1859, the British occupation of Belize, exceeding the agreed-upon frontiers, extended southward over lands which until then had been under Guatemala's effective sovereignty and occupation. It is from these new occupations and setting of new frontiers that there arose the territorial dispute to which the two Governments are still parties today.
50.	As years went by, the population of the Territory of Belize grew, with people coming from different places, and they have swelled the ranks of the resident Guatemalan families. My Government recognizes that the interests and legitimate aspirations of that local population which has developed in Belize must be respected and taken duly into account in any settlement of the dispute which is agreed to between Guatemala and the United Kingdom.
51.	Within this political context and in accordance with the fundamental purposes of the United Nations, my Government has been negotiating with the United Kingdom. These negotiations have become more intensive in recent years with a view to finding a conciliatory formula which will at the same time satisfy Guatemala's vital interests and rights and those of the population of Belize which is now under the colonial responsibility of the British Government.
52.	In the negotiations which have been held between both Governments very significant advances have been attained, and although some divergences subsist between the parties, we trust that in the near future negotiations will lead to a just, honourable and satisfactory settlement for all.
53.	The recent example of the agreement between the United States of America and Panama regarding the Panama Canal, a problem which seemed to be extremely difficult to solve, reaffirms our conviction that there is no dispute between States, however involved, which cannot be settled by peaceful means.
54.	This leads us to the optimistic hope that the three problems-those of Belize, the Islas Malvinas and Gibraltar-will soon be solved by means of dialogue and recognition of the validity of those claims.
55.	In so far as Guatemala is concerned, my Government wishes to place on record before this august Assembly that we are most willing to continue the negotiating process with the United Kingdom for the purpose of reaching an early settlement to the protracted controversy over Belize.
We trust that it is in this same spirit of understanding and equity that the other side will negotiate so as to prevent situations of tension which might arise when a nation finds that its hopes for justice for its legitimate claims are dashed. We also hope that this negotiating process, now being conducted in a friendly climate will not be disturbed by undue pressures from countries alien to the dispute which, far from contributing to the solution of the problem, may render it more acute and complex.
56.	With the example of the Panama Canal, we would like to think that the international community is living in an era auspicious for negotiating solutions; and it is on this that we base our hope that, by means of dialogue and understanding, tensions may be alleviated and a solution found for the serious problems of the Middle East, leading to a peace based on the coexistence and brotherhood of man, as well as the reconciliation of the interests of all the peoples of the region.
57.	The problem of the reunification of Korea still awaits solution. It too must be settled by peaceful means. My delegation therefore considers that it would be desirable for both South Korea and North Korea to resume the dialogue, at present suspended, so as to achieve a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and, if possible, arrive at a non-aggression pact. Moreover, and as a temporary measure both Koreas, North and South, might be admitted to the United Nations in accordance with the principle of universality enshrined in the very Charter of our Organization.
58.	The delegation of Guatemala has spoken on repeated occasions in this Assembly, and we do so now, to condemn the practices of apartheid and other discriminatory policies which keep southern Africa in a perpetually explosive situation. We trust, furthermore, that the problems of Rhodesia and Namibia may be resolved by the peaceful means available under international law, so as to guarantee the human rights of the broad masses of the populations which are now held in thraldom in those territories.
59.	Those comments on some of the problems that are before the United Nations for consideration and in respect of which intense activity has been undertaken to find the best solutions prove the constant support of my country for the principles and purposes set out in the fundamental Charter which we signed in San Francisco, California, in 1945. What is more, they are proof of our desire for its correct application without political interpretations that may distort it and that may entail serious threats for international peace and security and for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of States Members. We most sincerely hope that the purposes of the Organization at this thirty-second regular session of the General Assembly will be fully met.


1.	 Mr. President, I wish to offer you my congratulations on your election as President of the thirty-second session of the General Assembly. It gives my own Government particular satisfaction to work under the leadership of a representative of Yugoslavia, a nation with which the United States enjoys close and valued relations. We pledge our co-operation and we will depend heavily on your experience and skill in guiding these discussions which we are beginning.
2.	I should like also to express again the high esteem in which we hold Secretary-General Waldheim. We continue to benefit greatly from our close consultations with him and we place great trust in his leadership of this Organization.
3.	Thirty-two years ago, in the cold dawn of the atomic age, this Organization came into being. Its first and most urgent purpose has been to tenure peace for an exhausted and ravaged world.
4.	Present conditions in some respects appear quite hopeful, yet the assurance of peace continues to elude us. Before the end of this century a score of nations could possess nuclear weapons. If this should happen the world we leave our children will mock our own hopes for peace.
5.	The level of nuclear armaments could grow by tens of thousands and the same situation could well occur with advanced conventional weapons, The temptation to use those weapons, or fear that someone else might do it first, would be almost irresistible. The ever-growing trade in conventional arms subverts international commerce from a force for peace to a caterer for war.
6.	Violence, terrorism, assassination and undeclared wars all threaten to destroy the restraint and the moderation that must become the dominant characteristic of our age. Unless we establish a code of international behaviour in which the resort to violence becomes increasingly irrelevant to the pursuit of national interests we will crush the world's dreams for human development and the full flowering of human freedom.
7.	We have already become a global community, but only in the sense that we face common problems and share, for good or evil, a common future. In this community, the power to solve the world's problems, particularly economic and political power, no longer lies solely in the hands of a few nations. Power is now widely shared among many nations with different cultures, different histories and different aspirations. The question is whether we will allow our differences to defeat us or whether we will work together to realize our common hopes for peace.
8.	Today I want to address the major dimensions of peace and the role the United States intends to play in limiting and reducing all armaments, controlling nuclear technology, restricting the arms trade and settling disputes by peaceful means.
9.	When atomic weapons were used for the first time Winston Churchill described the power of the atom as  a revelation long mercifully withheld from man . Since then we have learned, in Durrenmatt’s chilling words, that  what has once been thought can never be unthought .
10.	If we are to have any assurance that our children will live out their lives in a world which satisfies our hope—or that they will have a chance to live at all-we must finally come to terms with this enormous nuclear force and turn it to exclusively beneficial ends. Peace will not be assured until the weapons of war are finally put away. While we work towards that goal nations will want sufficient arms to preserve their security. The United States purpose is to ensure peace. It is for that reason that our military posture and our alliances will remain as strong as necessary to deter attack.
11.	However, the security of the global community cannot for ever rest on a balance of terror. In the past, war has been accepted as the ultimate arbiter of disputes among nations, but in the nuclear era we can no longer think of war as merely a continuation of diplomacy by other means. Nuclear war cannot be  measured by the archaic standards of  victory  or  defeat . This stark reality imposes on the

United States and the Soviet Union an awesome and special responsibility.
12.	The United States is engaged along with other nations in a broad range of negotiations. In Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT], we and the Soviets are within sight of a significant agreement in limiting the total numbers of weapons and in restricting certain categories of weapons of special concern to each of us. We can also start the crucial process of curbing the relentless march of technological development which makes nuclear weapons ever more difficult to control.
13.	We must look beyond the present, and work to prevent the critical threats and instabilities of the future. If the principles of self-restraint, reciprocity and mutual accommodation of interests are observed, then the United States and the Soviet Union not only will succeed in limiting weapons but also will create r foundation for better relations in other spheres of interest.
14.	The United States is willing to go as far as possible, consistent with our security interests, in limiting and reducing our nuclear weapons. On a reciprocal basis we are willing now to reduce them by 10 per cent, 20 percent or even 50 per cent, Then we will work for further reductions with a view to a world truly free of nuclear weapons.
15.	The United States also recognize the threat of continued testing of nuclear explosives.
16.	Negotiations for a comprehensive ban on nuclear explosions are now being conducted by the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. As in other areas where vital nation J security interests are engaged, agreements must be verifiable and fair. They must be seen by all the parties as serving a longer-term interest that justifies the restraints of the moment. The longer-term interest in this instance is to close one more avenue of nuclear competition and thereby demonstrate to all the world that the major nuclear Powers take seriously our obligations to reduce the threat of nuclear catastrophe.
17.	My country believes that the time has come to end all explosions of nuclear devices, no matter what their claimed justification—peaceful or military-and we appreciate the efforts of other nations to reach this same goal.
18.	During the past nine months, I have expressed the special importance we attach to controlling nuclear proliferation; but I fear that many do not understand why the United States feels as it does. Why is it so important to avoid the chance that one or two or 10 other nations might acquire one or two or 10 nuclear weapons of their own? Let me try to explain, for I deeply believe that this is one of the greatest challenges that we face in the next quarter of a century.
19.	It is a truism that nuclear weapons are a powerful deterrent. They are a deterrent because they threaten. They could be used for terrorism or blackmail as well as for war. But they threaten not just the intended enemy; they threaten every nation—combatant and non-combatant alike. That is why all of us must be concerned.
20.	Let me be frank. The existence of nuclear weapons in the United States and the Soviet Union, and in the United Kingdom, France and China, is something we cannot undo except by the painstaking process of negotiation. But the existence of these weapons does not mean that other nations need to develop their own weapons, any more than it provides a reason for those of us who have them to share them with others. Rather it imposes two solemn obligations on the nations which have the capacity to export nuclear fuels and nuclear technologies-the obligation to meet legitimate energy needs and, in doing so, the obligation to ensure that nothing we export contributes, directly or indirectly, to the production of nuclear explosives. That is why the supplier nations arc seeking a common policy, and that is why the United States and the Soviet Unions even as we struggle to find common ground in the SALT talks, have already moved closer towards agreement and co-operation in our efforts to limit nuclear proliferation.
22. I believe that the London suppliers group must conclude its work as it is presently constituted, so that world security will be safeguarded from the pressures of commercial competition. We have learned that it is not enough to safeguard just some facilities or some materials. Full-scope, comprehensive safeguard ire necessary.
23 . Two weeks from now, in our own country, more than SO supplier and consuming nations will convene in Washington for the Conference on International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation which we proposed last spring. For the next several years experts will work together on every facet of the nuclear fuel cycle. The scientists and the policy-makers of these nations will face a tremendous challenge.  We know that, by the year 2000, nuclear power reactors could be producing enough plutonium to make tens of thousands of bombs every year. I believe, from my own personal knowledge of this issue, that there are ways to solve the problems we face. I believe that there are alternative fuel cycles that can be managed safely on global basis. I hope, therefore, that the Conference on the international Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation will have the support and encouragement of every nation.
24.	I have heard it said that efforts to control nuclear proliferation are facile  that thing is already out of the bottle. I do not believe this to be true. It should not be forgotten that for 25 years the nuclear club did not expand its membership., By genuine co-operation we can make certain that this terrible club expands no further.
25.	I have talked about the special problems of nuclear arms control' and nuclear proliferation at length. Let me turn to the problem of conventional arms control, which affects potentially or directly every nation represented in this great hall. This is not a matter for the future-even the near future-but one for the immediate present. World-wide military expenditures are. now in the neighborhood of $300 billion a year. Last year the nations of the world spent more than 60 times as much equipping each soldier as we spent educating each child. The industrialized nations spend the most money, but the rate of growth in military spending is faster in the developing world. While only a handful of states produce sophisticated weapons, the number of nations which seek to purchase these weapons is increasing rapidly.
26.	The conventional arms race both causes and feeds on the threat of larger and more deadly wars. It levies an enormous burden on an already troubled world economy.
27.	.For its part, the United States has now begun to reduce its arms exports. Our aim is to reduce both the quantity and the deadliness of the weapons we sell. We have already taken the first few steps, but we cannot go very far alone. Nations whose neighbours are purchasing large quantities of arms feel constrained to do the same. Supplier nations that practise restraint in arms sales sometimes find that they simply lose valuable commercial markets to other suppliers.
28.	We hope to work with other supplier nations to cut back on the flow of arms and to reduce the rate at which the most advanced and sophisticated weapon technologies spread around the world. We do not expect this task to be easy or to produce instant results. But we are committed to stop the spiral of the increasing sale of weapons.
29.	Equally important, we hope that purchaser nations, individually and through regional organizations, will limit their arms imports. We are ready to provide to some nations the necessary means for legitimate self-defence, but we are also eager to work with any nation or region in order to decrease the need for more numerous, more deadly and ever more expensive weapons.
30.	Fourteen years ago, one of my predecessors spoke in this hall under circumstances that in certain ways resembled these. It was a time, he said, of comparative calm and there was art atmosphere of rising hope about the prospect of controlling nuclear energy. The first specific step had been taken to limit the nuclear arms race-a test-ban treaty signed by nearly a hundred nations.
31.	But the succeeding years did not live up to the optimistic prospect John F. Kennedy placed before this Assembly because, as a community of nations, we failed to address the deepest sources of potential conflict among us.
32.	As we seek to establish the principles of detente among the major nuclear Powers, we believe that these principles must also apply in regional conflicts. The United States is committed to the peaceful settlement of differences. We are committed to the strengthening of the peace-making capabilities of the United Nations and regional organizations, such as the Organization of African Unity and the Organization of American States.
33.	The United States supports the United Kingdom's efforts to bring about a peaceful, rapid transition to majority rule and independence in Zimbabwe. We joined .other members of the Security Council last week and also the Secretary-General in efforts to bring about independence and democratic rule in Namibia. We are pleased with the level of co-operation we have achieved with the leaders of the nations in the area, as well as with those peoples who are struggling for independence. We urge South Africa and other nations to support the proposed solution to the problems in Zimbabwe, and to co-operate still more closely in providing for a smooth and prompt transition in Namibia.
34.	But it is essential that all outside nations exercise restraint in their actions in Zimbabwe and Namibia, so that we can bring about that majority rule and avoid a widening war that could engulf the southern half of the African continent.
35.	Of all the regional conflicts in the world, none holds more menace than the Middle East. War there has already carried the world to the edge of nuclear confrontation. It has already disrupted the world economy and imposed severe hardships on the people in the developed and the developing nations alike. So true peace-peace embodied in binding treaties—is essential. It will be in the interest of the Israelis and the Arabs. It is in the interest of the American people. It is in the interest of the entire world.
36.	The United Nations Security Council has provided the basis for peace in resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), but negotiations in good faith by all parties is needed to give substance to peace.
37.	Such negotiations in good faith must be inspired by a recognition that all nations in the area-Israel and the Arab countries-have a right to exist in peace, with the early establishment of economic and cultural exchanges and of normal diplomatic relations. Peace must include a process in which the bitter divisions o: generations, even centuries- hatreds and suspicions—can be overcome. Negotiations cannot be successful if any of the parties harbours the deceitful view that peace is simply an interlude in which to prepare for war.
38.	Negotiations in good faith will also require acceptance by all sides of the fundamental rights and interest of everyone involved.
39.	For Israel, this means borders that are recognized and secure. Security arrangements are crucial to a nation that has fought for its survival in each of the last four decades. The commitment of the United States to Israel's security is unquestionable.
40.	For the Arabs, the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people must be recognized. One of the things that binds the American people to Israel is our shared respect for human rights and the courage with which Israel has defended such rights. It is clear that a true and lasting peace in the Middle East must also respect the rights of all the peoples of the area. How these rights are to be defined and implemented is, of course; for the interested parties to decide in detailed negotiations, and not for us to dictate.
41.	We do not intend to impose from the outside a settlement on the nations of the Middle East.
42.	The United States has been meeting with the Foreign Ministers of Israel and the Arab nations involved in the search for peace. We are staying in close contact with the Soviet Union, with which we share responsibility for reconvening the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East. As a result of these consultations, the Soviet Union and the United States have agreed to call for the resumption of the Geneva Conference before the end of this year. While a number of procedural questions remain, if the parties continue to act in good faith, I believe that these questions can be answered.
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43.	The major Powers have a special responsibility to act with restraint in areas of the world where they have competing interests because the association of these interests with local rivalries and conflicts can lead to serious confrontation. In the Indian Ocean area neither we nor the Soviet Union has a large military presence, nor is there a rapidly mounting competition between us. Restraint in the area may well begin with a mutual effort to stabilize our presence and to avoid an escalation in military competition. Then both sides can consider how our military activities in the Indian Ocean area might be even further-reduced.
44.	The peaceful settlement of differences is, of course, essential. The United States is willing to abide by that principle, as in the case of the recently signed Panama Canal treaties. Once ratified, these treaties can transform the United States-Panama relationship into one that permanently protects the interests and respects the sovereignty of both our countries.
45.	We have all survived and surmounted major challenges since the United Nations was founded, but we can accelerate progress even in a world of ever-increasing diversity. A commitment to strengthen international institutions is vital, but progress lies also in our own national policies. We can work together to form a community of peace if we accept the kind of obligations that I have suggested today.
46.	To summarize: first, there is an obligation to remove the threat of nuclear weaponry, to reverse the build-up of armaments and the trade in them, and to conclude bilateral and multilateral arms control agreements that can bring security to all of us.
47.	In order to reduce the reliance of nations on nuclear weaponry, 1 hereby solemnly declare, on behalf of the United States, that we will not use nuclear weapons except in self-defence; that is, in circumstances of an actual nuclear or conventional attack on the United States, our territories or armed forces, or such an attack on our allies.
48.	In addition, we hope that initiatives by the Western nations to secure mutual and balanced force reductions in Europe will be met by equal response from the Warsaw Pact countries.
49.	Secondly, an obligation to show restraint in areas of tension, to negotiate disputes and settle them peacefully, and to strengthen the peace-making capabilities of the United Nations and regional organizations.
50.	And, finally, an effort by all nations, East as well as West, North as well as South, to fulfil mankind's aspirations for human development and human freedom. It is to meet these basic demands that we build Governments and seek peace.
51.	We must share these obligations for our own mutual survival and our own mutual prosperity.
52.	We can see a world at peace. We can work for a world without want. We can build a global community dedicated to these purposes and to human dignity.
53.	The view that I have sketched for you today is that of only one leader in only one nation. However wealthy and powerful the United States may be, however capable of leadership, this power is increasingly only relative. The leadership increasingly is in need of being shared. No nation has a monopoly of vision, of creativity or of ideas. Bringing these together from many nations is our common responsibility and our common challenge. For only in these ways can the idea of a peaceful global community grow and prosper.


85.	 Mr. President, it gives me pleasure on behalf of my country's Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is unable to attend this important session, to offer you our most sincere and whole-hearted congratulations on your election as President of the thirty-second session of the General Assembly. My delegation is quite sure that your long experience, your great merits and your diplomatic tact will ensure success for this session. The positive role which your country, Yugoslavia, plays as a member of the Group of Non-Aligned Countries strengthens our faith and confidence that you will make sincere efforts to consolidate the role of the United Nations in establishing pillars of security and peace in the world.
86.	I also avail myself of this opportunity to express our appreciation to your distinguished predecessor, Mr. Amerasinghe, for all the experience and tact he revealed in conducting the meetings of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly.
87.	It gives me great pleasure to commend the positive role that has been and is being played by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, in the fulfilment of his responsibilities and in support of the unity of the international community and its greater effectiveness in serving the issues of justice and peace.
88.	On this occasion I should like on behalf of my country's delegation to welcome the delegations of the Republic of Djibouti and of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, which have recently joined the United Nations. We wish them both stability and progress.
89.	At present we are witnessing in the international arena crises that have not come about by accident; these crises are too sophisticated and complicated to be ignored or disregarded, and it is not mere pessimism that leads us to emphasize that it is tension and not international detente which prevails in our world. As we, representatives of the nations of the world, meet here at United Nations Headquarters, we should realize the objective and civilized difference between being part of this world Organization and being outsiders. We should realize the historic responsibility placed on all of us when we committed ourselves to the United Nations Charter, which we all accepted. We must therefore resolutely consider the true causes of the disturbing phenomenon of world tension, which we are witnessing with bitter feelings, and explicitly and firmly determine our positions regarding any party which violates or obstructs the United Nations Charter.
90.	Our comments on the presence of tension and the absence of world detente would be incomplete unless we stressed before the international community the role played by the Zionist entity in causing this tension and so dragging the world to the brink of world confrontation as a result of the denial for more than 25 years of the rights of the Palestine people by this abhorrent entity based on Zionism, which the General Assembly has labelled as a form of racism and racial discrimination.
91.	My country's Government emphasizes its respect for and appreciation of the just international will which backed General Assembly resolutions 3236 , 3375 , 3379 and 3376, which constitute no more than a starting-point in rectifying the historic blunder committed by the United Nations against the rights of the Palestinian people when it adopted the partition plan in 1947.
92.	Speaking of the just international will, we consider it to be a synonym for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and believe that it must necessarily and in the name of justice and the United Nations Charter assert its existence and effectiveness in respect of the establishment of peace and security in the Middle East.
93.	My delegation wishes to reassert that a just and lasting peace in the Middle Hast cannot be achieved without fulfilment of the two following basic principles: first, the withdrawal of Israel from all Arab territories occupied since 5 June 1967, including the city of Jerusalem; and, second, the restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian Arab people, including their right to return to their homeland* self-determination, and establishment of their independent State in Palestine through representation by the Palestine Liberation Organization. We believe that, without the fulfilment of those two principles, peace negotiations will remain meaningless in that part of the world, as long as Zionist aggression against Arab territories and against the rights of the Palestinian Arab people persists. It is deplorable that this continuing aggression is becoming worse and taking new forms. In this respect it suffices to point out only the latest provocative Zionist measures, as evidenced in the establishment of new settlements in Arab occupied territories and the attempt to impose on Arab citizens in those territories Zionist regulations which emphasize the aggressive nature of the Zionist settler colonizing entity, which aims at the eventual annexation of these occupied territories and the destruction of their character and Arab qualities.
94.	To confirm this policy, the Israeli Prime Minister declared in his report to the Knesset following his recent visit to the United States, that his Government insisted on the so-called Israeli right to settlement on the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip because they are, he claims, "liberated lands". Hence the Israeli Government violates international laws and the right of the Palestinian Arab people to self-determination in that part of their homeland.
95.	The legalization of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip and the imposition of Israeli law upon the Arab Palestinian populations, as well as the legalized affiliation of those territories to Israel, which tacitly means annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, reveal the expansionist intentions of Israel and its aggressive policy.
96.	The policy adopted by Israel and the settlement plans being executed by it in the occupied Arab territories sustain our belief that Israel is disregarding peace plans and violating international law and United Nations resolutions, as it also imposes on the peoples of the region a perpetual state of war.
97.	We sincerely call upon all countries that provide Israel with material and military aid to refrain from extending such assistance, because to continue that practice would encourage Israel in its expansionist and aggressive policy at the expense of the Palestinian Arab people and other Arab countries. To refrain from providing such aid to Israel would undoubtedly help achieve a just and comprehensive settlement in the area.
98.	We believe in peace and peaceful coexistence and we also believe in the right of people to self-determination and their right to live in peace. It is therefore natural for us to call upon the international community to force the Zionist entity to respect and apply all those principles. If we are to have a proper conception of the essence of international detente then the Soviet Union and the United States in particular must emphasize that the core of detente is satisfying the interests of peoples and not taking action prejudicial to them. The Middle East problem, with the question of Palestine as its core, is the real test of that detente, which we hope will play its full and positive role in serving world peace.
99.	We state again that the Palestinian cause is the core of the Middle East conflict, a conflict between the racist Zionist entity and the Palestinian people, who, according to irrefutable proof available in full in the reports of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, are exposed to the most hideous forms of humiliation and the flagrant abuse of their dignity, freedom and humanity.
100.	The United Nations Charter calls on all countries to respect the rights of man, his humanity and freedom wherever he may be. But does the racist Government of South Africa respect the principles enshrined in the Charter and does it apply those principles in letter and in spirit? The tragedy of apartheid, a policy adopted by both South Africa and Rhodesia, has been one of the worst events to take place in the history of mankind, and it is one of the major crimes still being committed to this day with unusual ferocity against the black majority populations of South Africa and Rhodesia. While we find some consolation in the increasing world blockade imposed on those two racist regimes because of their inhuman policies, we believe that the United Nations and the Security Council must play a role which is much larger and more important than the mere denunciation of that policy. That role is to liquidate those two regimes, thus putting an end to them. Accordingly, we in the State of Qatar- believe that it is our duty, because of considerations involving humanity and civilization, to extend all possible aid and support to the African liberation movements, particularly those in southern Africa, so that the people may achieve their freedom and independence. In addition, we also support and praise the efforts exerted in this respect by the OAU.
101.	In the same way that we call upon the international community, represented by the United Nations, to impose severe sanctions on South Africa and Rhodesia, we at the same time call for the same sanctions to be imposed on Israel, which still refuses to respect the Charter and the resolutions of the United Nations.
102.	Our attention is drawn particularly to the increasingly close ties which have been maintained, in defiance of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, between Israel and South Africa. Those ties which link the two racist regimes have become closer, and co-operation in the political, economic, military and technological fields has been intensified in the attempt to suppress and oppress the indigenous populations.
103.	The possession of nuclear weapons by Israel and South Africa and the continued co-operation of the two countries in developing them, as we see it today, and the aggressive policies of those racist regimes will not only create crises and catastrophes for the African and Arab peoples but will also threaten the world as a whole. The international community is in duty bound to meet its responsibility in the face of such irresponsible conduct, as the urgent need for a permanent and just peace for the peoples of those two areas requires.
104.	My country, firmly believing in the principle of the right to self-determination and independence of all peoples,
denounces colonialism and racial discrimination in all their
«
forms and maintains that independence cannot be achieved in South Africa and Rhodesia unless majority rule is established. In support of that belief, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, declared on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination:
"It is now time that all the efforts of world peoples and Governments should unite with the efforts of the United Nations to take positive and effective measures capable of totally eradicating this major stigma putting humanity to shame and completely eliminating the disgrace of apartheid, which tarnishes the ideals of our civilization."
105.	The lessening of international tension is a necessary prelude to international stability. It will help firmly to establish the pillars of security and peace in the world, which can only be achieved through serious and positive dialogue. From this point of view, the Cypriot crisis, which has gradually deteriorated since 1963 despite the sincere efforts exerted by the Secretary-General—efforts which we appreciate—still requires the effective involvement of our international Organization in order to establish a just solution which will preserve the security and stability of the nationals of the island and the independence and unity of Cyprus.

106.	Establishing peace in order to create a suitable atmosphere for the development of the potential of nations and for the attainment of the welfare and prosperity of the world is one of the noble goals of our international Organization. To achieve that goal it is necessary to have constructive and sincere international unity.
107.	We must also exert the same effort to prevent the devastating advance in nuclear weapons. International detente is still fragile and there are still several flash-points which run the risk of exploding into war. In the face of this nuclear horror, we still find countries impatiently seeking to possess such weapons, which threaten to wipe out the world and its civilization.
108.	To preserve the civilization of mankind, we are obliged clearly to define in all consciousness our steps and goals in the march to the world of tomorrow in order to be able to establish peace, the goal of the United Nations to which we are all dedicated.
109.	Today, therefore, we are more than ever before in dire need of making effective and joint efforts to put an end to the arms race, to confront the problem of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to divert the effects and direction of nuclear technology to serve peaceful purposes. Today when we speak of armaments systems, disarmament and the depletion of human and material resources in financing both hot and cold wars in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, we find that the world spends more than $300 billion annually on armaments and on the monopolistic arms trade-despite the urgent need of the world to confront the dangers of hunger, drought, ignorance, disease and poverty on our planet. Hence, we find ourselves obliged to participate jointly in strengthening the desires of the international community by working to eliminate completely those destructive weapons and the constant threat that they represent.
110.	We in the State of Qatar praise and commend every step taken in that connexion and would welcome the establishment of nuclear-free zones in the Middle East, in South Asia and other areas of the world. We consider that as the beginning of comprehensive disarmament.
111.	On the Middle East, we question the reasons for the obstinacy of the Zionist entity, its persistent refusal to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and its possible use of such weapons.
112.	As we refer to the necessity of concluding an international treaty on the prevention and use of force in international relations and of adopting effective measure's to implement the aims and goals of disarmament, we remind the United Nations that it must do its duty with respect to solving the Middle East problem on the basis of justice and equality, including the rights of the Palestinian Arab people, who should be enabled to exercise such rights in their homeland, and not omitting their right to establish an independent, sovereign State so as to allow that struggling people to work at developing their creative capabilities and at putting an end to their misery.
113.	The world of today ought to be different from the world of the past, which was ruled by the law of the jungle. Furthermore, there should be increasing understanding of the justified and urgent demands of the developing countries. Under present circumstances, international monopolies have been dividing up the regions of the world and its markets, controlling its raw materials and manipulating its potential from the turn of the century until this day. In addition to this, we must take account of rashness of the major Powers and the industrial countries, which dominate the seas and the oceans, including the gigantic wealth therein. Under such circumstances, the developing countries are deeply concerned and demand the regulation of all means relating to the use of the seas and respect of the right of regional sovereignty represented in the principle of freedom of (lie use of the seas to all countries. My Government supports and endorses anything that may lead to an international agreement to determine the law of the sea-bed and the ocean floor and how they should be exploited for the benefit of the international family through a competent international organization.
114.	As a developing country, we wish to emphasize our rejection of monopolistic enterprises and the capitalistic exploitation of the seas and oceans. We urge that positive steps be taken to organize international and maritime relations among the countries of the world.
115.	With great concern we refer to the increasing military ventures which are using the seas and oceans as a platform for the establishment of military and naval bases. As a result, tensions are intensified and the possibility of military confrontation will continue as well. As we refer to all that, we attach great importance to declaring the Indian Ocean a zone of peace far removed from international conflict.
116.	The present international economic order calls for international political will to create a new and just international economic order-one that will not be an obstacle to the efforts of the developing countries to achieve growth and economic development. The new international economic order must be established on the basis of co-operation and democracy in international economic relations, rather than on the basis of monopolies and exploitation. As we see the extent of the danger of the economic gap between the industrialized and the developing countries, that danger compels the international community to realize that it must speed up its efforts to bridge that gap by creating an international economic equilibrium. Since the industrialized countries have exported to third- world countries the problems of inflation and of the increasing cost of manufactured goods; they should now rectify that error through positive co-operation and help the developing countries to overcome their development problems. We in the State of Qatar have not spared and will spare no effort to offer co-operation and assistance to all the friendly developing countries in the third world. In this connexion, my delegation wishes to express the disappointment at the failure of the Paris Conference in spite of the untiring efforts exerted to achieve positive results in that dialogue between north and south. We therefore appeal, with all sincerity, to all the developed countries to exert all possible efforts for the attainment of solutions that can play a role in achieving economic progress for the developing countries and tangible advance in the field of international economic co-operation We also reiterate our readiness to make fresh efforts within the framework of the United Nations for the achievement of the desired objectives. Here I wish to emphasize once more that my Government will continue its efforts jointly with the international community for the establishment of a new international economic order and for an improvement in the situation of the developing countries.
117.	It is not impossible to solve international contradictions and conflicts in our present world under an international collective commitment to the Charter of the United Nations.
118.	The establishment of democratic international relations and the fostering of those relations within United Nations organs would constitute a radical solution to all the contradictions and conflicts we are facing and would open a new horizon of peace, security, prosperity and freedom to mankind. These goals and hopes must be achieved in fulfilment of the aspirations of our peoples. It is our duty to secure the rights of future generations, in order to honour and cherish the heritage of mankind.


100.	Those of us who have had the privilege and pleasure of knowing and working with you, Sir, for many years when you represented your country in the United Nations cannot but rejoice at your accession to the presidency of the General Assembly. It is therefore with great pleasure that I join those speakers who preceded me at this rostrum to convey to you my most sincere and cordial congratulations on the occasion of your election.
101.	Your election is a well-deserved tribute paid not only to your outstanding qualities as a diplomat and statesman with wide and rich experience of international relations and a profound knowledge of the United Nations, designated quite naturally for this important function, but also to Yugoslavia, your country, and more particularly its distinguished Head of State, Marshal Tito, for their enormous contribution to the cause of peace and international security and peaceful coexistence among peoples of different origins and conditions. You may rest assured that, in the exercise of your functions, you can always rely on the full co-operation of the delegation of the Ivory Coast.
102.	I should like to avail myself of this opportunity to associate myself with the tributes paid to Mr. Amerasinghe, your predecessor, and tell him how greatly we appreciated the remarkable manner in which he presided over the thirty-first session of the General Assembly.
103.	The dynamism, the courage, the acute sense of duty and untiring dedication shown by the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, during his first term of office in the service of the international community fully justified the wise decision taken by the Assembly last year to re-elect him to his high office. The Ivory Coast, its Government and people welcome that decision and wish to assure him once again of their full support of his efforts in favour of international peace and security.
104.	I should like finally to address my sincere congratulations, and to extend a warm welcome, to two new Members of our Organization: The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Republic of Djibouti. We wish to let their representatives know that we are ready to co-operate with them within the framework of the United Nations and to maintain friendly relations with their two countries.
105.	The independence and admission of the Republic of Djibouti to the United Nations marks the end of French colonization in Africa. This affords us an opportunity again to pay a sincere tribute to France on its decolonization endeavours, which have enabled almost 20 African States, today masters of their destiny, to make their modest contributions to building that peace to which the whole of mankind aspires. But we would not be sincere if we did not say-that that remarkable task would remain incomplete so long as France, together with the Republic of the Comoros, has not found a solution allowing for the peaceful reintegration of Mayotte Island into the Comorean group, thus enabling the Republic of the Comoros to recover its unity and territorial integrity. For our part, we place our confidence in France and the Comoros, two friendly countries to which we are bound by so many ties, and we are certain that they will settle this regrettable dispute by negotiation-something that would promote fruitful cooperation between their two countries and relieve their friends.
106.	In addressing members of the Economic and Social Council in Abidjan on 30 June 1976, the President of the Republic of the Ivory Coast reaffirmed:
"... the fundamental principles of the internal and external policies of the Ivory Coast are its faith in the destiny and nobility of man, its constant openness to men and to all things, its unshakable faith in the virtues of peace and dialogue, and its complete readiness to cooperate in friendship with all countries."
Peace remains the basis of that policy, and its aim the well-being of man in freedom and dignity, which presupposes that his fundamental needs are met and that he can live a decent life allowing for his full development in his natural environment. Those principles guide our daily action and govern our position.
107.	It is in the light of those fundamental considerations that I shall endeavour to address myself to some of the burning problems on our agenda for the current session. These problems are not new, and neither are our positions, which are well known to all.
108.	At this stage I must recognize that most of the speakers who have taken part in the debate have said that the international situation is very bleak and that the world is confronted with conflicts and difficulties of every kind. In the face of the desolating spectacle of a divided world prey to the fury of war and violence, to waste of so many resources for destructive purposes, to flagrant injustices and inequalities, to serious violations of human rights, and to increasingly intolerable racial discrimination, the Ivory Coast cannot but deplore the lack of courage and political will which has prevented us, and in particular the more powerful countries, from doing everything in our power to find a satisfactory solution to such problems and thus hastening the dawn of a world of peace, justice and progress.
109.	It seems as if we are resigning ourselves to our fate, as if we have become incapable of forming or putting forward creative ideas. Incapable of solving existing conflicts that endanger peace and international security, we are doing everything to stoke up existing hotbeds of war, or start new ones, and to poison the situation at a time when laudable efforts are being made to reach pacific settlement of certain situations or to break the impasse reached in others. These efforts give us grounds for hope and for viewing the future with some optimism, provided we do everything in our power to put an end to the infernal cycle of violence, while respecting human rights for all and taking advantage of the fruits of economic growth and the progress of science and technology.
110.	The accession to independence of the Republic of Djibouti should not make us forget that the political situation in Africa is still of concern. White racist minorities continue to maintain their implacable domination over and subject to inhuman treatment millions of Africans in Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, denying their right to freedom and dignity. Frontier disputes, at times leading to bloodshed, and conflicts that are fanned and maintained by certain arms merchants who take advantage of such situations to enrich themselves or to enlarge their areas of influence, pit Africans against each other.
111.	Because more than any other continent it needs peace to catch up after its long delay on the road to progress, Africa, and the Ivory Coast in particular, hopes that every effort will be made to ensure the complete decolonization of the continent and the total elimination of racial discrimination in order to restore to the African his dignity and all of his rights.
112.	In the face of the stubbornness of the white minorities in southern Africa and their attitude of defiance, it is said that the only solution is recourse to armed struggle. It certainly cannot be asserted that those who hold such views are wrong. For our part, although we understand their reasons, we still continue to advocate recourse to negotiation and dialogue to settle the problems of southern Africa. The initiatives taken in this respect can in no way represent an obstacle to the heroic struggle of the liberation movements; quite the contrary, they supplement them and seek to facilitate the search for a negotiated political solution, alleviate the sufferings of the oppressed peoples, and bring peace to Africa.
113.	The Ivory Coast has not been slow in making its modest contribution to such initiatives. While upholding in its own way, but effectively and concretely, the struggle waged by the liberation movements, it has exhorted all those who have privileged relations with such regimes and are in a position to exert some influence over them to act to promote .the quest for a negotiated solution of the problems in the region. In the course of its direct or indirect contacts, it has informed the South African and Rhodesian leaders of the necessity and urgency of peaceful change for the transfer of power, without prior conditions, to the black majority in Zimbabwe, rapid accession to independence for Namibia and the establishment of racial equality in South Africa.
114.	We are happy to note that these efforts are yielding their fruits and that the prospect of speedy accession to independence by Namibia and Zimbabwe is emerging, despite the difficulties still to be overcome.
115.	We are gratified in this connexion to find that, as regards Namibia, the five Western members of the Security Council have taken the initiative of contacting the South
African authorities in order to find a way out of the Namibian deadlock and prevent South Africa from executing its plan concerning that Territory.
116.	The Ivory Coast considers that the international community should not minimize the importance of such an initiative. We must therefore not only place our trust in them but encourage them to continue their negotiations with the South African authorities in order to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of Security Council resolution 385 (1976) of 30 January 1976, which defines the modalities for Namibia's accession to independence through free and democratic elections under United Nations supervision.
117.	As regards Southern Rhodesia, the United Nations has just been officially seized of a series of proposals elaborated by the United Kingdom and the United States Governments in consultation with the parties concerned and aimed at restoring legality in that country and at the transfer of power to the African majority. Although these proposals give rise to some reservations, we believe that they could serve as a reasonable basis for negotiations, enabling us to achieve our common objective: the accession of the African majority to power in Zimbabwe.
118.	Problems that are both difficult and complex, in particular those relating to the respect for the law and maintenance of order during the transitional period, must be solved, just as the parties concerned should agree on practical modalities for free and democratic consultations enabling the people of Zimbabwe to decide its future, establish its own institutions and elect its own leaders.
119.	We regard as positive the fact that the Security Council, following a request by the United Kingdom, should have requested the Secretary-General in its resolution 415(1977) of 29 September 1977 to designate a special representative:
"... to enter into discussions, with the British Resident Commissioner designate and with all the parties, concerning the military and associated arrangements that are considered necessary to effect the transition to majority rule in southern Rhodesia ...".
120.	The role assigned to the special representative of the Secretary-General, who is called upon to work in close co-operation with the British Resident Commissioner, engages the United Nations in the process of political settlement of the Rhodesian question and leads it to assume responsibilities which in no way change those of the United Kingdom, which we continue to recognize as the Administering Power in Southern Rhodesia. We hope that these two persons will benefit from the co-operation and support of all the parties concerned and of Member States in order to find a solution to the difficult problems still to be resolved.
121.	It is surprising that, while the African countries which are the first concerned give their agreement to the designation of the representative of the Secretary-General, certain Powers should attempt to make us believe that Africa wishes to become the accomplice of a neo-colonialist plan to perpetuate colonialism on the African continent. Those Powers act as if the Africans were not sufficiently mature to know where their own interests lie.
122.	We understand that those who have everything to gain from the perpetuation of the war in southern Africa because it favours their designs cannot easily accept the peaceful means of settlement of the problems in that region and elsewhere.
123.	For 30 years the United Nations and the international community have been denouncing and condemning the heinous system of apartheid and attempting in vain, through many resolutions, to find a solution to that problem. To us, apartheid is less a question of decolonization than an interracial conflict in which the black man, economically and intellectually subjected, suffers the crushing white domination which is determined to plunder all his rights. That is why we regard apartheid as an insult to our dignity as blacks. This is enough to justify our aversion to that policy and our determination to do everything in our power to eliminate it.
124.	As recalled recently in Libreville by President Houphouet-Boigny on the occasion of the fourteenth regular session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, the Ivory Coast "has never failed on a single occasion to condemn unequivocally and unreservedly this inhuman policy and all forms of racial discrimination." This firm condemnation of apartheid and its evils does not prevent us from hoping for its elimination through peaceful means.
125.	In the contacts we have established with the South African authorities we have not failed to try to make them understand the dangers to Africa of maintaining this heinous policy which has been unanimously condemned by the international community. We have always endeavoured to convince them of the need to open a dialogue with the large black majority in order to achieve racial equality in South Africa.
126.	We have no illusions that these contacts alone will lead to the changes we are requesting, but we are still convinced none the less that they do enable us to do away with mistrust, while promoting understanding and confidence, convincing the white South Africans of the uselessness of their arguments and the need to put an end to massacre and assassination, which we strongly condemn, while at the same time making it possible to bring about the changes likely to guarantee to all the African inhabitants of South Africa the same rights and obligations and the same opportunities for development. This is our conviction. We are inspired by a single concern, that of peace, which is indispensable to Africa if it is to do away with underdevelopment while restoring the dignity of all Africans.
127.	This same desire for peace compels us to address a pressing and brotherly appeal to those African countries which have boundary conflicts and other differences to cease hostilities, end their quarrels and enable those bodies set up - by the OAU to contribute to the settlement of the differences, in keeping with the OAU Charter. We invite them to open negotiations under the aegis of the OAU in order to solve their disputes and restore the best possible relations of good neighbourliness.
128.	Likewise, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to declare solemnly from this rostrum that if any African State believes that it has a dispute with the Ivory Coast we are ready to meet its representatives anywhere and at any time to seek out ways and means of settling that dispute, because we wish to maintain relations of friendship and trusting co-operation with all African countries without exception, and especially with our immediate neighbours.
129.	The situation in the Middle East still gives rise to serious concern. Our attitude in respect of this problem has always been inspired by peace. Peace is indivisible. The peace we want for Africa we also wish for the Middle East. But that peace cannot be realized unless we resolutely tackle the very heart of the problem, that of enabling the Palestinian people to find, like all the other peoples on earth, a homeland in which they can live and develop.
130.	We believe that the settlement of the Palestinian problem is the condition sine qua non for the establishment of just and durable peace in the Middle East. We rejoice at the sincere efforts deployed to reconvene the Geneva Peace Conference. We fear, however, that those efforts will prove vain if the representatives of the Palestinian people are not closely associated with the negotiation process and the search for peace and if the legitimate rights of that people and other peoples in the region are not recognized by all sides.
131.	Any progress in this patient quest for peace presupposes that the protagonists in the drama in the Middle East accept the fact of Israel and of Palestine; that is to say, on the one hand, that the Arabs-including the Palestinians—recognize the existence of Israel as a sovereign and independent State and its right to live within recognized and secure boundaries and, on the other hand, that Israel, for its part, recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, in particular its right to a homeland in the land of that Palestine that they all claim.
132.	For our part, we reaffirm unequivocally Israel's right to existence, just as we desire the creation of a Palestinian State distinct from Israel and Jordan, without our prejudging the future and the relations that those States may in all sovereignty decide to establish among themselves. The Ivory Coast continues to believe that Security Council resolutions 242(1967) and 338(1973) and General Assembly resolution 3236 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974 constitute a reasonable basis for the overall settlement of the Middle East question.
133.	We consider that this last resolution, which reaffirmed the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, redresses the weaknesses and the gaps in the first two resolutions. Some of its provisions would therefore gain much were they to be taken up by the Security Council to complete its resolutions 242(1967) and 338(1973), since we are all agreed that the legitimate rights of the Palestinians should be taken into account, just as these two resolutions affirm the rights of all States in the region, including those of Israel.
134.	It is necessary, therefore, for Israel to withdraw from the Arab territories it has occupied since 1967 and refrain from any action likely to jeopardize the peace efforts. In this connexion we feel that the recent measures taken by the Israeli Government in its territories are not likely to facilitate the settlement of the Middle East problem. This is something we deplore. It is also necessary that an end be put to the state of belligerence prevailing in the region and that the Palestinians abandon their desires to destroy the State of Israel.
135.	With reference to the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the negotiation process, we believe that it would be a political error to persist in denying that organization its rights. The participation of the Palestinians in one way or another appears to us to be of the highest importance in the present circumstances. We are happy to note that the great Powers, and in particular the United States of America through its most authorized voice, should have arrived at the same conclusion, namely, that there cannot be peace in the Middle East unless the Palestinians participate in the elaboration of the modalities that should lead to peace. Any peace concluded without them is, sooner or later, bound to fail. And, it is to no one's interest that it should do so.
136.	That is why we are gratified at the present development of affairs and the efforts deployed these days by all the parties concerned to devise a formula which would make it possible to overcome procedural obstacles in order to convene the Geneva Conference, where Arabs and Israelis could open useful negotiations with a view to laying the basis for their harmonious coexistence in the region.
137.	We are, of course, aware "of the complexity of the tasks ahead. But we are also certain that if all the parties, overcoming rancour and hatred, mistrust and intransigence, were determined to negotiate in good faith all aspects of the situation in the Middle East, it is not unreasonable to believe that peace could be restored in that region in so far-as the parties concerned themselves will have negotiated the conditions of that peace.
138.	For its part, as President Houphouet-Boigny declared on 2 July last, in Libreville, the Ivory Coast will support any initiative, any effort and any negotiation enabling that region to devote itself at last, in peace, to the great realizations that its human wealth and economic potential enable it to envisage as soon as armed tension shall have given way to the reconciliation of peoples which a long history has condemned to live together.
139.	Other hotbeds of tension continue to retain our attention. While we can congratulate ourselves at the fact that the United States and Panama should have arrived at an agreement enabling the Republic of Panama to recover in time its full sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone, we cannot say the same of Cyprus where no progress has been registered in intercommunal negotiations, and where one part of the territory is still under foreign occupation. We urge the representatives of the two Cypriot communities to resume their negotiations under the aegis of the Secretary- General of the United Nations to settle this question peacefully in order to safeguard the territorial integrity, political independence and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus. We consider that the United Nations resolutions on the question should be effectively implemented by all the parties concerned.
140.	Despite the adoption of partial measures and the conclusion of bilateral agreements, despite lofty declarations of intention and anguished appeals for disarmament, the nuclear and conventional arms race continues inexorably, is even being accelerated and intensified, and poses to mankind more terrifying threats than ever.
141.	Military expenditures in the world have grown from $270 billion in 1974 to some $350 billion in 1976; 5 to 6 per cent of the world's production of goods and services is absorbed by these expenses. What madness, what squandering in the face of the misery, the disease, the poverty, the hunger and the ignorance of a large part of the world's population! And yet, as stated by President Houphouet- Boigny:
"Just a part of the sums devoted to these engines of war would suffice rapidly to return the whole of mankind everywhere on our planet to a state of dignity and give it back its joie de vivre."
142.	With this sad reality as the starting-point we associate ourselves with all who demand true, general and complete disarmament under appropriate international control, and await hopefully the special session of the General Assembly in 1978 to be devoted to that problem. We hope that the great nuclear Powers and all those who are about to become nuclear Powers or are engaging in the arms race, will assume firm and precise commitments to reverse the trend and to lead us progressively to true disarmament.
143.	Following the serious economic crisis in 1973, the need for a new concept of international economic relations, founded on justice, equity and interdependence, has made itself felt. The Declaration and the Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order and the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations have laid the bases of those relations designed to ensure the economic and social progress of the third-world countries, to strengthen their political independence, to establish more harmonious relations among States and to guarantee the peaceful evolution of the world.
144.	This structural reform of the world economy, desired and accepted by all, can only be achieved through bold decisions adopted by the international community in essential spheres such as international trade, the transfer of resources, industrialization, agricultural development and the use of science and technology. However, despite the constructive dialogue that has taken place in the United Nations and in other bodies, among different groups of countries, very meagre progress has been achieved in concrete terms with a view to establishing that new international order.
145.	The Conference on International Economic Cooperation held in Paris at the happy initiative of the President of the French Republic did not achieve its objective, namely, the adoption of concrete proposals for the establishment of the new international economic order and for the solution of the most pressing problems of the developing countries and the industrialized countries alike.
146.	The agreements arrived at on the principle of the establishment of a common fund for the financing of buffer stocks of primary commodities, on the development of an economic and social infrastructure, particularly in Africa, and on a $1 billion programme of special action for the benefit of the least privileged countries do not authorize us to boast that we have achieved any victory because what is most important remains to be done. And what is this that still remains to be done in the developing countries?
147.	First of all, measures must be taken to make international trade more balanced and therefore more favourable to the least developed among the developing countries—for instance, by the organization of markets so as to put an end to the deterioration in their terms of trade while ensuring that the developing countries derive sufficient and regular earnings from all their exports.
148.	Next, there is the increase of resources allocated to the financing economic and social development of the countries of the third world, either through the channel of direct financial aid or through the reform of the international monetary system and the establishment of a new financing mechanism. The consideration of the important and delicate question of the debt burden of the developing countries, in our view, should be carried out with care and realism—realism concerning the diversity of the situation of the countries concerned-so as to avoid apparently useful and effective proposals turning against their authors by creating situations which would block the development of countries that, for a long time to come, will still need the support of foreign capital.
149.	In addition, there should be rational use of science and technology in the service of development in order to achieve a new distribution of world economic activities that would take account of the interests of all the peoples of the world and preclude any harmful social repercussions.
150.	Lastly, we must determine the most favourable conditions for intensifying effective economic co-operation among the developing countries themselves in order to achieve the optimal utilization of their human and material potential. The Ivory Coast believes that this co-operation among ourselves, the developing countries, which can be achieved only through successive regional approaches, will be the best illustration of our readiness to take charge of our own economic development. For its part, my country is devoting itself sincerely, actively and enthusiastically to this task in close co-operation with our neighbouring countries within the framework of agreements based on effective solidarity.
151.	All the international conferences held these past years on problems of world interest, such as those of the environment, population or food, have greatly contributed to a better understanding of existing relations among peoples in all spheres of human endeavour. Never has mankind given so much collective attention to the human predicament and to the means of improving it. It would be disastrous to interrupt the positive dialogue that has been instituted between different groups of countries within the United Nations system and in other international forums.
152.	We must therefore attempt, through negotiation, to find practical solutions that will fully take into account the well-understood interests of all States while bringing us closer to our objective, man's well-being.
153.	But that goal cannot be fully ensured unless basic human rights are respected.
154.	Particular stress has been placed of late on persistent violations of those rights committed, not only by the colonialist and racist regimes of southern Africa, but also by many Governments of States Members of this Organization. In some independent countries, torture, arbitrary trials, summary executions and deprivation of rights and freedom have become commonplace. The Ivory Coast does not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of other States, but it believes that the hypocritical attitude we adopt, too often out of complacency, encourages those violations. While we mobilize to defend the human rights violated in a particular country, we keep a guilty silence on the same violations in some other country, depending on whether or not the particular regime is to our liking.
155.	We ought to have the courage to denounce all human rights violations wherever they occur and whoever are the perpetrators. That is the best way of ensuring respect for human rights everywhere and by all, because, as President Houphouet-Boigny, teaches us:
"Mankind's well-being is not achieved by persecuting people. We cannot, without shame, proclaim that we are pursuing a policy of social development, a policy of progress, when concentration camps, political persecutions, torture, executions and segregation are growing in number."
We must, therefore, make our actions consistent with the conventions, charters and other solemn declarations to which we have freely adhered, and must ensure that our will to defend human rights does not once again remain a mere pious wish.
156. We have confined ourselves in this statement to some of the fundamental problems whose rapid solution is indispensable for world peace. This does not mean that other problems are not of interest; we are equally concerned with their solution. Indeed, we hope that they will be solved as soon as possible.
157 In this difficult world it is more important than ever for us to strengthen the role of the United Nations, the. ideal forum for reaching agreement, where we can all combine our efforts to speed up the solution of the political, economic, social and cultural problems confronting mankind. We must increase the capacity of the United Nations to enable it to act effectively to attain the purposes and objectives set forth in its Charter.
158.	To that end, we are in duty bound to reaffirm our unreserved adherence to its ideals and our commitment to work untiringly, individually or collectively, to achieve them; to conform our daily actions to its principles; to implement in good faith its resolutions and decisions; and to resort to the Organization whenever international peace and security are in danger.
159.	That is the commitment to which we invite you 3ll to subscribe to today. For its part, the Ivory Coast undertakes that commitment with redoubled faith in the triumph of the noble ideals of our Organization.