 Your country, Mr. President, the Federal Republic of Germany, and mine, Botswana, enjoy very cordial relations. Through our diplomatic and other relations and through our dealings with German institutions and people, we have developed a knowledge of and confidence in German capabilities. In congratulating you upon your election to the presidency of the thirty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly, therefore, we recognize that the blending of these national traits with your acquired experience and diplomatic skills will provide the leadership which this Organization requires. We hope that under your stewardship we shall find not only that our deliberations will be crowned with success, but that our resolutions will find ready implementation.
2.	I congratulate also all the members of the Bureau for their well-deserved election to their respective offices. We are all aware of the weight of the responsibility we have placed on them. We are confident that they all have the shoulders to bear it.
3.	To Ambassador Salim A. Salim, Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania, the outgoing President of the thirty-fourth regular session, the eleventh special session and the sixth and seventh emergency special sessions of the General Assembly, and to his Bureau, we express our unstinting gratitude for the creditable manner in which they acquitted themselves in discharging the task entrusted to them throughout the year.
4.	So also must we hail the co-operation and support which our illustrious Secretary-General has always been ready to provide and has provided. It would be impertinent to attempt to measure or assess the degree of his fidelity and commitment to the aims and objectives of the United Nations as enshrined in the Charter. Suffice it for us to thank him warmly.
5.	But before I make a political tour of the world horizon as I am wont to do, permit me briefly to interpose a national sentiment in this Assembly and before the delegations assembled here to acknowledge with gratitude all the messages of condolence and all the expressions of sympathy and of goodwill and continued solidarity addressed to my country following the demise of our late President, Sir Seretse Khama. It was not without cause that our nation mourned the passing of its Founder, as did those who knew him as their friend. May his soul rest in peace.
6.	The eleventh special session of the General Assembly that has just ended is one of the many varied meetings, conferences, symposia, working groups and so on, all inspired by the overriding objective of correcting economic and development inequalities, redressing prevailing injustices and closing the ever-widening gap between the life conditions of the developed and the developing world.
7.	As my country, Botswana, fully participated in the deliberations of that session, it would be imprudent of my delegation to subject this Assembly to the painful tedium of repetition. I must nonetheless record my country's grave disappointment that, even at the end of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade, the general debate at the plenary meetings was still engaged with the identification of problems, the justification for the development of improved international economic relations and the exhortation to work out a sound, universally acceptable strategy and programme of action for the decade ahead.
8.	We are gravely disappointed because the failure of the developed countries to comply with resolutions of the sixth special session of the General Assembly and of UNCTAD has resulted in a further and more serious decline in real terms of trade of the developing countries and because, with the ever-spiralling energy costs, even the true political independence of those countries is in jeopardy. It is clear to us that although a resolution to launch global negotiations was adopted at the thirty-fourth session, its objective will be frustrated by the reluctance and inflexibility of some developed countries to negotiate meaningfully the relationship between the central authority and the United Nations specialized agencies.
9.	Despite all these very serious setbacks, disappointments and frustrations experienced in the past two decades, developing countries continue to rely for ultimate success on the realization by developed countries that justice and peace in the world will come only when all nations are self- supporting.
10.	It is therefore hoped that no effort will be spared to ensure that through the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade real development progress will be achieved. As a first step in this direction, it is vital also that the international community should endeavour to secure the success of the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, scheduled for early next year.
11.	We cannot over-emphasize the importance of regional economic co-operation for developing countries. In recognition of this fact, heads of State and Government of majority- ruled States in southern Africa made a declaration in April this year on the setting up of regional machinery for coordinating and integrating the development of their economies and reducing their economic dependence, particularly on South Africa. Various studies have been undertaken in various fields, including food production and security, animal diseases, natural resources, transport and communications. For the success of this effort funds will be required. We shall continue to rely for assistance on those who share our concerns and support our objectives.
12.	This year we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, contained in resolution 1514 (XV) of December 1960. The resolution crystallizes the hopes and aspirations of colonized peoples everywhere. Our period of celebration should be an occasion for reflection and the assessment of our achievements.
13.	The record over the lifetime of this resolution provides us with only qualified justification for rejoicing, for while many hopes, many aspirations, have found their fulfilment, some have been tantalizingly frustrated.
14.	In celebrating this occasion, therefore, we should, in true Christian fashion, place more value on what we still have to achieve than in what we have achieved. Only when we rededicate ourselves and work assiduously and unremittingly to that end may man universally regain his freedom, his respect and his dignity.
15.	International concern is being expressed also about the growing tendency of States to violate the conventions relating to the rights, privileges and security of diplomatic personnel and foreign missions in the territories of States Members of this Organization. The practice is gaining in frequency as it is degenerating in cruelty. Our Organization remains mute, impassive and seemingly insensitive to the physical suffering of the victims and the psychological ordeal endured by their families. The problem requires our urgent attention with a view to restoring to international diplomatic relations the time-honoured security and dignity without which international communication and understanding will not always be possible.
16.	The political problem Of Western Sahara is that it is a case of the recolonization of an African country by another African country.
17.	The first preambular paragraph of the charter of the Organization of African Unity [OAU] expresses the firm conviction of the heads of State and Government of the signatory States that "it is the inalienable right of all people to control their own destiny".
18.	The Kingdom of Morocco is not only a fully-fledged member of the OAU but enjoys the high distinction, limited to only a few among the present membership of that organization, of being one of the founding member States. It is when the Kingdom of Morocco, so placed and so honoured, undermines the charter by denying the Sahraoui people the total emancipation of their territory, their right to independent existence, their sovereignty and the territorial integrity of their State, it is when the Kingdom of Morocco, so placed and so honoured, deliberately obstructs and frustrates efforts directed towards resolving the dispute between itself and the Western Sahara peacefully by negotiation, that Botswana recognizes Western Sahara as a sovereign State and supports its admission to membership of international organizations.
19.	It might be observed by some that Western Sahara does not satisfy the classical criteria for the recognition of States. That might well be so; but the question is whether the Kingdom of Morocco has the right to be obstructionist, or whether the Kingdom of Morocco is exempted from the observance of the time-honoured, far-sighted resolve by the OAU to respect colonial boundaries existing at the time of the attainment of independence. If the answer to these questions is "No", as I am certain it will be, the Kingdom of Morocco should be ordered to withdraw its forces from Western Sahara and allow the people of that country to determine its own destiny without hindrance. If its deliberate decision after a referendum is to join Morocco, my country will respect that decision. Africa has unequivocally repudiated Morocco's claim to that territory. Morocco should terminate its colonial aggression against the people of Western Sahara.
20.	In July 1980 the seventh emergency special session, convened to consider the question of Palestine, voted overwhelmingly in support of resolution ES-7/2 calling upon Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab territories not later than 15 November 1980. The said resolution was one of the many which have been churned out to no avail since Security Council resolution 242 (1967). The requirement that Israel withdraw is international confirmation of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territories by war and an expression of disdain regarding Israel's annexation of Palestinian and Egyptian territories.
21.	Israel has consistently, over the years, flouted injunctions to withdraw and would surprise no one, least of all the United Nations, if, when 15 November 1980 arrive, Israel not only defied the resolution, as usual, but decided to establish a few more Jewish settlements in the territories concerned or demolish a few more homes of innocent Arabs on the West Bank as a reprisal for the enlistment of their sons in the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO]. Such action would be thoroughly provocative, but consistent with the acts of escalation in which Israel has engaged during the past few years.
22.	Botswana continues to regard the Palestinian problem as the core of the Middle East conflict, and only by restoring to the people of Palestine its legitimate right to territory and self-determination can hope for a comprehensive settlement be entertained. Such a comprehensive settlement cannot be reached without the participation of the Palestinians or their accredited legitimate representatives, the PLO. We recognize the right of every State in the area to live within clearly demarcated and secure boundaries. We deplore the declaration that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel and the desecration of the holy shrines of other religions.
23.	We call upon Israel to show the same degree of commitment to the working out of an acceptable solution to the Middle East problem as is displayed by the other parties concerned and to work tirelessly and honestly towards the attainment of that objective.
24.	Because they had not themselves known peace for decades, the people of Viet Nam should have, after the end of their long liberation and revolutionary wars, held peace sacrosanct and inviolate not only for themselves but in the territory of others. Their adventures in Kampuchea, however, do not confirm the validity of such suppositions. Inurement to pain and suffering cannot provide enough reason for their actions; the reason must lie in their quest for hegemonistic accretions.
25.	Botswana is guided in its foreign policy by its respect for the fundamental right of people to self-determination. For that reason, we find the interference of Viet Nam in the affairs of Kampuchea, under the guise of humanitarian intervention, inexcusable and capable of being dangerously infectious. Other States nurturing similar ambitions might catch the fever. Botswana does not condone the excesses of the Pol Pot regime but my country cannot, for that reason alone, condone external aggression. The problem of Kampuchea should be solved by the Kampucheans themselves and Viet Nam should give them the opportunity to do so by withdrawing its occupation forces from that country.
26.	In the view of my delegation, what goes for Kampuchea goes for Afghanistan as well and in equal measure. Botswana calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan and for the cessation of all military aid to any nationalist group in that country. To condone the destabilization or overthrow of a Government by a foreign Government because of differing social and economic systems would be to create a dangerous precedent. Weak, small nations such as my own, existing side by side with powerful neighbours, would lose their right to self-determination and to their identity. The United Nations must increase its vigilance to ensure that such acts of aggression are outlawed.
27.	We urge the people of Afghanistan to seek a solution of their differences by any of the peaceful means provided for in the Charter of the United Nations.
28.	On the occasion of the eleventh special session of the General Assembly, the Republic of Zimbabwe was admitted to the membership of the United Nations as the one hundred and fifty-third Member. The independence of that country and its subsequent admission to full membership of this Organization proclaim the victory of the forces of change and progress over those of conservatism and colonialism.
29.	After many years of fighting and exposure to human misery and suffering, the people of Zimbabwe must now adjust to a life of peace,, rehabilitation and national reconstruction. The task will not be an easy one. They will be subjected to pressures. They will be tugged and pulled in different political directions by external forces motivated by the desire to extend their imperial influence and promote their interests. Botswana implores the people of Zimbabwe to continue to be inspired, in peace, by the sublime ideals of national unity and national interests which won them respect and resounding victories in war. We urge the international community to guard against any external interference in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe and to assist the people of that country to come into their own.
30.	We are confident that Zimbabwe will add strength to the Organization and curb colonialism from following the course of adventurism in other parts of the world. The strengths and weaknesses of oppressed peoples should not be measured by the quantity or quality of their weapons, but by reason of their will to sacrifice their lives for their freedom. May the success of Zimbabwe be an inspiration to others.
31.	Another reply from South Africa on the Namibia question has come to hand—another chasm to keep the United Nations from its sworn objective of realizing the emancipation of Namibia, yet another document that adds frustration to impatience, and constitutes a serious indictment against the sense of purpose, urgency and degree of importance which South Africa professes to attach to the solution of the Namibia problem. While the Secretary- General has replied promptly to South African communications in the past, South Africa has consistently made three months of sterile silence the appropriate interval between official replies. The raising of unnecessary and irrelevant queries can only arouse doubts concerning South Africa's seriousness—otherwise to what purpose, one might ask, is all this wrangling? Is it to encourage the hope that the people of Namibia might tire of insisting upon the exercise of their fundamental right to self-determination and so recognize and accept the existing apparatus of minority domination? Is it to enhance the chances of the consolidation of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance? Is it hoped that the South West Africa People's Organization [SWAPO] might burn itself out to extinction? If none of these, what then?
32.	In 16 paragraphs of its letter of 29 August last, South Africa accuses the United Nations, its organs and bodies, of partiality towards, and preferential treatment of, SWAPO and for being SWAPO's "most ardent protagonist". It berates the Secretary-General for his actions, statements and comments in the course of his duty. It expects him to condemn SWAPO for waging the struggle to help to restore to the Territory of Namibia the legality which this Organization upholds. It recoils at the condemnation of its violation of the territorial integrity of the People's Republic of Angola and the Republic of Zambia and of the killing and maiming of their peoples.
33.	It is the responsibility of the sovereign nations here assembled to pass judgement on the statements and comments of their chief executive if these should call for such action. To require his unswerving compliance with varying standpoints of individual States would be to nullify the concept and practice of impartiality. Botswana has nothing but praise for the objectiveness with which the Secretary- General executes his heavy international responsibilities, in particular for his efforts to advance the course of the liberation of Namibia through the implementation of Security Council resolution 435 (1978).
34.	To hail the role played by the front-line States in the struggle for Namibia's independence may sound immodest when it comes from me, for my country, Botswana, is one of the countries in southern Africa which, together with SWAPO, has been directly involved in the search for an abiding solution to the Namibian problem. In the interest of peace, and to facilitate fair elections free from any form of armed intimidation, the People's Republic of Angola and the Republic of Zambia graciously volunteered to demilitarize areas of their territories. SWAPO has accepted the holding of free and fair elections under United Nations supervision and involving all the parties in Namibia. The delay in the holding of elections, therefore, postpones the day when the people of Namibia as a whole should give their own verdict. In the circumstances of the case, it is South Africa that shows definite partiality towards SWAPO, for by obstructing the election process it perpetuates and gives support to the internationally held position that SWAPO is the sole legitimate representative of the Namibian people.
35.	Neither repeated aggressions against the sovereign independent States of southern Africa, which have so often been condemned by the Security Council, nor the attendant massacres of their people and of the Namibian refugees in those countries, neither the strategy to enhance the chances of the Pretoria-sponsored internal minority parties nor the haranguing of the Secretary-General of this Organization will stop SWAPO from winning the elections if the people of Namibia, in the free and fair exercise of their right to self- determination, wish to entrust their destiny to that liberation movement. South Africa should climb down and engage in serious, constructive and meaningful discussions aimed at setting the stage for the holding of elections within a reasonable time. Together we must accentuate the positive, even if it is to express our appreciation to SWAPO for its co-operation, as amply illustrated by the compromises it has progressively made in the interest of a settlement. Botswana does not find doing so impolitic for, let it be known, it would equally have no inhibitions in expressing like appreciation for any substantive South African move towards making the independence of Namibia a practical reality.
36.	Four years ago from this very rostrum 1 said that the bell that had tolled for Angola and Mozambique in southern Africa would next toll for other States in the region. It has tolled for Rhodesia; it will toll for South West Africa soon. The time has now come for South Africa to refrain from drawing unconstructive conclusions and even from rearing up to score points on what it considers weaknesses in the United Nations position as expressed by the Secretary- General, and to grapple with fundamental issues relating to the objectives, conditions, manner and timing of the different processes leading to elections and ultimate independence in Namibia. Now is the time for South Africa to accept the fact that SWAPO exists not only to fight against but to talk to, in a spirit of realism and compromise and not of capitulation. Now is the time for South Africa to accept that Namibia will be free and that it will only have itself to blame if Namibia should be so antagonized as to become what South Africa might consider an unfriendly neighbour.
37.	In Africa, the last decade has been marked by the accession to independence of the former Portuguese colonies, the Comoros, Djibouti and the Seychelles. Their independence was hard won and bought with the lives of valiant young men and women in a heroic struggle for liberty and freedom for their people. This they have honourably achieved. Their graves are unmarked and unknown, but we revere their memory.
38.	There is no reason to suppose that the ensuing decade will not witness again in Africa the further extension of the frontiers of justice and freedom. Already the flag of the Republic of Zimbabwe flutters proudly in the breeze outside our Headquarters building. Namibia and Western Sahara wait their turn, which should come sooner rather than later if an end is put to the liberation wars which stubborn colonialism has forced upon the people of those Territories.
39.	In South Africa, the violation or, rather, the denial of fundamental human rights to Africans in order to protect white privilege and supremacy is being challenged. The burden of apartheid and racism has become too heavy to bear any longer. Schoolchildren have taken to the streets; industrial workers have downed their tools; high tension has led to incidents, such as the SASOL explosion, the Silverton Bank hold-up, attacks against police stations and the stoning of people to death, that are becoming all too common— all of which are eloquent indications of impending disaster. It lies within South Africa's competence to avert it.
40.	We are aware of the reported recent constitutional changes made in that country. Some political observers believe that those changes are designed to pull the country out of the strait jacket of its traditional policy of racism and apartheid. We are not too sure about that. However, we are aware that Prime Minister Botha, addressing the Transvaal National Party Congress, said recently: "We must get our priorities right. We cannot afford to stare ourselves blind against blacks who have lived with us for years." That is significant, particularly when it is coupled with his oblique admission of the powerlessness of even the strongest army in the face of insurgency and chaos born of freedom-seeking revolution.
41.	Six years ago the world welcomed the promise, made by yet another Prime Minister of South Africa, of radical changes in South Africa within six months. The promise of change was inspiring and impressive, but it proved hollow and inconsequential. The scepticism with which the international community has greeted the latest pronouncements by Prime Minister Botha is therefore not surprising.
42.	That the whites in South Africa are desirous of preserving their racial identity and their culture is neither in dispute nor begrudged, except to the extent to which such identification becomes justification for defining an individual's rights and status by his birth, assessing his worth by his colour or his race and determining where he will not work and where he will not live. That is what makes the system totally repugnant. What is more, while any immigrant or refugee of European extraction can acquire South African citizenship, the Xhoss of the Transkei, the Batswanas of Bophuthatswana and the Vendas of northern Transvaal have been made to go through the motions of losing their South African citizenship in an attempt to transform the reality of a plural South African society into the questionable concept of multinationalism within a single country. Africa has refused to recognize this arrangement. We appreciate the stand of other States which also shun the consolidation of racism and apartheid. We are outraged by the actions of those who see these Bantustans as potentially lucrative centres for the establishment of their industries.
43.	It is not the redrawing or redefining of South Africa's provincial and regional boundaries which will satisfy the aspirations of the oppressed people of South Africa; it is the dismantling and abolition of the policy of apartheid and its supportive apparatus, and the restoration to the people of South Africa of their rights, including the right to self- determination. The promotion of the sentiment of ethnicity will not stem the tide of the rampant desire for change. To be orderly and peaceful, change must be immediate and based on freedom, equality, justice and dignity for all.


I should like, first of all, to extend to Ambassador von Wechmar, on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and on my own behalf, sincere congratulations and best wishes on his election to the presidency of this Assembly. His task is no easy one, for at this time the international community is faced with a number of extremely serious problems. My delegation is sure, however, that his diplomatic skill and understanding will greatly assist in guiding us in our search for solutions to those myriad problems,
79.	I should also like at this time to express my profound gratitude to the outgoing President for the able manner in which he conducted the deliberations of not only the regular session of the Assembly but also the three special sessions during the year in which he held office. His patience and tact did much to ensure the best results in very difficult circumstances.
80.	My delegation wishes to pay a tribute to the Secretary- General and his staff for their tireless efforts in the pursuit of peace and harmony among the nations of the international community. Through you, Sir, I should like to pledge the support of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for his continuing efforts in that direction.
81.	In closing these words of greeting, I warmly welcome Zimbabwe to its first regular session of the General Assembly, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the newest entrant to this family. The accession to membership of those two States has been the source of immense satisfaction to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago; in the one case because we have watched the struggle of the people of Zimbabwe, a struggle for freedom and justice, and have seen history record the triumph of the principle of self- determination over oppression and have seen the tragic loss of lives of citizens of Zimbabwe in the struggle vindicated; in the other, because Saint Vincent is a sister Caribbean country, with which the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has close historical links, which we are confident will continue and be strengthened, as much through our regional integration movement as through our participation in this Organization and its agencies.
82.	In that connection, there must and can be no further delay in the achievement of independence by the people of Belize. For too long have the aspirations of the people of Belize to self-determination and independence been obstructed by threats to the territorial integrity of their country. We, repeat that the administering Power and all those nations with a real capability to do so should take the measures within their competence to guarantee by all credible means strict respect for the territorial integrity of an independent Belize, so that that Caribbean country can take its rightful place among the family of nations at the thirty- sixth session of the General Assembly.
83.	I indicated that the task of the President in presiding over the current session will not be an easy one, That is so because this Assembly is taking place at a time when nations are demonstrating more than ever before their inability to learn from the lessons of history. It is curious that the greatest tragedies of mankind, wars for colonial domination and world wars, tend to be regarded as the great landmarks of history. In our view, evidence of man's creative genius should truly be history's great landmarks. We have witnessed the extent of man's creative genius in changing swords into ploughshares—in creating this body after destruction, as a means of ensuring greater co-operation among sovereign nation States. In the affairs of nations, necessity is the progenitor of creativity. The scourge of war, like the scourge of pestilence and disease, has therefore impelled man in his own self-interest to co-operate with his fellow man.
84.	Members will forgive me if I say that the perception of my delegation is that we are standing on the brink of a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The fact is that in the face of this crisis we are squandering resources, squandering lives, squandering goodwill, and most distressing of all, squandering the opportunities that now exist: opportunities to build, to construct and to co-operate and so forestall the crisis or at least minimize its proportions.
85.	Undoubtedly there exists a positive correlation between periods of progress, in the sense of social, economic and technological advancement, and periods of cooperation between nations. Such an analysis can only serve to underline the imperative need for universal solidarity in this decade and beyond. The United Nations provides a forum for such co-operation.
86.	What is the present level of economic development in the third world? It is characterized by malnutrition, high unemployment, absence of safe water supplies, poor housing, high levels of illiteracy, short life expectancy: in short, an absence of most of the basic needs for survival. Such tangible evidence of suffering constitutes cold economic indicators which tell their own story.
87.	Protectionist measures in developed countries have increased; the terms of trade of developing countries in general have deteriorated; official development assistance by developed countries as a percentage of GNP has declined; the economies of third world countries have become characterized by slow growth rates, high inflation, vast current account deficits and external debts that have reached alarming proportions. Yet the just call by the developing countries for a fundamental change in the existing world economic order—a prerequisite for progress in the field of international economic co-operation—has elicited increasingly negative responses from the developed nations.
88.	Even the most optimistic among us will accept that the recently concluded eleventh special session of the General Assembly has failed. The two principal items on the agenda of that special session, first, the preparation of a new International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade—the 1980s—and, secondly, agreement on procedure and the drawing up of an agenda for the launching of a new round of global negotiations on international economic co-operation, have dominated the attention of delegations in New York since the end of the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly. These important issues have been the central preoccupation of third world countries over the past year. The failure of the eleventh special session is therefore a source of major distress, representing as it does the latest manifestation of the extreme reluctance of the developed countries to meet the justifiable requests of the developing world for restructuring the existing iniquitous system of international economic relations. My delegation laments that another opportunity has been squandered.
89.	Another chapter in the long list of failures: the fifth session of UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, held at Vienna, the Third General Conference of UNIDO, and the work of the Committee of the Whole, In addition, there has been the signal failure on the part of some developed countries to adhere to principles recognized by the overwhelming majority of the international community as being necessary to safeguard the common heritage of mankind.
90.	It is the view of my delegation that a most fundamental contribution which can be made in this Organization towards satisfying the need for human solidarity in the 1980s and beyond lies in the opportunity to make available the benefits of scientific technological advance to developing countries on terms that will bridge rather than widen the gap between the industrialized North and the developing South.
91.	On 6 May 1980, the third session of the United Nations Conference on an International Code of Conduct on the Transfer of Technology ended in failure, leaving unresolved the major outstanding issues. The Conference failed because many of its participants were not prepared to exercise the "political will and flexibility" which the General Assembly had urged on Member States in resolution 34/195. The major issues remained unresolved because those who could contribute to their solution have, in concert with the trans- nationals registered under their jurisdiction, refused to do so. Over three sessions of the Conference, the interests of transnationals have been supported and defended by those countries which continue to ignore and defy the will and interest of those many members of the international community. We all nevertheless recognize that the transfer and acquisition of technology on just and equitable terms are basic to the achievement of the New International Economic Order.
92.	It is not only in the area of a code of conduct for the transfer of technology that the interests of transnationals have been obdurately advanced by those who support them. The entire panorama of their operations continues to reveal an over-all insensitivity to the interests and demands of the weaker and poorer peoples of the world. Indeed, at times, their operations threaten to consume not only the small States on which they feed, but also to destroy the real interest and goodwill of the States that offer them parental protection. Some of these transnationals continue to refuse to deal with small States whose sovereign resources they exploit. They continue to manipulate markets solely in their own interests. They stubbornly resist any change in their unacceptable traditional commercial practices and they refuse to respond to all initiatives which would restructure the existing pattern of international scientific and technological relations. All this, together with their absence of commitment to the over-all interest of the poorer countries, has tended to thwart the developmental objectives of third- world countries and, moreover, sometimes to subvert the course of justice.
93.	The poorer and weaker countries of the world must resist this and seek together to devise mechanisms to eradicate the bases of these practices. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is convinced of the positive and practical role that science and technology can and must play today if there are to be any better prospects for change in the international economic situation.
94.	The Government of Trinidad and Tobago will continue to participate in every forum in which these issues are raised and will contribute in every way it can to redressing the existing imbalances, many of which derive from the traditional operations of transnationals. The Government shares the view of those countries of the Group of 77 that believe that legislation should be enacted on the national level in respect of the transfer of technology as one measure in the struggle to achieve a balanced and independent relationship with transnationals and those whose ultimate interests they serve. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is in fact considering such legislative measures at this very moment.
95.	The failure to make progress in this area is most significant because outdated and inappropriate technology in developing countries will continue to frustrate efforts at development even if rapid changes are effected in the three other important areas identified for the establishment of the New International Economic Order.
96.	Those three major areas are themselves interdependent and closely related. First, it is necessary to have a comprehensive reform of the framework governing international trade so as to ensure that it facilitates and promotes the restructuring of the international division of labour in line with the growing industrial potential of developing countries and the shift in the comparative advantage of industry towards them. Here I need only mention the failure of the fifth session of UNCTAD and draw attention to the frustrations experienced by the developing countries on the Trade and Development Board when seeking to implement some of the resolutions adopted at Manila last year.
97.	The second major area that has been identified for reform concerns the international monetary and financial system, in which there is urgent need for the evolution of a new global monetary and financial framework that is fully responsive to the needs of the developing world, In this regard the South-North Conference on the International Monetary System and the New International Order, which was held at Arusha from 30 June to 3 July of this year, provided an opportunity for both the North and the South to consider proposals for a radical restructuring of the international monetary system so as to secure more equitable participation by all States members of the international community and to support programmes of development and transformation in the third world,
98.	My delegation is fully aware that fundamental transformation can take place only over a period of time, given the spirit of co-operation between the industrial countries and the third world. It is for that reason that my delegation lends its support to the urgent transitional measures within the framework of IMF which were suggested for immediate implementation pending the building of a new monetary order.
99.	First, IMF should be equipped and prepared to finance third world deficits that are the result of serious and disciplined efforts at development and structural change. The conditions attached to such financing must reflect the sovereign right of States to choose their own social and economic models and developmental paths.
100.	Secondly, access to a higher credit charge of IMF should be guided by unambiguous recognition that a large part of the third world deficits is due to factors for which third world countries are not responsible and over which they have no control.
101.	Thirdly, the compensatory financing facility of IMF should be expanded, with low conditionality, to deal with external shock deficits of the third world. The facility should be related to the size of the externally induced deficit and not to the quota of a country in IMF.
102.	Fourthly, the special drawing rights of IMF should be made the principal reserve asset, and the role of national currencies in international settlements should be effectively reduced. Finally, a mechanism of appeal and international arbitration independent of IMF should be set up to deal with disputes between the Fund and member countries seeking access to such funds.
103.	The third major area in which change is needed is the field of economic co-operation among developing countries, based on the principle of collective self-reliance, which should constitute a dynamic and vital component of an effective global strategy.
104.	Resolution 127 (V), which was adopted by UNCTAD at Manila on 3 June 1979, urged the developed countries and the international organizations to
"provide appropriate support and assistance to the process and activities of economic co-operation among developing countries, notably in fulfilment of the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and of UNCTAD, bearing in mind the Arusha Action Plan	"
105.	Another opportunity has been lost since the assistance and support measures requested were not forthcoming from the developed countries when the developing countries introduced draft resolution TD/B/C.7/L.9  calling for those support measures, That leads me seriously to question whether developed countries support the principles and goals of economic co-operation among developing countries.
106.	To deny assistance to and withhold benefits from countries which find themselves in dire need is one thing, but to take unilateral action based on totally spurious grounds in such a way as to deprive countries of their shared patrimony represents a level of violation of the rights of nations and peoples that is totally unacceptable. Yet that is the direction which international political affairs seem to have taken over the past year or so.
107.	In respect of the law of the sea, my delegation is hopeful that the final working session of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, in 1981, will find the industrialized countries demonstrating a spirit of compromise and accommodation, as did the Group of 77 at the session concluded recently. My delegation wishes, however, to express its deep regret that, notwithstanding the spirit of goodwill and understanding shown by the majority, one or two Governments have found it necessary to act in such a way as to abridge the rights of all mankind by purporting to authorize their nationals to explore and exploit the riches of the deep sea-bed outside any generally accepted international legal framework.
108.	The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago wishes to give notice that it considers the enactment of such unilateral legislation to be inadmissible under existing international law since it is a derogation of a peremptory norm of international law—namely, that the sea-bed and the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction are the common heritage of mankind. The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago herewith registers in the strongest possible terms its protest at such enactments and declares that it does not recognize the competence of any one to exercise rights over the areas of the sea-bed on the basis of so-called traditional freedom of the high seas.
109.	My delegation notes that the lessons of history have not been learnt. Individual acts of aggression the consequences of which, in terms of human suffering, were known, have been prosecuted in complete disregard of that suffering.
110.	In the Middle East, the international community has witnessed the absence of any meaningful progress towards realizing the inalienable and imprescriptible right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and national independence. Recent events demonstrate a degree of intransigence and an unwillingness to recognize that fulfilment of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian Arab people is central to the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. My delegation reaffirms its firm support for the Security Council resolutions that have laid down an internationally acceptable framework for a just and honourable settlement and urges all parties to the conflict to resolve through peaceful means this issue which constitutes a threat to the peace and stability of the world and to accept the fact that the Palestine Liberation Organization must also have a role in any meaningful negotiations.
111.	At this very moment and in defiance of the world community, in defiance of the relevant decisions and resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly and, moreover, in defiance of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Namibia,  the racist regime of South Africa still maintains its illegal stranglehold on Namibia. We join the progressive forces of the world in intensifying our continuing efforts not only to ensure that Namibia is freed of the South African yoke but also to hasten the day of freedom itself for the majority of the people of South Africa. The evil of apartheid must be exorcised.
112.	The international community and its constituent members, if they are to avoid a totally unmanageable and uncontrollable international situation with the attendant breakdown of those values on which international relations were founded, must look beyond the narrow and constricting confines of the all-consuming national interest, and seek to take in concert such action as will realize the broader demands of all peoples to live in peace with their neighbours, assured of their security from external aggression and confident that respect for their sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity is genuinely safeguarded. Such are the responsibilities we all share, and such is the respect for internationally accepted principles which must be observed if this imperative need for human solidarity in the 1980s and beyond is ever to be realized.
113.	Trinidad and Tobago has resisted all promptings from within its own national boundaries and from outside to interfere in the domestic affairs of other States. This does not mean, however, that Trinidad and Tobago is not mindful of the need to co-operate to the extent of its capabilities with its friends and neighbours, while at the same time guarding jealously its own sovereign independence.
114.	Trinidad and Tobago, as a small developing country, dependent on limited reserves of a non-renewable source of energy—petroleum and natural gas—has sought to find ways and means through which the advantages that positively accrue to the people of Trinidad and Tobago as a result of the current favourable international market conditions for those resources can be shared in a beneficial way with the peoples in the Caribbean sub region. I say without any suggestion of self-congratulation that the effort which the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago makes in this regard in terms of the size of its economy and in the current absence of resource security, far exceeds the contributions being made by many industrialized countries which have pledged to commit 0.7 per cent of their gross national product as official development assistance and have consistently failed to attain this modest mark. When one considers that these same industrialized countries are pursuing proposals to coerce small developing countries like Trinidad and Tobago to accept ever-increasing burdens for the receipt of UNDP assistance through the adoption of new criteria for allocating indicative planning figures, in order to decrease their own already, in some cases, diminishing contributions, one questions whether the industrialized countries are really serious about making any meaningful contribution to third world countries.
115.	I should like to emphasize here that my delegation strongly rejects these attempts and would hope that others would join with us in reiterating the universality of the UNDP programme and in opposing any cut-off point for such assistance.
116.	Trinidad and Tobago has created an oil facility which is available to countries in the region that have been our traditional trading partners. This facility provides for the financing of the incremental cost of petroleum products, fertilizers and asphalt to States members of CARICOM, The financing of the incremental cost is applicable only where the products are supplied from Trinidad and Tobago and market prices as of 1 January 1979 are used as the base prices against which the incremental cost will be estimated, The facility, which became effective on 1 January 1980, is geared towards ameliorating balance of payments difficulties in the immediate future in the CARICOM countries by reducing the amount of foreign exchange to be disbursed in payment for petroleum products. To this end, the terms of the loan assistance are structured so as to maximize the net transfer of foreign exchange in the near term and, at the same time, to keep maximum debt repayment at a level which the beneficiary countries can be reasonably expected to service with the growth of their economies over the medium and longer term. A maturity of 15 years, therefore, has been proposed for the repayment of loans with grace periods of three years at an interest rate of 3 per cent in the case of the more developed countries of CARICOM, and in the case of the less developed countries of CARICOM at an annual interest rate of 2 per cent, with interest capitalized during the grace period in all cases.
117.	Under the facility, financial assistance will be of a purely programme type and in this way it is expected that the speed and magnitude of the resource transfer will not be hindered by project preparation capability which is a major restraint to the disbursement of loan funds already available.
118.	The international community is at the moment taking steps to establish a new communication and information order. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago recognizes that a free and responsible press is an essential feature of a democratic society. I wish, however, to reiterate that each Government and State has the right to determine its own national priorities based on acceptable international standards, from which there can be no derogation. It follows, therefore, that whenever attempts are made by national or transnational entities to subvert those priorities or derogate from those standards, such attempts must be vigorously resisted.
119.	In conclusion, I should like to enjoin others to return to fundamental principles and to reconsider and reaffirm those principles of co-operation on which this Organization is based. I use the expression co-operation as the antithesis of conflict and discord, which are forces of destruction. I remain convinced that the hour is not too late, that in spite of the perceptible slow-down in effort over the last year, real progress can still be made. Indeed, we have made some progress in the past, small imperceptible steps towards our goal of a more just, more equitable, more humane international community. But the road ahead is long and fraught with many perils. We must continue to persevere.


Mr. President, I have the pleasure at the outset of offering you the warm congratulations of the State of Bahrain on the occasion of your election by acclamation to the presidency of the thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly.
40.	It gives me pleasure also to express my deepest appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, the Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania, for the efforts and skill with which he guided the work of the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly, the sixth and seventh emergency special sessions and the eleventh special session.
41.	I should like, moreover, to convey to the Secretary- General our sincere appreciation of his ceaseless and tireless efforts in shouldering the duties and responsibilities entrusted to him by the General Assembly, foremost among them being promotion of the cause of international peace and co-operation. We thank him, too, for his report on the work of the Organization and the international situation during this year, a valuable report which contains a comprehensive presentation of all current international issues and crises.
42.	I take this opportunity also to welcome on behalf of the delegation of my country the admission of the two States of Zimbabwe and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to membership in the United Nations. Their admission to our family of nations is a step towards the universality of the Organization. We look forward to the day when we shall see the representatives of the people of Palestine and Namibia and other peoples in the world which are still under colonial domination, occupation and subjection sitting among us in this hall as full Members, in fulfilment of one of the objectives of the Organization, namely, the universality of its membership.
43.	Each year we meet here to review together the events of the world in general. We ought at this session, now that we are at the threshold of the 1980s and 35 years after the establishment of the United Nations, of which the commemorative day falls on 24 October, to pause and reflect on the achievements of the United Nations throughout the past years." Has the Organization accomplished the principal aims and purposes for which it was established, particularly the maintenance of international peace and security?
44.	The United Nations, after 35 years of existence, has practically attained the objective of universality. It now includes 154 States representing all the corners of the globe. It has become a true symbol of mutual co-operation among States and peoples of various political, economic and social systems.
45.	Nevertheless, it has failed to achieve its principal aims and purposes concerning the maintenance of international peace and security and the satisfaction of the aspirations and ambitions of the peoples of the world.
46.	Thirty-five years after the establishment of the United Nations, the cause of international peace and security is still in danger. The arms race among States is still at its peak, not for lawful self-defence but to threaten the independence and sovereignty of other States, and even threaten the annihilation of the human race by various destructive methods. Poor States are still getting poorer and rich States richer. Hunger, poverty and ignorance are threatening the lives of millions of people.
47.	The future of the world at the beginning of the 1980s seems to be dim, politically and economically. Most States are increasing their armaments feverishly. We see in every part of the world sparks of armed conflict emitted, which, if allowed to continue and spread, could at any moment set the whole world ablaze. This was clear in the first months of this year, when we noticed a real deterioration in the relations between the two super-Powers, endangering the international atmosphere. We, as a small State in one of the most sensitive regions of the world, feel deeply concerned at the course that events are taking between the two super-Powers. Recurrent political events are causing smouldering hotbeds of conflict to threaten the world with real disaster. The turbulent situation in the Middle East, Indo-China, Afghanistan and southern Africa and the course of events in Latin America and Europe have caused the escalation of the cold war between East and West. The cold war would have turned into a real war but for the self-restraint shown by some leaders.
48.	The two super-Powers seem to be competing to implement their policies of world domination, particularly as regards the third world. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, for example, has exposed our region and the whole world to incalculable and unpredictable dangers. It may not be an overstatement to say that current international tensions are very similar to the stormy conditions which preceded the outbreak of the Second World War, owing to the dangerous ventures of some great Powers. If a third world war breaks out, it will no doubt lead to the annihilation of the human race and the transformation of the world into a complete nuclear desert.
49.	We are now at the beginning of the 1980s. A new mode of relations among States is needed. The time has come for us to rid ourselves of old thoughts that govern our action and behaviour. War by proxy among the great Powers waged in the third world has to be discontinued now. We consider that the most important element for the creation of an international atmosphere of confidence is the observance of equitable relations among States. Such relations should be based on respect for the principles of the Charter, particularly mutual respect among States for each other's independence, sovereignty, integrity and security and the principle of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States. We have explained on more than one occasion and in more than one forum that detente is not confined to Europe; it is indivisible and inseparable and should extend to the whole world. It cannot be confined within Europe, away from developments in other parts of the world. We should never forget that the responsibility for world peace and security is no longer the exclusive right or monopoly of the great Powers alone; it is the collective responsibility of all States, large or small.
50.	International peace and security in many parts of the world is at the crossroads, particularly since the world, and especially the world's hotbeds of tension such as the Middle East, has become the scene of recurrent explosive events.
51.	The critical situation in our area is a source of worry. The indications are that the continuance of the dispute between Iraq and Iran at the present level of intensity may cause the situation to take a dangerous turn which would have serious effects on peace and security, not only in our region but in the whole world. Therefore we support the appeals addressed to both parties for self-restraint and a cease-fire and to resort to negotiations and respond to the good offices of the Islamic Conference. We welcome the recent decision of the Republic of Iraq to observe a ceasefire.
52.	The events taking place in the Middle East have attracted the overwhelming attention of the community of nations, especially after the intensification of the savage and racist Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people. The convening of the General Assembly this year in the seventh emergency special session to consider the question of Pales-' tine and the series of meetings held by the Security Council to consider the explosive situation in the occupied Arab lands are clear proof of the dangerous situation in the area. Israel has built more settlements on occupied Arab lands. It has intensified its measures of oppression, persecution and torture against the inhabitants of the occupied lands and wiped out the Arab heritage of such lands, especially in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
53.	The West Bank has been the scene throughout this year of wide national uprisings against Zionist tyranny. The Zionist authorities have met such rejectionist national uprisings by increased measures of oppression and terrorism, in order to Judaize the occupied territories and empty them of their occupants and impose the so-called plan of self-rule on the Palestinians. This plan has been strongly rejected by all the Palestinian people. This has driven the Zionist occupying authorities to deport three eminent persons from the West Bank and refuse their return to the occupied territories, contrary to resolutions 468 (1980) and 469 (1980) in which the Security Council ordered their return to their homeland. The occupying authorities have continued their repressive and savage measures against eminent national personalities who oppose their occupation and the plan for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause through the Camp David agreements. This has been clearly proved by the attempted assassination of three of the mayors in the West Bank, which resulted in the infliction of grievous bodily harm on them. The international community has expressed its great concern at the explosive situation in the region because of Israel's tightening grip on the inhabitants of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
54.	The situation in the Middle East is passing through a very dangerous and delicate stage because Israel is increasing its challenge by declaring the annexation of Jerusalem as the permanent capital of Israel, thereby flouting Security Council resolutions 476 (1980) and 478 (1980) and General Assembly resolution ES-7/2. The decision of Israel to annex Jerusalem is a grave violation of the principles of the United Nations and its resolutions.
55.	The refusal of the international community to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a clear indication of the awakening of the conscience of the international community, as Jerusalem is an indivisible part of occupied Palestinian lands. The Zionist annexation of the Holy City involves a radical change in the religious and spiritual nature and status of the city since it threatens the political, human and spiritual rights not only of the Palestinian people but of all Moslems and Christians in the world.
56.	Security Council resolution 478 (1980) of 20 August 1980 is of the utmost importance as the first resolution with which most Member States have complied, in conformity with law and justice and the principles of the Charter. Even the closest friends and allies of Israel could not stand by its side on this issue but preferred to be neutral, so as to avoid being accused of acting contrary to justice or condoning the breach of the principles of the Charter. Israel has thus become politically isolated on this issue.
57.	We offer in this forum our compliments to the States which have transferred their embassies from Jerusalem in accordance with Security Council resolution 478 (1980). We should like to emphasize this connection that if all Member States had complied with all the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, Israel would not have been able to challenge the principles of the United Nations and ignore its resolutions on Palestine and the Middle East. We appeal to the world, represented in the Assembly, to move quickly in order to save Jerusalem from the claws of Zionist domination. We also call upon the Security Council to face up to its responsibility to maintain the principles of the United Nations by imposing on Israel the sanctions provided for in Chapter VII of the Charter to compel it to evacuate all occupied Arab lands, including Jerusalem.
58.	There is no doubt that the assistance and support given to Israel by some States, particularly the United States, have encouraged it to challenge a-id ignore the United Nations resolutions and proceed with its evil plans to annex Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian and Arab lands. Such States, by their blind support of Israel, are in fact and in truth acting contrary to the United Nations principles, binding on them under the Charter, which prohibit categorically the occupation of land by the use of force.
59.	The aim of Israel, by geographical expansion through the annexation of Jerusalem and the building of more settlements under the pretext of security, is first and last the annexation of the whole of Palestine and the dismissal of its inhabitants. Jewish settlement has been and still is one of the principal policies of consecutive Israeli Governments since 1967. We challenge Israel to declare before the General Assembly its adherence to and respect for the principle of non-acquisition of territories by force, as provided in Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter, and its readiness to evacuate all occupied Arab lands under a just and durable peace in the region.
60.	It has become internationally indisputable today that the Palestine question is the core of the dispute in the Middle East and that without the just and durable resolution of the question of Palestine and the Palestinian people, there will be no peace or stability in the area. It has become clear that no just and durable peace can be reached in the Middle East under the umbrella of the Camp David agreements and the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty. The way to peace planned by the Camp David agreements between Egypt and Israel has reached a dead end. An opportunity should be given to the United Nations, as the natural and appropriate body to find a comprehensive, just and durable solution to the dispute in the Middle East, in which all parties concerned participate, including the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], which is supported by the masses of the Palestinian people; and the majority of the States of the world.
61.	Therefore we should like to reaffirm that to be successful any peaceful attempts to establish a comprehensive, just and durable peace in the Middle East must, in our opinion, be based on certain essential elements: namely, the complete evacuation of Israeli forces from all Arab lands occupied since 1967, including Arab Jerusalem, and the granting to the Palestinian people of their legitimate and inalienable rights, including their right to return home and to self- determination and the establishment of an independent State in their homeland. They should be allowed to participate in any discussion of this question on an equal basis with all parties to the dispute in the Middle East. Accordingly, Bahrain welcomes any initiative or step towards the solution of the Middle East problem in conformity with these just principles, provided that no harm is done to the rights of the Palestinian people or other Arab States whose lands are occupied. We call upon this international Organization, which bears a special responsibility to the Palestinian people, to help and assist them and support their struggle against Zionist occupation, so that they may recover their legitimate and inalienable rights, which have been repeatedly and frequently recognized by the United Nations and the States of the world.
62.	Reference should be made here to the development of events in the sister country of Lebanon. The situation in the south of Lebanon has been very serious this year. That country has been exposed to Israeli attacks which violate all international rules and agreements.
63.	Events have proved the true nature of Israel since its implantation by force in the Middle East; it has been revealed as an agglomeration of imperialist, racist, settler and expansionist people who cannot live in the area without the use of force against surrounding countries. The repeated attacks and military raids waged by Israel all over Lebanon without provocation are a dangerous phenomenon which cannot be condoned, nor can they be explained except on the assumption that Israel is a racist entity which lives on expansion and aggression.
64.	A question which we would like to pose before the Assembly is, when will the Security Council stop moving in a circle of resolutions condemning the repeated savage military attacks waged by the Israeli forces against Lebanon and the United Nations Forces, resolutions that Israel has always violated with impunity? We call upon the international community to support Lebanon and stand by the Lebanese people against the Israeli challenges aimed at the weakening of Lebanon, the exhaustion of its economic capabilities and its disintegration as an entity.
65.	The critical situation in Afghanistan is no less serious than the situation in the Middle East. The convening of the General Assembly in the sixth emergency special session at the beginning of this year under resolution 377 (V), the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, to discuss the explosive situation in Afghanistan is a clear indication of the extent of the seriousness of the situation.
66.	We have explained on more than one occasion that we are against all kinds of pressure and all forms of intervention in the domestic affairs of States and all acts of aggression, whether from East or West. We therefore have condemned the Soviet invasion of the non-aligned Moslem country as being an outrageous violation of all international norms and rules and the principles of the Charter. The international community has expressed in General Assembly resolution ES-6/2 its great concern and displeasure at what happened in Afghanistan.
67.	We consider that calm and peace will return to Afghanistan only upon the complete withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, through respect for its sovereignty and integrity as a non-aligned country and non-intervention in its domestic affairs, and only if the people of Afghanistan are allowed to determine for themselves their form of government and their economic, political and social system, without foreign interference.
68.	In South Africa, the white minority regime still pursues its policies of apartheid and racial discrimination by imposing unjust discriminatory laws against the black majority in that country. This has led again this year to mass outbursts of anger and exasperation. The time has come for the racist regime in South Africa to realize that the international community will not stand by, with its arms folded, in face of the open challenges of South Africa to the principles of the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
69.	The rejection by the racist regime in South Africa of the proposal contained in Security Council resolution 435 (1978) for setting in motion the process for peace and independence in Namibia calls for our condemnation and inspires disgust. Therefore, we support the call for the imposition of mandatory sanctions on the South African regime under Chapter VII of the Charter in order to compel it to abide by and comply with the United Nations resolutions and the will of the international community which it has always disregarded.
70.	The hopes that were pinned on the eleventh special session of the General Assembly devoted to international development and co-operation have been frustrated, particularly as more than six years have passed since the Assembly, at its sixth special session, adopted the Declaration on the New International Economic Order and Programme of Action. Since that Declaration, lengthy and difficult negotiations have taken place between North and South at various levels, within and outside the framework of the United Nations, for the establishment of the new economic order on just and equitable grounds. These negotiations have regrettably not been successful, owing to the uncompromising attitude of the developed countries. The fact that the Assembly at the eleventh special session failed to arrive at an agreement should not shake our determination to find solutions to the pending issues within the framework of the United Nations, and particularly to reach agreement on the procedures and agenda for the global negotiations.
71.	Despite the accomplishments of the United Nations over the past years in various fields the road before it is still long, rough and difficult and a lot of effort and sacrifice are required on the part of the peoples and Governments of Member States in order to support the creative role of the Organization in confronting the challenges of this age. We therefore hope that at this session resolutions will emerge which will correspond to the responsibilities and challenges facing our world and satisfy the great hopes and aspirations which peoples and Governments place on the United Nations.
72.	For our part, we reaffirm that the Slate of Bahrain will spare no effort to contribute effectively and positively to the work at this session to the attainment of such noble goals. We would also like on the occasion of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Charter to reiterate Bahrain's adherence to the principles of the Charter and to declare our great confidence in this international Organization, which has frequently attempted and achieved solutions to the serious problems facing our world today.


It is an honour for me once again to address this Assembly on behalf of my country, Gabon.
83.	This new mandate was entrusted to me by the President of our Republic after he had been given a further term of office as head of State of Gabon, last December, by the people of Gabon, unanimously rallying behind its great Party, the Democratic Party of Gabon. It gives me an opportunity to join preceding speakers in addressing to Mr. von Wechmar, on my own behalf and on behalf of the delegation of Gabon, my heartfelt congratulations on his brilliant election to the presidency of the current session of the General Assembly.
84.	I should like to take this opportunity to say how pleased I am that his country has made detente one of the keynotes of its foreign policy, a policy which resolutely pursues the same objective as the policy of dialogue endlessly advocated by the head of State of Gabon, El Hadj Omar Bongo, and which has been a cornerstone of his own political action. It is therefore no coincidence that our two countries long ago established fruitful ties of cooperation.
85.	We are experiencing an era of total change, prone to upheavals and tension of all kinds. Because of this, Africa today, more than in the past, is truly at a crossroads, and is called upon to play a predominant role in the search for peace and security in the world.
86.	In the same context, I should like to commend the highly positive contribution of Mr. Salim A. Salim, of the United Republic of Tanzania, President of the thirty-fourth session, for the remarkable work that he did during his term of office.
87.	A year ago, from this very rostrum, I deliberately made hope the watchword of my intervention, and I am pleased to point out that that hope was not altogether unwarranted, since today we rejoice at the admission of two new Member States to our Organization: Zimbabwe, which joined the international community during the eleventh special session, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which we welcomed just a few days ago.
88.	We are extremely pleased to express to those two fraternal States our heartfelt welcome. We are convinced that their participation in our discussions will make a positive contribution to the work of our Organization which, in the face of serious events of the day, more than ever needs the goodwill and efforts of all, in order to ensure the triumph of reason and wisdom, the safeguarding of peace and the realization of our common objectives. As an African country, we are particularly gratified at the presence among us of Zimbabwe which, following a bitter struggle against injustice, oppression and blatant colonialism, has recovered its dignity and its sovereignty over that portion of our African land.
89.	My country also wishes to commend Great Britain for having finally realized that it had to accept its responsibility and guide that country to independence. In this context, we cannot fail to mention the unremitting and highly commendable efforts of our Secretary General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, in the defence of just causes.
90.	There can be no doubt that, following this new victory won by Africa, the strategy devised by the OAU for the liberation of Namibia and the elimination of racial segregation from South Africa, together with the work of the international community, will achieve the same decisive results.
91.	That is the lesson that the Government of South Africa must draw from the Zimbabwe experience. To those who still refuse to face up to reality and to understand that Africans are sufficiently mature to accept responsibility for their own future, Zimbabwe's attainment of independence has just provided irrefutable evidence that it is not possible to curb or stem the irreversible course of history, and that the African people, more than any other, knows how to practise the policy of extending a helpful hand.
92.	The Pretoria Government must, before it is too late, accept the fact that, if it really s to escape from that isolation to which it has been confuted by universal condemnation, it must restore to the whole of Namibia—in other words, including the port of Walvis Bay—its legitimate rights usurped and confiscated in defiance of United Nations decisions. Likewise it must grant to the South African people, and I am speaking of the black majority, the rights inherent in the very nature of human beings, which continue to be denied them because of their colour.
93.	How many resolutions must international forums such as ours adopt, how much longer must nations that cherish justice and peace be patient before the Pretoria Government comes to its senses?
94.	This question is addressed to the Government of South Africa, a sector of whose white population does not necessarily approve of the policy of apartheid, as well as to the Governments of countries that would have us believe they are in a position to induce it to see the light.
95.	More than ever before, evil seems to have taken hold of the human race. And we, as defenceless guinea pigs, have no alternative but to voice, in confusion, anguish and fear, our protest in the face of the catastrophe towards which we are irremediably headed, as new weapons, ever more sophisticated and deadly, are produced.
96.	Interplanetary satellites are being placed in orbit day after day to monitor our every movement and to prepare holocausts, while thousands of men, women and children are dying of hunger and poverty each day. It is true that for the most part the victims belong to the third world and that their death makes it possible to reduce the population explosion which some believe to be at the root of all our ills; however, these same individuals do not attempt to reduce other explosions, namely nuclear ones.
97.	There is reason to believe that racism, underdevelopment, poverty and many injustices are in fact but the different facets of one and the same evil, that is, lack of consideration by wealthy peoples in the East and the West alike for the peoples of the third world, because with any sense of logic, one would endeavour further to reduce and then eliminate the scourges that afflict and decimate our mankind, scourges such as war, hunger, disease and poverty and thus save life rather than destroy it.
98.	Allow me to dwell a little on this aspect of North South relations, the relations between those that die of hunger and those that die of opulence; between those that die of boredom, disgusted because they have nothing further to wish for since the world in which they live has willed everything to them, and those that die of despair, aware that they will never be able fully to realize their aspirations because of a lack of means. These are just a few of the sad contradictions of our world, contradictions that I should like to place before you for reflection.
99.	I should also like to state that, faithful to our policy of dialogue for the establishment of peace, we believe that any initiative likely to promote or consolidate peace is commendable, as long as it makes it possible to alleviate hardship in our world. That is precisely why we intend to support any initiative taken, in particular by our Organization, with a view to restoring peace wherever armed conflicts have arisen and wherever the freedom and dignity of man are trampled underfoot and existing tension has degenerated into or might become open conflict. The list of such conflicts is very long: from Africa to the Far East, via the Middle East where the Arab people of Palestine continues to be denied its right to self-determination and to existence as a nation and where it sees its cultural and religious values trampled on, as is borne out by the attempts of the Zionist State to annex the eastern part of Jerusalem. We cannot remain insensitive to its cry of despair. That is why we condemn Israel and urge it to understand that it is in its own interest to work towards the restoration of peace in the region.
100.	Indeed, be it in sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb, the Mediterranean, the Arab Gulf, western Asia or South-east Asia, be it a regional conflict or a conflict between countries that are far apart, law and dialogue must prevail over force and violence, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and that of OAU, so that we can prevent the establishment of the law of the jungle.
101.	I should like to recall here that my Government's stand on questions of international policy stems from the fact that Gabon has made dialogue a fundamental principle of its internal policy and a choice tool for the solution of conflicts among States.
102.	Unfortunately, at the international level, certain countries seem to get carried away by their ideology and to seek confrontation rather than agreement, even with those that, in spite of undeniable ideological differences, have proved to be excellent partners at the bilateral level. It is true that many States give the singular impression that they have real respect only for those who vie the most with them.
103.	The indifference, even the selfishness, of the rich countries should prompt us in the third world to redouble our efforts to attain that collective self-reliance which seems to have established itself as a mode? within South South technical cooperation.
104.	In that connection we are gratified that after the Buenos Aires Conference in 1978, devoted precisely to that question, the African countries in particular have become aware of its importance. Indeed, following the Monrovia Declaration of Commitment of the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity on Guidelines and Measures for National and Collective Self Reliance in Social and Economic Development for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, those countries met first at the highest level in their second extraordinary session, held at Lagos on 28 and 29 April 1980, where they adopted the "Lagos Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Monrovia Strategy for the Economic Development of Africa".  They then met again at the ministerial level at Nairobi last May. All those initiatives are a demonstration of the political will of Africa to denounce the mimicry and extroversion of a recent past and to assume its own identity, its own personality, rather than having them imposed on it from abroad. In this way, Africa has resolutely declared itself in favour of an endogenous development aimed particularly at guaranteeing food self-sufficiency.
105.	What can be more logical than granting priority to rural development? Indeed, although the objectives of the developing countries should not be confined to "the attainment of certain minimum thresholds", especially in the area of food, the essential priority in the life of man is, after all, to meet his nutritional needs, hunger in the world being the main scourge of mankind.
106.	The problem of food in the developing countries has not in any way lost its seriousness since the World Food Conference, held at Rome in November 1974; unfortunately it has worsened. Any analysis of that question brings us to the need for increased and effective efforts, both in connection with food production and with malnutrition, efforts without which there can be no prospect for peace and stability in the world.
107.	Thus the activities of FAO, especially its programmes of technical cooperation and food security, deserve further attention and increased support by all.
108.	While all developing countries are endeavouring, relying on their own meagre resources, to step up action to increase agricultural production, foreign aid in real terms shows a disturbing decline. This is not a groundless statement.
109.	Indeed, not only has the target accepted for the First United Nations Development Decade of devoting 0.7 per cent of the gross national product to development not been reached, but that percentage was as low as 0.31 per cent in 1977. This is clear and unassailable evidence of the indifference and selfishness of the developed countries that we denounced just a moment ago and which we witnessed during the eleventh special session, devoted to development and international economic cooperation.
110.	On that occasion, with just a few exceptions, the representatives of the two blocs developed their usual reasoning, some casting blame on the countries members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] for the present world economic crisis and thus for the decline in aid, the others invoking the colonial heritage to justify their own negative attitude to development aid. But we know that, as far as the OPEC members are concerned, there is really a skilfully orchestrated campaign by the media in the developed countries to find a scapegoat for the economic crisis. We know that in connection with development aid the members of OPEC have by far exceeded 0.7 percent of their gross national product and that they intend to devote $4.4 billion to that end by 1982, through the OPEC special fund, which is financed by voluntary contributions.
111.	But, while some denounce the "excessive profits" in foreign exchange made by oil producing countries, they ignore or knowingly conceal the exorbitant profits made by the foreign companies that exploit that resource and that turn many developed countries into oil producers whose importance is equal to if not greater than that of certain OPEC countries.
112.	It is true that the industrialization of the developed countries, long based on the shameless low-cost exploitation of energy sources, experienced a certain slackening because of increases in the cost of oil. But, before that energy crisis, what did those countries do for the industrial development of the countries whose natural resources they were exploiting? They did nothing, or virtually nothing.
113.	I should like to stress here that for the third world countries the search for relative self-reliance requires a true change in mentality, which means no longer considering as valuable only the products marketed by the former metropolitan countries. It is even more necessary that the North South dialogue proceed on the basis of such a change in the collective mentality of the developed countries and the abandonment of their policy of economic domination because, I repeat, agreement must prevail over confrontation.
114.	For their part, the developed socialist countries should change their approach to aid to the third world and no longer take refuge, in order to justify their attitude, in the argument that it is the responsibility of the former colonizers alone to help the developing countries and thus redress the injustice done to them.
115.	That is the price that must be paid for the establishment of a new, more just and more equitable international economic order, the idea of which the developed countries accept in word but not in deed, as is proved by the failures or semi successes—we do not quite know what to call them— of all international economic conferences from the fifth session of UNCTAD, held at Manila in 1979, to the eleventh special session, which was devoted to development, and including the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, held at Vienna in 1979 and the Third General Conference of UNIDO, held at New Delhi in 1980. At all those abortive meetings, the developed countries consistently played the part of a blocking minority whenever that power existed, and struggled to achieve it when it did not, as in the case of the negotiations within the framework of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
116.	However, to conclude on a positive note, let us hope that at the dawn of the third United Nations Development Decade those partisan and selfish demonstrations which we have denounced will give way to a growing awareness of the ideals and principles of the Charter, the only guarantors of the peace and security to which mankind so fervently aspires.