It is for me a great pleasure to convey to Mr. Peter Florin, on behalf of my own President, Mr. Samuel Kanyon Doe, and the Government and people of Liberia, congratulations on his assumption of the presidency of the forty-second session of the General Assembly. His unanimous election to his high office clearly reflects the esteem in which he is held by the Members of our Organization. We assure him of our fullest co-operation and support, as we wish him every success in his important assignment.
I take the opportunity also to thank his predecessor, Mr. Humayun Rasheed Choudhury, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, for the able manner in which he conducted the affairs of the forty-first session. We extend special thanks to our Secretary-General for his efficient management of the Secretariat and for his faithful and unrelenting efforts to fulfil the mandates entrusted to him by the Assembly. In particular we commend him both for his efforts to ensure implementation of the administrative reforms required of the Organization and for his latest report, which will be guiding our work during this session of the Assembly.
Multilateral coo-operation for the betterment of the human condition is the principal corner-stone upon which this Organization was founded over 40 years ago. In an increasingly interdependent world, nation-States must expand and pursue opportunities to advance their common and mutual interests. Such co-operation implies not only a sense of shared responsibility, but also the need for a collective response to common problems.
The world society which we attempt to fashion through this Organization requires the pooling of efforts where resources of individual States are inadequate, the co-ordination of policies where unilateral measures may negate one another, and the provision of a framework for decisive action where uncertainty may inhibit concrete progress. Unfortunately, seething as it is with conflicts and hostilities, our world today falls far short of this perceived ideal of a wholesome environment in which global resources are devoted largely to socio-economic development.
Whether it be due to the bankrupt policy of apartheid in South Africa, the frustrating denial of self-determination to the people of Namibia or the persistent crises in the Middle East, the Gulf region, Asia and Central America or elsewhere, the deep hatred created by such conflicts continues to impede the will to collective responsibility and collaborative effort in their resolution.
It should therefore be no surprise that many of the issues before this Assembly have remained perennial agenda items, with hardly any solution in sight. In this context, the racist South African regime's persistence in the pursuit of the policy of apartheid has posed one of the most serious challenges to this Organization's declared aim: "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small". There can be no doubt that apartheid also contravenes the objective of the United Nations to build a world society free from all forms of segregation and discrimination.
That is why my Government has consistently rejected South Africa's apartheid policy and calls upon those that give support and encouragement to the racist regime not only to consider the serious consequences of their action but also to reconsider their position on the adoption of sanctions against South Africa.
Regardless of what is said about the merits or demerits of sanctions, the fact is that the inadequacy of the sanctions imposed thus far has apparently had the effect of rendering the racist regime all the more ruthless and intransigent in its oppression of the black majority of the population. Consequently, my Government remains convinced that the imposition of comprehensive mandatory sanctions as provided for in Chapter VII of the Charter constitutes the last viable peaceful means of ending this ugly and explosive situation in South Africa, a situation which continues to destabilize the entire region and constitute a threat to world peace and security. My delegation takes this view not unmindful of the importance of negotiations and dialogue, but because of the long-standing refusal of the South African Government itself to meet and to negotiations with the leaders of the liberation movements.
As regards the related question of Namibia, Liberia cannot accept the continued defiance of the authority of the United Nations, and considers South Africa's recalcitrance to be a grave challenge to the credibility of this Organization. It is most regrettable, in this connection, that three decades after the commencement of the decolonisation process in Africa Namibia should still be languishing under the yoke of colonialism. Our frustration is further heightened by attempts on the part of the racist regime and its collaborators to insist on linking the proposed withdrawal of Cuban internationalist forces from Angola to the question of Namibia's independence.
My delegation therefore calls for the unconditional and complete withdrawal of South Africa from Namibia so that that Territory can at last gain its full independence, under the leadership of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people, and take its rightful place in this Organization and elsewhere. We submit in this connection that Security Council resolution 435 (1978) remains the most viable basis for the attainment of this objective. There are other regional conflicts which are also the subject of continuing dialogue and negotiation within the international community. That is as it should be, since we are enjoined by the Charter to pursue the settlement of disputes by peaceful means.
Accordingly we must commend the Secretary-General for his ongoing efforts to restore peace and stability in the Persian Gulf. The war between Iraq and Iran, which has lasted for nearly a decade, has taken a very heavy toll on human life and property, disrupted freedom of trade and navigation in the region and even escalated to the point where chemical weapons have been used against civilian targets, including women and children. We must once again urge all concerned to comply with the provisions of Security Council resolution 598 (1987), which calls for the cessation of hostilities and the opening of negotiations between the two parties.
In the Middle East the question of the right of the Palestinians to a homeland and the right of Israel to exist within secure and internationally recognized boundaries continues to be disputed by the parties. Those rights must of course be recognized and upheld through peaceful means. In this connection an international conference on the Middle East could prove useful, provided that it facilitated the evolution of a solution acceptable to all concerned.
While taking note of recent political developments in South Korea we wish also to encourage the resumption of dialogue at ministerial level towards the reunification of South and North Korea. Furthermore, my Government believes that membership in the United Nations of North and South Korea should broaden the scope for a peaceful reunification of that divided country.
It is a fundamental right of peoples to determine their own form of government and to choose whatever political, economic and social systems they may wish, free from outside interference or constraints of any kind equally, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence are all inviolable attributes of nations. In this connection the unconditional withdrawal of foreign troops from both Kampuchea and Afghanistan should be accelerated to enable those countries to exercise fully their freedom.
By the same token we consider the establishment and maintenance of peace in Central America to be the prime responsibility of the Governments in that region. We therefore welcome the recent Guatemala Agreement as a useful foundation for genuine peace and stability in Central America and call on the international community to lend its fullest support to that Agreement.
On a similar note, my Government also invites the international community to lend its support to current initiatives of the Organization of African unity towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Libya and Chad,
Most of the conflicts and hostilities ate fuelled by an arras race that is consuming a disproportionate share of the world's scarce resources. Because the international community can ill afford to continue on such a course, we welcome the historic international Conference held recently on the relationship between disarmament and development. That Conference could be viewed as a first step not just towards a safer world but also towards a more judicious utilization of the earth's resources. Having said that, my delegation believes that any appreciable level of disarmament should be buttressed by workable guarantees for States, through effective arrangements for the maintenance of international peace and security in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
In this connection my Government notes with satisfaction the recent agreement in principle concluded between the Governments of the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. We urge those nations to continue their negotiations to a successful conclusion. In addition to the issues of war and peace which we have highlighted here there are also a number of serious problems plaguing the global economy, problems that continue to defy and frustrate traditional solutions. In practically every forum of the world today such issues as those concerning the need for monetary and fiscal reform, the increasing volume and cost of third-world debt, the declining level of real official development assistance, the drastic fall in third-world commodity prices, spiralling inflation, the deteriorating terms of trade, the increasing protectionist tendencies of industrialized countries, are all finding their way to the very top of the agenda. These and similar problems have been generally identified with, if not considered as, the direct root causes of unemployment, sustained poverty and overall negative growth in most third-world countries.
However, what is truly noteworthy, as we know, is that these problems have arisen and persisted not because the world lacks the raw materials or the technological capacity to produce enough for its growing population, which has now reached five billion and is increasing by the second, but largely because our States have as yet not been able to agree on a fairer and more rational system of managing the world's economy.
As some speakers before me have pointed out, the old alignments and configurations of the international economy will no longer suffice. For instance, no concept of development can be accepted today which continues to condemn the majority of the world's population to starvation, malnutrition, substandard living in conditions of despair.
The widening gap between rich and poor countries has often been traced to the industrial revolution and to slavery and colonialism, in which the development of industry in the Western world was said to have been facilitated in great measure by massive infusions of resources, both human and material, from what is now referred to as the third world. That, parenthetically, raises a most interesting question about the unrelenting pressures now being exerted on third-world countries to repay their debts; is there not another debt that we are forgetting, that may not have been fully repaid, or even considered?
The point, however, is not that industrialization did not increase the wealth of Europe and North America, or that slavery and colonial exploitation did not retard the development of the third world; the point is simply that this situation, which has remained essentially unchanged notwithstanding the great wave of decolonisation that has seen the creation of nearly 100 new independent States over the last 40 years, is no longer a tenable or acceptable proposition.
The traditional, almost stereotypical, division of labour which relegated third-world countries to the status of primary producers must now give way to a new arrangement that should not only enable developing countries to engage in the manufacturing of finished and semi-finished products but also require the developed economies to consume more of those products. We commend and completely agree with those, among them the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany, who have called here for the age-old one-sided relationship between developed and developing countries to be restructured.
As regards the role of the United Nations and its specialized agencies in economic development we must, of course, commend them for their untiring efforts in research and information, in policy analysis and practical action and in technical assistance, where they have contributed to the development activities of third—world countries. Only last year the United Nations convened a special session on the critical economic situation in Africa. Since then, many African countries have undertaken strong measures to fulfil their commitments under the economic recovery and development Programme adopted at that session. For example, in its own economic recovery programme, Liberia, under the leadership of President Samuel Kanyon Doe, has embarked upon a number of measures to improve the management of the public sector, to restore to its proper place the key role of private initiative and enterprise in economic growth and development and to design strategies foe integrated rural development, with emphasis on agriculture and food self-sufficiency, through a green revolution programme.
But, as was recognized by the special session, the international community was expected to complement the resources and self-help efforts of third world countries for their economic recovery. Unfortunately, most donor countries have so far done very little to demonstrate, much less fulfil, their commitment to the Programme, this, my country and Government find most regrettable and disappointing.
Indeed, our world today is over-burdened with political and territorial disputes and with serious economic and social crises, all of which threaten the very foundations of peace, security and development on our planet. In the circumstances, there can be no social responsibility more important or task more weighty than that of the search for efficient and lasting solutions to these problems. And in this onerous task our most urgent need is for strong leadership and a new vision, tempered by a greater sense of collective moral responsibility and a complete change of attitude based on a rededication to international solidarity.
Indeed, this global village which is our common heritage will be neither a better place in which to live nor a worthy legacy to bequeath to posterity unless we can urgently return to the fundamental values of love and charity and the proposition that each one is his brother's keeper. International relations can no longer be based solely on a delicate balancing of conflicting interests, or on the unremitting and fierce competition of nations to achieve material objectives and superiority at all cost. These relations must now be founded firmly on the universally accepted principles of justice and fair play   tolerance, protection of the weak and freedom from domination by the strong. Of course, these are not new values or concepts in the United Nations.
Over the years this Organization has emerged as the authentic voice of humanity's collective conscience. There is now, however, a dire need to strengthen our moral capacity and reinforce our political will to enable the United Nations to tackle more effectively its many complex problems, to which, in some cases, normal political approaches may not be applicable or even feasible.
It cannot be denied that there is a moral and ethical dimension to the struggle against ignorance, disease and poverty, against such social ills as drug abuse, prostitution, slavery, child labour and torture/ and that there is such a dimension to programmes such as those which provide for the immunization of children, better housing and Medicare for the people, a greater role for women In development, food security for all and the protection of the environment. The same humanitarian spirit as recently mobilized and co-ordinated international assistance to Ethiopia, Sudan and Mexico, among others, should now be cultivated and fully extended to other areas of need in the world.
In this connection, and referring again to the Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development, ray delegation submits that there might be an even more poignant relationship to be considered, namely, that between disarmament and disease. Let us take the real case of the current AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) epidemic. Very soon the global effect of that deadly epidemic could reach proportions comparable only to the devastation that could result from a nuclear explosion, which knows no national boundaries. There is no doubt that much more could be done to intensify the search for a vaccine and/or a cure for the AIDS epidemic if a relatively small portion of the billions of dollars now spent on arms could be placed at the disposal of the scientific and medical community for this purpose.
Two other areas of concern that the United Nations could take as a moral imperative are the problem of third world debt and the combined questions of the liberation of South Africa and independence for Namibia, to which we referred earlier. For reasons already recounted here, the problem of debt truly poses a moral challenge to the developed world and to institutions for international development assistance. Nothing short of a substantial, if not total, conversion into grants of the debts owed them by third world countries may be required to enable many of these countries to survive even marginally while their serious structural problems and the inequities of the international marketplace are redressed. My delegation firmly believes that the United Nations could play a vital role in sensitising the creditor nations and institutions to the need for urgent relief action.
As for man's inhumanity to man, wherever found and whether it assumes the form of genocide, slavery, colonial exploitation or the displacement of peoples, it has always been morally indefensible. In this connection, the continuing existence of apartheid in South Africa constitutes an affront to the collective conscience of mankind. Regular reports and accounts of the brutal excesses of the apartheid regime contain disturbing overtones of torture camps in recent history. The world must surely act now to end apartheid. For its part, Liberia reaffirms its determination to carry on the struggle until the last vestiges of colonialism and all other forms of exploitation are removed from southern Africa and every other part of the world where such human rights abuses are found.
It is our fervent hope that the United Nations will continue to be not only a forum in which to engage in dialogue on global matters, but also a forum in which to galvanize our collective political will and moral courage to secure the long-term interest of mankind.


We should like you, Sir, to convey our greetings to comrade Peter Florin on his unanimous election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-second session. We wish him every success in the discharge of his lofty and responsible functions.
The forty-second session of the General Assembly is taking place at a crucial turning-point. It is called upon to make use of all its authority in order to consolidate the positive changes in world affairs, overcome confrontational stereotypes and put into practice the new political thinking in international relations.
There has emerged in international affairs a certain encouraging movement towards the realization of the aspirations of the peoples of the world for the preservation of peace and the strengthening of security. These hopes have not been brought about by unfounded optimism or by wishful thinking. There has appeared on the political horizon a real prospect for achieving agreements on the most pressing problem of reducing nuclear arms and improving the international atmosphere as a whole.
What exactly do we have in mind? Above all, what we have in mind is the agreement in principle between the USSR and the United States to conclude a treaty on the complete elimination of two classes of nuclear missiles: shorter-range and medium-range. For the first time in history the idea of nuclear disarmament is close to fruition. Should this very first - and hence especially difficult - step be accomplished, international relations would be placed on an entirely new footing. Such agreement would have not only a major political and military significance, but would also change the whole situation psychologically. After all, up to now there has been only a process of building up nuclear arsenals.
Secondly, Reykjavik and the Soviet-United States talks in Washington have shown that, given political will, it is possible, in principle, to cut back substantially the strategic offensive arms of the two biggest nuclear Powers, provided that the Treaty on anti-ballistic missiles (ABM) is strictly complied with. Given a mutual desire, agreement on a 50-per-cent reduction in their strategic offensive arms could become a reality as early as the first half of 1988.
Our optimism is bolstered by the progress made at the Geneva talks in the framework of the Conference on Disarmament, where the representatives of the countries are on the verge of concluding a convention on banning chemical weapons and destroying stockpiles of such weapons. Favourable conditions for such a change of course have been created as a result of the deliberate choice made by States in favour of restraint and self-imposed limitations.
The sphere of the sensible, responsible and rational organization of  international affairs is expanding, albeit timidly, before our very eyes". That is the conclusion reached by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in his article "The reality and the guarantees of a secure world", which has been perceived by world public opinion as a doctrine of a world free from nuclear weapons and violence.
The article, which was timed to coincide with the opening of the session of the United Nations General Assembly, contains some anxious thoughts on what could be done, and how, by the community of nations to make peace a political reality even before the end of this century. It emphasizes that natural processes are spontaneously creating a situation where our complex and diverse world is becoming increasingly interrelated and interdependent, and this world is increasingly in need of machinery to enable us to discuss together - in a responsible fashion and at a representative level - and deal together with its common problems; and it is the United Nations that was intended to constitute such machinery.
The Ukrainian SSR has always supported, and continues to support, the idea of enhancing the role of the United Nations as an irreplaceable instrument of peace and harmonization of the efforts of States, as well as the idea of strengthening the political, legal and moral status of the United Nations and making its activities more democratic. Our commitment to this Organization was reaffirmed once again with the utmost clarity during the recent visit to the Ukrainian SSR by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Perez de Cuellar.
Today, international relations cannot be built if the interests of all States are not taken into account. The balance of interests should be observed, for it alone produces sensible policies. To that end, we must therefore learn to harness our national interests to purposes common to all mankind. All this is felt especially keenly here at the United Nations.
In the kaleidoscope of problems posed by our times, one task stands out: to ensure the survival of mankind and save it from nuclear self-annihilation. The arms race, produced by the wrong-headed strategy of nuclear deterrence and containment, is crippling the life of civilization on Earth; it consumes annually nearly $1 trillion - funds so badly needed to ease the plight of hundreds of millions of people suffering from poverty, hunger and disease.
Is it possible that, at the end of the twentieth century, we will allow the clangour of the anvils that are forging the weapons to drown out the voice of reason and warning? Is it really possible that we are incapable of combining the capabilities and the will of States and peoples in order to rid mankind of the prospect of total destruction?
For the sake of the survival of mankind, for the sake of its salvation and development, for the sake of the life of present and succeeding generations, it is imperative that all the strength, authority and influence of the United Nations be devoted to the cause of creating a nuclear-free and non-violent world.
Outside the movement towards a nuclear-free and non-violent world - and this is our profound conviction - there is not and cannot be any path to the progress of mankind. This conclusion underlies the new political thinking, which we believe is meeting with the understanding of all sensible men and women. The looming danger of the destruction of civilization makes it imperative, indeed vital, for diverse social and political forces to unite and create a coalition of political realism, reason and good will.
The new political thinking and the foreign policy that goes with it, which is based on an objective analysis of the world of today, presuppose a sober and judicious view of the diversity of forces that make up world politics, and emanate from the awareness of the responsibility for the survival of mankind. They are oriented towards the development and building of trust among nations, towards the actual implementation of the principle of the peaceful coexistence of States as the supreme universal norm in relations between nations. An important step in that direction would be the adoption by the forty-second session of the General Assembly of a declaration on the renunciation of the threat or use of force in international relations.
It was the criterion of common human values that guided the socialist States, including the Ukrainian SSR, when they proposed in the United Nations the initiative to establish a comprehensive system of international peace and security. The co-sponsors of the proposal proceeded from the principle of the indivisibility of international security, which cannot but be global and equal for all and which must encompass the military, political, economic, environmental and humanitarian spheres. Such a security system would lead to the building of a nuclear-free world, where the threat or the use of force would be ruled out and relations among nations would be built in a spirit of mutual respect, friendship and co-operation. The ongoing broad exchange of views in the United Nations on these matters confirms the fact that the socialist countries' initiative is aimed at surmounting confrontational approaches and establishing civilized norms of relations and an atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust in the practice of international affairs.
The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR is in favour of continuing and developing constructive international dialogue, for the purpose or jointly searching for ways and means of shaping a comprehensive system of international peace and security and adopting concrete measures to provide material, political, legal, moral and psychological safeguards for a world free from the nuclear threat. What the socialist countries are proposing to the world community is not a short-term concept but a long-term, rational programme that invites everyone to strive for peaceful and mutually beneficial international relations. The Ukrainian SSR expresses the hope that the United Nations will make a substantial contribution to the establishment of a comprehensive system of international peace and security, in strict compliance with the Organization's purposes and principles and on the basis of its Charter, and will act as that system's effective and authoritative guarantor.
Thus, the concept of security, as we see it, is both a new political and philosophic vision of the age which mankind has entered and a programme of concrete actions to ensure practical movement towards a nuclear-free and non—violent world and - from the historical standpoint - towards a demilitarised world. Arms limitation and disarmament undoubtedly form a foundation for the edifice of general security. On 15 January 1986 the Soviet Union proposed a programme to rid the world of nuclear weapons. This document contains clear-cut stages stretching to the year 2000 - a world without means of mass destruction,- a peaceful outer space, the restriction of the military potentials of States to the limits of reasonable sufficiency. Its significance lies in the fact that it marks the beginning of the process of merging new political thinking with practice.
We proceed from the belief that it is impossible to resolve completely the questions of nuclear disarmament within the sole framework of relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, Here, the United Nations - which, I must say, plays a unique role in the movement towards a nuclear-weapon-free world - can and should make an important contribution· The Ukrainian SSR would like to see the most made of the Organization's potential for that purpose, putting to use all existing negotiating mechanisms, including such an important body as the Security Council·
The question of banning nuclear tests occupies a special place in the whole range of nuclear disarmament problems· The critical need to resolve that question is explained by the fact that the reduction of nuclear arsenals cannot in itself, without the banning of nuclear--weapon tests, solve the problem, since it leaves open the possibility of modernizing the remaining part of such weapons - that is of developing ever-more-sophisticated and deadly nuclear weapons. Hence, a nuclear-test ban is a concrete step towards the genuine elimination of nuclear arms.
The document entitled "Basic Provisions of a Treaty on the General and Complete Prohibition of Nuclear Tests", submitted by the socialist countries at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, provides good opportunities for constructive talks on this subject- The delegation of the Ukrainian USSR believes that dealing with this question in practical terms as soon as possible would be in keeping with the will of the overwhelming majority of States. We hail the agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States to start before 1 December full-scale negotiations on the limitation and, ultimately, the total cessation of nuclear tests.
The agreement signed between the Soviet Union and the United States on the establishment of nuclear-risk-reduction centres deserves our approval. The Ukrainian SSR supports the Secretary-General's proposal for the establishment of a multilateral centre to reduce the threat of war. In our view, a direct communication line linking United Nations Headquarters with the capitals of the permanent members of the Security Council and the place where the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement is located could serve the same purpose.
The socialist States propose a peaceful alternative to counter irrational bids for nuclear supremacy. The Ukrainian SSR calls upon all countries to take an active part in implementing the programme to establish an international regime for the safe development of nuclear energy production, which provides for a whole series of material, scientific and technological measures, supplemented by international legal norms and agreements. The programme could prevent people from making errors and from incurring incidents fraught with dire consequences for their life and health .
The prevention of an arms race in outer space is yet another concern for all mankind. Preparations for "Star Wars" should not be allowed to become irreversible and to create insurmountable obstacles to disarmament. We are convinced that the strategic defence initiative programme is disastrous. This is recognized by many people, including people in the United States. The strategic defence initiative is an exclusively militaristic programme designed to gain military superiority and undermine strategic stability in the world.
In this key area the lack of realistic policies is particularly severe. Concrete actions are needed· First, the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, which is the corner-stone of strategic stability, should be strictly complied with.
It is time for the talks on concluding an agreement or agreements to prevent an arms race in outer space to begin at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. The objective of the talks could be agreements on such problems as the prohibition of weapons systems of the space-to-space and space-to-Earth type, the non-development of new anti-satellite weapons and the elimination of existing weapons of this type, and guarantees of the immunity of man-made Earth satellites. It is also necessary to concentrate efforts on solving as soon as possible another urgent problem - ridding the world of chemical weapons. I have already said that promising progress has been made at the talks within the framework of the Geneva Conference on Disarmament. The proposals put forward there recently by various States clear the way to agreement. The proposal to proceed on the basis of the need to make legally binding the principle of mandatory challenge inspections without the right of denial is a concrete contribution to the success of the talks.
We reiterate our support for the initiatives taken by the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania to establish zones free from chemical weapons in Central Europe and the Balkans.
The movement towards genuine security through disarmament presupposes, in addition to the elimination of the weapons of mass destruction, urgent agreed on reductions in conventional arms and armed forces. The socialist countries have repeatedly stated their readiness to go as far as other countries are prepared to go on this question. As will be recalled, to confirm their readiness they made specific proposals in June 1986 on a substantial reduction of armed forces and armaments in Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals, subject to far-reaching verification.
The co-ordination and implementation of exhaustive measures for international control over disarmament and permitted military activities, including verification at foreign military bases, and the adoption by all nuclear Powers of defensive military doctrines would make it possible radically to consolidate confidence among States.
The Ukrainian SSR supports the initiative of the Polish People's Republic for a reduction of armaments and a strengthening of trust in central Europe, known as the Jaruzelski plan. I emphasize our conviction that the release of financial resources and intellectual potential for the purposes of social and economic development, including that of developing countries, should form an integral part of all disarmament measures. We believe that every step on the way to arms reduction should not only increase the security of nations but also provide more resources for raising the standards of living of the peoples. Our position was clearly reflected in the memorandum "Disarmament for development" submitted by the socialist countries at the recent International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development.
The edifice of peace cannot be solid if any part of it is not covered by the security system. That is why the Ukrainian SSR is firmly in favour of settling conflict situations and eliminating regional focuses of tension.
Particularly prominent among them is the Middle East conflict, one of the oldest and most explosive hotbeds of international tension. The development of the situation in the Middle East has made abundantly clear the failure of reliance on military force, confrontation or separate deals. Genuine settlement is possible only through the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all Arab territories occupied since 1967, the exercise by the people of Palestine of their inalienable right to self-determination and to the establishment of their own independent State, and a guarantee of the right of all countries in the region to secure existence and development. The convening, under United Nations auspices, of a plenipotentiary international Middle East conference, with the participation, on an equal footing, of all the parties concerned, including the PLO as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the permanent members of the Security Council, would be a reasonable and correct way to bring about a just peace in the region. A broad international consensus has emerged in favour of convening such a conference. The position of the present Israeli Government is the only stumbling-block.
It is at the negotiating table that political solutions to the issues between Iran and Iraq and an end to the fratricidal war between them should be sought.
The build-up by the United States and some other North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries of a massive naval presence in the relatively confined area in which the war is raging is fraught with unpredictable grave consequences.
The Ukrainian SSR supports implementing Security Council resolution 598 (1987) in full, maintaining and consolidating on that basis the unity of action of its permanent members. We attach particular significance to political efforts within the United Nations framework to switch the Iran-Iraq conflict onto the track of a peaceful solution. We believe that the Secretary-General can play a big part in finding a just settlement acceptable to both sides.
The interests of universal security, like the vital interests of the Cypriot people, urgently require collective international efforts to remedy the crisis situation in Cyprus. The proper way to resolve this problem, as we see it, would be to call, within the United Nations framework, a representative international conference which would be in a position to work out essential components of an agreement such as the demilitarisation of the island and the establishment of a system of effective international guarantees of the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus. We support the good offices mission of the Secretary-General and the active role of our Organization in this matter.
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic shares the anxiety of the world community about the explosive situation in Central America, We strongly demand that an end be put to the United States Administration's interference in the affairs of Nicaragua, and declare our firm solidarity with the just struggle of the Nicaraguan people. It is possible to attain mutually acceptable solutions in that region, as is conclusively borne out by the agreements reached by the Central American States concerning ways of securing lasting peace in the region.
It would be in the interests of international peace and security to settle promptly the conflict in southern Africa, which continues to be a dangerous hotbed of tension. The apartheid regime in South Africa is stepping up its repression of the country's indigenous population, pursuing its strategic course of destabilizing the front-line States, bringing military and political pressure to bear upon them, and is continuing its occupation of Namibia. It is not merely changes by way of so-called reforms but rather a complete and definitive elimination of apartheid that is the indispensable condition for achieving peace and security in the region. The Ukrainian SSR strongly supports the call by African States for the introduction of all-embracing mandatory sanctions against the racist regime of South Africa, in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
A good basis for normalizing the situation in South-East Asia is the realistic proposal by Viet Nam, Laos and Kampuchea for the establishment of a zone of lasting peace, stability and co-operation in the region. The national reconciliation policy launched by the Government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea would facilitate the early and real attainment of those goals.
The Ukrainian SSR associates itself with the course advocated by the People's Democratic Republic of Korea, namely the withdrawal of United States troops from South Korea and the reunification of the country on a democratic basis, without outside interference. We fully support the proposal by the People's Democratic Republic of Korea to turn the Korean peninsula into a nuclear-free zone.
We have dwelt on just a few hotbeds of tension. Their elimination and the prevention of new crises and conflicts at the regional and global levels is part and parcel of efforts to shape a comprehensive system of international peace and security. An important part of that, concept relates to the economic aspects. Changes in the world economy and in international economic relations, like changes in the political sphere, are characterized by their growing interrelationship.
This is where the interdependence of States is likely to manifest itself most conspicuously, yet# given the existing international economic order, the consequences of that interrelationship affect various countries in a hideously lopsided way, grossly infringing the elementary notions of equality, justice and honesty. Some reap billion-dollar profits while others are slipping further into the abyss of economic and financial collapse. All this is fraught with the most serious political implications.
The existence in international economic relations of such potentially explosive elements as non-equivalent exchanges, the bondage of debt and other forms of neo-colonialist plundering of the developing nations involves a real danger of upheavals that could jeopardize universal peace·
We believe that an important contribution to the ensuring of international security could be made by measures designed to bring under control the process of economic interdependence of States, measures that would ensure predictability and stability in inter-State relations and ultimately ensure the safe and mutually beneficial character of world economic exchanges. To fulfil that task, all countries of the world, big and small, industrialized and developing, irrespective of their social systems and levels of development, should unite their efforts and work together.
The co-operation of States in the environmental and humanitarian spheres is an integral part of the process a moulding a comprehensive system of security. It is inadmissible to extend ideological differences to international relations or to use the problem of human rights and social development for the purposes of fomenting confrontation, just as it is inadmissible to apply double standards.
.We call on all States Members of the United Nations to be guided in their policies by the primacy of common human values and international law, to resolve disputes through negotiation/ and to rid themselves of the burden of confrontation and suspicion.
The Ukrainian SSR intends to co-operative actively with other States in ensuring world peace and security, in a spirit of good will and in the awareness of the joint responsibility for the future of human civilization. That position is fully in conformity with the historic purposes and principles of the foreign policy of the Soviet State, whose seventieth anniversary will be celebrated on 7 November this year.
In our minds, in our hearts, the socialist Revolution of 1917 is a matter of supreme national pride for the Soviet people. The Revolution gave rise to unprecedented enthusiasm and a creative vigour on the part of the broad masses of people and became the finest hour for the victorious people who had done away, once and for all, with the exploitation of man by man. Scores of years have gone by since unemployment was eliminated in our land. We have no oppression of ethnic minorities, no poverty, no illiteracy. The working people live in confidence that they are protected by society; they live in confidence about their future.
The Great October Revolution continues even today in our deeds. In the Ukrainian SSR, as throughout the Soviet Union, a splendid process of perestroika is under way in all fields of life, for the purpose of accelerating the economic and social development of our socialist society.
It is highly symbolic that the first legislative act of the Soviet State was the Decree of Peace. Our new political thinking as applied to foreign policy and our conduct in the international arena are linked integrally with Lenin's behest about a democratic and just world. As the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukraine, Vladimir V. Shcherbitsky, stressed: "In carrying out that behest, our party and the Soviet State do everything they can to preserve and strengthen peace and to improve the complex and often explosive international situation."
The delegation of the Ukrainian SSR is convinced that the participants in this forty-second session of the United Nations General Assembly will raise their voices in favour of such a way of acting and that the General Assembly itself will become a place and a school for co-operation and collaboration on the part of States in devising a concept of security for all, security in keeping with the realities of the nuclear and space age.


Your election, Sir, to the high post of President: the forty-second session of the United Nations General Assembly gives me the pleasant occasion to extend to you my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes of full success in the accomplishment of the mission entrusted to you.
I feel especially honoured to present from the rostrum of this high forum the considerations and proposals of the President of Romania, Nicolae Ceauçescu, on the main issues of international life and on the ways to solve them, in accordance with the interests and aspirations for peace, independence and progress of the Romanian people, and indeed of all peoples of the world.
Analysis of the evolution of international life reveals a picture which is utterly disquieting. The world situation continues to be particularly serious and complex. The arms race has assumed disturbing proportions. Nuclear tests aimed at the steady development of weapons of mass destruction are still going on. This has harmful effects on the natural environment and, in fact, on life on earth. At the same time, far from diminishing, the conflicts  crises and hotbeds of tension in various regions of our planet have even worsened, thus generating new threats to the peace and security of mankind.
The policy of force, of threat of force and gross interference in the Internal of other States continues unabated. These manifestations are incompatible with the principles and norms of international law, morality and ethics. Furthermore, the world economic crisis has become more serious and more profound, affecting all States. Its adverse effects are being felt primarily by developing countries, whose situation is already tragic.
In the view of Romania, and President Nicolae Ceausescu, the sole, compelling alternative at present is to reverse the dangerous course of events and bar the road which leads to a nuclear catastrophe. A new world war is inconceivable, for it would mean the practical annihilation of life on our planet. Hence the need to renounce, once and for all, the wrong and outdated conception upheld by some nuclear-weapon States that nuclear weapons strengthen security and contribute to the maintenance of peace.
Romania considers that the fundamental problem of our era is to halt the arms race and pass on resolutely to disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament, to defend the supreme right of peoples and individuals alike to peace, life, and a free and dignified existence.
In its overall international activities Romania devotes all its efforts to a permanent dialogue and wider and more diversified contacts with all States, irrespective of their social system. Firmly underlying all its relations are the principles of full equality of rights, respect for national independence and sovereignty, the non-use of force or the threat of force, non-interference in the internal affairs and mutual benefit.
In view of the unprecedented scope attained by the arms race, in particular the nuclear-arms race, and the need for determined measures in the field of disarmament, we deem it necessary for the Assembly to give these issues top priority at the present session. We believe that all States must intensify their endeavours and actions in order to achieve this objective.
Romania and President Nicolae Ceausescu propose that the General Assembly launch an appeal to the Soviet Union and the United States, since their positions are very close, to conclude without delay, as of this year, an agreement on the elimination of all medium- and shorter-range missiles from Europe and the whole world.
At the same time, the General Assembly should call upon the countries that have nuclear weapons on their territory to renounce them and refrain from raising obstacles of any kind to the achievement of an agreement. Furthermore, all countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world should be called upon to act resolutely in order to achieve such an agreement this year. We welcome the recent Soviet-American understanding in principle in this respect and express our hope that the accord will be signed at the summit meeting to take place in the autumn of this year.
Taking into account that nuclear tests are stepping up the arms race while having damaging effects on the environment, the General Assembly should address an appeal, primarily to the United States and the Soviet Union, but also to the other nuclear-weapon States, to halt nuclear testing and any other activities designed to develop and improve nuclear weaponry. Similarly, all the States of the world should be called upon to undertake to use nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes, for the benefit of humanity at large.
While according priority attention to matters relating to nuclear disarmament, Romania holds the view that resolute and tangible measures are also needed to reduce conventional armaments, troops and military expenditures, which this year topped $1,000 billion for the world as a whole.
Consistent with its proposals in recent years in this field, Romania proceeded to a unilateral reduction of its weapons, troops and military expenditures by 5 per cent, following a national referendum in which practically all the people took part. In this way, the Romanian people asserted its will and determination to act unflinchingly in favour of disarmament and peace. In our view, the adoption of unilateral disarmament measures by States would constitute a practical way of passing from words to deeds and making real progress towards general disarmament. In the same spirit of a new approach to disarmament problems which requires that all possible avenues be explored, Romania considers it necessary for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Treaty countries to start as soon as possible negotiations on conventional disarmament, with the participation of other countries of the European continent.
Bearing in mind the increased role that the United Nations should assume, Romania proposes that the General Assembly take action to prepare and finalize a complex programme of nuclear and general disarmament, to be submitted for adoption at the third special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, scheduled to be held in 1988. The programme should lay down measures for the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons and the substantial reduction of conventional weapons, troops and military expenditures, as well as for the prohibition of the production of chemical weapons and the destruction of existing stockpiles. We believe that this programme should specify the need for the various problems and issues relating to nuclear and conventional disarmament to be resolved independently, without some being conditional upon others.
Following the same line of thought, Romania believes that the preparation and adoption by the United Nations of an international document setting forth the principles that should govern negotiations among States on freezing and reducing military expenditures would have a stimulating effect on the efforts of the world community in the field of disarmament. It is of special importance to halt any measures designed to militarise outer space, which should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes in the interest of all mankind. As the great number of satellite launchings have harmful effects on the natural environment of life on Earth, we propose that the General Assembly address an appeal to all countries launching satellites to limit such launchings.
Likewise, we propose that the General Assembly call upon all States of the world to start early negotiations to regulate the use of outer space for peaceful purposes only, and to establish a rational system for its use as an asset of all mankind.
The interests of international peace and security make it increasingly necessary to set up nuclear- and chemical-weapon-free zones, for developing good neighbourliness, mutual understanding and co-operation. It is in this spirit that Romania takes consistent action towards turning the Balkans into a zone of good neighbourliness, peace and co-operation, free of nuclear and chemical weapons, foreign troops and military bases. In this respect, it is of special significance to recall the recent proposals advanced jointly by Romania and Greece to convene in Bucharest a high-level meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Balkan countries.
Equally, Romania upholds the setting up of nuclear- and chemical-weapon-free zones in northern and central Europe, as well as on other continents. We consider it necessary for the United Nations to encourage initiatives designed to establish such zones, including nuclear-weapon-free cities and towns on various continents. Such moves are likely to strengthen confidence and security at the regional and world levels.
Against the background of the ever-closer interdependence that characterizes today's world, and bearing in mind the evolution of international events, Romania proposes that the United Nations address a general appeal to all States in conflict to bring their military operations to an end. It should also call upon all States to proceed to the settlement of all pending issues and disputes between them by peaceful means, through negotiations. The General Assembly should call for the cessation of any form of military operations during negotiations, from their beginning.
The Security Council, or a United Nations special body, should be empowered Ь monitor the implementation of obligations assumed as to the cessation of military activities throughout the negotiations and to ensure the solution of the issues through negotiations.
As regards the situation in the Middle East, the stand and the actions taken by Romania and its President are consistently aimed at ensuring a global, just and durable peace, based on Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, on recognition of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to set up a Palestinian State, and on a guarantee of the independence and sovereignty of all States in the region. We consider that a realistic way of bringing peace to the Middle East is to convene an international conference on the Middle East, under the auspices of the United Nations, to be attended by all the parties concerned, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Israel and the permanent members of the Security Council. We believe that such a historic chance for the much tried region of the Middle East finally to find its tranquillity and peace should not be missed.
With regard to the Iran-Iraq conflict, Romania welcomed the Security Council resolution which favours the cessation of the war without delay and a political settlement, by means of negotiations, of all the issues between the two countries. We also support the action of the Secretary-General in this matter. We stand firmly for the renunciation of all acts conducive to an extension of the conflict. It is imperative to withdraw all foreign military ships from the Gulf, to step up efforts towards the cessation of the Iran-Iraq war and to ensure free navigation in that region, as well as in all other oceans and seas of the world.
Similarly, Romania supports any actions and initiatives favouring peaceful solutions to the conflict situations in Central America as, indeed, in other regions of the world. In this context, we believe it necessary for the General Assembly to work out the mandate for finalizing the initiative which Romania took at preceding sessions on resort to a United Nations commission of good offices, mediation or conciliation for the peaceful settlement of disputes. We also think it necessary to start the elaboration of an international document on the development and strengthening of good-neighbourly relations between States and to devise methods conducive to the strengthening of the United Nations role and capacity to work for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Consistent with its policy, Romania firmly upholds the peoples' national liberation struggle, and lends its active support to the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in its fight for Namibia's independence. We strongly condemn the racist, apartheid policy of South Africa and that country's hostile acts against neighbouring independent and sovereign States. We favour the taking of tangible and effective actions against the Pretoria racist minority regime.
We reaffirm our solidarity with, and active support for, the position and initiatives taken by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and its political and diplomatic efforts and actions aimed at bringing about the peaceful, democratic and independent unification of Korea.
In the present conditions of the world economy, which is beset by continued crisis phenomena both in the economic and the monetary-financial fields, the economic situation of developing countries has worsened considerably, while the economic, technical and scientific gaps separating them from developed countries have continued to widen. We have recently witnessed a proliferation of protectionist and discriminator barriers to international trade, in particular to the exports of manufactured products from developing countries, coupled with a decline in the prices of their export commodities. However, the most serious problem faced by developing countries is the burden incurred by their foreign debts, the value of which has now reached the colossal figure of 1,000 billion dollars.
Therefore, President Nicolae Ceausescu considers that the General Assembly should adopt an appeal to be addressed to all creditor developed countries and to all banks and international financial institutions to the effect that they should establish a moratorium of at least five years on all credits given to developing countries by the economically developed countries and by banking institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The appeal should include a demand that a ceiling of not more than 5 per cent be fixed for rates of interest on existing credits. It should also ask that the principle be established that rates of interest on future credits should not exceed 4 to 5 per cent; that banks, in their turn, should pay interest of up to 5 per cent on their respective deposits; and that commercial credits should be repaid in compliance with such norms and understandings as are agreed between the parties.
At the same time, the General Assembly should make an appeal to all States to renounce any protectionist and discriminatory measures, any artificial barriers and any restrictions and quotas in the field of international trade, and to apply firmly the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on the granting of most-favoured-nation treatment.
The situation of the world economy calls for a resumption of the dialogue between developing countries and industrialized countries. In this respect Romania has proposed that an international conference be convened within the United Nations, to be attended, with equal rights, by both developed and developing countries. Such a conference should have the purpose of seeking mutually acceptable solutions to the economic problems, including that of foreign debts, in order to eliminate underdevelopment and establish the new international economic order.
To increase the United Nations role and contribution to the political and economic settlement of the foreign-debt problem, on a global basis, it appears necessary to set up, within the framework of the United Nations, a special body on the foreign-debt problem which should discuss and make proposals on concrete and effective steps to be taken in this field. The proceedings of the recent International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development made it strikingly clear that, while at the world level there exist numerous unsolved economic and social problems of a most serious nature, the arms race absorbs huge resources every year, thus becoming an increasingly heavy burden on all peoples.
The message which the President of Romania sent to the Conference contains a set of proposals designed to freeze military budgets at the 1987 level and to reduce them in the initial phase by 5 per cent. The resources thus saved would be used both to meet internal socio-economic needs and to increase the contributions to the United Nations technical assistance programmes.
Now, at the confluence of our century and the third millennium, science and technology have become a decisive factor of progress. But in this area of human endeavour also, yawning gaps have been created between economically developed countries and developing countries. Here too it appears both necessary and urgent to agree, within the United Nations framework, on the proper methods to be used so that all countries, primarily developing countries, may benefit from the major gains of human genius - hence the need to convene a second United Nations conference on science and technology for development.
The complex and particularly serious situation of international life in the political, military, economic and social spheres requires the democratisation of International relations and respect for the sovereign right of all States, irrespective of their size, their economic or military strength and their socio-political system, to participate, on the basis of full equality and mutual respect, in the solution of all problems of concern to mankind. In that light, we stand for the strengthening of the role of the United Nations and the other international organizations, so that their activities may be focused on the settlement of the cardinal issues of today's world.
Life and its realities call for strict observance of the principles and norms of international law in relations between States and for the establishment of a comprehensive system of peace and security in the interest of all peoples.
We hold the view that there is a need to improve and simplify the machinery of the United Nations Secretariat. We are also convinced that the Organization's temporary financial difficulties should not result in a decline in its essential political and economic activities or in alterations of the democratic structures of the United Nations.
The point of view of Romania, of President Nicolae Ceausescu, on the main issues of present international life gives expression to the constructive vocation of the Romanian people for peace and large-scale international co-operation. At the same time, it constitutes an ardent call on all States, peoples and realistic forces to join efforts in order to remove the danger of war, once and for all, to exclude force from international life and to establish a new world, a world of peace, understanding and co-operation.


The fact that the Grenada delegation is speaking on the last day of the general debate in no way diminishes my delegation's pleasure at seeing you, Sir, preside over the business of the forty-second session of the General Assembly, with confidence and competence. My delegation joins in the many eloquent expressions of praise and gratitude to your distinguished predecessor for his outstanding conduct of the forty-first session.
The Grenada delegation also shares in the many warm tributes paid to the Secretary-General, for his untiring efforts and great diplomatic skills in the pursuit of peace. My delegation greets, salutes and congratulates the newly appointed Under-Secretary-General for Political and General Assembly Affairs, Ambassador Reed, who is amiable and knowledgeable.
When the curtain fell on the forty-first session many resolutions had been passed, and many situations had been resolved, for which that body could justly be proud. However, as the curtain rose on the forty-second session, certain perennial global issues impinging upon international peace and security remain unresolved. ī shall refer to some of them presently.
The word "peace" echoes, re-echoes and reverberates throughout the length and breadth of this Hall, with a frequency that is almost deafening. And this is how it should be. For what the world needs most at this time is peace. If peace is allowed to elude mankind indefinitely, the threat of nuclear war, which hangs over the universe like the sword of Damocles, will continue to contribute to the possibility of man's becoming an endangered species.
Peace in the global context is not just the absence of war. Rather, it is a state arrived at when certain geopolitical, social, moral, economic and physical forces are in balance, under the impetus of a catalyst called "justice". Attainment of this state of equilibrium is more easily said than done, for the following reason.
Unlike the natural sciences - mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and so forth - for which there exist appropriate equations and formulas for the solution of problems, in the social sciences, where peace, justice, security, morality and other global issues lie, there are no comparable equations and formulas. Resort is therefore made to reason, understanding, conscience, morality, past experience, compromise, good will, and so forth, in the resolution of those knotty global issues which impinge upon international peace and security. And therein lies the dilemma.
In the practice of the art of diplomacy to resolve geopolitical issues, there are certain ingredients - association, compromise, confrontation, exclusion - which must be applied in delicate balance for the resolution of those dangerous situations which impinge upon international peace and security. How, when, where, why these ingredients are brought into play becomes the art and challenge of diplomacy.
Some of the pressing global issues referred to during the general debate are also of grave concern to my delegation. The Iran-Iraq war, which began as a series of border conflicts in 1980, has now escalated into a full-blown conflagration on land, sea and air, despite the efforts of the Security Council and the Secretary-General to mediate the dispute. Of humanitarian concern are the attacks on civilian targets; the resort to chemical warfare, contrary to the Geneva Protocol of 1925; the treatment of prisoners of war; and the interference with the right of free navigation, trade and commerce in international waters. The present situation in the Persian Gulf is fraught with dangerous implications and consequences. It should not be allowed to degenerate further.
The pernicious and odious racial policies of South Africa - apartheid — have been of major concern to the international community for at least 35 years. Apartheid is systematized and institutionalised racism, which has no place in civilized society, for it is cruel and inhuman. The Security Council has labelled it a crime against humanity. The Prime Minister of Grenada, the Right Honourable Herbert A. Blaize, when addressing the fortieth session of the General Assembly referred to apartheid as "injustice institutionalised". He stated:
"There must, therefore, be urgent, united action to rid South Africa of the scourge of apartheid and minority rule, and to bring independence to Namibia". (A/40/PV.35, p. 48-50)
Grenada's Minister of External Affairs, in his statement to the forty-first session of the General Assembly, emphasized that
"Grenada will to the extent possible, and consistent with its own policies, support any move or action by the international community designed to bring about the dismantling of apartheid and the achievement of majority rule in South Africa". (A/41/PV.32, p. 8)
A Grenadines patriot, T. Albert Marryshow, of beloved and revered memory, the centennial of whose birth we are celebrating this year, wrote in 1917 in a series entitled "Cycles of Civilization" - a veritable literary treasure in the Grenada archives - that the civilized world would have to come to grips with the racist policies of South Africa in the future. I want to emphasize that that was 1917, long before there were many independent African States, long before the United Nations came into being. Marryshow concentrated much of his historical, ferocious, but justifiable attack on General Jan Smuts, one of the early architects of the emerging apartheid practice. There was a man of prophetic vision speaking out alone in the colonies in 1917 against what was then considered to be a normal and benign situation. Today the situation in South Africa is the most abnormal and most malignant on the face of the earth - tyranny of the minority, terrorization of the majority.
The external-debt problem, with its adverse economic consequences, especially in the developing countries, is a perfect example of how international peace and security can be threatened by a situation which can have dire social, political and economic consequences. Debt repayment and debt servicing, pose a hardship foe, and place a stranglehold on, the economy of many developing countries, akin to a millstone around their necks. While the repayment of debt is a legal and moral responsibility of the debtor, debt relief should be a humane and moral consideration of some of the creditors, who in the context of the present global situation may be practising simple justice by putting back into the good earth a little of what has been taken out. History is replete with examples of how exploitation and injustice could have contributed to the debt problem.
To the least developed countries, whose social and humanitarian programmes are held in abeyance because of debt repayment and debt servicing, the cynicism mingled with humour of a socio-economist can be applied - namely, that the inherent vice in some economic systems is the unequal sharing of blessings, while the inherent virtue in others is the equal sharing of miseries. In the final analysis, if the external-debt problem is allowed to erode further, the economies of both developed and developing countries stand to suffer.
As one of the smallest island developing States Members of the United Nations, Grenada has a special interest in the question of island developing countries.
Almost three years ago, on 18 December 1984, resolution 39/121, entitled "Specific measures in favour of island developing countries" was adopted by the General Assembly. That resolution reiterated the call for specific action in favour of island developing countries contained in five previous resolutions. Additionally, three resolutions of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) called on the international community to recognize the special characteristics and handicaps of island developing countries, and to provide appropriate support to them in their development efforts.
Unfortunately, nothing has been achieved except that in its resolution 41/163 of 5 December 1986 the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to prepare a comprehensive report, which would include specific recommendations to ensure that the Assembly at its forty-third session would be able to review the situation and act accordingly, in the interest of island developing countries. Grenada's delegation anticipates with high expectation positive results at the forty-third session.
With respect to the special needs of island developing countries, my delegation is reminded of the saying of the great Chinese sage and philosopher, Confucius: give a man a fish, and you satisfy his needs for a day; teach a man to fish, and you satisfy his needs for many a day.
In Central America, the recent peace initiative undertaken by five Presidents, which resulted in the Guatemala Agreement of 7 August, is a credit to their vision, judgement and spirit of goodwill. The ray of hope, the crack in the door, which the Agreement introduces should be seized upon. After examination, study and modification, where necessary, that historic document can form the basis for peace in the region. The settling of disputes by resort to force and violence is anachronistic and dangerous. All that is right or reasonable pleads for sister republics to make peace within States and among nations.
In the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli dispute, which has been festering for some time, is now approaching a chronic state which could complicate the general Middle East situation. The doctrine of the right to self-determination is valid and indisputable. The right of Israel to exist as a State - a fait accompli for nearly 40 years - within safe and secure borders is well established. The existence of Israel is a fact of life which should not be challenged. Similarly, the right of the Palestinian people to a homeland within secure and recognized boundaries is a principle that has validity. The claim of the Palestinian people to a homeland in the land of their ancestors is a matter of history and simple justice. Their claim should not be thwarted as long as there is recognition of the principle of sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.
It is believed that through the universal language of music, through the universal medium of sports, the world stands the best hope of attaining the universal goal of brotherhood. With this in mind, it is the hope of the Grenada delegation that the games of the XXIVth Olympiad, which will take place at Seoul, Korea, from 17 September to 2 October 1988, and the preparations for the Games will introduce a healing process so that the Korean problem can be resolved in the best interest of the Korean people. In the meantime the reality is that there are two Koreas, North Korea and South Korea, separated by a demilitarised zone under the supervision of United Nations forces. This interim arrangement will, it is hoped, yield to negotiation and dialogue, to the end that the Korean people may soon take their place in the international community.
In Cyprus, Afghanistan, Kampuchea, the Falklands (Malvinas) and other areas of conflict it is the hope and prayer of my delegation that wisdom, understanding and justice will prevail, to the end that peace may eventually be assured.
An area of global interest and common concern is the illicit trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substances, which, like the plague, is spreading over the face of the earth and gnawing at the very fabric of society. Concomitant with the craze for those dangerous substances is the proportionate increase in the level of violence, which is fast creating a seamy subculture in some societies. It is generally believed that drugs and international terrorism have a direct relationship. This twin menace is growing bolder every day and wreaking havoc on innocent and unsuspecting people. It should be interdicted at the source.
Another area of global concern is the rapid spread of acquired immune—deficiency syndrome (AIDS), which like a scourge is approaching pandemic proportions. In this regard the prestigious United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) should continue to focus on the aetiology, prognosis and therapy for this health hazard, which has dangerous social consequences. The step recently taken by the President of the United States of America and the General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in agreeing in principle on the elimination of medium-range missiles from their nuclear arsenals is indeed heartening and inspires hope. It is the hope of mankind that, just as a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, so the first step has been taken down the long, difficult and tortuous road towards total and complete nuclear disarmament.
Finally, listening and speaking in this fraternal forum of the United Nations, where confrontational and adversarial issues very often arise, my delegation is chastened by the divine admonition first have peace in your hearts, and then you will able to give peace to others.


It gives me great pleasure and true joy that you. Sir, have assumed the presidency of our annual Assembly session. By your unanimous election you have been asked to perform functions in which your ability and undeniable qualities as a statesman and diplomat will, I am convinced, be a great asset in the proper and successful conduct of our deliberations. We congratulate you and are happy to see you, the representative of a country with which Benin shares the same aspirations to progress, peace and social justice, assume the presidency of this session of the General Assembly of our unique and irreplaceable Organization.
You have taken over from your predecessor, our eminent colleague from Bangladesh, Mr. Rasheed Choudnury, to whom I express the appreciation of my delegation and country for the authority, skill and competence of which he gave such brilliant proof in guiding the forty-first session of the General Assembly.
The Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, through his devotion and very lofty vision of international public service, also merits my delegation's encouragement and admiration. The challenges that await Him are still immense, the crises of the international society are still many and dangerous to world peace and stability, for the establishment of which Benin reaffirms our full solidarity and support.
I am not performing a ritual or carrying out an official duty, speaking after so many brilliant and talented representatives, when I say that the picture of the world, the state of the international society, the unrest on our beautiful planet, inspire and compel us to speak and voice our proposals clearly and with conviction.
In subscribing to the principles of our Organization's Charter, all nations, great and small, rich and poor, agree that in complete equality and full sovereignty we should work together, despite our differences and our cultural and ideological sensitivities, in this challenging endeavour to establish peace throughout the world and harmony among nations. This endeavour, despite its noble nature and the statements that magnify it, is still starkly incomplete and very precarious. It is for us to emphasize the deficiencies and point out the limits and our daily failures, so that we may all in this forum go beyond the beauty and rhetoric of our statements from this rostrum and find practical ways to establish understanding, peace and development.
Today, thanks to man's genius, the talent of our thinkers and the astonishing progress of science and technology, some great Powers have succeeded in accumulating terrible instruments of our own collective destruction. By dominating the atom and the laser and through the power of computers, two super-Powers, and others increasing in number and ambition, are zealously vying with each other to acquire and upgrade laboratories to gain what they believe to be the attributes of military superiority or perfect deterrence. Let us look for a moment at the stunning figures and facts of that armament, or rather over-armament. We see vaulting ambition and at the same time enormous financial resources being mobilized for war and, consequently, the ruin of civilizations and the certain death of hundreds of millions of men and women on this earth, if mad powers were one day to press the buttons and controls of a nuclear war.
These are the first terrifying sentences of a very penetrating work entitled Nuclear Battlefields; "Every minute of every day, at thousands of locations around the world - f com the plains of North Dakota and Montana, from the Ukraine and Siberia, from southern France and central China, to beneath the Arctic Icepack, to the Sea of Okhotsk, to the Yellow Sea - nuclear missiles sit ready to be launched. In Western Europe nuclear aircraft sit cocked on alert. On and under the high seas, nuclear-armed ships and submarines patrol, waiting for their day to go into battle. The weapons could reach their targets thousands of miles away quicker than it takes roost people to get to work in the morning."
Thus, in all the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China - to list but a few - possess between them approximately 4 9,000 and 59,000 nuclear warheads.
No reason of State, no ideological or imperial ambition, could justify this rush towards the abyss and the annihilation of what many generations of creators and builders have constructed to ensure the progress and happiness of mankind.
Most fortunately certain encouraging signs have appeared. Painstaking and complex negotiations seemed to have led to some agreements. However limited and modest, those results should be encouraged and welcomed. When the Soviet Union and the United States recently reached agreement on intermediate.—range nuclear missiles, my country - and, I am sure, many other nations too - applauded with a sense of relief this beginning of the end of our common anguish. These efforts must be continued and amplified on the basis of mutual, courageous concessions, so that those that have a virtual monopoly of nuclear terror on our seas, on out continents and in space may finally give us grounds for hope. They have that duty and that responsibility to history and the world.
A special Conference of our Organization, held from 24 August to 11 September 1987, established that there was a logical link and an almost mathematical relationship between disarmament and development. Thus, it takes only a few statistics to prove that if a small fraction of the expenditure on military and research development - the millions of dollars, intellectual energy, technological creativity devoted to the production of arms - were used to finance the development of the poorest and most deprived, many of the hapless and least developed of our earth would receive additional, invaluable, precious resources with which to feed, care for and educate their citizens.
Thus, in 1985 one of the super-Powers had a military budget of $305 billion. Compared to that the total national budget of several countries of the third world taken together, with their paltry figures, is Lilliputian.
It is towards that re-channelling of military expenditure to peaceful purposes that our Organization, surmounting the poor excuses of national selfishness, should immediately urge certain Powers to commit themselves seriously to the greater good of future generations.
In this finite, truly interdependent, world, despite our diversities, differences and divergence, and despite hegemonistic rivalries, peace cannot and must not remain elusive. Development depends on it; health and the balance of our economies would gain additional resources and renewed vigour from it.
Thus we see in the third world the weakness of their economies, the scarcity of resources and the worsening destitution, which carry the threat of social explosions. Today the debt, with its unbearable burden and destabilizing effects, haunts the days and the work of our Governments. As our great comrade-in-arms President Mathieu Kerekou asked at the recent Francophone Summit in Quebec, can we at the same time suffer the crushing debt-servicing and see our export earnings whittled away so scandalously, thanks to the cynical games of the stock-markets and the wealthy Powers? President Kerekou went on to say:	"Indeed, how can we understand and interpret objectively the figures of the underdeveloped countries debt, which in 1970 was $76 billion and in 1986 greatly exceeded $1,000 billion?
"How can we understand and interpret objectively the net transfer of capital from third-world countries to the developed countries of more than $30 billion at the end of 1986 compared to $11 billion in 1984?
"How can we understand and blithely accept that the export earnings of the developing countries, based essentially on commodity prices, are constantly falling because of the law of the stock markets of the rich countries?"
We are not inviting the rich of the world to the spectacle of our tears and lamentations so that because of their pity or compassion we may live on their largesse or their heartfelt generosity. We are simply asking that disorder and injustice give way to the establishment of a new order that respects our dignity and recognizes our demands as just.
The force and passion of our appeal simply reflect the tragic backwardness of our economies, which is the result of so many centuries of foreign exploitation and domination. We know how to manage our enterprises by correcting what needs to be corrected, rectifying the mistakes that have been made and, in particular, making the sacrifices required by certain structural adjustment programmes. But, the economies of the industrialized and developed North cannot get fat on our weakness and impoverishment without imperilling their own stability.
While the special session of the General Assembly held from 27 May to 1 June 1986, were able to outline the problems and take a hard look at the magnitude of the crisis and Africa's development needs - to confine myself to the agonizing turmoil of our great continent - it is for the masters of international finance and the captains of industry of the countries of the North to help us to resolve them and emerge from the backwaters of poverty and underdevelopment where we can no longer agree to suffer and languish. It is intolerable that abundance should exist side by side with the atrocious hunger, poverty and disease so characteristic of entire regions of the third world.
Mankind is facing here one of the greatest challenges in its history of struggle, battles and crises. It has the capacity to meet this challenge to put an end to certain scandalous inequalities and injustices that are unacceptable in the light of the very richness of our planet and the infinite capacity of the creative genius of mankind.
While the malfunctions of the world economic machine are one of the gravest causes of disquiet in our time, the world is beset by grave anomalies and dangerous anachronisms of other kinds, which all cry out for attention. To what extent is a political doctrine derived from the principles of our Charter consonant with the phenomena of oppression which we observe in the contemporary international society? How great is the gap of distortion, indeed sometimes the gulf, between what we preach and proclaim in every solemn statement and the acts that flout and trample underfoot the rights and dignity of peoples and individuals?
In our continent in particular, but also elsewhere in the world, there are living large-scale examples which attest to the way in which these practices and this conduct lag behind the fervour and the cogency of our pledges of non-interference and respect for the rights, sovereignty and independence of peoples and nations.
Let us look, for example, at the apartheid of the Pretoria regime. The conscience of the world as a whole has condemned this with unequalled force and no country or Government is so bold as to seek to justify or legitimise it. None the less, state racism in the purest tradition of fascism continues in the south of our continent to terrorize and slaughter and to deny the black majority its most elementary democratic and national rights. However, those who by their influence and their Immense means of bringing pressure to bear might use comprehensive mandatory sanctions, as permitted by the Charter, to bring the anachronistic champions of colonialism as it was in its days of glory to see reason and accept reality hold back and put forward ever more sophisticated arguments to support their culpable abdication of responsibility. And/ nevertheless, that same Pretoria regime/ with the support of its powerful accomplices, refuses to decolonise Namibia because the internationalist Cuban combatants - invited by independent, sovereign, Angola - would then be close to its territory. Furthermore, this group of racist usurpers practising State terrorism cherishes the open and naked ambition of destabilizing the neighbouring front-line States by means of legions of mercenaries, bombing attacks, air raids and the murder of the patriots of the African National Congress and the South West Africa People's Organization.
In Mozambique, hated by Pretoria for its capacity for sacrifice and its patriotic courage, "the bandits" are engaging in butchery, rape and terror in a mounting wave of cruelty, all this redounding to the greater profit and welfare of apartheid.
For more than 25 years Nelson Mandela, who has gone down in history as a living legend of his race, has been held hostage. For a number of months, in which South Africa's hideous face has been increasingly revealed, hundreds of black women and children have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and massacred by the shameful South African regime. At this session our Assembly - and not by rote or reflex - should advocate without compromise or qualification the implementation of comprehensive mandatory sanctions against the Pretoria regime, which has already chosen to inflict the greatest and most humiliating sanctions on our black brothers, depriving them of their freedom and dignity as human beings, causing many premature deaths and destroying many innocent lives.
In Western Sahara, can we not reconcile policy with the recognized right? Why do not Morocco and the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity, through direct negotiations, bring an end to hostilities so as to create the necessary conditions for a straightforward referendum on self-determination for the Sahraoui people?
As for the Palestinian people, do they not have the right to an independent homeland? The Palestine Liberation Organization, with the blood of its heroes and the sacrifices of its fighters, has won a unique place in the illustrious records of history.
Benin hopes that the international conference on the Middle East will meet in the best possible circumstances, and that in a Middle East reconciled and restored to peace the Palestinian people may recover its full national rights, in 3ustice and dignity, protected from all hegemonistic designs and the illegal territorial occupation maintained and practised by the State of Israel.
In Afghanistan and Kampuchea, meddling and intervention by foreign Powers should cease so that through negotiations and concerted action, led and guided by this Organization, the peoples may re-establish peace and the refugees return to their homes and their lands.
Real advances are being made through diplomatic negotiation, which needs to be encouraged and supported on both these fronts so as to eliminate from our agenda in the near future these two problems which are so divisive and destructive of international harmony and understanding.
In Korea, the cold-war spirit being perpetuated by military manoeuvres and a very short-sighted anti-communist campaign must be eradicated so that, through negotiation and other peaceful channels, the divided Korean people may be restored to its former unity and grandeur.
Turning now to the crises and war in Central America, Benin cannot accept that the contras should be enabled to use death and terror, financed quite officially from abroad, to destabilize a sovereign country. Today, the peoples and States of the region are working together to codify and regulate their fraternal relations on the basis of good-neighbourliness and reciprocal non-interference in internal affairs. All the countries of the hemisphere, in particular the most powerful and highly developed among them, should support those efforts and co-operate in this quest for regional peace and stability.
And in the case of the war in the Gulf, where so many lives are being shattered, and physical facilities and wealth blindly destroyed, will reason and tolerance finally prevail?
In this very place, the most powerful among us, at first military accomplices or arms suppliers and now, in addition, principal actors, are striving jointly to bring peace once again to that precious part of the third world, today so torn and devastated. My country hopes their efforts will succeed, so that this ultimately absurd tragedy of violence and hate may not escalate and extend but may finally be resolved through an armistice and peace talks.
Given the scale of the crises I have just mentioned and the violence involved, it would be tempting to give way to despair or to be deeply sceptical about the history of the world and its future, to believe that it is condemned to a fatalistic cycle of war and peace. But on earth there are inexhaustible stores of generosity, a capacity for vision and inventiveness, and even for dreaming, which should teach us to have hope, beyond the "sound and the fury" of our century. The main task in our Organization should be to identify lines of conduct, adapt them to new problems and realities and to put them into effect methodically and courageously as we organize our relationships on the basis of equality and co-operation among nations.
In this quest for balances of international peace and understanding we, as Africans, have certain privileges confers on us by centuries of history, bondage, enslavement and oppression, endured with so much dignity and a spirit of national resistance. We are particularly well equipped, therefore, to cultivate tolerance and dialogue, while remaining jealous of our independence. We are also ready to accept differences and very vigilant regarding justice in international relations, despite the fragility - the temporary fragility - of our economies. That justice must prevail in all sectors and in all the major institutions that we have set up. Thus, in the Food and Agriculture Organization, Africa, united and in solidarity, is seeking, through the talent and competence of its candidate, our compatriot Moise Mensah, to take a leading role. Benin and the increasing number of very different States which have supported this candidacy, hope to be able to count, in a few weeks time, in Rome, on the votes of others that have not yet lent us their support.
Despite the ebb and flow of the tides of war and the mounting resurgence of certain fanaticisms, we should work for times to come and plan for the future with faith and imagination.
These thoughts are our modest contribution to this general debate and we invite representatives to give them their consideration.