Libya, 1982

At the outset, Sir, I wish to congratulate you on

your election as President of the Genera]

Assembly of the thirty-seventh session. My

delegation is pleased to see you direct the

proceedings of the General Assembly, because you

represent a friendly country with which my

country maintains very close relations, and also

because of your wisdom, experience and ability,

which qualify you to shoulder that responsibility

and make it likely that you will achieve the best

of results. I should like also to pay a tribute

and to express my thanks to your predecessor, Mr.

Ismat Kittani, head of the fraternal delegation

of Iraq, for the excellent manner in which he

directed the proceedings of the General Assembly

during the last session, and the great ability he

displayed. It is also my pleasure to commend the

efforts being made by the Secretary-General to

strengthen the role of the Organization and to

increase its efficiency.

1. Sir, you have assumed the presidency of

the General Assembly at a most difficult time, a

time of increasing dangers and proliferating

hotbeds of tension, and of problems causing

instability in international peace and security.

It is a time when the world's peoples, especially

the smaller ones, are concerned for their

destiny and their freedom. We note that the

clatter of weapons is louder than the voice of

reason, that right has become has become the

prerogative of the strong and that the capability

of the United Nations has sunk to an

unprecedented tow. Disappointment at that was

ctearly expressed by the Secretary-General in his

report on the work of the Organization, in which

he said that

The United Nations itself has been unable to

play as effective and decisive a role as the

Charter certainty envisaged for it.

... The Security Council, the primary organ of

the United Nations for the maintenance of

international peace and security, all too often

finds itself unable to take decisive action to

resolve international conflicts and its

recommendations are increasingly defied or

ignored by those that feel themselves strong

enough to do so

2. The Socialist People's Libyan Arab

Jamahiriya shares the Secretary-General's views

in this regard. I should like in this context to

recall the letter sent by the Leader of the

Revolution, brother Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, to

the Secretary-General on 20 September 1982 in the

wake of the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut at

the hands of Israel and its agents:

I regret to have to express to you and to the

world the bitter truth which I perceive in my

country, namely, that the second historic attempt

made by the peoples in 1943 (in San Francisco) to

establish an international organization to

prevent war and keep the peace has failed

utterly, as did the first attempt (i.e., the

League of Nations).

4. We have, however, the right to ask: where does

the responsibility for the inability of the

United Nations lie? Is it the responsibility of

the States Members of the United Nations? Or is

it the responsibility of the developing countries

which are systematical subjected to military

threat, economic blockade and political blackmail?

3. The responsibility, as we see it, lies in the

structure of the main organ of the Organization.

It is the Security Council which has become an

instrument to protect dictatorship for the

benefit of the permanent members of the Security

Council. Responsibility also lies in the abuse of

the right of veto by States members of the

Security Council in a manner that has made the

Council a vehicle for their own security,

encouraging the aggressive policies pursued by

their agents. The unlimited number of times that

the United States Administration has used the

right of veto to prevent the Council from

condemning the Zionist entity's aggressive acts

in the Arab region is clear evidence of the

policy of injustice being practiced under the

umbrella of the United Nations and the Security

Council. The reason for the inability of the

Organization lies also in the fact that the

right of veto that the members of the cub of

victors in the Second World War granted to

themselves was abused for the benefit of those

victors to maintain their balance of interests.

In their irresponsible exercise of the right of

veto, they turn the standard of democracy upside

down and subject the will of more than 130 States

Members of the Organization to the mercy of the

permanent members of the Security Council.

6. The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,

after consulting a target number of Member

States, put forward a number of proposals to

abolish or amend the veto or to give greater

power to the General Assembly and make binding

its resolutions adopted by a two-thirds majority.

These proposals, however, met with rejection by

the great Powers which exercised pressure on

other, smaller countries to prevent the abolition

or amendment of the right of veto and to oppose

the principles of democracy and collective

responsibility for the maintenance of peace and

against the principle of equal sovereignty among

ail Member States, as provided for by the Charter.

7. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya still holds

that view and will continue to bring up the

subject as long as the veto continues to exist

and continues to be used against the struggles of

peoples. It represents dictatorship and

monopoly, and is contrary to the opinion of the

majority in favor of collective responsibility

and equality. We shall continue to hold these

views, regardless of the stand taken by the great

Powers, particularly the United States, which

most abuses its use of the veto, and without

regard to procedural manoeuvres to which they

have recourse.

8. The time has come to look seriously into

the role of the Special Committee on the Charter

of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of

the Role of the Organization, because the

oppressed peoples of the world have almost lost

faith in the United Nations. We in the Libyan

Arab Jamahiriya realize the dangers that would

result from a loss of faith in our Organization.

That is why the leader of the great September

revolution made an appeal to enable the

Organization to fulfill its role in maintaining

peace and justice, because the dictatorial

practices carried out under its umbrella may

compel us to leave it and to urge other oppressed

peoples to seek their own special platform from

which to express their will and ambitions.

9. The abolition of the right of veto or its

review, if viewed as a guarantee of democratic

practices, could enable the developing peoples to

regain their faith in the United Nations. My

country believes that, in reviewing the veto, the

following aspects should be taken into

consideration: first, the abolition of the veto

or its amendment which would allow its use by all

members, because if political dictatorship is to

be practiced, then it is only fair that it be

practiced by all; secondly, the Security Council

must be placed under the General Assembly, and

not the other way round, because in the General

Assembly resides the true will of the peoples and

nations of the world; and thirdly, the

maintenance of international peace and security

is the collective responsibility of all.

10. The agenda of the current session of the

General Assembly is full of political and

economic issues, in addition to those of

liberation and colonialism. 1 shall allude to

those problems.

11. The recent massacres committed by the

Zionist entity in Palestinian refugee camps in

Lebanon is evidence of the tragedy that has

befallen the cause of the just struggle of the

Palestinian people, and demonstrates the

aggressive, Fascist and racist nature of the

so-called State of Israel. It confirms beyond

doubt that the State of the Zionist entity is not

peace-loving and is a source of threat to

international peace and security.

12. The continued occupation of the

Palestinian territories since 1948, the

annexation of the Golan Heights and the massacres

committed daily against the Palestinians and

Lebanese, must induce the international

community represented in the United Nations to

take practical measures to eliminate aggression

and occupation and to enable the Palestinian

people to return to its homeland.

13. The practical measures envisaged by my

country are as follows: first, the expulsion of

the Zionist entity from the General Assembly, on

the grounds that the Israelis and their State are

not peace-loving, and in accordance with the

resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at

its ninth emergency special session, at which it

debated Israel's repeated aggression against the

Arab territories; secondly, the halting of

military, material and political support provided

by the United States Administration, which

exceeds $10 million daily, because we see that

support as encouragement for Israel to continue

its constant aggression against the Arabs and its

challenge to the resolutions of the international

community; thirdly, the economic boycott of the

Zionist entity in implementation of the

resolutions of the General Assembly, on the

grounds that Israel is occupying Arab territories

by force, and because of its disregard of the

resolutions of the international community. If

some were able to impose an economic boycott on

Argentina for demanding territories that belong

to it, one wonders how it is that an economic

boycott is not imposed on a Member of the United

Nations that all have admitted is not

peace-loving and is a threat to international

peace and securityóand by that I mean Israel;

fourthly, the halt of immigration, particularly

that coming to occupied Palestine from Eastern

bloc countries, because the immigrants are

primarily citizens of those countries, and

because their continued influx into occupied

Palestine represents an increase in Israel's

human and military capacity to continue to

exercise a policy of aggression and occupation.

14. The political solutions proposed for the

Palestine question come at a time when the United

Nations is apparently unable to check Israeli

intransigence. That is in addition to the

inability of the Organization to stand against

support of the American Government for Israel's

aggressive policies. We therefore not see in the

initiatives undertaken by the United States

Administration a valid basis for any just peace.

13. The United States peace initiative ignores

the resolutions of the United Nations, the

Organization of African Unity and the group of

non-aligned countries, which affirm the right of

the Palestinian people to determine their own

destiny and establish their own independent State

under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation

Organization [PLO], their legitimate and sole

representative. Furthermore, the peace initiative

put forward by the Twelfth Arab Summit

Conference, held at Fez, is too optimistic; it

has much good will but does not recognize the

true nature of the Zionist entity. It runs

counter to the following logical facts.

16. History has taught us that the occupier,

the aggressor, is the one that puts forward

political initiatives to those under its

occupation. The only initiative that can be put

forward by a colonized people is armed struggle.

On what logic should the Arabs come up with peace

initiatives when the American people, with French

assistance, confronted British colonialism and

Europe confronted Nazi occupation in defense of

peace and freedom?

17. The Security Council must guarantee the

security of all States in the region and that

assumes two things, namely: that Israel is

threatened by its Arab neighborsówhich is

contrary to the truth, for Israel is the constant

aggressor that threatens Arab security, and,

furthermore, Israel's security and its policy of

aggression are guaranteed by the United States

militarily and financially; and that the Arab

peace plan would have the Security Council

guarantee the security of all States in the

region. That represents recognition of Israel. We

wonder how we can ask for protection and

recognition of a State the established political

schemes of which include the occupation of Arab

territories and the policy of genocide and

displacement pursued by it against the Arab

peoples in Palestine and Lebanon.

18. Any real peace initiative must come through

the United Nations, in spite of its weakness.

Peace initiatives now coming from the Arabs are

taken under the pressure of an Israeli force

supported by the United States and under the

United States threat to and blackmail of the

Arabs.

19. The present Government of the United

States of America is increasing its acts of

intervention and pressure for the purpose of

achieving political, economic and military

hegemony. It has gone back to the policy of

installing military bases in many parts of the

world. It has used its war fleets to practice

terrorism along the shores of non-aligned

countries, as it did in August 1981 to my

country, thereby violating our sovereignty over

our territorial waters. The last act of

aggression was on 3 September 1982, when a United

States aircraft violated our airspace at 7.59

p.m. It was an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

Our air defenses downed it in the Benghazi area,

and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya will submit the

documents and facts on this aggression to the

President of the Security Council and to the

Secretary- General.

20. Also, in August 1981 the American

Government launched a propaganda campaign of

falsehoods and imposed an economic embargo

against Libya. It started to incite other

countries to follow its example on false

pretexts, such as the alleged sending of a death

squad to assassinate President Reaganówhich

proved to be only the product of the imagination

of certain officials in the United States

Administration in collaboration with the Zionist

intelligence service.

21. The United States Administration's

practice of threatening the Caribbean countries

and its attempts to prevent them from exercising

their free will prove the imperialist nature of

the United States Administration. The aggressive

policies pursued by that Administration against

Cuba, Nicaragua, Grenada and the people of El

Salvador are examples of the United States

policy, the aim of which is to create hotbeds of

tension and instability in the world,

particularly in the Middle East and southern

Africa.

22. The issues of disarmament and the

strengthening of international security are among

the most serious and complicated matters facing

our world today. They have been at the centre of

attention for the international community for

many years. This attention has been reflected in

the convening of numerous conferences since

1932, in particular the two special sessions of

the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, the

first in 1978 and the second this year, and also

in the resolutions adopted in this regard.

However, we see no signs on the horizon that

progress in this respect is being achieved. On

the contrary, the arms race has continued,

especially between the superpowers in the nuclear

field, with the development of new weapons

systems, such as the neutron bomb, and the

continued promotion of certain dangerous

theories, such as those of nuclear deterrence,

strategic balance and a limited nuclear war that

can be won, as well as the horizontal

proliferation of nuclear weapons, not to mention

the reported and manifest acquisition of nuclear

weapons by the racist regimes of the Zionist

entity and Pretoria.

23. The issue of disarmament is not just a

military one; it is also an economic, social and

political issue. In the study carried out by the

United Nations entitled the relationship between

disarmament and development it is stated that

1,500 million people do not have access to

effective medical services, nearly 570 million

suffer from severe malnutrition, 800 million are

illiterate and 250 million children do not attend

school. This was at a time, 1981, when the world

expenditure for military purposes exceeded $600

billion.

24. In addition to these negative

developments in the field of disarmament, in

recent years we have witnessed a deterioration in

international relations as a result of the

violation of the Charter and international

principles, in particular those relating to the

right to sovereignty, independence,

non-intervention and the non-use of force in

international relations and the continued spread

of the areas of war and hotbeds of tension.

25. In the African continent the policy of

apartheid pursued by the racist regime in South

Africa continues unabated in spite of the

frequent condemnation by the Organization, which

considers it a crime against humanity. However,

because of the assistance given to that regime by

the colonialists, especially the United States,

this abhorrent policy continues to be practiced

against African nationalists.

26. In Namibia the Pretoria regime continues,

through its illegal administration, to oppress

the black citizens and plunder the resources of

that Territory, in collaboration with

multinational corporations of Western countries

which have impeded the implementation of

Security Council resolution 435 (1978), which

contains a plan for the independence of the

Territory. In this connection, the role of the

Europeans is complementary to that of the

Americans in trying to achieve independence for

Namibia in accordance with Western schemes which

hav6 nothing to do with Security Council

resolutions. One of the latest obstacles created

by the United States Administration was the

linking of the subject of Namibia's independence

to the evacuation of Cuban forces from Angola,

which amounts to interference in the affairs of

an independent sovereign State, which has the

right to protect itself and seek help from any

State as it sees fit.

27. The aggressive and racist practices of

the Pretoria regime are not directed against the

black citizens of Namibia and South Africa only;

they have been extended to include the

neighbouring countries, namely, the front-line

States. Attacks have been frequent, especially

against the territory of Angola. In this respect,

my country declares its support and backing for

the struggle of the African citizens of Namibia

and South Africa and for the steadfastness of the

front-line States; we commend those States and

are proud of their steadfastness.

28. Colonialism and its surrogates, as well

as the exploitative companies, continue to pursue

their ambitions with tenacity and are prepared

to intervene in any country that is ruled by a

progressive and non-aligned regime desiring to

free itself politically and economically. This

was clear in the aggression against the

Jamahiriya and also in that against the Republic

of Seychelles, which was subjected to subversive

actions perpetrated by external elements that

wanted to create a state of anarchy and

instability in order to bring down its

progressive regime and replace it by one

subservient to colonialism and under its

political and economic influence. However, the

people of Seychelles were able to overcome and

thwart those acts of aggression. We in the

Jamahiriya, together with the forces of progress

and freedom^ support the people and the

Government of Seychelles against any foreign

maneuvers.

29. One of the regions that experience

tension as a result of intervention and the

installation of foreign bases is Central America,

where the people of Nicaragua are struggling

against the intervention of the United States of

America, which has been training hostile elements

and sending them to Nicaragua to carry out acts

of terrorism and subversion.

30. We are witnessing a liberation movement

sweeping through Central America. We see the

United States attempting to stifle that movement,

as is happening now in El Salvador and Guatemala,

in addition to its constant threats and

aggression against Cuba and the usurpation of the

Puerto Rican people's right to independence.

31. My country supports the struggle of the

peoples of Latin America against United States

imperialism and affirms its unlimited support for

Cuba and Nicaragua in their confrontation with

the American policy of aggression.

32. My country followed with increasing

concern the war which was forced on Argentina to

recover the Malvinas Islands from British

control. Anyone reflecting on that war and the

way it developed would be shocked by the

following facts. First, the United States claim

that it belongs to the group of American States

is only a covey for the protection of American

interests and the Fascist regimes which are

satellites of the United States Administration.

The United States has revealed its imperialist

nature and supported the British aggression

carried out against the Malvinas Islands.

Secondly, the British presence in the Malvinas

Islands is but a vestige of the old colonialism

which divided the world into spheres of influence

among the strong and used its control to implant

communities that did not belong originally to the

indigenous populations of the occupied

territories. Thirdly, the Malvinas war

emphasizes the inevitable confrontation between

the imperialist Powers and the third world

countries, which have to realize that all that

the super-Powers aim at is to have greater

domination and wider spheres of influence.

33. Therefore my country supports Argentina's

right to sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands

and calls upon the international community to use

all possible peaceful means to ensure finally the

ending of the British colonization of the

Malvinas Islands.

34. The United States exploitation of

internal strife in certain countries of Asia

aggravates tension in the region. The Afghan war

and the situation in Kampuchea represent areas

of tension in South-East Asia aggravated by

foreign interference in the affairs of those

countries. Therefore my country affirms the right

of those peoples to exercise their freedom of

choice. My country supports the principle that

Afghanistan should be an independent, non-aligned

country following the path of progressive Islamic

States.

35. The question of Western Sahara continues

to be one of the primary issues facing the

Organization and there is the threat of American

imperialist interference. We therefore emphasize

that the Organization should assume its

responsibility by affirming the right of the

Sahraoui people to free self-determination,

alongside the African peoples which have

exercised their right to freedom and sovereignty

over their territories.

36. The question of Cyprus is one that has

been before the United Nations for a long time

without any comprehensive solution being found.

My country supports direct negotiations between

the Turkish and Greek communities of Cyprus with

a view to finding a just solution to this problem

which would guarantee the independence and

neutrality of Cyprus.

37. The situation in the Mediterranean has

become dangerous as a result of the increasing

pressures of foreign war fleets and military

bases, especially American fleets and bases,

which have become a source of concern and a

subversive element, threatening the security of

Mediterranean countries. Everybody has heard

about the United States Sixth Fleet, which is

deployed constantly off the Libyan shore and

carries out provocative maneuvers, some of which

were in Libyan territorial waters.

38. It is our desire that that sea become a

lake of peace, free from foreign fleets and bases

and hotbeds of tension. Believing in the

necessity of realizing this objective, the

Jamahiriya has moved to settle the dispute

between itself and its neighbor, the sister State

of Tunisia, over the continental shelf. The

International Court of Justice delivered its

judgment in the case on 24 February 1982. The

dispute with Malta over the delimitation of the

continental shelf has likewise been referred to

the International Court of Justice.

39. The effects of the acts of confrontation

and war have sometimes extended to societies

which have not participated in such acts and are

not parties to them. This is evidenced by the

tragedies and consequences of the Second World

War which continue to surface in my country,

causing economic, social and environmental

problems. The minefields planted by the warring

forces over vast tracts of territory in my

country have delayed the carrying out of

development projects and raised the cost of such

projects, in particular that of prospecting for

minerals.

40. This problem has been discussed at

meetings of the non-aligned movement and here in

the Assembly, and several resolutions have been

adopted in this regard, affirming the

responsibility of the countries that planted

those mines to compensate the affected countries

for the material and moral losses caused by this

problem and calling for co-operation in the

provision of information about and maps of those

minefields.

41. The relevant decisions of international

and regional organizations, conventions and

international laws require the States which

participated in the Second World War and their

allies who planted mines in Libyan territory to

shoulder the responsibility, pay the required

compensation and co-operate in the final solution

of this problem. Accordingly, my country hopes

that such States and the United Nations will take

practical measures to place the responsibility

where it belongs and guarantee the right of the

affected States to compensation for the damage

sustained by them as a result of the effects and

vestiges of war.