Tunisia, 1969

96. Madam President, the fact that it is you who guide our

work in this temple devoted to freedom, on the eve of its

twenty-fifth anniversary, is more than a political event; it is

a sign, a historic message which we, as representatives of

States, political men and men of action, must interpret if

we intend to have a place in history and remain worthy of

confidence and respect in the eyes of world public

opinion—worthy, quite simply, of ourselves.

97. Africa, your land and ours, the land of all Africans,

the Africa which has summoned you, a daughter of its first

free republic, to receive in this forum the homage rendered

to you by free men, this Africa, as you know, is perplexed

and full of doubt.

98. How could it not be in doubt when it sees millions of

its children oppressed, 24 years after the peoples of the

United Nations had sworn at San Francisco that never again

would one man be oppressed by another?

99. How can the faith of our continent in the solemn

commitment of the United Nations not falter when, in

South Africa, Namibia, Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique,

Guinea (Bissau), the Cape Verde archipelago, a terrible

colonialism still maintains, in the sight and with the

knowledge of the entire international community, millions

of our brothers in a state of subjection of a barbarity rarely

equalled in history?

100. How can the hopes of Africa remain intact when

despair daily tightens its hold on millions of human beings

who have long since reached the limits of suffering and

endurance? The night grows darker around them; the

madness of their oppressors increases; the prisons, the

Bantustans — those veritable concentration camps — resound

with their cries of anguish; and we here, in these precincts,

continue innocently to believe and seriously to proclaim

that freedom is the absolute and natural right of all.

101. The Governments of Pretoria and Lisbon, the authorities

of Salisbury, take us with so little seriousness, and find

our lack of consistency so reassuring for their policy, that

they are no longer even embarrassed when declaring their

intentions; they no longer even disguise their aims, whether

immediate or distant.

102. For the immediate future they intend to continue

and intensify repression, to enact laws which every day

grow more implacable in their inhumanity, and to consolidate,

militarily, economically and legally, the basis of

this veritable “agreement of defiance”. On the basis of

present action, it is not difficult to imagine the features of

the last great colonialist bastions of the distant future: the

exclusive rule of white societies freed from all trace of what

was the African man.

103. Unless those who have already lost all finally manage

to proclaim their ultimate refusal in the face of their

oppressors, to rise up in tragic despair and, powerless to

save their lives and happiness, to bear witness, so that

history, humanity and future generations may know that

they were men and that they were willing to give their lives

as the price of their dignity and their humanity.

104. Unless also the colonialists, in one final burst of evil

and in the resolve to maintain their aberrant system,

unleash their policy of collective suicide, with the danger

that millions of innocent people in Africa and the rest of

the world will perish along with them.

105. There is no dearth of signs that our fears are well

founded. On the one hand, the freedom fighters in those

martyred lands have courageously broken the chains of fear

and resignation; their blood still flows, but this time in a

battle of men. On the other hand, Pretoria is transforming

South Africa into a diabolical arsenal, while Salisbury

morbidly savours its latest victory — the adoption of a

constitution for the rebel régime — and Lisbon sends its

aircraft to bomb peaceful villages in Zambia.

106. Who, then, can fail to realize the extent of the danger

to international peace and security constituted by that new

“axis”? Nevertheless, there are Powers — Powers that are

ultimately responsible under the terms of the Charter of the

United Nations for the peace and security of the world —

which are helping to pave the way for the catastrophe by

pursuing a policy of the closest political, economic and

military co-operation with South Africa, Rhodesia and

Portugal.

107. Since the decision of the Organization to impose

economic sanctions, South Africa and Rhodesia have never

been more prosperous. As far as Portugal is concerned,

despite its extremely limited national resources, it is waging

its anachronistic war on several military fronts with

complete success. What is to be said, again, about the

fratricidal war - which is tearing Nigeria asunder — a war

which, unfortunately, is being prolonged by the supply of

weapons to both sides by certain developed countries? We

are. convinced that, without those deadly weapons which

neither side manufactures, the warring brothers would be

left faced with their real problem — that of working together

and struggling together for their common development.

108. Africa is not the only continent still suffering from

the evils of colonialism, nor the only one which is resolute

in paying a heavy price for freedom. There are other men,

also brothers of us Tunisians—brothers, indeed, of all

peace-loving people: the Palestinians — who, despite all

obstacles, have undertaken to force the hand of destiny,

and, spurred on by their miraculously restored dignity, are

making sacrifices which astonish not only their oppressors

but the entire world.

109. Israel, however, has spared no effort in its endeavour

to achieve the total Zionist absorption of Palestine, a course

it has pursued for the last 20 years; nor does it hesitate to

use any means, even going so far as to abet an attack on the

Holy Places placed under its responsibility as occupying

Power. What a sacrilege for a people that claims to be the

partner of God! Aware that the God of the Palestinians is

also their past and their identity as a nation, Tel Aviv,

borrowing a classic colonialist practice, has not hesitated to

disfigure everything in Jerusalem that was calculated to

keep values and traditions alive either in the memory or in

the actual life of its inhabitants. It was also to be expected

that little by little, Zionism’s pernicious plans would lead to

the fire which seriously damaged the Al Aqsa mosque; it

was in the logic of events. And things being what they are,

one is entitled to fear concerning the fate of the rest of the

national and cultural Palestinian heritage, whether Moslem

or Christian.

110. What is more, there is reason to fear that the Middle

East conflict, already a grave threat to peace because of its

Palestinian and Arab dimensions, has, since the criminal act

of 21 October 1968, acquired a third dimension — that of

religion — which, by extending the conflict to other regions

of the world, can only make it even more tragic. The

debates in the Security Council, which had been convened

to consider that question at the request of 26 Moslem

countries — one of them my own — and resolution

271 (1969), adopted by the supreme organ of the United

Nations, have clearly demonstrated the correctness of the

viewpoint expressed by the President of the Tunisian

Republic at the news of the disaster, in messages addressed

to the Secretary-General, U Thant, and to the Heads of

State and Government of the four great Powers.

111. No serious political leader can fail to recognize that

the Zionist military adventure which began in Palestine in

1947 has since broadened its horizons in incredible fashion,

as witnessed by the fact that Israeli troops today occupy

the banks of the Suez Canal and of the Jordan, and the

Golan heights, and that the settlers of the “chosen people”

are busy setting themselves up in the very heart of the Arab

world, in new territories conquered by force.

112. More than two years have elapsed since the last

expansionist drive by Israel, and each day brings us more

alarming news: Israeli raids on what remains of the military

and economic potential of Egypt, Jordan end Syria;

devastating reprisals against Lebanon, which is supposedly

responsible for the acts of courage of the Palestinian

fighters; the destruction of entire Arab villages; provocative

statements by various leaders of the Jewish State — in a

word, acts of defiance to the world, one more exasperating

than another — acts nurtured by the arrogance of the

soldier-occupier, only equalled in our times by the arrogance

of the South African, Rhodesian and Portuguese

colonists in southern Africa.

113. Yet the rule of law could have been established in the

Middle East. A formal and precise framework, marked with

the seal of universality and a pledge of justice for all, has

existed since 22 November 1967. Carried away by a sense

of omnipotence after its victory in the June 1967 war, and

following the example of other conquerors whose tragic

fate is recorded in history, Israel has blindly preferred the

fascination of territorial expansion and has taken the easy

road of a policy of fait accompli.

114. Who, then, however favourably disposed to the

United Nations he may be, can reconcile himself to

acceptance of this shocking reality? How can he keep his

faith in the Organization when Israel, its own creation — the

State which was to set an example of respect for law—has

grown in size, and intends to continue to grow, by means of

fire, bloodshed and faits accomplis? Small countries like

mine, whose only strength until then consisted in a firm

belief in a really operative and protective international

order, are today a prey to distress and anxiety at the

evidence of the scandalous degradation of the system of

rules on which civilized nations had hoped to see a new

society built after the nightmare of the Hitler era. The

situation created by the Israeli occupation of Arab territories

opens the way to international anarchy in which

naked force will replace the rule of law.

115. Because of the state of insecurity prevailing throughout

the world, it is understandable that some countries

choose to arm themselves in their turn. Every State has the

absolute right to defend its territory, its national existence,

its people and its wealth. To believe that, in the absence of

rules of conduct that are recognized, accepted and respected

by all, States would lightly give up a right which,

throughout the history of mankind, has constituted the

very basis and the concrete expression of their being, which

has always proved to be their last recourse against the

threat of extinction, would be to show if not bad faith, at

least a strange lack of realism.

116. Who in this forum, who among men, unless he has a

perverted mind, would prefer war to peace, if peace can be

achieved in freedom, justice and dignity? Far be it from us

especially, peaceful people that we are, to glory in

destructive violence. Tunisia, on good terms with itself, its

neighbours and the world, maintains one of the smallest

armies on the African continent, devoting the major part of

its resources and efforts to building a society which it hopes

will be prosperous, just, harmonious and untroubled.

117. Moreover, we have never neglected an opportunity of

contributing to the promotion of international peace and

security. We have signed and ratified the Moscow Treaty of

1963 banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in

outer space and under water. We have acceded to the 1925

Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of

Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacterio-

logical Methods of Warfare. Finally, we have welcomed the

conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)] as a major step

towards the establishment of peace.

118. In our opinion, the prospect of planetary suicide has

introduced a measure of rationality into the strategic

relations between the two super-Powers. While we must

welcome the results of this rationality, we nevertheless

deplore the persistence of obstacles, of old ways of

thinking, of fears and irrational suspicions, which still

prevent the United States and the Soviet Union from

reaching agreements that are more favourable to peace. Is it

not absurd that the two super-Powers should continue to

build up their arsenals of nuclear weapons and to perfect

and deploy anti-missile missile systems? The unending

nature of the race, the generally recognized impossibility of

ensuring the superiority of one State over the other — in a

word, the futility of that race — should convince the two

great Powers of the need to resume and seriously pursue

conversations such as those which led to the conclusion of

the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

119. There are areas where reasonable hopes exist of

concluding agreements as long as there is a firm and sincere

political will to do so. To prohibit underground nuclear

tests, to stop — either through an agreement or through a

moratorium accepted by both parties — all work on the

perfecting of new delivery systems, whether offensive or

defensive. of strategic nuclear weapons, to prohibit chemical

and bacteriological weapons, to prevent the extension of

the arms race to the sea-bed and the ocean floor — those are

some of the measures that could lessen the “mad pace” of

the arms race, to use the words of our Secretary-General.

120. On the specific question of the use of the sea-bed and

ocean floor, Tunisia believes it to be its duty to denounce

any attempt, from whatever source, to set up nuclear bases

in the seas, especially in the Mediterranean basin where the

situation is already explosive enough. In adopting this

unequivocal attitude, we remain faithful to our own

principles, since we have never ceased to believe that

military installations outside a State’s territory, far from

promoting the peace and security of nations, only aggravate

international tension.

121. The measures that we recommend for adoption, and

others, should contribute to general and complete disarmament

with, it goes without saying, the single final goal of

creating a peaceful atmosphere. Peace itself, that is to say

not only the absence of war, but also and above all

co-operation — indeed interdependence — among nations,

without either political or economic recriminations, true

peace will remain to be built patiently and laboriously by

eliminating the causes of war.

122. Our profound conviction is that it is not always the

mere existence of armaments that leads to their being used,

but that it is the conflict of aspirations, of interests and

dreams — in a word, dissatisfaction — which drives peoples

and States to war, and for that purpose to manufacture,

improve and accumulate weapons. Lucid thought must lead

us to recognize that the elimination of the instruments of

war, whether rudimentary or sophisticated, would not

simultaneously eliminate, above all in the state of international

insecurity of our times, either the reasons for fighting

or the will to fight.

123. The status quo being invariably to the advantage of

the stronger and of the victor of the hour, nothing is more

natural than that one opposing party should seek to

perpetuate the situation and the other to change it, each in

his own favour. The major stabilization that followed the

Second World War is about to disintegrate before our eyes,

whether on the political, the strategic or the economic

level. We believe that there is still time to prevent the

present confrontation from ending in apocalypse. While the

economic problems facing mankind — destitute and refusing

in despair to accept a reality fashioned without its

knowledge and at its expense — call for more imagination,

more effort and more forceful means to solve them,

nothing but goodwill is required for the just settlement of

conflicts of a geopolitical nature.

124. In the Middle East, peace depends essentially on the

unequivocal acceptance and the total implementation by

Israel of the resolutions of the United Nations, and

particularly of Security Council resolution 242 (1967). Let

the leaders of Zionist Israel abandon their fantastic dreams,

let them realize, in the interests of the well-being of almost

two million Jews whom they have involved in their

adventure, that the spoils of war are never finally secure,

and tomorrow, instead of occupation, of tactical combats,

of raids of reprisal, in other words instead of the infernal

cycle of violence, an atmosphere favourable to a just and

honourable peace will have a hope of emerging and of

blossoming in this Middle East which has suffered all too

much. Or else we must draw the lesson which seems

dictated by the failure of the Jarring mission and conclude

that because of the arrogant intransigence of the Israeli

leaders and their narrow interpretation of the role of the

Swedish diplomat—an interpretation which has been explicitly

rejected by Secretary-General U Thant in the

introduction to his annual report [A/7601/Add.1,

para. 67] there remains no real hope of peace in the

Middle East except through concerted, direct and immediate

action by the four great Powers, members of the

Security Council, which are ultimately responsible under

the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and

security.

125. For its part, Tunisia, which has always stressed the

necessity and urgency of an initiative by the four Powers to

resolve the crisis, welcomes the French plan for quadripartite

consultations which was recommended and approved

by the Secretary-General, welcomed by all peace-loving

men as a contribution to the restoration of peace,

and finally adopted as its own by the United States

Government. These consultations, however, do not seem to

have achieved the desired results. Our hope is that, faced

with the resumption of violence in the area and the threat

of a general renewal of hostilities, the four Powers — and

above all the United States and the Soviet Union — will once

again seriously consider the question. It has become

obvious today that, left to itself, the Middle East will sink

once again into catastrophe, a catastrophe which may

involve the entire world in chaos.

126. Nor, if left to themselves, would South Africa, the

illegal authorities in Rhodesia and Portugal, choose freedom

for the peoples that they oppress. The detestable policy of

apartheid practised by Pretoria will not yield tomorrow to a

régime of freedom for all, in which the rights of man are

respected, unless the political, commercial and military

partners of South Africa were to oblige their protégé to

adopt such a solution.

127. We must also admit that the Rhodesian settlers will

make no effort of their own to lead the African majority to

self-determination; here again, the solution of the problem

lies with the ex-protector, the former administering Power,

the United Kingdom.

128. In the case of Portugal, a change of Government

might have been expected to bring about a change in

attitude towards the colonial territories and towards the

fundamental question which arises therefrom, namely

independence. Today we are obliged to revise our ideas and

to admit that the blindness of Lisbon and its obstinacy in

continuing to live in an outworn past leave no doubt of the

need for intervention by its protectors to change the course

of events.

129. In South-East Asia, too, the conflict is basically

geopolitical. The martyred land and people of Viet-Nam

have learnt that painful fact over the past quarter of a

century. Nearby China, quarrelling both with itself and

others, nevertheless dominates by its gigantic power the

destiny of that part of the world and even, since its

acquisition of nuclear weapons, that of the whole world. It

too poses a political problem which, as in the case of

Viet-Nam, cannot be solved unless all parties share a sincere

desire for peace.

130. In the circumstances, all those concerned should

accept unequivocally, and respect without reservation, the

principle of the self-determination of peoples. We would

then see the Viet-Namese, the Chinese, all the peoples of

the region, adopt in serenity and freedom the political

system of their choice and thus South-East Asia would

enter into an era of peace.

131. While hoping that the Paris Conference on Viet-Nam

will contribute to that result, Tunisia considers it useful to

stress once again the need to assist China to overcome its

convulsions by welcoming it into the concert of nations. In

the name of justice, but also for reasons of prudence and

realism, it seems to us imperative to recognize the urgency

of such action, for already today the future of the whole

world no longer depends on the polarization of Washington

and. Moscow, but on a wider pattern of forces in which

Peking, because of the area, resources, population and

nuclear weapons possessed by China, is a determining

feature. It is for the United Nations to find a formula which

would permit that great Power to play its fitting role within

the Organization. It would still be necessary to secure the

assent of the People’s Republic of China, for it goes

without saying that, in our opinion, the formula should in

no way prejudge the fate of Taiwan nor its presence in the

United Nations.

132. These are the political conflicts which are tearing our

world apart and which, unless there is a genuine will to

peace, could lead it into an even more deplorable situation.

Any efforts we make towards their solution today would

not only create conditions conducive to an atmosphere of

peace—peace by negation—but also and principally make it

possible to release from the sterile conflict of pride the

efforts, resources and means necessary to face a both

formidable and exalting task, through which alone can a

future of positive peace be assured. I refer to the task of

overcoming under-development.

133. In this field the international community, thanks to

the experience of the First United Nations Development

Decade, already has a pattern for action.

134. Many opinions, often contradictory, have already

been expressed on the results and merits of this undertaking.

For our part, we believe that it has enabled the

organs of the United Nations system, as well as Governments,

to identify the problems to be faced and the limits

of any international action. Through this First Decade it has

also been possible to collect information and to make the

studies that are indispensable for any major action to

promote development on a scale commensurate with the

needs of the countries of the third world as a whole. We

thus now have several diagnoses of the situation which the

international community is called upon to remedy.

135. We express the hope that the preparations for the

Second Decade will be carried out under the most

favourable possible conditions. The abundant material

available, if properly utilized, should enable more substantial

results to be obtained during the next such period.

136. The fact that the General Assembly has decided to

establish a special committee to prepare for the Second

Decade is evidence of the importance which we attach to it.

What is needed, in our opinion, is to determine the

framework within which adequate action can be under-taken

by Governments and by the international community

to combat under-development.

137. It is no less necessary to reach agreement on a certain

number of urgent measures which countries, both developed

and developing, would commit themselves to take in

the course of the next 10 years. The list of fields requiring

firm initiatives has already been drawn up; among the most

important, I would mention in particular international

trade, trade eXpansion, economic co-operation, regional

integration among developing countries, financial resources

for development, the development of human resources, and

the transfer of technical and scientific knowledge to the

underprivileged countries.

138. Adequate solutions can and should be found to the

problems from which international co-operation suffers in

these fields. It would not be realistic to expect radical

changes before the Decade is even launched, but the

achievements of the Decade should be such as to raise it to

the level of an historic event.

139. The conception of a Development Decade is that of a

dynamic and continuous process involving the convergence

towards an identical goal of the various actions and

activities of Governments and of organs of the United

Nations. This is a complex target, but it is now generally

recognized that it can only be achieved by harmonizing a

number of coherent actions so that they constitute the

interdependent parts of a single whole.

140. In this task the principal responsibility rests, in our

opinion, upon the poor countries themselves. What they

have already accomplished in this matter is recognized by

all, but in view of what remains to be done, their continued

efforts are more necessary than ever. By sincere and

productive endeavours they will impose respect and lead

the richer countries to increase their assistance, which, in

turn, can stimulate the mobilization of domestic resources.

141. It is indeed time that the concept of aid should be

precisely understood and its meaning clarified in the

context of international co-operation. This will be to the

advantage of all participants, since in the last analysis the

development of the third world, in addition to freeing

millions of human beings from suffering and poverty,

would in large measure benefit the industrialized countries

themselves and increase their prosperity.

142. With regard to this war against poverty, I would pay

a special tribute to the action undertaken by the United

Nations Development Programme. But here again, the lack

of resources from which the Programme suffers imposes

restrictions on its work. I venture to hope that the

successive appeals launched by its dynamic Director,

Mr. Hoffman, and by the Secretary-General, U Thant, for

an increase in its resources will meet with a favourable

response from all contributing Governments.

143. The motives of war, and the stakes risked, have

always been territory, resources, the domination of peoples

for the sake of glory and, in our time, for the triumph of an

idea. Nothing could be more natural, since these are the

prizes and the underlying conditions of any political

society.

144. The same battle is being fought today, but with other

means. Once again, nothing is more natural, since fundamentally

man remains the same, despite the evolution and

growing sophistication of his knowledge and his techniques.

145. What should have been “nuclear peace” in the

shadows of the death-factories built by the Sparta and the

Athens of our times has not succeeded in stiffening the

protest of the dissatisfied nor in preventing conflict in the

form of guerrillas, wars and “limited warfare“; and this

simply bears witness to man’s genius for adapting him elf

and facing each hostile historical situation with the means

most suited to his particular character. To believe that our

debates here and now, or the deeds of generations to come,

will, as in some fantastic vision, bring about the reign of

that perpetual peace of which all philosophers have

dreamed and which certainly remains the deep desire of

every man is to ignore the lessons of history and the facts

of science; it is to feed on illusions and to invite the worst

disappointments; in a word, it is to condemn oneself to a

facile scepticism.

146. Anyone who opts for lucidity will readily admit that,

all in all, history, and above all our contemporary history,

has developed in the direction of increased freedom, justice

and prosperity for the human community. He will also

recognize that, in spite of all its imperfections, the world

we inherited from the Second World War, even though it

has failed to live in mutual understanding, has survived the

disorder for which motives have abounded during these last

30 years. Unless one seeks to quarrel with oneself, there is

therefore in the final analysis more cause for optimism than

for pessimism. Unless we are unfair, we must grant that the

United Nations, established in 1945 to save future generations

from war and to serve as an instrument for political,

economic and social progress, has played a preponderant

role in this happy state of affairs.

147. Within the limits that we have just mentioned, limits

determined by history, human nature and the far-flung

international situation which emerged out of the last World

War, it is nevertheless reasonable to expect a greater

contribution from the Organization to the establishment of

justice and peace. We may be clear-sighted, but we are also

realistic, and realism demands that we draw attention to the

scandalous disparity between the Organization’s theoretical

power and its real power to find solutions for the crises

which disrupt international life. Without conceding that

world opinion is completely in the right, we are bound to

admit that the Eden which the Charter may conjure up in a

naive and fertile imagination, and the thousands of resolutions

adopted by the United Nations, are in no way

consistent with the state of insecurity, colonial oppression,

the policy of the fait accompli, arrogant defiance, war and

injustice, or with the state of misery in which hundreds of

millions of human beings live.

148. In these conditions, the alternative before us as

Member States is simple: either to reform our understanding

or to reform the Organization. To reform our

understanding would be to draw the conclusions which

flow from the ineffectiveness of the United Nations. To

reform the United Nations would be essentially to remind

the four great Powers, members of the Security Council, of

their ultimate responsibilities under the Charter for the

maintenance and promotion of international peace and

security. It is incontestable, and the facts prove it, that all

the crises afflicting the world today are in the last analysis

matters involving the responsibility of the four great

Powers. Everything leads .us to believe that if they do not

take action as called for by the Charter — a contract under

the terms of which we small countries have, as a counterpart

to their commitment to maintain and promote

international peace and security, practically consented to a

virtual surrender of sovereignty in their favour — to ensure

respect for and the scrupulous application of the decisions

of the Organization, the latter will wither away, and with it,

the world will fall into uncertainty and chaos. We believe

that there is still time to save future generations from this

fate. Like Machiavelli, we believe that, if history is a matter

of chance, a raging river that uproots everything in its path,

it is nevertheless true that chance governs only half our

actions, and the other half remains under the control of our

free will, so that hope is still justified. With the exercise of

will, of goodwill, peace may reign at last tomorrow.