Central African Republic, 1969

179. Madam President, the unanimity

surrounding your choice as President and the

moving tributes paid to you on your august election point

to the respect and confidence which you inspire in the

members of this Assembly. The Central African delegation,

too, is gratified at your election, which is a tribute not only

to your great experience and your outstanding qualities,

not only to your beautiful and dynamic country Liberia,

but also to the whole African continent. Your election

symbolizes the active part which the African woman is

increasingly called upon to play in the great task of African

renovation and in international institutions.

180. Speaking for the first time before this Assembly, I

could not fail to associate my delegation and myself

whole-heartedly with the sincere congratulations addressed

to you on your elevation to the Presidency.

181. My delegation also wishes to pay a tribute to the late

Mr. Emilio Arenales, the President of the twenty-third

session of the General Assembly, whose untimely and

sudden death deprived our Assembly of a diplomat whose

tact and outstanding competence we so greatly admired.

182. Lastly, I turn now with real pleasure to the

Secretary-General, U Thant, to tender to him on behalf of the

Government of the Central African Republic our admiration

for his courage and integrity as a public servant,

and also the valuable moral support of which he stands in

such need in his daily efforts to safeguard international

peace and security.

183. Peace among peoples and nations; respect for human

dignity; respect for the right of self-determination of

peoples; increased co-operation and solidarity in all activity

throughout the world; equality among all men whoever

they may be, among all peoples and all nations, so that

mankind can progressively wipe out that shame of the

twentieth century — under-development with its retinue of

misery, disease, ignorance and famine; such are the

fundamental aims that the founders of the United Nations set for

themselves. The Central African Republic under the

direction of its President, General Jean Bedel Bokassa, reaffirms

its attachment to those principles, which it means to

respect in both the spirit and the letter.

184. Nevertheless, an objective study of the world situation

shows that peace among nations, equality among men

and international solidarity are slow to become living realities.

185. Today human vanity has in fact made illusory any

common endeavour to do away with war. A perennial

insecurity hovers over mankind. We are witnessing at this

very moment a frenzied race in nuclear weapons, whose

proliferation can only aggravate the anxiety of mankind.

Fabulous sums that could be devoted to promoting the

happiness of part of mankind are being used to arm man

against man and precipitate the end of the human race.

186. In my delegation’s view, all nations should unite and

compel not only the systematic destruction of atomic

weapons but also general and complete disarmament under

effective international control. That is why my delegation

welcomes the declarations recently made in this Assembly

by the representatives of the great Powers, and ardently

hopes that those declarations will not turn out to be

fallacious promises designed to deceive the vigilance of

peace-loving peoples.

187. Now that my delegation has expressed its faith in

disarmament as the key to any solution of the problem of

peace and universal progress, it must state as briefly as

possible its views on other equally vital problems of the

present day.

188. It seems to us outrageous that Portugal and South

Africa should still arrogantly uphold, the one the degrading

concept of colonialism, and the other the hideous policy of

apartheid.

189. Apartheid torments Africa, jeopardizes peace and

endangers international relations. To allow South Africa to

remain in our Organization is a challenge to the conscience

of mankind, treason to the United Nations, and therefore a

confession of our Organization’s complicity.

190. The problem of Rhodesia urgently calls for a

solution. The whole world has its eyes turned on the United

Kingdom, which we know to possess all the necessary

means to break the resistance of that illegal Government.

191. It would not be superfluous in this connexion to

recall the great African mission accomplished by France

under the guidance of General de Gaulle, whose courageous

policy of decolonization aroused the admiration of the

world community. We are thus convinced that the liberalism

of the United Kingdom, which has earned it friendships

in Africa, will complete its liberating mission.

192. To sum up, we wish to reaffirm, in accordance with

the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights, and especially General Assembly

resolution 1514 (XV), that the time has come to make

every effort to help the peoples of Mozambique, Angola,

Namibia and Zimbabwe to achieve full sovereignty and take

their rightful place in the great world family.

193. We are deeply preoccupied over the future of an

Africa which we wish to see independent, sovereign, united

and prosperous; but we are no less anxious to see a rapid

and peaceful solution of the burning conflicts of the Middle

East and Viet-Nam. The strength of the United Nations lies

in the trust that Member States are deemed to repose in its

various organs, not in attempts to deprive any of these of

its constitutional powers for the benefit of another, still less

for the exclusive benefit of a caucus of three or four.

194. Our sense of African solidarity causes us to turn our

eyes towards Nigeria. We are moved by the atrocities

inflicted on civilian populations by that war. It would

therefore be a welcome development if the constructive

efforts of the Organization of African Unity, supplemented

by those of the international community, towards a lasting

peace led to a negotiated solution and to peace in a united

and prosperous Nigeria with due regard for the welfare of all.

195. To return to the declaration of the President of the

Central African Republic on foreign policy: my country

wishes to be a neutral, scrupulously refraining from

interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and

free to choose its friendships, firmly convinced that these in

no way commit us and still less make us anyone’s followers.

His Excellency General Jean Bedel Bokassa, President of

the Central African Republic, recently described that policy

as follows:

“A struggle against all forms of segregation, imperialism,

colonialism and neo-colonialism, co-operation with

all States and establishment of diplomatic relations with

all countries regardless of ideology or of political and

economic regime.”

196. One of the dominant features of our period is the

just aspiration of the peoples of the under-developed

countries to an economic and social level offering prospects

of progress and welfare.

197. For the international community the Decade which

is drawing to a close should have been a chance to organize

a programme of action starting a process of rational

development that would lead to a significant rise in the

gross national product of the less advanced countries. It has

in fact turned out to be nothing more than a particularly

blatant demonstration of the selfishness of the so-called

developed countries and of the ineffectiveness of

international bodies.

198. But, although the first United Nations Development

Decade has been a failure inasmuch as its concrete

achievements have been few and far between, we trust that

the large number of studies and surveys carried out during

the last 10 years — many of which were necessary — have been

rich in lessons for us all, and that the second Decade, on

which so many legitimate hopes are based, will bring out a

Spirit of genuine co-operation, sincerity and justice in the

wealthy countries. We feel that agreement must be reached

on a set of urgent measures, and that the proposals for the

global strategy for the second Decade must be supported by

the richer nations. Indeed, without such unanimous agreement

the proposals will remain a dead letter.

199. Concerning finance we note that developing countries

are obtaining financial resources from abroad on

increasingly unfavourable terms. This considerably reduces

their currency reserves, which they need in order to import

enough capital goods. It is therefore essential to break up

this structure of indebtedness which hampers economic

growth and bars the way to any improvement in living standards.

200. The developing countries naturally recognize the

need for foreign capital, but it is absolutely imperative that

this assistance shall be untainted with politics. Financial

organizations, international and national, should adopt a

flexible attitude to bilateral aid so as to enable the poorer

countries to increase their economic capacity. But the poor

countries are not expecting miracles from outside. We

realize that foreign aid cannot be effective unless supported

by intense national effort.

201. The Central African Republic, led by its energetic

Chief of State in Operation Bokassa, has for the last four

years been engaged in a sustained national effort of social

and economic development.

202. In executing its social policy, my country has made

major advances in its social infrastructure through an

expansion of educational and health facilities, the training

and education of women, and maternal and child welfare.

But these national efforts will only be moderately

successful unless the specialized agencies of the United

Nations, which are already helping us and to which we pay

a sincere tribute, redouble their activities.

203. In our economy output of the main agricultural

products has doubled and even tripled, thus surpassing all

hopes and making a readjustment of the Plan’s forecasts

necessary after two years of execution. Unfortunately all

these encouraging results, achieved by much effort and

sacrifice, are being purely and simply’ betrayed by the

selfishness of the economic Powers and the disgracefully

low and fluctuating prices of the main commodities on world markets.

204. In this disconcerting situation my delegation feels

that our first need is a radical review of the economic

relations between the developed and the developing countries,

the latter being at present regarded merely as suppliers

of raw materials. In this connexion we welcome and

support the proposal made by the Minister for Foreign

Affairs of Belgium [1765th meeting, para. 145] that

greater emphasis should be given to the processing and

marketing of raw materials in the places where they are produced.

205. The Central African Republic, like many other

developing countries, has hitherto given priority in its

development effort to the primary sector, in order to

ensure a livelihood to its people and to acquire a large

proportion of its income in foreign currency. We feel that it

is now time to include in that effort the secondary sector,

the only real source of added value.

206. Peace and equality, more active fraternity and

international solidarity — these are the ardent hopes which

the Central African delegation wishes to express on the eve

of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations and

on the threshold of the coming year, so that the United

Nations may contribute to the creation of a world where

the thirst for happiness and peace can be quenched everywhere.