Chad, 1969

78. Madam President, allow me to begin by saying a few words

in this great forum about Mr, Emilio Arenales, President of

the twenty-third session of the General Assembly, who is

no longer with us, but who remains for my country a great

champion of the United Nations, and for Guatemala a

statesman whom his countrymen will long mourn.

79. Last year, during his brief meeting with the President

of the Republic of Chad here at United Nations Headquarters,

Mr. Arenales drew attention, courteously but

energetically, to the decisive part which Heads of State and

Government can play in making our Organization a truly

effective, decision-making body in most of the many

matters which fall within its competence under the San

Francisco Charter. What he then had in mind, as the

delegation of Chad understood it, was an appeal to Heads

of State in general and to those of the great Powers in

particular.

80. Madam President, in these times of continual confusion

and disorder, it is hard for me to express the

satisfaction and pride of the Government and people of

Chad at seeing you in the office of President of the

twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly of the

United Nations. The honour thus conferred on you by

virtually all members of this Assembly is a mark of the

sympathy and solidarity which the nations, large and small,

feel with all women, for they have paid with their sweat,

their blood, their life, and their youth for the triumph of

life on our planet. To symbolize the sacrifices of women in

every continent and of every race and nationality, we could

not have done better than to choose a woman from among

the bravest of women, a woman from Africa which has

experienced five centuries of humiliation, exploitation and

slavery; at this very moment, part of it is imprisoned in a

system of oppression and assassination which history will

never dare to describe in full.

81. The fact that in holding your present office you

represent all the women on earth is due in no small degree

to your personal merits: as a daughter of one of the first

black nations of the world, Liberia, you are among the

great pioneers of the Africa of today. I am speaking now of

all those nations of Africa which in less than 20 years have

joined the ranks of the free nations. We all know that you

are experienced, and the delegation of Chad has full

confidence in you. My country will do its utmost to assist

you in your heavy task.

82. For yours is indeed a heavy task, at a time when from

this rostrum so many diagnoses are made of the ills

afflicting mankind. From there, too, the possible remedies

are also examined, yet no one wants to take the first step,

so much does confidence seem definitely to have left the

community of men.

83. You may rest assured, Madam President, that Chad

will at all times be at your side, limited though our means

are, whenever anything has to be done to promote peace.

For without peace, how can the young nations grow up normally?

84. We are the more firmly convinced of this, because

peace is the only real way out. We therefore follow with

great Sympathy the efforts made day by day by U Thant,

the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to find a way

through complex situations that will allay some of our

immediate apprehensions and even suggest the beginnings

of a solution. For young people in my country, the

Secretary-General symbolizes courage and peace and

personifies the United Nations.

85. I referred just now to the complexity of the problems

which our Assembly and Organization will have to face. But

among these problems, there is one which is the Gordian

knot for us all: the armaments race, involving arms of every

kind, and ‘the perfecting of the means of delivery of

weapons of mass destruction. My delegation is quite

unabashed about repeating the same truth over and over

again, when there is an evident danger that failure to

acknowledge that truth may cause irreparable damage to

the universe.

86. And today, more than ever, the plain truth is that we

must put an end to the armaments race, and that it can be

done. Once the armaments race has been stopped, as a

prelude to further progress towards universal disarmament,

then the fact that man has set foot on the moon will indeed

be seen to be an unprecedented leap forward and will

acquire its full significance for our future development.

Even so, my delegation wishes to pay a well-deserved

tribute to all the teams of workers, skilled technicians and

political figures who have imparted a new dimension to our

conception of the world through the success of the United

States astronauts.

87. It was with a glimmer of hope that, in July 1968,

Chad signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)]. In the introduction to

his annual report, the Secretary-General is more pessimistic

on that point than he was last year. He speaks of “fear”,

“insecurity” and “frustration”, and he states with clarity

what we already believe:

“The notion of ‘superiority’ in such a race is an illusion,

as that notion can only lead to an endless competition in

which each side steps up its nuclear capabilities in an

effort to match, or exceed, the other side until the race

ends in unmitigated disaster for all.” [A/7601/Add.1, para, 28.]

88. The more optimistic speak of the “balance of terror”.

They believe that the bombs perfected and accumulated

day by day, along with their means of delivery, will never

explode. In real life terror has never been balanced,

particularly as it is an essentially subjective thing which no

weapon can measure accurately. It would be better for

mankind to be made fully aware that, in the present state

of affairs, the odds are over nine to ten that those terrible

weapons will one day be used in a struggle for domination.

89. The young nations, in the present situation, cannot

accept the idea of a “balance of terror’. It would be more

accurate to speak of a world “neurosis” — something that

can still be halted. I have used this expression because there

is now a nuclear Power which is not a member of the

United Nations. It is, therefore, an unknown quantity in

the “balance of terror”.

90. There are certain facts with which our world has to

live: nuclear weapons, bacteriological weapons, chemical

weapons, and the means of delivering them. This is the

beginning of October 1969; is mankind to resign itself to

mass suicide?

91. What we wish above all is that negotiations on this

all-important subject should be resumed as early as possible.

The work of the technical committees proceeds too slowly.

The Assembly must set the negotiations in motion again.

That is why the items entitled “The strengthening of

international security” and “Question of general and

complete disarmament” have been rightly included in the

agenda of this session.

92. The reason why the delegation of Chad dwells on the

question of disarmament is to prevent us from being unable

to see the wood for the trees. The crisis areas of the world

are in fact nothing but testing grounds for new weapons or

for strategies which, we are assured by both sides, are

always defensive. It is against this background that Europe

must study its basic security problems, both medium-term

and long-term, for the peace of the world depends on it.

93. In the Middle East, a grave situation seems to be

taking shape which could lead to a final confrontation

between the forces I have just mentioned, if the well-endowed

nations do not find the basis for a peace that

would be equitable for all, especially as their interests are

involved in this interminable conflict. The Security Council

resolution [242 (1967)] of 22 November 1967 should by

now have borne fruit.

94. In Viet-Nam an important step forward has been

taken, leading to the current Paris negotiations. But death

still strikes blindly in Viet-Nam. The people of Viet-Nam,

whose sufferings have lasted for too long, must now be

allowed to choose their own form of government; this

would in no way diminish the power of either side.

95. In Africa, colonialism in its most unspeakable form

still reigns in the Portuguese territories. The delegation of

Chad urges the great Powers which are allies of Portugal and

support and sustain it to help the United Nations to bring

about a speedy application of the principle of decolonization

in those territories.

96. The African peoples now under colonial rule ask only

to exercise their right to self-determination. The African

lands of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau) can

welcome future African citizens from Portugal or elsewhere,

but they cannot be overseas provinces of Portugal.

Once again we address an urgent appeal to Portugal’s allies

to persuade that country to listen to reason before it is too

late to start a dialogue in Africa.

97. The Rhodesia of Ian Smith is a disguised creation of

the United Kingdom which it will one day have cause to

regret, because human rights cannot be violated with

impunity, even if the people of Zimbabwe have not

attained the necessary degree of development. We believe

that short-term profits are the sole reason for this adventurism

on the part of the United Kingdom.

98. The problem of Namibia remains unchanged, and we

wonder what method the great Powers will propose to

enable the United Nations to resume its trusteeship over

that part of the African heritage and lead it to independence.

99. As for apartheid, that monstrosity begotten by a

so-called civilized society in South Africa, the position of

Chad is widely known. Furthermore, Chad subscribed some

months ago to the Manifesto on Southern Africa,

paragraph 7 of which reads:

“Our objectives in southern Africa stem from our

commitment to this principle of human equality. We are

not hostile to the administrations of these States because

they are manned and controlled by white people. We are

hostile to them because they are systems of minority

control which exist as a result of, and in the pursuance of,

doctrines of human inequality. What we are working for

is the right of self-determination for the people of those

territories. We are working for a rule in those countries

which is based on the will of all the people and an

acceptance of the equality of every citizen.”

100. In other words, Africa ardently desires independence

with strict respect for the right of peoples to self-determination,

so that they can participate in the work of peace.

Africa has no wish to become the scene of disturbance,

violence, hatred or war. But that is what we must expect if

there is no change in the situation in southern Africa.

101. In fact, despite the sincere desire of Africans to

create a new, progressive and just society, in which every

man will have the right to work, live and acquire an

education, the retrogade forces of neo-colonialism are busy

once again. Everything has been set in motion to frustrate

the attempts to unify Africa, of whatever nature.

102. Concerning the part that could be played by the

great Powers in our present-day societies, for good or for ill,

the President of the Republic of Chad made the following

statement on 7 October 1968 from this very rostrum:

“Several times in history, dominant nations incapable

of allowing their reason to control them have dragged all

mankind into insensate and dangerous adventures merely

to satisfy the whims of their pride or their passions. The

very genius with which they were endowed did not give

them light enough, for they regarded it as an instrument

with which the more easily to dominate others.” [1684th

meeting, para. 16.]

103. Thus, neo-colonialism and imperialism can be contained

if we wish it. As we have seen, everything depends

on the will of man. But instead of that, we are witnessing

the manifestation of the will of certain champions of

foreign interests to set Africa aflame, at a time when it has

only just emerged from the horrors of its grim past.

104. Even Chad, where, according to the classic manuals

of colonial days, there is nothing but “wind and sand”, has

not been spared. To quote once again what the President of

the Republic of Chad said from this rostrum last year,

speaking of Chad:

“In the eyes of a certain press, that country is rather

poorly understood; it has its detractors, who address it in

highly unfavourable terms.” [Ibid., para. 34.]

Despite the attempts to discredit us, despite the organized

campaign of lies, Chad will continue along the path of

progress and maintain its policies of peace and good neighbourliness.

105. In Nigeria the civil war continues to occasion great

suffering, as we all know. But the leaders of Chad are also

aware of the efforts made by the Federal Government to

Spare and assist the civilian population of the region of

Nigeria occupied by the secessionists. If this civil war had

really been an internal Nigerian affair, it would not have

lasted so long. But the involvement of foreign interests in

Nigeria prevented the ad hoc Committee of the Organization

of African Unity from working objectively and

effectively for peace.

106. In any case, all the African countries have inherited

frontiers artificially created by the former colonial Powers,

and none of them can afford to fall prey to vultures

through acts of secession taking place in Nigeria, as today in the

Congo, is inseparable for peace in Africa, and therefore

from world peace. Friends of Africa, help us to have peace.

Civil war must be stopped.

107. Every year the reports of the United Nations

emphasize the growing gap between the rich and the poor

nations. Everything has been attempted here to persuade

the wealthier countries to show more generosity. Even

though this situation contains the seeds of a possible

catastrophe for mankind, the developed countries have no

intention of making any substantial concessions in the

name of world solidarity. Nevertheless, Chad believes firmly

in international co-operation. The United Nations Development

Programme has just started in our country; some

surveys and projects are being carried out.

108. Although the introduction to the Secretary-General’s

annual report seems to be far from optimistic, the Republic

of Chad hopes that the Second United Nations Development

Decade will be more successful than the First and

welcomes the creation of a Centre for Economic and Social

Information as a necessary means of support for the Second

Decade [see A/760/Add.1, para. 85].

109. On many occasions in this Assembly the delegation

of the Republic of Chad has expressed its unflagging

devotion to the United Nations, despite the growing

practice of dealing with the world’s most urgent problems

outside the Organization. Once again, my country reaffirms

its deep faith and full confidence in the United Nations.