Kenya, 1982

I should like to join previous speakers in warmly

congratulating Mr. Hollai on his election to the

high and onerous office of Presi¬dent of the

thirty seventh session of the General Assembly.

His election is proof of the confidence placed in

him personally and in his country by the General

Assembly. I wish him all the best in guiding the

work of the session to a successful conclusion.

On behalf of my delegation, I pledge our full

support in all his endeavors. Also, I wish to pay

a tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Kittani, who

successfully and with singular distinction guided

the work of the General Assembly throughout the

thirty-sixth session and the special and

emergency sessions. We owe him a debt of

gratitude for his untiring efforts and the wisdom

he displayed at all times. This is also a fitting

occasion for me to pay a tribute to the

Secretary-General and the entire staff of the

United Nations for the work they have done during

the past year.

216. In the Secretary-General's report on the

work of the Organization , we note the many

prob¬lems and difficulties he has identified as

conflicts between national aims and Charter

goals—resort to confrontation, sporadic violence

and even war itself in pursuit of w at are

perceived as vital interests, claims and

aspirations. I wish to assure him that my country

will, as always, heed his appeal to all

Govern¬ments for their rededication and

commitment to the purposes and principles of the

Charter.

217. The guiding spirit of my Government,

under the leadership of President Daniel Arap

Moi, is peace, democracy and justice for all

under the rule of law in a system which

recognizes the supremacy of Parlia¬ment. Another

fundamental objective of the Govern¬ment is the

improvement of the economic and social well-being

of our people in unity, freedom and love for one

another. All our actions—on the domestic front as

well as in the international arena, are geared to

promote, project and vigorously defend these

goals. With all our might and within our

resources, our people stand united in their

resolve to ensure that our present population and

future generations enjoy the fruits of peace,

unity and stability while respecting the dignity

of the individual in freedom. We extend the hand

of friendship and co-operation to all nations and

peoples which are, in turn, willing to do the

same to us in good faith.

218. As we have gathered here for the

thirty-seventh session of the General Assembly,

we cannot help looking back and taking stock of

the achievements and failures of the

Organization. We are certain that when the

balance-sheet is drawn up the results will be

unmistakably on the side of success. Whenever

world peace and security have been threatened,

the General Assembly has always exerted maximum

pres¬sure in favor of peace, tranquility and

mutual under¬standing. It is Kenya's sincere hope

that the votes cast in the Assembly will continue

to reflect the general will of the international

community to maintain peace and security for all

nations, as well as their resolve to improve the

well-being of mankind as a whole. Those who are

entrusted by the Charter with the maintenance of

international peace should pay more attention to

the resolutions that are adopted year after year

by the Assembly. These resolutions truly reflect

the concerns of the world community.

219. I should like first to make a brief

survey of the African scene in the context of the

aims and objectives of the United Nations. When

my President addressed the General Assembly at

the 11th meeting of the thirty-sixth session, he

indicated in his statement that at that time a

number of agreed and concrete steps were being

taken to re-establish peace and good order in

Chad. For the steps being taken to succeed in

restoring that peace and good order, it was

neces¬sary for those directly concerned

faithfully to adhere strictly to, and fully

implement in good faith, the established

programmes. Developments since then, however,

have shown that lasting peace continues to elude

the people of Chad.

220. In the case of Western Sahara, the way had

finally been cleared for a cease-fire agreement

and the holding of a referendum by means of which

the people of the Territory were to determine

their own future, We all know that the events

which ensued led to severe disagreement among

African countries and that today the OAU stands

partially paralyzed because of these deep-seated

differences. It is my Govern¬ment's sincere hope

that the ongoing consultations among member

States of the OAU will lead to the removal of the

obstacles now standing in the way of unity in our

continental organization.

221. In South Africa the tragedy of apartheid

con¬tinues. The racist South African regime seeks

to per¬petuate its illegal occupation of Namibia

in defiance of decisions of this body. After

decades of condemna¬tion and protests by all

peace-loving peoples of the world, including some

whites in South Africa itself, the evil and

inhuman system of apartheid Continues to

flourish, even though it embraces the total

denial of political rights to the majority.

Opposition to apartheid is met with brutal force

against defenseless people, among them children.

It is a system which violates all the universal

principles of human dignity on which the United

Nations itself is based; yet all our efforts to

get stronger action to be taken against South

Africa continue to meet with resistance. We have

adopted in the Assembly countless resolutions

condemning the system. We have held many

inter¬national gatherings which have exposed and

equally condemned the evil system practiced by

the racist minority bent on destroying the very

tenets of civilized conduct. Are we going to step

there?

222. In pursuance of its policies of seeking

to per¬petuate racist domination in South Africa

and to maintain its illegal occupation of

Namibia, as well as to expand its political

influence beyond its borders, the regime has

resorted to constant acts of aggres¬sion,

subversion, destabilization and terrorism against

neighbouring independent African States.

223. Speaking in this Hall, our col¬league the

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Angola out¬lined

in precise terms the extent of the military

aggres¬sion carried out by the racist regime of

South Africa against the front-line States and

the continuing military occupation by South

Africa of large parts of his country, Angola. Was

the General Assembly estab¬lished to listen

impotently to such horror stories of aggression,

military occupation and deliberate

destabilization year after year without

corresponding action by the world community to

put an end to the shame and indignity narrated by

such stories?

224. In resolution 418 (1977) the Security

Council, in a modest step forward, imposed an

arms embargo against South Africa. The Security

Council decided that the sale of arms to South

Africa represented a threat to international

peace and security. We all know that it is not

the sale of arms that represents the threat, for

South Africa is already heavily armed and has a

sophisticated arms industry of its own. Rather it

is the regime itself and its policy of apartheid

that represents the threat to international peace

and security.

225. The time has come when the international

community must wake up to the gravity of the

situa¬tion in this area. There is no longer any

time left for ambiguity and for prevarication

over apartheid, We must therefore urge the

international community, the Security Council and

particularly those permanent numbers of the

Council, friends of South Africa, to declare

without any qualification that the situation in

South Africa poses a threat to international

peace and security under the provisions of

Chapter VII of the Charter,

226. Information has come to us through the

public media to the effect that the racist regime

is making moves to remove petty apartheid in

public places. Let us not be confused by such

information. We have all along been calling for

the total eradication of apartheid. My country,

Kenya, will not allow itself to be deceived by

such propaganda. We must reject such deceit. We

must remain confident that the struggleto put an

end to the apartheid system itself will succeed.

We must continue to give every assistance

possible to our freedom fighters in South Africa

and Namibia in their legitimate struggle under

the leadership of their respective liberation

movements until final victory is won.

227. In the 37 years of the United Nations

history voluminous records exist of the illegal

and brutal occupation of Namibia by South Africa.

Not content with the illegal occupation, South

Africa has converted Namibia into a military

base, a spring-board from which it has carried

out frequent, regular, unprovoked armed attacks

against neighbouring States. South Africa has,

since 1966, defiantly resisted every move towards

a peaceful termination of its illegal occupation

of Namibia. All such proposals have been spurned

with impunity by the regime. Indeed, Africa and

the entire world community is bound to ask what

it is that South Africa wants. Four years ago the

United Nations plan for the independence of

Namibia was adopted by the Security Council in

its resolution 435 (1978). At the time that

resolution was adopted, we had hoped that South

Africa had regained its senses and was ready to

co-operate in implementing a peaceful tran¬sition

to independence for Namibia. Our hope has been

rudely dashed by South Africa's intransigence.

Instead of moving towards the implementation of

the United Nations plan for Namibian independence

the regime has resorted to an intensified war

against the liberation forces—the forces of

SWAPO—and against the neighbouring States,

particularly Angola and Mozambique. Has not the

time come for the United Nations to act

decisively? We say yes and the time is now. Over

the years in our negotiations for the liberation

of Namibia we have been patient. We have shown

flexibility. We have been reasonable. SWAPO has

made significant concessions with regard to the

unreasonable demands made by South Africa. On the

other hand, South Africa has taken advantage of

our patience and moderation and has in fact

escalated its offensive beyond the borders of

Namibia.

229. In our continued commitment to a peaceful

solution the Namibian problem, Africa has not

lost hope m the negotiating machinery despite the

duplicity shown by South Africa. During the last

eight weeks or so the African contact group has

been negotiating with the five Western States for

the implementation of the United Nations plan for

Namibia's independence according to resolution

435 (1978). Although these negotiations have been

going on for some time, pronouncements coming

from South Africa offer little proof that it is

now ready for the implementation of Namibia's

independence as laid down in the United Nations

plan. Some of those involved in the negotia¬tions

say that South Africa is now ready to comply with

the United Nations plan. This is not the first

time we have heard this. We must remain cautious

about such statements, because while the current

negotiations are under way, South Africa

continues its aggression against Angola,

Mozambique, Zimbabwe and indeed against all its

neighbors. We have every reason for serious

doubts of South Africa's sincerity in all these

negotiations, given its past history of wrecking

negotiations at the eleventh hour. As soon as

SWAPO makes one concession, South Africa brings

forward more unacceptable demands to be fulfilled

as a condi¬tion for making further progress. It

is therefore not difficult to see the cause of

our frustration and the reasons for our

impatience.

230. But we must not confuse the issue of

Namibia's dependence and the territorial

integrity of Angola. We should like to make it

clear, as we have always done before, that the

problem regarding Namibia's independence stems

solely from South Africa's refusal to get out of

Namibia, which it con¬tinues to occupy illegally.

We shall not accept pro¬paganda conceived in

super-Power context in order to justify South

Africa's presence in Namibia and its continued

aggression against Angola. We view the situation

with great concern. By now South Africa should

know that its puppets inthe so-called Demo¬cratic

Tumhalle Alliance have no political support in

Namibia and cannot win a fair election. These

puppets will be rejected by the people of Namibia

just and the puppets of Ian Smith were rejected

by the people of Zimbabwe. In fact it is this

fear, the fear of this truth, which frightens the

racist regime of South Africa.

231. The international community must face its

responsibility in Namibia squarely. We remain

extremely concerned that the United Nations

efforts have been frustrated by the use of the

veto in the Security Council. We have the rather

anomalous situation where those whose efforts for

the inde¬pendence of Namibia are being spurned by

South Africa are at the same time those who are

protecting South Africa with vetoes against the

stronger action called for by South Africa's

intransigence. Something must be done to end that

anomaly.

232. We in Africa have come a long way in our

struggle to liberate our continent from regimes

based on race and colonialism. We will not stop

in our drive at the border of Namibia. That

should serve as a clear message to South Africa

and its friends.

233. I will now draw the Assembly's attention

to one of the most dangerous areas on the

international scene today. I refer to events in

the Middle East, specifically in Lebanon. The

situation in this area has remained tense, with

violent conflicts flaring up, over the past three

decades and that long-standing conflict is still

not resolved. Despite the efforts of the

international community over the years aimed at

finding a peaceful solution, intransigence has

not given way to compromise. Instead, one

community has sought to annihilate another

community. In the past three months, we have all

witnessed a new onslaught launched by Israel in

total disregard of all the rules of international

law and morality. Israel arbitrarily and

militarily occupied the sovereign State of

Lebanon, a State Member of the United Nations.

The destruction of life that has taken place in

Lebanon leaver us all shocked and horrified,

particularly with regard to the recent massacre

of Palestinian refugees in Beirut. That

indiscriminate killing of innocent people,

including women and children, in the refugee

coups in Beirut is a gross viola on of human

rights and accepted international law and

morality. As my Presi¬dent said in his statement

on the tragedy, this callous and barbaric act

against defenseless Palestinians, coming as it

did soon after the evacuation of Palestinian

military personnel from Lebanon, shocked the

con¬science of the world and must be vigorously

con¬demned by all peace-loving nations. President

Moi has repeatedly stated that Kenya values human

life and will always condemn acts which destroy

life. I wish to reiterate here Kenya's conviction

that no lasting peace in the Middle East can be

achieved without due recognition of the

legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,

including their right to inde¬pendence and to a

sovereign homeland of their own. Once again,

Kenya calls for the immediate withdrawal of

Israeli and all other foreign troops from

Lebanese territory, in the interest of peace and

stability in the region.

234. I wish to make some observations on

another matter that continues to be of concern to

the Organi¬zation. Kenya has supported in the

past and will continue to support in the future

the proposal that the Indian Ocean be designated

a zone of peace. Hence, for us in Kenya, the

Indian Ocean as a zone of peace is not a

political slogan; rather, it is imperative for

our own security in our attempts to safeguard our

territorial integrity. In this spirit, Kenya

supports the call for an international conference

to consider all the aspects of this problem. We

urge all the maritime States to co-operate fully

in the preparations for such a conference.

235. This regular session of the Assembly is

taking place soon after the conclusion of the

second special session on disarmament. I

expressed the views of my Government on that

matter when I addressed the Assembly at the 19th

meeting of the twelfth special session. The

outcome of that special session will of course be

interpreted differently by different

Govern¬ments, but in the opinion of my

Government, the results of that session were too

meager to confer upon it the label of success.

Most regrettably, at the second special session

on disarmament held in June and July of this year

the Assembly failed to elaborate and adopt a

comprehensive program of disarm¬ament. On

reviewing the implementation of the

recommendations and decisions of the first

special session, at the second special session

concrete and practical proposals for removing the

impediments to progress in disarmament

negotiations could not even be agreed on.

236. The continuing deterioration of the

international situation and the intensification

of the arms race have brought the world to the

brink of a nuclear catastrophe. In such a

political climate, no progress can be made on

disarmament negotiations. We therefore call on

all States, in particular the nuclear Powers and

other militarily significant States, to

demonstrate the political will and firm

commitment necessary for the implemen¬tation of

the recommendations made and the decisions taken

in the field of disarmament.

237. As stated earlier, the international

political situa¬tion has not taken a turn for the

better. We are disap-pointed that despite the

Organization's call for the withdrawal of

Vietnamese troops from Kampuchea and of Soviet

troops from Afghanistan, no movement in that

direction has been taken by those concerned.

Similarly, the United Nations resolutions on

Cyprus continue to be ignored, and the

intercommunal talks which we have supported

appear to be unnecessarily protracted. We also

note with continuing disappoint¬ment and deep

regret that the conflict between Iran and Iraq

has not ended, in spite of intensive efforts from

many quarters. We hope that the two non- aligned

nations will allow good sense to prevail and will

cease the senseless hostilities that have taken

such a toll in human lives and untold economic

disruption. In the same vein, we support the

aspirations of the Korean people for the peaceful

reunification of their country. In our statement

to the General Assembly at the 27th meeting of

the thirty-fifth session, my delegation expressed

concern at the unilateral suspen¬sion of the then

ongoing South-North working level contacts by

North Korea and urged the South and the North of

Korea, the two parties directly con¬cerned, to

resume the dialogue immediately in accordance

with the letter and spirit of the joint

communique of 4 July 1972 in order to ease

tension and to improve relations. No progress

seems to have been made so far, and my delegation

would like to renew that appeal.

238. The Government of Kenya is gravely

concerned about the critical situation in which

the world economy finds itself today. The effects

of the deepening reces¬sion hurt the developing

countries the most, because it is those countries

that experience acute problems of balance of

payments, falling per capita income, rapidly

rising unemployment and high rates of inflation,

to mention only a few. Those problems are

magnified by the reluctance of the developed

countries to acknowledge the importance of

multilateral co-oper¬ation in the solution of

international economic problems. The transfer of

resources in real terms to developing countries

has been steadily declining and the growth of the

gross domestic product in the developing nations

has decelerated to a level of 0.6 per cent from

an average of 5.5 per cent achieved during the

1970s. That trend in the world economic situation

paints a very gloomy picture of the eco¬nomies of

the developing countries, which are adversely

affected by external factors.

239. Energy is undoubtedly an essential

element of the development process, but it

continues to be a very serious problem,

particularly for developing nations like my own,

Kenya, which are most adversely affected by the

energy crisis. The need to shift the dependency

of nations from petroleum to a greater reliance

on alternative sources of energy was one of the points

I stressed when I addressed the Assembly on 7

October 1980. On that occasion, I said, infer for

It is our hope that the United Nations

Con¬ference on New and Renewable Sources of

Energy, to be held at Nairobi in August 1981,

will offer the world community a rare opportunity

to find alternative solutions to our energy

problems.

240. As you will recall, that Conference was

held in Nairobi as planned, and its outcome was

the Nairobi Programme of Action for the

Development and Utiliza¬tion of New and Renewable

Sources of Energy.for As you also know, the

Assembly last year took some important decisions

on the Nairobi Conference on energy pursuant to

the provisions of Assembly resolution 35/204.

Noteworthy among the actions of the Assembly at

its thirty-sixth session were the decisions

concerning the financial and institutional

arrangements for new and renewable sources of

energy, which have to be finalized at this

session of the Assembly. The Interim Committee

established pursuant to General Assembly

resolution 36/193 met in Rome in June of this

year, but it did not succeed in its primary task

regarding the immediate launching of the

imple¬mentation of the Nairobi Programme of

Action. It is thus clear that at this session the

Assembly has to take certain fundamental

decisions as a follow-up to the Nairobi

Conference on energy. First, we have to decide on

the question of mobilization of financial

resources for harnessing new and renewable energy

resources. In this regard, the role of the United

Nations must be recognized, and bilateral

arrange¬ments for raising funds should

supplement, but not replace, multilateral

arrangements. Secondly, United Nations activities

carried out in implementation of the Nairobi

Programme of Action must be well co-ordi¬nated.

In this connection, my delegation deems it

necessary to establish a secretariat which would

also service an intergovernmental body, which the

Assembly should designate, for new and renewable

energy sources. The delegation of Kenya stands

ready to participate actively in the discussions

of this item now and in the future.

241. Turning now to the question of science

and technology for development, I should like to

stress again the significance which my Government

attaches to the strengthening of the capacity of

the developing countries in the fields of science

and technology. We have always been keenly

interested and have actively participated at high

governmental levels in international conferences

and good-will missions constituted to discuss

issues of science and technology for development,

especially of the developing coun¬tries, because

we believe that science and technology are

crucial vehicles not only for the implementation

of the Third United Nations Development Decade,

but also for the early attainment of the new

inter¬national economic order. It is regrettable

that, three years after the conclusion of the

Vienna Programme of Action on Science and

Technology for Development no substantial

agreement has been reached on the establishment

of a permanent United Nations financing system

for science and technology for development. My

Government calls urgently for the early

resolution of the unresolved issues in the Vienna

Programme of Action through intensified

negotiations within the appropriate United

Nations bodies, including the Intergovernmental

Committee for Science and Technology for

Development.

242. Of particular importance to my country as

a developing nation is the question of economic

and technical co-operation among developing

countries themselves. Kenya has repeatedly called

on developing nations to intensify their

activities at subregional, regional and

interregional levels and in all fields. It was in

this spirit that we participated in the

formula¬tion and adoption of the Caracas

Programme of Action, the implementation of which

has been enhanced by the North-South meetings

held during this year, which included the meeting

of the Group of 77 held last month in Manila to

review the imple¬mentation of the Caracas

Programme of Action. In certain regionsalso new

initiatives for interregional and subregional

co-operation have emerged. These have included

the intensive negotiations held among 18

countries of eastern and southern Africa,

including my own country, which resulted in the

signing in Lusaka, in December 1981 of a treaty

establishing a preferential trade area for that

African region.

243. With regard to industrial development, we

wel¬come the recommendations of the sixteenth

session of the Industrial Development Board and

call for their early implementation. We note with

appreciation the full recognition in the

Industrial Development Board's report on that

session of the significance of the Industrial

Development Decade for Africa. As the Assembly

knows, Kenya will play host to the Fourth General

Conference of UNIDO, in 1984, and the success of

that Conference will depend to a large extent on

the attitude nations display during the

preparatory process for it. We there¬fore hope

that this process will be intensified in order to

ensure positive results from this forthcoming

UNIDO Conference in Nairobi.

244. We are aware of the report submitted to

the Assembly on the work of the fifth session of

the Commission on Human Settlements and of the

two sessions held this year by the Governing

Council of UNEP. The important recommenda¬tions

of those sessions need to be implemented, and for

that to be done adequate financial resources are

necessary. My delegation therefore calls on the

devel¬oped donor countries, and others in a

position to do so, to make substantial

contributions towards the implementation of the

planned activities in the fields of the

environment and human settlements.

245. Kenya would like to see a substantial

increase in the trade of developing nations in

manufactures. We condemn protectionism in all its

forms, and we believe that at the sixth session

of UNCTAD, to be held in 1983, serious attempts

will be made to tackle all the critical issues

encountered by the international community in the

Held of trade and development. My delegation

therefore calls upon the Assembly to take

concrete action at this session to ensure the

success of the sixth session of UNCTAD.

246. The critical economic situation facing

Africa, which is the least developed of all the

continents, requires concerted international

action. It was in this spirit that the Lagos Plan

of Action for the Imple¬mentation of the Monrovia

Strategy for the Economic Development of Africa

was adopted. Kenya calls on the international

community to extend the technical and financial

assistance necessary for the implemen¬tation of

the Lagos Plan of Action in its entirety.

247. Africa also faces acute food problems, as

recent reports have shown. Food and agricultural

production has drastically declined in recent

years, owing, inter alia to changes in climatic

conditions, inadequate investment in the food

sector, and lack of storage facilities. The

international community must take urgent

collective measures to alleviate the critical

food shortages and attain collective

self-sufficiency in food, to increase food and

agricultural production, food storage, and food

security, as well as to increase capital from

external resources. We look forward to greater

assistance from both bilateral donors and

multilateral sources. More assistance from FAO

and the World Food Council would be greatly

appreciated, particularly by the food-deficient

coun¬tries of the developing world.

248. I wish now to turn to the issue of

special eco¬nomic and disaster-relief assistance.

My Government commends the efforts of the Office

of the United Nations Disaster Relief

Co-ordinator. We reiterate our full support for

the activities of that Office and call on all

donor countries to increase their contributions

to that important body in order to enable it to

deal more efficiently and promptly with

disasters, wherever and whenever they occur in

the disaster-stricken and disaster-prone areas of

the world, especially in Africa. The Kenyan

delegation will continue to attach special

importance to this problem and to participate

actively ininternational deliberations on it.

249. One of the historic events of this decade

has been the adoption of the Convention on the

Law of the Sea. The occasion not only marked the

emergence of a new legal regime governing the

exploration and exploitation of the seas, the

sea-bed, and the ocean floor and the subsoil

thereof; it also demonstrated clearly the

importance of equitable compromise in the

interest of all mankind. The Convention has been

the result of hard negotiations over a period, of

many years, and it is Kenya's hope that even

those coun¬tries which were not able to support

the Convention at its adoption will find it

necessary and possible to support it in future in

order to ensure uniformity in its implementation

and use. We also hope that the same spirit

displayed by nations at the adoption of the

Convention will be demonstrated by their

ratification of it.

250. In this and other forums we have

consistently condemned the activities of

mercenaries. In the recent past we have witnessed

increased use of mercenaries against the

territorial integrity and independence of many

developing countries. We cannot stress strongly

enough the need to bring this heinous crime to an

end through concerted international action. AH

those participating in mercenary activities

belong to States, and urgent measures are

required to outlaw mercena¬ries and to stop their

activities permanently. Peace- loving people

everywhere are anxiously awaiting action to

eliminate this heinous crime. We cannot afford to

disappoint our peoples.

251. I should like to conclude my remarks by

reiter¬ating Kenya's total faith in the

principles underlying the Charter of the United

Nations and our belief that in the end the

nations of this world will have to swim

together—or sink together.