The Gambia, 1982

I should like on behalf of the Government of the Gambia and my entire

delegation to express warm congratulations to Mr. Hollai on his

accession to the high office of President of the General Assembly at

this session. His broad diplomatic experience and his distinguished

professional record admirably equip him to preside over the affairs

of the Assembly, and my delegation has every confidence in his

ability to guide the deliberations of the thirty-seventh session to a

successful and effective conclusion. May I take this opportunity to

pay a tribute to his distinguished predecessor, Mr. Kittani of the

fraternal Republic of Iraq, who with untiring dedication and

commitment discharged the responsibilities conferred upon him at the

thirty-sixth session. I wish also to congratulate the fifth

Secretary-General, Mr. Perez da Cuellar, on his elevation to his

important position and to welcome him to the first regular session of

the General Assembly that he has attended in his new capacity. In the

successive crises that have beset the world community in recent

months the Secretary- General has been indefatigable in his efforts

to promote the cause of peace, to which the United Nations is

dedicated. This formal dedication notwithstanding, and in spite of

the sacred principles to which all signatories to the Charter of the

United Nations have pledged their solemn commitment, the evolution of

the international political situation in the past year suggests that

the cause of peace has not been uppermost in our collective mind.

Instead, tensions have smouldered and proliferated, and on too many

occasions erupted into armed conflict. The thirty-seventh session of

the General Assembly is therefore commencing its important work at a

time of acute and widespread crisis ominously reminiscent of that

dark era which preceded the global cataclysm of 1939 to 1945, from

whose ashes the Organization emerged. The state of crisis confronting

the international community is epitomized by the grave situation

which has continued to prevail in southern Africa in stubborn

defiance of international public opinion. Through the policy of

apartheid, which has been rightly condemned as a crime against

humanity, South Africa has succeeded in institutionalizing racial

discrimination on a scale unique in history. Under that odious system

some 20 million non-whites are routinely and systematically denied

even the most fundamental of human freedoms. In recent years the

South African authorities have attempted to convince the

international community that, in spite of the overwhelming evidence

to the contrary, they are both willing and able to introduce gradual

though meaningful reform. However, as has been demonstrated by the

fanfare of publicity surrounding the establishment of a Presidential

Advisory Council, on which the black population is not even

represented, change is not in the nature of the beast. The absence of

any constitutional provision for peaceful change has compelled the

oppressed black population to resort to armed struggle. At this point

I wish to reaffirm my Government's unwavering solidarity with the

African population of that tortured land in its legitimate struggle

to gain those rights we consider to be inalienable. In this

connection my delegation wishes to pay a particular tribute to and to

express its unequivocal support for the African National Congress and

the Pan Africanist Congress in their just and heroic struggle for

freedom, justice and human dignity. The international community and

the United Nations in particular face another grave challenge in

Namibia, the Territory originally entrusted to South Africa under a

League of Nations Mandate in 1919. Disregarding the formal revocation

of this Mandate in 1966, the Pretoria regime has by unilateral

decision extended its jurisdiction and administration over the

Territory, whose vast mineral resources it continues, with the

collaboration of foreign economic interests, to exploit for its own

use. At the same time it has transformed Namibia into a forward base

for repeated acts of aggression against independent African States in

the region.

In spite of the clear consensus within the international community,

the competent organ of the United Nations, the Security Council, has

been unable to apply the appropriate measures spelled out in Chapter

VII of the Charter. Predictably, such indulgence, far from

encouraging South Africa to comply with international norms, has

instead prompted further breaches of international peace and

security. As a result, the independent nations of the region, from

neighbouring Angola to the far flung Seychelles islands, have become

permanent targets of the racist regime and are subjected daily to

subversion, infiltration and open invasion by South Africa. In March

1978 the Namibian people, in a commendable demonstration of

statesmanship and compromise, endorsed through their sole and

authentic representative, SWAPO, the settlement plan formulated by

the Western contact group. The plan was subsequently accepted by

South Africa and adopted by the Security Council under its resolution

435 (1978). Since that time, however, no progress has been made

towards the independence of Namibia. Instead, South Africa has

invented one pretext after another to delay its withdrawal from this

illegally occupied Territory. The latest of these manoeuvres is the

current attempt to link the independence of Namibia to certain

extraneous factors. South Africa's continued intransigence is a

direct affront to the authority of the United Nations and further

undermines the credibility of the Organization. Any modification of

the existing framework of negotiation would gravely compromise the

authority of the Security Council. In this regard the position of the

Government of the Gambia remains that resolution 435 (1978)

constitutes the sole and immutable basis for the independence of

Namibia. The situation in southern Africa is matched only by the

grave situation in the Middle East, which has now escalated to

critical proportions with dire implications for international peace

and security. Here, too, the United Nations faces an important and

historic challenge. Although the will of the international community

has been clearly articulated in the successive resolutions of the

Assembly, recognizing and reaffirming the inalienable rights of the

sons and daughters of Palestine to self-determination and independent

statehood, no progress has been made towards the achievement of these

basic freedoms. In the occupied territories, the Palestinian

population remains subjected to a campaign of systematic repression,

under which the most peaceful protests are met with brute force. This

campaign, which has spared neither school-children nor the elderly,

attained epidemic proportions in March of this year. In June of this

year the international community witnessed with indignation and

revulsion the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the latest episode in the

seemingly endless saga of Israeli aggression. My Government

reiterates its condemnation of this criminal invasion, which not only

violates the most fundamental principles of the Charter and

international law, but will remain for years a blot on the conscience

of the civilized world. Ignoring the successive resolutions of the

Security Council and the General Assembly calling for Israel's

withdrawal to the internationally recognized borders of Lebanon, the

invading army continued its relentless advance through Lebanon. The

bloody Israeli advance culminated in the ten-week siege of the

capital, Beirut, during which the civilian population was subjected

to a veritable holocaust. I wish at this juncture to express the

total solidarity of the Government and people of the Gambia with the

courageous struggle of the Palestinian people, under the heroic

leadership of its sole and authentic representative, the PLO. Still

reeling from the surrealistic horror of this murderous siege, the

world community has reacted with outrage and disbelief to the recent

Sabra and Shatila massacres, in which more than 1,500 Palestinian

civilians, mainly women and children, were murdered in cold blood.

The Gambia strongly and unequivocally condemns these genocidal

atrocities and urges a full investigation into the organization and

execution of this crime against humanity, in accordance with General

Assembly resolution ES-7/8, adopted at the seventh emergency special

session, devoted to the question of Palestine. Despite the global

consensus on the futility of armed force to resolve disputes, the

shadow of war continues to darken the horizon on every continent. The

second special session of the General Assembly devoted to

disarmament, in which legitimately high hopes were placed, proved a

major disappointment. Although successive government leaders and

plenipotentiaries expressed unanimous awareness of and concern for

the grave dangers which the accelerating arms race and the

ever-increasing threat of a nuclear apocalypse pose for the future of

mankind, the Assembly was unable, after five weeks of deliberation,

to agree upon a comprehensive programme of disarmament. The

ramifications of this diplomatic failure extend far beyond the

confines of this hallowed building. They are symptomatic of a more

global malaise. This phenomenon is characterized most notably by the

absence of the necessary political will to renounce the use of force

in international disputes in favour of peaceful negotiation. Indeed,

with disturbing frequency the established framework and procedure for

the peaceful settlement of disputes have been bypassed, while nations

have resorted to brute force to achieve political objectives. The

dispute over the Falkland Islands, which culminated in a full-scale

war with catastrophic consequences for both parties to the conflict,

is a classic example of this syndrome. Pursuant to the provisions of

the Charter on self-determination and the non-use of force in the

settlement of disputes, the position of the Gambia regarding this

dispute is that the status of the Falkland Islands should be

peacefully determined on the basis of the freely expressed wishes of

the inhabitants of the territory. In the Persian Gulf, meanwhile, the

fratricidal conflict between two Islamic States has raged for too

long, inflicting considerable loss of lives and immeasurable damage

to property, not to mention the staggering financial costs of the war

itself, now estimated to have exceeded $30 billion. As a member of

the Mediation Committee established by the Organization of the

Islamic Conference, my Government has since 1980 participated

actively in a number of initiatives aimed at achieving a settlement

of this most regrettable dispute. Unfortunately, these assiduous

efforts have not yet borne fruit. The Security Council has meanwhile

issued repeated calls for a cessation of hostilities, in favour of

negotiations. It is the earnest hope of my delegation that the

conflicting parties may respond positively to the most recent of

these appeals, launched only last week under resolution 522 (1982).

In the same region, the illegal occupation of Afghanistan by some

100,000 foreign troops has persisted, in violation of the cardinal

principles of self- determination and non-intervention, and in

defiance of the clear will of the international community in general

and the Moslem world in particular. Loyal to their tradition of

militant resistance to foreign domination, which stretches back in

history to the era of the Persian Empire, the Afghan people have

engaged in the heroic defence of their homeland from the new invader.

The hostilities have, however, precipitated the mass exodus of some 2

million Afghans who have sought refuge in neighbouring Pakistan,

placing an intolerable strain upon the economy of that country. The

Gambia has been following and wishes to commend the efforts of the

Secretary-General's Personal Representative for Afghanistan, Mr.

Diego Cordovez, aimed at a political settlement of the situation in

Afghanistan. In this connection, my Government cautiously welcomes

the "package of understandings" which is reported to have emerged

from his most recent consultations with the interested parties. In

South-East Asia, the protracted occupation of Kampuchea by 200,000

foreign troops continues to deprive the Khmer people of its

inalienable right to self-determination. The presence and operations

of this army of occupation have forced an estimated 250,000 Khmers to

die into neighbouring Thailand. In addition, the ongoing hostilities

between nationalist forces and the army of occupation have repeatedly

spilled across the Thai-Kampuchea frontier. In view of the

considerable tension which this has created on the border, the

continued incursions into Thailand by foreign troops stationed in

Kampuchea clearly pose a grave threat to regional peace and security.

My Government wishes meanwhile to register its support for the

establishment on 22 June 1982 of the Coalition Government of

Democratic Kampuchea, under the presidency of Prince Norodom

Sihanouk. It is our considered view that this crystallization of the

various Khmer nationalist tendencies will make an important

contribution towards the re-establishment of Kampuchea's

independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is the

sinister course along which the international political situation has

evolved over the past year. During this period of acute and

protracted crisis which has shaken the community of nations to its

foundations, the Gambia has striven consistently to promote peace,

understanding and cooperation between States, both at the regional

and international levels. Soon after the Gambia became independent in

1965, in recognition of the geo-ethnic and cultural ties that bind

our two countries and peoples, the Gambia and Senegal signed a Treaty

of Association within whose framework a Senegal-Gambian Secretariat

was established to promote economic and socio-cultural co-operation

between the two countries. The agreement establishing the Senegambia

Confederation, signed by the Presidents of the two countries on 17

December 1981, evolved from the close and mutually beneficial

co-operation which has always characterized relations between the

Gambia and Senegal, since the Gambia attained nationhood. The

instruments by which the respective Parliaments of the two sister

States have ratified this Agreement have already been deposited with

the Secretary- General of the United Nations, and some of the

protocols for the implementation of the Agreement have been signed

and ratified. It is our fervent hope that this significant step in

the bilateral co-operation between the Gambia and Senegal will serve

as a shining example for other African nations to emulate in our

drive towards a united Africa. In the face of the unjust conditions

in which the present international economic system operates, the

adoption of the International Development Strategy for the Third

United Nations Development Decade did not only usher in a new era of

hope for developing countries; it represents, in my delegation's

view, an important milestone in the relations between developed and

developing countries as it incorporates, in terms of structural and

institutional changes, the concept of interdependence between North

and South. However, the alarming rate at which the world economy

continues to deteriorate, the widening wealth-gap between developed

and developing countries and the little progress that has so far been

achieved in the establishment of the new international economic

order, constitute ample testimony to the fact that our partners in

the North have still to summon the political will fundamental to the

implementation and success of the Strategy. With regard to trade and

development, notwithstanding the progress achieved in this area

within the framework of UNCTAD, including the Agreement Establishing

the Common Fund for Commodities which is still not fully operational,

and the adoption of rules to regulate restrictive business practices,

developing countries continue to contend with the serious effects of

spiralling world-wide inflation, inequitable terms of trade and

phenomenal recession, as well as escalating protectionist measures in

industrialized countries directed mainly against the finished

products exported by developing countries. We have, therefore, been

persistent in our call for the adoption by developed countries of

more liberal trade policies and the dismantling of artificial trade

barriers, so as to allow goods exported by developing countries

greater access to the markets of developed countries. The sixth

session of UNCTAD once again provides the international community

with another opportunity for effective action permanently to stem

these imbalances and we fervently hope that no effort will be spared

towards the attainment of this objective. The urgent need to

restructure the international monetary system so as to increase its

responsiveness to the needs and development problems of developing

countries not only poses a formidable challenge to the North-South

dialogue but also constitutes one of the main stumbling-blocks to the

launching of the global negotiations. The prevailing international

monetary system established at Bretton Woods after the Second World

War and prior to the "wind of change" catered exclusively to the

interests of the industrialized countries without taking due

cognizance of the needs of developing countries, the majority of

which had not yet become independent. It is no wonder, therefore,

that the developing countries continue to demand, albeit

unsuccessfully, that the international monetary institutions be

democratized and redesigned with a view to promoting the economic and

social progress of developing countries in the interests of both

North and South. Indeed, in a number of positive ways, the

International Meeting on Co-operation and Development, held at Cancun

in 1981 could not have been more timely. The developing countries,

and the Independent Commission on International Development Issues,

under the chairmanship of Willy Brandt, which proposed it, had hoped

that agreement would be reached at the Cancun meeting on the

launching of the global round, thereby breaking the North-South

stalemate and demonstrating the international community's commitment

to the resolution of the multifarious problems impeding the economic

development of developing countries. Regrettably, the disappointing

conclusions of the Cancun meeting dealt another shattering blow to

the aspirations of developing countries, as some developed countries

represented at the meeting were simply unprepared to endorse the

proposals which constitute the central theme of the global

negotiationsóthe restructuring of the international monetary system,

raw materials, and United Nations targets for official development

assistance. It is now an established fact that industrialization is a

sine qua non for the accelerated development of developing countries.

Regrettably, however, the attainment of the objective of 25 per cent

of world industrial output by the turn of the century set for

developing countries in the Lima Declaration and Plan of Action on

Industrial Development and Co-operation is far from being realized,

since the share of the developing countries in world industrial

production is only 12 per cent. It is equally disappointing that only

$15 million has so far been pledged to the United Nations Industrial

Development Fund as compared to the desired level of $50 million. The

low level of contribution to the Fund makes it virtually impossible

for UNIDO to expand its programmes and activities to a level that

would enhance the industrialization efforts of developing countries.

The Industrial Development Board, at its sixteenth session again

underlined the slow rate of industrial growth in the third world,

especially in Africa, and recommended among other things the

strengthening of UNIDO's activities, in particular in areas relating

to the transfer of industrial technologies, and in the exchange of

experience gained in the establishment of industrial infrastructures,

to energy-related industrial technology and industrial development,

and to management training. In this connection, the proposal by UNIDO

to establish an international bank for industrial development is

certainly a welcome initiative. Provided that, following its establishment,

the bank is accorded the needed support in terms of capital and

resource availability on an assured basis, it should contribute

significantly to promoting industrial growth in the third world.

Largely because of the lack of enthusiasm and political will on the

part of developed countries, developments in the field of science and

technology have been equally disappointing in terms of the slow

implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action on Science and

Technology for Development. Contributions to the United Nations

Interim Fund for Science and Technology for Development amounted to

only $50 million instead of the target of $250 million envisaged in

the Programme of Action adopted at Vienna. One cannot overemphasize

the importance of the operational plan for the implementation of the

Vienna Programme and of the comprehensive recommendations contained

in the report of the Intergovernmental Group on the United Nations

Financing System for Science and Technology for Development. The

Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development

should therefore exert every effort to finalize negotiations on these

recommendations and on the International Code of Conduct on the

Transfer of Technology. The energy problem continues to constitute a

major factor in the present world economic crisis. The phenomenal

increase in oil prices over the past eight years makes it urgently

necessary to adopt a comprehensive world energy policy and to promote

the expansion and diversification of conventional and

non-conventional energy sources. It was with this in view and with

the intention of seeking measures to deal with the persistent oil

crisis and the attendant serious problems it poses to international

economic development that the United Nations Conference on New and

Renewable Sources of Energy was convened at Nairobi in August 1981.

The Conference adopted the Nairobi Programme of Action for the

Development and Utilization of New and Renewable Sources of Energy

designed to ensure a sustained supply of energy from both

conventional and non-conventional sources, including small-scale

rural projects, the development of indigenous energy sources and

research into new and renewable energy technologies. The World Bank

has already estimated that on an annual basis oil-importing

developing countries would need a minimum of $50 billion to develop

their domestic energy resources. In this connection, the Government

of the Gambia welcomes the proposed World Bank energy affiliate to

finance energy development in developing countries and trusts that

the proposal will materialize in the very near future. We attach

equal importance to the work of the intergovernmental Committee on

the Development and Utilization of New and Renewable Sources of

Energy, established to mobilize the volume of resources needed for

the implementation of the Nairobi Programme of Action and look

forward to the successful accomplishment of its important task. The

problem of hunger and malnutrition today constitutes the most serious

and fundamental problem that developing countries are confronted

with. The food situation in the majority of developing countries has

become absolutely intolerable, particularly in Africa, where, because

of severe and prolonged drought conditions in the Sahel, the

situation has reached alarming proportions. This situation has been

further exacerbated by the international community's failure to reach

either the minimum target of 10 million tons of grain per year

established under the Food Aid Convention of 1980 or the minimum

target of 500,000 tons of grain to stock the International Emergency

Food Reserve. The need for a substantial increase in contributions to

the World Food Programme has never been more urgent, and the

international community should, as a matter of urgency, exert every

effort, not only towards meeting the targets envisaged in the Food

Aid Convention and for the International Emergency Food Reserve, but

also towards implementing the FAO Five-Point Plan of Action on World

Food Security." Equally important is the replenishment of the

resources of the International Fund for Agricultural Development to

enable the Fund to maintain and even expand its efforts to promote

increased food production and strengthen the agricultural

infrastructure of developing countries. The decision of the

International Monetary Fund to establish a food window to assist

low-income countries in correcting the imbalance of their balance of

payments resulting from cereal imports is certainly a step in the

right direction. Notwithstanding that, concerted efforts should also

be made towards recycling the substantial food surpluses in the

developed countries. The declining level of concessional resources

available for multilateral operational activities is a source of

serious concern to the Gambian Government. In the case of UNDP, for

example, the financial commitments made so far have fallen far short

of the minimum average annual growth of 14 per cent in voluntary

contributions envisaged for the third programming cycle, 1982 to

1986. The Administrator of UNDP revealed a few days ago in a

statement at the 4th meeting of the Second Committee that for the

first year of the cycle, the Programme will not even have sufficient

resources to enable it to deliver up to 60 per cent of the indicative

planning figures envisaged in decision 80/30 of the UNDP Governing

Council. Indeed, the entire United Nations development system is

lumbered with the same bleak prospects of resource availability and,

unless there is a dramatic about tum, the devastating effects of the

waning resource prospects on the operational activities of the United

Nations development system will hardly bear contemplation. It is

particularly disturbing that following the adoption of the

Substantial New Programme of Action for the 1980s for the Least

Developed Countries in Paris last year, the good will and enthusiasm

so amply demonstrated in Paris is yet to be matched by firm

commitments in terms of resources for the early implementation of the

Substantial New Programme of Action. Today, we are living in a world

in which some of the most basic needs for survival are virtually

non-existent for the majority of mankind as chronic poverty and

squalor become increasingly prevalent. For those of us from the least

developed countries, which constitute the world's poorest sector, the

situation has become absolutely unbearable. It is hardly necessary to

remind the international community that the problems of poverty

constitute the greatest threat to international peace and security.

Let us, therefore, through unity of action, guarantee our collective

survival by giving practical expression to our solemn pledge to the

Organization to mould a more assured and acceptable future for

mankind. In our pursuit of this crucial objective, I pledge the total

support and co- operation of the Government and people of the Gambia.