Yemen, 1969

1. Madam President, the Yemen Arab Republic delegation

wishes to offer you its warmest congratulations on the confidence

expressed in you by the Member States of the United Nations in

electing you to the Presidency of the General Assembly at its

twenty-fourth session. My delegation also wishes to pay tribute

to the late President of the General Assembly at its twenty-third

session, Mr. Arenales, who presided over that session with

great tact and ability.

2. Yemen has just emerged from a great struggle to

establish and preserve its national goals: freedom, peace and

government by consent. Yemen had to pay a high price for

the realization of those aims. Not only did the Yemeni

people have to cope with local and indigenous difficulties

but they also had to face foreign interventions, which cost

the country tens of thousands of lives and shook the moral

foundations of the whole nation. In spite of these overwhelming

difficulties, the Yemeni people were able to gain

their freedom, bring peace to the land and re-establish their

age-old tradition of democracy, by electing a national

assembly which in turn appoints the Government.

3. Historically, Yemen has contributed substantially to the

cultural heritage of mankind. A few thousand years before

Christ, civilization thrived in that part of the world. The

legendary Queen of Sheba, whose real name was Belquis,

was only one of the numerous Yemeni monarchs ruling

over that period of history when Yemen led the world in

irrigation, dam construction, skyscraper building, mining

and smelting and in numerous other fields of civilization.

4. Now that peace and security have been achieved, the

Government of Yemen is faced with the task of reconstruction.

It is striving to bring about widespread and basic

changes in the structure of society. Schools for both sexes,

women’s societies and athletic and cultural clubs are being

widely constructed, subsidized and encouraged. Great

efforts are being made for the construction of roads, school

buildings and small and medium-sized factories, with the

use of locally available materials.

5. In these and in various other fields, co-operation with

friendly nations and the assistance of various United

Nations agencies have been essential and important factors.

This is a practical manifestation of international goodwill

and understanding. It is our conviction that peace and

friendship between nations could be well served by such

practical co-operation in the various fields of development.

6. It is gratifying to note that, particularly during the past

two years, the Government of the Yemen Arab Republic

has stood firmly by the principles of the Yemeni revolution,

in itself a human attempt to restore and preserve the

dignity of man in its comprehensive and complete sense. It

is an established fact that a democratic form of government

based on popular choice now exists in the Yemen Arab

Republic. Since November 1967, Yemen has been rid of all

the dictatorial diseases. Political persecution, arrest without

warrant, imprisonment without trial, torture and all the

practices of a police State are regarded by the Yemeni

people with horror and contempt.

7. The experiences the Yemeni people have endured

during the past seven years have been engraved on the mind

and in the heart of every individual citizen in the country.

These were very cruel experiences but, on the other hand,

they were extremely useful and revealing.In fact the

Yemeni people look back with awe on the past seven years

while still cherishing the historical lessons gained. They are

therefore determined to keep the memory of such experiences

alive for generations to come.

8. The Yemeni people are now more than ever convinced

that peace in this world can be established only if nations

respect each other’s sovereignty and refrain from interfering

in each other’s internal affairs. They are prepared to defend

and preserve their freedom, whether internally or internationally.

They also recognize that nations of the world have

every right to complete and true independence as well as

the right to adopt the form of government they choose. In

accordance with these principles, the Yemen Arab Republic

maintains relations with all countries of the world, regardless

of their social systems or forms of government.

9. The United Nations was established to further world

peace and security, to protect and preserve the rights and

freedom of mankind, to work for the elimination of

colonialism in its various forms, for the liberation of

peoples still ruled by colonial Powers, for the eradication of

racialism and for the settlement by negotiation of world

problems and differences.

10. Small nations place great hopes in this Organization

and though the United Nations and its various agencies have

realized great achievements, those hopes have been greatly

disappointed because this Organization has not been effective

in quelling aggression or punishing and isolating the

aggressor. That is clearly manifest in the case of the Israeli

aggression against the Palestinian and other Arab peoples.

11. When we consider the United Nations Charter, which

embodies those noble aims and principles, we cannot fail to

realize that those principles are constantly being violated by

Israel, which has shown that it has neither respect for the

Charter nor any regard for the world community. Israel was

established at the expense of the indigenous people of

Palestine. Not only did the Israelis usurp the land, houses

and property of the Palestinian people but they also

conducted an aggressive and expansionist campaign against

the neighbouring Arab countries.

12. History has shown that no matter how long colonialist

Powers occupy and exploit usurped lands, the rightful

people always regain their land and their freedom. The

Palestinians are now conducting a war of liberation against

the Israeli colonists. The struggle will be bitter and long,

but right will triumph as it has triumphed in other parts of

the world where, under popular pressure, colonialists have

had to evacuate the occupied countries.

13. Viet-Nam is another area where world peace and

security are endangered by the presence of foreign troops

which continue to be the major obstacle to a just and

honourable settlement of this problem. We support the

legitimate rights of the Viet-Namese people for self-determination

in accordance with the principles outlined in

the United Nations Charter. Therefore, we call for the

immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from Viet-Nam so

that the Viet-Namese people may practise their right of

self-determination.

14. The racial régimes of South Africa, Rhodesia, and

some colonial Powers in other parts of Africa are practising

the most detestable policy of racial discrimination against

the people of Africa. The United Nations has condemned

racial discrimination, but has been unable to persuade those

racial régimes to abandon their inhuman practices.

15. It is also sadly disappointing that this Organization has

failed to restore the lawful rights of the People’s Republic

of China with regard to membership in the United Nations.

It is doubly disappointing to see it continue to ignore the

rights of a great people and a great country with more than

one sixth of the world population. The persistence of this

odd and irrational situation is in itself an infringement of

the principles and provisions of the United Nations Charter.

It is an ideal manifestation of self-contradiction. The time

has come for all nations of the world to free this

Organization from this self-contradictory situation by

inviting the People’s Republic of China to participate in the

activities of the United Nations.