Democratic Yemen, 1969

1. It is my great

pleasure to convey to the President, in the name of the

people and the Government of the People’s Republic of

Southern Yemen and of my delegation, our heartfelt

congratulations on her election to the esteemed office of

President of the twenty-fourth session of the General

Assembly. We, the Arab people, belong to two continents

simultaneously. As an Afro-Asian nation, we consider her

election to this office a tribute to the Afro-Asian people.

Her long experience in the affairs of this international

Organization will enable her to lead and guide the deliberations

of the General Assembly at its present session with

energy, devotion and justice.

2. I should also like to express our deepest sorrow at the

death of her predecessor, Mr. Emilio Arenales, the late

Foreign Minister of Guatemala. We share the sorrow of the

people of Guatemala in his untimely death.

3. Nearly two years have passed since the independence of

Southern Yemen, which is still suffering from the remains

of the colonial occupation that lasted for almost one

hundred and thirty years. Southern Yemen therefore knows

fully the bitterness of foreign domination, exploitation and

the humiliation of colonial occupation. We also believe in

the inevitability of the struggle for freedom and independence

of all peoples.

4. As a small and developing country, Southern Yemen is

fully aware of the menace to small and developing countries

in this era when imperialist and neo-colonialist forces have

intensified and expanded their greedy aspirations. We

therefore work to preserve the United Nations and respect

its Charter as a hope of avoiding a reversion to the rule of

the jungle.

5. Naturally we share with you, Madam President, the

anxiety you expressed in your opening statement [1753rd

meeting] about the role of the United Nations in world

events. The Arab people have faced a series of treacherous

aggressions since the United Nations was established. We

fully understand the perils that face humanity because of

the indifference and the obvious inability to act against

oppression, domination, aggression and expansion.

6. We hardly need refer to the first experiment in

international organizations, the League of Nations, which

came at the end of a world war, and which disintegrated

and vanished because of its failure to oppose tyranny,

facism, nazism and colonialism. The United Nations was

also born at the end of a world war, the Second World War,

and I wonder whether this Organization is repeating the

same deadly mistakes committed earlier by the League of

Nations. Wishes and hopes as well as sterile discussions were

of no avail to prevent the occurrence of the Second World

War—the war which the League of Nations was meant to prevent.

7. The creation of the League of Nations was accompanied

by a division of the territory of countries thereby creating

spheres of influence for the victorious Powers of the First

World War. The Arab land was among those that suffered

oppression and domination through such unjust divisions.

The Palestine tragedy, which can be traced to such a

division, came as a result of one of the most abominable

acts of colonialism. It is perhaps the most tragic incident in

human history; and the most grievous to be borne by an

aware conscience. It is a tragedy of a small nation that has

been overwhelmed by evil and masked allies supported by

great and expansionist Powers that deprived it of its most

fundamental human rights and of its natural right to exist.

8. The question of the people of Palestine did not fare

better in the United Nations than in its predecessor, the

League of Nations. The people of Palestine were exposed to

mass murder and violent expulsion from their homeland by

force of arms; and they were replaced by a scattered group

of nationalities from the four corners of the world that

have nothing in common except their desire for domination

and exploitation and their belief, which is unjustified, in

their superiority, based on racist and religious fanaticism.

The United Nations has not been able to enforce a just

solution of this abominable crime, because of its impotence

and because of the support and encouragement of the crime

committed by some of the great Powers.

9. It is a mockery that this obviously simple, racist and

foreign colonization, which has no parallel apart from the

minority racist régime in Southern Rhodesia, becomes

complicated in the view of some who refer to it as “a return

to the land of destiny”. This is an utter hypocrisy. Those

expelled from their property are called refugees. It is

necessary to ask where these refugees have come from.

Where were they living before they became refugees?

10. The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the

Sudan has stated [1761st meeting] eloquently and in

detail, the historical background and the development of

the Palestinian question. His explanation has undoubtedly

refuted the imaginary claims of international Zionism in

Palestine that are based on racist and religious fanaticism

whose goal is the domination and exploitation of the

economic resources of nations, through its influence on

major capitalistic and monopolistic corporations which

embody the political interests of world imperialism and

Zionism.

11. The Palestinian people have been forced to take arms

and to sacrifice their lives to regain their usurped homeland

from the Zionist colonialists. We cannot but salute their

just and honorable struggle as a national liberation movement

because one cannot deny the right of expelled people

to fight in order to return to their homeland. We support

the armed Palestinian struggle, and the call to return to a

normal life in the Holy Land and the coexistence of the

adherents of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and

Islam, as equal citizens in a free and democratic Palestine.

This is the only fair, civilized and humanitarian solution.

Any other solution would be uncivilized, barbaric and

racist; and it would not be lasting. History has taught us

that only just solutions are lasting solutions.

12. The importance we attach to the Palestine question is

a manifestation of our belief that all peoples have the right

to self-determination and the right to live freely and

peacefully in their homelands. Our belief in this will never

be shaken, even though world Zionism enjoys tremendous

influence and control over the imperialistic news media,

which persistently distort facts and prevent honest information

on Palestine because of Zionist intimidation and

bribery. The news media are attempting to conceal one of

the most horrible crimes committed against humanity

today — one that even surpasses the well-known Nazi crimes.

We shall continue firmly to support the armed struggle of

the Palestinians for the liberation of their homeland from

Zionist occupation. We also firmly believe that the Palestinian

people alone possess the right to self-determination.

13. The Middle East problem arose in June 1967 as a

result of Israeli aggression and occupation of the territories

of three Arab States which are Members of the United

Nations. We are also all familiar with the well-known

Security Council resolution of 22 November 1967

[242 (1967)], which was adopted unanimously. Israel is

still defying that resolution by continuing to keep its army

in the occupied Arab territories and by its repeated

provocative raids which are intended to escalate into a new

and devastating war.

14. By its continued occupation and provocation, Israel

defies the Charter of the United Nations and the world

community at large. Its de facto occupation is in defiance

of one of the agreed principles of international law, which

is the non-acquisition of territory by force. Israel has done

this with the open encouragement of imperialist circles.

15. The United States has not hesitated to supply destructive

arms and weapons to Israel. The most recent were the

Phantom jets. The United States obviously has never

seriously contemplated the following facts: it was Israel

that started the aggressive war in June 1967 against the

Arab States; it is Israel that still occupies the territories of

three States Members of the United Nations; it is Israel that

has not yet complied with Security Council resolution

242 (1967) of 22 November 1967; it is Israel that has

declared its intention of annexing the occupied Arab

territories, including Jerusalem, while ignoring world public

opinion; it is Israeli planes supplied by the United States

that daily bomb and raid peaceful cities and villages,

economic establishments and civil airports; it is Israeli

napalm bombs that daily burn refugee camps, and innocent

women and children who were expelled from their homes

by Israel. One wonders what the Arabs have done to make

the United States harbour this blind malice against them.

16. Statements are often heard about the establishment of

peace in the Middle East but rarely is a voice raised about

the establishment of justice in Palestine, as if peace can ever

be established on the basis of injustice.

17. We expected that President Nixon, in his speech in the

General Assembly last month [1755th meeting], would

announce that the position of the United States was that

Israel would withdraw its military forces from occupied

Arab territories in compliance with the Security Council

resolution of 22 November 1967 [242 (1967)], which the

Security Council adopted unanimously and for which his

Government also voted. However, he ignored the resolution

and suggested instead a limitation on arms shipments to the

area, after he had already ordered the shipment of Phantom

jets to Israel in a manner far from even-handed. So the

United States Government first acted to achieve Israeli

military superiority by shipping the Phantom jets and then

called for an arms limitation to maintain and ensure that

superiority over the Arabs.

18. The world conflict that we witness today, in which the

United States plays a major role, represents the attempt of

the imperialist Powers to dominate the destinies of small,

developing nations by limiting the independence of such

small countries, which they had achieved by their sacrifice

and blood. The small nations, however, which were made to

suffer under-development for a long period have awakened

to discover the plots being hatched against them. They have

gradually discovered the ways and means of helping to

guarantee and maintain their own progress and freedom.

Some of these ways and means are: the establishment of

national democratic institutions based on a wide range of

public support; the elimination of exploitative capitalist

interest, whose purpose is to keep small developing nations

subservient to imperialist domination, thereby obstructing

the development of a truly national economy; the pursuit

of scientific socialist planning as the basis for economic

development and the fair distribution of the nation’s

wealth; the rejection of foreign assistance of a conditional

nature, whose purpose is to enhance foreign influence and

the diversion of the destiny of small nations; the firm and

Open support of the progressive forces in the world; the

bolstering of national liberation movements in the world,

and the endorsement of armed resistance as the best means

of confronting the colonialist challenges.

19. The People’s Republic of Southern Yemen, which.

recently emerged from the ashes of colonialism and has

taken its place among the free and developing countries,

a bases its domestic and foreign policies on the same

principles adhered to by the developing and struggling

nations that we have mentioned above. When we achieved

our independence, the Arab nation was already suffering

from the consequences of the June 1967 war and the world

was preoccupied by this crisis which threatened world

peace and security. Britain took advantage of those

circumstances and relinquished its responsibilities to the

people. of Southern Yemen. Those responsibilities were

based upon its 129 years of occupation, during which it

exploited our resources for its own interests and without

any regard to local interests. Britain did not establish a

unified administration, nor an adequate road system linking

the entire country, nor a single factory; nor did it complete

one significant project. It based local development on an

economy of services linked to its economy and its military

base. It inflated the local budget, in the last years of its

reign, to the unrealistic level of more than £30 million,

whereas the State’s revenue does not exceed £8 million,

When Britain was preparing to withdraw, it made an effort

to empty our treasury by encouraging a large number of

foreign employees to leave the service and hence to pay

them severance and any balance due under their contracts.

Yet, in contrast, after two years, Britain has not yet paid

severance and retirement benefits to its local Yemeni

ex-employees, who gave it the prime of their youth.

20. It appears, therefore, that Britain made deliberate

plans in Southern Yemen on the eve of our independence.

It took advantage of the economic dislocation and the

Middle East crisis which affected one of our major sources

of income, the port of Aden, after the closure of the Suez

Canal following the June 1967 war, so as to cause a

financial and economic crisis and thus reduced the significance

of our independence, which our people had won after

a bitter and heroic struggle.

21. But in spite of this ugly picture and the numerous

odds and chronic difficulties experienced, our people, who

fought patiently in the struggle for independence, are still

able to continue their struggle to build the nation under the

leadership of the National Liberation Front.

22. In the field of administration, in place of numerous

scattered local emirates, created by the colonialists, we

established a unified progressive State with local administrative

bodies responsible to the centre of government for the

first time in more than a century, We extended services to

remote areas that were never served before. Within our

limited resources, and thanks to the initiative of the

National Liberation Front, we were able to open roads and

to develop education, which has been increased by over 30

per cent, in the first year of our independence, and made

equal opportunities possible for all our citizens, in urban as

well as rural areas which had been deprived for a long time.

At the same time we were able to increase the number of

medical units in the hinterland with the help of friendly

and sister countries. In the desert areas, where our people

live in desperate conditions, deprived of the most elementary

necessities, particularly water, we have begun drilling

artesian wells, hoping that this will assist them to settle

and improve their standard of living.

23. In the field of economic development we have

concentrated our efforts in two sectors, namely agriculture

and fisheries. Agriculture, in our opinion, is the basis for

the introduction of industrialization in the future.

24. At the same time, we have passed the necessary laws

to encourage local and foreign investments. Among these

was the Investment Law, which presents and described the

necessary guarantees and facilities for investors.

25. In the intensive efforts we have made in the fields of

human and economic development, in spite of the difficulties

we face, such as limited financial resources and a

shortage of experts — problems which have been neglected — we

are also continuously faced with reactionary and

imperialistic plots. The reactionary and imperialistic Powers

involved believe that a progressive socialist régime in

Southern Yemen is a threat to their interests, and they

would like to see us waste our limited resources on the

defence of our independence and territory, thereby preventing

our economic development.

26. On our eastern borders, under the tutelage of Britain,

there exists one of the worst and ugliest régimes in the

world, that of the puppet Sultan Saeed bin Taimur, the

so-called Sultan of Muscat and Oman. In this region the

people have been waging a war of liberation since 1965; the

war started in Dhofar, under the leadership of the Popular

Front for the Liberation of the Arabian Gulf. That

revolution is the object of a strict and severe world-wide

information black-out, to keep it from the eyes and ears of

world public opinion; but that revolution, like others, will

succeed in breaking through the “no-news barrier” by its

daily accomplishments in the liberation of territory. The

signs of its victory have begun to appear in the stories of

some. world journalists who have visited those liberated

territories. It is high time that this Organization showed

more interest in supporting this popular revolution in that

region against the feudalistic rule of Britain and the Sultan.

It is our concern too; and I would like to point out that

Britain’s continued presence in the Arabian Gulf, as shown

by its military bases there, is a threat to the Arab countries

in particular, and to progressive States in general. Let us not

be deceived by what the British Government says about its

intention to withdraw its forces from the Gulf, for while

they are there there is a danger that they will remain, as the

Conservative Party always threatens at every opportunity.

The British presence has been accompanied by a continual

change in the ethnic structure of the Gulf by the

encouragement of Iranian infiltration and the containment

of Arabs in the Gulf, which makes us apprehensive for the

future of the Arabian Gulf. No wonder, for it was the

British presence in Palestine, as we all well know, that led

to the Palestine problem. The British presence is represented

by their colonial domination and their military

bases, and by Iranian ambitions manifested in their baseless

claim to Bahrein, and by the opening of a front on the

Shatt-al-Arab, all of which are signs of impending trouble

about which we cannot remain silent. Because of their

greedy interest in petroleum in the area, the colonialists will

not easily agree to give the people their right of

self-determination. They will, therefore, find an excuse to remain

there in one form or another. If they are finally compelled

to withdraw, they will leave behind an explosive situation.

The world community will then awaken to find itself

confronted with another situation that endangers world

peace and security. The question of Oman and the crucial

States has for many years been on the agenda of the United

Nations and the time has now come to treat this vital

question with firmness and seriousness.

27. The question of peace in the world is one and

indivisible. Peace can only be built on justice. Justice can

never prevail so long as any form of colonialism, direct or

indirect, remains alive. Peace cannot be built while there are

destructive weapons threatening small nations, hindering

their development through the presence of imperialistic

bases spread like an octopus over the lands of small nations

everywhere.

28. It is a mockery to speak of peace in the absence of the

country that represents one quarter of the world’s population:

I refer to the People’s Republic of China. About a

quarter of a century has elapsed since the establishment of

this Organization but the seat of that great socialist Power

is still vacant. Those who are concerned with international

co-operation, peace and security for humanity will never

accept such a disgraceful and illogical situation. In the name

of peace and for the sake of peace, we would like to see the

rightful representative of the great Chinese people here

among us as soon as possible.

29. The People’s Republic of Southern Yemen strongly

supports the struggle of the Viet-Namese people for the

liberation of its homeland from American colonialism. We

also condemn the continuous American aggression against

the people of Viet-Nam and urge the United Nations to use

its influence to have the aggressive American forces

withdraw without any conditions. This, we believe, is the

only way to achieve peace in that part of the world. My

Government has recognized the provisional Government of

South Viet-Nam as the only legitimate government for the

people of South Viet-Nam. My Government believes that

this will allow the people of South Viet-Nam to decide its

own future.

30. We regret to see the name and flag of the United

Nations being used as a deceptive cover by the American

aggressors against the people of Korea. The United States,

in the name of the United Nations, is using the territory of

South Korea as a colonial and military base for destructive

intelligence operations against the people of Korea. The

People’s Republic of Southern Yemen calls for the withdrawal

of all foreign forces from Korea and the restoration

of all rights to the people of Korea to decide their own

destiny.

31. We call also for the elimination of the barbaric racist

régime which prevails openly in its ugliest barbaric forms

against the peoples of Africa in Southern Rhodesia, South

Africa, and in the so-called Portuguese colonies and in

Namibia. We stand firmly, without any reservation, with

the African majority in those territories and we call for

their liberation from white colonialism and from rule by

the white minority régimes.

32. We also declare our continued support for the struggling

peoples of Latin America in their fight against the

influence of United States imperialism.

33. We salute the friendly people of the German Democratic

Republic, with which we enjoy full diplomatic

relations, in appreciation of the honourable, courageous

and just stand they have taken with regard to the struggle

of oppressed peoples for liberation, among them the

struggling people of Palestine. We hope that the German

Democratic Republic will take its rightful place in the

United Nations.

34. At this juncture we would like to salute the revolution

of 25 May of the Arab people in the sisterly State of the

Sudan, and the revolution of 1 September and the emergence

of the Libyan Arab Republic, as two progressive

revolutions reaffirming the inevitability of progress in the

Arab world.

35. Lastly, we should like to express our hope that the

twenty-fifth anniversary of this Organization will not pass

without seeing a reduction of the wide gap between the

developed and the developing countries; and we hope to

have a celebration when the world is liberated from

imperialism and military bases. We hope that nuclear

disarmament will be accomplished, and that nuclear and

atomic energy will be used for peaceful purposes and for

the benefit of all mankind. We hope that the People’s

Republic of China will join in the celebration after it has

taken its rightful seat in this Organization. We urge that a

special session be called to review the structure and future

of this Organization, including the relocation of its

Headquarters. We hope to celebrate when mankind has been

liberated from all forms of domination and exploitation,

and we hope that man will himself pave the way to peace

and security.

36. Such a celebration would be a real celebration for the

United Nations itself.