Nations cause.
PAIGC believed that the time had come to take stock of the situation and make radical changes in it, since it benefited only the enemies of the United Nations and, more specifically, Portuguese colonialism.
We Africans, having rejected the idea of begging for freedom, which was contrary to our dignity and our sacred right to freedom and independence, reaffirmed our steadfast decision to end colonial domination of our country, no matter what the sacrifices involved, and to conquer for ourselves the opportunity to achieve in peace our own progress and happiness.
With that aim in view and on the basis of that irrevocable decision, PAIGC had defined three possible ways in which the conflict between the Government of Portugal and the African people might evolve and be resolved. Those three possibilities were the following: (a) a radical change in the position of the Portuguese Government; (b) immediate specific action by the United Nations; and (c) a struggle waged exclusively by the people with their own means.
As proof of its confidence in the Organization, and in view of the influence which some of the latter’s Members could certainly exert on the Portuguese Government, PAIGC had taken into consideration only the first two possibilities and in that connection had submitted the following specific proposals:
(a) With regard to the first possibility:
The immediate establishment of contact between the Portuguese delegation and the PAIGC delegation;
Consultations with the Portuguese Government to set an early date for the beginning of negotiations between that Government’s representatives and the lawful representatives of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands;
Pending negotiations, suspension of repressive acts by the Portuguese colonial forces and of all action by the nationalists.
(b) With regard to the second possibility:
Acceptance of the principle that United Nations assistance would not be really effective unless it was simultaneously moral, political and material;
Immediate establishment within the United Nations of a special committee for the self-determination and national independence of the Territories under Portuguese administration;
Immediate commencement of that committee’s work before the close of the General Assembly session.
PAIGC also stated that it was ready to co-operate fully with that committee and proposed that the latter should be entrusted with the task of giving concrete assistance to our people so that we could free ourselves speedily from the colonial yoke. Since those proposals were not favorably received by the Portuguese Government or the United Nations, the patriotic forces of our country launched a general struggle against the colonialist forces in January 1963 in order to respond, by an armed struggle for liberation, to the colonial genocidal war unleased against the people by the Government of Portugal.
Almost 10 years later, PAGIC is again appearing before the Fourth Committee. The situation is completely different, however, both within the country and at the international level. The Fourth Committee and the United Nations are now better informed than ever before about the situation. In addition to the current information (reports, information bulletins, war communiques and other documents which PAIGC has sent to the United Nations), PAIGC has, in those 10 years appeared before the Decolonization Committee to describe the progress of the struggle and prospects for its future evolution. Dozens of film-makers, journalists, politicians, scientists, writers, artists, photographers, and so on of various nationalities have visited the country on their own initiative and at the invitaton of PAIGC and have provided unanimous and irrefutable testimony regarding the situation. Others—very few in number—have done the same on the colonialist side at the invitation of the Portuguese authorities and, with few exceptions, their testimony has not completely satisfied those authorities. For example, there was the case of the team from the French radio and television organization which visited all the “overseas provinces,” and whose film was rejected by the Lisbon Government because of the part relating to Guine and Cape Verde. That film was shown to the Security Council in Addis Ababa. Another case was that of the group of representatives of the people of the United States, headed by Representative Charles Diggs, whose report on their visit to the country merits careful study by the Committee and anyone else wishing to obtain reliable information on the situation. However, the United Nations has at its disposal information which is, in our view, even more valuable, namely the report of the Special Mission which, at the invitation of PAIGC and duly authorized by the General Assembly, visited the liberated regions of the country in April 1972. I am not, therefore, appearing before the Committee to remedy a lack of information.
Furthermore, the United Nations and world opinion are sufficiently well informed about the crimes against African people committeed daily by the Portuguese colonialists. A number of victims of Portuguese police and military repression have testified before United Nations bodies, particularly the Commission on Human Rights. At the twenty-sixth session, two of my countrymen, one with third-degree napalm burns and the other with mutilated ears and obvious signs of torture appeared before the Committee. Those who have visited my country, including members of the United Nations Special Mission, have been able to see the horrifying consequences of the criminal acts of the Portuguese colonialists against the people and the material goods which are the fruits of their labour. Unfortunately the United Nations, like the African people, is well aware that condemnations and resolutions, no matter how great their moral and political value, will not compel the Portuguese Government to put and end to its crime of lese-humanite*. Consequently, I am not appearing before the Committee in order to obtain more violent condemnations and resolutions against the Portuguese colonialists.
Nor am I urging that an appeal should be made to the allies of the Government of Portugal to cease giving it political suport and material, military, economic and financial assistance, which are factors of primary importance in the continuation of the Portuguese colonial war against Africa, since that has already been done on many past occasions with no positive results. It should be noted, not without regret, that I was right in stating almost 10 years previously that in view of the facts concerning the Portuguese economy and the interests of the States allied to the Government of Portugal, recommending or even demanding a diplomatic, economic and military boycott would not be an effective means of helping the African people. Experience has shown, on the contrary, that in acting or being forced to act as real enemies of the liberation and progress of the African peoples, the allies of the Portuguese Government and in particular some of the main NATO** Powers have not only increased their assistance to the Portuguese colonialists but have systematically avoided or even boycotted any co-operation with the United Nations majority which is seeking to determine legally the political and other steps which might induce the Government of Portugal to comply with the principles of the Organization and the resolutions of the General Assembly. It was not 10 years before but in recent years that the Government of Portugal has received from its allies the largest quantities of war material, jet aircraft, helicopters, gunboats, launches, and so on. It was in 1972, not 1962, that the Government of Portugal received some $500 million in financial assistance from one of its principal allies. If States which call themselves champions of freedom and democracy and defenders of the “free world” and the cause of self-determination and independence of peoples thus persist in supporting and giving practical assistance to the most retrograde colonialism on earth, they must have very good reasons, at least in their own view. Perhaps an effort should be made to understand them, even if their reasons are unavowed or unavowable. It is no doubt necessary to take a realistic approach and to stop dreaming and asking the impossible, for as we Africans say, “only in stories is it possible to cross the river on the shoulders of the crocodile’s friend.”
I am appearing once more before the United Nations to try, as in the past, to obtain from the Organization practical and effective assistance for my struggling people. However, as I have already said and as everyone knows, the current situation is in
