are making increased use of napalm and are actively preparing to use toxic substances, herbicides and defoliants, of which they have large supplies in Bissau, against the freedom-fighters.
The Portuguese Government’s desperation is all the more understandable because of the fact that the peoples of Angola and Mozambique are succeeding in their struggle and that the people of Portugal are becoming more strongly opposed to the colonial wars every day. In spite of appearances, Portugal’s economic, political and social position is steadily deteriorating and the population declining, mainly because of the colonial wars. I wish to reaffirm my people’s solidarity not only with the fraternal African peoples of Angola and Mozambique but also with the people of Portugal, whom my own people have never equated with Portuguese colonialism. My people are more convinced than ever that the struggle being waged in Guine and Cape Verde and the complete liberation of that Territory will be in the best interests of the people of Portugal, with whom we wish to establish and develop the best possible relations on the basis of co-operation, solidarity and friendship in order to promote genuine progress in my country once it wins its independence.
Although the Portuguese Government has persisted in its absurd, inhuman policy of colonial war for almost 10 years, the United Nations has made a significant moral and political contribution to the progress of my people’s liberation struggle. The resolutions proclaiming that it is legitimate to carry on that struggle by any means necessary, the appeal to Member States to extend all possible assistance to the African liberation movements, the recommendations to the specialized agencies to co-operate with those movements through OAU* the granting of hearings to their representatives at the Security Council meetings in Addis Ababa, the granting of observer status to certain liberation movements and, in my own case, the Special Mission’s visit to my country and the recognition of my party by the Committee on Decolonization as the only legitimate, authentic representative of the people of Guine and Cape Verde represented important assistance to those struggling peoples. We are grateful for the aid received, from the Committee on Decolonization and its dynamic Chairman, the Fourth Committee and, through it, the General Assembly and all Member States which are sympathetic to our cause.
Nevertheless, I do not feel that there is nothing more the United Nations can do to aid my people’s struggle. I am convinced that the Organization can and must do more to hasten the end of the colonial war in my country and the complete liberation of my people. I have for that reason submitted specific proposals to the Security Council in Addis Ababa. Because of my confidence in the United Nations and in its ability to take action in the specific case of Guine and Cape Verde, I am now submitting new proposals aimed at the establishment of closer, more effective co-operation between the Organization and the national party, which is the legitimate representative of the people of Guine and Cape Verde. Before doing so, I would draw attention to some important events that have taken place in my country in recent months.
I will not speak about the successes achieved by the freedom-fighters during the past year, although they have been significant ones. I will begin by referring to the United Nations Special Mission’s visit to my country, which was made in April despite the terrorist aggression launched by the Portuguese colonialists against the liberated south in an effort to prevent the visit from taking place. An historic and unique landmark for the United Nations and the liberation movements, the visit was unquestionably a great victory for my people but it was also one for the international organization and for mankind. It provided a new stimulus to the courage and determination of my people and its fighters, who were willing to make sacrifices in order to make it possible. While it is true that the findings of the Special Mission merely added more evidence of the same kind as had been given by many unimpeachably reliable visitors, various professional persons and nationalists, they nevertheless have special value and significance, since they are findings of the United Nations itself, made by an official mission duly authorized by the General Assembly and consisting of respected representatives of three Member States. I emphasize the great importance of the Special Mission’s success, express my gratitude to the General Assembly for authorizing it and to Ecuador, Sweden and Tunisia for allowing their distinguished representatives, Mr. Horacio Sevilla Borja, Mr. Folke Lofgren and Mr. Kamel Belkhira, to participate in it and again congratulate all the participants and Secretariat staff members on having performed with exemplary courage, determination and conscientiousness the duties of a historic and profoundly humanitarian assignment in the service of the United Nations and of the people of Guine and Cape Verde, and hence in the service of mankind.
Any action, regardless of its motives, is sterile unless it produces practical and concrete results. PAIGC’s motive in inviting the United Nations to send a Special Mission to its country was not to prove the sovereignty of the people of Guine over vast areas of the country, a fact which was already clear to everyone; instead, it deliberately tried to give the United Nations another specific basis for taking effective measures against Portuguese colonialism. That basis has been established by the success of the Special Mission; it seems just and essential to take full advantage of it, since PAIGC, like the Special Mission, is convinced that the political situation of the people of Guine, including their legal situation, cannot remain as it has been in the past. PAIGC is also convinced that the United Nations will be able to implement the recommendations of the Special Mission and declares its readiness to extend whatever cooperation is needed to that end.
Like any important event, the Mission’s success involved some amusing sidelights, such as the desperate and preposterous response expressed both orally and in writing by the Lisbon Government. In that connection I quote a proverb current among the people of Guine, “A person who spits at the sun succeeds only in dirtying his own face.”
Another important event is the establishment of the first National Assembly of the people of Guine. Universal general elections have just been held by secret ballot in all the liberated areas for the purpose of forming regional councils and choosing the 120 representatives to the first National Assembly, 80 elected by the masses of the people and 40 chosen from among the members of the Party. The people of Guine and PAIGC are firmly resolved to take full advantage of the establishment of our new organs of sovereignty. The National Assembly will proclaim the existence of the State of Guine and give it an executive authority that will function within the country. In that connection, PAIGC is sure of the fraternal and active support of the independent African States and feels encouraged by the certainty that not only Africa but also the United Nations and all genuinely anti-colonialist States will fully appreciate the political and legal development of the situation in that African nation. In point of fact, at the present stage of the struggle the Government of Portugal neither can nor should represent the people of Guine either in the United Nations or in any other international organization or agency, just as it can never represent it in the OAU.
For that reason, PAIGC is not raising the question of calling for the expulsion of Portugal from the United Nations or from any other international organization. The real question is whether or not the people of Guine, who hold sovereignty over most of their national territory, and who have just formed their first National Assembly which is going to proclaim the existence of its State, headed by an executive authority, have the right to become a member of the international community within the framework of its organizations, even though part of its country is occupied by foreign military forces. The real question before the people of Guine, which has to be answered categorically, is whether the United Nations and all the anti-colonialist forces are prepared to strengthen their support and their moral, political and material assistance to that African nation as their specific capabilities permit.
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