STATEMENT AT THE 2617^TH MEETING OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

7 October 1985¹

Mr. President, I sincerely thank you and all the members of the Council for giving us the opportunity to add the voice of the AfricanNational Congress (ANC) to those that in unison in this chamber and around the world have strongly condemned the Pretoria regime for the latest unprovoked, premeditated and dastardly act of aggression against the People's Republic of Angola.

Allow us also to congratulate you, Sir, on the assumption of the presidency of the Council during this important month of October² and to pay tribute to your  predecessor, Ambassador Sir John Thompson, for his outstanding performance.

Several speakers who have preceded us have stressed that racist South Africa's latest act of aggression against Angola was launched even before the ink was dry on Security Council resolution 571 (1985) which, inter alia, reiterates the Council's demand that South Africa withdraw forthwith and unconditionally all its military forces from the territory of the People's Republic of Angola, cease all acts of aggression against that State and scrupulously respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the People's Republic of Angola.

The African National Congress fully shares the view expressed by Ambassador Krishnan³ that the Council's response to the Pretoria regime's arrogant defiance should be

“unequivocal condemnation ... and unanimous and swift action to make it comply with its Charter obligations”.⁴

Recently the Pretoria regime put the world on notice that it was brazenly determined to defy this body by rejecting in advance any decisions that emerged from its deliberations. This attitude was again underscored in the statement made here by Pretoria's spokesman last Thursday. On that occasion, the representative of the South African regime had the temerity to use this Council Chamber as a podium from which to pronounce bellicose threats against the front-line and neighbouring States. He again repeated Pretoria's claim arrogating to itself the right to intervene militarily in all African countries.

It is evident to us that the apartheid regime has been emboldened by the knowledge that, whatever else the international community might say, effective action to make Pretoria comply has been repeatedly blocked by some permanent
members of the Security Council, especially the United States of America. It is time that Pretoria's friends and allies realized that they will have to share responsibility with that regime as long as they maintain this universally condemned course of action.

There can be no double standards on questions of international law and morality. Aggression must not be seen as permissible for the Pretoria regime because it enjoys the favour of certain Governments. Appeasement has never proved a formula for deterring aggression. History and the events that led to the creation of this body teach us that.

The Pretoria regime has shamelessly proclaimed that it has consistently violated every article of the solemn undertakings it made at Nkomati in 1984; it openly declares that it finances, equips and maintains a bandit army inside Angola; indeed, it claims the right to perpetrate such criminal actions in any country in southern Africa if that state does not comply with its dictates.

Pretoria's war of aggression in the region finds its parallel in the murderous repression of our people inside South Africa. The unrepented intransigence of this regime underlines the correctness of the non-aligned countries' determination that

"there will never be peace, security and stability in southern Africa until the entire apartheid system is uprooted and replaced by a democratic system of government based on the will of all South Africans”.

We are confident that the mendacious draft resolution proposed by the representative of the Pretoria regime will be treated by this Council with the contempt it deserves. Like its diabolical actions, the words of Pretoria bespeak its arrogant contempt for the rest of humanity.

Alarmed at the international groundswell against racist minority rule and in favour of sanctions, as well as the ever-growing strength of the mass democratic movement inside our country, the regime seeks to embroil the region in war as a means of purchasing a longer lease of life. There could be no more fitting way of marking the fortieth anniversary of the defeat of fascism and the founding of the United Nations than by the Security Council's imposing against racist South Africa comprehensive mandatory sanctions under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.