GA/AP/869, 22 June 1978
The following message to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) African Liberation Committee, meeting in Dar es Salaam tomorrow (23 June), has been sent by Leslie O. Harriman, Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, who is now in Brussels for consultations with the Government of Belgium:
On behalf of the Special Committee, I have the honour to extend congratulations to the Liberation Committee for its great contribution during the past 15 years in discharging the African commitment for the emancipation of the continent. The struggle for liberation in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe is the final and crucial stage in that historic task and deserves full solidarity by Africa and the world.
The Special Committee is encouraged by the great advances of the national liberation movement in South Africa and in Namibia and Zimbabwe.
In its desperation, the Pretoria regime has resorted to further repression and instituted numerous trials of actual and potential freedom fighters. It has cruelly detained even children for long periods, as reported last week by the International Commission of Jurists.
The massacre of Namibian refugees in Angola by the apartheid regime and the killings by its vassal Smith regime of unarmed Africans at peaceful meetings are ghastlier than the Sharpeville massacre.
As recognized by the OAU Council of Ministers in the Dar es Salaam Declaration of 1975, the Pretoria regime is the main enemy of Africa and of freedom. Its efforts to obtain nuclear weapon capability with the assistance of foreign powers pose a grave menace to Africa and mankind.
In this context, the Special Committee is most disturbed by moves to divide and divert Africa from its central task. The colonialists have not hesitated to employ mercenary murderers to humiliate Africa and arrest the advance of liberation movements.
Africa must unite to complete the task of emancipation by lending total support to liberation movements and firmly defending the front-line States against the apartheid regime.
The Special Committee pledges to redouble its efforts to promote international solidarity with the national liberation movement of South in close co-operation with the OAU and its Liberation Committee.