May 25, 1994(1)
I should like on behalf of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the World Campaign against Military and Nuclear Collaboration with South Africa to congratulate Nigeria on its presidency of the Security Council and to thank Nigeria, as well as the Council, for the privilege and honour of addressing this historic meeting.
This is the fourth time that I have appeared before the Council. In the past it was to call for action against apartheid, but today, on Africa Day, it is to celebrate the democratic transformation of South Africa and to rejoice at the relaxation of the international arms embargo.
We wholeheartedly support the draft resolution before the Council. The statement today by the First Deputy Executive President of South Africa(2) has confirmed the transformation of South Africa from a virtual international outlaw to a normal and responsible member of the world community of nations. Immediately after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre we launched through the Anti-Apartheid Movement an international campaign to stop arming apartheid. The Security Council imposed an arms embargo against apartheid during 1963-1964 and substantially strengthened it in 1970.
However, it was only after the historic UN/OAU Lagos Conference of August 1977 that the Security Council adopted the mandatory arms embargo against apartheid through resolution 418 (1977) of November 1977. That was the first-ever mandatory decision by the United Nations against a Member State. Thereafter, additional resolutions were adopted to strengthen the arms embargo - namely, resolutions 558 (1984) and 591 (1986).
It was also decided at the Lagos Conference to establish the World Campaign against Military and Nuclear Collaboration with South Africa, with the Heads of State of Nigeria and the front-line States as the founder patrons. We have over the years cooperated closely with the Security Council's "421 arms embargo Committee", and its records testify to our consistent efforts to ensure the strict and comprehensive implementation of the solemn decisions of the United Nations.
We should also state that the early warnings we gave of the development of an "apartheid bomb" were not scaremongering, but were founded on solid facts which have subsequently been confirmed.
In addition to trying to prevent arms being used for internal suppression in South Africa, we had to later intensify the campaign for the arms embargo in order to stop apartheid's growing war in the region. The enormous sacrifices made by the front-line States to advance the African liberation struggle involved a large number of casualties and massive destruction, certainly without precedent in modern history. Newly independent countries risked their national sovereignty and very survival in order to support the freedom struggle, and most of them, like the majority population within South Africa's borders, continue to suffer from the destructive consequences of apartheid.
Despite the loopholes and weakness in the implementation of the embargo, and various violations, we believe that the arms embargo against apartheid played a significant role in bringing about change and reducing the level of violence and human suffering in southern Africa. Of course, it was essentially the struggle of the South African people that brought about their liberation. But that struggle also became the common struggle of humanity, and therefore the cost of the transformation was relatively low. Thus, when the dawn of a new democratic South Africa broke in Pretoria on May 10, 1994, it was a victory for all the people of South Africa and the world, and we can today talk about reconciliation and begin the task of nation-building because the whole world has enormous sympathy for the new South Africa in its future plans.
At last the people of South Africa and of southern Africa as a whole have peace from apartheid and can begin the mammoth task of reconstruction and development in a framework of common security.
As we relax the arms embargo we need to thank the African States, the Non-Aligned Movement and some Western States for their long commitment to anti-apartheid action. We thank the Nordic countries, and, on behalf of the World Campaign, we particularly thank Norway and Sweden for their direct support. We thank Britain for ending the Simonstown Agreement in 1975 and the other major Western Powers which were also persuaded over the years, often through mass, nationwide campaigns, to take more effective action against apartheid. We should also like to thank the "421 arms embargo Committee" of the Council and the Special Committee against Apartheid, and their respective chairpersons, as well as the Centre against Apartheid, for their cooperation.
I must also pay tribute to the thousands of extraordinary people who assisted us, some by providing information at considerable personal risk and sacrifice, and others who acted through various anti-apartheid organisations in helping to implement the decisions of the Security Council.
South Africa has had a long struggle for freedom, and our leaders and people always kept hope alive, as did the front-line States and supporters abroad. All that has helped to produce the new reality, which is truly miraculous. The United Nations has played a major role in this process since its inception.
But there are new tasks in the new era. South Africa will need the United Nations and the international community, and the international community and the United Nations will need South Africa.
On a personal note, as a South African who has worked in exile since 1959 to promote anti-apartheid campaigns, I should like to say what a wonderful feeling it was to vote for the first time last month in the first-ever South African democratic elections; to be granted my first South African passport in 35 years; to have had the privilege to be in Pretoria on May 10, to witness the inauguration of His Excellency President Nelson Mandela as the head of a free South Africa; and today to travel from South Africa on our national airline and participate in this meeting with our First Executive Deputy President, His Excellency Mr. Thabo Mbeki, and the Deputy Foreign Minister, His Excellency Mr. Aziz Pahad, and other members of the South African delegation. This is almost an unbelievable experience. It is truly a dream that has come true, for hope at last has become a reality. We can all agree today that the mission has been accomplished.