YouSaid · the spoken record

Nkrumah

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS NKRUMAH

lines on the record
63
first
1960-09-24
most recent
1960-09-24
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-general-debate

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  1. “The first of these is that the United Nations need not go to the assistance of any country which invites its intervention, but that once it has done so, it owes an obligation to the Government and people of that country not to interfere in such a way as to prevent the legitimate Government which invited it to enter the country from fulfilling its mandate. In other words, it is impossible for the United Nations atone and the same time to preserve law and order and to be neutral between the legal authorities and the law breakers. That is, unfortunately, exactly what the United Nations has attempted to do in the case of the Congo, and that is the cause of all the present difficulties and disagreements. 18. My second proposition is that in any sovereign state there can only be one national army.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  2. “What has happened in the Congo has more than justified my continuous outcry against the threat of Balkanization in Africa and my daily condemnation of neo-colonialism, the process of handing independence over to the African people with one hand only to take it away with the other. 16. The Congo question is a test case for Africa. What is happening in the Congo today may happen in any other part of Africa tomorrow, and what the United Nations does today must set a precedent or a pattern for what it may have to do tomorrow. The United Nations will be judged by the success or failure of its handling of this Congo situation. 17. Certain propositions seem to me to be self- evident.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  3. “The situation was thus one of extreme danger. The Belgian army was virtually occupying the Congo, pleading as their excuse circumstances which were fundamentally all of Belgium's own making. 14. The Congolese Government called for aid. Congo asked Ghana for help and also wisely called in the United Nations. From this point, representatives are more than conversant with the story and there is no need for me to dwell in detail on the facts. 15. It is only necessary to say that something has happened in the Congo which has justified my constant warning to the African countries to be on their guard against what I call "clientele-sovereignty", or fake independence, granted by the metropolitan Power, with the concealed intention of making the liberated country a "client-state" and controlling it effectively by means other than political ones.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  4. “Despite the fact that there were no Belgian civilians whatever to protect, Belgian troops entered the town and shot in cold blood a number of unarmed police and civilians. It was following upon this incident that acts of organized violence by members of the "Force publique" began to occur. These incidents, in their turn, provided an occasion for Belgian military intervention. 13. Meanwhile, ostensibly on the grounds of safeguarding the lives of Belgians in the province, Belgian troops entered Katanga in considerable numbers and enabled the President of the Provincial Government, Moise Tshombé, to set himself up as the head of a so-called "independent state". The whole of the administration of this so-called "state" was in Belgian hands and it was supported and maintained openly by Belgian troops.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  5. “On the contrary, emphatic statements were indiscreetly made by Belgian officers that nothing had changed and that life would go on in much the same way as before independence; in short, the soldiers were told that independence was a sham and that Belgium still wielded the big stick. This produced the mutiny. 12. When the mutiny occurred, large numbers of Belgians began to leave the country. The President of the Republic, Mr. Kasavubu, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Lumumba, went to Matadi in order to appeal to the Belgians to remain. But instead, they were all taken on board a ship on the advice of the Belgian Consul, while the town was machine-gunned from the air by Belgian military aircraft and shelled from the sea.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  6. “The high positions in the army, the police and the public services have been the exclusive preserves of the Belgians. No African could hope to rise to the lowest commissioned rani? in the army. The whole of the "Force publique" was subject to extremely harsh discipline and had very low rates of pay. This situation made it impossible to build up a cadre of indigenous personnel to man the services. As soon as an African became Minister of Defence, the incongruous position of the African in the "Force publique" became evident. 10. Great discontent resulted. Even so, the situation might not have erupted had the Belgian Commander of the "Force publique" adopted a realistic attitude towards the men, and made any attempt to redress the legitimate grievances of the Congolese soldiers. 11. Even a promise of future reform might have done some good.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  7. “In all those years Belgium applied a system of calculated political castration in the hope that it would be completely impossible for African nationalists to fight for their emancipation. But to the dismay of Belgium, and to the surprise of everyone outside the African continent, tins dreaded nationalism appeared, and within a lightning space of time secured the independence of the Congo. 9. The policy of political frustration pursued by the Belgian colonial regime created a situation in which the Belgian administration was unable to continue, while at the same time, no Congolese had been trained to take over and run the State. The struggle for independence in the Congo is the shortest so far recorded, and the Belgians were so overtaken by events that they pulled out, but fully expected to return in one way or another.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  8. “I would suggest that when the Charter of the United Nations comes to be revised, a permanent seat for an African nation should be created on the Security Council, in view not only of the growing number of African Members of the United Nations, but also of the increasing importance of the African continent in world affairs. This suggestion applies equally to Asia and to the Middle East. 7. Many questions come to my mind at the moment, all seeking to be dealt with at once: questions concerning the Congo, disarmament, peace, South Africa, South West Africa, China and Algeria. However, I would like to start with the question of the Congo and to take the others in their turn. 8. The Congo, as we all know, was a Belgian colony for nearly a century.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  9. “In my view possession of colonies is now quite incompatible with membership in the United Nations. Tins is a new day in Africa, and as I speak now, thirteen new African nations have taken their seats this year in the General Assembly as independent sovereign States. The readiness of any people to assume responsibility for governing themselves can be determined only by themselves. I and the Government of Ghana, and I am sure the Governments and peoples of independent African States, share the joy of welcoming our sister States into the family of the United Nations. There are now twenty-two of us in this Assembly and there are yet more to come. 6.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  10. “I look upon the United Nations as the only organization that holds out any hope for the future of mankind. Cast your eyes across Africa: the colonialists and imperialists are still there. In this twentieth century of enlightenment, some nations still extol the vain glories of colonialism and imperialism. As long as a single foot of African soil remains under foreign domination, the world will know no peace. The United Nations must therefore face its responsibilities, and ask those who would bury their heads like the proverbial ostrich in their imperialist sands, to pull their heads out and look at the blazing African sun now travelling across the sky of Africa's redemption. The United Nations must call upon all nations that have colonies in Africa to grant complete independence to the territories still under their control.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  11. “From the North to the South, from the East to the West, her sons languished in the chains of slavery and humiliation, and Africa's exploiters and self- appointed controllers of her destiny strode across our land with incredible inhumanity — without mercy, without shame, and without honour. But those days are gone, and gone forever, and now I, an African, stand before the General Assembly of the United Nations and speak with the voice of peace and freedom, proclaiming to the world the dawn of a new era. 4. I wish to thank the General Assembly sincerely for this opportunity of addressing it. Let me say here and now that our tribulations and sufferings harden and steel us, making us a bastion of indomitable courage, and fortifying our iron determination to smash our chains. 5.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  12. “We do not ask for death for our oppressors; we do not pronounce wishes of ill-fate for our slave-masters; we make an assertion of a just and positive demand; our voice booms across the oceans and mountains, over the hills and valleys, in the desert places and through the vast expanse of mankind's habitation, and it calls out for the freedom of Africa; Africa wants her freedom; Africa must be free. It is a simple call, but it is also a signal, a red light of warning to those who would tend to ignore it. 3. For years and years, Africa has been the foot-stool of colonialism and Imperialism, exploitation and degradation.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  13. “The great tide of history flows, and as it flows it carries to the shores of reality the stubborn facts of life and men's relations one with another. One cardinal fact of our time is the momentous impact of Africa's awakening upon the modern world. The flowing tide of African nationalism sweeps everything before it and constitutes a challenge to the colonial Powers to make just restitution for the years of injustice and crime committed against our continent. 2. But Africa does not seek vengeance. It is against her very nature to harbour malice. Over 200 millions of our people cry out with one voice of tremendous power — and what do we say?”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)