p The struggle for peace and disarmament has always been a key element of Soviet foreign policy. Back in 1916 Lenin in an article entitled "The ‘Disarmament’ Slogan" wrote: "Disarmament is the ideal of socialism.”  [62•11 

p But the Soviet Union has never viewed the struggle for peace and disarmament in isolation from the policy of supporting national liberation movements, including those on the African continent. This means that by doing everything it can to help African countries win independence, and striving to develop and strengthen its political and economic ties with the newly free countries, the Soviet Union consistently works for peace and security of the peoples of all continents. Acts of aggression and the threat of force towards the independent African countries have 63 always caused the Soviet Union to voice its protest and aroused its desire to curb the aggressor and support the liberation struggle. At the same time the Soviet Union persistently works for an end to the arms race and for stronger international peace and security. The Soviet Government attaches great significance to the solidarity and cooperation of Soviet and African delegations in the UN and other international organisations.

p The 14th UN General Assembly Session (1959) adopted a Programme for General and Complete Disarmament which provided for the disbandment of all armed forces, scrapping of all types of weapons and prohibition of their production, dismantlement of military bases and missile launching pads on foreign territories, abolition of military service, war ministries and general staffs, and cessation of. all allocations for military purposes. This Programme was widely acclaimed and supported by African and all other peoples. The Resolution on General and Complete Disarmament was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly.

p In 1960, when the deterioration of the international situation caused by US aggressive actions created a threat to world peace,  [63•12  Presidents Tito, Nasser, Nkrumah, Sukar no and Prime Minister Nehru requested the 15th Session of the UN General Assembly to consider the need for a normalisation of Soviet-American relations. They believed that this normalisation would ease world tensions in general. It is a noteworthy fact that two of the five sponsors were from Africa.

p At the same Session 12 African and Asian countries submitted a draft resolution whose content coincided with the basic principles of the Soviet conception of universal disarmament. The draft envisaged the elaboration of guidelines for attaining agreement on disarmament which would be carried out in stages, and the establishment of a system of control and inspection. But, in spite of wide support from socialist and non-aligned countries, the UN General 64 Assembly did not approve the draft because of counteraction by the Western powers.

p Obviously, the majority of African and Asian countries attached the greatest importance to the disarmament problem. Undeterred by the General Assembly’s rejection of the draft resolution, nine African countries and Sri Lanka submitted a draft Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons for consideration by the 15th Session of the UN General Assembly. In many respects this declaration coincided with the Soviet proposal, tabled back in 1946, on the non-use of nuclear weapons. The initiative of the African countries, however, received no support from the NATO countries.

p At the next, 16th UN General Assembly Session in 1961, eight African and two Asian countries tabled a draft resolution which on the whole was a repetition of their proposal at the preceding session. Its sponsors once again insisted on the adoption of the Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons and on the convocation of a conference at which a corresponding convention would be signed. This time the combined efforts of the socialist states and other peace-loving forces yielded positive results. The draft resolution was endorsed by the General Assembly in spite of serious opposition by the USA, Britain and their supporters.

p The approval in 1961 of the Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons led to the conclusion in 1963 of the Moscow Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Tests in three media.

p The question of turning Africa into a nuclear-free zone is also directly connected with disarmament. The idea of creating nuclear-free zones was first put forward by the socialist countries in 1957. In 1960 African representatives in the UN proposed that Africa should be turned into such a zone and that foreign military, bases on’! the continent should be dismantled. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries gave their full backing to this proposal, but owing to the resistance of the Western powers the 15th UN General Assembly adopted no decision on it. The African group raised this question again at the 16th General Assembly. It was only as a result of close interaction of the neutral and socialist countries and compromise on the part of the African countries (the point on the dismantlement 65 of military bases was deleted from the draft resolution) that the resolution proclaiming Africa a nuclear-free zone was adopted.

p At the 26th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1971, the Soviet Union proposed that a World Disarmament Conference should be convoked. This motion was supported by independent African countries.

p On the initiative of the Soviet Union, the 27th General Assembly discussed the question on the non-use of force in international relations and permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons. The majority of UN memberstates, including African countries, voted for the Soviet proposal.

p The positive changes on the world scene seriously influenced the proceedings at the 29th General Assembly in 1974. It examined a range of problems connected with disarmament and adopted 12 resolutions. During the debates it became clear that the majority of the delegations, including virtually all African states, were in favour of terminating the arms race and achieving disarmament and durable international peace and security.

p The Session also approved the Soviet motions to discuss the question of drawing up a convention for the prohibition of action to influence the environment and climate for military and other purposes incompatible with the maintenance of international security, human well-being and health. The overwhelming majority of the delegations, and almost all African delegates, voted in favour of the draft resolution recommending the Geneva Committee on Disarmament to start work on an agreed text of convention on this question with account for the Soviet draft.

p The General Assembly also endorsed the definition of aggression which included all the main points set forth in a document that was submitted by the USSR in 1969. It was approved by all UN members with the exception of the People’s Republic of China. The approval was another step towards the creation of legal guarantees and principles strengthening universal peace.

p An important role in the struggle for stronger peace and termination of the arms race was played by the 30th Session of the UN General Assembly. The UN SecretaryGeneral Kurt Waldheim had every reason to call it a disarmament session. Twenty-seven resolutions on 66 disarmament and on restraining the arms race were adopted at it.

p A major victory of the proponents of detente and peaceful coexistence was the approval hy the UN General Assembly of the Soviet proposals on prohibition of development and manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction and of new systems of such weapons and conclusion of a treaty on the complete and general prohibition of nuclear weapon tests. The first proposal won 112 votes and the second 94. A considerable number of these votes were cast by African countries.

p The 30th UN General Assembly Session voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution welcoming the results of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other efforts to assert the principles of peaceful coexistence in international relations. Representatives of African and other non-aligned countries noted that the success of the policy of cooperation in Europe should be regarded as an example for other continents to follow. This is a logical attitude since the ideas of the Helsinki Conference and its decisions extend far beyond Europe’s boundaries and are backed by the most diverse social strata in African, Asian and Latin American states.

p The 31st UN General Assembly Session examined 18 questions relating to disarmament and adopted 22 resolutions on this issue. At this session, too, most of the UN African delegates approved the course of promoting detente. jQThe results of the 32nd UN General Assembly Session in 1977 show that crucial issues of contemporary world development are detente, ending the arms race and averting a nuclear war.

p The proposals on these crucial issues tabled by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries were strongly supported by the overwhelming majority of UN members, including African states, and were incorporated into many of the more than 20 resolutions that were adopted at the Session.

p The General Assembly unanimously approved the Declaration gon the Deepening and Strengthening of Detente which urged the extension of detente to all parts of the world and the implementation of the principle of the nonuse of force in international relations.

p Representatives of 126 countries voted for a resolution containing the Soviet Union’s proposal that a treaty on 67 the complete and general prohibition of nuclear weapons tests should be signed.

p Broad support was given to the Soviet proposals on the conclusion of a world treaty on the non-use of force in relations between states, on the prohibition of the development and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, on the convocation of a special UN General Assembly Session on Disarmament in May 1978 and a World Disarmament Conference. The Session also endorsed resolutions on the prohibition of chemical weapons and new types and systems of weapons of mass destruction, and a number of other documents.

p On the initiative of African countries the UN General Assembly voted for an embargo on arms shipments to South Africa. Besides, the UN delegates resolutely condemned the attempts of the South African racialist regime to make its own nuclear weapons.

p The coincidence or closeness of the positions of the USSR and African countries on the basic issues of war and peace are strikingly demonstrated by Soviet-African joint documents signed as a result of visits to the USSR of heads of African states and also visits to Africa by Soviet leaders.

p The Soviet-Nigerian Communique signed in May 1974 urged the speedy implementation of the resolutions of the 27th UN General Assembly concerning the non-use of force and permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons.

p The Soviet-Libyan Communique (May 1975) noted that the two countries had specially studied the problem of disarmament, fully aware of its great importance for the struggle for strengthening world peace and security, and declared that it was necessary to convene a World Disarmament Conference as quickly as possible.

p The Soviet-Tunisian Communique (May 1975) said that in the course of the negotiations both sides favoured vigorous and effective measures to end the arms race and achieve general and complete disarmament. It also pointed out that the Soviet Union and Tunisia were in favour of the earliest convocation of a World Disarmament Conference.

p The need to strengthen world peace and security and intensify joint efforts in the struggle for general and complete disarmament was also emphasised in the joint documents signed during the visits to the USSR of a Party and Government delegation from Guinea-Bissau in February 68 1975, the President of the Republic of Gambia in March 1975 and the President of the People’s Republic of the Congo in March 1975.

p Timely and emphatic calls to promote international detente and take effective measures to terminate the arms race and rid mankind of the threat of a thermonuclear war were made in the Joint Soviet-Mozambique Statement (May 1976), Joint Sao Tome Communique (October 1976), Joint Soviet-Angolan Statement (October 1976), Joint Soviet-Tanzanian Statement (March 1977), Joint Soviet-Zambian Statement (March 1977), Joint SovietMozambique Statement (April 1977) and Joint SovietEthiopian Communique (May 1977).

p So far no solution has been found to the problem of disarmament because of the intrigues of the enemies of peace and progress. But the leaders of independent African countries are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the threat to the security of their countries will continue to exist until this problem is solved. They also fully appreciate the need to establish still closer cooperation with the socialist countries, including the USSR which consistently works for peace and friendship among nations.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and the USSR Council of Ministers appealed to the peoples, parliaments and governments of all countries to join efforts to preserve peace and eliminate the threat of another war, stop the arms race, settle explosive conflicts and liquidate the seats of international tension. This appeal which expressed the vital interests of all peace-loving countries and peoples was widely acclaimed in Africa.