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Home , Ceuta, Mauretania Tingitana, Tangier

United Nations FOURTH COMMITTEE, 1171st GENERAL MEETING

Friday, 13 October 1961, ASSEMBLY at4.30 p.m. SIXTEENTH SESSION Official Records NEW YORK

CONTENTS the Guatemalan claim to the of Belize. His Page country's position in the matter had been defined at the 771st plenary meeting of the General Assembly Agenda items 39, 42, 43 and 44: by Mr. Padilla Nervo, the Mexican Secretary for Ex­ Information from Non-Self-Governing Terri­ ternal Relations, who had stated that Mexico, which tories transmitted under Article 73 e of the had steadfastly championed the principle of self­ Charter of the United Nations: reports of the determination and non-intervention, had been watching Secretary-General and of the Committee on with growing and friendly interest the formation in Information from Non-Self-Governing Ter­ Belize of a country endowed with definite characteris­ ritories (continued): tics and a distinct personality. The Mexican position (a) Information on social conditions; on Belize was that, if its status was altered, Mexico (h) Information on other conditions • .....•. would claim its rights in accordance with well-known Dissemination of information on the United historical and legal precedents and by the peaceful and Nations in the Non-Self-Governing Terri- 91 friendly methods by which it conducted its international tories: report of the Secretary-General affairs, recognizing the principle that the interests of (continued) ...••.•••••.•..•••..•• the inhabitants of the Non-Self-Governing Participation of the Non-Self-Governing Ter­ were paramount)/ Mexico would therefore not fail to ritories in the work ofthe United Nations and take into consideration, should the occasion arise, any of the specialized agencies: report of the solution of the question which was based on the freedom Secretary-General (continued) .••••.••. and independence of the people of Belize. Offers by Member States of study and training facilities for inhabitants of Non-Self­ 2. Mr. SANTISO GALVEZ (Guatemala) said that his Governing Territories: report of the Secre­ delegation took note of the Mexican representative's tary-General (continued} .••••••••.••• statement, which differed from the statement the Requests for hearings (continued) Mexican delegation had made at the 1168th meeting. Request for a supplementary hearing con­ Guatemala had no doubts whatever about its exclusive cerning agenda item 13 (Report of the Trus- rights to over Belize, which it had been teeship Council) • •••.••..". • • • • • • . . 93 claiming for a half century on legal and historical grounds. The fact that Guatemala did not recognize that Mexico had any rights over Belize did not pre­ Chairman: Miss Angie BROOKS (). judice the cordial nature of the relations between Mexico and Guatemala. The delegation of Guatemala wished to place on record that its country categorically AGENDA ITEMS 39, 42, 43 AND 44 reserved all its exclusive rights over the territory of Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted Belize. under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations: 3. Mr. DE PINIES () said that his delegation reports of the Secretary-General and of the Committee on wished to make its position clear in respect of certain Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories {A/4754 reservations made by the representative of at the 1168th meeting. The representative of Morocco and Add.l, A/4755, A/4756 and Add.l, A/4757, A/4758 had made references to injustice, misuse of power and and Add.l, A/4759, A/4785) (continued): ; yet Spain was not a colonialist country (,!!) Information on social conditions {A/4760, A/4785); and its record was clean. How was it possible for the (g) Information on other conditions (A/4785) representative of Morocco to say that , and other places were in an alarming of tension Dissemination of information on the United Nations in the or that brutal repression was practised there? Non-Self-Governing Territories: report of the Secretary· 4. In accordance with its undertaking, Spain had General (A/4863) (continued) participated in the work of the Committeeonlnforma­ tion from Non-Self-Governing Territories and had Participation of the Non-Self-Governing Territories in the provided data on a number of places; it would amplify work of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies: that information at the appropriate times. In thus report of the Secretary-General (A/4852) (continued) complying with that part of General Assembly resolu­ Offers by Member States of s'udy and training facilities for tion 1542 (XV) which concerned it, his country had acted in conformity with the principles contained in inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories: report of General Assembly resolution 1541 (XV) and proposed the Secretary-General (A/4862 and Add.l) (continued) to do so at all time. Inhisdelegation's view, however, those principles should be regarded as constituting a 1. Mr. PARDO BOLLAND (Mexico) said, in order to avoid all possibility of misunderstanding or misin­ terpretation, he wished to amplify the statement made !/See Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirteenth Session, by his delegation at the 1168th meeting with regard to Plenary Meetings, 771st meeting, paras. 109-111. 91 A/C.4/SR.l171 92 General Assembly - Sixteenth Session - Fourth Committee whole, and note shouldbetakenoftheobligations which The boundaries of the city had been fixed by the Act they might involve for all Member States. of Demarcation of Melilla signed at on 26 June 1862 and had been recognized by Morocco in sub­ 5. The vast majority of the inhabitants of Ceuta and sequent instruments, particularly the Convention Melilla were unquestionably of Spanish race and cul­ signed at on 16 November 1910. As in the case ture. Of the inhabitants of Ceuta, which formed part of of Ceuta, the Moroccan Government had made no the province of Cadiz, 77,000 were Christian and formal and official reservations when, on the occasion 13,000 Moslem. In the case of Melilla, 85,000 of its of the conclusion of international agreements with inhabitants were Christian and 7,000 Moslem; it be­ Spain, it would have had an opportunity to do so. longed to the province of Malaga. The fact that those towns were separated by sea from the Iberian penin­ 13. His delegation noted that, until1960, the Moroccan sula in no way affected the issue, for there were few representative had made no claim to Ceuta and Melilla States bordering on the sea whose territories were not in the Fourth Committee. That representative was now similarly divided. Both towns belonged to the Graeco­ making a whole series of totally unfounded claims Roman and Visigoth tradition. Ceuta had been a capital which were not in accordance with the Charter and of the of Tingitana. Sub­ were based neither on the realities of , no; on sequently it had been in the power of the Visigoth the facts, nor on the characteristics of the populations monarchy of Spain; later it had been conquered by the concerned. For the sakeofbrevity;hewouldnot go into . It had never been a Moroccan city and the the question of the Spanish Sahara and other territories Sultans of Morocco had never exercised any sov­ mentioned by the Moroccan representative, but he ereignty there. In 1437, it hadbeenoccupiedby Portu­ would draw the attention of membersoftheCommittee gal and when, in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese to the statement made by the Chairman of the Spanish dominions had been inherited by the Spanish king, delegation at the 1032nd plenary meeting, on 10 October Philip II, it had again become part of Spain; it had 1961, when replying to the Moroccan representative. remained Spanish ever since, as, unlike the other 14. Mr. SID! BABA (Morocco) pointed out that the Portuguese possessions, it had not been returned to Spanish representative had confined his comments to . That arrangement had been confirmed by the two Moroccan cities of Ceuta and Melilla and had article 2 of the Treaty of Peace of 1668. not referred to the other Moroccan territories under 6. Nor had Melilla ever been Moroccan. It had formed Spanish occupation: Ifni and Saguia--Hamra. The part of the early Visigoth kingdom of Spain and, like argument that the population of Ceuta and Mililla was the rest of Spain, it had subsequently been invaded by in part Christian did not justify the Spanish occupation the Arabs. It had been reconquered by Spain in 1496 of those two cities. People professing the Christian and had been in Spanish hands ever since. faith also lived in other Moroccan cities, such as Tangier, , or . Morocco was proud · 7. Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta had been recog­ that it had always been a country inhabited by people nized in a number of treaties concluded between Spain of many religions. Furthermore, thefactthatCeutahad and Morocco in the eighteenth and the early nineteenth been the capital of the Roman province of Mauretania centuries. The extent of that sovereignty had been ex­ T ingitana merely confirmed the Moroccan thesis, since pressly defined in article 3 of the Treaty of Peace and Mauretania had been the Roman name for Morocco. Friendship concluded between Spain and Morocco, Melilla had also always been Moroccan, a fact which acting as a fully independent agent, on 26April 1860. was unaffected by Spanish occupation. 8. Mr. ALWAN (Iraq), intervening 1.>napointoforder, 15. In reply to the Spanish representative's ob­ said that the representative of Morocco had merely servation that Morocco had not made any reservations made reservations. It was open to the Spanish repre­ concerning its rights in Ceuta, Melilla, Ifni and Saguia­ sentative to adopt a similar course, but the Committee el-Hamra at the time of the signature of the Joint was scarcely competent to go into the whole history of Hispano-Moroccan Declaration of 7 April 1956, he the question. wished to stress that when Morocco had requested 9. Mr. DE PINIES (Spain) saidthatastherepresenta­ Spain to withdraw its troops from Moroccan soil, tive of Morocco had referred to historical and legal Spain had made it a condition that Morocco should reasons based on international law, he had replied on agree that all outstanding issues between the two the same ground. countries would be settled with the departure of the Spanish troops from the Protectorate. His Government 10. The CHAIRMAN said that, as the representative had replied that that was impossible because the ques­ of Morocco had been allowed to make his statement, tion of Ceuta, Melilla, Ifni and Saguia-el-Hamra was the same privilege would be extended to the repre­ still outstanding. In the circumstances, he maintained sentative of Spain. the reservations which he had put forward at the 1168th 11. Mr. DE PINIES (Spain), continuing his statement, meeting. said that the Moroccan Government had made no formal 16. Mr. DE PINIES (Spain) wished merely to correct reservation concerning the text of that article of the an error: the Roman province of Treaty of 26 April 1860 when it would have been open should not be confused with Morocco as it was today. to it to do so. In particular, it had taken no such step at the time of the· signature of the Joint Hispano-Moroc­ 17. Mr. SIDI BABA (Morocco) replied that Mauretania can Declaration of 7 April 1956 recognizing the in­ was the ancient name of Morocco and that dependence of Morocco; article 2 of that Declaration was part of Moroccan territory. had contained a specific reference to the territorial unity of the Moroccan empire as guaranteed by inter­ 18. Mr. KOMBET (Central African ) said that national treaties. although his country would always be on the side of Morocco, it did not recognize Morocco's claim to 12. Spanish sovereignty over Melilla had been im­ Mauritania, which was an independent and sovereign plicity recognized in the same treaties of the eighteenth State and which he hoped would be admitted to member­ and early nineteenth centuries as in the case of Ceuta. ship of the United Nations. 1171st meeting - 13 October 1961 93 19. Mr. SID! BABA (Morocco) replied that, linguis­ 25. Mr. ROS (Argentina) pointed out that the Antarctic tically, culturally and nationally, Mauritania was part Treaty did not affect the legitimate rights of his of Morocco. Colonialism was powerless against that country. Furthermore, the Islas Malvinas lay outside fact despite the division it had imposed upon Morocco the sphere of application of that Treaty. in recent years. 26. The CHAIRMAN drew the Committee's attention 20. Mr. CISSE () said that Mauritania, like to the tentative time-table for discussion of the items the other countries which had formerly been part of concerning information from the Non-Self-Governing French West , was now an independent and Territories which had been distributed to the members . Senegal did not recognize Morocco's of the Committee for their guidance. claim to Mauritania, but supported its claim to the 27. Mr. KOMBET () pointed territories which were now under Spanish occupation. out that the document was available in English only, a 21. Mr. SID! BABA (Morocco) thanked the Senegal language with which certain delegations, including his representative for his reference to the Moroccan own, were not very familiar. territories under Spanish occupation. With regard to 28. Mr. KUNST (Secretary of the Committee) said Mauritania, forty years of French colonialism could that the tentative time-table was not an official docu­ not make Morocco forget a history going back over ment and had been circulated merely for the informa­ thousands of years. tion of the Committee. 22. Mr. ROS (Argentina) said that his delegation formally reserved its position with regard to the 29. Mr. KOSCZIUSKO-MORIZET () thought transmission of information by the that, as a matter of principle, all documents, including Government on the Islas Malvinas. The transmission working papers, should be made available in French, of such information did not affect the sovereignty of which had always been a working language and which Argentina over those , which the United Kingdom was used by more than a score of delegations. held by an act offorce never recognized by his Govern­ 30. Mr. RAMIN (Israel), Mr. WEEKS (Lil;>eria) and ment. He reaffirmed his Government's inalienable Mr. BOZOVIC (Yugoslavia) supported the French rights over the Islas Malvinas, the South Sandwich representative's point of view. Islands, the South Georgia Islands and the land included in the Antarctic sector of the Argentine Republic, 31. Mr. MATTOS (Uruguay) said that all documents ' which formed an integral part of the national territory should also be made available in Spanish for the benefit of Argentina. of the Spanish-speaking delegations. 23. Mr. VALDES LARRAiN (Chile) said that his 32. The CHAIRMAN said that the Secretariat would Government reserved its rights over Chilean Antarctic be asked in the future to make documents and working territory. Those rights were based bothonhistoryand papers available in all the working languages. on international law. Chilean citizens resided per­ manently in that territory which was part of the Chilean Requests for hearings (continued) province of Magallanes and in which his country's authorities exercised their functions. In that connexion, REQUEST FOR A SUPPLEMENTARY HEARING CON­ he wished to point out that the treaty signed between CERNING AGENDA ITEM 13 (REPORT OF THE all the countries interested in Antarctica had estab­ TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL) lished a status guo in that area for specific and pre­ 33. The CHAIRMAN informed the Committee that a cise purposes. request for a supplementary hearing had been received from Mr. M. C. Zachariah, President of the Tanganyika 24. Sir Hugh FOOT (United Kingdom) said that the Overseas Recruited Asian Civil Servants Union. She United Kingdom Government had no doubts concerning suggested that, if there were no objections, the request its sovereignty over the and the should be granted. Falkland Islands Dependencies and he wished formally to reserve its rights on that question. With regard to It was so decided. the territories lying south of latitude 600 South, he drew the Committee's attention to the provisions of article 4 (2) of the Antarctic Treaty of 1 December 1959. The meeting rose at 5.35 p.m.

Litho in U.N. 77401-December 1961-2,525