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Mr. Lukabu Khabouji N'Zaji (Zaire) (interpretation from French): I wish to congratulate you, Sir, on your accession to the presidency of the Security Council for the month of August. At the same time, I congratulate the Ambassador of Malaysia on the great diplomatic skill with which he presided over the Council's meetings in July.
My delegation continues to believe that the mechanisms established by the United Nations Charter, as well as other legal texts, must be the only framework for the settlement of disputes that arise between members of the international community. That is why my delegation worked towards the adoption by the Council on 2 August last of 660 (1990). There can be no reason, no pretext – whether increases or decreases in the price of oil – that can justify recourse to the occupation, by brutal force, of a sovereign State Member of the United Nations and a member of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, which has included among its objectives the peace and security of mankind.
Zaire regards the occupation, by force, of Kuwait by Iraq as a clear-cut negation of all the principles of international law. That invasion constitutes a violation of the United Nations Charter and of the fundamental principles on which the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries is based. My country rejects with scorn the fait accompli with which the international community has been confronted. Zaire vigorously condemns Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. We denounce the Iraqi manoeuvres designed to change Kuwait's legitimate institutions and to replace them by institutions to Iraq's liking.
The vote that my delegation will cast should be seen as a warning to all those who might be tempted to use their military force in the future to bring about institutional changes in other countries whose only fault is to be small or militarily weak.
