Excerpt from Throne Speech
“Ethiopia is, by her own choice, a non-aligned state. Our politics on the vexatious international issues of the day have been declared to all, and our adherence to them is steadfast: the urgent imperative of universal disarmament; the settlement of disputes by peaceful negotiation; the supremacy of reason and logic over force and irrationality.
“Dedicated to the cause of Africa, Ethiopia remains prepared to implement agreed measures calculated to advance the objectives embodied in the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity.
“Ethiopia’s actions in her international dealings have been wholly consistent with her declared policies. We insist today that the way to peace among men and nations rests in the even-handed application and enforcement of the principles of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity: non-interference in the internal affairs of others; self-determination for the remaining dependent peoples of the world; respect for the territorial integrity of independent states.
“Above all, Ethiopia is dedicated to the principle of the equality of all men, irrespective of differences of race, colour or creed.
“As we do not practice of permit discrimination within our nation, so we oppose it wherever it is found.
“As we guarantee to each the right to worship as he chooses, so we denounce the policy which sets man against man on issues of religion.
“As we extend the hand of universal brotherhood to all, without regard to race or colour, so we condemn any social or political order which distinguishes among God’s children on this most specious of grounds.
“Thus, we oppose the secessionist regime in Rhodesia because it refuses to the African majority the right fully to participate in the life of that territory.
“We denounce the Government of South Africa because the evil doctrine of apartheid espoused there denies the basic equality of men and raises to the status of sacred dogma an odious and false racism.
“We condemn the policies followed in Angola and Mozambique because those territories withhold from Africans the full exercise of their rights as free men.
We shall not rest until these regimes have been swept from the African continent. We shall not falter in the struggle until freedom has been won by our African brothers.”
November 2, 1966
