text: South Africa themselves. The Council cannot disregard this pressing demand from the Committee of Twenty-Four. 55. Five years ago, in its resolution 253 (1968), the Security Council introduced compulsory sanctions against Southern Rhodesia. Their purpose was to put an end to the racist Smith &ime so that the Zimbabwe people could freely and independently govern their own country and decide their own fate without any external interference. The Council Committee on Southern Rhodesia was set up to assist in the effective implementation of the decisions and bring about a settlement of the Southern Rhodesian question. 56. However, notwithstanding that decision by the Coun- cil and its subsequent enactments, the sanctions against Southern Rhodesia are systematically being violated. They are being violated both covertly, secretly, and overtly. 57. As is well known, the wide doors through which illegal trade and economic co-operation with the racist Salisbury regime are being carried on despite and in violation of the Security Council resolutions are the ports and borders of South Africa and the Portuguese colonies. The Government of South Africa and the authorities in the Portuguese colonial Territories, especially in Mozambique, issue false certificates of origin for the Southern Rhodesian goods they ship out, thus helping the Smith regime to dispose of 3 Ibid. its goods on the foreign market in violation of tile sanctions. 58. Where do these Southern Rhodesian goods go? Whg buys them? As can be seen from the American press, particularly The New York Times of 28 April, illegal trade with Southern Rhodesia is carried on by a number of Western countries which, as the paper states, violate the Security Council’s sanctions on a large scale. The members of the Council are also well aware from the reports of the Committee on Southern Rhodesia that it has before it 143 
analysis: The text appears to be discussing the violation of sanctions against Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the illegal trade of goods with the country, particularly through South Africa and Portuguese colonies. The text highlights the involvement of Western countries in this illegal trade, which is in violation of Security Council resolutions. The main issue seems to be the economic and trade aspects of the situation, rather than any other category.