text: Namibia as the youngest Member of the United Nations and to assure it of our full support and co-operation. Namibia's independence is the fruitful culmination of JP/td A/S-18/PV. 6 27 (Mr. Abdulle, Somalia) decades of efforts and represents an important victory in our struqqle aqainst colonialism and apartheid. You, Mr. President, and the Secretary-General, under whose leadership the United Nations has carried out one of its most successful and ambitious operations, deserve our praise and admiration.* I should also like to express our deE~P appreciation to the Secretary-General for his thought-provokinq statement, in which he so ably captured the sense of challenge that present political and economic developments offer us, as well as the opportunity for decisive action to ensure a better future. We must seize this opportunity and aqree on a set of principles and measures that contribute to the economic and social betterment of our people, which, in the final analysis, is the most important objective of economic development. In his openinq statement the Secretary-General observed that for most developinq countries the 1980s brouqht m qenuine economic betterment, and the economies of many of those oountries stagnated or actually declined. That is particularly evident in the economic situation of the least-developed countries, especially those south of the Sahara, where the quality of life, low as it already was, has declined drastically. In Africa the average per capita income fell by some 25 per cent durinq the past decade. Life expectancy is lower than in any other developinq reqion, while infant mortality rates are the hiqhest. The number of people below the p:>verty line is projected to rise rapidly in the next few years -from 250 mill ion in 1985 to more than 400 million by the end of the century. ~illions, mostly children, are already dyinq of starvation or malnutrition. Desertification and drouqht, as well 
analysis: The text appears to be discussing the economic and social challenges faced by developing countries, particularly in Africa, and the need for international cooperation to address these issues. The speaker is highlighting the decline in living standards, poverty, and malnutrition, and emphasizing the importance of economic development and cooperation to address these problems.