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Terrorism is most serious challenge to open & pluralistic societies.Combating it requires collective effort. We need to target not only the terrorists, but also their entire supporting ecosystem. Our strongest action should be reserved for those state actors who employ terrorism as an instrument of State Policy.

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While on one hand, terrorism continues to be a serious threat to global peace and security, on the other hand, cyber, maritime and space are emerging as new theatres of conflict. On all these issues, I will stress that global action must match global ambition.

I have already mentioned that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto. I, and the others who started the organization, did so for two reasons. Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalize and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war.

We should not look at terrorism from the name-plates - which group they belong to, what is their geographical location, who are their victims. These individual groups or names will keep changing. Today you are looking at the Taliban or ISIS; tomorrow you may be looking at another name. We should pass the U.N.'s Comprehensive Convention on Intenational Terrorism. At least it will clearly establish whom you view as a terrorist and whom you don't. We need to delink terrorism from religion.

Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong, but of the weak.

Democracy is not based on violence or terrorism, but on reason, on fair play, on freedom, on respecting the rights of other people. Democracy is no harlot to be picked up in the street by a man with a tommy gun. I trust the people, the mass of the people, in almost any country, but I like to make sure that it is the people and not a gang of bandits who think that by violence they can overturn constituted authority.

We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want.