Sudan

On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, President of the Republic of the Sudan, and to invite him to address the Assembly. President Al-Bashir (spoke in Arabic): It gives me great pleasure, Madam, to extend my warmest congratulations to you on your election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-first session. There is no doubt that your election is an honour for us, because of the excellent relations between our two sisterly countries. I am fully confident that you will lead our deliberations to a successful conclusion. I would like also to commend your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for the efficient way in which he guided the work of the previous session. I seize this opportunity, furthermore, to express our appreciation for the endeavours of the United Nations Secretariat in the past period. The Members of the United Nations are about to select a new Secretary-General. We hope that they will choose a new Secretary-General who will undertake his duties in a neutral, objective and transparent manner, so that our Organization can achieve the purposes to which we all aspire, serving the international community in achieving peace, stability and global prosperity. I take this opportunity to welcome the Republic of Montenegro to membership of this Organization. This session has special importance for my country. It occurs on the fiftieth anniversary of the Sudan joining the United Nations after it gained its independence in the mid-twentieth century. The five decades that have passed since then have strengthened the aspirations of our country and our people for an effective and fair United Nations, as well as our conviction that the independence and political freedom achieved by our country, as well as our hopes for a bright, prosperous and developed future, could be destroyed by the challenges of the present phase, including the double standards, the dangers of hegemony and the use of international forums to achieve political, economic or strategic objectives. The Government and the people of the Sudan eagerly seek peace, which has become our strategic objective. Because of our sincere will and strong desire, peace has become a living reality. In January 2005 we witnessed the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That Agreement did merely address the causes of the dispute between the south and the north, but offered fair solutions to all the problems faced by our country. It established political rules for a system that recognizes citizenship as a basis for rights and duties, and that recognizes diversity and considers it to be a source of strength and unity. The system is 06-52737 44 based on power-sharing, democratic principles, the rule of law, good governance and respect for human rights and freedoms. In the economic area, that Agreement establishes rules for wealth-sharing in accordance with criteria of fairness, brotherhood and equality between the central Government and the provinces of the south and the north. The Agreement is based on sound principles and standards of justice and thus establishes the correct rules for a comprehensive peace, which should prevail throughout the country. The implementation of the Agreement has progressed at the national level. A Government of National Unity has been formed, as was a Government of South Sudan. Legislative bodies have also been established, as well as the National Constitutional Review Commission, the National Judicial Services Commission and the National Petroleum Commission. All options were presented to the President, who selected the best among them. At the moment, serious efforts continue to complete work on the other commissions realistically, objectively and with good intentions. We have also begun, in cooperation with the United Nations, to prepare for the return of refugees and displaced persons, some of whom have already returned. We were convinced that peace would not fully succeed unless it also prevailed among our people in Darfur. I am pleased to convey to the Assembly that in May we were able to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement, in Abuja. That had been a principal objective since the conflict in that region began. We express our deep gratitude and appreciation to all those who contributed to bringing about that great achievement, prominent among them the African Union, which has contributed troops since the beginning of the crisis and has sponsored the negotiations on the issue. We also thank sisterly Nigeria, which has hosted the negotiations, and the other partners who have worked to bring the divergent views closer together and have spared no effort in pushing the parties towards an agreement. The great role undertaken by the African Union in Darfur is proof of what regional organizations can do to settle disputes in their regions. That pioneering experiment should impel the Security Council to encourage all such organizations and genuinely and objectively support them in the maintenance of regional peace and security, in accordance with the United Nations Charter and without their efforts being aborted or their roles pre-empted by certain hegemonic parties that have their own illegal agendas. We have begun steps to implement the Agreement, through ongoing consultations with the African Union and the Sudanese parties that are signatories to the Agreement, in particular concerning security arrangements, the sharing of power and wealth and the return of displaced persons, in addition to preparing for the Darfur-Darfur dialogue. We have buttressed the implementation effort — which is being carried out according to a timetable — by appointing Mr. Minni Arko Minawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, as senior assistant to the President and Chairman of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority. the Authority will be responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Agreement. Those steps will take us to the final phase: completion of all the mechanisms necessary to implement the Agreement. Here we reaffirm the Government of National Unity’s commitment to the Agreement in letter and in spirit. I take the opportunity to sincerely invite all the parties that have not yet signed the Agreement or joined the peace process to do so, in order to consolidate national efforts towards attaining stability. If the armed factions continue to refuse to join the peace efforts, and persist in violence against and intimidation of citizens, they must be isolated and prevented from acting, in accordance with the Abuja Peace Agreement, which also stipulates that efforts by all signatories to the Agreement should be encouraged, in order to accelerate full implementation in letter and in spirit. The international community would thus be enabled to assist us in strengthening our capacity to bring about rehabilitation and reconstruction. We hope and expect that the international community will fulfil its commitments concerning the cancellation of all of our foreign debt to States or to financial institutions, and will lift all restrictions and economic and trade sanctions that had been imposed by some international parties. These are impeding our reconstruction and development efforts. We will thus be able to shoulder the burden of reconstruction, increase the rate of growth and provide a life of dignity for our people. 45 06-52737 It is regrettable that some influential international parties, rather than fulfilling their pledges and commitments and respecting the provisions of the Abuja Peace Agreement, continue instead to undermine those efforts through unfair and unjustifiable pressures and partiality, and through the negative signals that they send to non-signatories of the Abuja Agreement. This has culminated in the exploitation of the Security council, which has adopted resolutions that serve those parties’ interests and strategies, such as Council resolution 1706 (2006) which seeks to undermine national and regional endeavours to implement the Abuja Agreement, as that resolution contradicts the Agreement in letter and in spirit. Indeed, it would place our country under the trusteeship of those influential parties. That makes it imperative to continue our efforts to implement the Abuja Agreement and to mobilize the resources and funding necessary to achieve a sustainable peace in Darfur, so that our country and our region can enjoy the fruits of that peace. Mr. Jenie (Indonesia), Vice-President, took the Chair. Our country refuses all forms of dictates and all attempts to humiliate it and usurp its national will. It wholly rejects any attempts to re-colonize us in a new, sly manner. Thus we reject all attempts to impose new international forces in Darfur without taking into account Darfur’s special circumstances and without consultations with the Government of Sudan. The subject has become, in itself, a goal in the service of some internal political objectives of some parties. World leaders who met here last September to follow up the results of the Millennium Summit adopted a document that calls for reform of the United Nations, the promotion of international peace and security, respect for human rights, adoption of collective measures to combat poverty and bringing about development and, in particular as regards issues pertaining to funding development based on the Monterrey Consensus. What has been agreed to with regard to promoting the role of the United Nations calls upon us to work collectively with the necessary political will, particularly on the part of the permanent members of the Security Council. That should enable the Organization to carry out its work in a truly democratic manner. In this context, we call for agreement on reform of the Security Council and updating its working methods. The Council’s present composition does not achieve this; it is an impediment to what we are seeking — real democracy in the management of international relations. What makes the call for reform more imperative is the eruption of conflicts that threaten peace and security without the Council making any effective move to contain them. A good case in point are the tragic developments in the Middle East. The Council watched helplessly while those developments occurred. This emphasizes the point that structural and institutional reform of the Security Council has become more imperative today than ever before. In this context, my delegation reaffirms its commitment to the African position as stipulated in the Ezulwini document, a position that was reiterated at the African summits held in Serte, Khartoum and Banjul. The follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit has shown clearly that what has been achieved has not met our expectations, particularly in regard to the African continent, which is bleeding to death under its debt burden and is facing an incompatible, non- conducive economic and trade environment. The problems of hunger, poverty and disease in Africa have reached very serious dimensions and constitute a great threat to the international community. They will continue to haunt us unless efforts by the international community are consolidated in order to accelerate fairer development in developing countries, particularly in the least developed ones. It will be impossible to reach the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty by half by the year 2015. The correct path towards achieving the MDGs requires that we emphasize the importance of total debt cancellation, as debts are a great impediment to bringing about those goals, particularly in Africa and in the least developed countries. We attach great importance to the fact that developed countries should fulfil their commitments concerning financing for development and implementing the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries. They should work to reform financing institutions, which will promote transparency and lead to larger representation for developing countries in such institutions. They should increase technical and financial assistance so that an investment environment for the private sector can be 06-52737 46 created, suitable infrastructures can be brought about, the environment can be protected and corruption can be combated. The imposition of unilateral coercive economic measures on developing countries constitutes an impediment to freedom of commerce and investment. Funding issues and the transfer of technology are still main components of sustainable development. Here we would like to emphasize the provision of assistance to the least developed countries in social services, education, health care, and for combating diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which kill millions of people every year. We seize this opportunity to reaffirm once again our commitment to what we agreed on in the Millennium Declaration and to reaching the Goals contained therein for a better life for humanity as a whole, with full emphasis on the right of developing countries to determine their own development priorities without restrictions or prior conditions that would hinder their development efforts. We would like to highlight also the importance of guaranteeing that the proposed new financing mechanisms will not negatively impact investment flows. The Sudan has made great efforts towards achieving those Goals and has achieved noticeable progress, particularly in reducing the poverty rate and expanding public education, despite the unjust embargo and the longstanding conflict in the south of the country. My country has expressed its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and has called for the adoption of an international strategy to combat it. In this context, we believe that the definition of terrorism distinguishes it clearly from the just struggle by people to preserve their legitimate right to defend their freedom and the right to self- determination. That must be the main pillar on which the international community should fully agree. The Sudan believes in the international campaign to combat the phenomenon of terrorism, in accordance with the United Nations Charter, principles of international law and the inviolability of the sovereignty of States. The question of Palestine is a story that embodies the suffering of a people that has been deprived of its political and economic rights. The Israeli occupation continues to be a heavy burden on the legitimate Palestinian dreams to bring about freedom and development. The international community must force Israel to fulfil the obligations it has undertaken, including the road map, halting construction of the separation wall, and heeding the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice issued in July 2004. This was adopted by the General Assembly at its tenth emergency session, enabling the Palestinian people to exercise its right to self-determination and to establish an independent State, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. We renew our full support to the Palestinian people and its elected institutions. We call on the international community to respect the choices made by the Palestinian people and to shoulder its responsibilities vis-à-vis the Palestinian Government — which has come about through free and fair elections — to lift the embargo imposed against it and to support it. We call upon the international community to pressure Israel to halt its ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip and release the abducted Palestinian ministers and parliamentarians. The Israeli aggression against Lebanon last August, which targeted innocent civilians — women and children — has shaken the world’s conscience. This is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and agreements. We would like to express our full solidarity with the people and the Government of Lebanon and with the resistance. We commend their steadfastness in the face of this flagrant aggression, and we hold Israel responsible for the destruction and the sabotage of brotherly Lebanon. We call for the establishment of an international commission to investigate the war crimes perpetrated by Israel, and we call also on international, regional and volunteer organizations to intensify their emergency efforts to provide assistance to the victims. We have always been convinced that the volatility of the situation in the Middle East and the ongoing tensions are due to the Israeli occupation, and that a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the advent of peace in the region cannot be achieved unless Israel withdraws completely from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the occupied Syrian Golan and the Shab’a farms. We wish to emphasize in that context the importance of making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, with no exceptions, in 47 06-52737 order to bring about security and stability, which would benefit all the peoples of the region. We reiterate our support for Iraq and its territorial integrity. We believe that its sovereignty should extend to all its territory, and we call on all segments of Iraqi society to engage in dialogue with a view to resolving their problems. We welcome the initiative of the League of Arab States to hold a national reconciliation conference, and we support all sincere efforts aimed at bringing stability to brotherly Iraq, so that it can resume its rightful place in the regional context. In Somalia, there have been recent positive developments in the reconciliation process led by the Sudan, in coordination with the Arab League, which have led to the Somali Transitional Federal Government signing an agreement with the Islamic Courts Union and a reconciliation statement in Khartoum in June 2006. There is no doubt that this will promote the reconciliation efforts currently led at the regional level by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). We hope that our brothers in Somalia will continue the dialogue and promote reconciliation efforts in order to bring about stability and security, so that sisterly Somalia can transcend this very difficult phase. We are fully convinced that Africa is rich in human resources and cultural heritage and that it has the material and human means to ensure a bright future for itself. However, Africa faces many complex challenges, such as the achievement of stability and development. Unless all of Africa works in a united and concerted manner, it will not be possible to realize our aspirations. We in Africa, more than anyone else, are responsible for translating those aspirations into reality. We are prepared to work, in an effective partnership with others, to do so. That will benefit our African peoples and contribute to stability at the international level, as envisaged by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development initiative. The Great Lakes region is emerging from a lengthy and deadly conflict, which has given way to a phase in which democracy is taking root. The International Conference for the Great Lakes Region, which is still in the preparatory stages and is aimed at defining conditions and criteria conducive to ongoing regional cooperation among the States of the region, will hold its second summit next December in Nairobi to adopt a treaty on security and stability in the region. The process is facilitated by the United Nations, the African Union and some of our partners and is tangible proof of the genuine political will of the countries of the region. It is a unique initiative to build peace in the region. I should like from this rostrum to call on the international community to step up the pace in the provision of the financial and political support necessary to push this treaty forward and ensure its adoption for the Great Lakes region. We call for support for the implementation of that treaty, so that the peoples of the region will cease being victimized by disputes, humanitarian disasters or insecurity and be able to realize their aspirations to peace, stability and development.