First, on
behalf of our delegation, I warmly congratulate the
President on her election to preside over this session,
which encourages the Government of Togo in its
commitment to value the role of women in our society.
Togo remains convinced that the specific insights of
women in the management of national or international
affairs will make a big contribution to giving a more
united and human face to relations between peoples
and nations. The President can rest assured that as she
does her inspiring job Togo will continue to support
her unstintingly.
I also pay a merited tribute to the President’s
predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, whose competence,
moderation, sense of compromise and character earned
him the respect and esteem of all during the last
session.
In addition, I pay particular tribute to the
Secretary-General, and express to him our sincere
gratitude for his tireless efforts for peace, democracy
and development. We appreciate his commitment and
his bold proposals to ensure substantial and fair reform
of the United Nations.
In our quest for peace, security and socio-
economic development Togo has just reached a critical
stage in its history, with the signing on 20 August of
the Comprehensive Political Agreement at the end of
an open, constructive and inclusive dialogue. When the
Head of State took the initiative to resume the political
dialogue we were aware that our current stage of social
and political development would not allow us to deal
with all matters of discord or eliminate all political and
institutional problems. It was necessary first to
strengthen the dynamic of national mobilization and
social cohesion by promoting a policy of openness,
calm and national reconciliation.
The desired results have largely been achieved,
with the effective and active participation of all the
major political participants in the dialogue. Everyone
was able to speak freely on the substantive problems
that were feeding the persistent feeling of crisis. The
frank and responsible discussions, and the conclusions
reached, enable us to establish bolder conditions for
reform and lay the foundations for a new covenant for
the republic and for national harmony.
The conclusions of the national dialogue favour
the holding of free and democratic elections.
Additionally, the resolution of the dialogue regarding
the need to re-examine the role and mission of the
army and the other security services allows us to
anticipate an unprecedented strengthening of measures
to maintain public order and provide more security for
the activities of political parties and various other
organizations, as well as the electoral processes.
After the social dialogue — involving employers,
unions and the Government, and a number of bold
measures aimed at youth and workers of all
categories — a milestone will be reached with the
holding of free legislative elections, pluralist and
transparent, in the very near future. Togo will then
have satisfied all the commitments made to the
European Union on 14 April 2004 in Brussels.
In an attempt to give every opportunity for
national harmony, implement the conclusions of the
political dialogue and establish sustainable democracy,
a broad-based Government of National Unity was
established on 20 September 2006. All sections of the
Togolese people, in their political, social and regional
diversity, are represented in it. All the changes under
way in Togolese society were made possible by the
support of the international community, the maturity of
the people of Togo and, of course, the sense of
compromise of the political class.
We are very grateful to all our international
partners who assisted us during this process of
peacebuilding in our country. Our appreciation goes in
particular to the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), the African Union, the European
06-53609 24
Union, the International Organization of la
Francophonie, France, Germany, the United States of
America and all African heads of State, who have
always been very attentive to what we have had to say.
I wish also, and very particularly, to express to the
Facilitator, Mr. Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina
Faso, the gratitude of our entire Government and
people for his critical role in the conclusion and
signing of the Comprehensive Political Agreement.
Consolidating peace in Togo and the success of
our democratization process remain closely linked to
the stability of the regional and international
environment. Therefore, Togo continues to be
concerned about the situation in Côte d’Ivoire. Given
the many preconditions for organizing elections in that
neighbouring country, there must be concern, from any
point of view, about the fulfilment of the mission for
which the United Nations is responsible. We hope that
the resolution of those preconditions will permit the
holding of free and democratic elections leading
Côte d’Ivoire to sustainable peace.
Similarly, with regard to the region of Darfur and
Somalia, in the absence of a much more vigorous
voluntary mobilization by the international community
to end the cycle of violence and the tragedy of the
peoples concerned, peace will not come soon to that
part of Africa.
In other parts of the world, the continuing
developments in both Iraq and the Middle East are a
major source of concern for the Government of Togo.
Togo firmly believes it is high time that the people of
Iraq were reconciled and that the international
community provided all the necessary support for their
Government to help it complete the reconciliation
process. It should be emphasized that the countries of
the subregion have an important role to play in the
quest for peace in Iraq.
The tragedy that unfolded in Lebanon weighs on
our conscience. Togo welcomes the Security Council’s
adoption of resolution 1701 (2006), whose effective
implementation will permit the return of peace to the
country.
At the heart of the Middle East conflict is the
thorny question of Palestine. Sustainable peace in the
region requires an end to the continuous cycle of
violence and a climate of confidence, which would
make possible talks to create a Palestinian State
alongside the State of Israel, the two of them
coexisting within secure and internationally recognized
borders.
While the resolution of crises and conflicts
remains at the heart of our concerns, everything must
be done to consolidate peace in countries emerging
from conflicts, or countries which, after great efforts,
have succeeded in their democratization process.
Therefore, the Peacebuilding Commission must play a
vital role in African countries emerging from conflicts.
We are pleased that it is already considering the
situation in Burundi and Sierra Leone. It must also help
Liberia to strengthen its regained peace and make sure
that Guinea-Bissau does not sink into violence.
Similarly, while we welcome the holding of legislative
and presidential elections in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Togo calls on the international
community to pay sustained attention to that country so
as to assist it until its still fragile process is completed.
Disarmament efforts by the international
community are still far from producing the desired
results. On the Korean peninsula the nuclear question
is still unresolved, and there is a need for a
strengthening of mutual confidence among the States
concerned. Therefore, my country firmly supports
every effort to resolve the region’s security questions
peacefully. We believe also that the question of the
nuclear programme of the Islamic Republic of Iran
cannot be resolved without negotiations between the
interested parties, and we call on them to create
conditions conducive to such talks. It would not be
wise to stop the country, by whatever means,
developing a nuclear programme, essentially peaceful,
for its fundamental research needs and the socio-
economic development of its population.
With respect to small arms and light weapons,
Togo regrets that the international community was
unable to successfully conclude the July 2006 New
York United Nations Conference to Review Progress
Made in the Implementation of the Programme of
Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit
Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its
Aspects, adopted in 2001. The failure of that
Conference is not encouraging for regional and
subregional initiatives. At the same time, the adoption
in June this year of the ECOWAS Convention on Small
Arms and Light Weapons, Their Ammunition and
Other Related Materials is very much part of
strengthening confidence-building measures among
States in the subregion. It is to be hoped that at this
25 06-53609
session the General Assembly will seriously examine
the question of the proliferation of small arms and light
weapons, which are a destabilizing factor for African
States in particular, and a threat to the peace and
security of people in general.
I should also like to emphasize the importance of
our collective responsibility to counter terrorism and
human rights violations. The reply of the international
community to terrorism should be appropriate and
should correspond to the expectations of peoples who
only wish to live in a world free from fear. The General
Assembly’s adoption of the Global Counter-Terrorism
Strategy is to be welcomed. We hope that the Human
Rights Council will contribute to strengthening the
capacity of States to promote and protect human rights
by developing and implementing appropriate strategies
and programmes. Accordingly, on 10 July the
Government concluded an agreement on establishing
an office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights in Togo.
The current state of the world — characterized by
a considerable increase in United Nations membership,
from 51 Member States in 1945 to 192 in 2006, the
emergence of new Powers, the persistence of certain
conflicts and especially the frequent paralysis in the
Security Council — requires that the United Nations be
reformed as soon as possible, as the September 2005
World Summit recommended. While the objective of
reform is to make the Organization more effective and
efficient, we must not lose sight of the fact that a
central, urgent factor is Security Council reform. If that
is not included, the reform will be unfinished business.
Decisions related to economic development and
the elimination of poverty adopted by the September
2005 World Summit have rekindled hope about the will
of the rich industrialized countries to assist the
countries of the South to promote sustainable
development for their peoples. Implementation of the
commitments made would permit achievement of the
goals. Therefore, the countries of the South ask the
countries of the North to commit themselves not only
to keep their promises to make a genuine contribution
to reducing poverty by 50 per cent by 2015, but finally
to eradicate it.
As the Assembly is well aware, the support of the
rich industrialized countries will enable us to
consolidate the efforts that the countries of the South
continue to make, efforts which have allowed us to
improve macroeconomic management by tackling
inflation and consolidating a balanced budget.
However, the global incidence of extreme poverty has
not declined, especially in the less developed countries,
where combating poverty is still a very difficult task.
The situation that I have just described is
exacerbated by factors that the developing countries
have not been able to master. They include, to mention
just a few: the external debt, deterioration in the terms
of trade, the weakness of official development
assistance, and environmental degradation. Moreover,
the HIV/AIDS pandemic presents a major challenge to
growth and economic development. Major conferences
organized under United Nations auspices are slow to
yield results. The status review of the Millennium
Development Goals, held in September 2005, and the
failure of the Doha Round and the midterm review of
the Brussels Programme of Action for Least Developed
Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, held on 18 and
19 September, have shown that there are still barriers
to implementing the commitments made.
It is therefore regrettable that development
partners have not always honoured their official
development commitments to the least developed
countries. Nevertheless, promises made recently, in
particular by the G-8 Summit in 2005, regarding an
increase in assistance and debt relief, have given us
reason for some optimism. Additionally, access to
markets and the gradual elimination of agricultural
subsidies by all countries simultaneously, on dates set
by the World Trade Organization, would contribute to
the development of poor countries, since agriculture is
the basis of the existence of hundreds of millions of
people in the least developed countries. For Togo it is
essential that progress be made in resolving questions
relating to cotton, in particular, questions that remain
vital for many developing countries.
My country welcomes the High-level Dialogue on
International Migration and Development, held on 14
and 15 September, during which the General Assembly
dealt with the multiple aspects of international
migration. We must do more in-depth thinking on ways
to stem the tide of the massive and hazardous exodus
to northern countries. An arsenal of repressive
measures alone will not resolve a situation that is
becoming more and more like a scourge.
In conclusion, I emphasize that if we are faithful
to our common destiny and our worldwide partnership
06-53609 26
based on solidarity we can realize the Millennium
Development Goals. Therefore, the countries of both
the North and the South must honour their
commitments, thus contributing to ending the suffering
of millions of disinherited people throughout the world
and to promoting international peace and security.