Comoros

I have the particularly agreeable duty, on behalf of the people and Government of the Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros, of conveying to Mr. Ganev warm and sincere congratulations on his well-deserved election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forth-seventh session. We have every confidence in his ability, as a distinguished diplomat, to ensure complete success for our work. I should like to take this opportunity also to express to Mr. Samir Shihabi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia our total satisfaction with, and our profound admiration of, the effective way in which he conducted the work of the General Assembly at its last session. May I also take this agreeable opportunity to wish the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, every success in the discharge of the noble and lofty mission that we have entrusted to him. I assure my dear brother and friend that in his efforts to ensure that the United Nations plays the part it is intended to play he will have the unflagging support of my country, the Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros. His election is a matter of pride for Africa and for the Arab world. Likewise, it reflects the standing and the dynamic role of his great country, Egypt, on the international scene. His determination to breathe new life into our Organization, to strengthen its role and its effectiveness, gives us grounds for great hope for its future. The Secretary-General's "Agenda for Peace" a document that was drawn up after the summit meeting of the Security Council last January contains concrete proposals that demand the attention of Member States. In this context, I should like to voice our complete satisfaction with the very pertinent ideas that the Secretary-General was able to set forth in such a short period. In our view, his proposals deserve the international community's very careful scrutiny to ensure that the greatest possible benefit is derived from them. The delegation of Comoros joins those Members that have already extended a warm welcome to the States that have recently been admitted to membership of the Organization. The forty-seventh session of the General Assembly is being held at a time when the world is beginning a new chapter in its history. The profound and far-reaching transformations that our planet has undergone during the past four years are very encouraging. General ideological confrontation is rapidly disappearing, and dictatorial and authoritarian Governments are falling one after another. We are witnessing a renewal of freedom, equality and respect for the dignity of man. The cold war has ended, and the world has heaved a sigh of relief. Our Organization has an unprecedented opportunity to discharge the mandate entrusted to it by the Charter. Unfortunately, just as we were rejoicing at the end of the cold war, with its inherent threat of nuclear destruction - at a time when we were entitled to hope for a more peaceful world, in which priority would be given to the eradication of starvation and sickness other scourges arose, and they have made the current trends in international affairs more fragile. A plethora of conflicts, of which no one could previously have conceived, have appeared on the scene; each of them has its special features and must be settled in a very precise manner. In the political area, old conflicts such as those of the Middle East, of Palestine and of apartheid are still going on and to these have been added new crises such as those of Somalia and of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and if these are not resolved in time, they may well prove to be a threat to international peace and security. As regards the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, my country believes that this is by no means a civil war but rather an act of aggression perpetrated against a young State by the forces of Serbia and Montenegro. We therefore join the international community in condemning unreservedly this ignoble act, which constitutes a violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a violation of the principles underlying our Charter. For that reason we support all the United Nations resolutions and the decisions of the recent London Conference on this matter. We also subscribe to the decision of the General Assembly to deny the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia automatic succession to the seat of the former Yugoslavia, and we support the initiative to have the airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a no-fly zone. It is our hope that further steps will be taken to restore peace and stability to that part of the Balkans. We urge the Security Council, which is the main body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, to reconsider this matter in full detail with a view to putting an end to this aggression, as spelt out in Article 42 of the United Nations Charter. However, we are aware of the diffidence of the Security Council to use the means spelt out in Article 42 of the Charter to put a stop to this aggression. We therefore encourage the Council to lift the arms embargo imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina so that the people, with the help of friendly countries, can exercise their legitimate right to self-defence in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter. We are equally concerned at the armed conflict among the various Somali factions, which has led to flight and to famine. The persistence of this armed conflict, in addition to the natural disasters that have struck the country, has only increased the suffering of the Somali people, with extremely unfortunate consequences, particularly the loss of thousands of human lives. The proposal made at Jakarta by the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries last September, namely that a conference for national reconciliation be convened to forge the unity of Somalia, seems to us to be the only way to achieve a final resolution of this regrettable conflict. My Government makes an earnest appeal to the entire international community to channel more assistance to this people, which is facing such tremendous difficulties. In southern Africa there have been encouraging signs. Thus, the Government of the Comoros welcomes the free and democratic elections that have taken place in Angola. It is our hope that that country will finally achieve lasting peace after so many years of civil war. Furthermore, it is our hope that after the peace negotiations in Rome and the recent agreement concluded in Botswana between RENAMO and the Maputo government, common ground can promptly be found so that our friends and neighbours from Mozambique may also be able to regain their peace and stability. In South Africa the changes that have occurred since the release of Nelson Mandela had given us every reason to believe that the country was irrevocably committed to a democratization of its political, social and economic life. Unfortunately, the events of Boipatong and the recent Ciskei massacres have dashed our hopes that there would shortly come into being a truly united, democratic and non-racial society in South Africa. On the subject of this same country, I should like to voice the great hope that we place in the recent Mandela-De Klerk meeting. Our most earnest hope is that the negotiations for the establishment of a representative government can be resumed as soon as possible and that democracy and law will finally win the day. The developments in Western Sahara give us reason to believe that a solution to this problem can be found in the near future. We welcome the climate that prevails at present and which proves the readiness of the parties to the conflict to contribute to finding a solution by peaceful means. We also commend the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in this matter and encourage him in his efforts to bring about a rapid solution to the problem. One of the greatest threats to international peace and security has been the Middle East crisis, at the heart of which is the problem of Palestine. This problem is indeed a major challenge and one which our Organization must meet in order to strengthen its credibility and enhance its standing on the international scene. In the light of the principles set forth in the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it is indeed intolerable that the Palestinian people, in their legitimate struggle to claim their inalienable right to a homeland, should continue to be subjected to brutalities inflicted by the Israeli authorities. With the hope that there will be a settlement of the Palestinian crisis, the international community places great hope in the international Conference for peace in that region. That is, quite clearly, the only means that can produce a viable solution to the problem by peaceful means. Thus the new spirit characterizing international relations and the readiness that has been evinced at present by the parties concerned permit us to hope that the peace process begun last October in Madrid will continue and will lead to a happy outcome of this situation. The Government of the Comoros, whose support for the struggle of the Palestinian people has been unflagging, continues to believe that the solution of the Palestinian problem necessarily implies taking into account the just claim of that people, that is, their right to have a homeland. The Gulf region will not be able to heal the wounds opened up by the aggression against, and occupation of, Kuwait by Iraq as long as Iraq fails to relinquish its unjustified claims against the State of Kuwait and as long as Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq are not returned to their country in safety and honour. For the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros the necessary conditions for the restoration of peace in this region are entirely the responsibility of Iraq. Turning to a different area, we note with pleasure the improvement in the situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula as a result of the joint efforts being made by the north and south of that country to find a swift solution to the problem. The Korean people have long suffered from the division of their country and it is high time for the international community to render its support with a view to bringing about its reunification. In this connection, my Government welcomes the coming into force of the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation between the two parties as well as the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Similarly, the situation in Cambodia today is looking more promising as regards a final solution to the problem. The United Nations and the entire international community are aware that restoring peace in this country necessarily implies a comprehensive political solution resulting from genuine negotiations and has always emphasized this way of proceeding. We welcome the efforts which have been made by our Organization and by the world community which resulted in the agreements signed between the Cambodian parties concerned. The Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros finally hopes that following free and democratic elections Cambodia will regain its peace and stability. In view of the rate at which authoritarian regimes are disappearing, I think we have every reason to believe that shortly there will no longer be any question of dictatorship in the world; freedom, dialogue and multiparty systems will have finally won the day, where force and violence triumphed in the past. How then can we not be optimistic in view of the fact that, similarly, the thousands of voices raised in favour of recognizing the most essential human rights will finally be heeded as a result of the World Conference on Human Rights which is scheduled for 1993? Turning to the area of economic and social development, it is regrettable to note that the very positive changes which are occurring internationally in the political field have not been accompanied by any economic progress. Thus, the problems of external indebtedness, in addition to the deterioration of the terms of trade and the decrease in development aid, continue to widen the gap that exists between the developed and the developing countries. The case of Africa, which comprises more than 20 of the least-developed countries, deserves careful attention. The adoption of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development has aroused great hope in us. We therefore appeal to the international community to live up to the commitments it made when this Programme was adopted and to lend its assistance to African development efforts. Similarly, since we are desirous of a flourishing economy for our countries, Comoros supports the decision of the Government of Japan to convene an international conference on the development of Africa in 1993. Further, the current trend in world economics is directed more and more towards the creation of more open and more sound economic and trade blocs. It is for that reason that the process of regional integration has now been recognized as being an indispensable factor in promoting economic development, particularly the development of the developing countries. Thus, the Comoros have become a member of the Indian Ocean Commission and have pledged to ratify the Treaty creating the African Economic Community as soon as the country has a national assembly. In order to revamp its own economy and to initiate the process of harmonious development, the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros has just signed, with the international financial institutions of Bretton Woods, a programme of structural adjustment. But as the Assembly is aware, the implementation of the measures set forth in such a programme necessarily and always entail consequences which are very difficult for the most disadvantaged strata of the population to bear. What can we say at this stage about the Rio de Janeiro summit? Despite the unhappy realities of the depletion of the ozone layer and the continued degradation of the ecological environment, let us recognize one thing at least: the meeting in Rio de Janeiro had the merit of taking account of our concerns and projections with respect to environmental problems. Now that the relationship between the environment and development is unquestionable, we are resolved no longer to divorce one from the other. In order to ensure the viability of the strategy and programmes adopted by our various development meetings, it is essential to pay particular attention to the environment. Thus, the cooperation of the countries of the North in financing Agenda 21 is absolutely necessary. Democratic transition is a phenomenon which differs according to the specific features of each country. The Comoros itself is of course no exception to this rule. This is regarded as a period of transition which is needed to harmonize the democratic process in all its aspects. Consequently, the Comorian Government, despite a very disturbing financial and economic situation which has produced considerable social tension, has during this transitional stage adopted a posture favourable to dialogue, convinced that confrontation should in all circumstances give way to dialogue. Because of this attitude we are completely in control of the situation. Thus, stability has at no time been jeopardized, as is proved by the fact that we foiled the attempted coup d'etat of 26 September last. This attempt failed because the Comorian people, aware of its Government's efforts to set up the necessary democratic institutions and to create the circumstances which would promote its social development, did not respond to an appeal, the purpose of which was to compromise the chances of creating a real State of law. In order to realize these noble ambitions, the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros is once more turning to the international community, to the United Nations, and to its great family in particular, to remind them that now, more than ever, it has need of their unflagging support to save this embryonic democracy and to place it on a solid basis. I cannot conclude my remarks before the Assembly without referring to the question of the Comorian island of Mayotte, which has appeared on successive agendas of sessions of the General Assembly since we acceded to international sovereignty. This unfortunate problem has been going on for 17 years now and to our great regret pits us against France, a country with which we have very close ties of friendship and cooperation. We will not go into the facts which underlie this problem here since the question is to be the subject of a special debate in a few days. I should simply like to recall that the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros has always favoured dialogue and has always abided by the rule of law in its attempts to find a peaceful solution to the question. Nevertheless, the Comorian Government notes with some bitterness that no decision has as yet been taken on the French side which would show evidence on the part of the French authorities of a desire to find a solution to the problem. Since his accession to the High Court, President Said Mohamed Djohar, with the support of his government, has reaffirmed his desire and resolve to persevere in seeking a solution to the problem of Mayotte, while respecting the law. As they are convinced of the correctness of their claims, the people and the Government of Comoros continue to believe that Mayotte is part of Comorian territory and nothing can undermine their will to work for the reintegration of this land into the Comoros. Hence the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros hopes that it will always be able to rely on the valuable support of the international community to find a prompt solution to this dispute. This assistance is essential if the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros is to regain its territorial integrity and its unity, which are based on ethnogeographical, linguistic, religious, cultural and economic givens, even though ours is an island country. Over and above the policy of economic and financial recovery that has been implemented in the Comoros, my country has resolutely embarked on a process of democratization that has culminated in the adoption of a new Constitution on 7 June this year. In a month's time, the Comorian people is to elect the representatives to the national assembly and to the regional councils and the governors of the islands. Need I recall that the twofold effort of Said Mohamed Djohar and his Government to ensure, firstly, economic and financial recovery and, secondly, to establish democracy, is a major undertaking that requires the necessary conditions to be met for it to succeed. I therefore appeal to the international community to lend its most valuable support to our young democracy. When the San Francisco Charter was adopted, the principal goal of the prime movers of our Organization was to seek ways and means to build, for all nations, a future of peace, progress and justice. Today, this vision of the founding fathers, given the new international relations scene, has the ideal framework for it to be made reality. We therefore must give the United Nations our support, and give it the necessary means, to enable it properly to carry out the mission that has been assigned to it. In conclusion, I reiterate that the Comoros is confident that our Organization can resolve all the problems, of whatever kind, that afflict our world. What is needed here is that States should have the will to contribute to achieving this noble goal.