Allow me at the outset, Sir, to express my
country’s heartfelt congratulations to you on your
election to the presidency of the General Assembly at
its sixty-third session. We are confident that your
experience and wisdom will crown our work with
success and will result in further progress on the many
important issues on the Assembly’s agenda.
I would like also to express my appreciation to
your predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, for the efforts he
made during his presidency of the General Assembly at
its previous session. Our thanks go also to
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his persistent
efforts to implement United Nations resolutions and
realize the purposes of the Charter.
Humanity faces many problems and serious
challenges, which, no matter how great, would not be
impossible to resolve if we evinced the necessary
political will and made concerted efforts to overcome
them. My country recognizes that peace, security and
stability constitute the cornerstone of progress and
development, especially in Africa. It has therefore
made all possible efforts to resolve disputes in Africa,
as was the case in Chad, the Central African Republic
and the Sudan. My country has also contributed, along
with other African countries and pursuant to
resolutions of the African Union Peace and Security
Council, towards putting an end to the insurgency in
the island of Anjouan in the Union of the Comoros.
United Nations reform remains a matter of
primary importance to the international community.
Reform has indeed become a necessity dictated by the
current dynamics in the international arena. However,
while we commend the efforts of the Open-ended
Working Group on Security Council Reform, which
was chaired by the President of the General Assembly
during its previous session, we feel that the process has
been extremely slow because of broad differences
between the various groups. Nonetheless, we welcome
the consensus reached on the recommendations of the
Open-ended Working Group at the end of the sixty-
second session (decision 62/557). However, we believe
that genuine United Nations reform is reform which
places decision-making power in the hands of the
General Assembly, the world parliament, while
transforming the Security Council into an executive
body that enforces the Assembly’s decisions. We can
thus surmount the veto obstacle which has
concentrated international decision-making power in
the five permanent members of the Council.
My country therefore calls for the convening of a
high-level General Assembly meeting on United
Nations reform, to be held in a European country so
that all world leaders can attend. In that context, we
wish to emphasize that Africa, which is the only
continent with no permanent representation on the
Security Council despite the fact that it represents more
33 08-53135
than one fourth of the total membership of the United
Nations, deserves permanent membership on an equal
footing with other geographical regions. That
representation should be given to the African Union
rather than to any one of its members.
We have reached the midpoint of the period set
for the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals. We express our concern regarding the inability
of many developing countries and least developed
countries, especially in Africa, to achieve the Goals,
we affirm that it is imperative for the international
community to fulfil its commitments in the field of
development assistance, address problems related to
the international trade system, make the World Trade
Organization more effective, and facilitate the
accession to membership of that organization by
developing countries.
In that regard, we welcomed the convening of the
high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly on
22 September 2008, on the theme of Africa’s
development needs. We support the political
declaration adopted at the meeting (resolution 63/1).
We also welcomed the high-level event on the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), held on
25 September 2008. Furthermore, we look forward to
the international follow-up conference on financing for
development to review the implementation of the
Monterrey Consensus, to be held in Doha and we hope
that the Conference will achieve its desired goals.
In that context, my country has contributed to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
through its proposed “Qadhafi Road” across the desert,
which will connect the northern parts of the African
continent with the western and southern parts. It will
be an important artery that will enhance trade among
the continent’s countries.
Corruption, bribery, money-laundering and the
smuggling of funds from illegal sources are among the
major factors which hamper development and the
achievement of the MDGs in developing countries,
especially in Africa. Huge damage is inflicted on
developing countries as a result of the smuggling of
funds across borders, which deprives those countries of
the benefits of those funds, which are deposited in
foreign banks. As the General Assembly has
emphasized in its decisions, those funds should be
returned to countries of origin. I must also note that
there are safe havens that have always been associated
with banking confidentiality, to the point where they
have become known as corridors for criminal money-
laundering and safe havens for stolen funds and
plundered wealth.
It is no longer acceptable to remain silent on
those safe havens, whose financial institutions provide
protection for money generated from corruption and
crime. Those funds are often used by terrorist groups
and organized crime gangs to threaten the security and
stability of States.
My country was among the first States to
highlight the food crisis. The High-Level Conference
on Food Security, held in Rome in June, was a
responsible response from world leaders to the food
crisis and the unprecedented increases in the prices of
food, basic commodities and energy. I would like in
that respect to thank the Secretary-General of the
United Nations and the Director-General of the Food
and Agriculture Organization for their efforts in that
field.
To confront that problem, my country has
adopted development projects and programmes which
aim to achieve food security through improved
investment in the agricultural sector and through
support for farmers. In the African sphere, my country
has allocated $5 billion to finance several development
projects in order to achieve food security in a number
of Sahelo-Saharan African States. It is also in the
process of financing seven additional projects in
African countries.
The food crisis has been a topic of personal
concern for our brother Muammar al-Qadhafi, the
Leader of the Revolution, who in June, at the tenth
session of the summit conference of the Community of
Sahelo-Saharan States, held in Benin, presented his
initiative for the provision of food and the mitigation
of the hunger crisis in Africa. The initiative is based on
the establishment of a self-sustaining mechanism and
the harnessing of modern machinery and technology to
reclaim lands and farm vast areas in Africa, through the
launching of a green campaign. The campaign will
make it possible to farm vast areas of land in the
Sahelo-Saharan States by mechanized means instead of
traditional methods.
Developed countries can help Africa find a
solution to the food crisis by increasing agricultural
development assistance and investment in projects such
as hydroelectric dams and development projects in lake
08-53135 34
areas, such as Lake Chad. Such investments will make
a great contribution to agricultural development on the
African continent.
Climate change and its negative impact will
hamper the development efforts of many developing
countries and will undermine their development gains.
Libya is among the States affected by climate change,
as it is located in an arid/semi-arid geographical area,
and most of its territory is desert. Libya also suffers
from desertification and water scarcity. Libya has made
persistent efforts to address these challenges, including
through the Great Man-Made River Project network,
which is intended to overcome the problems of
desertification and drought.
Confronting climate change requires an effective
and well coordinated international effort, based on the
principle of common but differentiated responsibility
agreed upon in the Rio Conference. From that
perspective, we call for accelerated efforts to reach a
comprehensive international agreement to address the
root causes of climate change and to provide
adaptation measures to developing countries.
We believe in the purposes of the United Nations
Charter, which calls for the establishment of a world in
which peace and security prevail. The elimination of
weapons of mass destruction is an essential factor in
building confidence and promoting world peace,
stability and security, and my country has voluntarily
relinquished all its programmes to develop
internationally prohibited weapons of mass destruction,
while emphasizing the right to use atomic energy for
peaceful purposes. But we strongly oppose the use of
double standards on the issue of nuclear
non-proliferation. We condemn any discrimination
between one State and another in this respect and call
for making the Middle East a region free from all
weapons of mass destruction.
The Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines
should be reviewed to reflect the concerns of many
countries, such as requiring States that lay landmines to
remove them and to address the inflicted damage,
including by providing treatment and compensation for
the injured and by rehabilitating the damaged
environment.
Terrorism remains a matter of concern for all
members of the international community. Despite all
the measures taken to combat terrorism, thanks to
international cooperation under the United Nations
umbrella, this issue still poses a challenge to the
international community and is an obstacle to the
achievement of development, security and stability in
many parts of the world.
Eradicating this phenomenon requires the
adoption of a specific definition of terrorism. Terrorism
must not be confused with the legitimate right of
peoples to resist foreign occupation and claim their
right to freedom, independence and self-determination.
Furthermore, associating terrorism with any specific
religion, nationality or culture is bound to inflame
conflict among civilizations, religions and cultures.
Such a situation is untenable and is incompatible with
the goal of international relations based on mutual
respect among States, cultures and systems of
government. In this regard, we wish to point out that
policies and practices of foreign occupation based on
violations of human rights guaranteed by all
international instruments and conventions constitute
one of the worst forms of terrorism in our modern
world.
The United Nations Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees, adopted in 1951, provides an ideal
definition of refugee status, in addition to the definition
included in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. It is therefore regrettable that some States use
this concept to camouflage their intentions regarding
other States. Under the pretext of fostering democracy
and respect for human rights, which is a noble goal,
those countries have opened the door of political
asylum to all seekers, including thieves, smugglers of
their countries’ wealth, fugitives from prosecution and
terrorists, enabling them to continue their subversive
activities against their home countries. My country
believes that it is of paramount importance to establish
international criteria and controls governing political
asylum, while carefully observing human rights. We
also believe that such criteria and controls would have
a positive impact on the fight against corruption and
terrorism while promoting democracy and preventing
armed conflict.
The Palestinian people are still suffering under
the Israeli occupation, which has lasted for more than
60 years, subjecting Palestinians to the worst forms of
occupation and destruction directed against civilians.
The achievement of peace and stability in the area is
impeded by the unjust siege imposed by the Israeli
occupation forces on 1.5 million Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip and the continuation of settlement activities
35 08-53135
on occupied Palestinian territory, ignoring and
deliberately breaching the principles of international
humanitarian law and the principles of human rights,
coupled with policies of home demolition, land
confiscation, the displacement of populations and the
intensification of arrests.
Indeed, peace and stability in the area can only be
attained through the return of all Palestinian refugees
to their homeland and the establishment of a
democratic State on the land of Palestine in which
Arabs and Jews can live, enjoying full rights and
obligations, as our brother, the Leader of the
Revolution, proposed in his recent book.
My country has always emphasized that there can
be no comprehensive peace in the Middle East unless
the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan and the
Lebanese territories is ended. In this framework, we
reiterate our call to the international community to
demand and enforce the withdrawal of Israeli
occupation forces from all occupied Arab lands and to
ensure that their rightful owners are compensated for
damages suffered as a consequence of that occupation.
My country welcomes the tangible improvement
in the security situation in Iraq and believes that
stability in that fraternal country depends on the
achievement of genuine national reconciliation which
would overcome sectarian and religious differences
and lead to the withdrawal of foreign forces.
We express our deep concern at the situation in
Somalia. My country is of the opinion that the
international community should expeditiously dispatch
forces to that country, in coordination with the African
Union, to protect civilians and humanitarian workers
and to assist in the implementation of the Djibouti
Agreement, in order to put an end to the long suffering
of the Somali people.