Tanzania

Permit me to begin by congratulating Her Excellency Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa on her well deserved election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first session. This is an important milestone on the gender agenda of the United Nations. I wish her great success and assure her of Tanzania’s full support and cooperation as she discharges her duties. I would also like to commend her predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his able stewardship of the Assembly’s sixtieth session. Under his leadership, Tanzania was privileged to co-chair, with Denmark, negotiations that led to the operationalization of the Peacebuilding Commission. 15 06-52885 I stand before this Assembly as the fourth President of my country, Tanzania, following another successful democratic election last year. This is the third smooth transition of power in Tanzania. I took over from my eminent predecessor in office, His Excellency Benjamin William Mkapa, who has remained active both at home and abroad. He remains my useful and wise counsel, as does his predecessor His Excellency Ali Hassan Mwinyi. Among the many functions that former President Mkapa continues to discharge for our country and the human family as a whole is his membership in the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on System-Wide Coherence, which is an important task on our agenda for the reform of the United Nations. Such was the success of the previous administration that I can only come before you with one central message — a message of policy continuity, nationally, regionally and internationally. We will continue the efforts of the previous administration to promote peace, stability and national unity. In addition, we shall redouble our efforts to uphold and strengthen good democratic governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and intensify the fight against corruption. We feel greatly honoured in this regard that the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption decided to hold its second global conference in Arusha in two days’ time, in recognition and support of our efforts. Tanzania also made impressive economic strides, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. I intend to sustain and enhance that record with greater zeal, vigour and speed. Similarly, Tanzania has emerged as one of the best-practice cases in terms of ownership of the development agenda and the harmonization and coordination of development assistance. I will advance this policy and practice during my tenure in the hope that it will contribute to the realization of the theme of this General Assembly: the implementation of a global partnership for development. In view of this record, and given our political and macro-economic stability and political will, Tanzania is now well poised to accelerate the pace towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. For this to happen, however, we need international support to upgrade our infrastructure and build capacity for value-addition processes and human resource development. Fortunately, the framework for such international support already exists, for example through the Monterrey Consensus. I believe Tanzania has lived up to its commitment under the Global Compact for development. I now call upon our development partners to do likewise. Cognizant of the role of the private sector as the engine of growth in Tanzania, we have implemented far-reaching policies and institutional reforms geared to creating an environment conducive to the thriving of private business. The World Bank’s “Doing Business 2007” report recognizes Tanzania as one of the top-ten best reforming countries in the world. That means that Tanzania has again fulfilled its commitments under the Global Compact. We therefore call upon our development partners to buttress our efforts and assist the private sector in responding positively. The success of whatever we try to do nationally depends critically on a peaceful neighbourhood. For too long, Tanzania has suffered from the consequences of conflict and instability in the Great Lakes region, including hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees and the destruction of infrastructure and the environment, and in terms of time and resources deployed in facilitating conflict resolution. For this reason, Tanzania will continue to play its part in the quest for peace, security, stability and development in the Great Lakes region. Significant progress has been achieved in the political and security situation in the Great Lakes region. We appreciate the support of the United Nations and other partners in the regional peace processes. Tanzania welcomes and commends the Government of Burundi and the Parti pour la libération du peuple hutu-Forces nationales de libération rebel group for finally signing the ceasefire agreement. We are humbled that we could be given an opportunity to make our contribution. We promise to continue to be useful in whatever way may be required. Likewise, I commend the Government, the major political actors and the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for holding the long-awaited elections. We urge that the forthcoming second round of elections be conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner. Tanzania, as Chair of the Southern African Development Community Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, will play its role in support of this 06-52885 16 process. As a friendly neighbour, we will endeavour to be as useful as is necessary. Moreover, Tanzania, as current chair of the Initiative for Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region, will continue to work closely with other members to ensure a successful Second International Conference on the Great Lakes Region later this year in Nairobi. I wish to put on record our sincere gratitude to the Group of Friends of the Great Lakes Region for their support. I appeal to them and the international community to remain engaged with this process. Peace seems to have eluded the world. Reports of wars and violent conflicts are headline news in most of our media. Unfortunately Africa, the poorest of the continents, has had an unfair share of conflict. Like other delegates, we express our concern for the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur, and call for continued engagement at the regional level and by the international community. Likewise, we are deeply concerned about the situation in Somalia, Côte d’Ivoire and elsewhere on the continent. The continuing impasse on the issue of the Western Sahara is unfortunate. After 31 years, it is high time that the United Nations redouble its efforts to resolve this matter. The United Nations resolved the question of East Timor, which has a lot of similarities to that of the Saharans. The people of Western Sahara deserve no less from their United Nations. I believe it could be done if all parties played their part appropriately. Turning to the situation in the Middle East, I am pleased to see the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon holding, and troop contributing countries responding positively in reinforcing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The 34-day war in Lebanon took international attention away from the plight of the Palestinian people. The lack of progress towards a negotiated two- State solution and the decline in confidence in the peace process are worrying developments. We call upon the Quartet, and encourage bilateral and other multilateral initiatives, to revive the peace process laid down in the road map. A just, viable, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East can come only through negotiations, and no other way. Tanzania welcomes and applauds the adoption by the General Assembly of a comprehensive Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288). It is our expectation that the differences that arose during the negotiations will not stand in the way of the Strategy’s implementation. After experiencing a major terrorist attack on our soil in 1998, Tanzania has always repeated its resolve to cooperate with others to combat terrorism in all its manifestations. The threat of terrorism is global and complex; it demands our collective efforts and an adaptive strategy to contain it. Thank God we already have that strategy — let us implement it. Tanzania has always stood for the sovereign equality of nations and for the primacy of multilateralism in global governance and in addressing global issues. We have always cherished and stood for the central role of the United Nations in global affairs. We promise to continue to be faithful and responsible members of the United Nations. It is now our intention to participate more actively in United Nations peacekeeping missions and operations. We have always believed that the United Nations of today has to reflect, in its structure, policies, programmes and activities, the realities of the world of today, not that of sixty years ago. The United Nations has to move with the changing times and aspirations of its membership. I want to reaffirm Tanzania’s continued commitment to these urgent and legitimate demands. We are very much committed to the reform agenda of the United Nations, especially reform of the Security Council to make it more representative and more responsive to changing realities. Tanzania’s term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council will end in three months. I would like to thank all members for having accorded my country the honour of serving in that very important United Nations organ. We thank our fellow Council members for their cooperation and support during our term of office. As we prepare to leave the Council, we are gratified that we were able to organize a special Council meeting to discuss the situation in the Great Lakes region at which useful conclusions and decisions were made. As we prepare to leave the Council, we are also gratified that we have taken note of the feeling in the Council of the need to reform that body. Let us pluck up courage and take the bull by the horns. 17 06-52885 Allow me to pay special tribute to our outgoing, illustrious Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan — a great internationalist and a great statesman. We congratulate him for a job well done and for his able leadership during a particularly difficult period for the world, for the United Nations and for him, personally. He will be remembered as one who challenged the Organization to live up to the true promise of multilateralism, through delivering collective security, pursuing fundamental human rights and the rule of law and promoting human development. We thank him and wish him the best of luck on his retirement. I hope that he will be given time to retire.