Zambia

I join other speakers who have already addressed the Assembly, Sir, in congratulating you on your well-deserved election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. Your unanimous election is a clear demonstration of the confidence this Assembly has in you and in your country, Namibia, with which my country enjoys very friendly and warm relations. It is especially significant that you come from Namibia, a country whose independence stands as a crowning moment in our Organization’s support for the right of peoples under colonial and foreign domination to self-determination and independence. I am confident that, given your experience and diplomatic skills, you will guide the work of this session successfully. I wish to take this opportunity to commend your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti of Uruguay, for the able manner in which he presided over the fifty-third session. In the same vein, I would like to place on record my country’s deepest appreciation of the work of the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, whose leadership is well respected and has given new impetus to the implementation of the United Nations reform programme. 19 As you rightly observed in your statement to this Assembly, Sir, the fifty-fourth session is the last to be convened in the twentieth century, a century that saw the creation of the United Nations from the ashes and ravages of the Second World War. Indeed, the world cannot but thank the founding fathers of our Organization for their foresight and wisdom. The relevance of this Organization has continued to grow since its inception, and is today exemplified by the universality of its membership, which has grown from the original 51 States in 1945 to the present 188 States. It goes without saying that since the membership of the United Nations has been growing, there should have been a continuous and corresponding process of reform of the decision-making structures and processes of the Organization in order to make the world body as representative as possible. It is a matter of considerable disappointment, however, that while reform of the administrative structures has, to a large degree, been accomplished, reform of the Security Council has not moved in tandem. As members are all aware, the creation of the United Nations was intended to strengthen international peace and security. Regrettably, a number of States continue to be threatened in our time by the dangerous proliferation of small arms and light weapons acquired by non-state entities. The continued proliferation and illegal transfer of small arms, among other factors, are responsible for the supply of the weapons being used in conflict situations across the African continent. I would therefore like to appeal to all Member States to support and strengthen the United Nations monitoring mechanisms on the transfer of these arms, particularly to non-state entities, in order to forestall this problem. Related to the problem of small arms is the question of landmines planted in large tracts of land in many countries, rendering unusable what otherwise is productive land. The impact of landmines has also had a telling toll on the provision of social services in the affected countries. I equally appeal to Member States, parties to the United Nations Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, to implement the Maputo Declaration and programme of action, adopted in May this year. Only a strong and viable United Nations can constitute the much-needed viable vehicle to achieve this goal. My delegation is therefore deeply concerned about the continued deterioration of the financial situation of the United Nations. This situation is well known to all of us in this Assembly, as it has been the focus of our discussions for the past five years. Reform of the United Nations will not be implemented effectively if the financial situation is not seriously addressed. It is the inescapable duty of all of us to honour our obligations by ensuring that we pay our assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions. This will enable the Organization to function smoothly and more effectively to execute the mandate we have entrusted to it. That among many other reasons is why we want to build strong economies in Africa to enable us shoulder our obligations. But external debt remains both a burden and a major impediment to the development process of many developing countries, including my country, Zambia. While we welcome the recent outcome of the Group of Eight meeting held in Cologne, Germany, on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative, the measures for faster, broader and deeper debt relief, in our view, will not be sufficient to resolve the external debt problem of developing countries, especially the poorest among them, unless they are translated into real tangible, practical economic development programmes. It is the view of my Government that the Group of Eight target for debt relief of about $100 billion for the poorest countries in the world, the majority of which are in Africa, will have little effect on the problem unless the terms of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative are further revised in such a way as to make them more flexible and better tailored to suit the specific conditions of the targeted countries. Many of us in the developing countries understand that, in order to survive and contribute positively in the global markets, we need to make our economies more competitive. In this regard, many of our countries have embarked on the implementation of structural adjustment programmes. Our efforts are, however, hampered by the huge debt burden which takes away large amounts of resources from our countries through debt servicing. The declining levels of official development assistance and foreign direct investment to our countries, combined with the debt burden, have made economic reforms difficult and have slowed down the pace of economic growth and development. 20 The solution to this is for all concerned to approach the question of debt with open minds, with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem. Added to that problem is the spread of HIV/AIDS. This is a matter of grave concern to my country and to Africa as a whole. This disease has continued to overwhelm the continent and to rob it of its meagre material and financial resources through devastation of its youthful and active population. It is therefore necessary for all humanity to rise to regard HIV/AIDS as a global problem and to act in unison. I therefore call upon the international community to redouble its efforts in fighting this scourge. Let me take this opportunity to report to this body that last week, from 12 to 16 September 1999, Zambia hosted the eleventh International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa. The holding of that Conference, which adopted a programme of action to fight the spread of this deadly disease in Africa in the twenty- first century, is among other things a demonstration of the African continent’s commitment to fight against this deadly disease. It is my hope that the United Nations will therefore embrace the outcome of the Conference and provide the necessary leadership in the fight against this pandemic, which threatens the very survival of humankind. The AIDS problem deserves our collective moral and political will to combat it successfully. Let me now turn to the phenomenon of the conflicts which have continued to bedevil Africa. In our own Southern African subregion, the conflicts in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not only a threat to peace and security but have also been a major impediment to the economic development of the region. The resumption of hostilities in Angola in December 1998, after four years of relative peace following the signing of the Lusaka Protocol, is regrettable. As the Assembly is aware, this unfortunate state of affairs was occasioned by the intransigence of UNITA with regard to the implementation of the remaining tasks under the Lusaka Protocol. Every effort should therefore be made to bring an end to the hostilities. With regard to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Assembly will recall that on 2 August 1998 a conflict erupted in that country. In response to this serious development, a series of efforts by regional heads of State and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) were immediately undertaken in search of a peaceful solution to the conflict. At the summit held at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from 7 to 8 September 1998, the regional heads of State mandated me to chair the regional mediation effort, with the assistance of OAU. For a period of almost a year, I have, on behalf of our region, carried out exhaustive consultations inside and outside Zambia, and convened a number of meetings at the level of experts and Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers. Let me state here that, right from the outset, regional leaders acknowledged the need to involve the Congolese rebel movement in the mediation process to ensure that the outcome would be respected by and acceptable to all. The process initially engaged the rebel movement through a proximity mechanism. Later, however, the rebels, who now included the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), were invited to participate directly in the peace talks with all the other parties to the conflict. On 10 July 1999, our perseverance on the regional and Pan-African levels finally paid off when heads of State of all the six States parties to the conflict signed the Ceasefire Agreement in Lusaka. Unfortunately, a split in the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) the previous May led to differences over who should sign the Agreement on behalf of the movement, which prevented them from appending their signature on that occasion. The other non-State party to the conflict, the MLC, also chose not to sign the Agreement until the differences within the RCD were resolved. In order to secure the signatures of the RCD and the MLC, I was mandated by the regional heads of State to carry out further consultations with the two movements. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that these efforts culminated in the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement by the MLC and the RCD on 1 August and 31 August 1999 respectively. Allow me at this juncture to place on record my sincere appreciation for the cooperation and assistance I received from all my colleagues in the region and other African leaders, the United Nations, OAU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the execution of my mandate. The Ceasefire Agreement is an all-embracing document which addresses all aspects of the conflict, including the security concerns of all the countries neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I wish to inform the Assembly that the implementation process of the Agreement has already 21 begun in earnest. Both the Political Committee and the Joint Military Commission met on 2 and 3 September 1999 in Lusaka with the participation of all members except the MLC, whose representatives were not able to travel to Lusaka because of logistical constraints. Among the issues considered by the meetings were: first, the formal installation of the Chairman of the Commission, Brigadier-General Rachid Lallali, from Algeria; the budget of the Joint Military Commission; its structures; and its programme of work. The representative of OAU briefed the meetings on OAU activities in support of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the United Nations representative briefed them on the relationship that is expected to prevail between the United Nations and the Joint Military Commission. The Commission is scheduled to meet again on 10 October 1999. For peace to prevail in the Democratic Republic of Congo, United Nations support for the successful and comprehensive implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement is of paramount importance. For this reason, I wish to commend the Secretary-General for his timely and positive response in sending a team of military liaison personnel to the region. The United Nations must move more expeditiously than it has in the past if the job it does is to be commensurate with the tasks facing it in the field. To this end, I make an earnest appeal to the United Nations that the Organization, first, should authorize and support the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with an appropriate mandate and, on an appropriate scale, based on the assessed needs on the ground; second, it should quickly dispatch the technical survey team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in addition to the team of military liaison personnel which has already been sent to that country and some of its neighbours; third, it should make available adequate resources for the peacekeeping mission; fourth, it should extend necessary and adequate support to facilitate the process of internal dialogue within the Democratic Republic of the Congo; fifth, it should help in the mobilization of humanitarian assistance for the Congolese refugees and internally displaced persons and facilitate their return and resettlement; and sixth, it should assist with resources for the economic reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I need not remind the Assembly of the solemn and important responsibility that the United Nations bears on behalf of us all in the maintenance of international peace and security. It is, therefore, incumbent upon it to ensure that peace prevails in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To this end, it should learn from the lessons of the past and avoid costly mistakes. Time is of the essence. What is equally of the essence is the need to address the root causes of the poverty confronting third world countries. The world community must tackle those root causes with speed and urgency. This session of the General Assembly is meeting against a backdrop of growing tensions and armed conflicts, especially in the third world. These developments, coming towards the close of the twentieth century, are an indictment of the world’s global structures, which pose today, more than at any other time in history, a challenge to the very articles of faith upon which this organization was founded. The challenges cannot be wished away, nor can they be remedied by empty words. Global poverty can be eradicated only with a concerted global programme. Solving the issue of poverty would solve the problem of conflict and instability in the developing countries, and unless the world addresses these underlying causes of conflict, they will continue to be major sources of friction that will threaten and undermine international peace and security. Events in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Kosovo and now in East Timor cannot but exert more pressure on the time and resources of the international community in general and particularly on the Security Council. But this is the mission of that world body: to attend to just such areas of conflict. Admittedly, these are the most perilous times Africa has ever faced. The multiple dangers of armed conflict and general political instability and the ever-growing danger posed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic can only call for concerted joint world efforts to help reduce the dangers that face Africa and the world in general. There are various ways the world can come to the aid of Africa, the most important of which are through aid and by creating conditions to make it possible for Africa to trade with the international community on terms acceptable to all. Africa is not asking for charity. No, Africa is asking for genuine trade. Africa is not asking for arms. No, Africa is asking for fair and equitable recompense for its labour and resources. Africa is not asking for pity, but genuine partnership based on mutual interests. 22 The relationship between poverty and political instability can no longer be in any way doubted. It is not good enough for the developed world to demand good governance — an indefinable term — while creating conditions of poverty by bad governance in the economic area. Justice must prevail in our economic relations in order to lay the foundation for political and social justice. A start should now be made by reviewing the inequitable conditions imposed by the World Trade Organization, which, if maintained, will only ensure continued marginalization of third world countries, condemning them to poverty and further instability. I am quite aware that this forum may not be the appropriate one for addressing these issues, but it definitely has the right people to address the issues I have raised. Therefore, my fervent prayer and hope is that we enter the new millennium with a renewed sense of unity of purpose to eradicate manifest global injustices and create a more equitable world where want will not create chaos and instability.