Rwanda

I wish first of all, on behalf of my delegation, to join other speakers in congratulating you, Sir, on your unanimous election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. The tact and insight you have displayed from the outset bode well for the success of our work. I also pay tribute to His Excellency Mr. Didier Opertti, who guided the work of the Assembly at its fifty-third session, and to His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan for his timely report on the work of the Organization and for the important statement he delivered to the General Assembly. On behalf of my country, I welcome the new Members of the United Nations: the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. We congratulate them warmly on joining the great United Nations family. During the twentieth century, which is now drawing to a close, the world has been profoundly affected by many striking events. In the sphere of technology, for example, we have seen great progress leading to the expansion of communication to the point where the world has become a global village. The world rejoices at its liberation from apartheid and from colonialism in nearly all countries. Here, my delegation welcomes the endeavours of the United Nations, including its focus on the solidarity that is the foundation of our Organization, which led to that success. But those positive achievements do not mean that all has been perfect in the twentieth century. In fact, a variety of disasters and tragedies inflicted on humans by humans continue to ravage mankind. Despite scientific progress, epidemics continue to take human lives by the thousand. Two particularly dreadful world wars devastated the world. Hateful acts of genocide have been committed. In that connection, my country, Rwanda, had the misfortune in 1994 to be the victim of a genocide that took more than a million lives. Planned and organized by the government machinery of the day, that genocide was carried out in full view of the international community, which was unable to stop it. The people of Rwanda appeals to the conscience of the international community never again to permit such a tragedy anywhere in the world. We have every right to expect this. As we express that wish, investigations have been carried out by countries such as Belgium and France, and others, by the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations, are under way to identify those responsible for the genocide in Rwanda. We want those responsible to be subject to punishment throughout the world. Further, we welcome the General Assembly address by President Clinton of the United States, in which he referred to the creation of an international coalition against genocide, an idea that had been put forward at the fiftieth session by His Excellency Mr. Pasteur Bizimungu, President of the Rwandese Republic. In the wake of the genocide, nearly the entire population of Rwanda was displaced. Most Rwandese were widows, of whom 34 per cent had become heads of household. There were thousands of orphans, most of whom had also become heads of their households. Many children were involved in these acts of genocide; they deserve to be reeducated in an appropriate setting. My Government has an ambitious programme to take up the challenge of helping survivors of the genocide coexist with the perpetrators. We are fortunate today that thanks to the vigorous measures which have been taken and to the support of the international community, my Government has been able to ensure security throughout its territory, bring the refugees home and house them, get the economy back on track and ensure food security. After the genocide of 1994, Rwanda found itself with its judicial system completely destroyed and its prisons crammed with suspects. The Government therefore began rebuilding the national judicial system and collaborated in establishing international judicial machinery to deal with that heinous crime against humanity, genocide. I must pay a tribute here to the international community, which came to my country’s assistance by establishing the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). But we must highlight that although we welcome the establishment of the Tribunal, we regret the slowness of its trial procedures and its sometimes secretive way of choosing suspects to try. The Government of Rwanda states that it is nevertheless willing to collaborate with the Tribunal and to do everything possible to speed up its proceedings. One of the difficulties involved in arresting the criminals who committed genocide in Rwanda is that when the Government that organized the genocide fell, all its various acolytes scattered throughout the world. Fortunately, some of them have been arrested with the 27 assistance of the countries that took them in. We wish to pay a ringing tribute to the fraternal countries that have arrested and extradited criminals sought by the Tribunal for Rwanda. We urge them to continue their cooperation and call on those that have not yet been able to do so to fulfil this obligation to humankind. We note with satisfaction also that in his report (S/1999/957) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, the Secretary-General recommends to the Security Council that it should make full cooperation obligatory between Member States with the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for Yugoslavia. We note also that this recommendation by the Secretary-General is in line with the wishes of the several speakers who have spoken up either in the Security Council or here in the Assembly, against the culture impunity. In this we find hope that there will never again, anywhere in the world, be a genocide. I would mention another very important programme by my Government: for national reconciliation and to establish the constitutional rule of law. As part of the programme, my Government has established two commissions: the National Commission for Human Rights and the Commission for National Unity and Reconciliation. The mission of these two commissions is to promote the positive values of mutual respect and national reconciliation which, along with education in participatory democracy, are the top priorities for the people of Rwanda. Concerning the democratization of our institutions, it is a pleasure for me to announce from this rostrum that the democratization process has started, with local elections, which should ensure, more than before, participation by the population in managing the business of the State. This process also has on its agenda the purpose of giving young people and women a greater role in that management. The United Nations has a Charter whose principles and purposes serve to guide us towards a world of solidarity, of harmony and security. But there have been many failures despite our common aspirations to peace. This is sufficient proof that the way in which our Organization is functioning betrays its very reason for existence. That is why, during this session, many delegations — and particularly the current President of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika — have shown that reform of the United Nations and, more particularly, of the Security Council is both necessary and urgent. We join those delegations that have already spoken in favour of this long-awaited reform. A few moments ago I referred to the great achievements of science. Here, I could not fail to mention the concept of globalization. Convinced of the benefits of trade and between peoples, we in Rwanda believe that this new system brings with it new hopes. Nevertheless, we fear that the structural differences between our various economies will require altering the expectations of our peoples, whom globalization is supposed to serve. We therefore believe that the effectiveness of globalization will be measured in terms of how it contributes to resolving such sensitive questions as the poverty eradication, the debt burden, and peace and security. Another factor for the success of globalization is the establishment of viable regional economic arrangements through integration based on cooperation between developing countries. We are happy that Africa has already started to move in this direction, whether within OAU or the African Economic Community or in subregional organizations. We are very pleased also to note the contribution of the economic organizations in Africa, not only to the development effort but also to conflict prevention and resolution. In this connection we applaud the role the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have played in preventing and resolving conflicts in the subregion. We likewise applaud the regional and bilateral initiatives that have given rise to such great hopes for peace, particularly in West Africa, in the Horn of Africa, in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, in East Timor and in the Balkan region. We do earnestly request the international community to support these efforts. I particularly applaud the efforts of the Secretary- General and the resolve he has shown in increasing the efficiency of the United Nations in the area of peace and international security. The delegation of Rwanda, for its part, contributed to the discussions of the Security Council on 17 and 30 September this year (S/PV.4046 (Resumption 1) and S/PV.4049 (Resumption 2)), on conflict in Africa. In this respect, my delegation truly appreciates the very important contribution of the President of Zambia, Frederick Chiluba, in Security Council discussions (S/PV.4047). The Agreement on a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo signed in Lusaka on 10 July 1999 (S/1999/815) is a commitment by the signatories to respect and participate fully in the peace process. Two important clauses support this agreement: first, the clause on inter-Congolese political negotiations towards a new 28 political order in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and secondly, the clause on pursuing and disarming the armed groups, including former Rwandan soldiers and the Interahamwe militias who perpetrated the genocide of 1994 and later became integrated into the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Agreement also provides for various methods by which it is to be put into effect, and also contains clauses that will help preserve it in both spirit and letter. In this respect, I recall that subparagraph b of paragraph 2 of article 1 of the Agreement requires the signatories parties to cease hostile propaganda; the goal is to ensure that the Ceasefire Agreement is respected. Nevertheless, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Ndombasi, from this rostrum, violently attacked my country, Rwanda. There is no need for me to revisit those outrageous accusations, because our representative has had the occasion to explain our intervention in the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I simply wish to respond to one of his concerns, many times repeated in his statement. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo several times over asked this Assembly to intercede with Rwanda so that Rwanda withdraws from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By way of response, I declare before this Assembly that Rwanda welcomes and supports the outcome of the African initiative and urges the international community to give its unconditional support to the implementation of the terms of this Agreement by all the parties, which must refrain from any violation of the ceasefire. Unfortunately, we are receiving news that the contrary is happening, for those who call for implementation of the ceasefire are the first to violate it. Nr. Jusys (Lithuania), Vice-President, took the Chair. For two years already, the Kinshasa Government has been training, equipping and enrolling in its own army ex- officers of the former Rwandan armed forces who committed acts of genocide and should be prosecuted. Furthermore, these officers, who directed the genocide, are on the headquarters staff of the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As the representative of Burundi has just said, these armed elements are fomenting insecurity and propagating the idea of genocide throughout the region. Now that the Lusaka Agreement has been signed by all the parties to the conflict, we dare to hope that a United Nations peacekeeping force will be deployed as soon as possible, and that soon peace will reign in our subregion. May this Agreement enjoy the full support of the entire international community.