Congo

I wish to join the many previous speakers who have congratulated the President. I congratulate him most warmly on behalf of the Congolese delegation on his election to preside over the fifty-fourth session, which is a tribute to him personally and to his country, a symbol of the struggle for decolonization in Africa. The Congo, an old friend of Namibia, welcomes his election. I am convinced that thanks to his human qualities and his wealth of experience forged in the liberation struggle and at the head of his country's diplomacy, the work of this session will be carried out harmoniously and successfully. I assure him of the support of my delegation in the discharge of his heavy responsibilities. To his predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, we express our profound gratitude for the ability and skill with which he conducted the work of the last session. To the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, we pay a well-deserved tribute for his profound commitment to the service of peace and development. Lastly, I would like to welcome warmly the new Member States of Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga, whose admission can only strengthen the universal nature of the United Nations. Has not the time come to take stock of our common labour? Will the great family of the United Nations enter the third millennium convinced that it has contributed to promoting the noble ideals contained in the Charter of our universal Organization? Have international peace and security, the development of nations and the rights of citizens been treated in a way that allows us to enter the next century calmly and with hope? In Africa there are still far too many causes for concern. Far too many challenges leave us doubtful, despite some positive events in the continent, in particular the political changes in South Africa and Nigeria. In Angola, the many statements and decisions of the international community remain unimplemented because of Jonas Savimbi's stubborn adherence to the logic of war. The war in Angola, which has rendered fruitless the efforts of an entire generation of diplomats, has revealed the limits of our Organization in the restoration of peace. This is the occasion to reaffirm that the solid base for a definitive resolution of the conflict remains the effective implementation of comprehensive mandatory sanctions. They alone will lead to the complete isolation of Mr. Jonas Savimbi and UNITA, so long as the international community truly complies. With regard to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we welcome the conclusion of the Lusaka Agreement, which opens the way to resolving the political and military crisis in that fraternal country. My country is counting on the commitment of the various protagonists for the Agreement's implementation. We strongly hope that the observer mission planned by the United Nations will be effective and that it will create favourable conditions for the holding of a Great Lakes regional conference, which the international community is calling for wholeheartedly. The conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea is another major concern in Africa. We invite those two fraternal peoples to rise above the situation by fully supporting the peace plan of the Organization of African Unity to put an end to that war. Lastly, we cannot fail to pay tribute to the courage displayed by the authorities of Sierra Leone, who have agreed to pay a very high price for the restoration of peace in that country. In this world, in which the universality of principles is often limited by force, great men can be guided only by the interests of their peoples. A year ago, from this very rostrum, I proclaimed our faith in the future of our country following the civil war that started on 5 June 1997. I said then that for the Congolese Government the future was national reconciliation, the restoration of peace, the reconstruction of the country and the resumption of the democratic process. We have explained this great project wherever and whenever we could — at the United Nations, at the Organization of African Unity and in all our contacts with all of our partners — and we have found understanding and attention everywhere. In the context of the resumption of the democratic process, we have carried out an administrative census of the population in order to identify the electorate; we have elaborated a draft Constitution; and we have established our higher courts — the Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice. 13 Regrettably, this impetus has been hampered by a resumption of violence, orchestrated once again by those who on several occasions plunged our people into mourning — first in 1993-1994 and then in 1997 — and whose only aim is the partition of Congo into ethnic ghettos. The consequences have been catastrophic for the entire country. These have included heinous crimes such as the assassination of officials and leaders of local communities, the kidnapping of tens of thousands of people to serve as human shields for the armed groups, and the systematic destruction of infrastructures vital to the economy of the country. But those plans to overthrow institutions have failed. Today the pacification efforts made by the Government have borne fruit. The fighting has ended. Several former militia members of the failed regime have laid down their weapons and have given themselves up to the authorities. We are also seeing a mass influx of civilians back into Brazzaville and to the main towns in the interior. The guests who did us the honour of participating in the Pan-African Music Festival that the city of Brazzaville hosted from 1 to 8 August 1999 witnessed the determination of the Government and the entire people to rebuild this country as a haven of peace. That event — a time of great joy and reunion for the Congolese people — strengthened our conviction that the worst was behind us and that henceforth we could look to the future with calmness and optimism. All of these steps forward on the path of peace are to the credit of one man, President Denis Sassou Nguesso. His faith in reconciliation and national unity was again made clear on 14 August 1999 on the occasion of the national holiday, when, on behalf of the fraternal republic, he solemnly reaffirmed his desire for dialogue and decided to grant amnesty to all combatants guilty of war crimes who agreed to renounce violence and definitively to lay down their weapons. In this same context of a return to a stable situation under full control throughout the national territory, the Government reiterates its firm and unswerving will to resume the inter-Congolese political dialogue with a view to pacification and reunion in order to consolidate the newfound peace and security, strengthen national unity and the reconciliation of all the sons and daughters of the Congo, rebuild the country on a lasting basis, and resume the democratic process, which had been interrupted by violence. The offer made was favourably received, leading in particular to the return to Brazzaville of many political leaders who had gone into exile following the war of 5 June 1997. We are confident in the positive outcome of this process. In the wake of such a tragic period, naturally we are striving to cope with emergency situations. These include the shelter, management and social reintegration of tens of thousands of displaced persons, a humanitarian tragedy whose scale has not always been clearly perceived by the international community; the protection of people and property; the respect of human rights; and the restoration of normal living conditions in many war-torn communities — an overwhelming task that anyone would agree requires means exceeding by far the capacities of a State bled dry such as Congo is today. We are assuming all of our responsibilities, and here we call on the international community, which should accompany our efforts with greater commitment and contribute, as it wishes to do, to the restoration on a lasting basis of peace, security and democracy and to the reconstruction of Congo. At a time when our people are suffering from poverty and destitution and from the economic crisis, there is no place for conflicts that are both fratricidal and suicidal. In the context of the quest for sustainable and lasting peace and development in Africa, specific and practical measures must be resolutely taken along the lines of the conclusions contained in the report of the Secretary- General of our Organization. Among those conclusions, which we unanimously supported, I would like to mention those relating to the proliferation of, and illicit traffic in, small arms, which is an important factor in the increase in terrorism and crime in our States. That is why, at the thirty-fifth Summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), held last July in Algiers, the African Heads of State and Government devoted most of their consideration to ways and means of consolidating peace in order to create modern States based on the primacy of law, respect of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens, and the democratic governance of public affairs. 14 Along the same lines, on 20 September last, at the opening of the general debate, the current Chairman of the OAU, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, clearly set out in this very Hall Africa's views on the key questions of peace, security, economic development and international cooperation. The Congo associates itself fully with that important declaration. I cannot conclude this political analysis without mentioning other areas of tension that are a source of concern for us at this session. Thus we express the hope that the impetus provided by the Wye River accords and the Sharm el-Sheik Memorandum on the Middle East will be consolidated. The Government of the Congo is also closely following the evolution of the situation in East Timor and welcomes the efforts of the international community, which led to the dispatch of an international force to restore peace in that territory and to ensure the respect of the political will clearly expressed by that people during the referendum organized by the United Nations. On the threshold of the twenty-first century, building peace and security in the world requires real commitment on our part to work for economic and social development. In this context, our planet can never be certain of lasting peace so long as there is destitution and poverty, which not only affect the quality of human life but are also a cause of political instability. But how can we achieve lasting sustainable development when the world economy is opening up no encouraging prospects for developing countries, when debt receives discriminatory treatment in initiatives whose conditions for implementation show how illusory they are, when resources allocated to official development assistance are constantly declining, and lastly, when there is a clear refusal to grant developing countries opportunities to integrate their economies into the new trade system. In any case, because of what is at stake, globalization will be the main challenge of the next century. Today it is giving rise to fears because of the threat it implies to the sovereignty of our States and to our cultural and historical characteristics, and because it raises grave questions about our countries' prospects for development. Its implementation calls more than ever for the creation of appropriate, agreed- upon mechanisms so as to translate into reality hopes for humankind's unified development and for prosperity shared among peoples. It was in this context that recently, at Algiers and at Sirte, that the Heads of State and Government of the member countries of the Organization of African Unity resolutely committed themselves to working for the strengthening of subregional economic groups, in accordance with the spirit of the Abuja Treaty. The coming century will bring with it challenges for our Organization. Overcoming them will require harmonized approaches taken in a representative context. Thus my country attaches particular importance to the strengthening of the role of the United Nations and to the restructuring of its main bodies, so as to combat the uncertainties born of an unequal world and to take firm steps to make multilateralism truly democratic. The United Nations remains an irreplaceable tool. However, it deserves to be rethought and revitalized so that it will be equal to the challenges confronting us. To succeed, we will need to join together the will, the efforts and the means of the whole of the international community. Congo reaffirms its commitment to make its full contribution to the achievement of that goal.