Botswana

I take great pleasure in congratulating you most warmly, my dear brother, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. Your great country, Namibia, and its illustrious leader, President Sam Nujoma, have been very generous indeed in allowing us to benefit from the prodigious knowledge and experience you command on the workings of the United Nations, having spent the better part of your life in this institution. We are confident that under your seasoned leadership the fifty-fourth session will serve as a fitting climax to a tragic century. My delegation is ready to render you all the support you will no doubt need in carrying out your onerous responsibilities. Your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti, has earned our admiration and gratitude by the exemplary manner in which he presided over the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. We thank his country, Uruguay, for allowing us to tap his wisdom and benefit from his leadership skills. Our Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and his team in the Secretariat have continued to discharge their responsibilities with unstinting devotion. The problems they have to deal with, and/or seek solutions to, are enormous, and yet they remain undaunted. We owe them an immense debt of gratitude. We warmly welcome in our midst three new members of our Organization, Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga. We wish them the best and assure them of our friendship and solidarity. Despite the many horrors of the twilight of this turbulent century — the civil wars, the rampant terrorism in many places and other acts of savagery committed against millions of our fellow human beings all over the world — we have made commendable progress in the past few years in the maintenance of global peace and security and the consolidation of freedom and democracy. An increasing number of the world's nations have organized successful elections in the past few years, many with the help of the United Nations. In two weeks’ time, my own country, Botswana, will for the seventh successive time in a generation afford its citizens another opportunity to exercise their democratic right to choose their leaders. Political pluralism may not have taken root in all the corners of the globe, but it has undoubtedly enthralled the imagination of all peoples yearning for freedom. It has become the weapon of choice, a powerful one at that, against tyranny. Democracy is, of course, not necessarily a foolproof panacea against all the societal imperfections that are our natural inheritance as human beings, but we believe that only in societies where the rights of all citizens, their fundamental freedoms, their beliefs, their culture, are protected and allowed the fullest expression possible under the law, can peace prevail. Peace is a prerequisite for development, for sustainable development. At independence in 1966 Botswana was regarded, and rightly so, as an abject basket case, the poorest of the poor of the emerging African nations. Our desire to be free in those inauspicious economic and political circumstances was derided by those who did not wish us well as nothing more than a suicidal wish. Today, a mere generation later, my country prides itself on having one of the fastest growing economies in the world, thanks to the peace and stability we have enjoyed since independence and the wise utilization of the few resources with which our desert- scarred and drought- prone country is, thankfully, endowed. Democracy has been a way of life and second nature to Botswana. We attribute our peace and stability to it. We cannot, of course, forget the support we were given by the international community, particularly during the early years of our independence. This is why we welcome the end, at long last, of military rule in Nigeria, a country whose importance to our continent and to the world at large cannot be gainsaid. A vibrant democracy in Nigeria will have a powerful effect not only on the west African region, but also on the continent as a whole. 5 We pledge our support to our Nigerian brothers and sisters in their struggle to nurture their democracy and to reconstruct their economy as well as to rehabilitate their institutions. We reiterate our aversion to coups and military rule, and laud the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Algiers decision to the effect that from now on those who overthrow Governments by means other than democratic elections will face isolation by our African community. We welcome the signing in Togo recently of a peace agreement between the democratically elected Government of Sierra Leone and the rebels. We understand fully the circumstances which compelled President Kabbah to sign this peace agreement. We hope the agreement will bring peace to Sierra Leone. We urge the international community to contribute generously to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of that devastated country. The Great Lakes region in Central Africa remains unstable, despite the signing recently of an Agreement to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The signing of the Agreement by its Government and its Southern African Development Community (SADC) allies and the rebels is the first step in a difficult journey to peace in Central Africa. The Agreement will, however, amount to nothing without the full support of the international community, in particular that of the United Nations. We therefore urge the Security Council, in collaboration with the Organization of African Unity (OAU), to become actively involved in the full implementation of the Lusaka Agreement. Time is of the essence. The case of Angola is a very sad one. The departure of the United Nations from that war-ravaged country has left a void, which has abetted one of the deadliest conflicts that has ever afflicted Africa. In the absence of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission, it is not possible to assess accurately the magnitude of the slaughter, the starvation and the general mayhem caused by disease and landmines in Angola. Nevertheless, we call upon the international community to intensify its efforts to end the tragedy, and we firmly believe that the tragedy can be ended only by the full implementation of the Lusaka Protocol. We further call upon those among us who continue to give Savimbi’s rebellion sustenance to cease doing so. We must all cooperate in ensuring that sanctions imposed against UNITA are effective. We welcome, in this regard, the Security Council’s recent establishment of panels to investigate violations of the sanctions imposed against UNITA and to find effective ways of tightening them. It is our fervent hope that the panels will not only be able to reveal the identities of UNITA’s merchants of death, but will also advise on how such violators of United Nations sanctions could be deterred from defying the will of the international community. The bloody war that has been raging between the East African neighbours of Eritrea and Ethiopia may be experiencing a lull as we meet here, but the fact, in our view, continues to be that this terrible war does not make sense. It is a war of brothers who, more than anyone else, should have found it easy to sit down to discuss whatever differences might have arisen between them. We urge our two fellow African countries to embrace each other under the OAU-brokered peace agreement and to make peace. The question of Western Sahara has been on our agenda for too long. We urge the parties to redouble their efforts to conclude the identification process so that a referendum can be held to decide the future of Western Sahara once and for all, as called for by the OAU summit in Algiers. The decision by Indonesia last year to allow the people of East Timor to decide their future as they saw fit was hailed by my country — and, I am sure, by many others across the globe — as a momentous and wise one. We lavished praise on Indonesia for this decision, fully conscious of the fact that it could not have been an easy one to make. The decision was quickly followed by the equally momentous Agreement signed in May this year between the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal, on one hand, and the United Nations, on the other, by which the people of East Timor were to decide their future through a referendum. We were therefore disappointed, to put it as mildly as I can, by the tragic events that followed the holding of the referendum. The unleashing of militias on an innocent population — which had, with so much dignity and calm, voted in a referendum, as invited to do by Indonesia and the United Nations — deeply disappointed Indonesia’s friends, including my own country. The destruction of Dili, the capital of East Timor, and its environs by the militias ennobled no one, including Indonesia, and deserves our censure. 6 Now that the East Timorese have unequivocally stated their preference, which is independence, they should be afforded all the assistance they need to fulfil their national aspirations without hindrance. Relations between the soon- to-be independent State of East Timor and the Republic of Indonesia should be cordial, and it is our hope that this will be the case. The resuscitation of the Wye River Memorandum and its implementation recently have given a needed fillip to the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This gives us hope for the final phase of the negotiations that have just begun. We urge the Israeli authorities and the Palestinians to persevere in the quest for peace in the Middle East. In the past few years we have witnessed a proliferation of summits and major conferences aimed at building a consensus on issues as diverse as women and development, youth, the environment, human rights, population and social development, human settlements, education and health. We have also convened conferences to address the dangers of weapons of mass destruction and to intensify the campaign against landmines. If summitry and conferences alone were the solution to the world’s ills, our planet would by now have become a wonderful place to live. But this is not at all the case. The cold war may have ended, but the old danger or threat posed to the security of humankind by weapons of mass destruction remains. This is, as always, exacerbated by the build-up of conventional weapons beyond the legitimate requirements of self-defence. Once again we urge those concerned to show political will and commitment by taking progressive measures to reduce nuclear weapons globally, with the ultimate goal of eliminating them. The adoption by the OAU of the Pelindaba Treaty and the establishment of the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone has demonstrated Africa’s commitment to an early conclusion of a legally binding instrument to avert the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. We will continue to work assiduously with our partners in the developing world to pursue efforts aimed at ridding the southern hemisphere of all weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. Landmines have continued to maim and kill innocent people. We must redouble our efforts to ban their production, stockpiling and use. We must all become party to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The challenges of development have become more formidable in today’s globalizing world. Increased integration of markets and the rapid transfer of technology and of other innovations, as well as a wide array of economic, social and political relationships, band our nations together and dictate a common destiny for our peoples. To survive the global competition, we in the developing world must timeously and adequately respond to the opportunities and challenges facing us. In order to do so we need to vigorously pursue strategies that will increase trade prospects. We need also to raise the productivity of our labour force and the quality of our human resources. It is crucial that in our pursuit of sustainable economic development, the basic tenets of democracy and good governance be upheld at all times and never be sacrificed. At the Algiers summit of the OAU, our leaders had substantive discussions on how to harness the forces of globalization for the benefit of the African region and for the prosperity of our peoples. They solemnly committed themselves to striving to ensure that globalization does not transform Africa into a marginalized bystander. We recognize, however, that to move forward, the entire international community has to be fully engaged. This would by no means be merely a charitable act, but rather an investment in global peace and security. The United Nations, as a universal forum, is uniquely placed to promote international cooperation by addressing the challenges of development in the context of interdependence. However, this can be achieved only if the United Nations is provided adequate financial resources. We note with deep concern that the last five years have seen a steady decline in the resources of the United Nations Development Programme, the leading operational arm of the United Nations. Far too many of our people live in abject poverty. Far too many die of preventable diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. Unemployment remains pervasive, especially among the young. Africa’s economic recovery and growth potential continue to be frustrated by the mounting foreign debt. Despite the numerous relief efforts, a durable solution to the problem has remained unattainable. My delegation acknowledges the efforts being made through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative in 1996. 7 But while the HIPC Initiative can be a catalyst in the search for the solution, it cannot be the solution itself. To reach the heart of the debt problem, it is imperative that the debtors and the creditors acknowledge the seriousness of the problem and work together to strike a compromise that could yield long-term results. We appreciate the efforts being made by the Bretton Woods institutions and the donor Governments to address the debt problem, particularly the seminar recently held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, chaired by the President of Botswana, Mr. Festus Mogae, whose results we hope will be followed up. We still believe, however, that the permanent solution to Africa’s debt problem should go beyond the mere rescheduling of the debt-payment period to outright cancellation and debt forgiveness. The alarming rate of the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is undoubtedly the most worrisome and urgent problem facing sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana being one of the hardest-hit countries. My Government is responding with an aggressive national information and education campaign to combat this destructive disease. The achievements made so far in the health sector and the economy are in jeopardy. The advancement of women and the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against them in many societies are yet to be achieved. Women and young girls are still subjected to all manner of brutalities. The plight of millions of children who are conscripted into armies in various parts of the world is an outrage. The images of children being conscripted and trained to participate in senseless wars caused by the folly of adults dehumanizes us all. Everything must be done to discourage this evil practice and to punish those who insist on perpetrating it. The Government of Botswana fully supports the work of the Special Representative of General Assembly for Children and Armed Conflict and remains fully committed to upholding all the international legal instruments on the rights of children. My delegation attaches great importance to these issues and urges the community of nations here gathered to join their efforts in the search for solutions to these socio-economic problems. In turning now to the reform of the United Nations, let me briefly say the following: A wise man adapts to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. So says a Chinese proverb. That the United Nations, particularly its Security Council, needs to adapt itself to the era in which it exists today, I think is axiomatic. The fact that the Security Council’s undemocratic composition is an insult to the overwhelming majority of the Members of this Organization is also, I think, self-evident and recognized as such even by those who would, if allowed, keep this important organ as it is. Africa, demands to be properly represented in the Security Council in both categories of representation. We will never tire of insisting on our demand for three additional non-permanent seats and at least two permanent seats. Let me conclude by once again wishing you well, Sir, in your tenure of office as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session. We can assure you that our commitment to the United Nations remains as strong as ever. This Organization, I am sure we all agree, is irreplaceable.