Senegal

In electing you unanimously to preside over its at the fifty-fourth session, Sir, the General Assembly paid a well-deserved tribute to your country, the sister Republic of Namibia, which in November 1989, under the auspices of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group, organized that land's first free and fair elections, which marked the successful culmination of the legitimate, heroic struggle of the Namibian people for independence, under the leadership of the South-West Africa People's Organization 6 (SWAPO) and its President, His Excellency Mr. Sam Nujoma. Now, following this happy sequence of events, we are now pleased to see Namibia at the helm of this historic session of the General Assembly, represented by you yourself. On behalf of the delegation of Senegal, Sir, I convey to you our warmest, fraternal congratulations; we wish you every success in your high post. I wish also to convey my sincere and warm congratulations to your predecessor, Minister Didier Opertti, on the competent, committed and authoritative way in which he guided the work of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. Finally, I wish once again to offer Secretary-General Kofi Annan my encouragement as he continues, with energy, intelligence and vision, to carry out his delicate tasks authoritatively and successfully in a particularly difficult global context. I feel bound to say that his election to head the Secretariat of the United Nations was a source of pride for Africa and a source of satisfaction for all peace- and justice-loving countries. During the Secretary- General's visit to Senegal, Mr. Abdou Diouf, President of the Republic of Senegal, made it clear that the Senegalese Government was committed to and actively supported the Secretary-General. I take genuine pleasure and great joy in welcoming among us the delegations representing the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga, which have just been admitted as full-fledged Members of the great United Nations family. These admissions attest to and bolster the universal character of our Organization, thus helping strengthen its aims and principles. Allow me to use the idea of universality to explain and justify, if that is necessary, my country's unreserved support for the admission of the Republic of China, with its 22 million inhabitants, as a full Member of the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The Republic of China — a democratic country concerned with safeguarding and promoting human rights, a world economic Power recognized by nations, and, last but not least, a nation that maintains trade relations through commercial delegations — shares with deep conviction our common faith in the noble ideals of peace, solidarity and cooperation enshrined in the Charter. That country, for the sake of the principle of the universality of our Organization, should take its place once more. Simple justice requires this, and the ideals embodied in our Charter dictate it, because it is in the name of these principles that other States are admitted as Members of this Organization, which I welcome. Our fifty-fourth regular session, we must all agree, is an event of great historical and political significance. Historical, because it is the penultimate session — or the last, depending on how you look at it — of the twentieth century, the century in which it was born, after two world wars and other great calamities for humankind, the consequences of which are still being felt. This century has also been one of light, with tremendous advances achieved by the human race in various fields, particularly in science and technology. This session takes on special political importance because it is an irreplaceable tool in the service of peace, international security, cooperation and the promotion of human rights and is a timely opportunity for dialogue, reflection and preparation for the great encounters of the coming millennium. At the threshold of the third millennium, we should wonder and think together, in the framework of this Organization, about what kind of peace, development and solidarity we should build in the coming century. It is a recognized fact that current changes, the range of whose effects in the political, economic and social spheres cannot be foreseen, call inevitably for a deep-going reform of the United Nations and impose a need to adapt the Organization to the demands of the times. Thus, we need to be clear-sighted, creative and realistic and make innovative, broad-ranging and constructive proposals that can be translated into concrete actions taken solely in the interests of all our peoples and all our nations, which make up the family that we call humankind. In this respect, reform of the Security Council is a major test of our resolve to modernize this important body, which we need to endow with greater transparency, greater democracy, greater authority and greater legitimacy — in short, greater credibility. Many proposals have already been made, but in restructuring this key organ of the system, we need to go beyond them, demonstrating creativity and a willingness to compromise, considering only the interests of this Organization at the service of humanity. From this standpoint, in the Algiers Declaration, the States of Africa unanimously recalled the legitimate demands embodied in the Harare Declaration adopted by the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The pressing need to adapt the United Nations system to the realities of the coming century should, 7 nonetheless, not obscure current acute needs associated with the maintenance and promotion of peace in the world. In this spirit, as the international community celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Hague Peace Conference, I wish to say how much we welcome certain significant advances towards peace in Africa. We commend the Peace Agreement signed in Lomé on 7 July 1999, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and President Eyadema, in the context of the Sierra Leone conflict. We also commend the Abuja Peace Agreement and the additional protocols in the context of the Guinea-Bissau conflict, thanks to the mediation of ECOWAS, under the chairmanship of Nigeria and Togo. Senegal strongly supports the Governments of Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau in their efforts to build peace, to move resolutely towards national reconciliation and to implement a policy of economic and social recovery in their countries. In the same spirit, the signing last 10 July, in Lusaka, of the Ceasefire Agreement among the principal parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is another cause for satisfaction and hope. I would also like to touch on the Lockerbie affair in the hopes that the attitudes of the countries offer the possibility of a successful outcome. Last, but not least, my country expresses the warmest hope that the referendum process under way in Western Sahara will be completed as early as possible in accordance with the letter and spirit of the United Nations settlement plan adopted in 1991, as well as that of the Houston agreements, with full respect for the inalienable rights of all inhabitants of Western Sahara to participate in the referendum. Allow me — and I think this is the right place to do so — to pay humble tribute to the memory of King Hassan II. Finally, we hope that with the assistance of the great Powers and the cooperation of Indonesia, the situation in East Timor will be brought under control by the United Nations in order to ensure that the legitimate rights of the Timorese people prevail. These significant breakthroughs should not make us overlook the situations in Angola and Somalia, or the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, where, in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of the OAU, there has been no serious sign of a final settlement. We must therefore continue our efforts because our only salvation lies in peace and in reconciliation. In this sense, the evolution we have witnessed in the Middle East gives us grounds for hope, the hope of finally seeing a climate of complete trust and confidence and a sincere resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and between Israel and the Arab countries, with the rights of the peoples of the region respected. My country, having presided over the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People ever since its creation, reaffirms its support for and solidarity with the fraternal people of Palestine, the Palestinian Authority and its head, President Yasser Arafat, which have been struggling now for more than half a century for the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State. We solemnly reaffirm our support for the Bethlehem 2000 project which has the objective of celebrating in Bethlehem, on Palestinian soil, the second millennium since the birth of Christ. Furthermore, the Israeli Government seems now to want to work resolutely for peace. We urge it to continue on this path. It is the only approach that responds to the situation of the peoples of the subregion and to the hardships connected to the constraints imposed by globalization. Before concluding the subject of peace and security, I would like to state that my country supports any move to protect, safeguard and promote the rights of women and children. Its legal code has been modified to translate that choice and those convictions into its own domestic law. I should like now to deal with the other dimension of peace: development cooperation. The United Nations, responding once again to its mission to serve the peoples of the world, has, during the major conferences of the decade, provided a framework for the definition of a coherent set of programmes based on consensus. These programmes continue to inspire our common efforts towards sustainable development. But a careful review of the realities of this century now coming to a close lead us to note that our achievements have been seriously undermined by the contradictory tendencies that are a hallmark of humanity as it enters the third millennium. The lack of sufficient sustained growth in the world as a whole means that the global economy is facing great risks in the years to come. Indeed, because of a lack of sufficient growth, trade tensions are threatening to increase between 8 underdeveloped countries and around them, and thus the lag in development can only increase, increasing the mob of uncontrolled emigration. In addition, the gap that has been emerging over many years is becoming increasingly clear. On the one hand we see a small number of regions enjoying a high standard of living or rapid development. In these countries the volume of trade, of interdependence and competition is increasing. On the other hand, there is a group of countries — more numerous and more populous — in which the standards of living are poor and stagnating. They are for the most part not involved in this ever-tighter network of commercial, financial and industrial exchanges. It is difficult for them to find markets for their products, they suffer from capital flight, and businesses avoid setting up in these countries. However, over the last four years, the gross national product of Africa has grown at an annual average rate of 4.5 per cent, resulting in a year-on-year increase in per capita incomes. This is particularly remarkable because the progress is attributable, above all, to internal adjustment efforts rather than to external phenomena. Nevertheless, despite this macroeconomic performance, most African countries do not possess the basic means for ensuring sustainable growth in a future of a kind that would enable them to achieve their poverty-reduction objectives in keeping with the medium-term goals set at the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen, because the required rate of growth is in the order of 8 per cent per year. While it is true that the slow pace of integration of African economies into the global economy has protected most of these economies from the most violent shocks of recent financial crises, the other side of the coin is that Africa is not in a position to take full advantage of globalization, which could increase the resources available for productive investment. However, the developing countries will not and cannot escape the effects of globalization. We would therefore like to stress here — in particular to our African partners in various initiatives such as the second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II), the United States/Africa forum and the negotiations between the European Union and Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific — the need to encourage the efforts that have been undertaken, particularly in the elimination of the rigidities and imbalances that persist in the global economy. In this regard, it might be worthwhile to reaffirm the commitment that joins the developing and the developed countries within the World Trade Organization and involves recognition of the need to make significant efforts so that the developing countries — the least- developed in particular — are assured of a share in the growth in world trade in keeping with their development needs. But also, an examination of the way the principles of the multilateral trade system created at the Uruguay Round have been implemented reveals that commitments have not been honoured: many obstacles impede access by products from the South in general, and from African countries in particular, to Northern markets. Tariff barriers, sliding-scale increases in duty rates, anti- dumping measures and animal and plant hygiene measures all represent acts and attitudes that impede trade and that affect our exports — and, thus, our trade surpluses. That is why we venture to hope that the Seattle Round in November this year will take into greater account not only the concerns of the developing countries positions by removing obstacles to their complete participation in world trade on the basis of the principles of justice and equity — particularly by working to reduce and eliminate the restrictive and distorting effects that the aforementioned barriers, laws and measures have on trade — but will also take into consideration social rights and sustainable development as inalienable elements in all world trade. Given the significant efforts by the African countries to achieve their recent economic performance levels, it will be a Herculean task in terms of resources for them to achieve and maintain 8 per cent annual growth in their gross domestic product, in order to reduce poverty. We should like to take this opportunity to welcome the new international climate for finding a solution to the African debt crisis, particularly given that the total of this debt — estimated at $350 billion in 1998 — represents 300 per cent of Africa's export earnings. To this end, the proposals by a some G-8 countries, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other organs of the United Nations, as well as the recent studies by the Bretton Woods institutions, are signs of a new realism, i.e., that most of the debt cannot be repaid, that the debt is a major obstacle to balanced growth in African countries, and that the current machinery for debt settlement, in particular the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt (HIPC) Initiative, is too slow, too selective and imposes too many conditions. The principal members of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must accept the 9 idea, among others, of increasing the resources for the HIPC significantly by selling gold reserves. Furthermore, despite the pressures within the donor community to reduce aid volumes, the economic performance of Africa and the continent's commitment to structural reform can be maintained only on the basis of expansion, not contraction: increased development assistance is essential if we are to achieve the fundamental objectives of development. Finally, despite the praiseworthy efforts of our various countries to implement economic and financial reforms, inflows of direct foreign investment remain marginal. In highlighting these major factors in the current global economic situation, I am far from wishing to shirk an enduring truth: sustainable development is the individual responsibility of each State. The need for the international community to find a more global and more judicious solution to the debt problem in no way detracts from the need for African countries to manage their economies better. This attitude towards debt will be put into practice by the definition and implementation of a high-quality macroeconomic framework; by a significant intensification of efforts towards national thrift to accompany international financing; and by respect for the state of law, transparency, control and responsibility in the management of public affairs. Thanks to the guidance and choices of Mr. Abdou Diouf, President of the Republic, my country subscribes to these fundamental principles, on which the policy of the Government of Senegal is based. I have particularly stressed questions of peace and development because we live on a continent where peace is threatened every day by underdevelopment and where development efforts are made precarious by the absence of peace. It is therefore important that efforts to consolidate peace in Africa be accompanied by extraordinary efforts to increase the quality and quantity of development assistance in order significantly to reduce our debt and increase the flow of productive investment to our continent and to establish, if not a Marshall Plan for Africa, at least a plan for financing its development. My delegation fervently hopes that, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the opportunity will be found to revive international cooperation for development in order to build a more humane world. I am convinced that we have the means and the intelligence; we must also summon the political determination to do so. Thus, in order to improve interaction, Africa for its part has agreed to promote economic integration and to go one step further by creating a union of African States. This was the sense of the Syrte Declaration adopted on 9 September 1999 at the Fourth Extraordinary Summit of heads of State of the Organization of African Unity, convened on the happy initiative of Mr. Al-Qadhafi. I am convinced that the wealthy nations are clearly aware of their various and diverse responsibilities and that they will not shirk their obligations. Indeed, should they do so, God forbid, the eternal night of hideous poverty will blanket almost the entire world. I express the genuine hope, willingly undertaken and profoundly shared by all nations, that we cannot remain indifferent to anything that is human. I am therefore convinced that, together, we can save humanity.