May I begin, on behalf of His Majesty King
Mswati III, Her Majesty the Indlovukazi - the Queen Mother and the whole
Swazi nation, by conveying to you all the greetings and good wishes of the
Kingdom of Swaziland.
I offer my country's sincerest congratulations to Mr. Ganev on his
well-deserved election to the presidency of the United Nations General
Assembly at this forty-seventh session. We are most confident in his ability
to guide deliberations in this distinguished gathering towards successful
conclusions.
Allow me also to express Swaziland's gratitude to his predecessor,
Ambassador Samir Shihabi of Saudi Arabia, for his extremely effective
leadership as President at the forty-sixth session, during which much valuable
work was conducted.
Our thanks and admiration are also due to the members of the Bureau,
whose role in the day-to-day activities is central to the success of the
Assembly.
I should also like to take this opportunity to express Swaziland's
appreciation of the outstanding service given this Organization by the former
Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, whose diplomatic experience
and dynamic leadership contributed so much to the re-emergence of the United
Nations as the only international institution with the influence to improve
social, economic and political standards throughout the world.
Our congratulation, too, go to his successor, our new Secretary-General,
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who has already shown the experience, diplomacy and
wisdom necessary to make a success of this most important and challenging post.
We wish him strength through God's held and blessing as he continues to
lead us in these difficult times.
This year has seen the admission of new Member States, once again
demonstrating the principle of extending the advantages of membership to all
who desire to embrace our founding Charter. We welcome our new Members, and
we are confident that their presence will contribute substantially towards
this new age of international understanding and cooperation, as we strive to
attain universal harmony.
Many obstacles remain in the way of true international peace and
stability but, as has been shown in the past, with the release of East-West
tension and the subsequent removal of the atmosphere of fear and mistrust
which had so clouded past deliberations, this forum remains our one hope in
our search for acceptable solutions to the many challenges that confront us.
Although the Kingdom of Swaziland remains, thankfully, peaceful and
stable, it is a fact that, in these times of global interdependence, we are
subject to, and affected by, the pressures or events occurring outside our
borders; not just in our own subregion but also by the tragedies and crises
occurring throughout the world.
The role of the United Nations as the most powerful and influential body
for immediate humanitarian aid, and as the most acceptable international
broker for peace, continues to stretch our collective resources to the
utmost. The priorities for our efforts become ever harder to define, as the
incidence of disaster and conflict, with their corresponding calls on our
resources, appear to increase.
We in Swaziland accept our responsibility, through our membership of the
United Nations, to lend our support wherever the call for humanitarian aid,
and assistance to end the bloodshed of a conflict, is made, regardless of our
direct or indirect involvement in those situations.
Our regular and prompt payment of dues testifies to our commitment to
this policy, and we are proud of our record.
The various unresolved conflicts on our own continent are, of course, of
primary consideration to us, and of immediate concern is the situation
affecting our neighbour. South Africa.
We have watched as the momentous changes of the last two years have
brought the inevitable ebb and flow of hope and despair. We have been
constant in our support of a peaceful process, through negotiation, towards
the establishment of a new South Africa whose guiding principles would be
acceptable to all partners, and we have been reassured by the words and
actions of the United Nations in its acceptance of that goal.
We have suffered along with the victims, many of Swazi origin, of the
terrible violence that continues to plague the peace process; and we welcomed
the initiative of the United Nations in dispatching a team of observers, under
the capable leadership of the distinguished Special Envoy, Mr. Virendra Dayal,
to assess the violence in the townships. We are confident that they will
successfully bring to bear their collective expertise and experience in
helping to resolve this most distressing problem.
Swaziland now urges all political leaders in South Africa to put aside
their differences and to return to the negotiating table in a spirit of
compromise and conciliation for the sake of their country and for the future
of their children.
We in southern Africa can only pray that there will be an early, peaceful
conclusion of the process, so that we too can benefit from the advantages that
closer social and economic links with a new South Africa will inevitably bring
us and the other countries of the subregion.
The situation within the borders of our other neighbour, Mozambique,
offers at last some ray of hope for an early resolution, and our support for
the processes of peace there seem finally to have been rewarded. Swaziland
wishes to express its deepest admiration and praise for all those involved in
the peace negotiations between FRELIMO and RENAMO, which resulted in the
momentous accord signed in Rome last month. In particular, the efforts of the
Governments of Italy, Portugal and the United States, and the individual
contribution of His Excellency President Robert Mugabe, deserve our applause.
But without the commitment of both sides of the dispute to peaceful
settlement, the assistance and advice of these international friends would
have been worthless. We salute the initiatives of both parties and entreat
them to carry through the undertakings of the accord without further bloodshed
and with a determination to regain the peace which has so long been denied the
Mozambican people.
The crisis in Mozambique has a great and direct bearing on our own
situation. At least 80,000 Mozambican refugees currently enjoy Swazi
hospitality at continuing great expense to our national economy in the
form of resources in land, finance, employment opportunities and other social
services. We, and indeed the refugees themselves, look forward to the
resumption of a secure and peaceful atmosphere in Mozambique so that
repatriation can reasonably take place and thus relieve the pressure of the
substantial burden that is being carried by us.
Just as we continue to rely on the efforts of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian agencies for help in coping
with these unfortunate victims, so we shall be looking for assistance when the
time comes for them to return home. We are confident that we, and the
refugees, deserve such aid.
Swaziland welcomed the end of hostilities in Angola, and we would like to
express our appreciation to those whose efforts brought the crisis to an end.
We now join the rest of the international community in praying for a
successful election process so that all Angolans will be able to reap the
benefits of peace.
The horrifying situation in Somalia continues to give us cause for grave
concern. The almost unbelievable proportions of the disastrous effects of
famine and the continuing interfactional fighting beg action on an
international scale. We fully support all United Nations efforts to bring
relief to the starving, suffering millions. Words mean little in such
circumstances, but the people of Somalia should know that our prayers are with
them; with God's blessing and with positive assistance from us, they will pull
through this dark episode in their country's history.
The situations in Chad, the Sudan and Liberia also give little cause for
hope for early solutions. Again, we pledge our full support to all efforts to
bring about peaceful and lasting solutions to these problems which affect the
stability of our continent.
In Europe, too, the ravages and upheaval of war and social change have
had their devastating effect. The situation in former Yugoslavia in
particular gives immediate cause for concern, with the ongoing war in Bosnia
and Herzegovina and the crises of uncertainty in the other newly-independent
States. The efforts of the United Nations and the European Community to bring
about peace are to be applauded and they deserve our fullest support. We pray
that sense will prevail amongst the leaders of different factions and that use
will be made of the negotiating table in bringing about an early end to the
horrific bloodshed in this unfortunate corner of Europe.
We applaud the work of the United Nations Special Envoy, Mr. Cyrus Vance,
and that of the European representative. Lord Owen, in their extremely
difficult task as intermediaries. The performance of the multinational
monitoring force, operating under the most frustrating and challenging
conditions, is also in the best United Nations traditions and deserves our
admiration and praise.
Swaziland has been watching with great interest, and not a little
optimism, the developments over the last year in the Middle East. The
disputes and conflicts in this important area have for too long been the cause
of international concern, and we welcome all efforts to bring about an
atmosphere in which all parties can resolve their differences. The Government
of the United States of America, in particular, deserves mention in its
determination to get the Middle East peace initiative up and running.
Moreover, the latest conciliative remarks by His Excellency, the new Israeli
Prime Minister, with the correspondingly constructive responses from the
affected countries, give cause for encouragement that our prayers for positive
steps towards the achievement of lasting peace in the whole region may at last
be answered. Much, of course, remains to be done, but we can only support and
encourage all initiatives towards the achievement of this aim.
Swaziland is distressed to hear of the latest disasters which have
afflicted some areas of Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, the United
States of America and other countries in different parts of the world. The
disasters which have caused so many thousands of deaths and destroyed the
homes of millions constitute a crisis of unprecedented proportions. We join
others in the international community in pledging our moral support for
immediate substantial aid to relieve the suffering and to help rebuild the
shattered economies of these areas.
Swaziland joined the rest of the United Nations last year in welcoming
the two Koreas as Members of our Organization. The resolution of the crisis
between these two countries has been on our agenda for a long time, and
Swaziland welcomes and supports any initiative to bring about an atmosphere of
conciliation and peace between them.
We call on the people of Afghanistan to use the present opportunity for
peace to bury any divisive differences between them and to move on with the
task of national reconciliation and economic development so that all may enjoy
the hard-won fruits of peace.
In Cambodia, we have welcomed the efforts of our sizeable United Nations
presence in assisting with the consolidation of positive trends towards peace
and stability. We look forward to having a unified Cambodia add its
influential support in the restoration of peace throughout the region of
Indo-China.
In these and other conflicts around the world, the United Nations has
distinguished itself in trying to act as brokers for peace and as the provider
of humanitarian aid. This has been achieved, often in the most hazardous and
difficult circumstances, but with an increasing rate of success and with the
noblest intentions of creating a safer, more stable world. To that end, the
initiatives towards limiting proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are
of paramount importance in our efforts to bring about true international peace
and harmony, and Swaziland gives these efforts its fullest support.
The pressing issue of the environment was important enough to attract all
members of the United Nations family to the Earth summit in Brazil earlier
this year.
The commitment shown there by all participants, and ratified by a number
of far-reaching treaties, to address the multiple problems posed by man's
thoughtlessness and ignorance was fully justified and was a timely reminder of
how much irreparable damage we have already caused. For us in Swaziland, the
Summit served as a catalyst in our efforts to become more aware of our
environmental responsibilities, and we are now taking those responsibilities
very seriously indeed. In fact, no greater reminder of our own reliance on
our natural resources was needed, as we found ourselves in the middle of the
worst drought on record.
It is ironic that, as we strive as a nation to develop along the right
paths and as our economic base becomes more and more dependent on increasingly
sophisticated industrial development, it takes the failure of a basic natural
resource to make us realize how complete our reliance still is on the basic
gifts of nature and how carefully we must nurture our country's precious
resources to ensure that future generations inherit a fruitful and productive
land.
We are indebted to the United Nations for its prompt response in
convening the successful pledging conference in Geneva in June to benefit
those who have been hardest hit by the drought, and our gratitude is also due
those in the international community that responded so generously.
But a short-term response is not enough. We in the region have
recognized that our emphasis must now be on ensuring that we are adequately
prepared for any such natural disaster in the future. We shall be looking to
the Organization for advice and assistance so that our people may never again
suffer as they have this past season.
One principle to which Swaziland is attaching increasing importance is
the linkage of our nation's development, both social and economic, to a
dependence on closer cooperation with our regional partners. Social
development is inextricably linked to economic performance, and the
eradication of many of our national social problems, such as poverty,
unemployment, crime and the like, depends on improvement in our economic
situation.
Our membership in such regional organizations as the Preferential Trade
Area Authority and the Southern African Development Coordination Conference
and the Treaty signed recently at the Organization of African Unity (OAU)
summit in Abuja, establishing the African Economic Community, point out our
strong commitment to improving our economic performance through closer
economic and trade cooperation with the rest of our continent. Those
organizations and initiatives are serious attempts by Africans, for the
benefit of Africa, to pull themselves out of the economic and social quagmire
of recent years. We deserve and expect the support, encouragement and
positive assistance of the international community if we are to make a success
of it and thereby reduce future dependence on the developed world.
Africa is disturbed to see much-needed developmental funds being diverted
to other targets, and while Swaziland, for one, is making every effort to
prepare itself to stand on its own, our country and others in our subregion
are still in desperate need of continuing assistance in many areas, precisely
so that we shall be able to establish the mechanisms and organizations that
will allow Africa to be self-sufficient in the future.
Swaziland hopes and prays that Africa will not be neglected now at a time
when assistance is most needed. That fact has been driven forcefully home to
us with the production of the latest World Economic Survey, which, as is
inevitable in the midst of an international economic recession, has once more
painted a miserable picture for developing countries. For Africa, in
particular, the litany of depressing economic news makes for distressing
reading.
One area of particular concern to us as we strive to become less
dependent on the developed world is the widening gap between North and South,
between the primary-commodity producers and the manufacturers of finished
products, a situation exacerbated by the protectionist trade policies employed
by some and by the inability to bring to a successful conclusion, so far, the
Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Those are some of the areas which inhibit the release of the developing
world from the chains of dependence on the developed countries. We appeal to
all to address these problems in the only way that will produce results: in
the spirit of true international brotherhood within this family of nations.
Our Organization has much to be proud of and much still left to do. The
United Nations remains the only truly global forum in which the world's
problems can be discussed and from which the collective experience and
expertise of all our Member nations can be pooled to find solutions.
Swaziland is proud to count itself one among this illustrious company and, on
behalf of His Majesty King Mswati III, Her Majesty the Indlovukazi and the
whole Swazi nation, I have the honour of once more reaffirming my Kingdom's
commitment to the guiding principles enshrined in the Charter of the United
Nations.
May almighty God watch over the deliberations of the Assembly and reward
it with the success it deserves.