Allow me, first of all, on behalf
of the Angolan Government and on my own behalf, to congratulate you. Sir, on
your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its forty-seventh
session and to wish you success in carrying out your mandate. I am sure that
your experience and competence will guarantee the success of our work. The
Angolan delegation wishes from the outset to assure you of our complete
cooperation.
To the outgoing President, His Excellency Mr. Samir Shihabi, I should
like to express my appreciation for the valuable work done during his mandate.
To Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, I express my Government's
profound appreciation of his goodwill and selfless efforts, demonstrated in
the constant search for just and lasting solutions aimed at preserving peace
and international security.
My Government supports and will contribute in a positive way to the
realization of the valuable concepts formulated in his report "An Agenda for
Peace", whose sub-heading includes the words "Preventive diplomacy" (A/47/277).
On behalf of the Government and people of Angola, I wish to welcome the
new States that have been admitted to the United Nations; we are certain that
their participation will contribute to the Organization's betterment.
The world has witnessed important political transformations occurring in
Angola in the past. The armed conflict that had ravaged the country since
1975 was ended with the signing of the Bicesse Accords on 31 May 1992. There
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is no occasion more appropriate than the present one to sum up the situation
which has followed the peace accords. The Angolan people is preparing for and
awaiting with great expectations the holding of the first multiparty general
elections on 29 and 30 September, which demonstrate my Government's
determination to comply with the obligations it has assumed under the Bicesse
Accords.
While the incidents taking place in my country represent transitional
occurrences in a process as complex as ours, their recurrence in almost all
parts of the country is a source of grave concern to my Government and to the
Angolan people. In this regard my Government believes that the United Nations
and the rest of the international community have an important role to play
during this decisive phase of the Angolan peace process.
The environment of peace and relative tranquillity that prevails in my
country is the result of persistent and arduous work and of the tenacious will
of the Angolan people, which counted upon the international community. The
Angolan people has provided proof of civilian rule and political maturity by
spontaneously and massively participating in electoral registration and in all
the activities which will bring about the elections in spite of the difficulty
in communications.
Of the estimated number of slightly more than 5 million voters,
4.8 million have registered. The national electoral council has demonstrated
foresight and has performed its work with praiseworthy efficiency. And from
this podium, I wish to express once more Angola's appreciation to all those
countries and organizations which lent us their support in so many forms.
My Government sincerely hopes that before the election definitive accords
can be reached on certain aspects which continue to be a source of concern
with regard to the conduct of free and fair elections at the end of this
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month. I am speaking, in particular, of the disbanding of the present
governmental armed forces and the military wing of UNITA, of the cessation of
the wave of violence and intimidation provoked by the Government's
co-signatory to the Bicesse Accords and of the formation of a national army.
The process of peace and democratization under way in my country, to
which I have previously referred as a historic event in the life of Angola,
cannot but have positive repercussions and effects in the international
sphere. Associated with this is another factor of profound significance for
the southern region of our continent. I am referring to the negotiations
being conducted in South Africa within the framework of the Convention for a
Democratic South Africa (CODESA), which Angola considers the most appropriate
means to find a fair, lasting and satisfactory solution for all the parties
involved.
As a result, Angola supports and shares the African position that CODESA
should achieve concrete objectives, such as the establishment of a
transitional government and the creation of mechanisms for elaborating a
constitution for a democratic South Africa and for holding free elections
based on the principle of "one person, one vote".
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I should like also to make reference to the situation in Mozambique and
in other parts of the African continent. The Angolan people stand in
solidarity with our brethren in Mozambique. For that reason, my Government
encourages the Government of Mozambique to persevere in its peace effort for
the country and urges the international community to give its assistance to
the parties involved with a view to achieving peace and national
reconciliation.
Another question that still worries us is the unjust situation that
persists in East Timor. The position of the Angolan Government is well known
by all; we continue to defend the principle of direct negotiations between
Portugal, as the administering Power, and Indonesia, without excluding the
presence of the legitimate representatives of the Maubere people, so that a
comprehensive solution can be found, taking into consideration the aspirations
of the Maubere people. In this context, we express our wish that the next
meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia and Portugal, under
the auspices of the Secretary-General, will produce positive results.
In relation to Western Sahara, my Government supports the holding of a
referendum in that Territory and sincerely hopes that the obstacles that still
exist will be removed as soon as possible.
Angola looks with concern to the situation which prevails in the former
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where the short-term outlook for
reaching a lasting peace is poor, and where the lives of innocent people are
being taken.
In relation to the Middle East, the Angolan Government has always
favoured holding an international conference to reach a comprehensive solution
on the Middle East, in particular the Palestinian question. Therefore, we
support the rounds of negotiations that are taking place; we hope that
although there are many obstacles to overcome, the concerted efforts and the
good will of the parties will bring positive results and that the tragedy of
the Palestinian people will finally end.
A fact which cannot but bring us satisfaction and which has our total
support and encouragement is the holding of direct negotiations between Israel
and the other parties concerned on the occupied Arab territories. We hope
that those negotiations will yield fully satisfactory results for the parties
participating in the negotiations, and that peace will finally be restored in
the region.
In our view, whatever measure is taken, or whatever solution is advised,
will never be satisfactory or lasting unless it takes into account and is
based upon the true interests and concerns of the peoples involved.
The great changes that have recently taken place in the international
arena have in a certain way dictated the necessity of providing our
Organization with greater dynamism in taking decisions and greater efficiency
in implementing and monitoring them.
The increase in the membership of the Organization, while strengthening
it numerically, has also created the need for greater participation, on an
equitable basis, in the various agencies of the United Nations system which
bear mandates of fundamental importance in resolving the affairs of mankind
with respect to problems of peace, international security, development and
environmental protection.
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We hope that the work under way for the restructuring and revitalization
of the United Nations will take our needs into consideration. Angola
considers such restructuring to be opportune provided it is directed towards
eliminating mechanisms for taking action that are outdated or are no longer
attuned to the present reality, and provided that the restructuring has as its
fundamental objective the strengthening of the role of the Organization to the
benefit of all mankind.
In recent decades the world economic situation has swung widely in
various corners of the planet. But the general trend has been towards
polarization. As a result, while we observe an increase in economic growth
for the developed countries, we note a substantial decrease in growth for
developing countries. The situation in some cases is critical.
The second Conference of the Least Developed Countries, held at Paris in
September 1990, concluded that the economic and social situation of those
countries as a whole has deteriorated over the past decade, since, with very
rare cases of better performance, the average annual growth rate was
2.2 per cent. In many cases the rates were negative.
Faced with this sad reality, the Conference set forth a new programme of
action for the present decade which provides for national and international
measures in favour of these countries and indicates the basic principles which
must orient relations between those countries and other countries and
organizations which cooperate with them for development. In each case,
effective implementation of that programme will require serious and profound
reflection, and commensurate action.
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With the end of the cold war, a new era has begun in which decisions on
matters of world interest are dealt with more and more on the basis of
consultation and understanding, instead of confrontation and competition.
This has rapidly transformed isolated cases of integration into a general
trend, with countries in various regions organizing themselves into more
closely aligned economic and political entities.
This trend towards the formation of larger economic blocs will inevitably
transform the world economically and politically. This poses a challenge for
which we must be duly prepared in order to avoid deepening still further the
gap that separates rich countries from poor countries. It is a challenge with
respect to which all of us, rich countries and poor, large countries and
small, must make a commensurate collective effort to maintain effective,
multifarious international cooperation directed always towards the development
of the parties involved, based always upon the true needs of the development
process.
However, certain political situations are now viewed as faits accomplis.
or as conditions to be perpetuated. These must be the object of immediate and
radical revision, with a view to harmonizing positions and interests, and
weakening wide barriers that impede true cooperation between countries and
nations separated by vast differences in their levels of economic, social,
scientific, technical, cultural and educational development.
In our view, this revision should consist, inter alia, of the following
elements: abolition of protectionist measures by developed countries that
block or impede access to their markets for products from underdeveloped
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countries, or their limitation to those that are strictly necessary; total or
partial cancellation by the developed countries of the underdeveloped
countries' external debt; in the granting of loans or credits, the imposition
of no further conditions with respect to concomitant, mandatory adoption of
political measures that are not always in keeping with the level of
development of the beneficiary country; concessions or an increase in grace
periods, and rescheduling of payment; a reduction of interest rates and the
non-capitalization of interest; favouring of investments in nationally defined
areas, with particular emphasis on industrial development; and transformation
of technology and its application to development.
Those are some of the basic aspects around which the strategy of
international economic cooperation must revolve if we intend, as is our duty,
to eliminate the poverty in which the majority of the inhabitants of our
planet languish. Poverty grows daily, especially in our African continent.
It is worsened by natural calamities that exacerbate the present grave
economic and social situation in Africa.
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Angola is a country with many natural resources. It exports petroleum,
diamonds, coffee and other products, and with the advent of peace we intend to
diversify fully our export products, in this manner participating more
effectively in the division of international labour.
However, we are concerned by the exaggerated protectionist measures
practised by developed countries in international trade, which are manifest in
the unprecedented drop in the prices of raw materials and in the deterioration
of the terms of trade, as well as the lack of success in the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiation rounds.
As a third world country, and with the objective of correcting the
distortion in its economy, Angola reformulated its socio-political situation
with measures which will necessarily have positive effects on the economic
life of the country and which are consonant with this new situation. We
recently adopted a Government programme of action designed to decentralize the
economy, liberalize trade, revitalize business, democratize the banking sector
and encourage foreign investment.
In this manner, we believe that adequately carrying out this programme in
response to these new conditions will permit us, as is our desire, to
participate actively in international economic cooperative efforts, making our
contribution, to the extent possible, to the socio-economic development of
Africa and the world.
Allow me to express here my country's profound interest in the need to
protect the environment. The Rio Conference, held in June this year, not only
constituted a means for an interesting exchange of experiences and viewpoints
concerning a most important programme but also provided a moment for
reflection on the continuing need for coordinated efforts for the benefit of
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all mankind. Most certainly, the Conference allowed us to see clearly that,
given current trends in scientific and technical development, any brash
misstep detrimental to the environment could lead to the destruction of our
planet.
I wish for this reason to reaffirm here my country's commitment to
observe and fully apply the decisions of the Conference and to express our
readiness to engage in unrestricted cooperation with the international
community in undertaking all necessary steps so that we, together, can save
the Earth.