Liberia

Permit me to express on behalf of my country, Liberia, our sincere congratulations to you, Sir, on your unanimous election as President of the General Assembly. It is our expectation that your tenure will be marked by the same distinction that has characterized your service to your country, Malaysia. I express our sincere appreciation to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral of Portugal, for efficiently conducting the proceedings of the historic fiftieth session of the General Assembly. I also wish to congratulate the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his continuing dedication to the cause of world peace and social justice, which has provided the United Nations an opportunity to enhance the dignity of all mankind in spite of the odds that continue to frustrate our common aspirations and our efforts to build a better world. Liberia bears its share of responsibility for finding solutions to the problems of our one world through this Organization. Regrettably, the situation in Liberia has not afforded us the opportunity to participate as actively as might be expected. It is an honour and privilege for me to stand before this world body as Africa’s first female Head of Government. However, it is sad to note that I have assumed this leadership at a time when my country, Liberia, is experiencing a tragic and senseless war. The Liberian civil war, which began more than six years ago, has unleashed one of the worst man-made disasters in recent memory. It has claimed over 250,000 lives — about 15 per cent of the population; forced over 800,000 Liberians to seek refuge in neighbouring countries; and left several hundred thousand others internally displaced. Regrettably, the most vulnerable groups — women, children and the elderly — continue to be victimized by the ravages of disease, hunger and malnutrition, which are commonplace under such conditions. The wanton killing of civilians and the destruction of basic infrastructure, which intensified in April of this year, continue to retard economic activities and deprive the people of their fundamental human rights. The painful reality of our child soldiers, child labourers and abandoned children in the country point to the formidable task that lies ahead as we seek to rehabilitate them into productive citizens. The displacement of large segments of the rural population has curtailed agricultural production. Before the war, agriculture accounted for 38 per cent of the gross domestic product and 75 per cent of total employment. As a result of continued hostilities, other potentially high economic sectors such as rubber, timber, iron ore and minerals remain inaccessible. Since 1990, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has deployed a peacekeeping force in Liberia, in keeping with Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations. It had been hoped that this initiative, the first by a subregion, would receive the full support of the United Nations. Unfortunately, the assistance of the international community has been both slow and inadequate, thereby imposing severe pressure on the scarce resources of the member States of ECOWAS. While ECOWAS, in the spirit of African brotherhood and solidarity, has taken the initiative in Liberia, its efforts must be complemented by the international community through the provision of substantial material and financial support to facilitate the implementation of the peace process in the country. It is therefore my appeal that the United Nations assume its share of the burden of peacekeeping in Liberia. The subregion is facing extreme economic hardships due to external factors beyond its control. After the failure of several peace agreements, the member States of ECOWAS convened a meeting in Abuja, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in August 1995. At that meeting, a decision was taken to include for the first time the leaders of the three major warring factions in a six-man Council of State. Accordingly, a ceasefire was implemented, and Monrovia was maintained as a safe haven. The members of the Council of State were inducted into office on 1 September 1995. 7 In April of this year, the resumption of fighting, with the accompanying carnage and illegal seizure and destruction of property, dealt another set-back to the peace process. At this juncture, I extend the profound regrets of the Liberian Government and people to the international, intergovernmental, non-governmental and other organizations that sustained losses as a result of the April fighting. I pledge that our Administration will do all that lies within its power to prevent the reoccurrence of such lawlessness. The events of April enabled the leaders of the subregion to identify deficiencies in the Agreement and to take measures to prevent the reoccurrence of such breakdown in the implementation of the peace accord. Although they reaffirmed the Abuja Agreement as the best framework for finding a lasting solution to the Liberian conflict, they nevertheless resolved that a change was necessary in the leadership to restore confidence and enhance its performance. The parties unanimously selected me to lead Liberia from a devastating war to conditions of peace. The selection of a woman is a decision that deserves commendation; for it is a major victory and a recognition of the active involvement of Liberian women in the peace process. The resolution of the Liberian conflict is therefore a challenge not only to me but also to all Liberian women and to the women of Africa and the world, whose advice and continuing support I deeply appreciate. Our leadership is challenged with the difficult task of pursuing national reconciliation, national reunification, repatriation and resettlement of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the creation of an enabling environment for the holding of free and fair democratic elections by May 1997. Additionally, and more demanding, we must ensure the successful disarmament of combatants and their demobilization and reintegration into civil society. This task requires us, as a matter of urgency, to first disarm our children and redirect their lives. We also have to address the immense suffering that the war has inflicted on our people. We must establish an independent elections commission to conduct free and fair elections under international supervision. I am confident that, with the support of the United Nations and the international community, the tasks ahead will be achieved. All of the parties to the conflict have pledged to me their commitment to the implementation of the revised schedule. Despite some signs of retrogression, our timely intervention and appeals have been heeded, thus averting the derailment of the process. We are aware that our efforts to maintain the ceasefire must be sustained at every stage of the peace process by timely intervention and insistence that the terms and conditions of the peace agreement must be respected by the parties. There is a renewed hope for peace in Liberia as a result of the decisions taken at the last Abuja summit. The failure over the past six years to achieve peace in the country made it imperative that long overdue measures be taken to ensure the final and successful implementation of the Abuja Agreement. First, due care and consideration was given to the selection of the Head of Government, with the view of ensuring effective leadership and a sense of purpose. Secondly, provision was made for the regular monitoring and assessment of the implementation of the peace Agreement. This responsibility was assigned to the special representative of the Chairman of ECOWAS and the ECOWAS Committee of Nine on Liberia. Thirdly, ECOWAS member States agreed to impose sanctions on any person or group of persons obstructing the implementation of the peace Agreement. These necessary measures will equally require the support of the international community. The Government and people of Liberia share the conviction of the member States of ECOWAS, as well as the international community, that the Abuja peace Agreement provides the best framework for the resolution of the Liberian conflict. As Chairman of the Council of State, I reaffirm my total commitment to the full implementation of the ECOWAS peace plan for Liberia. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as well as to other member States of ECOWAS, for their untiring efforts and sacrifices in the quest for peace in Liberia. We also extend our gratitude to the Governments of the United States of America, the Netherlands and Germany for their recent assistance to the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). We thank other friendly nations that have made, and continue to make, contributions to the resolution of the Liberian conflict. The Liberian Government appeals for assistance to enable the deployment of additional troops to sustain the new focus on disarmament and demobilization as well as ensure thereafter the rehabilitation and reconstruction of our war-torn country. 8 In order to facilitate the rehabilitation of these children, we appeal to friendly Governments to help us rebuild our educational institutions, especially those providing vocational and technical training. As a caring mother, I urgently need to rehabilitate and grant relief to these children. It is one of my principal concerns. In this regard, I express appreciation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for their assistance. It is my hope that all mothers and all humanitarian, governmental and non-governmental organizations will support this worthy undertaking. The Liberian children, indeed the children of our world, are our future. As regards the international situation, while we will continue to accord priority to the civil war in Liberia until genuine peace is restored, we have not lost sight of other important issues that are of vital concern to the international community. It is encouraging to note that since the end of the cold war, Member States have increasingly taken measures in support of general and complete disarmament, including nuclear weapons. The establishment of zones of peace in most regions of the world and the recent adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which my Government has already signed, are positive developments in the field of disarmament. It is hoped that further progress will be made in the total elimination of nuclear weapons within a given time-frame. Liberia, which is emerging from conditions of war, is concerned about the unrestricted use of conventional weapons, including anti-personnel landmines. The international community must also focus its attention on conventional disarmament, since these deadly weapons are usually resorted to in most conflicts. Internal strife in several countries resulting from ethnic, religious and racial differences continues to cause death and destruction in Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and my own country. In order to spare the lives of innocent civilians, we appeal to all parties to enter into dialogue and seek a political settlement of their differences. As we move towards the twenty-first century, we are encouraged by the growing concern about the persistently slow and unbalanced growth of the world economy. We have experienced the direct impact of the uneven distribution of resources both among and within nations. The crisis in Liberia today is an expression of this unevenness, which has a direct relationship to poverty and instability. It is worth mentioning that in every attempt at finding a solution, such issues as the debt crisis and the decline in official development assistance continue to hamper our efforts to bring about the required reform in favour of the development of our people. This situation continues to undermine development in many regions of the world, especially Africa. Today, Africa remains the only continent where the level of poverty is causing increasing hardship and despair, despite the courageous efforts by many countries to undertake reforms. Regrettably, programmes proposed by the international community have yet to receive adequate donor assistance to move Africa’s development forward. We recall the priority programme for Africa’s economic recovery and other measures to address the critical situation facing the continent. It is in this light that I commend the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative for Africa launched earlier this year. The initiative requires commitments amounting to $25 billion over a period of 10 years, to be realized through the reallocation of existing resources, and complements the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. We therefore plead with the United Nations and its agencies, international financial institutions and bilateral donors to re-examine their attitudes towards Africa’s development aspirations. We hope that a solution will be found to the extreme burden that debt now imposes on all countries, but especially on those coming out of crisis. In spite of the difficulties facing Liberia, it has continued to consider the role of women as crucial to the development process by advocating an improved status for women. Liberia has supported the decisions emanating from conferences on the advancement of women, particularly the Beijing Conference held in 1995. My presence here today as Chairman of the Council of State is a testimony to Liberia’s support for its women and for the rights of women everywhere. I take this opportunity to say that it would be advantageous to all Member States of this Organization if we, as world leaders, committed ourselves to a policy of mutual respect for one another and for our respective peoples and their legitimate aspirations in life. I am convinced that prospects for a peaceful world will be 9 made greater if we summon the courage to equitably share without restraints the material and technological resources that represent our common inheritance on earth. Once those considerations become our cherished preoccupation and the noble focus of our collective undertakings, the world will enjoy a better future: a future that will know no bounds for the collective happiness of mankind; a future that will be devoid of terrorism and war; and a future that will not occasion famine, starvation and human degradation; a future without jealousy, hatred or envy. We can make tomorrow better or worse. The question is: which will it be? The United Nations system and the entire international community will be judged on the basis of their response to this important question.