Zimbabwe

At the outset I would like to congratulate Mr. Didier Opertti on his unanimous election to the presidency of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. His election is a well-deserved tribute to his own admirable diplomatic skills and also a vote of confidence in his country, Uruguay. My delegation intends to cooperate fully with him as he guides the work of this Assembly. I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to his predecessor, our friend Hennadiy Udovenko, of the Republic of Ukraine, for the able and exemplary manner in which he presided over the work of the fifty-second session. In the same vein, we would like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, whose style of work and vigorous response to the various crises that have beset the international community we deeply appreciate. We want to reiterate our confidence in his work and continued support for his leadership. Following the United Nations fiftieth anniversary celebrations, we, the Member States, reaffirmed our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Organization as enshrined in the Charter and further took on the responsibility of charting an institutional 9 framework and operational parameters that would enhance the Organizationâs relevance and effectiveness in the twenty-first century. The reform proposals made by the Secretary-General in 1997 attempted to articulate a vision of the future for a United Nations Organization that is more focused and coherent and one that better reflects the new geopolitical realities of the post-cold-war era. We are encouraged that the first phase of the reform of the United Nations system was launched when the Secretary-General began to implement those measures that fall within his sphere of competence as chief administrative officer of our Organization. My Government has taken full cognizance of those measures, as well as of proposals for reform, and is carefully considering them in detail. The proposal to convene a Millennium Assembly to articulate a vision for the United Nations in the new century has our full support. All Member States must actively participate in the preparations for and holding of the Millennium Assembly in order to come up with a consensus document to guide the Organization into the next century. However, we believe that the proposed sunset provisions, which are to effect cut-off mechanisms for some issues on the United Nations agenda, need to be carefully considered. My Government will lend its support to any development dividend that channels savings generated by administrative efficiency into a Development Account, especially if it benefits developing countries. We must continue to search for a general agreement on the proper and efficient utilization of the Development Account. When the reform process was first initiated, my Government alluded to the need for us, the Member States, to formulate a mechanism to deal with the financial crisis, which, much to our chagrin, continues to worsen. I reiterate once again that it is we, the Member States, who have to pay our dues promptly, in full and unconditionally or risk being an ineffective Organization that is incapable of meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. Still on the process of reform, my Government is disappointed by the excruciatingly slow progress being made in the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council. The key issue of the expansion still preoccupies the Working Group and a solution continues to elude that Group. Africa, for its part, remains steadfast in its just demand for two permanent seats — to be shared on a rotational basis — as well as for three non-permanent seats. The system of rotation is an innovation that Africa is proposing in the name of democracy and sovereign equality of Member States. It may not suit other regions, and we have stated that we are preparing it for the Africa region alone. I take this opportunity once more to urge our friends outside the Africa region to support our just demand, as it is intended to enhance the representative nature and authority of the Security Council. It has also become apparent that the impasse in the deliberations of the Working Group is a result of the nonacceptance by a handful of powerful countries of the sacrosanct principles of equitable representation, democracy and transparency. We hold that the democratization of the United Nations system is integral to its continued legitimacy and efficacy. Conversely, the increasing inefficiencies and lack of efficacy that we witness today on the part of the Security Council are in large measure the consequence of its lack of moral authority, itself the result of the unrepresentative and undemocratic nature of the Council as it is presently constituted. In the name of human rights, pressure has been brought to bear especially on developing countries to democratize their national political systems and to become more transparent, and most of them have done so. We therefore insist that the same processes of democratization and transparency should characterize international relations, particularly the reform of the United Nations system. Let me recall that the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries has on several occasions spoken against the anachronistic and undemocratic nature of the power of the veto. The Movement has proposed the restriction of the scope of the veto to matters pertaining to Chapter VII of the Charter, with a view to its eventual abolition. But while the veto exists we insist that all new permanent members should, in accordance with the principle of sovereign equality of Member States, equally wield the power of the veto. Africa has witnessed a dramatic broadening of relative peace and stability with the return of democracy to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The return of the legitimate Government of Sierra Leone is of particular significance to the African continent, as it came about as a result of resolute action by the Economic Community of West African States to reverse the military coup in that country. This was in conformity with an Organization of African Unity (OAU) watershed resolution taken at the Harare 10 summit in 1997 in response to the coup in Sierra Leone to the effect that henceforth Africa will not accept the change of a legitimate Government on the continent by military means. Another example of the positive political developments in Africa has been the various steps taken by the present Government of Nigeria to return that key country to democratic governance. It is only fair that those who have been critical of events in that country in the past should now openly welcome the recent positive developments. But the situation in Africa has not been without its disappointments. The deteriorating situation in Angola deserves our urgent attention. The achievement of peace and stability in that country continues to be obstructed by UNITAâs constant and deliberate non-compliance with the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol or with relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. We urge the UNITA leadership to heed to the voice of reason and give peace a chance in Angola. We equally urge those members of the international community who have influence on the UNITA leader to persuade him. In the meantime, we ask the international community to join Angola and the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in their decision to work with those positive elements in UNITA who have committed themselves to continue with the peace process in Angola. Sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of States are age-old principles of international law, and respect for them is the bedrock of inter-State relations. These fundamental principles are at the core of the United Nations Charter, to which we all subscribe. They are held equally sacrosanct in the Non-Aligned Movement, the OAU and many other international organizations. Therefore any violation of these principles cannot and must not be taken lightly, as it poses a serious threat to international peace and security. Sadly, in our subregion, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has recently fallen victim to such flagrant violations of international law. In August this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo found itself under siege by rebels supported by foreign troops. Realizing that the fall of Kinshasa was imminent, the legitimate Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, appealed for assistance from Southern African Development Community (SADC) member States to enable it to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of allied forces from the SADC States of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe is a response to this call and has the objective of upholding the fundamental provisions of the Charters of the United Nations and of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the inviolability of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of member States. It is also in line with the OAU resolution approved at the Harare summit of 1997 condemning the change of legitimate Governments by military means, as well as in compliance with a 1995 resolution of the SADC Inter-State Defence and Security Committee in which SADC member States agreed to take collective action in cases of attempted coups to remove legitimate Governments by military means in the subregion. It is in conformity with that very decision taken by SADC that, as I speak, troops from the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of Botswana, two SADC countries, are involved in upholding the authority of the legal Government of Lesotho against army mutineers. My country remains committed to the search for a negotiated settlement to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charters of the United Nations, the OAU and of SADC. It will be recalled that since the outbreak of the conflict, Zimbabwe has hosted two summits with a view to finding durable peace and stability in the Great Lakes region. The second Victoria Falls summit, held from 7 to 8 September 1998, called for a ceasefire in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zimbabwe remains committed to this process. We appeal to the international community to support Africaâs various initiatives aimed at establishing durable peace in the Great Lakes region. My country is concerned about the situation in the Horn of Africa, where fraternal forces of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Eritrea are facing each other, ready to go to war. We appeal to these brotherly countries to continue cooperating with the OAU in the search for a peaceful resolution to the border conflict. In Western Sahara, we urge the parties to complete the Houston accords peace process by holding the proposed referendum. We condemn the recent killings of innocent people in the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. We are disappointed by the stalemate in the Middle East peace process. We urge the Government of Israel to show flexibility in carrying 11 forward the peace process. The killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan is regrettable and unacceptable in inter-State relations. We urge the parties to the Lockerbie affair to seize the present opportunity to resolve this sad, long- standing issue. We ask for good faith on all sides in order to carry the process forward. The African continent continues to face a multitude of problems as it settles into the new world order. African countries are implementing painful political, social and economic adjustments to existing structures in order to respond to the twin processes of liberalization and globalization. We have embarked on structural adjustment programmes, often at the behest of the Bretton Woods institutions. These programmes have had a severely adverse impact on the social welfare of the African countries. The curtailment of expenditure on social programmes, particularly health and educational facilities, in the absence of the requisite safety nets, has worsened the living conditions of the majority of the African peoples and in some cases this has heightened instability and insecurity in our countries. For many developing countries, the issue of resource flows cannot be dissociated from that of the external debt problem. Figures continue to indicate that the overall debt of developing countries is still on the increase. We believe that new, comprehensive and coordinated approaches to the debt and debt-servicing problem have to be adopted, including outright forgiveness. The critical economic situation in Africa, the least developed and most marginalized of all regions, has to be addressed if global economic growth and interdependence are to have any meaning at all. Apart from the excruciating and debilitating debt, there is need for an increased flow of resources in the form of both official development assistance and foreign direct investment. I wish to conclude my remarks on economic matters by mentioning an issue that is of vital importance to the question of sustainable development: the World Solar Programme 1996-2005, which was adopted by the World Solar Commission. The promotion and popularization of solar energy technologies can be a major contribution to solving the worldâs energy crisis and ensuring the availability of a clean and inexhaustible source of energy for sustainable development. I urge all Member States to support the draft resolution on the World Solar Programme, which will be presented at this session. In the field of disarmament, the much vaunted peace dividend did not materialize at the end of the cold war. On the contrary, it appears that an arms race is still with us, and it is my Governmentâs strong conviction that the international community must continue to work purposefully for nuclear disarmament, as well as for the total removal from the face of our planet of other weapons of mass destruction and for stricter control over the production, sale and movement of small arms. My delegation was deeply disappointed that the United Nations Disarmament Commission this year concluded its substantive session without reaching an agreement on the need for, or the agenda of, the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. We owe it to posterity to lay the foundations of a third millennium free from nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. My Government welcomes the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted at the fifty-second session of the General Assembly, and the recently adopted Statute of the proposed International Criminal Court. The international community has long witnessed how ill-equipped Member States of the United Nations have been in dealing with international terrorism, and for us in Africa the recent terrorist bombings of the United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, which together claimed about 260 lives, brought home to us the vulnerability of developing countries to the sophistication of modern terrorism. The Statute of the International Criminal Court has forged the missing link in the international legal order and is a genuine step forward in the field of human rights law. It has created new inter-State relationships and complementarity between national and international law. As we come to the close of the Decade of International Law, in 1999, we hope that the United Nations, especially the Security Council, will also take decisions that will result in the advancement of the primacy of the rule of law in international relations in the next century. In conclusion, my delegation wishes to make a brief comment on the contemporary realities of the international situation. Our balance sheet leaves much to be desired. On the credit side, we have seen a modest measure of success. We have witnessed a return to democracy and peace in some countries where once there was military despotism and armed conflict. We have successfully paved the way for the establishment of the International Criminal Court and forged new partnerships 12 between our regional organizations and the United Nations. Yet we still have a daunting debit side. Conflicts still rage in many parts of the world. Poverty, inequality and underdevelopment still remain the order of the day for 90 per cent of the worldâs population. The AIDS pandemic threatens to reverse the socio-economic gains made in most of our countries over the years. The ongoing financial crisis which engulfed South-East Asia and now threatens the entire world reminds us that current efforts at a new architecture both for controlling the free flow of money and ushering in a new discipline in the financial institutions should be brought about without delay. We have to confront and reduce world poverty with determination at a time when some within the Organization itself are still resisting the democratic changes that are necessary for enhancing the image and authority of the Organization and making it effective in addressing these problems. Zimbabwe believes that the time for change is here and now and that Member States have a moral obligation to muster the political will to make those changes. Let the fifty-third session of the General Assembly be one of qualitative and meaningful change for the people of the world.