Zambia

Let me start by congratulating Mr. Didier Opertti on his election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session. In the same breath, I thank his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine, for the able manner in which he conducted the work of the fifty-second session. I also wish to express my delegation?s sincere appreciation to our brother, the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, for his wise leadership of the United Nations and for his exceptional report on the work of the Organization. We are gathered here once again to review the international situation. The fifty-second session of the Assembly had before it the document submitted by the Secretary-General entitled “Renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform”. The debate on that item was as serious as it was animated. It became clear that the United Nations in its present form is unable to respond to the realities of the present world order, much less to the exigencies of the new millennium. For the United Nations to do so, it must reinvent itself, and become more democratic, efficient and, of course, financially stable. This would befit an Organization created to serve the demanding needs of humankind through its impact on economic and social development, especially in the developing countries. Zambia would like to reiterate that the development mandate of the United Nations must be given priority and prominence in the reform process. Furthermore, after the issue of reform was debated last year, it was made clear that the critical financial situation of the United Nations was itself a major stumbling block to the Organization?s efforts not only to reform itself, but to address the priorities it has set itself to accomplish. We therefore reiterate our call for arrears owed to the United Nations to be paid in full, on time and without preconditions. The reform of the Security Council is without doubt the core issue which must be addressed, with a view to making the Council more democratic. Essentially, the Council must be enlarged to enhance its credibility and at the same time to reflect the universal character of the United Nations; this would remove the imbalances that characterize the present composition of the Council. To this end, the Zambian delegation wishes to reiterate the call made at the twelfth Summit of the Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, held in Durban, in neighbouring South Africa, that expansion of the Security Council should be by no less than 11 new seats, based on the principle of equitable geographical distribution and, of course, bearing in mind the sovereign equality of Member States. Zambia further reiterates its support for the demand that the regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean should now have permanent seats on an expanded Security Council. With specific regard to Africa, my delegation wishes to reaffirm the decision taken at the summit of heads of State of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Harare in 1997 that five seats, of which two permanent, should be allocated to the African continent and that, in a 26-member Security Council, the African seats should be rotated in accordance with the agreed criteria of the African Group. My delegation further wishes to reiterate the common view that the veto power in the Security Council is a mere anachronism. It must be restricted and ultimately eliminated. In the field of international peace and security, the need for disarmament in all its aspects is as urgent as ever. To be sure, the lure of nuclear-weapons possession has become even stronger and the use of conventional weapons, particularly small arms, is prevalent in the world today. To put an end to nuclear-weapons proliferation, the nuclear-weapon States have a major responsibility to lead the international community towards nuclear disarmament, particularly in the Conference on Disarmament. The Conference must establish an ad hoc committee to begin negotiations on a phased programme for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons within a specified time- 27 frame. The nuclear-weapon States should also lead the international community in sustained efforts to conclude a nuclear weapons convention. Furthermore, Zambia believes that the time is now overdue for the convening of the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, which would offer an opportunity for a thorough review and assessment of the implementation of the provisions of the Final Document of the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, held in 1978. Allow me at this juncture to turn to the situation in our region, with specific reference to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and, of course, Lesotho. With regard to the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I want to confirm that Zambia, through its President, Mr. Frederick Chiluba, has been actively involved in the search by all regional leaders for a lasting and peaceful solution. The leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), under the able leadership of President Mandela of South Africa and other regional leaders, have done a commendable job in this regard — of course, under very difficult circumstances. As we are all well aware, the maintenance of international peace and security is the primary responsibility of no other body than this Organization and its Security Council. There is no doubt, therefore, that the situation in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, if unresolved, could pose a threat not only to the region, but also to international peace and security. The mediation efforts of SADC and other regional leaders therefore deserve the support of the international community in order to forestall the threat to international peace and security which the crisis poses. The situation in Angola has continued to worsen, despite the patience and efforts of the international community to bring Africa?s oldest civil war to an end. Zambia, as a neighbouring country and as host to the peace talks which finally resulted in the signing of the Lusaka Protocol in November 1994, is extremely concerned about the regression in the Angolan peace process. While the anger and disappointment of the international community are understandable and justified, it would not be advisable for us, at this moment, to abandon the peace process in Angola. We have come this far after long and painstaking efforts and invested a great amount of resources in the Angolan peace process. We cannot afford now to abandon the Angolan people, who have suffered so much and whose hopes were pinned on the Lusaka Protocol. We hope, therefore, that in spite of the setbacks, the international community, through this body, will reassert its authority and use its immense wisdom to put the Angolan peace process back on track. Zambia wishes to recognize the very noble and professional efforts of our brother, the late Alioune Blondin Beye, in this process. He died without seeing his efforts result in peace and stability in Angola. May his soul rest in peace. It is important, however, to ensure that his efforts were not in vain by working harder ultimately to bring durable peace to Angola. My country is also concerned about recent developments in Lesotho. As a member of SADC, Zambia is fully in support of the role which that organization is playing in trying to bring about a peaceful settlement. In this regard, we wish to appeal to the international community to give necessary support to the SADC efforts, spearheaded by Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is now common knowledge that Africa as a whole has begun to make significant economic and political progress in recent years. However, in many parts of the continent, progress remains threatened or, indeed, impeded by conflict. United Nations records show that, since 1970, more than 30 wars have been fought in Africa alone, the vast majority of them intra-State in origin. In this regard, my delegation wishes once again to congratulate our brother, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, for his excellent report to the Security Council last April on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa, which is essentially a blueprint for resolving Africa?s numerous and complex woes by charting a course for peace and development. In the area of peacekeeping, Africa has already put in place the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution to resolve its own conflicts on the continent. We salute the efforts of Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General of the OAU, in this direction. We urge the international community and the General Assembly to support the Mechanism in order for it to function effectively and to the benefit of Africa. The spectre of international terrorism has assumed a dangerous momentum of its own. It does not discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. The brunt of it 28 all is in fact borne more by innocent bystanders. The acts of terrorism that rocked our sister republics of Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, and the subsequent retaliatory action on Sudan and Afghanistan, have struck a cord in all of us, without exception. At issue is the unnecessary loss of human life. To protect human life, the international community should seriously address itself to the root causes of terrorism. The hour has now come for the full implementation of the General Assembly Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism contained in resolution 49/60, and the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings adopted at the fifty- second session. This Assembly must waste no time in its urgent conclusion and effective implementation of a comprehensive international convention on combating terrorism. We are happy to note that the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, which was held in Rome, Italy, this year, adopted the Court?s Statute. This is a powerful instrument of justice that the international community has given to itself and generations to come. My delegation is pleased that the crime of aggression falls within the jurisdiction of the Court, although the Court shall only have jurisdiction over the crime once a definition and the conditions under which the Court shall do its work are agreed upon. In this regard, we look forward to a quick resolution of this matter, since resolution 3314 (XXIX) contains most of the elements for definition of the crime of aggression. Considering what the world has witnessed in our sister republic of Rwanda and in the former Yugoslavia, we welcome the inclusion, under war crimes, of cases of armed conflict not of an international character. Let me now, on behalf of my delegation, turn to the world economy, which is becoming more integrated. Globalization and liberalization are indeed the current economic wave, and will continue in years to come. They have, however, far-reaching implications, in particular for the developing countries, as reflected in the current international financial confusion or turmoil. The United Nations faces the great challenge of coming up with initiatives to manage globalization and liberalization in such a manner that they benefit the entire community of nations, without exception. Processes of globalization and liberalization that undermine development are not in the interests of the international community. The external debt problem is yet another issue that impacts negatively on the economic and social development of many developing countries, Zambia included. We can recall a number of initiatives put in place to resolve this particular problem, but so far none seem to be effective, including the present Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative, which not only has targeted too few developing countries but also has a long transition period before eligibility is granted. It would, however, be a grave oversight to fail to acknowledge the commendable efforts of our brother, the Secretary-General, in this area. Zambia welcomes the uniform and strong endorsement by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Secretary-General?s proposals to liberalize and assess the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative and convert all remaining official debt owed by the poorest African countries, Zambia included, into grants. We also welcome his other proposals which received similar endorsement by the Development Assistance Committee. Adverse weather patterns continue to bring into sharp focus how fragile the global environment is. The recent destruction of life and property by Hurricane Georges in some countries of the Caribbean and four States in the United States of America adds to the ravages of flooding in China and Bangladesh this year. This Assembly will recall that a year earlier Europe faced similar flooding, while certain parts of Eastern and Southern Africa faced a combination of flooding and drought. All these are reminders to the international community to meet the challenges caused by climate change and other adverse environmental factors and we reiterate our call to the international community to promote environmental sustainability with renewed commitment. Transnational deflationary forces are threatening global economic stability. In this uncertain outlook, the fortunes of many countries are under constant threat. For Africa, which is just emerging from the lost decade of the 1980s, the emerging global economic turmoil will add new strains to the process of promoting economic growth and development. Indeed, it is already clear that concern about the emerging global economic turmoil neglects the challenges facing Africa, as if to reaffirm its marginalization in the world economy. 29 In a spirit of interdependence, we in Africa call upon the international community not to overlook and forget the challenges of Africa. Africa needs a conducive international environment that will contribute to resolving the continent?s external debt crisis, growing poverty, slow export growth and other impediments to its development. In this regard, we are pleased to note that Japan will soon be convening the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development. We salute Japan. And we hope this forum will offer an opportunity to relaunch the dialogue on African development. Zambia, like many other developing countries, has been implementing a very painful structural adjustment programme anchored on macroeconomic stabilization, privatization and, of course, commercialization. The policies we have undertaken have been critical to boosting and sustaining economic growth and development. Over the past few years Zambia has undergone a remarkable transformation. We have an open economy driven by the private sector. In the second generation of economic reforms that we are embarking upon our major focus is on the reduction of poverty by 50 per cent by the year 2004. We invite the international community to come and play a role in our economic programme. Let me conclude by stating that Zambia believes that, as we stand on the threshold of the new millennium, we all have a collective responsibility in this community of nations to chart a new course to strengthen our Organization. We need a strong United Nations to meet the exacting demands of the future. By strengthening it, we all strengthen ourselves. Zambia pledges to be a positive partner in this noble endeavour. I thank the Assembly for listening to me. I thank those representatives — most of those present — who nodded their heads in appreciation. I thank my brothers and sisters from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for being with me.