Senegal

Senegal takes pleasure in addressing, through me, its heartfelt congratulations to the President on his illustrious election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session. His election is eloquent testimony to his intellectual and moral qualities and to his vast experience in international relations, and also reflects the unanimous recognition by the Member States of our Organization of your country, Uruguay, for its ongoing commitment in the service of international peace and cooperation. We express profound gratitude to his predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, for the skill and commitment with which he discharged his duty throughout a particularly difficult year. Finally, I should like to pay a well-deserved tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, a man of conviction who deserves our unreserved support in the pursuit and achievement of the outstanding work of reform, to which he is fully committed in order to ready our Organization to meet the realities of the twenty-first century. The annual sessions of the General Assembly provide special opportunities for the great United Nations family to come together to consider collectively and thoughtfully the situation of the world and the problems and challenges that our Organization must meet as it seeks to bring about peace, progress and solidarity for human society. As this century fades, we are living in an era marked by major challenges that involve all of us individually and collectively. Our world is in the throes of transformation, internationally as well as within each of our States, and our transition towards the third millennium is not without certain contradictions. Globalization has become a worldwide phenomenon. The movement of people and ideas, the computer and information revolutions, the protection of the environment and the fight against drugs and terrorism have also become transnational phenomena that call for global reform and thoroughgoing international solidarity, which is the only thing that will allow us to attain our major objectives — for while we are all similar, we are also all different. At the same time, fragmentations are increasing and differences are asserting themselves at the national level, thereby leading to civil wars and ethnic and tribal conflicts that often jeopardize the structure of our States. Formidable wealth has been created for a tiny minority, while vast expanses of absolute poverty remain; and while human rights are exalted here, they are mocked or trampled underfoot elsewhere. The United Nations, which is the repository of the universal conscience, must adapt to these changing realities and develop the capacity to act, often with urgency, in the service of peace and to respond appropriately to the legitimate aspirations of humankind. As we seek to attain the goals that are before us, our Member States have the responsibility and the duty to endow our Organization with the tools that will allow it effectively and rapidly to implement the agenda for the twenty-first century. In this context, I should like to emphasize and welcome two major developments that have marked the recent history of the United Nations. I shall refer first to the establishment of the International Criminal Court, not because it takes priority but because the head of State of my country, President Abdou Diouf, has conferred upon me the honour of being involved in this issue for the past two years. Senegal was among the first signatories of the Statute of the Court and is waiting only for the certified copy before ratifying it. The Diplomatic Conference in Rome was without doubt a historic gathering, as for the first time the nations of the world, in particular those from Africa, united by a single and shared desire for justice, together found a legal means of deterring those who might be tempted to commit crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of genocide; a means of bringing them to trial, if there are grounds for doing so; and a means of sentencing them if they are found guilty. In short, we have succeeded in forging the missing link in the international legal system. That gathering will also be remembered as historic because the Statute of the Court, which we solemnly adopted on 18 July 1998, in such a symbolically rich place as Rome, introduced major innovations in relations between States and between national and international jurisdictions. Finally, if anyone needs to be reminded, I am happy to say that the Statute and the final act governing the Court complement, and thereby imbue with greater meaning, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose fiftieth anniversary we are commemorating this year as one of the great milestone events in the history of the United Nations. What is more, the Statute makes the ideal of justice more precise and more alive. I am pleased to say that my country, Senegal, recently became the first State member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to ratify the Protocol on the Establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples? Rights, which was adopted at the most recent OAU summit in Ouagadougou. Last year, during the fifty-second regular session of the General Assembly, we all warmly welcomed the reform proposals of the Secretary-General, contained in his report (A/51/950) entitled “Renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform”. We were unanimous in believing that those judicious, balanced, innovative and action-oriented proposals were very timely because they were in tune with the spirit and letter of the Declaration issued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary, which stated: “In order to be able to respond effectively to the challenges of the future and the expectations of the United Nations held by peoples around the world, it is essential that the United Nations itself be reformed and modernized.” (resolution 50/6, para. 14) This conviction, which we all shared, has today become an imperative. Indeed, through the dynamic impetus provided by the President of the General Assembly at its fifty-second session, Mr. Udovenko, the General Assembly adopted resolutions through which it endorsed and reaffirmed the implementation of the measures and proposals recommended by the Secretary- General. In this regard, I should like to convey my sincere congratulations to Ms. Louise Fréchette, who has been appointed to the distinguished position of Deputy Secretary-General of our Organization, with particular responsibility for development issues. To her, our partner in development, I wish every success in carrying out her honourable and important mission. In calling to mind the reforms that will enable the United Nations to become the cornerstone of a multilateral system better attuned to the realities of the twenty-first century, I could not ignore the delicate and complex negotiations under way within the Working Group entrusted with the question of restructuring the Security Council. Security Council reform is a fundamental element in the overall reform of the United 2 Nations, but we must recognize that it will not be an easy task. We all agree on the need to modernize and democratize that essential United Nations body, but we are finding it difficult to reach consensus, or even general agreement, on such fundamental issues as the enlargement, composition and right of veto. Despite five years of discussions within the Working Group, we must not abandon our hopes and become discouraged. If we redouble our efforts and benefit from the momentum that we have created, I am convinced that in due course we will succeed in this great undertaking to restructure the Security Council by conferring on it greater legitimacy, credibility and transparency. Africa certainly has its place in this reform — a place that must be acknowledged given its history and its destiny as a continent of the future in which there is room for continued growth. The United Nations has traversed half a century, and during the course of those years we have progressively laid the groundwork for an international system that should be able to ensure our collective security. In this regard, our Organization has been and remains an irreplaceable tool for the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security. Despite the numerous achievements recorded in that area, we must agree about how much farther we have to travel, as well as about the bold initiatives to be taken in order fully to secure international peace and security. Longstanding conflicts continue to resist our efforts at resolving them, while a number of fresh crises — a new generation of conflicts linked to an upswell in ethnic or intercommunity violence — continue to be a source of major concern for our countries, especially those in Africa. Thus, in the subregion of western Africa, while Sierra Leone was moving towards the total restoration of constitutional order with the return to Freetown of the democratically elected President owing to efforts by the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity and especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a mutiny broke out on 7 June last, spearheaded by part of the standing army of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. At the express request of the legal authorities of that country, Senegal and the Republic of Guinea, another neighbour of Guinea-Bissau, dispatched troops in accordance with the relevant provisions of the bilateral agreements signed by each of the two countries with Guinea-Bissau. I should like to reiterate that Senegal?s involvement in Guinea-Bissau is designed solely to help restore constitutional order, ward off threats to the safety of the civilian populations and foreigners, and contribute to the strengthening of stability and security in the subregion and throughout Africa. On 26 August 1998, ECOWAS, together with the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, succeeded in inducing the parties to sign a ceasefire accord, the first step towards the normalization of life in Guinea-Bissau. In the Horn of Africa, we have witnessed a drastic downturn in the relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Indeed, the armies of those two fraternal countries — forced by history, geography and culture to live in perfect harmony and peace — launched military operations. And yet there have been numerous initiatives designed to bring about a political solution of this new conflict. The brotherly Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea should agree to sit down at the negotiating table and endeavour, with the help of the current Chairman of the OAU, the countries of the subregion and other participants of goodwill, to find ways and means of reaching a peaceful solution. Elsewhere on the continent, in Angola and in Somalia, the road to peace is winding — if not tortuous — and uncertainty continues to prevail. Allow me to pay once again from this rostrum a respectful tribute to the memory of Matre Alioune Blondin Beye, Special Representative of the Secretary- General in Angola, and of his companions in misfortune, who included our fellow countryman Moctar Gueye, a journalist, all of whom died in an accident on the field of honour in the service of peace. All of Africa aspires to progress and to a better life, even though the conflicts it is enduring continue to pose major obstacles to a balanced and lasting economic and social development. We therefore have the obligation and the duty, as members of the family of nations, to continue to strive to bring about a world order that is more stable, equitable and just. Aware of this reality, Africans together, working in concert with the OAU and in close cooperation with the United Nations, are participating more and more actively 3 in regional efforts aimed at conflict prevention, management and resolution. I should like to take this opportunity to welcome the publication of the Secretary-General?s report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. In this invaluable report, the Secretary-General offers a well thought out and objective analysis of the causes of conflicts in Africa, rightly pinpointing the close link between stability and development, and finally recommending criteria, conditions and ways and means of ensuring, building and safeguarding peace in the interest of sustainable development in Africa. My country, Senegal, convinced of the importance of peace in the Middle East and of the need for greater progress in that respect, is actively supporting the peace process and remains committed to the achievement of peace in the region based on the relevant resolutions and agreements, which must be respected by all parties, if only on the basis of the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The time is ripe urgently to call once again on the parties involved, the co-sponsors and all peace-loving nations to ensure that fresh initiatives are taken to reconcile the widely divergent viewpoints of the Palestinian Authority and the Government of Israel in order to restore a climate of confidence and cooperation, which is the only possible basis for peace and peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the region. Ongoing efforts to bring about general, complete and verifiable disarmament represent a major step in strengthening international security. While significant progress has been made in this realm in the past decade, we must acknowledge that global disarmament, today more than ever, remains a long-range objective. Indeed, the conflicts we have seen in recent years have demonstrated that the massive destruction caused by conventional arms requires that initiatives be taken to deter their proliferation, and in particular the illicit traffic in small-calibre weapons, now a real scourge in Africa. Major efforts are being mobilized on the continent to fight this threat, but it is obvious that Africa alone cannot possibly overcome it. Senegal will spare no effort to contribute to the elaboration of an international convention to fight the illicit traffic in small-calibre weapons. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the universal character of the United Nations has achieved wide acceptance, and its universality gives our Organization greater credibility and effectiveness. In keeping with this principle, Senegal unreservedly supports the request by the Republic of China to rejoin the community of free nations and to be admitted as a member of our Organization and of its specialized agencies. Accordingly, we have proposed that the General Assembly reconsider that part of resolution 2758 (XXVI) that excluded the Republic of China from the United Nations and from its specialized agencies. In keeping with its purpose — to be a centre where nations work together for social progress through the achievement of improved living conditions — the United Nations has made a remarkable contribution to pinpointing the problems facing humankind. Throughout this decade, the United Nations has held a series of major conferences that have enabled the international community to adopt at the highest political level a set of consensual plans of action. These have laid the foundation for a new global partnership for development based upon the principle of national responsibility and the imperative of international solidarity, in the quest for a united response to the challenges that face all of us. Never before has so generous and so highly promising an approach been taken to the concerns felt by the community of nations. These action plans, apart from their degree of relevance, constitute a set of formal commitments on measures that should be taken together. Without the corresponding mobilization of new and additional resources, the specific actions expected from these noble initiatives, whose grandeur and legitimacy derive their very force from the ideals embodied in the Charter itself, are liable to translate into severely compromised or dashed hopes. Above and beyond the problems linked to implementing the results of the major conferences held throughout the decade, the fact is that international cooperation for development now poses a paradox that we cannot ignore without betraying the ideals of peace and development that inspired the founding fathers of our Organization. 4 Miguel de Unamuno, Rector of the University of Salamanca in Spain, once said: “Under certain circumstances, to keep silent is to lie”. How, then, can we remain silent before the obvious contradiction between the incessant expansion of needs for economic cooperation for development and the constant decline in official development assistance, which is today at its lowest level in 25 years? How can we forget the persistent imbalances in multilateral international trade, whose first and foremost role was, after all, to ensure for everyone, in developed and developing countries alike, the benefits of a trading mechanism that was to be open, regulated, transparent, equitable and predictable? What values of humanity can still be invoked when at the dawn of the third millennium, in a world that has become a global village, over a billion men and women are deprived of even the barest elements of a decent life? The marginalization and exclusion that haunt the daily lives of these men and women give proof once again of the absolute priority that the fight against poverty must have at both the national and international levels. This is why strong measures to breathe new life into North-South exchanges are today more imperative than ever. The General Assembly?s high-level debate devoted to relaunching a dialogue to strengthen international cooperation through partnership and the draft plan for an international gathering at the highest level for development financing are encouraging initiatives, as would be initiatives for fair compensation for commodities and a global settlement of the debt crisis of developing countries. The fifty-third session of the General Assembly coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The promotion, consolidation and expansion of the underpinnings of the State based on the rule of law throughout the world; the strengthening of national institutions for the defence of human rights; the integration of human rights into the major activities of the United Nations system; the promotion of the right to development — these seem to us to be the essential pillars of a global policy for the benefit of human rights and freedoms at the end of this century. In this context, my delegation would like to salute the major initiatives undertaken by Mrs. Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights since she took office, particularly those directed to our continent, Africa, which are fully in keeping with our expectations. This means, in fact, that more than ever before, we must promote dialogue with Governments, strengthen dialogue between institutions within the United Nations system and strive to rationalize the machinery of human rights. The fight against the global drug problem remains a concern shared by the entire international community because of the multiple and pernicious ties that drug- trafficking has been able to establish with phenomena such as transnational organized crime, terrorism, large- scale banditry and illegal arms-trafficking networks — particularly those involving small calibre weapons, especially in Africa. This illicit trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances has become a dangerous threat to the peace, stability and security of all nations, States and regions of the world at the end of the millennium. This is why my country, Senegal, welcomed the holding last June in the presence of numerous heads of State and of Government in this Hall of the special session of the General Assembly devoted to the drug problem. Now it is important for all of us to work for the effective implementation of the important conclusions reached at that meeting, both at the national and international levels. Before I conclude, allow me to say a few words about the financial crisis and the need to strengthen the effectiveness of the United Nations. Our Organization has been in the midst of a very worrisome financial situation for several years now. The causes of this situation have been debated at length right here and it does not seem necessary for me to recall them now. I would simply like to stress that the reform process that we have all undertaken cannot possibly be brought to a successful conclusion within this situation of financial instability that the Organization is experiencing at a time when it is being called upon to act on many different fronts. The new international context, and the multidimensional nature of the challenges to be met require that we have a restructured and modernized United Nations that is endowed with the capabilities necessary to come to our help in resolving our disputes, eliminating injustices and disparities and avoiding exclusion and selfishness. It is enough for us to want these things, because we possess the resources and capabilities to attain them. Humanity has already met so many challenges in the course of its troubled history that we can have no doubt 5 now that it is indeed capable of meeting the challenges of the third millennium as well. So far as we are concerned in Senegal, under the leadership of Mr. Abdou Diouf, President of the Republic, we are ready to shoulder our responsibilities in a genuine spirit of solidarity and collective effort in order to realize our ambitions and dreams. We owe it to ourselves, but especially to the generations to come.