Sudan

It gives me great pleasure at the outset to convey to all those present the greetings and the best wishes of His Excellency Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir, the President of the Republic of the Sudan, who, owing to unforeseen circumstances, could not take part in this important session. It also gives me great pleasure to congratulate the President for his election as President of the United Nations General Assembly in its sixty-second session. I am confident that his rich experience and high professionalism will lead our deliberations to the expected successful results. I would also like to seize this opportunity to pay tribute to his predecessor, Sheika Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, for the commendable efforts she undertook during the previous session of the Assembly. I would also like to take this opportunity to warmly congratulate Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his election to lead this Organization. We have no doubt that he will contribute constructively to the revitalization of the United Nations role, preserving its Charter and the service it renders to Member States in a spirit of respect and transparency and that he will enable the United Nations to confront the current challenges at this critical juncture in the development of international relations, where the international community is faced with huge fateful challenges in many areas. Last year, our President announced to the Assembly from this rostrum (see A/61/PV.11) that peace in our country is no longer a dream, but rather it is a living reality and an irrevocable strategic objective. Today, I am honoured to tell members that since then, we have resolutely continued to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to make it a reality. All the constitutional institutions and organs necessary for implementation of the Agreement have been established. At the level of executive institutions, the presidency, the Government of National Unity, the Government of South Sudan and the state governments have all been established. In addition, the legislative institutions at the national level, in South Sudan and at the State level have been formed. At the judicial level, the National Judicial Service Commission and the Constitutional Court have been set up. Furthermore, all commissions provided for in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement such as the National Constitutional Review Commission, the Assessment and Evaluation Commission, the National Petroleum Commission, the National Civil Service Commission, the Commission to Protect the Rights of Non-Muslims in the Capital and the Technical Ad Hoc Border Committee have been established and are all now diligently and conscientiously carrying out their mandates. Under the timeline for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the National Electoral Commission and the Human Rights Commission will be established by the end of this year. The National Legislature will adopt relevant legislation following the resumption of its session this month. A number of unresolved issues are currently being discussed and negotiated by joint committees comprising representatives of the two partners and other members of the Government of National Unity. We hope that those issues will be resolved soon, particularly since both partners have declared their commitment to that end. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that peace and security prevail today in South Sudan and the other areas covered by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That fact in itself is the greatest achievement of the Agreement, since it forms the necessary groundwork for the implementation of other provisions. While my country reaffirms its full commitment to the letter and the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and is determined to energetically and faithfully pursue its implementation, we also expect the international community to honour its pledges in fulfilling the requirements for peace in particular the pledges made at the 2005 Oslo donor conference, the cancellation of all external debt and the lifting of unilateral economic sanctions and restrictions, which hamper reconstruction and development efforts and, indeed, defeat the very objectives of the Agreement so that the country can manage the burden of reconstruction and development. Peace and security are two sides of the same coin: neither can exist without the other. Sudanese citizens are eagerly awaiting the peace dividends of reconstruction and development. We must not fail to meet that legitimate expectation. The march towards peace resolutely continued with the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement at Abuja in May 2006 under the generous auspices of the African Union, which served as mediator. The Agreement was a huge step forward towards the achievement of peace, stability and development in Darfur through dialogue. That fact was acknowledged by the international community, which effectively contributed to the conclusion of the Agreement. We have begun to implement various aspects of the Darfur Peace Agreement. In the area of power-sharing and participation, the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority has been established, and citizens of Darfur have been appointed to executive legislative positions at all levels of Government. All provisions of the Agreement related to power- and wealth-sharing and to security arrangements particularly the Ceasefire Commission have also been put in place, in full cooperation with the partners. With regard to the humanitarian situation, my country has always been fully committed to facilitating unhindered access to the flow of relief assistance for the affected and the needy. We have also facilitated the activities and movement of humanitarian organizations in Darfur. All those efforts culminated in the Joint Communiqué between the Government of the Sudan and the United Nations on Facilitation of Humanitarian Activities in Darfur, which we signed with the United Nations on 28 March 2007. The Communiqué is being implemented through a joint mechanism comprising the Government, the United Nations and national and international voluntary non-governmental organizations. The humanitarian situation is clearly improving, as confirmed by health and humanitarian statistics showing lower levels of epidemics, hunger and food shortages, a situation better than in other parts of that area of Darfur. The return of internally displaced persons and refugees to their villages is another sign of improvement. The Secretary-General himself witnessed such movement during his most recent visit to the Sudan. The joint efforts of the Government of the Sudan and the United Nations to maintain and consolidate peace have continued with the strengthening of the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) through the light and heavy support packages adopted at the high-level meeting held in November 2006 in Addis Ababa, followed by the hybrid operation authorized by the Security Council in its resolution 1769 (2007). Our country has declared its full compliance with the letter and the spirit of that resolution. The progress that has been made on the political, humanitarian and peacekeeping fronts could have been achieved only through dialogue led by the United Nations and other international actors for which we had been calling for quite some time not through the imposition of policies of pressure and coercion. Thus, it has been possible to arrive at an agreement acceptable to all parties. That has propelled the situation in Darfur into a good phase, thanks to efforts aimed at a peaceful settlement and the inclusion of groups that did not endorse the Darfur Peace Agreement. My country is firmly convinced that the problem of Darfur must be resolved in a political manner, through negotiations. Therefore, we believe that high priority should be accorded to a political negotiation process. We reiterated that belief at the aforementioned high-level consultations held at Addis Ababa. Here, I wish to reaffirm my Government’s full support for the joint African Union-United Nations initiative, led by Special Envoys Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim. In addition, we reiterate that we are fully prepared to engage in the peace talks scheduled to begin in Libya on 27 October 2007. From this rostrum, we call on all rebel movements in Darfur to join in the march towards peace without delay and to immediately cease hostilities, in response to the repeated appeals of the Government of the Sudan. My Government has already declared a unilateral ceasefire, which will coincide with the 27 October peace talks. We hope and expect that the armed factions will reciprocate so that a permanent and verifiable ceasefire can be declared when the talks begin. Furthermore, we call on the international community to take firm measures against those who obstruct or refuse to participate in the peace talks. We also call upon those international actors who have hosted a number of the leaders of those factions to demonstrate that they are credible by persuading them to participate in the Libya talks. At the high-level consultations held on 21 September in New York, it was resolved that the talks would be final and conclusive. Reconstruction and development are major factors for stability and for strengthening efforts towards a political settlement. We must therefore devote similar attention to the issues of development, rehabilitation and reconstruction, as stipulated in Security Council resolution 1769 (2007). We look forward to the international community finalizing its current efforts towards holding an international conference on the reconstruction of Darfur; we hope it will take place soon. In the twists and turns of the Darfur problem, my country has been the subject of unfair, hostile and ill-intentioned campaigns from some international quarters that are bent on exploiting the crisis in Darfur to serve their well-known interests, agendas and schemes. This vicious campaign has targeted our country’s policies and political positions and seeks to exaggerate and distort the facts and to denigrate the country's capabilities, its heritage and the values and traditions of its people. The campaign also aims at diverting attention from other regional and international crises. We hope that the international community will shoulder its responsibilities in the service of peace and stability in Darfur and seize the golden opportunity that will be provided by the expected peace talks in Libya. My country, which has reaffirmed its full commitment to the objectives of peace and stability, culminating in concrete terms in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, will leave no stone unturned to spread peace, security and stability in Darfur. It will strive to consolidate its positive and constructive engagement with the United Nations. Clearly, there is no person or group of persons more concerned, or more determined to stop the bloodshed and achieve peace and stability in Darfur, than the Government of the Sudan. We live in a world of continuous challenges and recurrent threats. There is no doubt that the international community is more than ever convinced that the only way to confront these challenges and their consequences is through collective efforts effectively and ably led by the United Nations. Such a role is reflected in the special attention the Organization has begun to pay to the challenge of climate change, as reflected in the statements made by heads of State or Government during the recent high-level event on climate change. Climate change and environmental degradation are major causes of conflict in many African countries, including my own, as noted in the recent comprehensive report of the United Nations Environment Programme, which highlighted the serious challenges the world faces as a result of climate change. We must therefore consolidate our efforts and capacities in order to save our planet for present and future generations. We all recognize that climate change should be confronted within the framework of the requirements of sustainable development and its three pillars: economic development, social development and environmental protection. Sudan signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and ratified it in November 1993, thus committing itself to mutual cooperation with the global community to address the problem of climate change. A global consensus on a post-2012 agreement must be reached at the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, to be held in Bali in December 2007. A successful outcome would be based on the Rio principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and would take fully into account the needs of the developing countries, especially the most vulnerable among them In this context, the Sudan believes that developed countries must meet their commitments in the fields of development, capacity-building and financial and technical assistance to developing countries and must take the initiative to confront such problems in those countries. The current international economic conditions and the commercial and financial scenario constrain development in developing countries, especially the least developed among them. This poses imminent dangers to the peoples of those countries, due to many factors. The most important of them are: the paucity of official development assistance (ODA); the unfair terms of international trade, which place restrictions on developing countries’ exports to international markets and impose unfair prices on their primary commodities; heavy external debt; and the negative effects of the process of globalization. The Millennium Summit reaffirmed Africa’s special needs and made meeting them a priority. Hence, the United Nations should take the lead in reaching that objective. In this regard, we hope that the position of Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa will be strengthened and that the necessary resources will be allocated to that office to enable it to shoulder its responsibilities towards strengthening United Nations activities focused on Africa, in particular those pertaining to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and the consolidation of international cooperation to support the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. The Sudan reiterates the importance of the Millennium Declaration and of reaching its goals, as well as the importance of other items on the international development agenda, with special emphasis on the right of developing countries to determine their priorities without restrictions, conditions or predetermined obligations that impede their development efforts, as described in the African-Caribbean-Pacific Summit that my country hosted last December. In this respect, I would like to point out that my country has exerted tremendous efforts towards the realization of these objectives and has made noticeable progress in the difficult areas of poverty eradication, education, health care, maternal and child welfare and combating diseases. The concept of human rights continues to attract the attention of the international community, not only because of the vital importance of the issue, but also because of attempts to deviate from the aim of discussing this issue with integrity and to exploit it in order to settle political scores. My country is of the view that a new approach based on dialogue and cooperation should be introduced when dealing with human rights, instead of naming and shaming, condemnation and threats of sanctions. Moreover, selectivity and double standards should not influence the consideration of human rights issues, especially at the Human Rights Council, which completed its first year with the adoption of an important document that lays the institutional foundation of the Council through, inter alia, ensuring the independence of rapporteurs in the fulfilment of their mandates and ensuring that human rights are monitored with neutrality. With the adoption of that important document, the Council has truly started the process of correcting the failures and shameful practices of the former Commission on Human Rights. In fulfilment of its political commitments, and consistent with the attention it gives to all sectors of society, especially the most vulnerable ones, the Sudan was among the first countries to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Women have been the focus of Government plans and strategies aiming at their advancement and empowerment in all fields, in compliance with the provisions of the Transitional Constitution and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. These efforts were crowned with the adoption of national strategies and plans pertaining to the advancement and empowerment of women in all fields. As indicated earlier in relation to the declared objectives of the establishment of the Human Rights Council, in the light of experience with the former Commission on Human Rights, any effort to reform international institutions will be futile without the reform of the United Nations itself; any United Nations reform will be incomplete without the reform of the Security Council. While we commend the efforts exerted thus far in deliberations pertaining to Security Council reform and the revitalization of the General Assembly, it is important to intensify efforts further in order to accomplish the desired objectives and understandings in this area. The Sudan reiterates its commitment to the African position, as provided for in the Ezulwini consensus and confirmed by subsequent African summit meetings. Africa is the only continent without permanent representation on the Security Council, although African issues constitute more than 70 per cent of the Council’s agenda. The fact that the Palestinian question remains unresolved since the establishment of the United Nations decades ago not only tarnishes the credibility of the Organization but also continues to pose a serious threat to international peace and security. It is imperative to conclude a comprehensive, lasting and just settlement of this conflict, especially in the light of continued violent confrontations between the Palestinian people and the Israeli occupying forces. The international community should force Israel to comply with international resolutions and fulfil its commitments, including those set out in the Road Map, and enable the Palestinian people to exercise its right to self-determination and to establish its own independent State, with its capital in Al-Quds Al-Sharif. It is also imperative to reach a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, based on Israel’s withdrawal from all the land it occupied in 1967. In this context, and to ensure sustained security and peace for all the peoples in the region, we wish to confirm the need to make the Middle East, without any exceptions, a nuclear- weapon-free zone. Developments in Iraq have further aggravated the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. The increasing pace of violence in Iraq and the deterioration of the security situation make it incumbent on all of us to cooperate and help the Iraqi people in their predicament. This can be achieved only through respect for the free will of the Iraqi people, the preservation of Iraq’s unity and national sovereignty and setting a time frame for the exit of occupation forces from Iraq. My country has repeatedly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The Sudan supports all relevant regional and international decisions and resolutions pertaining to terrorism and affirms its cooperation with the international community to implement these decisions. However, in order to eradicate terrorism, it is necessary to address its root causes and implement the integrated strategies that have been adopted. I wish to conclude by reiterating that, in order for the United Nations to continue playing its role, we all have a collective responsibility, one based on a solid determination to make this Organization a platform for collective international efforts that would effectively and expeditiously address global challenges. We also need to coordinate with regional organizations within the framework of the United Nations Charter. We look forward, therefore, to working together to strengthen multilateral cooperation for the common good, transcending narrow self-interest. My country, which this year celebrates the fifty-first anniversary of its joining the United Nations, hopes that this session’s deliberations will represent a landmark in fulfilling those goals.