Like most of the speakers who have preceded me. I too would like to express my fraternal compassion and solidarity with the people of Morocco and Libya, who have been deeply bereaved in recent days by natural disasters with unspeakable consequences.
Just a few weeks ago. I received a report from a mission that I had sent to Libya as part of the African Union peace and reconciliation mission that I have been leading for almost six years. The report of that mission testified at length to the courage and resilience of the Libyan people, tired of living in division; a people who fight to shake off the demons of the partition of the country and to find the path of truth, reconciliation and peace; a people determined to embark on the path to recovery and regain prosperity. It is to those brave and courageous people, who have given so much to Africa, that I extend my sincere condolences.
The theme of our general debate very clearly summarizes our common desire to qualitatively change the world. That was already the generous philosophy and purpose of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure peace, security and prosperity for all people on Earth. Whether it is about eliminating poverty and hunger in the world, thanks to a fairer and more equitable global economy and to more efficient and sustainable agriculture; or whether it is about guaranteeing good health for the greatest number and quality education for the most disadvantaged, those are only absolute priorities. So too. among others, are the supply of water and electricity to the broadest social strata; the construction of road. rail. port, airport and energy infrastructure to connect territories, countries, regions and subregions; the preservation of biodiversity ecosystems, in particular through responsible management of the tropical forests, which are among the most precious heritages that we have received from providence; the fight to change mentalities in the world, with respect for the diversity of cultural expressions and reciprocal tolerance; the anchoring in our societies of the idea of gender equality and male-female parity; and the empowerment of women and girls.
On that last point. I would like to underline the preponderant share in the responsibility that women have assumed in my country over the past 15 years. Today they are making an outstanding contribution to the promotion of their rights and freedoms, to the fight for the elimination of poverty and to the intensification of inclusive education, through all-round training and learning.
In short, all the priorities that I have just listed call on each of us to demonstrate a high sense of duty and responsibility, an openness to the virtues of dialogue, a solid impulse of solidarity, patience and resilience. The balance of nations in the world seems to me to be largely dependent on that development and that option.
The climate is today the most pressing of all emergencies. This emergency touches the heart of life in all its diversity. It calls our existence in all its complexity into question. The continual rise in sea levels that is endangering island countries, the sweeping desertification that nothing seems to stop, the suffocating heatwaves that kill many elderly people again and again, the repetitive floods and sudden mudslides that cause such visible damage — all those phenomena are as dangerous as they are devastating, and they now concern even the most sceptical among us.
That is why. assuming my share of responsibility in my capacity as President of the Congo Basin Climate Commission. I launched, at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt, the Global Decade of Afforestation initiative for biodiversity and denser plant cover at the service of humankind. In the same vein, my country, the Republic of the Congo, has committed to hosting, next October, a summit of the three basins of biodiversity ecosystems and tropical forests — Congo. Amazon and Borneo-Mekong-South-East Asia — as a collective and concerted response from those three green lungs of the planet to the climate insecurity that is now so threatening.
Since the dawn of time, as we all know, the forest has supported millions and millions of people. With one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world — only 0.06 per cent — my country is playing its full part in preserving the environment in the name of the survival of humankind. Today we can only rejoice at the happy outcome of the inscription process of the Odzala-Kokoua natural park on the World Heritage List, which was concluded at the 45th session of the UNESCO
World Heritage Committee, held recently in Riyadh. That was undeniably an act of recognition that duly rewards the efforts of my country in the preservation of that natural jewel of nearly 1.2 million hectares, rich in animal and plant biodiversity, in the heart of the Congo basin. The sacrifices made by local populations by voluntarily abandoning certain activities likely to harm the environment and the renunciation by States of development projects to preserve biodiversity ecosystems should also elicit action on the part of the international community financial compensation, which would in no way be charity.
In Africa, in terms of agricultural development, we know that we must protect arable land from the harmful impacts of climate change. Without that precaution, production forecasts would become completely uncertain and nothing could be controlled. Our responsibility as leaders is overwhelming in that regard. Indeed, with a population that could amount to some 2 billion inhabitants in 2050. Africa must now make a qualitative leap to secure sufficient quality food tomorrow and to forever exorcize the spectres of famine and the exodus of its populations.
Africa urgently needs modern agriculture, supported in particular by efficient irrigation and mechanization systems — an agriculture that must enable it to significantly reduce its food imports, which remain too high. That is why I call for efficient technical and financial partnerships for substantial progress in that sector. Africa has no need for partnerships underpinned by politically oriented official development assistance, which is synonymous with organized almsgiving. Subsidies in dribs and drabs, doled out to the rhythm of the donors’ own interests, will certainly not allow the real and effective development of our continent.
This session of the General Assembly is being held at a time when wars and other armed conflicts are raging around the world. This is the place to hammer home once again that no significant progress will be possible on any continent or in any country without peace. The hope of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals assigned by the United Nations will only be a pipe dream if we do not ourselves create the first of all the conditions necessary for their achievement — namely, peace.
For its part and whenever circumstances have permitted, the Republic of the Congo has always worked for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Africa and around the world. That is how my country decided to take an active part in the African initiative for peace mediation between Russia and Ukraine. Due to the threat of widespread warfare that such events pose to the world, not only the two protagonists in this conflict, but also the foreign Powers that can influence the course of events in the direction of peace should all temper their ardour, stop fanning the embers and engage without delay in peace negotiations — fair, sincere and equitable negotiations.
The world urgently needs those negotiations to prevent the ongoing clashes, which are already so devastating, from further escalating and tipping humankind into what could be an irremediable cataclysm, that is to say. a total war that would spin out of the control of the great Powers themselves. I remain convinced that the wise recommendations made by Africa to restore peace between Ukraine and Russia will eventually be taken into account.
In my capacity as Chairman of the African Union High-Level Committee on Libya. I cannot remain silent before the Assembly concerning the tragic situation which that country has been experiencing since 2011. It is a situation in which I am deeply invested in the name of the African Union. The peace efforts made within the framework of that thorny issue continued recently, in July, in the context of a reconciliation meeting that took place in Brazzaville, in my country, and that allowed several actors representing the heart of Libyan political and social sensitivities to sit at the same table. Everything was done to persuade the protagonists to transcend their differences and to ally their understandings of the challenges facing tomorrow’s Libya.
The inter-Libyan reconciliation conference that the mediation I chair is seeking to convene will make sense only if it is inclusive, constructive and consensual. It must allow our Libyan brothers and sisters to reconnect through the virtue of dialogue by ceasing to look at each other as if they were strangers, to learn to forgive each other and to give precedence to justice, on the basis of the rule of law whose history they are called on to write. I call once again for the support of the international community, starting with the countries of the subregion and the organizations that unite them, without forgetting the so-called Quartet countries, with a view to winning concrete support for our efforts in order to open a solid and credible prospect for the definitive resolution of the crisis, which has lasted too long.
Faced with the unilateralism that is dangerously eroding the foundations of the beautiful edifice that so many generations have worked to build since 1945. the Republic of the Congo, through my voice, reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism, a guarantee of justice in international relations, balance, equity, peace and cooperation for shared development. Multilateralism, as we all know, can prosper only in a fair and equitable global system that no longer reflects the fantasies of the past, but the developments and realities of our time. There is therefore an urgent need to reform its go-to tool, the Security Council, in order to ensure a fairer representation of all continents and all peoples of the world.
In that regard. Africa has a Common Position, a conciliatory and consensual position, sealed at Ezulwini. that my country has championed tirelessly for more than a decade. I reiterate here and now the African demand, legitimate in all respects, to see two of its States sit on the Security Council as permanent members, with the right of veto. That would be the only just outcome before history.