Sociopolitical crises, armed conflicts, the degradation
of ecosystems, pandemics like HIV/AIDS, religious
extremism, terrorism, cross-border crime and
development problems are today the vital questions that
call upon the conscience of individuals, summoning
their responsibility for building the present and the
future. I am convinced of the need to enhance our
spirit of sharing and solidarity in order to meet the
challenges of promoting peace, stability and security
and to provide humankind with all the tools needed for
better mastery of its evolution.
Before continuing, I would like to congratulate the
President on his election to preside over the General
Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. In addition, I would
like to express our recognition for the remarkable way
in which his predecessor, Mr. Vuk Jeremi., presided
over the work of the sixty-seventh session. Allow
me also to repeat to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban
Ki-moon, the expression of the esteem and recognition
of the Government of Burkina Faso for his availability
and staunch commitment to peace and development.
The current session is taking place in an
international context characterized by relentless
economic difficulties and growing threats to peace
and security on a global scale. I take this opportunity
to express to the people of Kenya the compassion and
solidarity of the people of Burkina Faso following
the terrorist attacks that were recently perpetrated in
Nairobi.
The West African subregion continues to be marked
by the stigma of multidimensional crises that have
taken place over the past two decades. Our subregion,
and particularly the Sahelo-Saharan zone, has became a
hideout for drug traffickers and terrorists whose desire
to destabilize the region represents a real threat to the
peace and security of our States.
I would like to welcome the gradual improvement of
the situation in Mali since the deployment of the United
Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization
Mission in Mali and the holding of presidential elections,
which supports the re-established constitutional order.
I would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate my
thanks to all those players who have helped to resolve
the crisis in Mali. To the Malian authorities and people,
I express my warmest congratulations on the success
of the recent presidential elections. The implementation
of the United Nations integrated strategy for the Sahel
will contribute, I am convinced, to enhancing stability
in that country and in the entire Sahelo-Saharan region.
Burkina Faso is determined to play a role alongside the
international community to achieve the objectives of
that strategy.
Dialogue is the favoured way to ensure
understanding among and within peoples. Furthermore,
the Government of Burkina Faso supports strengthening
social cohesion, broadening spaces for freedom and
dialogue, and seeking together solutions to conflicts. It
is in that spirit that my country has been participating
for two decades in peacekeeping operations conducted
by the United Nations, the African Union and the
Economic Community of West African States, with
contingents of about 2,000 men and women who are
deployed in various theatres of operation. I pay tribute
to the efforts of all those who work tirelessly to build a
world of peace and freedom.
Beyond the resolution of sociopolitical and military
crises in West Africa, Burkina Faso strongly supports
the initiatives of the international community that
seek to restore lasting stability in the Central African
Republic, the Democratic People’s Republic of the
Congo, the Great Lakes region, Somalia and the Sudan.
With regard to Western Sahara, my country
supports the search for a political solution acceptable
to all parties and reaffirms its support to the Moroccan
initiative for an autonomous status for the Saharan
region as a credible and realistic alternative in resolving
that dispute.
Beyond the African continent, the situation in the
Syrian Arab Republic urgently requires an immediate
end to the hostilities and a search for political
solutions to the crisis. Therefore we encourage the
implementation of the American-Russian agreement of
14 September aimed at control and dismantlement of
chemical weapons stockpiles.
With regard to the situation in the Middle East,
we welcome the relaunching of direct negotiations
between Israel and Palestine and strongly encourage
the different parties to work towards a peaceful solution
to the conflict in order to reach a fair and equitable
solution based on the recognition of a Palestinian State
living in perfect harmony with Israel.
The climate of dialogue and détente that
characterizes relations between the Republic of China
on Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China should
be welcomed and encouraged. In that spirit, we must
welcome the Republic of China on Taiwan in the
United Nations specialized agencies, particularly the
International Civil Aviation Organization and the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
We also welcome Taiwan’s incalculable contribution
in support of the achievement by developing countries
such as Burkina Faso of the Millennium Development
Goals.
Peace in Africa requires pertinant socioeconomic
development programmes to generate effective
responses to the uncertainties created by the
international economic situation and to strengthen
trust between the people and the leaders. A landlocked
country of the Sahel without great natural resources,
Burkina Faso is committed to implementing strong
policies in the context of its Strategy of Accelerated
Growth and Sustainable Development, with a view to
promoting development and to significantly improving
in the quality of life of the people of Burkina Faso.
As we approach the deadline for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals, the theme of the
current session, “The post-2015 development agenda:
setting the stage”, raises in a pertinant way the issue of
the dialectical relationship between development, peace
and security. It therefore offers us an opportunity to
focus our thinking on a new vision in order to achieve
comprehensive progress, based on strong international
solidarity, towards sustainable development. That
is why it is important that we redouble our efforts
to regulate environmental issues on the basis of
the outcome of the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (resolution 66/288, annex),
held in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.
Peace and stability appear as still-distant goals,
given the number of centres of conflict throughout
the world. That situation demands that we further
strengthen multilateralism, rigorously apply the
principles enshrined in the Charter of our Organization,
strengthen the instruments for promoting those ideals
and carry out the reform of United Nations bodies, in
particular the Security Council. It is my hope that the
General Assembly’s work at this session will contribute
to achieving those noble objectives for a more fulfilled
and united humankind.