It is with great pleasure
that I congratulate the President on his election to his
high office to preside over the General Assembly at
its sixty-eighth session, which is being held under the
theme: “The post-2015 development agenda: setting the
stage”. I wish to assure the President of the full support
and cooperation of my delegation in the successful
discharge of his heavy responsibilities. I would also
like to commend his predecessor for the able leadership
he demonstrated during the previous session.
Let me begin by condemning the terrorist attacks in
Kenya that claimed the lives of innocent civilians and
left many more injured. I wish to express my heartfelt
condolences to the people and Government of Kenya,
as well as to the families of the victims of that callous
attack. That incident once again demonstrates the need
for us to renew our commitment to fight terrorism and
extremism in all its forms and manifestations.
I am addressing the Assembly today not only on
behalf of my country but also as the representative of
the African Union (AU), which Ethiopia has the honour
of chairing this year. It is a welcome coincidence that
Ethiopia, which played host to the founding Conference
of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), 50 years
ago, has assumed the rotating chairpersonship of
that premier continental organization at a time when
its golden jubilee is being celebrated. We were very
pleased to host the Special Summit of African Heads
of State and Government, which marked the OAU/
AU jubilee on 25 May, and I would like to take this
opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all
those who sent delegations to Addis Ababa to take part
in the celebration and conveyed messages of support
and solidarity to the African Union. Since the fiftieth
anniversary will be a year-long event, we would like
to continue to mark the historic milestone during this
session of the General Assembly by reflecting on the
relations between the United Nations and the then
Organization of African Union and today’s African
Union over the past half-century.
When the Charter of the United Nations was
signed in 1945, much of Africa was under the yoke
of colonialism. Since then, our continent has been
liberated from the remnants of colonialism and other
forms of subjugation. Today, it is gratifying to note
that African countries constitute one of the largest
groups in the General Assembly. I would like to take
this opportunity to express my profound appreciation
for the invaluable contribution of the United Nations
to the decolonization process. However, we should not
lose sight of the fact that not all the challenges we faced
in that struggle have been definitively settled; nor can
we say that the process of decolonization has come to
an end in all its forms. We should therefore renew our
commitment to completing the decolonization process
in Africa.
In accordance with Chapter VIII of the Charter,
the United Nations has indeed worked closely with
the African Union and other regional mechanisms
to advance its primary objectives. Over the past
five decades and more, cooperation and partnership
between the OAU/AU and the United Nations have
significantly expanded and deepened in a wide range of
aspects and fields. We acknowledge with deep respect
the meaningful cooperation that the United Nations has
provided to the then OAU and now to the African Union
in addressing our continent’s multifaceted challenges.
Despite that fact, we are also cognizant of the
fact that a lot remains to be done to further enhance
the cooperation and partnership between the African
Union and the United Nations in the context of the
changing dynamics within Africa and in the world at
large. I earnestly hope that this historic occasion will
afford us a unique opportunity to reflect seriously
on our challenges and shortcomings with a view to
strengthening our cooperation and partnership so as to
better respond to the changing environment. I believe
we should adopt a flexible and innovative approach
in implementing Chapter VIII of the Charter in order
to enhance our partnership and address our common
challenges.
We are celebrating the OAU/AU’s golden jubilee at
a time when the stereotypical narrative of Africa as a
continent afflicted by poverty, disease and conflict has
slowly begun to change. In spite of so many persistent
difficulties, Africa has indeed turned the corner in
reducing the number of conflicts plaguing the continent
and in promoting democratic governance, as well as in
fighting poverty through accelerated economic growth
and development. With its enhanced peace and stability,
rapid economic growth, natural resources and growing
middle class, Africa is definitely on the rise, and that
is attracting much attention from the rest of the world.
The twenty-first century will be an African one if we
do indeed harmonize our efforts to maintain — in fact,
speed up — the rapid economic growth that Africa has
been registering for the last decade or so. We have every
reason to be optimistic that an African renaissance is
around the corner.
That positive development is unquestionably
encouraging, but we recognize that we can achieve our
aspirations for a peaceful, prosperous and integrated
Africa only by bringing about structural transformation.
That is why we are capitalizing on the golden jubilee
celebration to chart a transformation agenda for Africa
to be implemented over the next 50 years. At our
most recent session, in May, we also adopted our AU
Commission’s strategic plan for the period 2014-2017,
whose main objective is to lay a solid foundation for the
realization of our vision in the short and medium term.
It is indeed opportune that we are crafting our
transformation agenda when intergovernmental
negotiations on the post-2015 global development
framework have begun in earnest. I am glad that the
Assembly will debate that issue at this session, and I
commend the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons
on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, co-chaired by
the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia and the Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, for presenting their
comprehensive report, A New Global Partnership:
Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through
Sustainable Development, to the Secretary-General. I
hope that the report will provide valuable input for our
discussions of the theme “The post-2015 development
agenda: setting the stage” during this session.
Africa considers this issue to be of paramount
importance and has formed a high-level committee of
Heads of State and Government to develop a common
position and galvanize international support in order
to ensure that the successes achieved thus far in the
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals
are sustained and its development priorities beyond
2015 are fully taken on board. As the able Executive
Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (UNECA) has aptly put it, what Africa needs
is structural transformation, not structural adjustment.
The development agenda we are trying to set for Africa
over the next 50 years is also aimed at achieving that
fundamental objective, with a view to eradicating
poverty and ensuring sustainable development. With
respect to the work of the Open Working Group on
Sustainable Development Goals, we intend to come up
with a well-thought-out African position as an outcome
of the initiative of our troika: the African Union
Commission, UNECA and the African Development
Bank.
In that context, we want to achieve a green
revolution in Africa and ensure food security for our
peoples. The theme of the African Union in 2014 will
be “Agriculture and food security” and will promote
the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development
Programme, which will allow us to reinforce our
commitment to the transformation of the agricultural
sector in Africa.
We are also convinced of the need for Africa
to industrialize in order to accelerate its economic
growth, generate employment, increase income and
diversify exports. That can be done on the basis of our
factor endowments and taking into account the need
for us to increase added value and exploit forward
and backward linkages. It cannot be emphasized
enough that overcoming poverty is impossible without
structural transformation and value addition, which
makes industrialization not an option but a must — an
unavoidable necessity for Africa. Let me state here how
grateful we are to all those who have made partnerships
available to us to ensure that Africa develops the
capacity for modern and affordable energy, without
which industrialization would be impossible to achieve.
Furthermore, we would like to invest in
infrastructure, which has been neglected over past
decades, in order to promote intra-African trade and
fast-track regional integration. We are also committed
to redoubling our efforts to improve the overall well-
being of our society. In particular, we believe that Africa
should reap the benefits of its demographic dividend
by investing in its people. Educating our youth and
upgrading their skills is critical to the effective use of
our human capital. Therefore we very much hope that
the post-2015 global development framework will be
aligned to our development priorities and needs.
We in Africa certainly recognize that we cannot
realize our development aspirations in the absence
of durable peace and security. That is why we have
concentrated tremendous efforts in addressing the
scourge of conflicts on our continent. We are indeed
very pleased to note the drastic decline in the number
of conflicts in Africa during the last decade, with the
exception of a few situations. But we also understand
that there is a new security dynamic on our continent,
with the rise of popular dissatisfaction associated with
demands yet unmet.
In that regard, the African Union has been
exerting efforts to assist Egypt — a member State
whose contribution to the decolonization process on
our continent and to African unity has been second
to none — to overcome its current difficulties in the
spirit of African solidarity. The African Union is also
extending all the necessary support to Tunisia in order
to ensure a successful political transition through
the adoption of a new constitution and the holding of
elections.
On the other hand, we welcome the successful
conduct of elections in Mali that paved the way for the
restoration of constitutional order in that country. The
African Union is indeed firmly committed to continue
assisting Mali in its efforts to ensure lasting peace,
security and development. We derive satisfaction from
the significant progress made in Somalia towards
peace in the country, and we are also encouraged by
the agreement reached between the Federal Republic
of Somalia and the Juba Interim Administration, which
constitutes a significant milestone in promoting peace
and national reconciliation. The New Deal announced
at the Somalia Conference in Brussels on 16 September
will certainly strengthen the momentum for the
reconstruction of the country and building peace there.
The security and humanitarian situation in Central
African Republic is still a matter of serious concern. I
wish to reiterate our call to the United Nations to provide
multifaceted support to the African-led International
Support Mission in the Central African Republic, which
will be deployed in that country to protect civilians and
restore security and public order. On the other hand,
the escalation of tension in the eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo also poses threats to the peace
and security of the Great Lakes region and the continent
as a whole. The only durable solution is for both the
Government and the armed opposition to conclude
their peace talks under the auspices of the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). In
that connection, I would like to welcome the outcome
of the ICGLR Extraordinary Summit held in Kampala
on 5 September 2013 and High-level Political Forum
on Sustainable Development held in New York on
23 September in New York under the auspices of the
President of the Assembly.
With regard to relations between the Sudan and
South Sudan, the African Union, in close collaboration
with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development,
has established an ad hoc investigation mechanism to
verify allegations made by the two countries regarding
each country’s support for and harbouring of dissident
elements that act against the other. The team is carrying
out its work, and I am hopeful that the outcome of
the investigation will help the two countries to move
forward in the implementation of the agreements they
have signed and in the normalization of their relations.
On a more practical level, the summits and the regular
engagement that the leaders of the two countries are
having will go a long way in breaking the impasse and
resolving some of the difficult outstanding issues.
I would like to raise one important issue that has
been a matter of serious concern for us in our efforts
to promote peace, security and national reconciliation
on the continent and regarding which there is a strong
consensus in Africa. Time and again, we in Africa
have affirmed our unflinching commitment to fighting
impunity and promoting democracy, rule of law and good
governance throughout the continent, in conformity
with the Constitutive Act of the African Union. That
commitment has been empirically validated by bold
actions taken recently by the African Union.
When it comes to the International Criminal
Court (ICC), many of our member States ratified the
Rome Statute faithfully, subscribing to its cardinal
objectives and principles. Unfortunately, the manner in
which the ICC has been operating has left a very bad
impression in Africa. Instead of promoting justice and
reconciliation and contributing to peace and stability,
it has degenerated into a political instrument targeting
Africa and Africans. This is totally unacceptable,
and that is why Africa has been expressing its serious
reservations against the body.
It is regrettable that our repeated request to
the United Nations Security Council to defer the
proceedings initiated against President A1-Bashir
has been neither heard nor acted upon. We have also
received no response to our request for a deferral of
the ICC investigations and prosecutions in relation
to the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, in line
with the principle of complementarity, to allow for a
national mechanism to investigate and prosecute the
cases under a reformed judiciary provided for in the
new constitutional dispensation.
In light of the encouraging developments in Kenya
with the adoption of the new Constitution, the reform
of the judiciary and the holding of successful legislative
and presidential elections, we believe it is very critical
to support the peacebuilding and national reconciliation
processes in the country. The recent decision of the
ICC in relation to the Kenyan situation is unhelpful and
adversely affects the ability of the Kenyan leaders in
the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.
Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to once
again urge the Security Council to respond to our
requests.
In an increasingly globalized and multipolar world,
Africa obviously needs to forge multiple partnerships
to realize its development aspirations and assume its
rightful place in the international arena. It gives me great
satisfaction to note that Africa’s strategic partnership
with both developed and emerging economies has
expanded and deepened in recent years. That is the path
we wish to pursue. Africa needs the solidarity of all
sections of the international community, and it is our
hope that all the necessary support will be extended
to Africa in the spirit of the Millennium Declaration
(resolution 55/2), which underlined so emphatically the
special situation of Africa. That, in our view, should be
the spirit with which the deficit in the implementation
of Millennium Development Goal 8 must be treated
during the very short time remaining.
In conclusion I wish to underline Africa’s enduring
commitment to this indispensable global body — a
universal organization whose viability is an existential
necessity. It is in that spirit that Africa will continue to
nurture its close cooperation with the United Nations.