Allow me at
the outset to convey to President Ashe the heartfelt
congratulations of the delegation of Mali on his election
to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-
eighth session. His election is quite clearly a recognition
of his qualities as a seasoned diplomat, as well as a
tribute to his country, Antigua and Barbuda. He may be
assured of the full readiness of my delegation to work
to ensure the successful outcome of our efforts.
I should like to take this opportunity also to
congratulate his predecessor, Mr. Vuk Jeremi. of
Serbia, for the outstanding manner in which he led the
work of the Assembly at its sixty-seventh session. Allow
me also to reiterate to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban
Ki-moon, our deepest appreciation for the praiseworthy
efforts he has made to achieve the lofty objectives of
our Organization.
A few weeks after my accession to Mali’s highest
office as the third elected President of the Republic
since the advent of democracy, it is for me a badge of
honour to address the Assembly.
At the outset, let me assure the Assembly of my
unshakeable determination to defend the ideals of our
Organization, which are based on the values of peace,
security, justice and development, all values contained
in the oath that I swore to the people of Mali.
I come here before the Assembly to express the
gratitude of my people to the whole of the international
community for the invaluable support it showed to my
country, Mali, which today has recovered its sovereignty
over the whole of its territory. From this lofty rostrum,
and on behalf of all the people of Mali, I pay tribute to
the work of the United Nations, and especially to the
Security Council, which through four resolutions and a
number of statements condemned the jihadist terrorist
aggression suffered by my country and reaffirmed its
attachment to the unity and territorial integrity of my
country. The Council authorized the deployment of
international forces to assist the armed forces of Mali in
the difficult task of recovering the areas of its territory
that were controlled by terrorist groups.
Allow me to convey my gratitude to UNESCO
for formally condemning the destruction of the
global heritage sites and mausoleums in Timbuktu
and Gao. At that time, Morocco was President of the
Security Council. I would therefore like to thank His
Majesty King Mohammed VI for the very significant
contributions made by the Kingdom of Morocco, which
right from the start of the occupation of Mali condemned
the act of aggression to which we had fallen victim, and
offered our people emergency humanitarian assistance.
This is also the right time and place to thank France
and its President, François Hollande, for launching
Operation Serval, a life-saving operation, that halted
the advance of jihadists towards the south of Mali. Had
it not been for that intervention, I would not be standing
here before the Assembly today.
Allow me to also convey my gratitude to the
Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), the African Union and to the Organization
of Islamic Cooperation for their concern and continuing
commitment to seeking a lasting solution to the Malian
crisis. In particular, I would like to commend the
leadership of Mr. Alassane Ouattara, President of the
Republic of Côte D’Ivoire and current President of
ECOWAS, for his ongoing commitment to supporting
the Malian people. I also thank President Blaise
Compaoré of Burkina Faso, mediator during the Malian
crisis, as well as Mr. Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria,
co-mediator during the crisis, for their ongoing efforts
aimed at finding a solution to the crisis that struck our
country. We also thank President Boni Yayi of Benin,
who during his mandate as head of the African Union
devoted all his energy to resolving the Malian crisis.
I would also like to thank the President of Chad,
our brother Idriss Deby Itno. His country deployed
2,000 men in Mali, many of whom died. Our thoughts
and sympathy are with all the sons and daughters of
Chad who died in Mali. They sacrificed their lives
for Mali. I would also like to pay tribute to President
Mahamadou Issoufou and the brave people of the Niger
for extending a fraternal welcome to our people, which
eased a great deal of suffering. I would also like to take
this opportunity to pay my respects to the memory of
all of our Nigerien brothers who died in the battlefields
during savage attacks on Agadez and Arlit in the Niger.
I also pay tribute to the President of Algeria,
Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and to our brothers the
people of Algeria, who have always stood by Mali.
There is a long-standing history of friendship between
our peoples, something that was confirmed again when
Algeria recently helped Mali during the humanitarian
crisis. I would like to take this opportunity to state that
Algeria and Mali are two brotherly States. They are
linked by a solid friendship and a shared history.
To the people of Mauritania and President
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, I would like to express
my gratitude for their troops, who stood by us in our
pursuit of the jihadists who ran amok in the north of
Mali for so long. To Mauritania, which has also been in
mourning because of jihadist attacks, I would also like
to extend our heartfelt condolences and our sympathy
to those who perished fighting for our country. Many
of our Mauritanian friends and brothers died in the
Timbuktu region.
Finally, to the European Union and all bilateral and
multilateral partners, I would like to say that the people
of Mali are grateful for the wonderful international
mobilization to help our country, which enabled us to
overcome the crisis, making it possible for me to stand
here today. I also believe that the restoration of peace
in Mali today allows us to look to the future in a calm,
reasonable and confident way. Furthermore, I would
like to assure them that the fight against drug traffickers
and jihadists, in all their guises, is an ongoing struggle,
one to which we are committed. I thank you very much
for standing by us in this continuing fight.
I would like to extend my heartfelt thoughts to all
those friends of Mali who perished on the battlefields
to safeguard the future of our country and the future
of our children. There were many heroes, anonymous
civilians, men and women alike, who suffered in Mali.
Our thoughts are with all the injured, the women who
were raped, those who were maimed, those who suffered
under the yoke of barbarity, enduring endless months of
suffering yet remaining steadfast, standing up for Mali
despite all the intimidation rained down upon them.
It would be heartless of me to move on without
a thought of compassion for all the families of the
Algerian, French and other hostages still held by jihadist
groups in the Sahel region, including northern Mali. I
can assure the Assembly that we will spare no effort in
working to speed up their release, in close cooperation
with the States concerned, of course.
Mali is back. Yes indeed, with the support of
friendly States, Mali stands tall, ready to turn a page
on the darkest periods of its history, one marked by
nine months of grave human rights violations, looting,
the destruction of unique historical and cultural
monuments and sites, and its cultural heritage. Mali has
recovered its sovereignty and national integrity, backed
by its cultural diversity, and now is setting off on the
path towards national reconciliation.
A process of dialogue for peace and national
reconciliation has been launched through the
preliminary Ouagadougou Agreement signed on
18 June. The transition, which was launched in March
2012, following the coup d’état, ended last August,
following presidential elections that were deemed
credible and transparent by the entire international
community. Through that exemplary election process,
Malians recalled and demonstrated their commitment
to democracy and constitutional order. To finalize that
process, my Government has made a commitment to
holding, without any further delays, the first round of
legislative elections on 24 November and the second
round on 15 December.
As a President who enjoys the trust and confidence
of the Malian people, I understand the huge scope of the
challenges. Malians have a deep-seated yearning for
peace and national reconciliation, as well as economic
and social development. As soon as I became President,
I took the initiative to meet with the heads of armed
groups from the north of the country in Bamako to
remind them of the sacrosanct principles of respect for
the territorial integrity of Mali and the secular nature
of our State. I made them aware of our readiness to
organize candid, inclusive political dialogue where
everything, except for any form of independence or
autonomy, could be discussed openly. Our message
has been heard, and we will commit to dialogue in the
future in order to find a lasting solution to the crisis in
northern Mali.
At this point, we would like to revive the inter- and
intracommunitarian dialogue to recreate conditions
conducive to enabling all Malians to live together. A
general meeting for decentralization will be convened
to create the conditions necessary for an effective
transfer of governance and resources to local authorities
throughout the country. Thereafter, the Government
will hold a national review conference on the north of
Mali.
In preparing for future decisions with the armed
groups and in order to create the conditions for pacifying
the situation, confidence-building measures have been
taken, as called for in the preliminary Ouagadougou
Agreement. In that connection, it is hard to understand
why the rebel elements have decided to suspend
negotiations, which represents a flagrant violation of
the Agreement. We will have to discuss that. In that
regard, the Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission
will be turned into a commission for dialogue on truth
and reconciliation to deal with the remaining wounds of
war within Malian society.
The cyclical crisis in the northern regions of Mali
is rooted in the precarious living conditions of the local
population and poverty. I established the Ministry
for National Reconciliation and Development of the
Northern Regions upon my arrival at the helm in
order to accelerate development in the areas of health,
education and infrastructure.
I am pleased to note that the international
community has understood what is at stake, and I
take this opportunity to express my deep-seated
and heartfelt gratitude to all the friends of Mali who
committed themselves on 15 May, in a wonderful show
of exceptional solidarity to backing the implementation
of the plan for the sus,tainable economic recovery of
Mali.
With the support of the international community,
Mali is working resolutely to address peacebuilding,
national reconciliation and the reform of the national
defence and security forces, to rebuild the northern
regions devastated by the terrorist and jihadist forces,
to improve institutional governance and to launch
the economic recovery of our country. Within the
framework of good governance, pride of place has been
given to our national justice system. After the Prime
Minister, the Minister of Justice is the most senior
Minister in my Government, which clearly shows our
dedication to turning Mali into a State where the rule
of law truly prevails.
Mali has come a long way, but it has arrived. It
is here and it wishes to play its full role. However,
the situation that our country is facing, I must say, is
symptomatic of the challenges that all the countries
of the Sahel region are facing, including the worst
possible forms of transnational organized crime,
including trafficking in drugs, human beings and
weapons of all kinds, of which some very sophisticated
types have come from the Libyan arsenals since the
fall of the Al-Qadhafi regime. Despite the hope raised
following the successful military operations through
the combined efforts of Operation Serval, the troops
of the African-led International Support Mission
in Mali, now the United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, and Malian
armed security forces, small armed terrorist groups
continue to make themselves felt in our subregion and
to move from one territory to another — we know
that they are present in the southern territory of one
of our neighbours — which represents for us and
the international community a serious threat to the
stability and territorial integrity of Mali and to peace
and security in the Sahel region as a whole.
It is in that context that the United Nations Mission
for the stabilization of Mali was deployed. That Mission
was successful, and we wish to congratulate the United
Nations, especially the Security Council, for that
outstanding initiative.
Our country stands at a crossroads. Just a few
months ago, no one could have thought that I would
stand in this Hall before the General Assembly. I take
this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to working
unstintingly for the implementation of the United
Nations strategy for the Sahel region. We familiarized
ourselves with the strategy yesterday at a high-level
summit on the situation in the Sahel. As a result of the
complexity and seriousness of the situation in the Sahel,
my delegation welcomes the report presented in June
by Mr. Romano Prodi, Special Envoy of the Secretary-
General (S/2013/354), which we believe accurately
reflects the regional dimension and should enable us
to extricate ourselves from the situation prevailing
throughout our country.
This is the right time for me to forcefully underscore
that finding a lasting solution to the Sahel crisis will
require a strengthened and dynamic cooperation
between all the States in the Sahel and Saharan regions
to fight against religious extremism and organized
crime. Under my leadership, Mali is determined to work
to give a new impetus to the subregional cooperation
mechanisms that we have. In that regard, the assistance
of the international community will be indispensable
in the fight against transnational terrorism in the Sahel
region as a whole.
The stakes are high and the terrorist threat is of
alarming proportions, to the point that no country is safe
from violent and barbarous acts. The attacks that took
place in Nairobi, Kenya, are the most painful examples
of that. My country, which is slowly recovering from
the atrocities carried out by jihadist terrorist groups
and the allied drug trafficking groups, reiterates its
firm condemnation of terrorism of all stripes and in
all its manifestations. On behalf of Mali, I present
my most deep-seated and heartfelt condolences to the
Government and the people of our brother country,
Kenya.
The delegation of Mali is particularly gratified by
the central theme of the general debate of the sixty-
eighth session of the General Assembly, “The post-2015
development agenda: setting the stage”. The relevance
of that theme lies in the uncertainties being faced by the
world today, uncertainties resulting from economic and
financial instability at the international level, from an
accentuation of the scourge of poverty, the continued
deterioration of the environment and the increase in the
number of natural disasters. Just a few months ago, we
suffered flooding that claimed at least 50 lives in my
country alone.
Indeed, 10 years after the adoption of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Heads
of State and Government gathered here at the General
Assembly in September 2010 in the framework of a
mid-term review and expressed their serious concerns
about the insufficient results. It is clear at this point that
the path to be travelled to achieve the MDGs remains
a lengthy one. In that regard, it is crucial that we cast
a critical glance at the shortcomings noted in order to
pave the way for sustainable development.
One shortcoming of the MDG programme that
caught our attention was the lack of commitment
regarding MDG 8, on the setting up a global partnership
for development. Without setting up open and equitable
financial and trade systems that would respect the
promises made to least developed countries, small island
States and landlocked States — our Samoan colleague
has just referred to that — and faced with a shortfall of
assistance to those countries, we run the risk of failing.
Faced with that situation, Mali encourages the adoption
of a unique consolidated development programme for
the post-2015 period whose priority objective will,
in the long run, be the eradication of poverty and the
promotion of economic, social and environmental
sustainability. That is a vision that has resulted from
the pressing nature of the challenges and the shortage
of resources available to deal with them.
In line with my predecessors, I would like to
reaffirm here and now my firm determination to defend
the ideals of peace, security and justice that mark the
Organization. In Africa, Mali is extremely concerned
about the situation in the Central African Republic, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Libya,
and expresses its firm condemnation of violence as
a means of political expression. Mali welcomes the
progress achieved on the path of reconstruction and
national reconciliation in Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Guinea-Bissau.
With respect to the Middle East, we remain
concerned by the ongoing deadly violence in Syria, with
its daily lot of humanitarian disasters. Accordingly, we
condemn with the utmost firmness the use of chemical
weapons in the country. Mali urges all parties to favour
negotiated political solutions under the auspices of the
United Nations.
We encourage the Israeli-Palestinian talks currently
under way and urge all parties to take the steps
necessary to establish a climate of trust and launch
direct negotiations to achieve a just, comprehensive
and lasting peace based, in particular, on the relevant
General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. I
take this opportunity to reiterate the solidarity and full
support of the people and the Government of Mali for
the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle for
the exercise of their inalienable right to sovereignty.
I welcome the measures taken in recent years by
the United Nations to bring about qualitative changes in
the priority fields of development, peace and collective
security, as well as human rights, and to reform the
Organization. Despite the progress achieved, much
remains to be done, especially concerning the necessary
reform of the Security Council and the revitalization of
the General Assembly. We must continue our efforts to
ensure that the General Assembly, the main deliberative
organ of the Organization, occupies a central position,
with the means to implement its resolutions.
Turning now to the reform of the Security Council,
Mali reiterates its commitment to the Ezulwini
Consensus and the Sirte Declaration adopted by the
heads of State and Government of the African Union,
and supports the legitimate demands by Africa to have
two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats in
the Security Council.
The Security Council thus reformed would better
reflect the geopolitical realities of today’s world and
would repair the “historical injustice” done to Africa,
the only region of the world that does not have a
permanent seat on the Council.
Mali is back. Mali now takes back its place, its
rightful place in keeping with its rich history, in the
community of free and democratic States. The Malian
people stand ready to take part, to play a full-fledged
role in building a world of peace, tolerance, freedom,
justice and democracy. Malians remain convinced that
it is along that path that we, the leaders of the world,
will lay the milestones of sustainable development
for our peoples and will spare present and future
generations the scourge of war. That is our mission and,
God willing, we will accomplish it.